新華嚴經論 16.23

16.23

四明信心退住者，有二義：一三乘、二一乘。一三乘者，如《起信論》有三種發心：一信成就發心、二解行發心、三證發心。一信成就發心者，依何等人、修何等行，得信成就，堪能發心？所謂依不定聚眾生，有熏習善根力故。信業果報能起十善，厭生死苦，欲求無上菩提。得值諸佛，親承供養，修行信心經一萬劫，信心成就故，諸佛菩薩教令發心。或以大悲故，能自發心。或因正法欲滅，以護法因緣故，能自發心。如是信心成就得發心者，入正定聚，畢竟不退，名住如來種中正因相應。二解行發心者，當知轉勝。以是菩薩從初正信已來，於第一阿僧祇劫將欲滿故，於真如法中深解現前，所修離相。三證發心者，從淨心地乃至菩薩究竟地，證何境界？所謂真如。以依轉識說為境界。而此證者無有境界，唯真如智，名為法身。又如論云「若有眾生善根微少，久遠已來煩惱深厚，雖值於佛亦得供養，然起人天種子或二乘種子。設求大乘者，根則不定，或進或退。」大意自己善根微少依他發心者，或以二乘人教令發心者，為解行不實，皆有得有證、有捨有取，總住退位。又如論云「若人修行一切善法，自然歸順真如法故。」略說方便有四種：一者行根本方便，謂觀一切法自性無生，離於妄見、不住生死，觀一切法因緣和合業果不失，起於大悲修諸福德，攝化眾生不住涅槃，以順法性無住故。二者能止方便，謂慚愧悔過，能止一切惡法不令增長，隨順法性離諸過故。三者發起善根增長方便，謂勤供養禮拜三寶，讚歎隨喜勸請諸佛，以愛敬三寶淳厚心故信得增長，乃能志求無上之道。又因佛法僧力所護故，能消業障、善根不退，以隨順法性離癡障故。四者大願平等方便，所謂發願盡於未來化度一切眾生使無有餘，皆令究竟無餘涅槃。以順法性廣大，遍一切眾生平等無二、不念彼此，究竟寂滅故。菩薩發如是心故，則得少分見於法身。以見法身故，隨其願力能現八相成道利益眾生。然是菩薩未名法身，以其過去無量世來有漏之業未能決斷，隨其所生與微苦相應，廣如論說。計其少分得見法身，即是信滿入十住位已上是。三乘發十信滿心，入十住初發心住，以願力故成佛。二一乘發心者，如此經十信發心，初發心時以初會中如來始成正覺之果，普賢菩薩法界微塵毛孔重重無盡，隨根本智行果而起信心，信他諸佛所得之果。以第二會中普光明殿如來報滿之果及行果而自信，入修行金色等十色世界，即明自覺之理。不動智佛等十智如來，即明是自心所信自心佛智。文殊師利，即明自心智上分別妙慧。與古今三世諸佛同一體用分毫不差，方名為信發心。從此信心已，〈佛名號品〉即明所信十方示成正覺佛果之號遍周，〈四聖諦品〉即明三世諸佛所說法門遍眾生界隨界名別，〈光明覺品〉即明如來智慧光明境界遍照法界無有盡極，令發信心者以觀觀之，令心廣博如佛境故。〈菩薩問明品〉明十信心菩薩十種所行之法，是自己所修之行。〈淨行品〉一百四十大願，十信心位所發大願，成大悲門，具普賢行。此〈賢首品〉明十信心所欣佛果功德無有盡極，明初發十信心誦持此品功德，勝過供養十佛剎微塵數佛經於一劫，何況隨其解行而已修治。如此經十住初心纔發心時，法爾身遍十方示成正覺。在十住位〈發心功德品〉中，至位方明，文繁不引。其事所因，大意明此經發十信心，但以法界不思議乘、一切智乘而發其心，不依佛、不依佛法，不依菩薩、不依菩薩法，不依聲聞法、獨覺法，不依世間法、不依出世間法，而發其心，但無所依發菩提心。但以一切智發菩提心，不如三乘依猗物故發菩提心，不依三祇劫後有佛果故發菩提心，不依現在三世有佛果故發菩提心。以是義故，入此信者皆無有退故。設習氣未淳熟者，暫時念退；信及住位一往不退，為正信自己身心總是法界佛，無自他性故。以十方諸佛無依住智幻住莊嚴門，等法界虛空界，法性恒遍十方，如影對現色身，同自身故、本不二故、體無差別故。十方諸佛智身如影、所言如響，如是信解當得成佛。我今信者，亦如是知、如是信解，云何有退？全身全心一切境界總是法界，一真法身體用理智，住在何所？退至何處？若也身心有所依住，放却依處即有退失。自了身心本無依住、本無所得，一切語言分別如空中響，應無作緣任物成聲，本無依住。了如斯法而生信解，即無退轉。有所依法而發心者，放却所得、所依著處，即有退轉。是故《起信論》中，證發心者多住退位，為有所得可證故。是故乘此不思議乘、一切智無依住乘發菩提心，一往不退。若有退者，只為信心不成故，於佛教法及如來所乘有所得故、有取捨故、未成信故，不入信流。又此經云「設有菩薩經無量百千那由他劫，行六波羅蜜、具六神通，由未聞此大方廣佛華嚴經，猶名假名菩薩，不真菩薩。設復聞時，不信不入。」具如經說。如此品頌云「一切世界諸群生，少有欲求聲聞乘，求獨覺者轉復少，趣大乘者甚難遇。趣大乘者猶為易，能信此法倍更難。」又如下頌云「有以手擎十佛剎，盡於一劫空中住，彼之所作未為難，能信此法倍更難。」以過此難信而能真信，決定不退難。又如此經普賢菩薩云：「但聞如來名號及所說法門，聞而不信，亦能成金剛智種。」作如人食少金剛喻。若以遠因總不退，若以現成佛因即是未信之人。

Fourth, explaining the retrogradation and abiding of faith has two meanings: first, that of the Three Vehicles; second, that of the One Vehicle. First, regarding that of the Three Vehicles: as stated in the Awakening of Faith, there are three kinds of giving rise to the mind [for awakening]: first, giving rise to the mind upon the perfection of faith; second, giving rise to the mind through understanding and practice; third, giving rise to the mind through realization. First, regarding giving rise to the mind upon the perfection of faith: depending on what kind of person and practicing what kind of conduct is faith perfected so that one is able to give rise to the mind? That is to say, depending on sentient beings of the indeterminate group, because they possess the power of habituated wholesome roots: having faith in karmic retribution, they can generate the ten wholesome deeds, weary of the sufferings of birth and death, and desire to seek unexcelled bodhi. Meeting with the buddhas, personally serving and making offerings to them, they cultivate faith throughout ten thousand kalpas; because their faith is perfected, the buddhas and bodhisattvas instruct them to give rise to the mind. Or, out of great compassion, they can give rise to the mind by themselves. Or, because the True Dharma is about to perish, through the conditions of protecting the Dharma, they can give rise to the mind by themselves. Those who, having thus perfected faith, are able to give rise to the mind, enter the definitely determined group and ultimately never retrograde; this is called abiding in the Tathāgata's lineage and corresponding with the correct cause. Second, regarding giving rise to the mind through understanding and practice: one should know that this is progressively superior. Because, from their initial correct faith onward, as the first asaṃkhyeya kalpa is about to be completed, profound understanding of the dharma of suchness becomes manifest before these bodhisattvas, and what they cultivate is free from signs. Third, regarding giving rise to the mind through realization: from