四教義 3.9

3.9

Fourth, explaining the establishment of the meaning of the four gates by means of the ten dharmas: externalists also say: 'There are four gates, but because they are not established by the ten dharmas, all inversions [arise], transmigrating through birth and death without obtaining liberation.' Now, the four gates of the Buddhadharma are all established by the ten dharmas, definitely attaining nirvāṇa, and thus are not like those of externalists. Here there are four: first, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the Tripiṭaka teaching; second, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the shared teaching; third, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the distinctive teaching; fourth, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the perfect teaching. First, explaining the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the Tripiṭaka teaching: the four gates constitute four [points]. First, explaining the use of the ten dharmas to establish the Abhidharma gate of existence where seeing existence attains the Way: the titles and items of the ten dharmas are fully set forth as before. (1) In establishing through knowing correct causes and conditions that seeing existence attains the Way, one knows that the causes and conditions of ignorance produce all dharmas, refuting all externalists' suppositions that causelessness or heterodox causes produce all dharmas. (2) In establishing through truly generating the resolve that seeing existence attains the Way, one knows that through the causes and conditions of ignorance there is all the suffering of birth and death in the three realms; awakening arises, and one desires to sever the defilements and karma of ignorance and correctly seek nirvāṇa. This mind is genuine and correct, surpassing the minds of all gods, Māras, and externalists. (3) In establishing through advancing in cessation and contemplation that seeing existence attains the Way, through cessation and contemplation one can produce untainted concentration and wisdom, unlike externalists who do not know how to churn and shake, so that curds are hard to obtain, let alone fresh butter! (4) In establishing through universal refutation of dharmas that seeing existence attains the Way, one uses arising, ceasing, and impermanence to refute the two views of self and extremes, the single four views, the complex four views, the complete four views, the sixty-two views, and boundless views, knowing they all arise from the causes and conditions of ignorance, without love and attachment in mind. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Among these externalists, there is not a single dharma that does not arise from conditions; dharmas arising from conditions are all impermanent—how could externalists have permanence, bliss, self, and purity?' One can completely and universally refute all such views and the four inversions, unlike the externalists. (5) In establishing through skillfully knowing the penetrable and the obstructed that seeing existence attains the Way, one knows that boundless views all have the path and cessation, and are thus penetrable, while they all have suffering and origination, and are thus obstructed, unlike externalists who, like worms [eating through wood], do not know whether it is a character or not a character. (6) In establishing through skillfully practicing the thirty-seven factors [of awakening] that seeing existence attains the Way, the thirty-seven factors adjust practices, opening the three gates of deliverance facing nirvāṇa, unlike externalists. As when the Buddha made the lion's roar in the sūtra for Subhadra: 'As for the eightfold noble path, externalists do not have even a fraction of it; they definitively cannot attain the four fruits of the recluse.' (7) In establishing through diagnostic aids to opening that seeing existence attains the Way, the five contemplations for stilling the mind produce the dhyāna concentrations, renunciations, and bases of mastery, unlike externalists' fundamental craving dhyānas, where concentration gives rise to the three afflictions of attachment, views, and arrogance. (8) In establishing through skillfully knowing the successive stages that seeing existence attains the Way, one knows the stages of the seven worthies and seven nobles, without greed or presumption in mind to produce haughtiness, unlike externalists with the clinging to precepts and clinging to views, who reckon the dharmas of birth and death to be nirvāṇa. (9) In establishing through patient endurance of both strong and soft thieves that seeing existence attains the Way, one is able to endure the eight winds, internal and external three hindrances, and the four māras, without falling back in mind, unlike externalists who cannot patiently endure subtle path-blocking dharmas. (10) In establishing through non-arising of dharma-attachment aligned with the path that seeing existence attains the Way, people of the four wholesome roots give rise to wholesome, tainted five aggregates. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'My disciples have them, while externalists do not. If dharma-attachment is not generated, one does not fall from the summit, but advances into the dharma of forbearance, perfects the supreme worldly dharma, gives rise to the true brilliance of forbearance of suffering, and in sixteen moments realizes the fruit of srotāpanna. If one leaps over fruits, one immediately becomes an arhat.' Therefore, we know that through the ten dharmas being perfected, seeing existence attains the Way—for the śrāvaka vehicle, the pratyekabuddha vehicle, and even the Mahāyāna. Thus we know that in the Abhidharma, seeing existence attains the Way; this is no empty assertion. Second, explaining the ten dharmas establishing the gate of emptiness, third, the ten dharmas establishing the gate of both existence and emptiness, and fourth, the ten dharmas establishing the gate of neither emptiness nor existence: all attain the vision of the supreme truth and realize the two kinds of nirvāṇa; the sense of their being established by the ten dharmas can be known by analogy with the gate of existence. Now, among doctrinal scholars and meditators in the Buddhadharma, if they do not deeply comprehend this intention, and merely speak of seeing existence or seeing emptiness to attain the Way, how do they differ from externalists! Therefore, the Dà zhìdù lùn says: 'If without skillful means one enters the Abhidharma, one falls into existence; if one enters the gate of emptiness, one falls into non-existence; if one enters the gate of the Piṭaka of Guṇakāra, one falls into both existence and non-existence.' The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā says: 'If it is neither existence nor non-existence, that is the theory of foolishness.' Second, explaining the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the shared teaching, third, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the distinctive teaching, and fourth, the ten dharmas establishing the four gates of the perfect teaching: all attain entry into the Way, and can be known by analogy with the preceding. If one one-sidedly seizes upon the four gates, engaging in disputes and conceptual proliferation without grasping the intention of entering the Way through the ten dharmas, one will be burned by the fire of wrong views. Therefore, the Dà zhìdù lùn says: 'The perfection of wisdom is like a great mass of fire; it cannot be grasped from any of the four sides,' because one would be burned by the fire of wrong views. This matter has already been analyzed in various places under the four teachings above.