淨名經關中釋抄 2.5

2.5

The 'five turbidities' are also called the five dregs; the names differ but the meaning is one. First is the turbidity of the kalpa, meaning the times of the greater and lesser three disasters, where danger and peril abound. Second is the turbidity of sentient beings, where the six destinies dwell mingled together, bound to one another by karma and suffering. Third is the turbidity of afflictions, because greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance flourish exceedingly. Fourth is the turbidity of views, where grasps at the body, extremes, wrong views, and so forth cannot be shifted. Fifth is the turbidity of lifespan, where lifespan is short and brief, and practicing good yields no accomplishment. The Karuṇāpuṇḍarīka Sūtra clarifies that the kalpa of formation, the kalpa of destruction, and the kalpa of emptiness have no turbidities; during the kalpa of abiding, when lifespan reaches twenty thousand down to sixty thousand years, there are turbidities. The Daśabhūmika Sūtra speaks of six turbidities; the Nirgrantha Sūtra has twelve turbidities. Sūtra numbers are not fixed; thus we know that at the end of the kalpa, the sage being distant, what is not a turbidity? The words 'five', 'six', and so forth merely set out teachings according to capacities.