華嚴五十要問答 1
English (machine translation) 1
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Preface to the Carved Edition of the Fifty Essential Questions and Answers on the Avataṃsaka
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As for the Fifty Essential Questions and Answers in two fascicles, the Venerable of Yunhua, the Second Patriarch of the Avataṃsaka [tradition], gathered the essential meanings of the Flower Adornment and engaged in repeated examination and inquiry to resolve its vital points in over fifty topics; it may truly be called a paragon for doctrinal study. Now, Master [Zhi]yan received the teaching of accord with the nature from the Great Master Dixin. His compositions are quite numerous: the so-called Souxuan, Kongmu, Shixuan, this work, and others; those among later students who take these as their path are not few. Nevertheless, according to the customs of our country, secret books are not lightly permitted to be printed and engraved, causing lovers of antiquity to scratch their heads in frustration. Formerly, passing through a famous monastery, I searched and obtained this work. Although I thought to disseminate it, the majority of the text had omissions and errors and was insufficient to rely upon, so it lay discarded at the bottom of my book-box for a long time. This year, fortunately obtaining a good edition, I collated and checked them, supplemented its missing slips, corrected its errors, appended Japanese reading marks (kunten) alongside, and then committed it to the woodblocks. It is hoped that to the farthest regions and for all time the great teaching may spread everywhere, causing students to see the interfusion [of phenomena] in a sea of hair-tips and to realize the dharmadhātu in the present moment.
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Genroku 8, year yihai, fifth month, an auspicious day.
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Inscribed beneath the wheels of Chishaku[-in] in the Capital by the abbot bhikṣu Chōyo Jitsuyō of Ryūhō[-ji] in Sendai, Tōō.
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Compiled by the Śramaṇa Zhiyan of Zhixiang Temple on Mount Taiyi in Zhongnan, of the Great Tang.
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Now I set forth fifty essential questions and answers to illuminate the divisions of the literal meaning of the Ekayāna.
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1. The Ten Buddhas and the Meaning of Their Names (explained within the Chapter on Leaving the World).
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Question: How do the seeing of the Buddha and the names and numbers of the buddhas differ in meaning among the teachings of the Ekayāna, the triyāna, the Hīnayāna, and so forth?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, seeing the Buddha's physical body with the thirty-two marks and so forth is genuine seeing. The visual faculty and the sense-object correspond simultaneously; seeing actual physical marks is called 'seeing the Buddha'. According to the triyāna, seeing the Buddha's actual physical body and other thirty-two marks is not called 'seeing the Buddha', because this accords with discriminative parikalpita[-svabhāva]. Even if one sees a semblance of the marks, this is merely called an approximation and is also not seeing the Buddha. If one knows non-nature and the marks of neither coming nor going—that form is emptiness itself and that emptiness is not the annihilation of form, and so forth—not being according to conventional designations, this is called 'seeing the Buddha', because it accords with the essence of the Buddha. According to the Ekayāna teaching, from seeing and hearing onward, up to fully understanding the mark of non-arising and corresponding to the number ten, one sees the ten buddhas: (1) the Non-attachment Buddha, because he abides in the world and realizes true awakening; (2) the Vow Buddha, because he takes birth; (3) the Karmic Retribution Buddha, because of faith; (4) the Preservation Buddha, because of compliance; (5) the Nirvāṇa Buddha, because of eternal liberation; (6) the Dharmadhātu Buddha, because there is nowhere he does not reach; (7) the Mind Buddha, because of abiding; (8) the Samādhi Buddha, because he is immeasurable and unattached; (9) the Nature Buddha, because of certainty; and (10) the Wish-Fulfilling Buddha, because he covers all universally. This is called 'seeing the Buddha'. Because such seeing accords with the correct principle, one can behold the unsurpassed Tathāgata. Why is this? Because the factors conducive to bodhi (bodhipakṣa-dharma) and the factors conducive to liberation (mokṣabhāgīya-dharma) have coarse and subtle distinctions, arouse faith in accordance with capacities, and are different at their initial stages.
Second, regarding the differences in the number and quantity of the Buddha's names in the Ekayāna and other teachings: In the Ekayāna teaching, the names and numbers of the Buddha are ten, as spoken in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra: (1) Non-attachment Buddha, (2) Vow Buddha, (3) Karmic Retribution Buddha, (4) Preservation Buddha, (5) Nirvāṇa Buddha, (6) Dharmadhātu Buddha, (7) Mind Buddha, (8) Samādhi Buddha, (9) Nature Buddha, and (10) Wish-Fulfilling Buddha. In the triyāna, there are three buddhas: (1) dharmakāya Buddha, (2) saṃbhogakāya Buddha, and (3) nirmāṇakāya Buddha. In the Hīnayāna, there are two buddhas: (1) janmakāya Buddha and (2) nirmāṇakāya Buddha. The dharmakāya Buddha is also called svabhāvakāya; it is fundamentally existent, which is fundamentally existent tathatā. Second, the saṃbhogakāya Buddha is also called nirmāṇakāya, and third, the nirmāṇakāya Buddha is also called nirmāṇakāya; these are accomplished through the virtues of practice arising through cultivation. In the case of the two buddhas of the Hīnayāna, the janmakāya Buddha and the nirmāṇakāya Buddha both arise through cultivation, accomplished through the practice of loving-kindness and compassion. As for praising the Buddha's virtues: praising one or few virtues for a long time belongs to the triyāna; praising many virtues for a short time, up to praising many virtues for a long time, belongs to the Ekayāna.
