西方合論 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

Now, as for ultimate nirvāṇa, it belongs solely to the Tathāgata. The two vehicles destroy existence and cling to emptiness, provisionally naming it quiescence; bodhisattvas give rise to the true uncontaminated [wisdom] and partially destroy ignorance. How much less can those of inferior capacity and shallow understanding, possessing but a single drop of the great ocean, recklessly display wild wisdom, severing future existence, taking unrestrained indulgence as amusement and spiritual practice as entanglement! Murdering oneself and murdering others, how does this differ from hemlock and poison? For example, when the Buddha was in the world, there was a bhikṣu who attained the fourth dhyāna and gave rise to exorbitant pride, claiming he had attained arhatship, and no longer sought progress. When his life was about to end, seeing the intermediate state signs of the fourth dhyāna appear, he gave rise to wrong views, saying: 'There is no nirvāṇa; the Buddha has deceived me!' Because this evil, wrong view arose, he lost the intermediate state of the fourth dhyāna and saw the intermediate state signs of Avīci Hell; when his life ended, he immediately was born in the Avīci Hell. These [practitioners] still sat in meditation and upheld precepts, yet through a single thought of false attainment, they sank into the dark hell. Now, when Chan practitioners are satisfied with a little and let their minds run wild beyond the rails, who knows what their evil retribution will be! An ancient said: 'If not born in the Pure Land, in what land could one be born? The journey through three asaṃkhyeyas is long; among those who enter other gates, many regress and fall.' For this reason, the holy lineage of past and present all advocate this single gate. Now I briefly show six kinds to establish a compass:

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1. Bodhisattvas born among humans.

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2. Bodhisattvas born in Tuṣita Heaven.

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3. Bodhisattvas born in the Heaven of Long Life.

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4. Bodhisattvas born beyond the realms.

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5. Bodhisattvas born into the house of the Tathāgata upon initial resolve.

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6. Bodhisattvas born in worlds of the ten directions to benefit all sentient beings upon completing the practice of three asaṃkhyeyas.

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First, as for bodhisattvas who are born among humans, the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: "If there are bodhisattvas who pass away from among humans and are born again among humans, then, excepting avaivartikas, these bodhisattvas have dull faculties; they are unable to quickly accord with the perfection of wisdom, and the gates of dhāraṇīs and samādhis are unable to manifest swiftly before them." Now, human life is a burning house, entangled in a hundred sufferings; only great bodhisattvas can dwell in it without defilement or burden, like a goose entering water without being wetted by the water. If lesser bodhisattvas have not deeply planted roots of goodness, advancing an inch but retreating a fathom, by what means could they attain the various samādhis? Just as when Śāriputra practiced the bodhisattva path for sixty kalpas and wished to cross the river of giving, a beggar came to beg for his eye. Śāriputra gouged out an eye and gave it to him; having obtained the eye, the beggar smelled it in front of Śāriputra, spat on it, threw it to the ground, and trampled it with his foot. Śāriputra reflected, saying: "Vile people such as this are difficult to deliver; it is better to tame myself and swiftly escape saṃsāra." Having so reflected, he retreated from the bodhisattva path and returned to the Hīnayāna. Furthermore, it is like the flying rishi who, upon being touched by the hand of the king's consort, instantly lost his supernatural powers; or Śākyamuni in a past cause who, through an aphrodisiac pill of delight, grew intimate with a courtesan. Even sages and worthies were like this—how much more so those at the initial resolve! How could this compare to single-mindedly reciting Amitābha, whereby samādhi swiftly manifests, and entrusting one's form to the Lotus Land, forever leaving behind greed and desire! The treatise says: "Because bodhisattvas do not see the present Buddha, their minds are dull." Thus we know that bodhisattvas should constantly stay close to the Buddha, because by being close to the Buddha their faculties become sharp and they swiftly attain prajñā.

