釋淨土群疑論 4.25

4.25

釋曰：此兩經文實成乖返。然淨土穢土區域既殊，此生彼生根機亦異，故判正定聚等高下不同，阿鞞跋致淺深亦別。然娑婆穢土聖少凡多、信希謗眾，根行淺者多遇退緣，邪風所扇悉皆退轉。依諸經論說有四退：一信退、二位退、三證退、四行退。信退者，十信位中初五心位，猶有退生邪見斷善根等，後位不然。位退者，十住位中前六心位，猶得退敗作二乘等，後位不然。證退者，十地已前諸凡夫位，於前所證尚有退失，十地不然。行退者，七地已前，於所聞行尚生怯劣，不能修學，不能於念念中恒修勝行，中間間起諸有漏煩惱、人法二執等心，名為念退。八地菩薩入第三阿僧祇，無四種退，於諸行中具修一切行，於一切時念念相續，常起無漏人法空觀，無有一念起有漏心善惡無記。八地菩薩等具四不退，故名阿鞞跋致菩薩也；餘七地等無四不退，故全不得名阿鞞跋致。若從一義，初地菩薩入第二阿僧祇。以預聖流。斷於見道分別二障。證遍滿真如，得百法明門，住歡喜地，此具證行兩種不退，亦得名為阿鞞跋致。乃至七地已來，猶有愛佛愛菩提障現行，間起有漏等心，不得行不退，亦名非阿鞞跋致也。而隨少分，亦名阿鞞跋致菩薩也。依《菩薩本業瓔珞》等經說「第六住名正心住，此位菩薩猶有退菩提心作二乘等，如舍利弗等是也。七住已上無有此退。」故於四不退中，唯有位、證、行三不退，無初一不退，隨分亦名阿鞞跋致也。若依《起信論》等，從初發心住總名入位不退，十住已前十信菩薩名為外凡，亦曰輕毛凡夫，譬如輕毛隨風東西，故有退轉。十住菩薩非是輕毛，以善根堅固不為邪風所動，入內凡位無有位退，名阿鞞跋致菩薩也。依此穢土十信菩薩為邪風散動，退菩提心、退菩薩行，輪轉三惡道，非阿鞞跋致也。淨國土若入十信初五心，及未入十信一切眾生，論其信位雖未堅固，猶如輕毛。然無邪風之所扇動，令其退轉菩提之心，造眾重罪輪迴惡趣，以闕退緣無眾退具，唯有進道殊勝之緣，雖未入於阿鞞跋致之位，而亦得名阿鞞跋致也。而退法、思法、護法、住法、堪達法，學無學聖人雖是鈍根，俱合名退轉。若生人中逢五退具，所謂長病、遠行、和諍、僧事、習誦等五退具，雖得聖道斷除煩惱，逢此退緣還復退轉起諸煩惱。若生天上無五退緣，雖未練根至不動姓，闕退緣故不退起惑。望姓雖與不動姓殊，不退修惑與彼第六不動種性無差別也。彼亦如是，為生淨土無眾退緣，雖是十信假名菩薩等，悉得名為阿鞞跋致也。若穢土之中，小乘燸頂、大乘十信等，以根不定，或遇惡緣退造五逆入邪定聚。邪者，三惡道果也。定者，五逆業因也。若人造五逆之因，決定無間墮三惡道，名邪定聚。若遇勝緣修道，得入不退轉位，名正定聚。正者，涅槃離繫，擇滅果也。定者，人法二空，無漏聖道也。修得聖道，決定當證涅槃正果離繫擇滅，名正定聚。餘名不定聚，以或能造邪定聚、或能修正定聚，在二不定，名不定聚。此之三類眾生其數非一，故名為聚也。今生西方，無有惡緣或造無間之罪入邪定聚；位行雖淺，唯遇勝緣，念念進修大乘聖道，決定無退，故得名為正定聚也。不得一一同彼娑婆退轉之處，判阿鞞跋致及正定聚位地高下，即令淨土無退轉處同於此方也。以淨穢二土退不退緣有無差別故，於此非阿鞞跋致位、非正定聚位，生彼西方悉得名為阿鞞跋致及正定聚也。以生彼土無有退緣，及決定不造邪定聚也。

Explanation: These two scriptural passages do indeed run contrary to each other. However, since the realms of the pure land and the defiled land are different, and the faculties and capacities of those born here and born there are also distinct, the judgments of high and low regarding the collection of certainty and the like are not the same, and the shallow and deep of avaivartika are also distinct. In the Sahā defiled world, noble ones are few and ordinary people are many, faith is rare and slanderers are numerous; those whose faculties and practices are shallow often encounter conditions for retrogression, and blown about by evil winds, they all regress. According to various sūtras and treatises, there are four kinds of retrogression: first, retrogression of faith; second, retrogression of stage; third, retrogression of realization; fourth, retrogression of practice. Retrogression of faith: within the stages of the ten faiths, in the stages of the first five minds, there is still retrogression that gives rise to wrong views, the severing of wholesome roots, and the like; in the subsequent stages it is not so. Retrogression of stage: within the stages of the ten abidings, in the stages of the first six minds, one can still regress and fall to become the two vehicles and the like; in the subsequent stages it is not so. Retrogression of realization: in all the ordinary person stages prior to the ten bhūmis, there is still retrogression and loss regarding what was previously realized; in the ten bhūmis it is not so. Retrogression of practice: prior to the seventh bhūmi, regarding the practices one has heard, one still produces cowardice and weakness, being unable to cultivate and learn them, and being unable to constantly cultivate superior practices in thought after thought; in the intervals, there arise various minds of defiled afflictions and the two graspings of person and dharmas—this is called retrogression of thought. Bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi enter the third asaṃkhyeya and have none of the four kinds of retrogression; among all practices they fully cultivate all practices, and at all times, continuous in thought after thought, they constantly give rise to the uncontaminated contemplation of the emptiness