the Ground of Pure Mind up to the Ultimate Ground of Bodhisattvas, what realm is realized? Namely, suchness. Because [this state] is spoken of as a realm only in dependence on transforming consciousness. Yet this realization has no realm; it is solely the wisdom of suchness, which is called the dharmakāya. Furthermore, as the treatise says: 'If there are sentient beings whose wholesome roots are slight and whose afflictions have been deep and heavy since long ago, even though they meet with a buddha and also get to make offerings, they nevertheless generate seeds of humans and gods or seeds of the two vehicles. Even if they seek the Great Vehicle, their faculties are indeterminate, and they either advance or retrograde.' The general meaning is that those whose own wholesome roots are slight and who give rise to the mind in dependence on others, or whom practitioners of the two vehicles instruct to give rise to the mind, because their understanding and practice are not genuine, all have attainment and realization, rejection and grasping, and universally abide in a stage of retrogradation. Furthermore, as the treatise says: 'If a person cultivates all wholesome dharmas, they naturally accord with the dharma of suchness.' Briefly stated, there are four kinds of skillful means: First, the fundamental skillful means of practice, which means contemplating that the self-nature of all dharmas is unproduced, being free from false views and not abiding in birth and death; contemplating that through the harmonious union of causes and conditions all dharmas do not lose their karmic retribution, generating great compassion, cultivating all merits, and gathering and transforming sentient beings so as not to abide in nirvāṇa—because one accords with the non-abiding nature of dharmas. Second, the skillful means capable of cessation, which means possessing shame and remorse and repenting errors, capable of stopping all bad dharmas and not letting them increase—because one accords with the nature of dharmas, being free from all faults. Third, the skillful means of initiating and increasing wholesome roots, which means diligently making offerings and paying homage to the Three Jewels, praising, rejoicing, and entreating the buddhas; because of a sincere mind of loving reverence for the Three Jewels, faith increases, so that one can aspire to seek the unexcelled path. Furthermore, because one is protected by the power of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, one can eliminate karmic hindrances and one's wholesome roots do not retrograde—because one accords with the nature of dharmas, being free from the hindrance of delusion. Fourth, the skillful means of equal great vows, which means making the vow to transform and cross over all sentient beings to the end of the future so that none remain, causing them all to attain ultimate nirvāṇa without remainder—because one accords with the vastness of the nature of dharmas, which pervades all sentient beings equally without duality, not thinking of self or other, and being ultimately tranquil. Because a bodhisattva gives rise to such a mind, they attain a partial sight of the dharmakāya. Because they see the dharmakāya, according to the power of their vows they can manifest the eight aspects of attaining the way to benefit sentient beings. Yet this bodhisattva is not yet called the dharmakāya, because their out-flowing karma from immeasurable past lifetimes has not yet been severed, and in accordance with where they are born they correspond with subtle suffering, as extensively explained in the treatise. Reckoning their partial attainment of seeing the dharmakāya, this is precisely when faith is fulfilled and they enter the stage of the ten abodes and above. In the Three Vehicles, when the mind fulfills the ten faiths, one enters the first abode of the ten abodes, the Abode of the Initial Aspiration, and through the power of vows attains buddhahood. Second, regarding giving rise to the mind in the One Vehicle: as in this sūtra's giving rise to the mind in the ten faiths, at the time of the initial aspiration, one takes the fruit of the