注大乘入楞伽經 10

English (machine translation) 10

Language: English

10.1

"Afflictions, karma, and the body, / as well as the fruits obtained from karma... (and so on, down to) / practitioners do not eat [it]."

From the line above stating 'wealth, grain, gold, and silver, / fields, houses, and servants and maids' down to this point, there are fourteen verses in total. The Buddha admonishes his disciples not to inadvertently violate the precept of restraint without cause, for only then can they accomplish the precept of gathering wholesome dharmas and the precept of benefiting sentient beings, give rise to samādhi, develop wisdom, and be endowed with all Buddha-dharmas. From this we know that the precepts are the foundation of samādhi and wisdom; one cannot be without this master for even a single day. The ancient masters used the metaphor of a multi-storied pavilion, where the upper levels endure only when the lower level is solid—how fitting!

10.3

"When practitioners contemplate the world, / the defining mark and that which is marked... (and so on, down to) / how could they sever the two graspings?"

10.4

'Awakened wisdom' refers to the wisdom of the twofold selflessness; the 'two graspings' refer to the grasping at a self and the grasping at phenomena. The wisdom of the twofold selflessness arises as the path that counteracts the grasping at a self and at phenomena that are to be eliminated, as was explained in the previous chapter on the twofold selflessness. However, to administer the marvelous medicine of the two wisdoms, one must thoroughly know the root cause of the disease of the two graspings. As the Cheng weishi lun says: the graspings at a self and at phenomena held by non-Buddhists and other vehicles (that is, the two vehicles) are each of two kinds: first, innate; second, discriminated.

10.5

The two innate graspings refer to those that, due to the internal causal force of beginningless false perfuming, are always coexistent with the body (co-arising with the body and acting together with the mind), not waiting upon false teachings or false discriminations, and operating spontaneously; hence they are called innate. These again are of two kinds: first, constantly continuous, residing in the seventh consciousness, which cognizes the eighth consciousness, gives rise to an image of its own mind, and grasps it as real phenomena and a real self; second, intermittent, residing in the sixth consciousness, which cognizes the characteristics of the aggregates, realms, and bases transformed by the consciousness (the eighth), either collectively or individually, gives rise to an image of its own mind, and grasps it as real phenomena and a real self.

10.6

The two discriminated graspings refer to those that also depend on the force of present external conditions, are not coexistent with the body, and must wait upon false teachings and false discriminations before they arise; hence they are called discriminated. They exist only within the sixth mental consciousness, and these are also of two kinds: first, cognizing false teachings that explain the various characteristics of the aggregates, realms, and bases, giving rise to an image of one's own mind, discriminating and calculating, and grasping them as real phenomena and a real self; second, cognizing false teachings that explain the characteristics of the intrinsic nature of phenomena and the characteristics of a self, giving rise to an image of one's own mind, discriminating and calculating, and grasping them as real phenomena and a real self. (The text on these two graspings is treated separately in the treatise; here it is cited together.) Of these two graspings, those that arise through discrimination are severed through seeing [the path]; those that are innate are severed through cultivation; both arise through the conditions of ignorance. They exist like an illusion, and because the grasped self and phenomena are falsely calculated, they definitely do not exist. Therefore the World-Honoured One said: 'What is cognized by the various consciousnesses is only what is manifested by the mind, dependent nature, like illusory creations. If one understands the twofold emptiness, the two graspings are severed accordingly; that which is capable of understanding is precisely the two awakened wisdoms.' Hence it is said: 'If no awakened wisdom arises, / how could they sever the two graspings?'

10.7

"Because of awakening to one's own mind, / one can sever the two grasped [objects]... (and so on, down to) / all are made by mind-only."

