大乘法界無差別論疏 1.7

1.7

Fourth, concerning the capacities addressed by the teaching: among the four tenets above, as for the first, the Hīnayāna tenet, all sentient beings are not addressed by this [Mahāyāna teaching], because within that tenet there is nobody at all who tends toward great bodhi. Next, according to the second and third tenets, among all sentient beings, half are addressed and half are not addressed. That is, among the five gotras, the bodhisattva gotra and the indeterminate gotra are addressed by this; the other three fixed gotras are not addressed by this, because each lacks the cause. Within the fourth tenet, it is explained that all sentient beings are addressed by this, because all possess buddhadhātu and will all achieve Buddhahood. In the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, excluding grass, trees, and other insentient things as lacking buddhadhātu, all that have mind possess buddhadhātu. In the Buddhadhātuśāstra, it is said that the teaching of a portion lacking nature is not of definitive meaning. The Ratnagotravibhāga and others state that, based on the cause of slandering the Mahāyāna and relying on an immeasurable time, it is said that they have no buddhadhātu; it does not mean that they are ultimately devoid of the pure nature. In the five gotras of the Laṅkāvatāra, even persons lacking gotra will attain Buddhahood, because the Tathāgata does not abandon sentient beings. Passages such as these are extensive, as explained elsewhere. After those of the fixed-nature two vehicles enter nirvāṇa, they will necessarily all arouse bodhicitta. The Lotus Sūtra, fascicle three, says: "Giving rise to the thought of extinction, they enter nirvāṇa, yet in that land they seek the Buddha's wisdom; therefore, only by the Buddha-vehicle do they attain extinction," and so forth. The Lotus Sūtra Treatise says: "Because the faculties of the definitive śrāvakas are not yet mature, the Bodhisattva confers vyākaraṇa on them as an expedient to cause them to arouse the mind," and so forth, and further says: "They take the various dhyāna-samādhis to be nirvāṇa; originally there is no real nirvāṇa." The Laṅkāvatāra says: "Intoxicated by the wine of samādhi," and so forth, down to: "When the wine wears off, they then awaken and attain the Buddha's unsurpassed body." The first verse of the Ghanavyūha says: "If nirvāṇa were extinction and destruction, sentient beings would have an end. If sentient beings had an end, they would also have an initial limit; there would have to be unproduced dharmas that freshly became sentient beings." The explanation says: this is also holy teaching and also correct reasoning. If the two vehicles entering quiescence were to suffer ash-like annihilation and eternal extinction, then sentient beings would become non-sentient beings. If sentient beings were made to become non-sentient beings, then there would have to be non-sentient beings that freshly became sentient beings. In the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, it argues that impure dharmas give rise to pure ones, refuting: lest pure dharmas in turn give rise to impure ones. The present case is also analogous: since sentient beings entering extinction are the same as non-sentient beings, would not non-sentient dharmas in turn become sentient beings? Moreover, this is the holy word, whereas that is not the Buddha's preaching. Furthermore, the Śrīmālādevī-sūtra, the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra, the Buddhadhātuśāstra, and the Ratnagotravibhāga all identically state that beyond the three realms, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas of great power receive three kinds of transformative bodies. Furthermore, the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, fascicle ninety-three, cites the third fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra and explains: "There is a wondrous pure land surpassing the three realms; arhats will be born therein." Therefore, one definitively knows that when those of the two vehicles who enter extinction extinguish the coarse delimited [body], this is termed entering nirvāṇa; in reality, they possess transformative bodies in the pure land, receive the Buddha's instruction, and practice the bodhisattva path. If it were not so, then since before changing their minds they lack the transformative body, and from changing their minds onward they are gradually awakened bodhisattvas, they could not be called the two vehicles. Therefore, one knows that the transformative body received beyond the three realms is regarded by the Hīnayāna as nirvāṇa; the profound teaching of the Mahāyāna is that it is truly a transformative body and that originally there is no nirvāṇa. The Śrīmālādevī says: "Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas in reality have no nirvāṇa, because only the Tathāgata has nirvāṇa." Below in this treatise it says: "One should know that there is only the path of the Ekayāna. If it were not so, other than this there would be another nirvāṇa. Being of the same single dharmadhātu, how could there be an inferior nirvāṇa and an exquisitely wondrous nirvāṇa?" By this one should know: since persons of the two vehicles have no nirvāṇa, there are none who will not achieve bodhi; hence, all sentient beings are those addressed. The remaining meanings are as explained elsewhere.