肇論疏 3.41

3.41

"Distinguishing" means differentiating. He differentiates the distinctions among the three vehicles; hence it is called "Distinguishing Distinctions." As for the distinction among the three stages, it is objected to again below in the fourteenth section, and only answered in the fifteenth section. "The Nameless One says: Indeed, the ultimate path in principle has no distinctions" means that the ultimate path truly has no distinctions. From "The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka says" downward, he cites the text of the Zheng fahua jing. "Because all leave birth and death, they are alike called unconditioned": all alike share the unconditioned, yet there are distinctions. "Because that which they mount is not one, there are three names": following the differences in the causes they mount, there are merely the fruits of the three vehicles. "Concluding their return, it is one and nothing more": the conclusion is that ultimately they return to the identical unconditioned. "This is three persons making the unconditioned three, not that the unconditioned has three": it is merely because three persons divide the unconditioned that it becomes three; the unconditioned has no three. Therefore, from "the Fangguang" downward, speaking from the exhaustion of fetters by the śrāvakas up to the non-exhaustion of latent dispositions, this is throughout the text of the sūtra. "Please take a proximate metaphor": using an everyday affair to reveal the principle. If a man cuts a piece of wood, cutting away one foot, that one foot pertains to the wood and has nothing to do with empty space. The severing and eliminating of afflictions is also like this: it resides only in the person and has nothing to do with the unconditioned. From "Now, the myriad sorts of living beings" downward clarifies that roots and capacities are not the same; the great and small differ: the profound is great and the shallow is small. The thick and the thin are also like this. Hence from "together going to the other shore" downward: zhi means to go to. The Xiaoya says: zao, zhi, and ru mean to go to. As for "How could the other shore be different? The difference comes from oneself": the other shore is not different; the difference comes from the three persons themselves. "The various sūtras distinctively differentiate, yet their purport does not conflict": the sūtras say that it is the identical unconditioned, and furthermore speak of the distinctions among the three vehicles; because liberation is the same, they say it is the identical unconditioned; because the severing of fetters differs, they speak of the distinctions of the three vehicles. Although the words differ, their principle and purport do not conflict.