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2. The Meaning of Consecration (explained after the Chapter on the Ten Abodes).
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Question: How is the attainment of buddhahood and consecration explained across the teachings?
Answer: In Hīnayāna consecration, it is accomplished purely through teaching within the human sense, with no distinct phenomenal meaning. In triyāna consecration, it is accomplished based on the principle in a heavenly abode, without distinguishing the stages of principle, phenomena, teaching, or meaning. In Ekayāna consecration, it fully possesses teaching, meaning, principle, phenomena, stages, and so forth, as explained at length in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra.
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3. The Meaning of Sentient Beings Becoming Buddhas (explained after the Ten Dense Forests).
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Question: According to the various teachings, how do sentient beings become buddhas?
Answer: In the Hīnayāna teaching, at any one time there is only the Bodhisattva alone who, through the practice of loving-kindness and compassion, becomes a buddha in succession based on the thirty-three minds. Other practitioners of views do not become buddhas; they only attain the two kinds of nirvāṇa and abide in the [nirvāṇa] without remainder. According to the initial teaching of the triyāna, half become buddhas and half do not become buddhas. If those of direct advancement and those of diverted mind practice for ten thousand kalpas and abide on the stage of capability, they all become buddhas. If they have not reached this stage, they are identical in status to icchantikas; such persons do not become buddhas at all. This is spoken with respect to stage. If judged according to this, the fourfold categorization can also be understood accordingly. This is as explained in the Bodhisattvabhūmi of the Yogācārabhūmi. According to the final teaching of the triyāna, all sentient beings without exception become buddhas. Because the holy wisdom of others reveals the fundamentally existent buddhadhātu and the nature of practice, grasses, trees, and the like are excluded, as spoken in the Nirvāṇa-sūtra. According to the meaning of the Ekayāna, all sentient beings, encompassing both the environment and the individual, all become buddhas, as spoken in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra. Applying this meaning to the fourfold categorization above, this is the common teaching of the Ekayāna, not the distinct teaching.
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4. The Meaning of Earlier and Later in Becoming Buddhas (explained after the Forty Unimpeded Eloquences).
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Question: In the various teachings, how do all sentient beings—oneself and others—relate in terms of earlier or later attainment of buddhahood?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, only one person becomes a buddha. If others become buddhas, it is at different times, earlier or later; if they transform sentient beings, they become buddhas at a later time, because there are no buddhas of the ten directions. According to the triyāna teaching, there are buddhas of the ten directions; therefore, they can become buddhas simultaneously in other places. If it is other sentient beings, the transforming agent and the transformed can also become buddhas simultaneously, because advancement and regression are indeterminate. According to the Ekayāna teaching, in thought-moment after thought-moment one becomes a buddha, completely exhausting the sentient beings to be transformed. In all stages, from the ten abodes onward up to bodhi, they completely exhaust the realm of sentient beings; the attainment of stages is all-pervading without earlier or later, because they share the one great tree of pratītyasamutpāda.
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5. The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha in a Single Thought-Moment (also explained after the Forty Unimpeded Eloquences).
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Question: What is the difference between becoming a buddha in a single thought-moment and becoming a buddha over many kalpas?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, one is definitely able to become a buddha only when the great kalpas of cosmic formation and destruction fulfill three asaṃkhyeyas; there is no becoming a buddha in a single thought-moment. According to the triyāna teaching, one may become a buddha in a single thought-moment. This has two meanings: first, because the moment the stage of awakening to the principle is fulfilled is only a single thought-moment; second, when converging conditions into reality, the nature of dharmas has neither much nor little, long nor short—one's attainment is the attainment of all, and the attainment of all is one's attainment. If based on a single trichiliocosm, becoming a buddha definitely takes three asaṃkhyeyas; this relies on the meaning of asaṃkhyeya according to the one hundred and twenty numbers of the Avataṃsaka. If extended to other worlds, it is also not definitely three asaṃkhyeyas, as spoken in the Suvikrāntavikrāmiparipṛcchā-sūtra. According to the Ekayāna meaning, the time periods for becoming a buddha are all indeterminate, because the time periods in the worlds of the ten directions, such as the Indra-net worlds, are different; all are spoken based on the respective saṃbhoga-stages, where conditioned kalpas mutually create and interpenetrate one another, so there is no fixed time, yet this does not contradict the dharma of time.
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6. The Meaning of Buddhas of Other Regions Attaining [Awakening] and Transforming (explained in the initial Chapter on Cloud Gathering of the Second Chapter).