Tathāgata's initial attainment of true awakening in the first assembly, and Bodhisattva Samantabhadra's dharmadhātu of dust-mote pores multiplying endlessly, and in accordance with the fruit of practice of fundamental wisdom generates faithful mind, having faith in the fruit attained by other buddhas. Taking the fruit of the fulfillment of the Tathāgata's retribution in the Hall of Universal Light in the second assembly and the fruit of practice, one has faith in oneself, enters and cultivates the ten-colored worlds such as the golden-colored, which clarifies the principle of self-awakening. Buddhas such as the Buddha of Immovable Wisdom and the other ten wisdom Tathāgatas clarify that this is the Buddha-wisdom of one's own mind that is believed by one's own mind. Mañjuśrī clarifies the wondrous wisdom of discrimination upon the wisdom of one's own mind. Only when it is identical in essence and function, without the slightest deviation from the buddhas of the three periods of past and present, is it called giving rise to the mind of faith. From this mind of faith onward, the 'Chapter on the Names of the Buddha' clarifies that the names of the fruit of buddhahood demonstrating the attainment of true awakening believed in are omnipresent throughout the ten directions; the 'Chapter on the Four Noble Truths' clarifies that the Dharma gates spoken by the buddhas of the three periods pervade the realms of sentient beings, with distinct names according to each realm; the 'Chapter on Awakening through Light' clarifies that the realm of the Tathāgata's light of wisdom shines universally across the dharmadhātu without limit, causing those who give rise to the mind of faith to contemplate it with insight, so that their minds become vast like the Buddha's realm. The 'Chapter on the Bodhisattvas' Inquiries for Clarification' clarifies the ten kinds of dharmas practiced by bodhisattvas of the ten faiths, which are practices cultivated by oneself. In the 'Chapter on Pure Practice', the one hundred and forty great vows are the great vows generated at the stage of the ten faiths, completing the gate of great compassion and fulfilling the practice of Samantabhadra. This 'Chapter on the Chief of the Virtuous' clarifies that the merits of the fruit of buddhahood aspired to in the ten faiths are boundless, clarifying that the merit of chanting and upholding this chapter when first giving rise to the ten faiths surpasses making offerings to buddhas as numerous as the dust motes of ten buddha-lands for an entire kalpa, to say nothing of cultivating and polishing in accordance with one's understanding and practice. As in this sūtra, at the initial mind of the ten abodes, the very moment one gives rise to the mind, naturally one's body pervades the ten directions, demonstrating the attainment of true awakening. In the stage of the ten abodes, in the 'Chapter on the Merits of the Initial Aspiration', this will be clarified when reaching that stage; because the text is extensive, it is not cited here. As for the reason behind this matter, the general meaning clarifies that in generating the ten faiths in this sūtra, one gives rise to the mind solely through the inconceivable vehicle of the dharmadhātu, the vehicle of all-knowledge: not relying on the Buddha, not relying on the Buddha's Dharma, not relying on bodhisattvas, not relying on the bodhisattva Dharma, not relying on the śrāvaka Dharma or the pratyekabuddha Dharma, not relying on mundane dharmas, and not relying on supramundane dharmas does one give rise to one's mind; one gives rise to the bodhimind purely without any reliance. Giving rise to the bodhimind solely through all-knowledge, it is not like the Three Vehicles which give rise to the bodhimind relying on objects; one does not give rise to the bodhimind because there is a fruit of buddhahood after three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, nor does one give rise to the bodhimind because there is a fruit of buddhahood in the present three periods. By virtue of this meaning, all who enter this faith are free from retrogradation. Even if their habit-energy is not yet ripe