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Second, as for bodhisattvas who are born in Tuṣita Heaven: because bodhisattvas who are bound to only one more birth are all born in Tuṣita, bodhisattvas who wish to follow them down in rebirth are also born in that place. The Shiyi lun (Treatise on the Ten Doubts) states: "The celestial palace of Tuṣita belongs to the desire realm, where those who regress in rank are numerous. Moreover, there are women who foster the sensual desires of the gods; the celestial maidens are wondrous and subtle, and the devas are indulged in their pleasures and naturally cannot renounce them. This is not like Amitābha's Pure Land, which has purely Mahāyāna, pure and excellent companions, where afflictions and evil karma completely cease to arise, ultimately leading to the stage of non-arising. Just as when Bodhisattva Siṃhabodhi was born there, because of enjoying heavenly pleasures, from the time he went there he never saw Maitreya at all. If lesser bodhisattvas are still attached to the five desires, how much more so ordinary mortals!" Furthermore, the Sutra on the Rebirth of Maitreya in Tuṣita states that only when one attains entry into correct concentration can one first attain rebirth; it has no provision for expedient welcoming and guiding. Thus, one should not even seek rebirth in the Inner Court of Tuṣita, let alone the thicket of exquisite desires in the various heavens of the desire realm. How could anyone who needs water enter a land of scorched rocks, or seeking to avoid drowning plunge to the bottom of the great ocean?

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Third, as for bodhisattvas who are born in the Long-Life Heavens and similar realms, the Dazhidulun states: "When a bodhisattva enters the first dhyāna without skillful means, up to practicing the six perfections—one who lacks skillful means, upon entering the first dhyāna, is not mindful of sentient beings; when abiding in it and emerging from it, they are not mindful of sentient beings, but merely cling to the flavor of dhyāna and cannot conjoin with the first dhyāna to practice the perfection of wisdom. Because this bodhisattva's mind of compassion is weak, their merit is thin and scarce; dragged by the retributive effect of the first dhyāna, they are born into the Long-Life Heavens." The Long-Life Heaven refers to the Station of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, where the lifespan is eighty thousand great kalpas. Some say that all formless absorptions are collectively called the Long-Life Heavens, because lacking form, beings cannot be transformed, are incapable of attaining the Way, and it is perpetually the abode of ordinary beings. Some say that the Non-Perceptive Heaven is called Long-Life, because it is also incapable of attaining the Way. Some say that from the first dhyāna to the fourth dhyāna, excepting the Śuddhāvāsa Heavens, all are called Long-Life, because beings cling to the flavor [of meditation] and wrong views, so that a virtuous mind is difficult to produce. As it is said in a sūtra: "The Buddha asked the monks: 'Is the earth on my fingernail more, or is the earth on the great ground more?' The monks said: 'The earth on the great ground is vastly more; it cannot be compared.' The Buddha said: 'Those who pass away from heaven and are born again among humans are like the earth on my fingernail, while those who fall into hell are like the earth on the ground.'" Why is this? Because only if they originally generated the aspiration for anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, or gathered merits within dhyāna, can they be born back among humans and hear the Buddha-Dharma. If from the very beginning of their resolve they sought rebirth in the Pure Land, they would constantly hear the Dharma straight until non-retrogression—how could there be faults such as these?

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Fourth, as for bodhisattvas who are born beyond the three realms, there are two kinds: First, the three kinds of bodhisattvas of the two vehicles, who subdue active afflictions, cast aside the segmented body, and are born beyond the realms; their compassion and wisdom are narrow and inferior, and they feel no delight in purifying Buddha lands or benefiting others, being rebuked by the Tathāgata. If they do not turn their minds to practice the six perfections and other practices, they will ultimately never enter the ocean of Mahāyāna wisdom. Second, Dharmakāya bodhisattvas, as in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra: "The Buddha told Śāriputra: 'There are bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who have attained the six supernatural powers and are not born in the desire realm, the form realm, or the formless realm, but go from one Buddha land to another Buddha land, offering, revering, honoring, and praising all Buddhas. Śāriputra! There are bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who play with supernatural powers, going from one Buddha land to another Buddha land, where wherever they arrive, there are no śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, nor even the names of the two vehicles. Śāriputra! There are bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who, wherever they arrive, their lifespans are immeasurable.'" The commentary explains: "Bodhisattvas are of two kinds: first, born-body bodhisattvas; second, Dharmakāya bodhisattvas. Dharmakāya bodhisattvas sever fetters and defilements and attain the six supernatural powers; born-body bodhisattvas do not sever fetters and defilements, or leave desire behind and attain the five supernatural powers. Those who attain the six supernatural powers are not born in the three realms; the realms to which they arrive are all of the One Vehicle and pure, and their lifespan is immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas. Bodhisattvas are born there because they delight in gathering the merits of all Buddhas." One should know that only when a bodhisattva is endowed with the six supernatural powers can they be born there, which is extremely rare. For ordinary mortals to attain rebirth is due to the Buddha's power; moreover, the power of mindfulness is inconceivable, because in thought after thought they are endowed with the six supernatural powers.

