萬善同歸集 3.18

3.18

答：「三乘初學，不愚於法，所以《法華經》云：『若有比丘，實得阿羅漢，若不信此法，無有是處。』又云：『汝等所行，是菩薩道，漸漸修學，悉當成佛。』皆是中途取證，起住著心，是以諸佛所訶，勸令起行。且二乘之人，皆登聖位，超九地之煩惱，斷三界之業身；同坐解脫之床，已具神通之慧，豈比博地具縛凡夫，惟向依通，全無修證。故真覺大師云：『二乘何咎，而欲不修？』教中或毀或讚，抑揚當時耳。凡夫不了，預畏被訶；寧知見愛尚存，去小乘而甚遠。雖復言其修道，惑使之所不除，非惟身口未端，亦乃心由邪曲；見生自意，解背真詮。聖教之所不依，明師未曾承受；根緣非為宿習，見解未預生知。而能世智辯聰，談論以之終日；時復牽於經語，曲會私心，縱邪說以誑愚人，撥因果而排罪福。順情則熙怡生喜，逆意則𢛨𢥃懷瞋。三受之狀固然，稱位乃儔菩薩；初篇之非未免，過人之釁又縈。大乘之所不修，而復譏於小學；恣一時之強口，謗說之患鏗然，三途苦輪，報之長劫。《書》云：『古人當言而懼，發言而憂。』又云：『止沸莫若去薪，息過莫若無語。』又如經說：『凡夫有漏散心，一稱南無佛，乃至小低頭，以此因緣尚成佛道。』何況二乘無漏聖心，永斷後有身，親證人空慧，所習諸行，而不登正位乎？」

Answer: 'Initial learners of the triyāna are not foolish regarding the Dharma. Therefore the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra says: "If there is a monk who has truly attained arhatship, and does not believe in this Dharma, there is no such possibility." It also says: "What you are practicing is the bodhisattva path; by gradually training and learning, you will all become Buddhas." All these cases refer to realizing the fruit midway and conceiving an attachment to abiding, and thus they are reproved by the Buddhas, who exhort them to undertake practice. Furthermore, people of the two vehicles have all ascended to the noble stages, transcending the defilements of the nine grounds and severing the karmic body in the traidhātuka; sitting together on the couch of liberation, they are already endowed with the wisdom of spiritual powers. How can they be compared to thoroughly bound ordinary persons on the common earth, who only head toward borrowed understanding and completely lack cultivation and realization? Hence Master Zhenjue said: "What fault do the two vehicles have that one would wish not to cultivate them?" In the teachings, praise or blame was merely applied according to the circumstances of the time. Ordinary persons do not understand this and preemptively dread being scolded; how could they know that their views and attachments still remain, and that they are vastly distant from the Lesser Vehicle? Although they repeatedly speak of cultivating the path, their afflictions and defilements remain unremoved; not only are their physical and verbal deeds improper, but their minds are also inclined to depravity; their views arise from self-conceit, and their interpretations run contrary to the authentic teachings. They do not rely on the sacred teachings, nor have they ever received instructions from an enlightened teacher; their roots and affinities are not from past habituation, and their views and understandings were not innate knowledge. Yet they possess worldly wisdom and debating wit, spending the entire day engaged in talk; from time to time they drag in words from the sūtras, bending them to fit their personal views, indulging in erroneous teachings to deceive the foolish, denying cause and effect, and dismissing sin and merit. When things accord with their desires, they are cheerful and delighted; when things cross their intentions, they seethe with anger. While their states of the three feelings are indeed like this, they profess their status to be equal to bodhisattvas; while they have not avoided the faults of the basic offenses, they are also entangled in transgressive crimes. Not cultivating the Mahāyāna, they turn around to scoff at the Lesser learning; indulging their temporary glibness, the harm of their slanderous words rings loud, and the bitter wheel of the three wretched destinies will requite them for long kalpas. The Book of Documents states: "The ancients were fearful when they were about to speak, and worried when uttering words." It also says: "To stop boiling, nothing is better than removing the firewood; to halt faults, nothing is better than silence." Moreover, as a sūtra states: "Even when an ordinary person with an outflow-ridden, scattered mind recites 'Homage to the Buddha' once, or merely makes a slight bow of the head, through these causes and conditions they will still accomplish the Buddha path." How much more so for the noble minds of the two vehicles, which are free of outflows, have forever severed future existence, and have personally realized the wisdom of the emptiness of the person—how could the various practices they train in fail to ascend to the correct position?'