and their mindfulness temporarily retrogrades, faith and the stage of the abodes once attained never retrograde, because of correct faith that one's own body and mind are entirely the dharmadhātu Buddha, devoid of the nature of self and other. Because the ten directions' buddhas' gate of the wondrous adornment of non-abiding wisdom equals the dharmadhātu and the realm of empty space, the dharma-nature constantly pervades the ten directions, manifesting a physical body in reflection like an image, identical with one's own body, fundamentally non-dual, and without difference in essence. The ten directions' buddhas' bodies of wisdom are like shadows, and their spoken words are like echoes; through such faith and understanding one will attain buddhahood. We who now believe also know thus and have faith and understanding thus; how could there be retrogradation? The entire body and entire mind and all realms are entirely the dharmadhātu; where could the essence, function, principle, and wisdom of the one true dharmakāya abide? Where could they retrograde to? If body and mind have something to rely on and abide in, then when that reliance is let go of, there will be retrogradation and loss. When one naturally understands that body and mind fundamentally have no reliance and no abiding, and fundamentally have nothing to be attained, all verbal distinctions are like echoes in the sky, responding through conditions of non-action and letting sound form according to things, fundamentally without reliance or abiding. Understanding such a dharma and generating faith and understanding, there is no retrogradation. Those who give rise to the mind relying on dharmas will undergo retrogradation when they let go of what they attained and relied upon. Therefore, in the Awakening of Faith, those who give rise to the mind through realization mostly abide in the stage of retrogradation, because there is something attained that can be realized. Therefore, mounting this inconceivable vehicle, the vehicle of all-knowledge without reliance or abiding, and giving rise to the bodhimind, once attained one never retrogrades. If there are those who retrograde, it is only because their faith is not yet perfected: because they have attainment in the Buddha's teachings and in the vehicle ridden by the Tathāgata, because they have grasping and rejecting, and because faith is not yet completed, they do not enter the stream of faith. Furthermore, this sūtra says: 'Even if there is a bodhisattva who throughout immeasurable hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kalpas practices the six pāramitās and is endowed with the six supernatural powers, because they have not yet heard this Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra, they are still called a nominal bodhisattva, not a true bodhisattva. Even if they hear it again, they do not believe and do not enter,' as extensively stated in the sūtra. As a verse of this chapter says: 'Among all sentient beings in all worlds, / Few desire to seek the Śrāvaka Vehicle; / Those who seek the Pratyekabuddha [Vehicle] are even fewer; / Those who advance toward the Great Vehicle are extremely rare to encounter. / Advancing toward the Great Vehicle is still easy; / Being able to have faith in this Dharma is doubly more difficult.' Furthermore, as a subsequent verse says: 'If someone holding ten buddha-lands in their hand / Were to dwell in empty space for a whole kalpa, / What they did would not be difficult; / Being able to have faith in this Dharma is doubly more difficult.' Because surpassing this difficult-to-believe [teaching] and being able to truly believe, determining not to retrograde is difficult. Furthermore, as Bodhisattva Samantabhadra says in this sūtra: 'Merely hearing the Tathāgata's name and the Dharma gates spoken by him, even if one hears and does not believe, it can also become the seed of diamond-like wisdom,' making the analogy of a person eating a small diamond. If considered as a distant cause, none retrograde; but if considered as the cause for attaining buddhahood in the present, they are precisely people who do not yet have faith.