10.8

Question: The initial cause of the three realms and the primordial beginning of the four modes of birth cannot be traced to their roots and branches, nor can their origins be discerned. Zhuangzi and Laozi referred to them as spontaneity; the Duke of Zhou and Confucius called them chaos. Here the Buddha says: 'From the formless realm down to the hells, the dependent and proper environments are all made by mind-only.' How can one give guidance regarding their very first point of arising? Answer: If one wishes to know the true origin of the bodies and lands of sentient beings, nothing precedes our mind. As the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'One should contemplate the nature of the dharma realm: all is made by mind alone.' And further: 'Mind is like a skilled painter, / able to paint all worlds; / the five aggregates all arise from it, / and there is no dharma it does not create.' Therefore it says: 'When bodhisattvas first abide on a ground, they should contemplate well; in accordance with all the dharma doors of their bodies, in accordance with all their profound wisdom, in accordance with the causes they cultivate, in accordance with the fruits they attain, in accordance with their realms of experience, in accordance with their powers and functions, in accordance with their manifestations, in accordance with their discriminations, and in accordance with what they attain, they contemplate them all thoroughly. They know that all dharmas are their own mind, and have no attachment.' The Śūraṅgama Sūtra also says: 'Through delusion and falsity there is empty space; relying on space, worlds are established; conceptualization crystallizing forms the lands, and awareness and perception are sentient beings.' As for the three continuous sequences of the world, sentient beings, and karmic retribution, they are all the cognitive nature of awakened brightness becoming clearly discerning; from discerning, characteristics are produced, and from false seeing arise the conditioned characteristics of mountains, rivers, and the great earth, progressively shifting and flowing, so that through this falsity they end and begin again. From this we know that where light has not yet issued forth, there is not even a name; when a thought is about to arise, its shadow is already cast. If there is perception and awareness, then the realm of sentient beings arises; if there is no conceptualization and no deliberation, then the conditions of the lands are produced. Through defiled dharmas there is transmigration in the six destinies; according to the purified mind there are the gradations of the four sages. It may be called the root of ordinary beings and sages, the origin of body and land. Therefore, when pointing to empty space and the world, all is our own mind—it is not merely saying that the Great Ultimate produces the two modes, or that the Mysterious Female is the root of Heaven and Earth; when examining the retribution of good and evil, all is our own karma—it is not merely saying that the High God is inconstant, or that the net of Heaven is vast. How could these be empty words?

10.9

"The illusion-like samādhis / and the mind-made body... (and so on, down to) / expounds the three vehicles and the one vehicle."

10.10

Question: Throughout this sūtra, it sometimes speaks of three vehicles and one vehicle, sometimes of five natures and one nature, and sometimes of no vehicle and vehicle-riders, up to various different explanations. What is its ultimate intention after all? Answer: The Buddha taught various paths, but in reality they are the one vehicle. If one relies separately on the provisional or the real, they appear to contradict each other; but if one harmonizes and penetrates them, none are contradictory. That is to say, with respect to faculties there are three, while regarding the Dharma there is one; newly perfumed there are five, while originally existent there are not two; if one enters the principle where both are calmed, then three and one are both extinguished; if regarded from the Buddha's manner of conversion, he can make them three and can make them one. The other various explanations can be understood by analogy with this. Therefore a treatise says: 'Vying in attachment, there is right and wrong; / those who have penetrated are free from dispute.'

10.11

"The Buddhas are thirty-six, / and each again has ten kinds... (and so on, down to) / the ālayavijñāna is the life-faculty."

10.12

The seeds of the fundamental consciousness are called longevity, because they can sustain the consciousness; since these seeds can maintain the continuity of form and mind, they are also called the life-faculty. The perceived division of this consciousness—material dharmas and the physical faculty—attains the name 'warmth'; the active consciousness is called 'consciousness.'

10.13

"Manas and mental consciousness / are different names for discrimination... (and so on, down to) / this is the course of the holy ones."

10.14

This states that all the noble ones cultivate the contemplation of the reality of tathatā and the contemplation of consciousness-only, as in the expedient means for progressing toward the Mahāyāna. The sūtra says: 'If one cultivates faith and understanding in the realm of the one reality, one should practice two kinds of paths of contemplation: first, the contemplation of consciousness-only; second, the contemplation of the reality of tathatā. As for practicing the contemplation of consciousness-only: at all times and in all places, in accordance with whatever actions are performed by body, speech, and mind, one should contemplate them all and know that they are mind alone. Even regarding all objects, if the mind directs its attention to them, one should observe and know them, not letting the mind cling to conditions in a neutral, indeterminate state without being self-aware. In thought-moment after thought-moment, one should contemplate everything: in accordance with whatever objects the mind attends to, one must cause the mind to follow those thoughts and make the mind know itself. Know that one's own inner mind spontaneously generates thoughts and memories, and that all objects do not themselves possess thought or discrimination. That is to say, the inner mind itself gives rise to views and boundless thoughts of long and short, good and bad, right and wrong, gain and loss, decline and prosperity, existence and non-existence, and the like; yet all objects have never had thoughts or initiated discrimination. One should know that because all objects are themselves without discriminative thoughts, they are themselves neither long nor short, neither good nor bad, up to neither existing nor non-existing, free from all marks. Contemplating in this way, all phenomena arise solely from thoughts of the mind. If they are separated from the mind, then there is not a single phenomenon or a single mark that could be seen as having distinctions in itself.'

10.15

'As for the contemplation of the reality of tathatā: one ponders that the nature of mind is without arising and without ceasing, not abiding in seeing, hearing, perceiving, or knowing, forever free from all thoughts of discrimination.' Therefore [the sūtra] says: 'Tathatā and vijñaptimātra are what all the noble ones practice.' Only when principle and practice are cultivated together as above is it called the method of contemplation. Hence Yongjia says: 'To cross the ocean one must first board a boat; without a boat there is no way to cross. To cultivate the mind one must enter contemplation; without contemplation there is no way to illuminate the mind. If the mind is not yet illuminated, on what day could it accord [with reality]?' If one could attain bodhi without cultivation and practice, then cats, rabbits, and the like should also realize it.