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Fifth, as for bodhisattvas who are born into the family of the Tathāgata at the time of their initial resolve: this is for people of the highest faculties, to whom fundamental wisdom is suddenly revealed, so that when their initial mind is first brought forth, upon the stage of the ten abidings they are already equal to the Buddha. As in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, there is a class of bodhisattvas who practice the six perfections through hundreds of thousands of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas without being born into the Buddha's family, still being merely nominal bodhisattvas, because although they have seen the Buddha-nature, their deeds of wisdom have not yet shone forth. The Elder's Treatise Resolving Doubts states: "The clarification of the Abiding of Initial Aspiration is that through dhyāna-concentration, the gate of fundamental, empty wisdom is revealed; ignorance begins to fade, and wisdom begins to shine forth; one is first born into the Tathāgata's family of wisdom, called abiding where the Buddha abides, and thus attains the universal gate of the Dharma gate of the wisdom-radiance of recollecting the realms of all Buddhas. Using this to see the Way, there are no views of past, present, middle, or extreme; passing through the five stages, refining habitual propensities, and increasing compassion is called cultivating the Way. Therefore it is said that upon the initial aspiration, one immediately achieves correct enlightenment, and only then can one cultivate the Way. Just as when Sudhana journeyed south to seek superior friends, all of them said: 'I have already previously brought forth the mind of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi.' Why do they say 'learn the bodhisattva conduct and cultivate the bodhisattva path,' but do not say 'increase the Buddha path'? Because fundamental wisdom is revealed through concentration, without fabrication and without cultivation; merely by learning the bodhisattva conduct, fundamental wisdom illuminates and manifests itself. If one does not attain the essence of correct enlightenment, all practices are impermanent, belonging entirely to the karmic retribution of saṃsāra among humans and devas." It also states: "When one's aspiration accords with this present single lifetime, through correct wisdom one accomplishes the heart of contemplative practice within the segmented body while concurrently cultivating good karma, so that in the next life one enters the body of transformation. Because this segmented body of the present life is the karma made in the past, if one cultivates contemplative practice through wisdom in this body, in the next life one attains birth endowed with supernatural powers and transformations." If the ten good actions still allow birth in heaven with the retributive supernatural powers, and if dragons and powerful ghosts still possess supernatural powers through the evil karma of ignorance, how much more so when the eye of the Way is opened, and by the power of compassionate wholesome roots, one brings the wondrous functioning of wisdom into intentional practice throughout a single life—how could one not obtain great functioning and supernatural powers in the future life? The Zongjing lu states: "Achieving buddhahood at the initial mind does not mean one is not endowed with all merits. As the sūtra says, the youth Samantālaṅkāra in one lifetime heard and cultivated wholesome habituation, in a second lifetime accomplished understanding and practice, and in a third lifetime entered the ocean of fruition. Belonging to the same dependent origination, these three lifetimes are nevertheless within a single thought. It is like taking a long journey: arriving lies in the first step. Yet the arrival of this first step does not mean there are no subsequent steps; it clarifies that for this youth to enter the ocean of fruition was not without planting wholesome roots for a long time. Question: 'Since it is attained only after long cultivation, why is it said to be attained in a single thought?' Answer: 'Saying that one has cultivated wholesome roots for a long time belongs to the scope of the three vehicles' teaching; entering the One Vehicle from the three vehicles is precisely when the initial cultivation is fulfilled in a single thought. Therefore the sūtra says: "Upon the initial aspiration, one immediately achieves correct enlightenment." It is like many rivers flowing into the ocean: the moment a single drop enters, it is immediately pervasive throughout the great ocean, without beginning or end. Even the deepest waters of the remaining hundred rivers cannot equal a single drop entering the great ocean; similarly, cultivating for many kalpas in the three vehicles cannot equal a single thought of the One Vehicle. Furthermore, this kalpa time is unfixed: a single thought may be immeasurable kalpas, as in the unobstructedness of time and place of the Ten Profound Gates. Moreover, the Mahāyāna explains achieving buddhahood in a single thought in two ways: first, converging conditions to enter true nature, where because there is neither more nor less, it explains achieving buddhahood in a single thought; second, just as practices are fulfilled, taking the final thought is called achieving buddhahood in a single thought, like a traveler taking the final step as arrival. If the One Vehicle explains achieving buddhahood in a single thought, it is like the Mahāyāna taking the final thought as achieving buddhahood, which then enters the One Vehicle: the end is the beginning, and the initial thought is itself achievement. Why? Because cause and effect are mutually identical, corresponding simultaneously. However, one who achieves it in a single thought attains the same rank as the Buddha, yet is not fully complete in the ultimate, so there are still distinctions of shallow and deep. It is like a person who has just stepped out the door versus one who has traveled in other lands for a long time: though both are in the open air, there is a difference of near and far. Therefore, the five stages, such as the ten faiths and ten abidings, each speak of achieving buddhahood, yet also discern their shallow and deep; one must reflect well upon this.'" From the words of these two great masters, we know that enlightened practitioners of the Chan school cannot abandon all practices or cease dispelling beginningless habitual ties. Living in this defiled and evil world, advancing one step while retreating ten thousand, if one does not stay close to the Buddha, defilements and impurities will intertwine—how could practice be accomplished? When Sudhana initially brought forth his resolve and awoke to the Way, the bhikṣu Meghashrī taught him the Dharma gate of recollecting all Buddhas; and after he entered Maitreya's pavilion, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva brought forth the ten great kingly vows for him to guide him to rebirth in Sukhāvatī. This is the model for all Tathāgatas entering the Way. What the Avataṃsaka expounds as the gate of the one true dharmadhātu is not like other teachings that have provisional and real; if one does not believe this sūtra, one is truly an icchantika. Even if Śākyamuni praised it, Samantabhadra urged advancement, and Maitreya bore witness, nothing could be done for them!

