金光明最勝王經疏 4.70

4.70

Below is the general conclusion exhorting cultivation. Question: At what stages do these causes of generating the mind reside? Answer: There are many stages of generating the mind. According to the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, there are two: first, conventional; second, ultimate. The conventional is on the stages prior to the bhūmis; the ultimate is on the bhūmis. It also says: “The bodhisattva's generation of the mind has four differences based on the bhūmis: first, the generation of the mind of aspirational practice, meaning the stage of aspirational practice (adhimukticaryā-bhūmi); second, the generation of the mind of pure disposition, meaning the first seven bhūmis; third, the generation of the mind of maturation, meaning the last three bhūmis; fourth, the unhindered generation of the mind, meaning the Tathāgata stage.” This is spoken in terms of what is especially augmented across the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas and the ultimate stage; in reality, the mind is generated in each of the forty-two stages. The Sūtra of Mañjuśrī's Questions on the Bodhi-mind also speaks of four kinds, stating: “There are four kinds of mind that can achieve causes and achieve fruits. What are the four? First, the initial generation of the mind; second, the generation of the mind of practice; third, the generation of the mind of non-retrogression; fourth, the generation of the mind of one bound to one more birth.” The treatise commentary explains: The first two generations of the mind both reside prior to the bhūmis—the first surpasses the śrāvakas, the second surpasses the pratyekabuddhas; the third generation of the mind surpasses the indeterminate stages, since one has already entered the first bhūmi and attained realized wisdom; the fourth generation of the mind, because it is skillfully […] the stage of the Dharma prince, is the tenth bhūmi. The seventy-second [fascicle] of the Yogācārabhūmi also has ten generations of the mind: 1. conventional generation of the mind, prior to the bhūmis; 2. generation of the mind attaining the nature of phenomena, referring to bodhisattvas who have entered the bhūmis and those who, having attained the fruit of the two vehicles, divert their minds; 3. indeterminate generation of the mind, referring to those not of the bodhisattva lineage or, even if of the bodhisattva nature, possessing qualities that regress; 4. determinate generation of the mind, contrary to that; 5. impure generation of the mind, referring to those who generate the mind because they are pressured by others, seek a livelihood, and so forth; 6. pure generation of the mind, contrary to the above; 7. feeble generation of the mind, referring to those who, having generated the mind, are overwhelmed and subdued by the entanglements of greed and the like, abandoning correct practice for perverse practice; 8. intense generation of the mind, contrary to the above; 9. generation of the mind not yet having achieved the fruit, referring to the causal stages; 10. generation of the mind having achieved the fruit, referring to the Buddha stage. Among the ten generations of the mind spoken of here, each of the indeterminate, impure, and feeble contains a small portion, for among the three it is possible that they can act as causes; thus one can explain them only according to their general characteristics, spanning the three categories of generating the mind previously mentioned. Alternatively, it is unobjectionable to provisionally assign them individually based on a single characteristic, yet that is not as good as explaining them comprehensively. The Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha explained the ten causes of generating the mind with five meanings each for the metaphor and the Dharma, because the ten pāramitās below each have five aspects of practice. Although this principle exists, there is no explicit scriptural passage, so it is […] difficult for people to explain them as five meanings. In accord with each of the five practices in the ten pāramitās below, Paramārtha correlates them with five out of the nine gates for the six pāramitās in that Yogācārabhūmi: 1. intrinsic nature, 2. all, 3. difficult practice, 4. good persons, and 5. purity. It is likewise difficult in terms of principle to correlate them with these five as fitting. The explanations across various sūtras and treatises differ individually: the Samuccaya, the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, and others have three each for the first six and two each for the latter four; the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra has six gates each for the six; the Ratnameghasūtra has ten gates each for the ten. Why correlate them only with five of the nine gates in the Yogācārabhūmi? Hence we know that the distinctions of the aspects of practice of the ten pāramitās have immeasurable gates; across the various sūtras and treatises, they illuminate one another according to context, none being in contradiction. Nevertheless, relying on the aspects of practice to explain them is also permissible, because the meaning of the nine gates encompasses everything. In detail, it will be clarified provisionally based on the distinctions in the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and so forth.