勝鬘寶窟 2.36

2.36

Seventh is the section explaining the intention behind the teaching. Question: Based on what meaning did the Buddha speak of the ekayāna? Answer: There are two intentions for speaking of the ekayāna: first, with hidden intention; second, with explicit intention. As with the intention behind the teaching of the three vehicles prior to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, when the Buddha spoke in the teaching of the three vehicles of the emptiness of sentient beings of the three vehicles, he thereby spoke of there being no three persons, which was secretly teaching that the three persons together return to the ekayāna. Furthermore, when he formerly spoke of the emptiness of dharmas of the three vehicles within the teaching of the three vehicles, this was also secretly teaching that the dharmas of the three vehicles together return to the ekayāna. The former is based on the identity of pudgalanairātmya; the latter is based on the identity of dharmanairātmya. Next, explicitly teaching the ekayāna refers to the teaching of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra as well as this sūtra. Question: For what kind of people is the ekayāna explicitly taught? Answer: Universally for two kinds of persons: śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. As for being for bodhisattvas, there are two kinds of bodhisattvas: first, the bodhisattvas in the former three vehicles, who, although studying the Mahāyāna, had vacillating minds upon hearing the three vehicles taught—sometimes thinking they would advance to become bodhisattvas, sometimes thinking they might regress to become śrāvakas. Therefore, he taught them that there is one and not two; because there are not two, there is no regression, and because there is one, there is only advancement. The ekayāna was taught for these bodhisattvas. Second, bodhisattvas of the ekayāna disposition, who heard the teaching of the ekayāna in the past and thus possess the seeds of the ekayāna; in the present life, he again expounds the ekayāna for them. The former are bodhisattvas of the three vehicles, while the latter are bodhisattvas of the ekayāna. As for teaching the ekayāna for śrāvakas, there are also two kinds: [those who,] prior to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, were secretly transformed with the Mahāyāna Dharma, purifying and training their minds, so that only upon reaching the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra could the one [vehicle] be taught. Thus the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra says: 'Formerly, in front of the bodhisattvas, the Buddha disparaged the śrāvakas who delight in lesser dharmas, yet the Buddha actually transformed them with the Mahāyāna.' This is proof of secretly teaching the ekayāna. Second, there are śrāvakas of indeterminate disposition who can transform the Small into the Great. As the Hīnayāna doctrine states: from the preliminary preparations up through the stages of heat and summit, their faculties are not yet fixed and can turn around, so the one [vehicle] can be taught for them. When they reach the stage of supreme patience, the dispositions for the remaining two vehicles are all unconditioned cessation without analytical knowledge (aprati-saṃkhyā-nirodha) and cannot be turned around, so the ekayāna is not taught for them.