The Three Vehicles, and the Ten Unwholesome Courses' Full Reckoning
The very same ten wholesome courses of action, practiced with a narrow mind that fears the three realms, awakened to alone but never fully compassionate, or carried out with a vast mind of compassion and skillful means, yield three entirely different vehicles — Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva — before the ten powers close the pure precept of gathering wholesome dharmas. The treatise then opens its third precept, benefiting sentient beings, with an exhaustive, twenty-clause reckoning of what each of the ten unwholesome courses of action brings about, the bodhisattva's own vow to depart from them, and the ten kinds of mind that arise toward eight kinds of sentient beings.
One Practice, Three Vehicles — the Ten Powers Close the Pure Precept
經曰：是菩薩復深思惟：行十不善業道集因緣故，則墮地獄、畜生、餓鬼。行十善業道集因緣故，則生人中乃至生有頂處。又是上十善業道與智慧觀和合修行，其心狹劣故、心厭畏三界故、遠離大悲故、從他聞聲而通達故，聞聲意解成聲聞乘。
論曰：智慧觀者，實相觀故。惡道者是苦，不善業道是集，彼離是滅，彼對治是道。又善道者是苦，善業道是集，離彼使是滅，彼對治是道。智慧同觀，修行無分別。聲聞有五種相：一、因集；二、畏苦；三、捨心；四、依止；五、觀。如是狹劣等是聲聞心。因集者，修行微少善根故，但依自身利益，如經「其心狹劣」故。畏苦者，如經「心厭畏三界」故。捨心者，捨諸眾生，如經「遠離大悲」故。依止者，依師教授故。觀者念，音聲故。何者音聲？我眾生等但有名故，如是彼者從音聲解故，入眾生無我非法無我，如經「從他聞聲而通達故，聞聲意解成聲聞乘」故。
經曰：又是上十善清淨業道不從他聞故、自正覺故、不能具足大悲方便故，而能通達深因緣法成辟支佛乘。
論曰：辟支佛有三種相：一者自覺；二、不能說法；三、觀少境界。不假佛說法及諸菩薩，唯自覺悟，如經「不從他聞故，自正覺」故。不起心說法，不堪說法故，如經「不能具足大悲方便」故。觀微細因緣境界行故，如經「而能通達深因緣法成辟支佛乘」故。因集畏苦捨眾生，辟支佛亦有此法。所有勝事此中已說。
經曰：又是上上十善業道清淨具足，其心廣大無量故、於諸眾生起悲愍故、方便所攝故、善起大願故、不捨一切眾生故、觀佛智廣大故，菩薩地清淨波羅蜜清淨入深廣行成。
論曰：菩薩有四種相：一者因集；二者用；三者彼力；四者地依。一切善根起行故、依一切眾生利益行故、大乘心廣無量故，此是因集，如經「又是上上十善業道清淨具足，其心廣大無量」故。見諸眾生習行苦因及受苦時起悲愍心，依彼眾生作利益是菩薩用，如經「於諸眾生起悲愍」故。彼力者，謂四攝法，如經「方便所攝」故。地者，有三種：一者淨深心地，十大願得名，如經「善起大願」故。二者不退轉地，得寂滅行已不捨解脫眾生，如經「不捨一切眾生」故。三者受大位地，是故求證佛廣大智，如經「觀佛智廣大」故。菩薩地清淨波羅蜜清淨入深廣行成，此中但說菩薩地廣成便足，何故復說地淨波羅蜜淨？有上上清淨故、第一法清淨故，顯示菩薩深廣行成。第一義者，波羅蜜義故。
經曰：又是上上十善業道，一切種清淨，十力力故，集一切佛法令成就故。是故我應等行十善業道，修行一切種令清淨具足。
論曰：上上者，有四種義顯上上事：一者滅；二者捨；三者方便；四者無厭足。不善業道共習氣滅故，善業自在成就故，聲聞辟支佛捨故。方便者，於菩薩乘善巧故，餘殘無厭足故，一切智中得自在智故，一切種令清淨故。如經「又是上上十善業道，一切種清淨故，十力力故，集一切佛法令成就故。是故我應等行十善業道，修行一切種令清淨具足」故。降伏魔怨小乘作增上故，顯示力佛法應知。次上依大悲利益眾生戒增上，有五種義：一者智；二者願；三者修行；四者集；五者集果。智者有三種相：一者時差別；二者報果差別；三者習氣果差別。
Sūtra: This bodhisattva further reflects deeply thus: through the causes and conditions of accumulating the ten unwholesome courses of action, one falls into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; through the causes and conditions of accumulating the ten wholesome courses of action, one is born among human beings, all the way up to being born in the Peak of Existence. Furthermore, when these superior ten wholesome courses of action are practiced in union with wisdom-contemplation, yet the mind is narrow and inferior, the mind fears and dreads the three realms, one is remote from great compassion, and one gains penetration only by hearing it spoken by another — then, the mind being released through hearing it spoken, one becomes a follower of the Śrāvaka vehicle.