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Question: According to the characteristics of the various teachings, what is the nature of the responsive transformations of the buddhas of other regions?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, there are no buddhas of other regions. Even if there were, it would be this world's Buddha going there to manifest transformations. According to the triyāna teaching, all the buddhas in the pure lands of the ten directions are true saṃbhoga[kāyas] without transformations. If provisionally manifested, indeterminate in beginning or end, causing the capacities of sentient beings to recognize them as transformations, they belong to the scope of transformation. If contrasting the two buddhas at the Akaniṣṭha and under the Bodhi tree, there are two meanings: first, using the transformation to reveal the saṃbhoga—namely, beneath the Bodhi tree revealing that the Buddha in the Ocean of the Padmagarbha-lokadhātu is the saṃbhoga; second, using the saṃbhoga to reveal the transformation—adducing the lofty and vast body attained at the Akaniṣṭha to reveal that [the Buddha] beneath the Bodhi tree is the transformation. According to the Ekayāna, there are only the ten buddhas; spoken according to the division of practice, it does not distinguish between the meanings of arising through cultivation and fundamentally existent. If one fundamentally understands the Great Way, essence is the essence of all kinds, marks are the marks of all kinds, and function is the function of all kinds. The manifestation of buddhas in all directions, whether in name or meaning, are all manifested based on Śākyamuni's sāgara-mudrā-samādhi; there are no separate buddhas.
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7. The Meaning of the Buddha's Mother and Retinue (explained later under Māyā).
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Question: What are the characteristics and meaning of the Buddha's mother Māyā, his retinue, and so forth?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, the Buddha's mother Māyā in this Jambudvīpa is the real Buddha's mother; in other worlds, there is no real one, because the Buddha is a transformation. According to the initial teaching of the triyāna, all the buddhas and others in a trichiliocosm are transformed buddhas, and Māyā, the retinue, and so forth are likewise not real. In other trichiliocosms, there are also other buddhas, whose transformative meaning is the same as before. In the pure lands, the Buddha's mother and other retinues are also solely transformations; however, they are transformations of the Dharma-gate, not transformations of the eight phases. In the final teaching of the triyāna, those who manifest the attainment of buddhahood in worlds of the same kind, such as trichiliocosms, are all transformed buddhas. How is this known? The Da zhidu lun extensively cites worlds of becoming a buddha as found in the commentaries, from which it is known that they are all the transformation realm of a single buddha manifesting bodies in many places, and therefore they are transformations. The body of the Maheśvara deva is also created by transformation. Because it provisionally reveals that [the Buddha] under the Bodhi tree in Jambudvīpa is a transformation, all the buddhas in the Padmagarbha-lokadhātu are true saṃbhoga[kāyas]. Encompassing essence, marks, and function, the buddhas manifested in the pure lands of the ten directions are saṃbhogakāya buddhas, and all their relatives are Dharma-gates, manifested to guide sentient beings of inferior capacities and different habits in this Sahā world, as spoken in the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha-sūtra. According to the Ekayāna, all the buddhas manifested in name and meaning within the teaching-net transformed by Śākyamuni Buddha are the power of Śākyamuni Buddha's sāgara-mudrā-samādhi. By this principle, all retinues and so forth are likewise identical. The meanings of essence, marks, and function, as well as transformation and altering nature, can be understood by analogy with this.
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8. The Meaning of the Buddha's Faculties and Senses (explained in the initial request of the Second Chapter).
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Question: What is the difference regarding the mutual interpenetration and mutual functioning of the Buddha's faculties and senses?
Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, the mutual functioning of the faculties of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and so forth is accomplished only through transformation, not by altering their nature. According to the triyāna teaching, transformation and altering nature are both masterfully attained. The triyāna has two meanings: first, based on original nature, which is the Mahāyāna bodhisattva, pratyekabuddha, and śrāvaka. If based on present study, they are collectively called Mahāyāna bodhisattva persons. Now, subsuming original nature and distinguishing it from the Mahāyāna, the two meanings of transformation and altering nature are both established. According to the Ekayāna teaching, both transformation and altering nature are manifested based on the fundamental dharma of pratītyasamutpāda; there is also no distinct nature that can be transformed or altered. If manifested, it is subsumed under transformation as before; furthermore, the essence of the Ekayāna possesses that ordinary existent body and also possesses those noble virtues. Direct-advancement Mahāyāna possesses those noble virtues but lacks the ordinary existent body. Gradual awakening and the Hīnayāna possess that ordinary body and possess noble virtues, but the ordinary body is not a noble dharma.
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9. The Meaning of the Scope and Limitation of Cause and Effect in Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (explained after the Chapter on Rocana).
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Question: What is the distinction between the two stages of cause and result for buddhas and bodhisattvas? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, one person, relying on one realm and on one mind, successively becomes a buddha. Cause and result correspond to each other and can be known by direct perception; it is only the cause and result of severing afflictions that differ in being exhausted or unexhausted. According to the triyāna, it is manifested and accomplished in many bodies, many minds, and many places; it is not the practice and karma of a single person. For a buddha it is likewise: he achieves it in all places. It is only the buddhas of the ocean of Padmagarbha-lokadhātu and a portion of the wise and completely enlightened ones of the three worlds whose semantic characteristics can be known. But regarding the limit and measure: taking sentient beings of these trichiliocosms, and using the ten directions as the limit and measure, it does not discuss the realms existing in Indra's [net] and the subtle worlds. According to the Ekayāna, all the limits and measures of the cause and result of becoming a buddha pervade all the limits of the secret and subtle realms of Indra's [net], exhausting the limits and measures of the three worlds, conforming to the gate of Samantabhadra in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra. The two stages of cause and result, such as all cultivation of practice and severing of afflictions, are both exhausted and unexhausted.