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Sixth, as for the bodhisattva whose practice over the three asaṃkhyeyas is complete and who is reborn in the worlds of the ten directions to benefit all sentient beings: when the bodhisattva's merits are fully perfected, they naturally possess inconceivable activity, able to manifest in the ten directions to benefit sentient beings. The *Awakening of Faith* states: 'The bodhisattva who has realized the arousal of the mind [for enlightenment] can in a single thought-moment reach all worlds throughout the ten directions without remainder to make offerings to the buddhas and request the turning of the wheel of the Dharma, solely to guide and benefit sentient beings, not relying on words. Or they may manifest skipping bhūmis to quickly attain correct enlightenment for the sake of faint-hearted sentient beings; or they may say, "After immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas, I will attain the Buddha path," for the sake of indolent sentient beings. Yet in reality, the predispositions and faculties of bodhisattvas are equal; when they arouse the mind it is equal, and what they realize is also equal; there is no dharma of skipping ahead, because all bodhisattvas pass through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas.' As the *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* says: 'Śākyamuni, the World-Honoured One, from the past Śākyamuni Buddha up to Śikhin Buddha, passed the first asaṃkhyeya; from Śikhin Buddha up to the time of receiving the prediction from Dīpaṅkara Buddha, passed the second asaṃkhyeya; from Dīpaṅkara Buddha up to Vipaśyin Buddha, passed the third asaṃkhyeya.' The *Mahāvibhāṣā* recounts cultivating the practices of the six pāramitās for three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, planting the causes for the marks and signs for one hundred kalpas, and only then obtaining the fivefold Dharma body. The Vijñaptimātra says that before the bhūmis one passes one asaṃkhyeya; at the first bhūmi the second asaṃkhyeya is completed; from the eighth bhūmi up to samyaksaṃbodhi is the third asaṃkhyeya, and only then is the ultimate Dharma body obtained.

