起信論疏筆削記 1.6

1.6

乘謂宗者，即從因至果，以取體故。乘者，就喻彰名，運載為義，如世舟車可以運重致遠也。即喻菩薩乘，此大法越生死野，度煩惱河，到菩提鄉，登涅槃岸。故下文云；一切諸佛本所乘故，一切菩薩皆乘此法到如來地故。此中能乘是始覺，所乘是本覺，能所冥符，始本不二，名究竟覺。即是所至之處，一相一味，究竟平等，更無三異，於一體中義分能所爾。亦名一乘，亦名無上乘也。

'Vehicle' refers to the central theme, which proceeds from cause to fruit in order to attain the essence. 'Vehicle' is a name revealed through a metaphor, having the meaning of carrying and conveying, like worldly boats and carts that can transport heavy loads to distant places. This is a metaphor for the bodhisattva vehicle: riding this great Dharma, one traverses the wilderness of birth and death, crosses the river of afflictions, reaches the homeland of bodhi, and ascends the shore of nirvāṇa. Hence the text below says: 'Because it is originally ridden by all Buddhas, and because all bodhisattvas ride this Dharma to reach the stage of the Tathāgata.' In this context, that which rides is actualized enlightenment, and that which is ridden is original enlightenment; when the rider and the ridden tally in secret union, and the actualized and the original are non-dual, it is called ultimate enlightenment. That is, the place arrived at has one characteristic and one flavor, is ultimately equal, and has no other threefold differentiation; it is merely that within the single essence, the distinction between subject and object is conceptually made. It is also called the One Vehicle, and also called the Unsurpassable Vehicle.