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10. The Meaning of the General and the Particular in the Cultivation of the Path across the Teachings (explained at the beginning of the tenth ground regarding the Stainless Samādhi)
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Question: What are the temporal limits of all the general and particular karmas in the cultivation of the path across the teachings? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, all the general retribution karmas of the factors of awakening are cultivated successively from the initial arising of the mind [of awakening]; at the verge of becoming a buddha, in the final mind of the tenth ground, one separately cultivates the karma of the marks and signs for one hundred kalpas, which is real and not illusory. According to the triyāna, in the initial teaching it is illusory and not real. According to the final teaching and direct advancement bodhisattvas, all are cultivated together from the arising of the mind onward; after the end of the tenth ground, there is no separate cultivation of the karma of the marks and signs for one hundred kalpas. According to the Ekayāna teaching, in part it is identical to the final teaching: since one achieves buddhahood and accomplishes the bodhisattva practice already from the ten faiths onward, there is also no separate time to cultivate separate karma for the marks and signs. Why is this? The manifestation of cultivating the karma of the marks and signs after the tenth ground is done to convert the śrāvakas, because śrāvakas cultivate the wisdom-portion exclusively and do not cultivate the merit-portion. Now, manifesting separate cultivation is in order to reveal their faithful mind, reverence, and love free from pride.
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11. The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha and Not Becoming a Buddha (explained after the Dense Forest)
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Question: What is the distinction between a bodhisattva cultivating the path becoming a buddha and not becoming a buddha? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, they merely cultivate the karma of the factors of awakening, and except for those who regress, all become buddhas; there are none who do not become buddhas. According to the triyāna teaching, those who cultivate the path with real practice all become buddhas. If responding to faculties of a different sort, they manifest non-attainment of buddhahood; if viewed according to correct principle, there is neither becoming nor not becoming [a buddha]. According to the Ekayāna teaching, all are addressed to the aforementioned faculties: if it is necessary to become a buddha, they repeatedly become [a buddha], all becoming buddhas through newly severed fetters, and they also do not abide in the stage of learning to become buddhas. If addressed to faculties that do not become [buddhas], they perpetually do not become [buddhas]—just as the great ocean is never filled overflowing across all its places—which is precisely the bodhisattva-icchantika in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. If addressed to faculties with different afflictions, then there is neither becoming nor not becoming. If addressed to Samantabhadra, then it is both becoming and not becoming.
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12. The Meaning of the Marks and Features of a Buddha (explained in the section on the third kalyāṇamitra)
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Question: What are the marks and features of a buddha established by the teachings? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, human marks are taken as the buddha, while omniscience and the like belong to the Dharma. According to the triyāna teaching, both virtues and marks constitute the marks and features of a buddha. According to the Ekayāna teaching, they are virtues, they are marks, and they are non-virtues and non-marks, because the principle of pratītyasamutpāda fully contains the meanings of compliance and non-compliance, action and non-action.
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13. The Meaning of Great Master and Minor Master (explained in the section on the precept of gathering sentient beings in the second ground)
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Question: What is the distinction between a great master and a minor master? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, the upādhyāya is the great master and the ācārya is the minor master; the buddha is neither a great master nor a minor master. According to the triyāna teaching, the buddha is the great master, and all the others are minor masters. Why is this? Because for Hīnayāna people, entering the fruit of nirvāṇa without remainder is designated as a separate stage, hence great and minor masters are provisionally established in lower stages. As for the great and minor masters in the Ekayāna, it is correct solely according to principle, not based on phenomenal characteristics.
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14. The Meaning of Becoming a Buddha upon the Fullness of Faith (explained in the Chapter on the Virtuous Head)
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Question: What is the distinction between becoming a buddha in the ten faiths and becoming a buddha in the final mind of the tenth ground? Answer: If one merely speaks of becoming a buddha in the ten faiths without discussing becoming a buddha in the final mind of the tenth ground, then it is the triyāna teaching. Why is this? Because the doctrine and principle are incomplete. If it completely possesses becoming a buddha across the five stages and the nine stages, then it is subsumed under the complete teaching of the Ekayāna. Why is this? Because teaching, doctrine, and so forth are completely explained. The Hīnayāna buddha and the triyāna buddha are both āgama-buddhas; the Ekayāna buddha is the buddha of meaning.
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15. The Meaning of the Buddha's Arising in the Kalpa of Decrease (explained after the benefits of the ground following the tenth ground)
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Question: What is the temporal scope of the buddha's arising in the world during the kalpa of decrease? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, one hundred years constitutes the kalpa of decrease. According to the triyāna teaching, there are two kinds of decrease: first, decrease in time and not decrease in goodness; second, decrease in time and also decrease in goodness. The broad stage below eighty thousand kalpas constitutes a decrease in time; the broad stage below one hundred years constitutes a decrease in goodness, because the various evils such as the five defilements increase.
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16. The Meaning of Taking the Bodhi Tree as the Beginning (explained at the beginning of the assembly on the ten abodes)
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Question: Why does the teaching of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra take the bodhi tree and the buddha as the beginning, while other places of preaching the Dharma, bodhisattvas, and sentient beings are all spoken of as the end? Answer: If discussed in terms of delusion, every movement of mind and stirring of thought is parikalpita, which is empty and non-existent. Now, because the buddha's wisdom skilfully realizes the fundamental nature, puts an end to characteristics, and returns to the source, the overarching principles of the established teaching are all the buddha's wisdom. Therefore, it takes the buddha as the beginning; outside of the buddha, there is not a single dharma.
