大乘法苑義林章 1.63

1.63

The Mahāyāna of fruition refers to the fruitional dharmas of the Buddha's bodhi and nirvāṇa. The Lotus Sūtra says: "Because they teach the Buddha's wisdom, the Buddhas appear in the world. Only this one thing is real; the other two are not real." It also says: "This Dharma abides in the Dharma-position; the worldly characteristics are constantly abiding. Having known this at the site of enlightenment (bodhimaṇḍa), the Guide spoke expediently." Furthermore, the Śrīmālādevī-sūtra says: "The two vehicles are just the One Vehicle." The Lotus Sūtra also says: "Because it is a place of rest, he spoke of two." In addition, the "Chapter on the Measure of Life" states that his attaining the path was long ago, which is the sambhogakāya Buddha. The "Chapter on Peaceful and Happy Practices" states that he does not see the three realms as the three realms, which is the dharmakāya. Thus, bodhi and nirvāṇa are both the Mahāyāna of fruition. The Śrīmālādevī-sūtra also says: "The nirvāṇa of the two vehicles is called heading toward the nirvāṇa-dhātu. The ultimate attainment of the resting place of the four knowledges is the Buddha's teaching of the remainder [of defilement], a neyārtha teaching." Therefore, whether the fundamental fruit or the accordant fruit, both are named the Mahāyāna. Among conditioned dharmas, both actual states and seeds are included, along with all the accordant wholesome dharmas with outflows (sāsrava)—namely, the practices of hearing and thinking from the desire for wholesome dharmas onward—as well as unconditioned dharmas, are all the substance of the vehicle. As for the substance of the two vehicles: the Mahāyāna is as stated before. The substance of the śrāvaka vehicle consists in combining everything from taking the three refuges onward in the two vehicles, the accordant world-transcending five aggregates with outflows, and the corresponding teaching, principle, practice, and fruit, taking these as its intrinsic nature. Thus the Yogācārabhūmi, fascicle sixty-four, says: "As for the realizations of the śrāvaka vehicle, because they take having previously received the refuges and so on as cause, there are five realizations: first, the realization of stages, which refers to the three stages of seeing, cultivation, and culmination; second, the realization of knowledges, which refers to the nine knowledges—namely, the Dharma knowledge and subsequent knowledge of the four truths, along with the conventional knowledge, knowledge of exhaustion, and knowledge of non-arising obtained after them; third, the realization of purities, which refers to the four verified purities (avetyaprasāda); fourth, the realization of fruits, which refers to the four fruits of asceticism (śramaṇa); fifth, the realization of merits, which refers to the immeasurables, spheres of mastery, and so on up to the supernormal knowledges." Hence we know that teaching, principle, practice, and fruit are all the substance of the vehicle. This treatise's [account of] realization briefly omits what is prior to the path of seeing; in actual truth, everything from taking refuge onward is the substance of the vehicle. This consists solely of the fundamental, lacking an expedient vehicle, because it is the lowest vehicle. Even if there are people of indefinite nature, because it is called falling back, it is not the cause. The Yogācārabhūmi further teaches the realizations of a pratyekabuddha, saying that there are briefly three: first, the realization of having previously attained the wholesome roots conducive to penetration (nirvedhabhāgīya); second, the realization of having previously already attained realization; third, the realization of not having previously attained realization. The former two realizations are called "solitary victors" (varga-cārin), and the last realization is called "rhinoceros-like" (khaḍgaviṣāṇa-kalpa). Therefore, both the fundamental and expedient dharmas—teaching, principle, practice, and fruit—are all the substance of the vehicle. Because pratyekabuddhas and śrāvakas are combined together as the śrāvaka vehicle, two substances are presented. In the Lotus Sūtra, the fruit constitutes the three vehicles; the cause of the One Vehicle is called the gate, because there is only one gate and it is moreover narrow and small. The causes of the two vehicles are called the skirts, desks, and tables; they escape from the house by exiting according to convenience, not relying on the gate. If the intrinsic natures of the three vehicles are explained separately: the teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the four truths are all the śrāvaka vehicle; the teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the twelve links of dependent origination are all the pratyekabuddha vehicle; and the Mahāyāna is as stated before, thus constituting their distinctions. However, some call it the bodhisattva vehicle, because it can convey oneself and convey others. The Lotus Sūtra speaks only of the Buddha vehicle. When comparing the three vehicles, the Buddha himself rides this, solely to broadly convey others. If named the Mahāyāna, it encompasses both cause and fruit. In the case of four vehicles: the four vehicles of the Śrīmālādevī-sūtra take the merit portion of human and divine wholesome roots, hearing, thinking, and cultivation with outflows, actual states and seeds, the three refuges, the five precepts, the eight precepts, the ten wholesome actions, and so forth—their teaching, principle, practice, and fruit—as their intrinsic nature, because the fruit is an accompaniment of that cause. In terms of the meaning of conveying, its fruit is not [a vehicle]. The other three are as explained before. In the case of the four vehicles of the Prajñāpāramitā, there are differences in whether they fully possess them or not, but there is no difference in teaching and so on. Only the fundamental constitutes three vehicles, and along with the expedients they make the fourth. As for the five vehicles of the Laṅkāvatāra and so on: combining humans and devas into one, and distinguishing those outside the indefinite three vehicles as one—because of the difference between common and distinct, and because gotras differ, there is no difference in the substance of the vehicle. Those that combine humans and devas do so because both are dharmas with outflows, their faculties and gotras being equal. In another kind of five vehicles: subsuming the common under the distinct, the indefinite nature is combined, and because the destinies (gati) differ, humans and devas are separated into two, with no difference in the substance of the vehicle.