大乘法界無差別論疏 1.49

1.49

Third, regarding 'called bodhi,' the name is established according to its meaning. That is to say, because this dharmakāya gives rise to the practice of revulsion and eradication and seeks bodhi, it is called bodhi. The Śrīmālādevī-sūtra says: 'World-Honoured One! If there were no tathāgatagarbha, one could not feel revulsion toward suffering or joyfully seek nirvāṇa. Why is that? In the six consciousnesses and the dharmas of mental cognition, these seven dharmas do not abide for an instant; they do not plant [the causes of] various sufferings, and one cannot feel revulsion toward suffering or joyfully seek nirvāṇa. World-Honoured One! The tathāgatagarbha is without a prior limit, a dharma neither arising nor ceasing, which plants various sufferings, obtains revulsion toward suffering, and joyfully seeks bodhi'—and so on at length. In the Ratnagotravibhāga, when explaining this passage, it corresponds to the functional nature (kāryatva) among the ten kinds of buddhadhātu. That treatise says: 'Briefly speaking, the pure, direct cause that is the buddhadhātu can perform two kinds of functions for sentient beings of the indeterminate class: first, based on seeing the various sufferings of the world, feeling revulsion toward all sufferings; second, based on seeing the rare, tranquil bliss of nirvāṇa, generating a mind that seeks, a mind of desire, and a mind of aspiration.' It also says: 'These two dharmas—sentient beings endowed with wholesome roots have the tathatā-buddhadhātu as the fundamental basis for everything; it is not without causes and conditions apart from the buddhadhātu that they give rise to such a mind. If such a mind could arise without causes and conditions, icchantikas and the like, who lack the nature of nirvāṇa, should generate bodhicitta. Those who lack the buddhadhātu do so because their nature has not yet separated from all adventitious defilements and impurities, they have never practiced faith in the ekayāna among the three vehicles, and they have not yet drawn near to spiritual friends, nor cultivated the causes and conditions of having previously drawn near to spiritual friends. Therefore, the "Manifestation of the Tathāgata" chapter of the Avataṃsaka says: "Furthermore, even within the bodies of sentient beings such as those of the determinately evil class, the light of the sun-disc of the Tathāgata shines upon them all, benefiting those sentient beings, serving as the wholesome root that is the cause for the future, and causing all wholesome dharmas to increase." As for what was said earlier about icchantikas having an eternal nature of not entering nirvāṇa, what does this mean? It is in order to reveal the causes and conditions of slandering the Mahāyāna. What meaning does this clarify? In order to turn around the mind that slanders the Mahāyāna and the mind that does not seek the Mahāyāna, this was spoken based on an immeasurable duration of time. Because they truly possess the pure nature, one cannot say that they eternally and definitively lack the pure nature.' In explanation: This treatise itself quotes the Avataṃsaka to establish that tathatā is the cause for the buddhadhātu to initiate practice; therefore, all sentient beings have the nature. Furthermore, in the Awakening of Faith, the inner perfuming of tathatā causes sentient beings to feel revulsion and seek, etc. The Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] says: 'The buddhadhātu is called ultimate emptiness; ultimate emptiness is called wisdom.' Also, the Ghanavyūha-sūtra says: 'The Tathāgata's pure garbha is also named stainless wisdom.' In the 'Manifestation of the Tathāgata' chapter of the Avataṃsaka: 'In the minds of all sentient beings there is teacherless wisdom, signless wisdom,' etc. These are all explained in terms of the intrinsic wisdom obtained from the tathatā of original enlightenment serving as the direct cause for supramundane dharmas, which is completely different from traditions such as the Yogācāra. Because that tradition clarifies gotra only in terms of the arising and ceasing, conditioned [dharmas], it consequently allows that one portion lacks the nature. Now in this tradition, gotra is clarified in terms of unconditioned tathatā; therefore, all have the buddhadhātu. Still, this functional activity can only be spoken of with regard to the stage of indeterminate nature; because the functional activity has not yet emerged in the stage of determinate evil, it is called lacking the buddhadhātu, not meaning that they ultimately lack it.