Commentary: "Wisdom-contemplation" means the contemplation of true reality. The evil destinies are suffering; the unwholesome courses of action are origination; being free of these is cessation; the antidote to these is the path. Likewise, the wholesome destinies are suffering; the wholesome courses of action are origination; being free of the latent afflictions bound up with them is cessation; the antidote to these is the path. Wisdom contemplates both alike, practicing without discrimination. The Śrāvaka has five marks: first, the cause of accumulation; second, dread of suffering; third, a mind of abandonment; fourth, reliance; and fifth, contemplation. Such narrowness and inferiority and the rest are the Śrāvaka's mind. "The cause of accumulation" means that, since he cultivates only a slight root of goodness, he relies only on benefit to his own person — as the sūtra says, "the mind is narrow and inferior." "Dread of suffering" is as the sūtra says, "the mind fears and dreads the three realms." "A mind of abandonment" means abandoning sentient beings, as the sūtra says, "remote from great compassion." "Reliance" means relying on a teacher's instruction. "Contemplation" means mindfulness through sound. What is meant by "sound"? Since "self" and "sentient being" are mere names, one who is such as this gains understanding through sound, and thereby enters the selflessness of persons, but not the selflessness of dharmas — as the sūtra says, "one gains penetration only by hearing it spoken by another; the mind being released through hearing it spoken, one becomes a follower of the Śrāvaka vehicle."
Sūtra: Furthermore, when these superior, pure ten wholesome courses of action are not heard from another, but one awakens to correct enlightenment of oneself, yet is unable to be complete in the skillful means of great compassion, and is thereby able to penetrate the profound Dharma of dependent origination — one becomes a follower of the Pratyekabuddha vehicle.
Commentary: The Pratyekabuddha has three marks: first, self-awakening; second, inability to teach the Dharma; and third, contemplation of a lesser object-realm. Not relying on a buddha's teaching of the Dharma or on the bodhisattvas, but awakening to enlightenment entirely by himself — as the sūtra says, "not heard from another, but one awakens to correct enlightenment of oneself." Not giving rise to the mind to teach the Dharma, being unfit to teach the Dharma — as the sūtra says, "unable to be complete in the skillful means of great compassion." Contemplating the realm of subtle dependent origination in his practice — as the sūtra says, "able to penetrate the profound Dharma of dependent origination, one becomes a follower of the Pratyekabuddha vehicle." The cause of accumulation, dread of suffering, and abandonment of sentient beings — the Pratyekabuddha likewise has these same dharmas; whatever is superior in his case has already been stated here.
Sūtra: Furthermore, when these still more superior ten wholesome courses of action are pure and complete — the mind vast and boundless, giving rise to compassionate pity for every sentient being, gathered in by skillful means, well giving rise to great vows, never abandoning any sentient being, and contemplating the buddhas' wisdom in its vastness — the bodhisattva ground is purified, the perfections are purified, and one enters the accomplishment of profound and vast practice.
