起信論疏筆削記 17.35

17.35

In [the explanation of] the third [point], the śāstra states: "Their gotra, faculties, [and practices are] equal..." "Equal" means uniform: they are identical in being of the Single Vehicle gotra, not of the three or five vehicles' natures. "Faculties" refers to the five faculties of faith and so forth; although there are superior, middling, and inferior, here all alike are of superior faculties, not middling or inferior. These two are discussed in terms of their past [causes]; hence the commentary says "causes are equal." The commentary states: "Practices are equal..." They identically give rise to the bodhicitta and practice the two benefits; hence, if determined strictly according to the stages (bhūmi), they identically attain the practice of non-conceptual wisdom and successively practice the ten pāramitās in common. However, these words "giving rise to the mind" also apply generally to what was explained in the previous positions. "Realization [is equal]..." Because they identically realize the principle of the twofold emptiness; if determined strictly according to the bhūmis, they identically realize the all-pervading tathatā, up to the tenth bhūmi where they identically realize the tathatā that serves as the basis of karmic mastery, and so forth. The śāstra states: "...there is no dharma that surpasses them." This clarifies that since the bodhisattvas' causal practices, realizations, and so forth are identical, there is no further, separate dharma that is transcendent or uniquely superior that could be practiced or realized. Alternatively, this refers to the equality of stages: that is, the three ranks of worthies and the ten ranks of sages must all be traversed, so there is no bypassing them. The passage beginning "Because all..." represents the equality of time; the śāstra and commentary are easily understood. According to this, it also seems to clarify generally the reasons for all the above equalities; this can be seen upon close examination. The general purport of the śāstra is: if they are uniformly of the bodhisattva gotra and capacity, then in their generating the mind, their cultivation and practice, their abandoning and realizing, the sequence of their stages, and their duration of kalpas from beginning to end, there is ultimately no difference.