華嚴五十要問答 1.12

1.12

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.