大乘起信論裂網疏 5.92

5.92

Prior to realizing the dharmakāya, even if they transform sentient beings below, this is entirely seeking the Buddha path above, because the various expedients of self-benefit and benefiting others are all for the purpose of realizing and joining with the essence of tathatā. After having realized the dharmakāya, even if they seek the Buddha path above, this is entirely for transforming sentient beings below, which is precisely what the present text clarifies. That their gotra is equal means that they are fully endowed with the two kinds of seeds: innate and hearing-perfumed. That their faculties are equal means that the six bases are superior and without differentiation. That their aspiration is equal means that they equally generate the three minds. That their realization is equal means that they equally realize tathatā. Prior to generating the aspiration, there may indeed be differences in whether wholesome roots are deep or shallow, afflictions heavy or light, faculties sharp or dull, and expedients diligent or indolent. Once the aspiration is generated, entering the nature of common birth, the path of effortlessness is definitively without differentiation; it is solely due to differences in the faculties, desires, and natures of sentient beings that they manifest distinctions. As for the expression 'three incalculable eons,' time has no real entity and is established merely based on false conceptualization. Take, for instance, the popular lore: a dream of yellow millet equated to over forty years; a thousand years in the world was no more than seven days in the mountains. Or again, as in the sūtras: when the ṛṣi took Sudhana's hand, subtle dust-mote eons elapsed; when the Buddha was praised for fifty intermediate eons, the great assembly perceived it as half a day. From this one knows that the duration of eons is not spoken of in terms of the years, months, days, and hours calculated by ordinary sentiments. For indeed, although beginningless ignorance has no real essence, returning from delusion to enlightenment appears to have stages: even if Yajñadatta halts his madness and his original head is as it ever was, his panting breath must also take a long time to calm. When the wild wind suddenly subsides and the great ocean is calm, its subtle ripples must also take a long time to settle. When the sun emerges and the murky fog suddenly dissipates, the damp moisture must also be removed only gradually. When the agada medicine is ingested and the myriad illnesses are suddenly banished, one's vigor must also be restored only gradually. When a traveler of long standing arrives home, his journeying suddenly ceases, yet household affairs must also be attended to in sequence. When a sage king ascends the throne, the great undertaking is suddenly settled, yet governance, rites, and music must also be laid out in sequence. Therefore, within the eonless state of tathatā, three incalculable eons are established based on the aspect of arising and ceasing: from the abode of initial aspiration to the ten dedications is called the first incalculable eon; from the first ground of joy to the seventh ground of far-reaching is called the second incalculable eon; from the eighth ground of immobility to the stage of equal enlightenment is called the third incalculable eon. As for calculating the measure of eons, the limit is clarified either in terms of the Buddhas served, or their vast duration is clarified in terms of celestial robes brushing a rock; the matter is not uniform. Moreover, regarding the modes of practice in the three incalculable eons, some say afflictions are subdued but not yet severed, some say correct delusions are severed while habits are retained, some say afflictions are eliminated in sequence, and some say the cause encompasses the ocean of fruition—these are all siddhāntas benefiting according to capacity; how could one hold to them fixedly? The present statement that 'they are all equal' discusses the three incalculable eons in terms of the cause encompassing the ocean of fruition, specifically dispelling the demoniac view of great arrogance which claims that the three incalculable eons can be transcended in a single thought-moment. One must know that the ten periods of past and present, beginning and end, never depart from the present thought-moment. Therefore the earlier text states: 'If one hears that only after diligently practicing various difficult and bitter austerities for immeasurable asaṃkhyeya eons will one finally attain Buddhahood, one is neither shocked nor terrified, because one definitively believes that all phenomena are from their origin intrinsically nirvāṇa.' How could one cling to the three incalculable eons as gradual and a single thought-moment as sudden? As for 'faculties, desires, and natures being different': that which was formed in the past is called faculties, which may be sharp or dull. That which is desired in the present is called desires, which may favor speed or slowness. The seeds of the future are called nature, which may be ripe or unripe. The first part, clarifying that which is realized, is concluded.