瑜伽論記 19.405

19.405

問：云何大乘定立三僧祇方可證得？下答依斷三麁重故立三僧祇。一者、地前，經一僧祇修行，入見道時方能小斷在皮麁重；二者、入見道時伏於修惑上中煩惱下品猶行，七地滿心下品亦伏畢竟不行；三者、第三僧祇滿時，斷所知障及煩惱障盡，於境自在。此中所說皮肉心三，約煩惱障中開為皮肉二僧祇斷，所知障總束為心，此說二障三處過亦據三祇滿位從一分，應說道理初僧祇滿入初地時，斷一切迷理煩惱障及所知障，非唯斷彼惡趣煩惱麁重，從初地至七地，入觀即斷所知障，以除所知理事境故，入觀即斷煩惱障，於生有力故，時故七地已來為眾生故猶起，入八地已去永伏不行，所有隨眠金剛方斷，於所受身有力滋潤前未來斷，從八地已去於念念中斷所知障，非本地分明，二障出體諸處不定，有說煩惱障中修惑名皮，外迷事故，見惑名肉，內迷理故，智障名心，以最微細譬心在內，或約三祇所斷二障皆分三種，謂皮肉心，如攝論說，或於地地中三心所斷為皮肉心，為斷皮煩惱入初地，乃至為除心煩惱故出初地等，亦如攝論，今此文中，初僧祇所斷惡道煩惱名皮，第二僧祇所斷煩惱障中上中二品名肉，第三僧祇所斷智障名心。

Question: Why is it that the Great Vehicle is definitely established as requiring three [countless] kalpas before attainment can be achieved? The answer below states that it is established as three [countless] kalpas based on the severing of the three heavy burdens (dauṣṭhulya). First, prior to the stages, having cultivated practice for one [countless] kalpa, only upon entering the path of seeing can one slightly sever the heavy burdens residing in the skin. Second, upon entering the path of seeing, one suppresses the upper and middle defilements of the afflictions to be abandoned by cultivation, while the lower grade still functions; upon the culminating thought of the seventh stage, the lower grade is also suppressed so that it never functions again. Third, upon the completion of the third [countless] kalpa, one severs the cognitive obscurations and the afflictive obscurations completely, achieving mastery over objects. Regarding the three—skin, flesh, and core—spoken of here, within the afflictive obscurations they are divided into skin and flesh, severed across two [countless] kalpas, while the cognitive obscurations are collectively condensed as the core. This explanation of the faults of the two obscurations in three locations is also based on a single perspective from the positions of completing the three kalpas. The correct principle to be stated is: Upon completing the first [countless] kalpa and entering the first stage, one severs all afflictive obscurations and cognitive obscurations that delude [one regarding] principle, not merely severing those heavy burdens of afflictions of the bad destinies. From the first stage up to the seventh stage, whenever entering contemplation one severs cognitive obscurations, because one eliminates the objects of principle and phenomena to be known; whenever entering contemplation one severs afflictive obscurations, because they have power over rebirth; thus up to the seventh stage they still arise for the sake of sentient beings; after entering the eighth stage they are eternally suppressed and do not function; all latent predispositions (anuśaya) are severed only by the vajra-like [samādhi]; having power over the body received, they moisten what has not yet arrived before; from the eighth stage onward, in thought-moment after thought-moment one severs cognitive obscurations. This is not made clear in the Maulī Bhūmiḥ. The intrinsic essences of the two obscurations are not uniformly presented across various texts. Some say that within the afflictive obscurations, the defilements to be abandoned by cultivation are called the skin because they externally delude [one regarding] phenomena; the defilements to be abandoned by seeing are called the flesh because they internally delude [one regarding] principle; and the cognitive obscurations are called the core because, being the most subtle, they are likened to the core being innermost. Or, based on the three kalpas, the two obscurations to be severed are both divided into three kinds, namely skin, flesh, and core, as stated in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Or, within each stage, what is severed by the three thoughts is taken as skin, flesh, and core: to sever skin afflictions one enters the first stage, up to, to eliminate core afflictions, one emerges from the first stage, and so forth, as also stated in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Now in this text, the afflictions of the bad paths severed in the first [countless] kalpa are called skin; the upper and middle two grades among the afflictive obscurations severed in the second [countless] kalpa are called flesh; and the cognitive obscurations severed in the third [countless] kalpa are called the core.