10.16

'"This exists" is said to be non-existent; they do not understand my Dharma (to) cessation and path are all fully present.'

10.17

Regarding the meaning of these four noble truths, Tiantai, based on the 'Chapter on Noble Practice' in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, unfolds them into four kinds of four noble truths: namely, arising and ceasing, non-arising and non-ceasing, immeasurable, and unconditioned.

10.18

As for 'arising and ceasing': suffering and origination are mundane cause and effect; cessation and path are supramundane cause and effect. Oppression is called suffering, wherein the three marks shift and change (the Abhidharmasamuccaya says: 'The birth of sentient beings and the places where their birth depends are both called the truth of suffering'). Increase is called origination, wherein the four minds fluctuate (the Abhidharmasamuccaya says: 'All afflictions and all karma created through the predominance of afflictions are both called the truth of origination'). Removal of adversity is called the path, wherein antidotes displace and conquer. Quiescence is called cessation, wherein existence is eradicated and returned to non-existence. This causes sentient beings to know suffering, abandon origination, aspire to cessation, and cultivate the path. Although both the mundane and supramundane are changing transitions, they are called the four noble truths of arising and ceasing (truth has two meanings: first, reality; second, discerning investigation). If one realizes that the four truths are empty because they arise from conditions, one transcends the snare, awakens to the principle, and achieves wisdom. Understanding that suffering is without suffering is called the noble truth of suffering; understanding that origination is without combination is called the noble truth of origination; understanding that cessation is without cessation is called the noble truth of cessation; understanding that the path is without a path is called the noble truth of the path. Hence they are called the four noble truths of non-arising.

10.19

The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Suffering has immeasurable marks, which are not known by the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; origination, cessation, path, and so forth are also like this.' These are the immeasurable four noble truths.

10.20

If one realizes that the aggregates and sense-fields are all suchness, there is no suffering to be abandoned; ignorance and afflictions are themselves bodhi, so there is no origination to be severed; saṃsāra is itself nirvāṇa, so there is no cessation to be realized; extreme and heterodox views are all the central and correct, so there is no path to be cultivated. Because there is neither suffering nor origination, there is no mundane realm; because there is neither cessation nor a path, there is no supramundane realm. All phenomena are the dharmatā, and apart from the dharmatā there is no other phenomenon; these are the unconditioned four noble truths. Hence the Xuanyi says: 'Because of delusion regarding principle, bodhi becomes affliction, which is called the truth of origination; nirvāṇa becomes saṃsāra, which is called the truth of suffering. Because of the ability to understand, affliction is itself bodhi, which is called the truth of the path; saṃsāra is itself nirvāṇa, which is called the truth of cessation. Phenomena themselves are the middle; without deliberation and without thought, with no one acting or creating, it is therefore called unconditioned.' It is also called the one real truth. Therefore, when the eight thousand śrāvakas in the Lotus assembly saw the Tathāgata-nature, it was like autumn harvest and winter storage, with nothing further to be done; because they had reached the fundamental, it is naturally like this. Those who have not personally realized it must not comfortably clasp their hands and imitate non-action and non-cultivation; they must wait until the water arrives for the channel to form, letting it function spontaneously.

10.21

Accordingly, these four truths correspond strictly to the various lands, having increases and decreases. The land of common residence has four; the land of expedient means has three; the land of true reward has two; the land of quiescent light has only one. Furthermore, explained generally they are called the four noble truths; explained specifically they are called the twelve links of dependent origination: suffering is the seven branches of consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, birth, and death; origination is the five branches of ignorance, mental formations, craving, grasping, and becoming; the path is the expedient means of antidotes against conditions; cessation is the cessation of ignorance, the cessation of mental formations, up to the cessation of old age and death. Therefore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra unfolds four kinds of four noble truths, and also unfolds four kinds of twelve links of dependent origination. Contemplating them with inferior wisdom, one attains śrāvaka bodhi; contemplating them with middling wisdom, one attains pratyekabuddha bodhi; contemplating them with superior wisdom, one attains bodhisattva bodhi; contemplating them with supreme wisdom, one attains the bodhi of all buddhas. Hence the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā says: 'Whatever phenomenon is dependently arisen' is arising and ceasing; 'I explain that it is empty' is non-arising and non-ceasing; 'It is also called a conventional designation' is immeasurable; 'It is also the meaning of the Middle Way' is unconditioned. It is also said: 'Conditions are origination; what is arisen is suffering; the expedient means to extinguish origination is the path; the exhaustion of suffering and origination is cessation.'