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17. The Meaning of the Buddha's Body Being Permanent or Impermanent (explained under Awakening in the Chapter on the Arising of Nature)
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Question: Is the buddha's body permanent or impermanent? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna, the buddha is impermanent. According to the triyāna, the buddha is both permanent and impermanent: the dharmakāya buddha is permanent because it is ultimate, but impermanent because of separation and non-separation; the nirmāṇakāya is permanent because it is ultimately realized once, but impermanent because, depending on the lower stages of śrāvakas and ordinary beings, it is seen to increase and decrease; the transformation body is like fire—impermanent because it burns in some places and is extinguished in others, yet spoken of as permanent because the virtues of transformation are continuous, extending to the end of the future limit. The ten buddhas of the Ekayāna are permanent, impermanent, and neither permanent nor impermanent: because using non-preaching is preaching, the buddha is permanent; because it corresponds with the āgamas, it is impermanent; because it accords with the limit of pratītyasamutpāda, it is neither permanent nor impermanent.
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18. The Meaning of the Buddha's Āśrayaparivṛtti (explained in the Ground Chapter under shared characteristics and non-shared characteristics)
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Question: What is the distinction among the buddha's āśrayaparivṛtti across the teachings? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, there is transformation-cessation, transformation-accomplishment, transformation-stage, and transformation-manifestation. Present afflictions are extinguished, hence transformation-cessation; the virtue of practice is complete, hence transformation-accomplishment; transforming ordinary nature to obtain noble nature, hence transformation-stage; and the noble person's stream of dharmas is present in the current world, hence transformation-manifestation. According to the triyāna teaching, there is transformation-cessation, transformation-accomplishment, transformation-stage, and transformation-manifestation: obtaining the cessation of present dominant consciousness, of seeds, and of nature, hence transformation-cessation; the perfection of virtues and the perfection of nature, hence transformation-accomplishment; transforming the basis of an ordinary person to obtain the basis of a noble person, and not transforming and not obtaining, accomplishes transformation-stage; the dharmakāya's freedom from affliction and its lack of the mark of separation is named transformation-manifestation. According to the Ekayāna teaching, fundamental existence and fundamental existence arising through cultivation, arising through cultivation and arising through cultivation fundamentally existent—these four stages are ever so, as explained extensively in the commentary. Severing evil and not severing are ultimately ever so; therefore, the meaning of āśrayaparivṛtti pervades nine times and ten times, not like the one time and three times in the earlier Hīnayāna and triyāna teachings.
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19. The Meaning of Transforming the Four Consciousnesses into the Four Wisdoms (also explained in the Ground Chapter under non-shared characteristics)
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Question: What is the meaning of transforming and extinguishing the four consciousnesses to accomplish the four wisdoms? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna teaching, there are only the five consciousnesses and the mental consciousness; there are neither ālaya nor manas, nor are there four wisdoms to be accomplished. If according to the triyāna teaching, then there are four consciousnesses transformed and extinguished to accomplish the four wisdoms. Yet regarding these four wisdoms in the triyāna final teaching and the teaching for direct advancement bodhisattvas, they are all accomplished from the mental consciousness. Why is this? Because all retribution and the ability of the manas-consciousness to arise in active manifestation are both accomplished through remote conditioning from the stage of the mental consciousness. If the vipāka-ālaya directly issues from seeds, and the seeds of the same category are produced from the dominant mental consciousness, how much less could the issuing of wisdom occur sequentially from the categories of the mūlavijñāna? This meaning is untenable. Buddhas and bodhisattvas merely borrow the names of the four wisdoms to manifest the four consciousnesses, showing that the mūlavijñāna and the manas-consciousness exist; it is definitely not that the four consciousnesses directly generate wisdom from their own categories. Why is this? Because the manas, the mūlavijñāna, and the five consciousnesses do not accomplish general retribution, since volitional karma and selection through hearing and reflection cannot exist [there]. If they generated volitional karma, then distinct [factors] would have to receive birth, and this error would ensue; the teachings also have no textual support for this. If it is the dharmatā-ālaya, the tathāgatagarbha-consciousness, it would be entirely inappropriate for it to give rise to volition on its own. The two teachings in the Buddhabhūmi-sūtra and Asvabhāva's Mahāyānasaṃgraha[-upanibandhana] differ because of distinct meanings. The Buddhabhūmi-sūtra says: 'One should know that there are five dharmas that subsume the stage of great awakening. What are the five? Namely, the pure dharmadhātu, the great round mirror wisdom, the equality wisdom, the wondrously observing wisdom, and the duty-accomplishing wisdom.' Below it explains sequentially down to the duty-accomplishing wisdom pervading and accomplishing the functions of the three karmas; there is no separate text assigning ālaya, manas, mental consciousness, and the five consciousnesses to separately achieve āśrayaparivṛtti to attain the four kinds of wisdom. Moreover, as in Asvabhāva's Mahāyānasaṃgraha[-upanibandhana], through the transformation of the eight factors such as the ālayavijñāna, the aggregate of consciousness attains the four kinds of wondrous wisdom such as the great round mirror wisdom, as numbered in sequence or as appropriate, one should know. Here, transforming the ālayavijñāna results in attaining the great round mirror wisdom: though the cognized object is not