摩訶止觀 7.145

7.145

二乘多論一生斷結，時節既促，教門所明大同小異，不過迭動。菩薩教門非但時長、行遠，智斷亦別，徑路乃殊，歸途一也。六度初僧祇未知作佛；二僧祇知而不說；三僧祇自知亦說；百劫種大人相，具五功德名「不退地」，皆似位也。坐道場成佛，方名「真位」。此教初淺尚有次位，豈有凡夫造心即言上位？此非增上慢，推與誰乎？

The two vehicles mostly discuss severing fetters in a single lifetime; the duration being so short, what is clarified by the doctrinal gates is largely the same with minor differences, merely shifting back and forth. The doctrinal gates of the bodhisattva are not only long in duration and distant in practice, but their wisdom and severing are also distinct, their pathways different, though their ultimate destination is one. In the six perfections, during the first asaṃkhyeya kalpa one does not know one will become a Buddha; during the second asaṃkhyeya kalpa one knows but does not say so; during the third asaṃkhyeya kalpa one knows for oneself and also says so; planting the marks of a great person for a hundred kalpas and possessing the five virtues is called the "stage of non-retrogression"—these are all stages of resemblance. Only when sitting at the bodhimaṇḍa and attaining Buddhahood is it called the "real stage". When this initial, shallow teaching still possesses a sequence of stages, how could an ordinary person, upon first generating the mind, claim to be in a higher stage? If this is not excessive pride, to whom should it be attributed?