四教義 12.6

12.6

第六辨眾經明四教位多少不同者，華嚴頓教，但明別、圓二教位；漸教之初聲聞經，但明三藏教三乘之位；若方等大乘具用四教明位；《摩訶般若》但明通、別、圓三教之位；若《法華經》但明圓教一佛乘開、示、悟、入之位。俱通大乘，明二乘如前。但通教菩薩位，用別接通，明佛性四德涅槃。三藏二乘如前，廢三藏大乘之位，三阿僧祇劫伏結之因、三十四心斷結之果入二涅槃也。又通教三藏教明二乘位至大涅槃，俱引入別、圓二位也。問曰：若廢三藏佛位，何得言羅漢、辟支佛、佛如醍醐？答曰：三位但界內結盡，此結成往昔之義，非今涅槃之所用也。

Sixth, determining the differing degrees to which various sūtras elucidate the stages of the four teachings: The sudden teaching of the Avataṃsaka only elucidates the stages of the two teachings, distinctive and perfect. The śrāvaka sūtras at the beginning of the gradual teaching only elucidate the stages of the three vehicles of the Tripiṭaka teaching. The Vaipulya Mahāyāna fully employs the four teachings to elucidate stages. The Mahāprajñā[pāramitā Sūtra] only elucidates the stages of the three teachings—shared, distinctive, and perfect. The Lotus Sūtra only elucidates the stages of the opening, demonstrating, awakening, and entering of the one Buddha vehicle of the perfect teaching. All are shared with Mahāyāna, and elucidate the two vehicles as before. But for the stages of the bodhisattva of the shared teaching, it uses the distinctive to connect with the shared, elucidating the four virtues of the Buddha-nature and nirvāṇa. The two vehicles of the Tripiṭaka are as before, but it sets aside the Mahāyāna stages of the Tripiṭaka—the cause of subduing bondages over three asaṃkhyeya kalpas and the fruit of severing bondages in thirty-four minds to enter the two nirvāṇas. Furthermore, the stages of the two vehicles elucidated in the shared teaching and the Tripiṭaka teaching, reaching up to the great nirvāṇa, are both led into the two stages of the distinctive and the perfect. Question: If the Buddha stage of the Tripiṭaka is set aside, how can it say that the arhat, the pratyekabuddha, and the Buddha are like ghee? Answer: These three stages merely exhaust bondages within the realms; this completes the meaning of the past, and is not what is employed in the present nirvāṇa.