10.22

Question: The Dharma-nature is not even a single phenomenon; how can it be inferred by one, two, three, or four? Answer: The Dharma-nature is that which is deluded about; suffering and origination are that which deludes. That which deludes has gross and subtle degrees; that which is deluded about has identity and separation. In terms of distinguishing between within and beyond the realms, there are four kinds of suffering and origination; in terms of faculties and dispositions realizing the principle, there are differences of one, two, three, and four. If dull people within the realm are heavily deluded about truth, suffering and origination are also heavy; if sharp people are lightly deluded about truth, suffering and origination are also light. Sharp and dull, light and heavy beyond the realms are also like this. The Dharma-nature is that which is understood; cessation and path are that which understands. That which is understood has identity and separation; that which understands has skill and clumsiness. For dull people within the realm, that which is understood is separated, and that which understands is clumsy; for sharp people, that which is understood is identical, and that which understands is skillful. The identity and separation, skill and clumsiness of sharp and dull beyond the realms are also like this.

10.23

Question: Since origination has four, why are the fruit-results of suffering only two? Answer: Delusion follows understanding, so origination has four; understanding follows delusion, so it induces only two kinds of death. For example, in the Hīnayāna, if delusion follows understanding, there are [the paths of] seeing the truths and cultivation. If understanding follows delusion, it is only the single saṃsāra of delimited rebirth.

10.24

Question: Suffering and origination may indeed be dependently arisen phenomena; why is this also the case for cessation and path? Answer: Suffering and origination are that which is destroyed; cessation and path are that which destroys. That which destroys derives its name from that which is destroyed, so both are dependently arisen phenomena. Thus the Mahāparinirvāṇa [Sūtra] says: 'Because of extinguishing ignorance, one then obtains the blazing lamp of sambodhi.' This is also dependent origination.

10.25

Question: The Dharma-nature is that which is deluded about; why is it two? Why is it four? Answer: The Dharma-nature follows the provisional and the real, therefore it is two; the Dharma-nature follows faculties and conditions, therefore it is four. If one realizes this principle, and treats seeing marks, hearing the Dharma, and so forth likewise through these four kinds of discriminating examinations, there will be no error or confusion. Thus we know that the four noble truths of the one mind horizontally pervade and vertically penetrate; there is no principle not exhausted, and no phenomenon not fully provided for.

10.26

''Ordinary beings falsely discriminate, and because they grasp the three natures (to) severing them, all become pure.'

10.27

'All afflictions of seeing and cultivation' refers to the afflictions of discrimination severed in the path of seeing, and the innate afflictions severed in the path of cultivation. Explaining them commonly across the three vehicles, there are briefly ten kinds: first, greed; second, anger; third, delusion (also called ignorance); fourth, pride; fifth, doubt; sixth, view of self; seventh, extreme view; eighth, evil view; ninth, attachment to views; tenth, attachment to precepts and observances. Among these ten primary afflictions, general and specific, the four kinds of doubt, evil view, and the two attachments arise solely from discrimination, which are the afflictions severed by seeing; the remaining six, greed and the rest, are common to both discrimination and innateness, and are severed by both, namely severed by seeing and severed by cultivation.

10.28

Among the eight consciousnesses, the first five consciousnesses can give rise to the first three, which are also common to discrimination and innateness. Because they are guided by the three causes in the mental consciousness—false teachers, false teachings, and improper attention—they can have arising through discrimination. The sixth mental consciousness fully possesses all ten kinds: four are solely of discrimination, and six are common to discrimination and innateness. The seventh, manas, has only four innate ones: namely, self-delusion, self-view, self-pride, and self-love, because this consciousness is of the nature of defiled indeterminate. The eighth consciousness does not give rise to any of the ten at all (it merely contains their seeds), because only this [eighth consciousness] is of the nature of undefiled indeterminate.

10.29

Both the discriminative and innate pervade the three realms; only anger exists solely in the desire realm. The afflictions of the two higher realms, form and formless, are all subsumed under the defiled indeterminate nature. Under each of the four noble truths in the desire realm there are ten primary afflictions, which makes forty. In each of the two higher realms, anger is excluded from each truth, leaving nine in each, which makes seventy-two; combined with the desire realm there are one hundred and twelve. As for the innate ones, the desire realm possesses six; the two higher realms exclude anger, each possessing only five, which combined make sixteen; together with the aforementioned discriminative ones, there are one hundred and twenty-eight afflictions in total.

