大乘法界無差別論疏 1.22

1.22

Eighth, as for the origination of composing the treatise: Bodhisattva Sāramati is in Sanskrit Sāramati. 'Sāra' is translated here as firm; 'mati' is translated as wisdom. As for 'bodhisattva', fully it is bodhisattva. The treatises universally explain it as having three meanings: 1. Named from the cognitive object: because these two dharmas are the objects of cognition, as in the contemplation of bones and the like. 'Bodhi' means awakening, which is the buddha-fruit sought; 'sattva' means sentient being, which refers to the beings to be saved. With wisdom and compassion arising within, externally one takes these two cognitive objects. Another explanation says: bodhi is the buddha-fruit sought, and sattva is the practitioner capable of seeking it; that is, the sattva who seeks bodhi, which is a designation combining object and wisdom. Another explanation says: bodhi is the same as before; sattva means courageous—meaning having the aspiration and capacity to courageously seek great bodhi. It means that this treatise master possessed firm, correct wisdom seeking buddhahood in accord with principle, and hence was so named. The Tripiṭaka Master said: 'A tradition in the Western Regions says this is a bodhisattva on the stages (bhūmis). Seven hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, he appeared in Central India from a great kṣatriya clan. Uniquely brilliant and surpassing the crowd, he fully mastered secular texts. When he went forth to study the Way, his wise comprehension became even brighter, and there were no teachings of the Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna that he had not mastered. Yet because he practiced the bodhisattva conduct, he kept his mind on the Mahāyāna, wishing to transmit and show to sentient beings the equal dharmadhātu that he himself had roamed, which alone constitutes ultimate and vast benefit. For this reason, he composed the Ratnagotravibhāga, the Dharmadhātvaviśeṣaśāstra, and other texts, all of which abandon the expedient and return to the ultimate within the Mahāyāna, revealing the ultimate, definitive teachings.'