present before it, it does not forget; not limited by time or place, it is never deluded with respect to all objects; free of conceptual discrimination, it can give rise to the reflections of the buddha-wisdom of enjoyment. Transforming the defiled manas results in attaining the equality wisdom: already realized earlier at the first direct perception, it becomes increasingly pure in the stage of cultivation of the path; thereby abiding in non-abiding nirvāṇa, it is constantly associated with great loving-kindness and great compassion, and can manifest reflections of the buddha according to what is liked. Transforming the five observing consciousnesses results in attaining the wondrously observing wisdom: fully endowed with all dhāraṇī-gates and samādhi-gates, like a treasure house it can manifest all sovereign functions in the great assembly, can sever all doubts, and can rain the Dharma rain. Transforming the mental consciousness results in attaining the duty-accomplishing wisdom: everywhere in all worlds of the ten directions it can manifest transformations, descending from the Tuṣita heaven palace down to nirvāṇa, able to manifest the maintenance of all sentient beings' benefit and joy. Therefore, since the text above says 'as appropriate,' we know that the separate matching of the transformation of the four consciousnesses' bases to accomplish the four kinds of wisdom is not definitive; rather, the intent of the text is to adopt one meaning according to the context to reveal the Dharma, and it must not be taken as absolute. Just as borrowed defilements manifest stages, one can know it by analogy. One should know that the intent of the teaching is to reveal the Dharma through expedient means, hence it makes this statement. If viewed in terms of the triyāna initial teaching, this can also be so, as in the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi-śāstra. An external question asks: If the manas-consciousness does not generate wisdom from its own category, then there would be something lacking in the stage of a noble person. To answer this doubt, there are four propositions: there are dharmas common to both ordinary people and noble ones; there are dharmas present in ordinary people but absent in noble ones; there are dharmas present in noble ones but absent in ordinary people; and there are dharmas absent in both ordinary people and noble ones. That which is present in both ordinary people and noble ones refers to the five meanings of tathāgatagarbha. That which is absent in both ordinary people and noble ones refers to parikalpita-svabhāva. That which is absent in ordinary people but present in noble ones refers to the permanent body. That which is absent in noble ones but present in ordinary people refers to the impermanent body. Since this proposition exists, what fault is there in manas being present in ordinary people and absent in noble ones? This single meaning is taught only in the triyāna teaching; it does not exist in the unshared teaching of the Ekayāna. If viewed within the gate of the triyāna initial teaching, addressed to Hīnayāna people, this meaning is admissible. Why is this? Because addressed to the Hīnayāna, it does not teach that the tathāgatagarbha, undefiled yet defiled, defiled yet undefiled, constitutes the ālaya.
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20. The Meaning of the Characteristics of the Teachings. Explained in the section on explaining the name in the tenth ground.
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Question: How are the characteristics of the Ekayāna teaching established? Answer: This principle is difficult. Let a metaphor be presented to reveal it. It is like a storied pavilion, adorned inside and outside to the utmost limit of skill and thought, having only a single gate, which can be knocked upon and opened only by someone endowed with wisdom. Showing it to those without wisdom, the teaching of the Ekayāna is just like this: the nature-origination tree-matrix internally decorates the Ekayāna, while externally adorning the triyāna, Hīnayāna, and so on. There is a single gate of awakening facing beneath the bodhi tree, which is opened and seen only by two persons—the Buddha and Samantabhadra, across the two stages of cause and result—spreading a vast net of teaching for all sentient beings who are fit to be transformed, stretching across the ocean of saṃsāra to scoop up devas, humans, and nāgas and place them on the shore of nirvāṇa. Among the various teaching characteristics, showing those teachings of the Hīnayāna and triyāna causes beings to give rise to faith, arouse practice, and partially realize [the truth]; showing the Ekayāna teaching causes them to see and hear it, and later attain entry and realization. Therefore, those teaching characteristics appear to form an internal and external, as well as a distinction in doctrines. It is just like the great ox-cart outside the realm in the Lotus Sūtra, and the passage above the eighth ground in the Daśabhūmika-śāstra; these are precisely this matter.
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21. The Meaning of the Delimitation of the Ekayāna. Explained after the forty unhindered eloquence[s].
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Question: What is the delimitation of the doctrine of the Ekayāna? Answer: The Ekayāna teaching is of two kinds: first, the common teaching; second, the distinct teaching. All the doctrines clarified by the Ekayāna of the round teaching possess everything in every single word and phrase; this is the distinct teaching, as extensively explained in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra. Second, the common teaching refers to the teachings of the Hīnayāna and triyāna: although their names are the same, their imports are entirely different, as may be known from their extensive explanation in the various Mahāyāna sūtras. Moreover, looking at these common teachings relative to higher and lower, there are common and uncommon aspects. For example, the Hīnayāna teaching holds that the three periods of time exist, which is absent in the triyāna; what exists in the triyāna teaching is absent in the Hīnayāna. Or there are things common to both yānas, such as the items and enumerations of the factors of awakening being shared; or there are things absent in both yānas, which is precisely the Ekayāna teaching. One may extrapolate by analogy and know this.
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22. The Meaning of Establishing the Stages of the Ekayāna. Also explained after the forty unhindered [eloquences].