10.30

For persons of the two-vehicle capacity, by means of the eight patiences and eight knowledges they sever the discriminative afflictions of the four truths of the three realms, attaining the fruit of stream-enterer; next they cultivate the nine unobstructed paths and nine paths of liberation, severing the innate afflictions of the three realms, and attain the remaining three fruits. As for the cognitive obscurations, for those who head toward quiescence, they are severed upon entering the [nirvāṇa] without remainder; for all the others, some are severed and some are not, which is not like those of dull dharmas, because the latter only sever the affliction obscurations (the two-vehicle practitioners who have turned their minds toward the Mahāyāna can be like the bodhisattvas who have turned their minds, partially severing cognitive obscurations, unlike the two-vehicle practitioners of dull dharmas who solely sever affliction obscurations). Bodhisattvas of direct progression sever both obscurations; among the affliction obscurations, they do not divide stages according to realms like the two vehicles (bodhisattvas who have turned their minds sever affliction obscurations partly like the two vehicles). For those [obscurations] that arise from discrimination among the two obscurations, their active manifestations are subdued before the bhūmis; at the true path of seeing on the first bhūmi, their seeds are suddenly severed in a single instant. Regarding the afflictions among the innate ones, from the first bhūmi onward they can be severed at will, but their seeds are retained and thus not severed. Why? Because they moisten rebirth to gather and transform [sentient beings], prevent falling into the two vehicles, serve to sever the cognitive obscurations, and serve to attain great bodhi. The afflictions of that seventh consciousness are not of a nature that moistens rebirth, so they are not what is retained. Because their active forms are subtle, before the seventh bhūmi they sometimes temporarily appear, because contemplative wisdom has intervals. Therefore one should know that the seeds of the affliction obscurations last until the diamond-like stage; because the cognitive obscurations have subtle active forms and directly obstruct the bodhisattva path, they are severed stage by stage across the bhūmis, and only upon reaching the buddha-stage are they completely ended without remainder. Hence it is said that the cultivated delusions of both obscurations both last until the buddha-stage. Thus the Abhidharmasamuccaya says: 'Furthermore, across the stages of the ten bhūmis, all bodhisattvas only cultivate the path that is the antidote to the cognitive obscurations, and do not sever the affliction obscurations. Upon attaining bodhi, they suddenly sever both the affliction obscurations and the cognitive obscurations.'

10.31

According to the real teaching, the śrāvakas can only subdue the affliction obstacle, let alone sever the cognitive obstacle! As for the bodhisattvas, between the two obstacles, they do not distinguish between innate and conceptually constructed; there are only the active defilements and latent impressions. Prior to the stages, they subdue the manifestation of the defilements; at the first stage, they sever the seeds of the defilements; above the stages, they eliminate the latent impressions; and at the Buddha-stage, they are ultimately purified. Here, the latent impressions are only the residual latent impressions that exist immediately upon severing the seeds of the active defilements.

10.32

If we analyze the two obstacles in combination with the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses, one position holds that in the eighth consciousness there are only latent impressions, in the manas there are only seeds, and in the sixth consciousness there are only active manifestations; or it is said that the sixth, seventh, and eighth consciousnesses all encompass latent impressions, seeds, and active manifestations. However, these two obstacles are both able to obstruct wisdom and are collectively called ignorance, because they are the two kinds of ignorance: fundamental and derivative. As the Awakening of Faith says: 'Explaining the two obstacles on the basis of the gateway of the mutual dependence of fundamental and derivative: taking the six defiled minds produced by ignorance as the affliction obstacle (that is, the afflictions of the four resting-grounds), and the ignorance that is able to produce the defiled mind (the fundamental) is called the wisdom obstacle (the resting-ground of ignorance).' The affliction obstacle is also called derivative ignorance (it is also called the cognitive obstacle). Why? Because from the aspect of being able to defile objects, it is called affliction; from the aspect of being able to obstruct wisdom, it is also called ignorance. Thus the Yogācārabhūmi says: 'Ignorance is twofold: that which is associated with greed and so forth is called associated ignorance (derivative); that which is not associated with greed and so forth is called unassociated ignorance (fundamental), because it is the master.' The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi also says: 'Unshared ignorance is twofold: first, constantly active unshared, which is present only in the manas (derivative); second, independently active unshared, which is absent in the manas (fundamental).'

