法界次第初門 1.233

1.233

今次諸戒品而辨四禪者，上所明戒相雖復麁、細有殊，終是同防欲界身、口外惡，既未除細亂，豈能超出欲界之境？若自尸羅皎潔，志在禪門，專修五法（五法在下別出科目），則色界清淨四大自現身中，緣是以次第獲得根本四禪種種勝妙支林功德，爾乃因超欲網，果居色界。通名禪者，禪是西土之音，此翻棄惡，能棄欲界五蓋等一切諸惡，故云棄惡。或翻功德叢林，或翻思惟修，今不具釋。而言根本者，以無量心、背捨、勝處、一切處、神通變化及無漏觀慧等，種種諸禪三昧，悉從四禪中出，故稱根本。

Now, the four dhyānas are explained following the various categories of precepts because, although the aspects of the precepts clarified above differ in coarseness and fineness, they ultimately both prevent the external evils of body and speech in the desire realm; since subtle distraction has not yet been removed, how could one transcend the realm of desire? If one's own śīla is spotless and one fixes one's resolve on the gate of dhyāna, exclusively cultivating the five dharmas (the five dharmas will be brought out under separate headings below), then the pure four great elements of the form realm will naturally manifest within one's body. Dependent on this, one sequentially attains the various excellent and marvelous factors and forest of virtues of the fundamental four dhyānas; only then, having transcended the net of desire as a cause, does one reside in the form realm as a fruition. They are universally called dhyāna: dhyāna is the sound of the Western lands, translated here as "casting off evil"; because it can cast off all evils such as the five hindrances of the desire realm, it is called "casting off evil." Alternatively, it is translated as "grove of virtues," or translated as "cultivation through thought"; these are not fully explained here. As for calling them "fundamental," it is because the immeasurable minds, liberations, bases of mastery, kṛtsnāyatanas, superknowledges, transformations, and untainted contemplative wisdom—the various dhyānas and samādhis—all issue forth from the four dhyānas; hence they are called "fundamental."