大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 64.50

64.50

Regarding the Commentary's statement, "(3) seeking liberation through deviant paths": The treatise states: "As for inverted causes, there are four kinds: (1) the cause of primordial nature (prakṛti); (2) the cause of an autonomous creator (īśvara); (3) the cause of ascetic austerities; and (4) causelessness. These are refuted by the four doors in sequence: The first, the door of assistance by one's own karma, clarifies that each branch of existence has two types; they are able to arise due to karma, not due to primordial nature. The second, the door of non-abandonment, clarifies that taking ignorance and so on as the cause of formations and so on is not due to an autonomous creator. The third, the door of non-interruption of the three paths, clarifies that karma and defilement are the causes of suffering; if one wishes to seek freedom from suffering, one should sever karma and defilement. Conversely practicing austerities gives rise to deluded karma, and the mind that plans austerities is itself an affliction; how could such deluded conceptualization be the cause of liberation? The fourth, the door of transmigration through the three boundaries [of time], means that since the two branches of the previous boundary are the cause of the five branches of the middle boundary, and the three branches of the middle boundary are the cause of the two branches of the posterior boundary, how could one speak of causelessness?"