大乘法苑義林章 1.8

1.8

As for the gate of being sealed versus not sealed by Dharma seals: there are three Dharma seals: 1. All conditioned phenomena are impermanent; 2. Nirvāṇa is quiescence; 3. All dharmas are without self. Or four udānas are stated, adding 'All sāsrava phenomena are suffering.' If all teachings are sealed by the rational seal of these three kinds, they are called nītārtha; those that contradict the three Dharma seals and so forth are not nītārtha sūtras. By this reasoning, none of the three piṭakas, the two vehicles, and the twelve divisions of teaching are not nītārtha, because they can abandon kleśas, karma, and suffering. The teachings of non-Buddhists are not nītārtha scriptures, because they cannot permanently abandon afflictions, karma, and suffering. Therefore, fascicle 64 of the *Yogācārabhūmi* says: "How many refuges are there? For what reason are there only so many refuges? There are three refuges: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṃgha. There are so many refuges due to four conditions: 1. Because the Tathāgata's nature is well-tamed," and so on at length; "because the Buddha is like this, the Dharma and Vinaya spoken by that Buddha can also be taken as refuge." The *Nirvāṇa-sūtra* also says: "Whatever can be spoken by all non-Buddhists is entirely false speech; therefore, only the Buddha's teaching is the nītārtha scripture." Because they conform to the three Dharma seals and so forth, they can be taken as refuge; the teachings of non-Buddhists are neyārtha speech because, contradicting the three Dharma seals and so forth, they cannot be taken as refuge. Even if sacred teachings state only that the Buddha's teaching is nītārtha speech while what is spoken by non-Buddhists is called non-nītārtha, this gate resolves it: it is not that within the Buddha's teaching there is only the nītārtha.