勝鬘寶窟 2.48.1

2.48.1

From "What are the two?" downwards, the second [section] enumerates the names of the two kinds of death. / "Samsaric" means illusory sentient beings. / Third, clarifying the distinction with respect to persons: / "Illusory sentient beings" are those who take grasping at marks as cause; a mind with marks is illusory. / Furthermore, not yet having attained the true, uncontaminated understanding, they take rebirth in accordance with defilements, revolving through the five destinies, falling or rising without certainty or reality; hence they are "illusory." / This explanation is made with respect to ordinary beings and does not treat of noble ones, because the three realms are fundamentally the defilements of ordinary beings. / If taking the Hīnayāna Dharma generally, ordinary beings, those in the three fruits and four fruitions, and up to those of the two vehicles who have not yet entered [nirvāṇa] without remainder—the retribution bodies they receive are termed "illusory sentient beings." / Some say: In the Mahāyāna Dharma, external ordinary persons and bodhisattvas of the wholesome destinies all take rebirth through delusive craving within the planes of the three realms; hence it says "illusory." / If according to the old explanations, passing from the stage of ordinary beings through the Mahāyāna, up to prior to receiving the first stage, all undergo samsaric death. / This uses the intent of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa to interpret the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and the Renwang jing. If it is as the Tripiṭaka master says: In the sixth mind of the ten practices, defilements are severed equally with the two vehicles; / prior to becoming equal with the two vehicles, they all undergo samsaric bodies. / "Inconceivable transformation [death] refers to arhats and pratyekabuddhas": this refers to taking these arhats and pratyekabuddhas after the two vehicles have entered [nirvāṇa] without remainder and prior to their turning from the Small to enter the Great. / There are two kinds of persons among the two vehicles turning from the Small to enter the Great: one turns the small-minded intention within the realm, still subsumed under samsara; / the second turns the mind beyond the realm, subsumed under transformation. / When these two kinds of persons turn their minds to enter the Great, both are bodhisattvas of great power. / There are moreover two kinds of bodhisattvas of great power: first, those of direct progress who possess great power; second, those who turn from the Small to enter the Great and are named as having great power. / Speaking of "great power," because they are not bound by karma and take rebirth with mastery, they are called "of great power." / Question: What is the stage of a bodhisattva of great power? / Answer: Some say they are the so-called "bodhisattvas of the lineage." / Why so? The defilements of the two hindrances have not been severed at all, yet they are not dragged by defilements, and they have mastery in taking rebirth in the three realms; hence they are named "of great power." / Although this master says the lineage undergoes transformation, he has not yet determined which lineage it is. / Some say: Bodhisattvas before the stages can perform the five births, and are called "of great power." / The stages before the [ten] bhūmis are general, and he has not yet demarcated which stage before the bhūmis it is. / Relying on the Tripiṭaka master's commentary on the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and the Renwang jing, both say: Bodhisattvas of the ten practices sever defilements equally with the two vehicles. / That is, the person of the ten practices is the bodhisattva of great power. / This general idea is the same as the previous two masters, yet determines the stage to be in the ten practices. / Some say: The sixth stage is still subsumed under samsara; at the final mind of the sixth stage, retribution in the three realms is exhausted, and they then undergo transformation. / They take this sūtra precisely as proof. / Some say: There are four kinds of birth-and-death: first, flowing-stream birth-and-death, which means initially relying on emptiness to produce a single thought of consciousness; / second, samsaric; / third, intermediate birth-and-death, of the non-learners of the two vehicles; / fourth, transformation, undergone by the seventh stage, with residual habit-energies as cause; not being born in the three realms and not yet reaching the existence of dharmas, it is therefore intermediate birth-and-death. / When retribution in the three realms is exhausted for the non-learners of the two vehicles, they are born together in the intermediate [state]. / Hearing sūtras such as the Lotus Sūtra, they transform into bodhisattvas; when