10.33

Therefore, Tiantai uses the cessation of realizing the true and contemplation of entering emptiness from the provisional, which accords with the wisdom of emptiness, to destroy the afflictions of views and thoughts (the afflictions of the four dwellings) and accomplish the wisdom of all modes through the eye of wisdom; the wisdom is able to attain the substance, attaining the true substance. By using the cessation of expediently according with conditions and contemplation of entering the provisional from emptiness, distinguishing various Dharma-doors of medicines and diseases, one destroys the affliction of ignorance (derivative ignorance) and accomplishes the wisdom of the aspects of the path through the Dharma eye; the wisdom is able to attain the substance, attaining the provisional substance. By taking the cessation of departing from the discrimination of the two extremes and the above two contemplations as expedients, one is able to enter the contemplation of the middle way, destroy fundamental ignorance, and accomplish the all-inclusive wisdom of all modes through the Buddha eye; the wisdom is able to attain the substance, attaining the substance of the middle way, the paramārtha-satya. This is still called the meaning of skillful crossing in sequential stages. If we speak in terms of the sudden and complete cessation and contemplation of the one mind: the quiescence of the nature of phenomena is called cessation, and quiescent yet constantly illuminating is called contemplation. When cessation takes the truths as its object, then within one truth are three truths; when the truths are bound to cessation, then within one cessation are three cessations. For example, like the three marks in a single thought-moment: although it is a single thought-moment, it has three marks. Cessation and truth are also like this: the phenomena that are stilled, though one, are three; the mind that can still, though three, is one. When contemplation contemplates the objective sphere, then within one objective sphere are three objective spheres; when the objective sphere activates contemplation, then within one contemplation are three contemplations. Just as the three eyes on the face of Maheśvara: though there are three eyes, they are one face. Contemplation and the objective sphere are also like this: contemplating three is just one, and activating one is just three. It is inconceivable, neither worldly nor transworldly, neither provisional nor real, neither superior nor inferior, neither before nor after, neither combined nor separate, neither large nor small. Thus the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā says: 'The phenomena born of causes and conditions are identical with emptiness, identical with the provisional, and identical with the middle.' Hence we know that for destroying all delusions nothing compares to emptiness, yet there is no provisional and no middle that is not empty; for establishing all phenomena nothing compares to the provisional, yet there is no emptiness and no middle that is not provisional; for culminating all natures nothing compares to the middle, yet there is no provisional and no emptiness that is not middle. These are all antidotes for the mental illnesses, ignorance, and afflictions of sentient beings, established expediently like this; within the Xianshou school, they still belong to the meaning of the final teaching. The ignorance and afflictions destroyed above are also called the two obstacles of principle and phenomena in the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment.

10.34

According to the sudden teaching, because the nature of delusion and the nature of wisdom are both fundamentally pure, one cannot speak of severing or not severing. Even if one says there is delusion to be severed, it is not severed gradually according to stages. As the Awakening of Faith says: 'If one departs from deluded thoughts, then there are no marks of any objective realm at all.' The complete teaching does not distinguish active defilements, latent impressions, seeds, and active manifestations at all; it says that the substance of all afflictions cannot be spoken of, so that all is false and all is true, being solely the inexhaustible, multi-layered realm of phenomena: sentient beings within the minds of all Buddhas, and all Buddhas within the minds of sentient beings, interpenetrating one another. Therefore, one obstacle is all obstacles, and one severing is all severings.

10.35

However, those who cultivate the practice of contemplation must realize that that which is able to sever has no self-nature, and that which is severed is fundamentally empty; a severing without severing is genuine severing. If one grasps them as definitely existent, one falls into eternalism, because they could not be severed; if one grasps them as definitely non-existent, one falls into annihilationism, forfeiting holy wisdom. Therefore, the ancient virtuous ones said: 'The Buddha is fundamentally existent, yet one diligently cultivates; delusion is fundamentally non-existent, yet it must be severed.'

10.36

'The mind pure by nature / Is confused by sentient beings ... / The wise should not speak of it.'

10.37

This means that if one cultivates in accordance with reality and severs delusion to realize the true by relying on the sacred teaching that can express it and the correct principle expressed by the Tathāgata, there will be no futile waste; departing from this in seeking to extinguish afflictions is entirely the teaching of Māra.

