法界次第初門 1.218

1.218

The explanation of the three refuges after the ten wholesome actions is given because before the Tathāgata appeared in the world, the transformation effected by the ten wholesome actions already existed; these were the old wholesome practices of the worldly realm, so how could there have been the Three Jewels to take refuge in? Only when the Great Sage first attained correct awakening did he, on account of the elder Trapuṣa, initiate and confer the precepts of the three refuges, overturning heterodoxy and turning toward the correct, taking this as the root for entering sagehood. When practitioners of the three vehicles take refuge in the primary principle and advance their practice, this stands as the very foremost. The function of the three refuges is precisely to crush the three heterodoxies, rescue [beings] from the three destinies, receive the three vehicles, and transcend the three states of existence. The Buddha-Dharma takes these three refuges as its root, broadly initiating all categories of precepts and all supramundane wholesome dharmas. How could it be identical with the old dharmas of the ten wholesome actions? Question: "The twelve gates of dhyāna are also old dharmas; why are they not stated prior to the three refuges now?" Answer: "If one went by the chronological sequence of the preached teachings, it would indeed be as you ask. But here, wishing to treat the sequence of the cultivation of morality and concentration in their proper order, it could not be so." Now, following below the three refuges, the headings of all the precepts are fully set forth, all sharing this same intention.