新華嚴經論 4.10

4.10

Fourth, as for the gate of contemplative wisdom that harmonizes existence and non-existence: this is the teaching of the third period in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, which explains the ninth consciousness as the pure consciousness that serves as the basis for karmic seeds, and also speaks of the three natures and three non-natures—namely, the parikalpita (imagined) nature, the paratantra (other-dependent) nature, and the pariniṣpanna (consummated) nature. Mutually establishing and destroying each other, they are free from all graspings and hindrances; neither established nor destroyed, their nature is inherently nirvāṇa. As a verse in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra states: 'All dharmas lack intrinsic nature; / Unborn and unceasing, they are originally tranquil. / The inherent nature of all dharmas is ever nirvāṇa: / Who possessing wisdom has no hidden intent?' This sūtra was preached to refute those who, through an overemphasis on cultivating emptiness according to the Prajñā[pāramitā], destroyed the dharmas of conditioned origination, so that their views of emptiness manifested and contradicted the true principle. In this sūtra, it is established that the conditioned dharmas are themselves inherently nirvāṇa, and one need not repudiate them. To speak of emptiness and to speak of existence mutually refute each other; one must not cling to existence, nor must one cling to non-existence. Furthermore, although this sūtra establishes the names of the ten grounds in common with the Avataṃsaka, their doctrinal import and regulations are quite different. Moreover, it lacks the stages prior to the grounds, such as the three grades of worthies and the ten faiths; it only establishes the behavioral aspects of severing delusions throughout the ten grounds, and speaks of the Buddha Ground as the eleventh ground. Within these eleven ground stages, it further speaks of eleven kinds of coarseness (dauṣṭhulya) and twenty-two kinds of ignorance. Why this sūtra does not establish the practice-gates of the three grades of worthies and the ten faiths prior to the grounds is because, in this sūtra, prior to the grounds is not yet the Path of Seeing. Furthermore, it is because within the teaching of the third period it only harmonizes existence and non-existence, and does not yet represent the fulfillment of practices embracing principle and phenomena by Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra. Therefore, in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, when the Dharma gates of the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, and ten grounds are spoken, all the Buddhas of the ten directions come together to seal and approve them; all Buddha-lands universally speak this gate; and thirteen kinds of mutual augments signify reality. In the sūtras of the three vehicles, only eleven grounds are spoken, because they do not fully embrace all sentient beings; these are the practices of the ten grounds of provisional designation, provisional wisdom, and provisional suchness among the three types of ten grounds. Why is this so? Because this eleventh ground is the Buddha stage, yet within this Buddha stage there are still hindrances, demonstrating that prior to the eleventh ground there was not yet the true principle and fundamental wisdom. If there were complete wisdom of the true principle, why would the eleventh ground have the eleven coarsenesses? Since coarseness exists, it follows that there is not the Buddha's wisdom as cause and effect in ground after ground. This sūtra merely harmonizes existence and non-existence gradually so that there is no stagnation; it is not yet like Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī expounding the exhaustive great function of the wisdom of principle and phenomena. Just as the Benevolent Kings Sūtra (Renwang jing) speaks of establishing the practice-gates of the five stages and ten grounds, wherein one gradually trains from the ordinary level, accumulating practice across many lives and cultivating provisional suchness. There are also teachings that say one suppresses delusions prior to the grounds and attains the Path of Seeing on the grounds; or that say one retains delusions without severing them, requiring the passage of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas before Buddhahood can be achieved. Teachings such as these are all provisionally established for those of provisional capacities; they are not ultimate expositions. Whatever is spoken by transformation Buddhas serves merely to guide people of middling and lower capacities, not being an exhaustive, ultimate exposition. The rest can be understood by analogy. Furthermore, when people of the two vehicles turn their minds and aspire to the Buddha fruition described in the provisional teachings, and when bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings aspire to the Buddha fruition, upon completing their [three] asaṃkhyeyas, they merely delight in seeking the reward-fruition of a Buddha of a trichiliocosm; they do not delight in the reward-fruition of the realm of the ten Buddhas, Vairocana's inexhaustible realm of the ten directions. This is unlike the Buddha fruition aspired to by the bodhisattvas of the ten faiths in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, where, based on the mind of resolute faith, an ordinary person fully equipped directly delights in cultivating the realm of the ten-bodied Vairocana, a wondrous realm whose profound mind is vast, reaching the ultimate, profoundest mystery. This is not like the Buddha realms of the provisional teachings, all of which establish demarcations and limits; this is merely because their capacities were narrow and not yet vast, so [these stages] were provisionally established for the time being. For example, regarding the limits of severing delusions across the ten grounds in the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra: in the first ground, the initial ground, one counteracts the hindrance of defilements of bad rebirths, karma, and rebirth; in the second ground, one counteracts the hindrance of subtle accidental transgressions manifesting in action; in the third ground, one counteracts the hindrance of craving for desires; in the fourth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of attachment to concentration and attachment to dharmas; in the fifth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of exclusively turning one's back on saṃsāra and inclining toward nirvāṇa; in the sixth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of coarse characteristics manifesting in action; in the seventh ground, one counteracts the hindrance of subtle characteristics manifesting in action; in the eighth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of lack of mastery over effortless exertion in signlessness and unconditioned action, and regarding signs; in the ninth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of lack of mastery over skillful eloquence of all kinds; in the tenth ground, one counteracts the hindrance of failing to realize and attain the complete dharmakāya. 'Good sons! This śamatha and vipaśyanā, on the Tathāgata Ground, counteracts extremely subtle, the most extremely subtle hindrances and the cognitive hindrances.' In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, by contrast, merely at the initial abode of the first aspiration among the three grades of worthies prior to the grounds, one is immediately able to suddenly realize the Dharma gate of the Buddha fruition, universally sealing all the stages: the ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications of merit, ten grounds, equal enlightenment, and the other stages, just like when an impression is stamped with a seal, the written pattern is completely formed without before or after. That is, at the very moment of the initial aspiration, one suddenly seals the ignorance of the three realms, and it immediately becomes an ocean of Buddha wisdom. By means of the seal of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, wisdom-body, and great compassion, one suddenly seals the world all at once to make it the great function of the dharmadhātu, because there is no before and after, because the Dharma is naturally so. This is unlike the provisional teachings which establish provisions outside the Dharma, merely guiding those of the three capacities to return to the One Real.