金剛般若論會釋 1.58

1.58

This initial generating of the mind arises from four kinds of conditions: first, seeing or hearing that Buddhas and others possess great supernatural powers; second, hearing the teaching of the Bodhisattva-piṭaka expounded; third, seeing that the Dharma is about to perish, thinking, ‘If the Dharma abides long, it can extinguish all suffering; I should generate the mind and bring about such benefit’; fourth, in the final era of the degenerate kalpa, seeing evil sentient beings perturbed by the ten afflictions, pervasive ignorance, and the like, thinking, ‘To generate the mind of the two vehicles in such circumstances is already difficult to attain, how much more so for great bodhi? I shall generate the mind to cause others to learn from me.’ It also arises from four causes: first, possessing the complete lineage; second, being embraced by good friends; third, feeling compassion for sentient beings; fourth, being fearless in difficult practices. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: ‘With the power of purity and predominance, / and a firm mind progressing excellently, / this is called the bodhisattva’s initial cultivation / through three incalculable great kalpas.’ Taking roots of goodness as its self-nature, the great bodhicitta is called the power of purity. Because it subjugates the hindrances to be eliminated, taking good friends as conditions, it is called the power of predominance. Using non-retrogression as its spur, it is called the power of firmness. Even when encountering bad friends who obstruct and ruin it through various means, one ultimately does not abandon the great bodhicitta, and the wholesome dharmas cultivated constantly increase and grow; with such superior progress, this is entirely called the initial generating of the intention. From the generation of intention onward, the newly perfumed tainted seeds of hearing and contemplating delineate the untainted seeds that are nourished; combining the two, they are called the seeds accomplished through practice. Drawing a limit upon the ocean of birth and death, one will certainly soon realize the other shore; therefore, the dharmas cultivated are called pāramitās. The good friends one encounters have four characteristics; one should know them, draw close to them, and receive instruction: first, they are clever and wise, not falling into evil views; second, they do not teach heedlessness and do not provide its requisites; third, they do not teach evil conduct and do not provide its conditions; fourth, they do not urge one to abandon the superior dharmas previously cultivated to cultivate inferior ones, down to never urging one to abandon the Mahāyāna to cultivate the two vehicles. Those contrary to these are the marks of bad friends and should be avoided. The differentiation of causes and conditions, the quantity of merit, and so on for the stage of generating the mind should be extensively distinguished, all being extensively explained as in the fifty-seventh fascicle of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, the first fascicle of the Bodhisattva-śīla-sūtra, the first fascicle of the Bodhisattvabhūmi, and so forth.