大方廣佛華嚴經疏 55.14

55.14

Sixth, distinguishing the five aspects: Dharma Master Yiyi and the Taishan Commentary merely give scattered explanations following the text, without any separate correlation; Masters such as Guangtong correlate them with the bhūmis and stations. Both have justification. That is, each station possesses many teachings; how could an ordinary mind be barred from practicing and seeking the methods of the good friends? Thus, not correlating them has justification. Yet, within the absence of stages, stages are not obstructed; revealing the stations is the standard convention, so correlating them is also without flaw. Unobstructed horizontally and vertically, we temporarily rely on the ancient masters to correlate them into five aspects: First, the initial forty-one persons are called the aspect of practicing through consignment to stations, as they consign to forty-one persons to seek understanding based on persons and reveal practice. Second, from Māyā downward, nine assemblies and eleven persons clarify the aspect of converging conditions to enter reality; that is, converging the preceding abodes and so forth to form the twofold practice of universal and distinct, realizing the dharmadhātu. At first, one attains illusory wisdom, and later, the illusory abode, encompassing the illusion-like conditions in between to enter the one reality. Third, the single person Maitreya is called the aspect of gathering virtues to accomplish the cause, because he converges the virtues of the preceding two approaches together to become the causes of realization; hence, his teaching is named 'unforgetful mindfulness of the three periods of time', which subsumes dharmas without remainder. Fourth, the later Mañjuśrī is called the aspect of the non-duality of wisdom's illumination; that is, with practice perfected and ultimate, clear awakening is held in the chest, illuminating preceding practices and the rest as solely one perfect wisdom, with no distinctions of earlier and later, brightness and obscurity, and so forth. Fifth, the single person Samantabhadra is called the aspect of manifesting the vastness of the cause; initial awakening is unified with original, perfect awakening appearing manifest, according with and pervading the dharmadhātu, leaving nothing uncontained. The latter four aspects may also be termed consignment to stations, for the former three share the meaning of equal enlightenment; Māyā and Maitreya both enter the gate of double profundity; Mañjuśrī represents the end of the bodhisattva stages, where the mind lacks the initial mark; Samantabhadra shares the meaning of wondrous enlightenment, for upon merely seeing Samantabhadra, one is already equal to a Buddha. Now, according to distinct meanings, they are designated as five aspects. These five are also five kinds of bodhisattva practice-aspects: 1. lofty practice, 2. great practice, 3. superior practice, 4. deep practice, 5. vast practice.