新華嚴經論 2.13

2.13

Ninth, the distinction in the characteristics of revealing teaching and practice: As in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the tenth-ground bodhisattva is spoken of in the "Chapter on the Tathāgata-Nature." Even a bodhisattva who has reached the rank of the tenth ground still does not clearly know and see the Buddha-nature. Thus, from the rank of the ten abodes after the ten faiths of an ordinary person, one sees a small portion of the Tathāgata-nature, establishing the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, and ten grounds in descending grades to be cultivated gradually, and only in the stage of equal enlightenment does one clarify the fruition practice, while the rank of wondrous enlightenment is at last the Tathāgata. It also says that on the Snow Mountains there is a grass named "Rich and Glossy"; if cattle eat it, they produce pure sarpirmaṇḍa, without any colors of blue, yellow, red, white, or black. It likewise explains a teaching of sudden accomplishment. One should know that this sūtra still contains the lineages of Dharma-gates of the five vehicles, six vehicles, seven, eight, nine, and ten vehicles. Moreover, in this sūtra, besides the remaining śrāvaka vehicle and pratyekabuddha vehicle, there are three kinds of bodhisattva vehicles, which together with those two vehicles make five vehicles. Adding the five precepts and ten virtues of humans and devas, these become six vehicles and seven vehicles. Furthermore, when people of the three vehicles hear the same [teaching] and each attain [their own], mutually crossing over their own Dharmas, there are nine vehicles. What are the characteristics of those three kinds of bodhisattva vehicles? First is the vehicle of cultivating the Dharma-gate of selflessness. Second is the vehicle of gradually seeing Buddha-nature from the ten abodes to the ten grounds. Third is the vehicle like the Rich and Glossy grass of the Snow Mountains which, if eaten by cattle, produces pure sarpirmaṇḍa, not being formed gradually through milk, curd, raw butter, cooked butter, and so forth. In the "Chapter on the Tathāgata-Nature," it says: "Having seen their nature, the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas all spoke thus: 'How marvelous, World-Honoured One! We have transmigrated through boundless birth and death, constantly bewildered by selflessness.'" This is [the meaning of] the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra it says: "There are bodhisattvas who have cultivated the six pāramitās and attained the six supernormal powers for immeasurable kalpas, and who recite and are thoroughly versed in the eighty-four thousand treasuries of the Dharma, yet they still do not believe in this profound classic." This is an example of it. The supernormal powers they attain do not arise from the nature; because they cultivate manifold virtues, the contemplation of selflessness, and so forth, their retribution surpasses that of the devas. It is also like the people of Uttarakuru: having also cultivated the contemplation of selflessness in previous lives, their retribution is to be born in that land with a lifespan of a thousand years, where clothing and food come naturally, non-glutinous rice is seven inches long and cooked by fire-pearls, and wherever the aroma reaches, all come together to eat. Lacking the Buddha-Dharma, they do not attain liberation; all this is because their past practice and understanding were erroneous, thereby causing this fault, so that what they have attained can never be undone. Thus this Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra universally gathers the distinctions of humans, devas, non-Buddhists, and the three vehicles, all of which ultimately return to the Buddha-nature, the true principle of nirvāṇa's tranquil extinction devoid of nature; but it has not yet revealed the marks of retribution as devoid of self and other, completely encompassing principle and phenomena with unhindered, manifold wisdom and function, and it still establishes distinctions such as self and other, pure and impure. Therefore it says that Śākyamuni's saṃbhogakāya land lies beyond thirty-two Ganges sands of lands to the west. Because their faculties are not yet fully receptive to the teaching, it guides them in accordance with their faculties. Those of the three vehicles have attachments, so it directly manifests the principle-gate of Buddha-nature, tranquil extinction, and suchness; it has not yet revealed the manifold marks of retribution, [for fear that] this would obstruct those with views of existence, who would then give rise to delusions and attachments, and thereby obstruct the dharmakāya. The Dharma-gate of the Buddha fruition after the tenth ground in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is precisely the place seen at the initial mind of the ten abodes in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra; it is precisely the grass of the Snow Mountains named Rich and Glossy, which, if cattle eat it, produces pure sarpirmaṇḍa, without any colors of blue, yellow, red, white, or black. In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, when the bodhisattva of the ten abodes sees the Way with the initial mind, they suddenly see that self and other are without beginning or end, without past or present, fundamentally Buddha, and the nature and marks of body and mind are fundamentally born of Buddha. Using this Buddha-gate as liberation, they ride the Tathāgata vehicle straight to the bodhimaṇḍa. The youth Sudhana, the ten thousand nāgas, the six thousand monks, the five hundred upāsakas, the five hundred upāsikās, the five hundred boys, and the five hundred girls suddenly manifest the five stages, universally equalling the gate of principle and wisdom of the Buddha fruition: the first abode is itself the ten grounds, and the first abode is itself the Buddha stage. If the first abode were not itself the Buddha stage, it would be like worldly ministers who, from the initial ninth rank up to the first rank, can only be called ministers and cannot be called kings. One should know that the provisional teaching establishes the sequence of the five stages and various grounds, ascending them one by one until the completion of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, yet one remains merely a bodhisattva and is not called a Buddha, nor is it called riding the Tathāgata vehicle straight to the bodhimaṇḍa. Merely cultivating the contemplation of selflessness, their compassion surpasses that of the two vehicles, yet not seeing the Buddha-nature, they are called bodhisattvas. If one has seen the nature in a small degree, one also attains the Buddha Vehicle, just as in a single drop of hair-tip size or even many drops from the great ocean, within each and every drop one completely obtains the great ocean. In this way, among the five stages of a bodhisattva, within each and every stage of the ten abodes and ten grounds there is the Buddha fruition, just like that single hair-tip drop of ocean water; because one practices manifold practices without departing from the Buddha-nature, one advances and cultivates by means of that Buddha-nature. As in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, it directly shows ordinary people the complete fruition of the Buddha, the immovable wisdom, and the ten wisdoms of the Tathāgatas for their faith and cultivation, just as an ordinary person might suddenly ascend the precious throne, personally holding the kingly position, fully knowledgeable of ministerial governance, encompassing all varieties of beings without exception. The Dharma-gate and characteristics of bodhisattva practice in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra are likewise like this: from the initial resolution at the beginning of the ten abodes, one suddenly sees such a Tathāgata dharmakāya, the unconditioned fruition of wisdom of the Buddha-nature, and universally practices all the ten thousand practices of Samantabhadra, flowing with conditions without obstruction, all being unconditioned. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'The Buddha-nature is not something made; it is only covered by adventitious defilements.' Now, from the initial stage of the ten abodes, with the unconditioned samādhi the self-essence accords with the real, and adventitious defilements completely lack an essence. It is solely true essence and function, free from greed, anger, and delusion, spontaneously being Buddha. Therefore, corresponding in a single thought, one accomplishes Buddhahood in a single thought; corresponding in a single day, one accomplishes Buddhahood in a single day. Why should one need to cultivate gradually over kalpas? If one accumulates cultivation over many kalpas and reaches the fruition after three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, when will the view-obstruction of the mind dwelling on the measure of kalpas ever cease? The Dharma-gates of the Buddhas are fundamentally not subsumed by time; calculating time and establishing kalpas is not the Buddha Vehicle.