of person and dharmas, without a single thought giving rise to an uncontaminated mind that is wholesome, evil, or neutral. Because bodhisattvas of the eighth bhūmi and above possess the four non-retrogressions, they are called avaivartika bodhisattvas; those of the other seven bhūmis and below do not have the four non-retrogressions, so they entirely do not get the name avaivartika. If following another meaning: a bodhisattva of the prathamā bhūmi enters the second asaṃkhyeya. Because they join the noble stream, sever the two obstacles of discrimination on the path of seeing, realize the omnipresent tathatā, attain the hundred gates of the illumination of dharmas, and abide on the Joyous Ground, they possess the two kinds of non-retrogression of realization and practice, and may also be called avaivartika. Up to the seventh bhūmi, there is still the active manifestation of the obstacle of attachment to the Buddha and attachment to bodhi, and intermittently defiled minds arise; they do not attain non-retrogression of practice, and are also said to be non-avaivartika. Yet according to a partial sense, they are also called avaivartika bodhisattvas. According to sūtras such as the Bodhisattva Benye Yingluo [Jing], 'The sixth abiding is called the abiding of the correct mind; a bodhisattva in this stage can still regress from the bodhicitta and become the two vehicles and the like, as was the case with Śāriputra and others. From the seventh abiding onward there is no such retrogression.' Therefore, among the four non-retrogressions, they have only the three non-retrogressions of stage, realization, and practice, and lack the first non-retrogression; according to their portion, they are also called avaivartika. If relying on the Awakening of Faith and the like, from the abiding of the initial arousal of the mind they are collectively called entering the non-retrogression of stage; prior to the ten abidings, bodhisattvas of the ten faiths are called outer ordinary persons and also called light-feather ordinary persons—like a light feather blown east and west by the wind, they therefore have retrogression. Bodhisattvas of the ten abidings are not light feathers; because their wholesome roots are firm and not moved by evil winds, they enter the stage of inner ordinary persons and have no retrogression of stage, being called avaivartika bodhisattvas. In this defiled land, bodhisattvas of the ten faiths are scattered and moved by evil winds, regress from the bodhicitta and from bodhisattva practices, and transmigrate in the three evil destinies, not being avaivartika. In the pure land, if one enters the first five minds of the ten faiths, or is among all sentient beings who have not yet entered the ten faiths, speaking of their stage of faith, although it is not yet firm and is like a light feather, there are no evil winds to blow and move them to cause them to regress from the bodhicitta, create many grave offenses, and transmigrate in the evil destinies. Because conditions for retrogression are absent and instruments of retrogression are lacking, there are only superior conditions for progressing on the path; thus, although they have not entered the stage of avaivartika, they may also be called avaivartika. Moreover, regarding [the six types of arhats]: those of retrogression dharma, deliberation dharma, protection dharma, abiding dharma, and attainment dharma—although these noble ones of training and non-training are of dull faculties, they are all collectively called susceptible to retrogression. If born among humans, they encounter the five