止觀輔行傳弘決 7.48

7.48

Next, regarding clarifying knowledge of the gradations of stages: first, to clarify the purpose of this section. Since the preceding seven were used as what is cultivated, when good roots from the two lifetimes manifest, one's entry into stages is indefinite; or, not yet having entered the stages and not having attained, one might claim to have attained. Fearing that those of the most inferior capacity would produce grave sins, it is necessary to clarify the stages to cause practitioners to recognize them. Each of the four teachings has two stages, the authentic and the semblance: at the stage of the worthy it is called semblance, and upon entering the stage of the noble it is called authentic. When the authentic stage reaches culmination, it is called liberation. Having realized it, being clear about the stages and able to explain them to others is called knowledge and vision; knowledge and vision is simply another name for the wisdom eye. Next, it raises the analogy of "vermilion and purple" and so forth: vermilion is a primary color, like the authentic stage; purple is an intermediate color, like the semblance stage. Just as red and black combine to form purple, because the authentic and the false are still intermixed, it is called semblance. From "never" downward, it directly explains the gradations of stages, wherein it fully explains the differences among the four teachings. The first passage generally lists the four gates, clarifying the intention of the stages in each teaching, which aims at severing afflictions to realize the authentic. Therefore, within the Tripiṭaka the names of the four gates differ, referring to the four gates of emptiness, existence, and so on; the stages are distinct, namely the seven worthies and seven nobles, the twenty-seven worthies and nobles, and so forth; hence it says "there are differences." In each and every gate, one severs [the afflictions of] view and thought and conditions the principle of the truth of the authentic; hence it says that the severing and the principle of truth are distinctly identical. "Chan" means manifest. Regarding "the two vehicles mostly discuss a single lifetime" and so forth: this distinguishes the differences between the two vehicles in gate after gate. As for "a single lifetime," although there are the seeds of the factors of liberation across a hundred kalpas and three lifetimes, from the stations of mindfulness onwards it takes up to a single lifetime, or two, or three, or seven lifetimes, and so forth. In terms of their original intention, it is to obtain realization in this very lifetime; although their original intention is such, it is not always a single lifetime, which is why it says "mostly." Although there are four gates, in clarifying the stages there are slight differences, but the attainment of the fruits is largely identical. For example, regarding the distinction between seeing and cultivation in the sixteenth mind, it is called a slight difference; the remaining three fruits are for the most part definitively established, hence it says "they do not change alternatively." For bodhisattvas, taking three [innumerable] kalpas and a hundred kalpas is called "a long time," and the six perfections and hundred merits are called "distant practice." Unlike the two vehicles severing fetters in a single lifetime, it says "also distinct." The differences in leniency and urgency are called "different pathways"; all tending toward the truth of the authentic is called "their destination is one." When bodhisattvas are compared to the perfect teaching, although provisional and real differ, their aspiration is easily redirected, unlike the small [vehicle]. "Five merits" is as fully quoted in the third fascicle. Next, from "this teaching" downward, it rebukes confusion. This rubric comes precisely to eliminate confusion; hence it must be rebuked. Next, in explaining the stages of the shared [teaching], it mentions "distinct in name but shared in meaning," as in the beginning of the fifth fascicle of the *Fahua xuanyi*, where ten meanings are analyzed, such as shared in name and perfect in meaning, distinct in name and perfect in meaning, and so forth. Next, in explaining the stages of the distinctive [teaching], it first clarifies the intent of the distinctive stages, and next briefly points to sūtras and treatises. The *Mahāyāna-saṃgraha* and *Avataṃsaka* mostly clarify the forty-two stages in succession. As for "for the present": because the various teachings differ, it provisionally indicates this teaching as a general outline. However, within the *Avataṃsaka* there are both the distinctive and the perfect, not exclusively one teaching, for as the sūtra lists the stages, every single stage has both the gradual arrangement and Samantabhadra's [interpenetrating] gates. Furthermore, the distinctive stages in various sūtras and treatises take many paths; hence it says "for the present." From "only the distinctive" downward, it demonstrates the characteristics of the distinctive stages, first showing the sūtras, next the treatises. "General treatises" refers to those like the *Madhyamaka-śāstra* and *Mahāyāna-saṃgraha*, which generally explain the Mahāyāna. "Specific treatises" refers to those like the *Dazhidulun* and *Daśabhūmika-śāstra*, which specifically explain a single sūtra. Regarding "how could it be" and so forth: this refutes attachment. Treatises expound their own gates to guide those with biased preferences; later people, failing to understand, suppress existence and extol nonexistence, thereby losing the skillful means of existence; or they disparage nonexistence and praise existence, thereby losing the unobstructed path of nonexistence. The third and fourth gates are also like this: though wishing to lead people forward, it turns out to cause obstruction.