瑜伽論記 9.428

9.428

Ce says: The former masters judged: 'The lower-grade person is at the stage of the four roots of goodness, and the middling-grade person is at the stage of the learner (śaikṣa).' The Tripiṭaka Master says: 'The lower-grade person plants the roots of goodness leading to liberation in the first of three lives; in the second life, they are born into the two levels of heat and peak, and in this very level they fall into the bad destinies, unable in this body to realize the fruit of śramaṇahood or attain nirvāṇa. The second, middling-grade person is from supreme patience onward up to anāgāmin, which is the second life; although this person realizes the fruit of śramaṇahood in the present life, they must necessarily pass through another life, and thus do not attain nirvāṇa. The third, superior-grade person is one who cultivates and accomplishes the fruit within sixty kalpas; this is a śrāvaka of sharp faculties who practices the pāramitās, and in a single life they realize the fruit of stream-entry up to entering nirvāṇa, such as Śāriputra and others.'