10.38

Therefore Master Xianshou, using the correct principle of the Buddha's holy teachings to elucidate the principal purports and so forth, skillfully accommodated capacities and faculties, dividing each into five (as seen in the Huayan Jiaozhang and the Commentary on the Awakening of Faith). Now, the five sacred teachings are: First, the Hīnayāna teaching, which, because it accords with capacities and accords with the words of others, speaks of all phenomena as entirely differentiated, in order to distinguish the false from the correct, differentiate ordinary people from sages, divide aversion from desire, and explain causes and effects. However, the principle it explains only reveals the emptiness of persons and does not elucidate the emptiness of phenomena; it establishes the basis of defilement and purity solely on the six consciousnesses and the three poisons, failing to reach the source of phenomena, hence there are many disputes. Second, the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna, also called the partial teaching, which holds that those of fixed dviyāna nature and icchantikas without nature do not attain Buddhahood. Since this does not exhaust the principle of the Mahāyāna, it is established as the initial; because there are those who do not attain Buddhahood, it is called partial. It explains dharma-characteristics extensively and dharma-nature minimally. The dharma-nature it explains is classified within dharma-characteristics, making distinct determinations, hence there are few disputes. Third, the final teaching, also called the real teaching, which teaches that the tathāgatagarbha accords with conditions to become the ālayavijñāna, that dependent origination lacks nature and all is suchness, and that those of fixed nature and those without nature will all attain Buddhahood. This exhausts the ultimate discourse of the Mahāyāna and is therefore established as the final; because it matches the true principle, it is called real. It explains dharma-characteristics minimally and dharma-nature extensively; the dharma-characteristics it explains also return to the nature, hence there are no disputes. The above two teachings both cultivate to completion gradually according to the stages, and are collectively called the gradual. However, this one gateway is distinct from what precedes and follows. Teachings merely have the distinctions of initial, final, sudden, and gradual; the Dharma does not have differences of superior and inferior, or shallow and deep. Fourth, the sudden teaching, which holds that if not a single thought arises, that is simply called Buddha; it is not explained according to stages or sequence, and is therefore called sudden. In general, it does not discuss phenomenal characteristics, but only elucidates the true nature. Everything that exists is only false imagination, the entire realm of phenomena is beyond words, the five dharmas and three natures are all empty, and the eight consciousnesses and two selflessnesses are completely set aside. It scolds verbal teachings to encourage detachment, destroys marks, and eliminates the mind: when the mind arises, it is delusion; when it does not arise, it is Buddha. Fifth, the complete teaching of the One Vehicle, which elucidates that one stage is all stages, and all stages are one stage; therefore, the mind fulfilling the ten faiths includes the five stages and accomplishes correct awakening, and so on. Master and companions are fully equipped, hence it is called the complete teaching. What it explains is solely the inexhaustible realm of phenomena; the ocean of nature is harmoniously integrated, and dependent origination is unobstructed, like the jewels of Indra's net, multi-layered and inexhaustible. (If this sūtra is to be displayed among the five, it is primarily the sudden teaching and secondarily the final).

10.39

However, the Jiaozhang speaks of the One Vehicle solely within the complete teaching, of which there are two kinds: first, the One Vehicle of identical teaching, because it is identical with the sudden and identical with the real; second, the One Vehicle of distinct teaching, because it exclusively possesses fully integrated virtues. The distinct teaching is utterly distinct from all teachings, while the identical teaching universally subsumes all teachings. Among the doctrinal classifications of various masters past and present, none is better than this. However, they did not clarify that the various vehicles and five teachings each also have identity and distinction, commonality and uncommonality, so I now continue it to complete their explanation. First, the Hīnayāna teaching: taking its sharing with the human and heavenly vehicles as the identical teaching, and taking its exclusive revelation of the four truths and four fruits as the uncommon distinct teaching; thus the *Prakaraṇapāda* fascicle six says: 'There are qualities shared with ordinary beings, and qualities unshared with ordinary beings. What are those shared? They are dhyānas and rebirths. What does this mean? It means such dhyānas and such rebirths may be possessed by both ordinary beings and noble ones. What are those unshared? They are the four paths of practice, the four unhindered understandings, the four fruits of the śramaṇa,' and so forth. Second, the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna: taking its sharing with the teaching of the dviyāna turning their minds as identical, and taking its teaching of direct progress unshared with the dviyāna as distinct; this is like the *Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra* having chapters on shared and unshared Prajñā teachings, elucidating the two teachings of turning the mind and direct progress. Third, the final teaching of the Mahāyāna: taking its sharing with the previous three vehicles as identical—the Lotus Sūtra says: 'Within the One Buddha Vehicle, the three are discriminatively taught; what you all practice is entirely the Bodhisattva path'—and taking its teaching of only the One Vehicle unshared with the three vehicles as distinct; the Lotus Sūtra says: 'In the Buddha lands of the ten directions, there is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle; there are neither two nor three. Only this one matter is real, the other two are not true.' Hence we know that both the *Lotus* and *Nirvāṇa* reveal the One Vehicle in contrast to the provisional and the small. Fourth, the sudden teaching of the Mahāyāna: taking its sharing with the initial, final, and Hīnayāna teachings as identical, and taking its being solely sudden, unshared with the previous three, as distinct. As the *Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment* says: 'This sūtra is named the Sudden Teaching of the Mahāyāna, from which sentient beings of sudden capacity awaken'—this refers to the capacity for direct progress in the distinct teaching. It also says: 'It also encompasses all categories of gradual cultivation'—this refers to the capacity of turning the mind in the identical teaching. Fifth, the complete teaching of the One Vehicle: as in the text of the doctrinal treatise distinguished above.

10.40

Among these five teachings, if paired as Great and Small, then the first one is small and the latter four are great; if paired as provisional and real, the former two are provisional and the latter three are real; if paired as sudden and gradual, the former three are gradual and the latter two are sudden; if paired as partial and complete, the former four are partial and the latter one is complete. And the former ones do not subsume the latter ones, while the latter ones necessarily include the former ones; this is spoken from the perspective of the identical teaching.

