起信論疏筆削記 13.47

13.47

Regarding the heading "functions": due to the aforementioned internal and external powers of perfuming, faith, understanding, practice, and realization are consequently accomplished, culminating in the ultimate fruit. The text has two parts: first, practice prior to the stages. Regarding the treatise's "Believing in one's own nature..." and so forth: the first sentence is knowing the real; the next two sentences are penetrating the false; that is, knowing the real is inherently possessed, and penetrating the false as inherently empty. Practitioners of the actual teaching at their initial mind must be like this; this is the first chapter of the Yuanjue jing, authentic faith and understanding. The following sentence is cultivating practice in reliance on understanding. Regarding the commentary's "ten faiths": the initial mind of entering the path first has faith in the fundamental, not being the same as the provisional gates, which merely have faith in the Three Jewels and the precepts. The text below says: "First is having faith in the fundamental, which means rejoicing in and mindfully contemplating the dharma of tathatā." Because faith is the head of the myriad practices, one must speak of faith. Furthermore, because tathatā is the root of the myriad practices, one has faith in one's own nature. The Sansheng Yuanrong Guan says: "If faith does not have faith in the dharmadhātu, faith is heterodoxy." Understanding is the stage of the ten understandings, namely the ten abodes. Understanding karma and transformation, it therefore says "knowing the mind's false stirring"; understanding the mark of manifestation, it therefore says "there are no sense-objects in front." It is merely understanding, not yet able to sever and eliminate; but how could it only be present at the ten abodes—would the prior stages lack this understanding? The commentary matching it to faith is too close to the prior. Question: How can bodhisattvas of the stage of faith attain understanding of marks such as karma? Answer: Because they have faith that their own tathatā is tranquil and unmoving, lacking any single mark, they know that the stirring mind and the marked sense-objects are truly false, being inherently non-existent. If they did not understand this, how could they be called people of the initial mind of the actual teaching?