大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 3.38

3.38

Regarding the Commentary's 'Second, universally perfecting all practices' and below: this explains the ordered gradation of practice from beginning to end, which is why it says 'and so forth'; thus, all practices carried out across the five stages are subsumed under this. Bodhicitta is the beginning, and its essence consists of the three minds: First, the direct mind (ṛjumati), because it mindfully reflects upon the dharma of tathatā; this is great wisdom, devoid of any attachment. Second, the profound mind (gabhīramati), because it delights in cultivating all virtuous practices; this is great vow, meaning the four vast vows and the like. Third, the mind of great compassion, because it rescues and protects all suffering sentient beings. Fascicle 78 states: 'In the lamp of bodhicitta, great compassion is the oil, the great vow is the wick, and its light shines upon the dharmadhātu.' The light is the direct mind, the wick is the profound mind, and the oil is the mind of great compassion. For the most part, the three minds constitute the essence; seeking [enlightenment] above and transforming [sentient beings] below, illuminating the principle and initiating practice—none of this exceeds these. As for its characteristics, it takes signlessness as its characteristic, identical to the characteristic of the dharmadhātu; it is a characteristic without quantitative measure, a characteristic without limit. As for its merits, none are not gathered within it. The ten great metaphors and the hundred gates of comparison in the 'Chapter on Arousing the Aspiration' cannot match even a tiny fraction of it. Fascicle 78 broadly praises it through metaphors, yet still cannot exhaust it. The 'Chapter on Xian首' says: 'If there is a bodhisattva who first arouses the mind, / Vowing to seek the realization of the Buddha's bodhi, / Those merits of his are boundless, / Incalculable, and without equal.' The 'Chapter on Arousing the Aspiration' says: 'The merits of arousing the mind are immeasurable; / All wise beings proclaiming them together could never exhaust them.' It also says: 'The measure of a bodhisattva's merit in arousing the mind, / Proclaimed for hundreds of millions of kalpas, could not be exhausted, / Because it brings forth the bliss / Of all the Tathāgatas, pratyekabuddhas, and śrāvakas,' and so forth—these are all the merits of arousing the mind. It also says: 'One who wishes to see all Buddhas of the ten directions, / Wishes to bestow the treasury of immeasurable merit, / And wishes to extinguish all suffering and afflictions of sentient beings, / Should quickly arouse bodhicitta.' The above three matters all establish that the arousing of bodhicitta is the foundation of the myriad practices; therefore, it is explained first. This very arousal of the aspiration is then termed 'practice.'