their practice is fulfilled at the final mind of the seventh stage and they enter the Dharma-stream of the eighth stage, only then is it named transformation. / Therefore, with the sixth stage as samsaric, the seventh stage undergoes intermediate, and the eighth stage undergoes transformation. / Some say: Four kinds of birth-and-death are not established; only two kinds of birth-and-death, samsaric and transformation, are established. / The sixth stage is samsaric, and from the seventh stage onward is transformation. / Now I say that the meaning of the stages is difficult to know; producing faults from subjective speculation, it cannot be definitively determined. / If according to the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkopadeśa, several passages are clear. / Furthermore, it explains that before the stages one is an ordinary being who undergoes a samsaric body, and only upon relinquishing the samsaric body does one enter the first stage; thus one knows that from the first stage onward is transformation birth-and-death and the bodhisattva of great power. / Speaking of the "mind-made body," it refers to all bodhisattvas from the first stage and above; their undergoing rebirth is unobstructed and sovereign, according with mind and according with intention; hence it is called "undergoing rebirth through mind." / "Mind" has three meanings: first, reaching everywhere; second, swift; third, unobstructed; hence it is called "mind-made body." / These are all distinctions of transformation birth-and-death. / Some say: From transformation onward, there is no longer physical, spatial samsara; it is simply mind and consciousness undergoing rebirth, hence called "mind-made body." / Master Fu says: "Transformation is a figurative name. / Deep, obscure, and difficult to fathom, like consciousness alternating and changing, it is therefore called 'mind-made body.'" / "Up to ultimate anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi" recounts the delimitation of this birth-and-death: it is exhausted only upon reaching buddhahood. / Furthermore, this adduces the station where it is not undergone, in contrast to showing the distinction of stations where it is undergone. / From "Of the two kinds of death" downwards, because there is no samsaric birth-and-death, it says "my births are exhausted." / This shows that of the two deaths, only samsaric is exhausted, while transformation is not yet exhausted. / This harmonizes and explains the teachings of the present and past. / "Attaining the realization of the fruit with remainder, it therefore says 'the holy life has been established'": according to the Nirvāṇa-sūtra, there are two kinds: first, the holy life practiced has reached completion, hence said to be "established"; / second, furthermore, relinquishing the path of training is provisionally named "established." / In the present text, the holy life being established is the wisdom realizing cessation. / If discussing with respect to with-remainder and without-remainder: where samsara is exhausted is called with-remainder; where transformation is exhausted is said to be without-remainder. / The two vehicles only attain the exhaustion of samsara, named realization with remainder. / The Tathāgata, in reference to this, says their holy life has been established; hence it is an upāya. / "Ordinary beings, humans, and devas": this clarifies that "what had to be done has been done" is an upāya. / The Nirvāṇa-sūtra says: "There are two: first, what was originally sought has today been attained, said to be 'done'; / second, cultivating the path and attaining the fruit is provisionally said to be 'done.'" / "What had to be done has been done" is the wisdom of cultivating the path. / The path has two kinds: first, the antidote to samsara; second, the antidote to transformation. / The two vehicles only cultivate the antidote to samsara; the Tathāgata, in reference to this, says that what they had to do has been done; hence it is an upāya. / In the text there are two clauses: the first reveals and explains the upāya in contrast to persons; the second shows and explains the upāya in contrast to hindrances. / That ordinary beings have not accomplished it and the seven [classes of] learners have not done it is in contrast to persons. / Ordinary beings are not yet able to accomplish that noble path of non-learning; the two vehicles, in contrast to them, are therefore said to have "done it," and the learners are also like this. / Question: Merely saying "ordinary beings" would be sufficient; why also say "humans and devas"? / Answer: "Ordinary beings" are internal ordinary beings; / "humans and devas" are external ordinary beings. / The three fruits and four fruitions are the seven classes of learners. / Question: How does "what had to be done has been done" differ?