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An objection asks: 'The Elder's *Helun* entirely says that without departing from a single thought-moment one passes through asaṃkhyeyas. How can you grasp rigidly to eternal kalpas, going against the ultimate truth?'

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The answer is: 'The Elder only said that the three asaṃkhyeyas are fundamentally empty and the substance of time cannot be grasped; he did not mean that there is no time. Just as when a person's eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body exist in the present, to say that the six roots are fundamentally non-existent does not mean discarding the six roots and claiming they do not exist. For example, a small child seeing the moon in water gives rise to attachment and wishes to take it, but cannot; a wise person teaches them, saying that it can be seen by the eye, but cannot be grasped by the hand. He only refutes its graspability; he does not refute its visibility. The practices and karmas of the buddhas and bodhisattvas throughout the three periods of time are also like this: although all are ungraspable, it does not mean there are no practices. Moreover, the two great bodhisattvas Nāgārjuna and Aśvaghoṣa were both patriarchs transmitting the robe in the Chan lineage; would they be willing to deceive themselves and deceive others, leading astray later generations? One must know that the matter of birth and death is momentous; it is not something that can be spat out with a single piece of knowledge or half a practice. The *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* says: "There are bodhisattvas with sharp faculties and resolute minds who, long before arousing the mind, have gathered immeasurable merit and wisdom. When such a person meets a buddha and hears this Mahāyāna Dharma, they arouse the mind of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, immediately practice the six pāramitās, enter the bodhisattva stages, and attain the ground of avaivartika. Why is this? Because having previously gathered immeasurable merit, their sharp faculties and mind are resolute, and they hear the Dharma from the buddha. For example, in traveling far, some go by riding a sheep, some go by riding a horse, and some go by supernatural powers. One who rides a sheep arrives only after a very long time; one who rides a horse is somewhat faster; one who rides supernatural powers arrives in the time it takes to form a thought. Thus one cannot say: 'Hearing [the Dharma] upon forming a thought, how could they arrive so quickly?' Such a characteristic of supernatural power is just like this; one should not give rise to doubt. The bodhisattva is also like this: upon arousing anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, they immediately enter the bodhisattva stages. There are bodhisattvas who, upon first forming the intention, though their initial mind is good, later mix with various evils, only from time to time generating the thought, 'I seek the Buddha path,' and dedicating all merits toward anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi. This person takes a very long time, immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas, and may arrive or may not arrive. The causes and conditions of their merit from past lives are slight, and moreover their faculties are dull and their minds not resolute, like one who rides a sheep. There are people who in past lives had some merit and sharp faculties, who arouse the mind and gradually practice the six pāramitās, and after three, ten, or a hundred asaṃkhyeya kalpas attain anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi, like one who rides a horse, who will certainly reach their destination. The third, those who ride supernatural powers, are as explained above." From this we know: gradual cultivation and sudden realization are distinct and different; when a bodhisattva wishes to attain the Buddha stage, none arrive abruptly. Therefore a past worthy said: "Though equal to the Buddha's enlightenment, not having reached the ultimate fruit, it is not the consummation." For this reason, people of awakened understanding must definitely seek rebirth in the Pure Land and practice according to the Dharma to avoid falling back; waiting until the power of patience is firm and solid, entering the world to benefit living beings—only then is it the ultimate fruit of buddhahood.'

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Comprehensive Treatise on the Western Land, Fascicle Seven (End)

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西方合論 — Classical Chinese