大乘入道次第 1.25

1.25

Finally, explaining practice: now, heavenly ponds differ from puddles on the road because they take in hundreds of rivers without leaving any out; great mountains differ from small hillocks because they accumulate myriad particles of dust without discarding any. Therefore, in seeking unexcelled, complete, perfect bodhi, there are no practices among all the various ones that are not fully cultivated. Within this there are two parts: first, general; second, specific. Regarding the general: within the five stages of provisioning and the rest, they all possess both practices of benefiting oneself and benefiting others, as well as the twenty pāramitās of merit and wisdom. Thus the Cheng weishi lun states: 'The ten pāramitās are possessed in all five stages. However, in the stage of cultivation, their characteristics are most evident. Of these six perfections, those that have wisdom as their nature are all called wisdom; those whose substance is not wisdom are all called merit. The general characteristics of the six pāramitās both pertain to the two [merit and wisdom]; in their specific characteristics, the first five are spoken of as merit and virtue, and the sixth as wisdom. Furthermore, among these six perfections, if one cultivates the six in order to save others, all six benefit others; if cultivated for oneself, all six benefit oneself.' Since it is said that the ten perfections are cultivated across all five stages, and furthermore that the six perfections are subsumed under both merit and wisdom and the two benefits, we know that the ten perfections, the two benefits, and merit and wisdom pertain to all five stages.