大般涅槃經集解 26.37

26.37

Sengliang notes: Next he answers 'How does one attain proximity to the supreme, unsurpassed path?' Above he said 'naturally able to attain'; now he shifts 'proximity' to 'attaining.' He speaks only of five persons because the severance of fetters is fixed. When ordinary beings enter fixed stages, there is no limit of kalpa counts. 'Eighty thousand kalpas' refers to what is later called attaining the bodhimind; it is also called the dwelling place for eighty thousand kalpas, which is lesser nirvāṇa, resembling the completion of the bodhimind. Delusions of thought are severed by the Small Vehicle, not necessarily in the bodhisattva. Because the kalpa counts are like this, one knows that biased love is easy to sever, whereas equal compassion is difficult to accomplish. Fayao says: Through expressing that the Tathāgata is free from illness, he attains [an explanation of] life and illness, which pertains to the mind. The two vehicles have illness and cannot arouse the mind; they must hear the Dharma from the Buddha. Those of sharp faculties, even though they do not hear the Dharma from the Buddha, naturally arouse the mind. One knows why these two kinds of persons attain proximity to the unsurpassed path. Dharmakṣema says: The five kinds of persons are from srotāpanna up to pratyekabuddha. Taking one fruit to correspond to two grounds, thus the first and second grounds correspond to the first fruit, up to the ninth ground corresponding to the pratyekabuddha.