勝鬘寶窟 1.42

1.42

From "You have praised the Tathāgata" onward is the second part, which specifically explains the conferral of the prophecy. In terms of the text, there are two parts: first, it explains that through present causes she receives the prophecy of a proximate fruit; second, it explains that through future causes she receives the prophecy of a distant fruit. These are also future causes and future fruits; they are also bodhisattva causes and bodhisattva fruits; and they are also Buddha causes and Buddha fruits. In the first part there are also two sections: first, it explains the cause; next, it explains the attainment of the fruit. "You have praised the real virtues of the Tathāgata" recapitulates the previous wholesome cause. From "By means of this root of goodness" onward is the second section, explaining the attainment of the fruit. Within explaining the attainment of the fruit, it first explains the span of time, and next explains the attainment of the fruit. Now, we first explain the meaning of asaṃkhyeya-kalpa. According to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa, it explains only two kinds of asaṃkhyeya: first, when the number of days, months, and years cannot be counted, it is called a minor asaṃkhyeya; second, when kalpas cannot be counted, it is a major asaṃkhyeya. Some say there are three kinds of asaṃkhyeya: two are the same as above, and the third is a mahākalpa-asaṃkhyeya. The Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya states that sixty-four kalpas are called one mahākalpa. What is meant by sixty-four kalpas is that, beginning from the initial fire-kalpa and ending with the wind-kalpa, there are sixty-four. The sixty-four are: seven of fire and one of water; when seven waters have passed, it goes through seven more fires before there is one of wind, so together they make sixty-four. Combining these sixty-four makes one mahākalpa; when such mahākalpas cannot be counted, it is called one mahā-asaṃkhyeya. The Sujāta-sūtra says: "The kalpa of weapons and famine is one minor kalpa; nineteen minor kalpas make one medium kalpa." The Kośa says: "Eighty minor kalpas make one mahākalpa." According to the second fascicle of the Yingluo jing, it also explains three kalpas: a stone of one li, two li, three li, up to forty li, square and wide likewise, brushed once every three years according to the days, months, and years of the human world with a celestial garment weighing three zhu; when this stone is worn away completely, it is called one minor kalpa. Within minor kalpas, there are naturally those of one li, two li, up to forty li. A stone of sixty li, square and wide likewise, brushed once every three years according to the days, months, and years of the hundred-jeweled radiant pearls in the Brahmā heaven with a Brahmā heaven garment weighing three zhu; when this stone is worn away completely, it is called a medium kalpa. There is a stone of eight hundred li, square and wide likewise, brushed once every three years according to the days, months, and years of the hundred-jeweled radiant mirrors in the Śuddhāvāsa heaven with a Śuddhāvāsa heaven garment weighing three zhu; when this stone is worn away completely, it is called one mahā-asaṃkhyeya-kalpa. Question: In the present sūtra, it is explained that one accomplishes buddhahood by practicing through three asaṃkhyeya-kalpas. Which kalpa is definitively used? Answer: The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and so forth say: or [it is] a forty-li stone brushed away completely by a celestial garment descending once every three years. Furthermore, [it is like] a forty-li city filled with mustard seeds not leveled flat; a person living a hundred years takes away one mustard seed; when the mustard seeds are exhausted, it is called one mahākalpa. Taking such kalpas as uncountable is called one mahā-asaṃkhyeya-kalpa; in comparison with the Yingluo jing, this is its minor kalpa. Most adopt this explanation. Or one may rely on the uncountable mahākalpas in the Yingluo jing being called one asaṃkhyeya. Question: Does one attain buddhahood simply when the time span of three asaṃkhyeyas is complete? Answer: It is not so. If one simply counted the time span, within that time span some might pass in vain. Here, we take the continuous succession of wholesome thoughts moment to moment through three asaṃkhyeyas; only when the wholesome deeds