10.41

If spoken from the perspective of the distinct teaching, then each latter one refutes each former one. Thus the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'The nature of phenomena is truly permanent, departed from thoughts of the mind; / The two vehicles can also attain this, / Yet one is not the World-Honoured One on this account, / But only by profound, unobstructed wisdom' (this is the complete teaching refuting the sudden). This sūtra says: 'The first stage is just the eighth, up to: what sequence is there to marklessness?' (the sudden refuting the final and gradual). The Lotus Sūtra says: 'There are neither two nor three' (the final refuting the initial teaching). The Brahmajāla Sūtra scolds the two vehicles as wrong views (the provisional refuting the foolish dharma). All of these merely eliminate their illness, not their phenomena.

10.42

However, in the identical teaching, although it is identical with the preceding ones, the three middle teachings are also partially identical with the subsequent ones. For example, the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment has the three contemplations of the Dharma realm of the complete teaching, and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and so forth have the active marks of the real teaching. Yet they have that with which they are identical, but lack that by which they are distinct; they have the meaning, but lack the teaching. They only constitute the meaning within their own teaching. Because the various sūtras and treatises have such Dharma doors of identity and distinction, commonality and uncommonality, emerging and submerging and mutually interpenetrating, the five different teachings are expediently established.

10.43

Question: We already know that the five teachings each have their commonalities and distinctions, running through the various expositions, and thereby it is clear that the teachings of the [Buddha's] lifetime have no further remainder. How is it that the one mind (ekacitta), when related to the various teachings, has such differentiated meanings? Answer: This is stated because there are two senses. First, according to the comprehensive subsumption of dharmas: because this profound ekacitta of pratītyasamutpāda possesses five doors of meaning, the Sage accordingly guides and transforms sentient beings through one or another door. The first is the door of subsuming meaning under names, as spoken of in the Hīnayāna teaching; the second is the door of subsuming principle under phenomena, as spoken of in the initial teaching; the third is the door of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena, as spoken of in the final teaching; the fourth is the door of phenomena being exhausted and principle being revealed, as spoken of in the sudden teaching; the fifth is the door of the ocean of nature being endowed with virtues, as spoken of in the complete teaching. Thus, without moving from the root, it is ever the branches; without destroying the branches, it is ever the root. The five meanings interpenetrate, being solely ekacitta. Second, according to the capacity of the faculties in attaining the Dharma (capacities differ): there are those who attain names but do not attain meaning, as in the Hīnayāna teaching; there are those who attain names and attain partial meaning, as in the initial teaching; there are those who attain names and attain the full meaning, as in the final teaching; there are those who attain meaning without retaining names, as in the sudden teaching; and there are those for whom both names and meanings are inexhaustible, as in the complete teaching. Therefore, one knows that although the sage teachings have ten thousand variations, in essence there are only these five: initially they are distinctly separate without confusion, and ultimately they wholly subsume one another. Interpenetrating into one flavor, all doubts are extinguished—all of this is simply the Tathāgata's one great skill-in-means, his expedient method for gathering sentient beings. Other doors of meaning are elaborated broadly as stated there.

10.44

"First, one should decisively understand the self (ātman) and analyze the graspings [up to] the fifth, the inexpressible."

10.45

As for the statement "the three times and the non-temporal, the fifth being the inexpressible": it refers to the Vātsīputrīyas of India, who take both the ātman and dharmas as existent as their fundamental tenet, and establish the pañca-dharma-kośa: the three times being three; the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) being the fourth (namely, the non-temporal); and the fifth, the anabhilāpyakośa, within which the ātman is situated, because it cannot be spoken of as either saṃskṛta or asaṃskṛta. Therefore, this one school is universally rejected by the other schools, who call them "non-Buddhists attached to the Buddha's Dharma."

10.46

"That which all Buddhas know, the abode of grasping of all formations [up to] do not engage in further discrimination (vikalpa)."

10.47

This final verse refers to the transmission and circulation according to the meaning. The teaching is the trace, which is the mind as that which expresses; the principle is the root, which is the mind as that which is expressed. Without the root, there is no way to manifest traces; without traces, there is no way to reveal the root. If one can trace the traces and attain the root, one will naturally cut off the traces and return to the source. Therefore it is said: "The teaching is accomplished by virtue of the principle; the principle is revealed by virtue of the teaching." This teaching is the true definitive teaching within the Mahāyāna; this principle is the profound, ultimate principle of the ekacitta of pratītyasamutpāda. Therefore, it concludes by exhorting the fourfold assembly of disciples to have faith, understand, cultivate, and practice, entering into authentic realization so as not to sever the Tathāgata lineage. Hence it is said: "One should rely on this teaching and principle; do not engage in further vikalpa."

10.48

Annotated Mahāyāna Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, Fascicle Ten (End)

10.49

Re-collated by the śramaṇa who solicited support to carve the printing blocks, (Jiongwei).

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注大乘入楞伽經 — Classical Chinese