成唯識論述記 1.340

1.340

The Commentary states: This is the third passage, revealing the subtlety of the grasp and the place of its abandonment. Habitually practiced from beginningless time, their substance and mark are subtle and hidden; therefore the Daśabhūmika says: because it distantly accompanies active manifestation, and because it conditions without deliberate attention—this is the meaning of innate; therefore it is called subtle. First, it is not suppressed by mundane paths; second, it is not abandoned by the initial path—the 'initial path abandonment' being abandonment on the path of seeing (darśanamārga); third, it is not able to be abandoned on the path of cultivation (bhāvanāmārga) when the stages are not yet completed, requiring the supreme path of the ninth [stage] before being abandoned; therefore it is said to be difficult to abandon. The first excludes the afflictions not associated with the path of cultivation; the second excludes all [abandonments] on the path of seeing; the third shows that its own ākāra is subtle, and only a supreme path can eliminate it; therefore it is abandoned solely through cultivation. 1. In terms of consciousness: in the sixth it is repeatedly abandoned, but not in the seventh. 2. In terms of yāna: in the sixth consciousness, it is repeatedly abandoned by the two vehicles, but not by bodhisattvas in the sixth consciousness. 3. In terms of habit-energies: for bodhisattvas, they repeatedly abandon habit-energies, not seeds; for the two vehicles, they repeatedly abandon seeds, not habit-energies; those who do not repeatedly abandon cultivate the path repeatedly; those who repeatedly abandon have both the path and abandonment occurring repeatedly. Among the two vehicles, for gradual practitioners it is therefore solely abandoned through cultivation; for sudden-realization practitioners, it also extends to abandonment through seeing, because companions of the mundane path have already suppressed it previously. For bodhisattvas it is not so, because it does not obstruct the stages, and because there is no leaping over; yet the first and second fruit cannot abandon it, because it belongs to the ninth grade of nivṛtāvyākṛta. Abandonment is of two kinds: first, abandoning seeds; second, suppression and cessation. Now discussing the abandonment of seeds: in the sixth consciousness, when the two vehicles enter the noble path it is temporarily suppressed, requiring departure from their own stage, being abandoned only when desire is exhausted, and becoming definitively exhausted only at the diamond-like mental state (vajropamasamādhi). Bodhisattvas on the first bhūmi can temporarily suppress it, on the fourth bhūmi it never operates, and at the stage of the diamond-like mind it is definitively exhausted. In the seventh consciousness, only when the two vehicles enter the anāsrava mind is it temporarily suppressed, and it is completely abandoned only at the diamond-like mind. Bodhisattvas before the seventh bhūmi can suppress it upon entering the anāsrava mind, from the eighth bhūmi onward it never operates, and at the diamond-like mind it is abruptly and completely abandoned. Therefore it is said that only by repeatedly cultivating the path can it be eliminated. Moreover, discussing the sixth and seventh generally: the path is repeatedly cultivated. Abandonment has the senses of repeated and non-repeated. The two vehicles abandon the seeds of that grasp in the sixth consciousness, not the habit-energies, and can abandon repeatedly. Bodhisattvas repeatedly abandon its heavy encumbrances (dauṣṭhulya), which is called repeated abandonment; regarding its seeds, etc., the path is repeatedly cultivated, not that abandonment is repeated, because across the ten bhūmis they are not abandoned. The grasp of the seventh consciousness requires the diamond-like mind to be abruptly abandoned; the paths of cultivation of the three vehicles cultivate the path repeatedly to be able to eliminate it, but the abandonment is not repeated. Here, the two grasps' subtle ākāra is called 'subtle.' Why is that which is initially abandoned by the three minds called 'subtle'? If spoken of in terms of the coarseness and subtlety of grades, what is initially abandoned is coarse; in terms of the coarseness and subtlety of difficulty, what is abandoned first is called subtle. Here it is spoken in terms of grades: the lower grades of the path of cultivation are called subtle, while the three minds are in terms of difficulty. That what is initially abandoned is called subtle also presents no contradiction. Abandonment at the ninth grade of a realm is called subtle because the grade is subtle. There is what is difficult to abandon but not called subtle, namely the second and third grades among the three minds; there is what is called subtle but not difficult to abandon, namely the initial and middle grades among the three minds; there is what is called subtle and also difficult to abandon, such as the lowest-of-the-low grade among the nine grades. This is because the two grasps of a self are spoken of here. The three minds divide coarse and subtle according to difficulty, while the nine grades divide coarse and subtle according to ākāra, so the reasoning is not contradictory. This clarifies what is abandoned, making two explanations; furthermore, coarse and subtle can be divided according to the antidote and what is remedied. In the nine grades, it is called subtle in terms of the ākāra of what is remedied; in the three minds, it is called subtle in terms of the ākāra of the antidote; this also is not contradictory. Stating only abandonment through emptiness of persons (pudgala-nairātmya) is: first, common to the three vehicles; second, spoken in terms of the ākāra. In fact, bodhisattvas also [abandon through] emptiness of phenomena (dharma-nairātmya); 'supreme emptiness of persons' excludes sāsrava and exploratory minds of emptiness of persons, because they are incapable of abandoning it. This speaks of the uninterrupted path (ānantarya-mārga), not the path of liberation (vimukti-mārga).