of three asaṃkhyeya-kalpas are complete does one attain buddhahood. Question: When the wholesome deeds of three asaṃkhyeya-kalpas are complete, does this also include [those of] humans, devas, the two vehicles, and the causes of buddhahood? Answer: The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa says: "The wholesome deeds of ordinary beings and the wholesome deeds of definitive śrāvakas are not causes of buddhahood and cannot achieve buddhahood; it must be that one generates the bodhicitta, practices bodhisattva deeds, and completes wholesome deeds for three asaṃkhyeyas—only then can one become a Buddha." In the Saṃyuktābhidharmahṛdaya there are two kinds of asaṃkhyeya: an asaṃkhyeya of wholesome practice and an asaṃkhyeya of kalpas. The asaṃkhyeya of wholesome practice is the aforementioned wholesome deeds; the asaṃkhyeya of kalpas refers to the time span. Question: What are the three asaṃkhyeyas in terms of stages? Answer: In the first asaṃkhyeya, one practices and reaches the first bhūmi; second, from the first bhūmi one practices through one asaṃkhyeya and reaches the eighth bhūmi; third, from the eighth bhūmi one practices through one asaṃkhyeya and reaches the Buddha-bhūmi. Question: Why is this? Answer: First, from ordinary being to noble one; next, from effort to effortless; finally, from cause to fruit. Question: In terms of meeting buddhas, how is it? Answer: The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states regarding the Hīnayāna: When Śākyamuni was an ordinary teacher in the past, he encountered the past Śākyamuni Buddha and first generated the thought [of awakening]; up to Ālayasikhin Buddha was one asaṃkhyeya; from Ālayasikhin to Dīpaṃkara was the second asaṃkhyeya; from Dīpaṃkara to Vipaśyin Buddha was the third asaṃkhyeya; from Vipaśyin until the present Śākyamuni achieved buddhahood, another ninety-one kalpas elapsed. The Hīnayāna also says: During the first three asaṃkhyeyas, one practices the six tainted pāramitās; during the subsequent ninety-one kalpas, one plants the karma for the marks and signs. Nāgārjuna only refuted their practicing the tainted six pāramitās and planting the karma for the marks and signs for a hundred kalpas; he did not refute their three asaṃkhyeyas. One should know that these three asaṃkhyeyas are a fixed number common to both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna. The general term "kalpa" in Sanskrit is kalpa, translated here as "differentiating time spans." In Sanskrit it is kālapa, translated here as "time." Question: Why does the kalpa of fire arise to burn the world? As the Paramārthadharmavijaya-sūtra says: "The Buddha wishes to show sentient beings so that they know the time spans; furthermore, he shows sentient beings the formation and disintegration of karmic fruits; furthermore, he shows sentient beings that the fire of the kalpa arises, causing them to fear the kalpa-fire and thus cultivate wholesome dharmas in advance." We say now: either the Buddha manifests the kalpa-fire, or sentient beings' retribution for a single period is exhausted, and for these reasons the kalpa-fire and so forth arise. Question: Since one accomplishes buddhahood through practicing for only three asaṃkhyeyas, why does the present sūtra text speak of "immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas"? Answer: Some say that what is called "immeasurable" here is, according to the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, the name of one number among the one hundred and twenty numbers; it is not casually saying "without measure." Asaṃkhyeya is a foreign word, translated here as "innumerable," and it is also the name of one number among the one hundred and twenty numbers. If so, then "immeasurable, boundless, and asaṃkhyeya." The sūtra speaks of asaṃkhyeya-kalpas; therefore, [the mention] below of becoming an independent king refers to the first bhūmi, because one practices through one asaṃkhyeya-kalpa to reach the first bhūmi. Alternatively, relying on the sūtra's "immeasurable and boundless asaṃkhyeyas," it means that the asaṃkhyeyas are immeasurable and the asaṃkhyeyas are boundless. Question: If practice is only for three asaṃkhyeyas, why does it say immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas? Answer: This could perhaps be an asaṃkhyeya of time spans, not an asaṃkhyeya of wholesome practice. Or it could be a minor asaṃkhyeya.