instruments of retrogression—namely, prolonged illness, distant travel, settling disputes, saṃgha duties, and recitation; although they have attained the noble path and severed afflictions, when encountering these conditions for retrogression, they again regress and give rise to afflictions. If born in the heavens, they do not have the five conditions for retrogression; although they have not refined their faculties to reach the immovable lineage, because of the absence of conditions for retrogression they do not regress to give rise to afflictions. Looking from the perspective of their lineage, although they differ from the immovable lineage, in terms of not regressing in the afflictions of cultivation, they do not differ from that sixth immovable lineage. It is also like this there: because those born in the pure land have no conditions for retrogression, even nominal bodhisattvas of the ten faiths and the like may all be called avaivartika. In the defiled land, the Hinayāna [stages of] warmth and peak, the Mahāyāna ten faiths, and so forth, because their faculties are indeterminate, may encounter evil conditions and regress to commit the five heinous offenses, entering the collection of wrongness. 'Wrongness' refers to the fruits of the three evil destinies; 'certainty' refers to the karmic cause of the five heinous offenses. If a person creates the causes of the five heinous offenses, they will definitely fall into the three evil destinies without interval; this is called the collection of wrongness. If they encounter superior conditions and cultivate the path, being able to enter the stage of non-retrogression, this is called the collection of certainty. 'Correctness' is nirvāṇa, freedom from bondages, the fruit of analytical cessation; 'certainty' is the uncontaminated noble path of the two emptinesses of person and dharmas. When one cultivates and attains the noble path, definitely destined to realize the correct fruit of nirvāṇa, freedom from bondages, and analytical cessation, this is called the collection of certainty. The remainder are called the indeterminate collection: because they may either create the collection of wrongness or cultivate the collection of certainty, being indeterminate between the two, they are called the indeterminate collection. Since the number of these three classes of sentient beings is not singular, they are called 'collections.' Now, being born in the Western [Land], there are no evil conditions to cause one to create the offenses of the uninterrupted [hell] and enter the collection of wrongness; although one's stage and practice are shallow, one encounters only superior conditions and in thought after thought progresses in cultivating the Mahāyāna noble path, definitely without retrogression; therefore, one can be called [belonging to] the collection of certainty. One must not equate it in every respect with that Sahā place of retrogression, evaluating the heights of the stages of avaivartika and the collection of certainty so as to make the pure land's place of non-retrogression identical to this realm. Because there is a difference in the presence or absence of conditions for retrogression and non-retrogression between the pure and defiled lands, those who here are not in the stage of avaivartika and not in the stage of the collection of certainty are, upon being born in that Western [Land], all entitled to be called avaivartika and of the collection of certainty. This is because born in that land, there are no conditions for retrogression, and they are determined not to create the collection of wrongness.