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Question: How do the various teachings differ in establishing stages? Answer: Briefly, according to the distinction of stages set forth for Samantabhadra's cause and result in the Ekayāna, there are seventeen approaches: the worldly six destinies constitute six approaches; śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas constitute another two approaches; the Buddha in the Hīnayāna and the Buddha of a person of the Hīnayāna who has initially diverted their mind constitute another two approaches—these two Buddhas are attained through generating wisdom based equally on the thirty-three minds, relying on the four dhyānas, and so on; from the ten faiths up to the ten grounds, across the five stages, Buddhahood is realized at each and every stage, which constitutes five approaches; for the diverted-mind śrāvakas, the ten grounds such as the ground of dry wisdom are established, constituting another approach; for the bodhisattvas of direct advancement, cultivating from the initial ten faiths to the completion of the ten grounds and then attaining Buddhahood, accomplishing correct awakening in the first single thought, constitutes another approach. This is explained extensively as in the root commentary. The triyāna and Hīnayāna may be known by analogy with this.
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23. The Meaning of the Expedient Means by Which the Six Destinies Become Pure. Also explained after the forty unhindered eloquences.
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Question: The cause and result of the six destinies are originally not holy stages; why are they subsumed within the approach of Samantabhadra? Answer: The cause and result of the six destinies run contrary to the holy Dharma, but Samantabhadra's expedient means turns them into practices that reverse the path and the approach of reverse-conduct, so that through these expedient means all sentient beings may rely on revulsion and attain liberation.
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24. The Meaning of the Differences in Establishing the Piṭakas. Explained in the Chapter on the Ten Piṭakas.
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Question: How do the teaching-nets of the three piṭakas—sūtra, and so forth—agree and differ? Answer: The teaching of the three piṭakas is divided into two meanings: First, because what is explained is threefold, the teachings are threefold: the sūtras explain samādhi, up to the vinaya explaining the precepts. The triyāna and Hīnayāna share these names and enumerations, but the depths and delimitations of their meanings differ. Second, because what they are intended for is twofold, the teachings are divided into two: namely, the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, which are divided into two piṭakas. Pratyekabuddhas, being solitary awakeners, have no teaching, and are therefore not given the designation of a piṭaka. Within the Ekayāna, there are ten piṭakas, as explained in the fourth assembly.
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25. The Meaning of Citta, Manas, and Vijñāna. First explained in the Ten Thick Forests.
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Question: How are citta, manas, and vijñāna established distinctly within the various teachings? Answer: According to the Hīnayāna, there are only six consciousnesses, conceptually divided into citta, manas, and vijñāna; the rest is as explained in the Hīnayāna treatises. According to the triyāna teaching, in the initial teaching it is established that the maturation-ālaya receives perfuming to form seeds, which is why this is known. Therefore, Asvabhāva's Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "Now establishing the maturation-ālaya is also without flaw." Since we know it is "without flaw," we know it is a provisional establishment. For the sake of śrāvakas of diverted mind who have not yet penetrated the emptiness of phenomena, the characteristic of maturation is provisionally presented to gradually guide the Hīnayāna from the transformation-death gradually toward subtle cessation; in truth, however, it is not so. If based on the true principle, all dependent origination is not separate from the dharmadhātu; the principles and phenomena accomplished are the capacity of the dharmadhātu, just like gold vessels: being inseparable from gold, the vessel is the capacity of gold. To speak of perfuming the karmic fruition is said based on stages; this may be pondered and distinguished. Thus the Awakening of Faith says: "Tathatā perfumes ignorance, and ignorance perfumes tathatā." This import points toward the actual. If the principle is like this, why does the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra say that maturation receiving perfuming is spoken for the foolish? Within and without there is no perfuming, so one does not see the storehouse abiding; one who can know in this way is called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva. Since the Awakening of Faith holds that tathatā is perfumed, on what basis does it establish perfuming? Now, reconciling this import: the Yogācārabhūmi is for the sake of śrāvakas, so that they first understand maturation and later know non-arising, following their meditative observation. Now, the Awakening of Faith Treatise is for bodhisattvas of direct advancement: upon understanding the marks of dependent origination, they immediately integrate with non-arising, hence it makes a distinct explanation. Furthermore, according to the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra, defiled and pure dharmas have expansion and condensation: when defilement is expanded, it forms seven consciousnesses; condensed, it is the ālaya. The pure tathāgatagarbha consciousness also has two meanings: condensed, it forms the eighth consciousness; expanded, it forms the ninth consciousness; thus there are eight and nine kinds. Various counteractive paths arise, some having cessation and some not having cessation; this can be known by analogy. Moreover, the Cheng weishi lun says that although the forms transformed by consciousness are immeasurable, the consciousnesses capable of transformation are categorically only three: First is called maturation, which is the eighth consciousness, because of its predominantly maturation nature. Second is called cogitation, which is the seventh consciousness, because it constantly scrutinizes and cogitates. Third is called perception of objects, which is the front six consciousnesses, because their perception of the marks of objects is coarse. As for saying that the six are condensed into one kind, these three are all called transforming consciousnesses. Transforming has two kinds: First is causal transformation, meaning the two causal karmic seeds—flowing-equal and maturation—within the eighth consciousness. As for the flowing-equal karmic seeds, through the wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate [states] in the seven consciousnesses, they are perfumed to grow. Maturation karmic seeds, through the defiled wholesome and unwholesome [states] in the six consciousnesses, are perfumed to grow. Second is fruitional transformation, meaning that by the power of the preceding two kinds of karmic seeds, the eight consciousnesses arise, manifesting various marks. With flowing-equal karmic seeds as the causal condition, the substances and marks of the eight consciousnesses arise distinctly, termed flowing-equal fruits, because the fruit resembles the cause. With maturation karmic seeds as the predominant condition, they induce the eighth consciousness, constantly continuing to repay the force of leading karma, hence establishing the name maturation. Inducing the front six consciousnesses to fulfill completing karma, these arise from maturation and are called maturation-born, not called maturation, because they have interruptions. Precisely the aforementioned maturation and maturation-born are called maturation fruits, because the fruit differs from the cause. Here, it is provisionally said that the transformative fruitional consciousness that grasps the storehouse of self-love and holds defiled seeds is called maturation; it does not mean all. As for the manas-consciousness, according to the triyāna teaching, when that consciousness arises, the four afflictions arise, but dharma-grasping does not arise. Śrāvakas who are foolish regarding the Dharma do not sever it, but merely temporarily suppress its manifest activity, because their contemplative wisdom is shallow. Śrāvakas who fall back from the bodhi mind and śrāvakas of diverted mind both sever the manas, because their contemplative wisdom is superior. Even if the latter portion of the Yogācārabhūmi says that the arising of the ālaya consciousness must correspond with two consciousnesses, this is based on its initial arising, not on its subsequent continuity. Spoken in terms of stages, for bodhisattvas of direct advancement, its non-arising is the correct principle; for those of diverted mind, its arising is the correct principle. Furthermore, for bodhisattvas who have newly diverted their mind, because they preserve afflictions, it follows along with them and is severed only at the vajra-samādhi. For those of direct advancement, the latent tendencies remain until before the vajra[-samādhi]. As for saying "reaches," this is said based on the two Āgamas. Because it initially addresses the Hīnayāna, the remaining points can be known by analogy. The mental consciousness and the five consciousnesses are either identical or different, as explained in the sūtras and treatises. The meaning of mental factors and so forth is explained separately below. This text is in the triyāna, but its principle connects with the function of the Ekayāna, because of the identity with the dharmadhātu. Furthermore, one teaching is solely one mind, because it reveals that nature-origination is endowed with all virtues, as explained in the "Chapter on Nature-Origination." Furthermore, explaining ten minds is intended to reveal immeasurability, as explained in the ninth ground. This is stated according to the distinct teaching of the Ekayāna.
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26. The Meaning of the Classification of Various Sūtras. Explained in the passage on the assembly in the introductory chapter.
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Question: What is the classification of the various sūtras into categories? Answer: For example, the four Āgama sūtras are limited to the Hīnayāna teaching. The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna-sūtra presents correct understanding and practice and distinguishes wrong understanding and practice, connecting to the triyāna teaching. Sūtras such as the Nirvāṇa-sūtra and the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra are the final teaching of the triyāna, spoken for śrāvakas whose faculties are mature. The Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitā is the initial teaching of the triyāna, initially bringing together śrāvakas foolish regarding the Dharma; the meaning is evident in the text. The Vimalakīrti, Viśeṣacintā, Kāruṇikārājā, Suvikrāntavikrāmīparipṛcchā, Kāśyapa, and Buddhapiṭaka sūtras, and so on, were spoken for bodhisattvas of direct advancement. Moreover, there are two kinds of direct advancement: first, direct advancement within the Mahāyāna; second, direct advancement bodhisattvas within the Hīnayāna. Between these two places of direct advancement, the teachings also have identities and differences, which may be understood by analogy with how they are subsumed. The single work of the Avataṃsaka is the distinct teaching of the Ekayāna; the other sūtras are the common teaching, because the Ekayāna, triyāna, and Hīnayāna rely on them jointly. Moreover, the Avataṃsaka is the principal, and the other sūtras are its retinue. Extrapolating from this, the doctrinal characteristics and meanings of the various divisions can also be understood. As for the Lotus Sūtra, its central doctrine is an Ekayāna sūtra, because the triyāna completes its practice within the three realms, while the Ekayāna is outside the three realms, providing hearing and seeing for the three realms; the remaining meanings can be known by analogy.
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27. The Meaning of the Factors of Awakening. Explained in the fourth ground.
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Question: What are the differences among the factors of awakening across the various teachings? Answer: The names and numbers of the factors of awakening in the Hīnayāna briefly comprise thirty-seven kinds; the names and numbers of the factors of awakening in the triyāna are also identical, but their meanings differ, as extensively set forth in the sūtras and treatises. The factors of awakening of the Ekayāna are the two thousand phrases of meaning in the "Chapter on Detachment from the World" in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, which are their names and their essential nature. It is asked again: Since the factors of awakening of the Ekayāna have distinct names, numbers, and essences, they must also have distinct causes; why are there meanings identical with the triyāna? Answer: In terms of the measure of their meanings, depth and shallowness, breadth and narrowness, they are completely different. Now, presenting distinctions in doctrinal approaches while having shared names is intended to induce the faith and aspiration of the triyāna. That the various teachings have additions or subtractions in common enumerations can also be known by analogy with this.
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- 華嚴五十要問答 — Classical Chinese