Commentary: The bodhisattva has four marks: first, the cause of accumulation; second, function; third, that power; and fourth, reliance on the ground. Giving rise to practice through every root of goodness, practicing the benefit of every sentient being, and the mind of the Great Vehicle being vast and boundless — this is the cause of accumulation, as the sūtra says, "these still more superior ten wholesome courses of action are pure and complete, the mind vast and boundless." Seeing sentient beings practicing the causes of suffering, and giving rise to a mind of compassionate pity when they undergo suffering, and, in dependence on these sentient beings, working for their benefit — this is the bodhisattva's function, as the sūtra says, "giving rise to compassionate pity for every sentient being." "That power" means the four means of attraction, as the sūtra says, "gathered in by skillful means." "Ground" is of three kinds: first, the ground of the pure, deep mind, named for the ten great vows, as the sūtra says, "well giving rise to great vows"; second, the ground of irreversibility, having attained the practice of quiescence yet not abandoning the liberation of sentient beings, as the sūtra says, "never abandoning any sentient being"; and third, the ground of receiving the great station, seeking thereby to realize the buddhas' vast wisdom, as the sūtra says, "contemplating the buddhas' wisdom in its vastness." As for "the bodhisattva ground is purified, the perfections are purified, and one enters the accomplishment of profound and vast practice" — here, it would suffice simply to state that the bodhisattva ground is vastly accomplished; why does it further speak of the ground's purity and the perfections' purity? Because there is a purity that is superior upon superior, and a purity that is the foremost dharma, making manifest the bodhisattva's accomplishment of profound and vast practice. "The foremost meaning" means the meaning of the perfections.
Sūtra: Furthermore, these still more superior ten wholesome courses of action are pure in every mode, through the power of the ten powers, gathering every buddha-dharma and bringing it to accomplishment. For this reason, I too should equally practice the ten wholesome courses of action, cultivating and practicing them so that every mode is brought to purity and completeness.
Commentary: "Superior upon superior" has four meanings, making manifest the matter of what is superior upon superior: first, extinction; second, relinquishment; third, skillful means; and fourth, being without satiety. Because the latent habitual tendencies shared with the unwholesome courses of action are extinguished; because wholesome karma is accomplished in self-mastery; because the Śrāvaka and the Pratyekabuddha have relinquished them. "Skillful means" means being skillful with respect to the Bodhisattva vehicle; and because he is without satiety with what remains, and because he attains self-mastering wisdom within all wisdom, every mode is thereby made pure — as the sūtra says, "these still more superior ten wholesome courses of action are pure in every mode, through the power of the ten powers, gathering every buddha-dharma and bringing it to accomplishment; for this reason, I too should equally practice the ten wholesome courses of action, cultivating and practicing them so that every mode is brought to purity and completeness." Subduing Māra's hostility renders it superior to the Small Vehicle — this makes manifest that the powers belong to the buddha-dharma; this should be understood. Next, relying on great compassion, the pure precept of benefiting sentient beings is superior upon superior, having five aspects: first, wisdom; second, vow; third, practice; fourth, arising; and fifth, the fruit of arising. Wisdom has three marks: first, the distinction of time; second, the distinction of retributive fruit; and third, the distinction of the fruit of habitual tendency.
Before the treatise even reaches the fivefold typology of retribution, Huiyuan pauses on the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha vehicles to insist that each conceals two distinct kinds of practitioner, sorted not by what they attain but by what they originally sought before circumstance intervened: 聲聞有二：一、聲聞聲聞，二、緣覺聲聞。緣覺亦二：一、緣覺緣覺，二、聲聞緣覺 — "the Śrāvaka is of two kinds: the Śrāvaka-Śrāvaka, and the Pratyekabuddha-turned-Śrāvaka; the Pratyekabuddha is likewise of two kinds: the Pratyekabuddha-Pratyekabuddha, and the Śrāvaka-turned-Pratyekabuddha." Someone who from the outset sought the Śrāvaka path, delighting in contemplating the four truths, and who in his final body happens to meet a buddha teaching those very truths, awakens exactly as he had always intended — a straightforward Śrāvaka-Śrāvaka. But someone who from the outset sought the Pratyekabuddha path, delighting in the twelve links of dependent origination, yet who happens to meet a buddha teaching the twelve links rather than awakening on his own as he had intended, still awakens through hearing another's voice — and so is called, despite his original aspiration, a Pratyekabuddha-turned-Śrāvaka. The mirror case runs the other way for the Pratyekabuddha: one who sought Śrāvakahood, attained the first fruit with dull faculties, failed to reach nirvana within that lifetime, was reborn seven times in the heavens and among human beings, and only after living beyond every buddha's teaching awakened by relying on present circumstance, is called, despite having originally sought to be a Śrāvaka, a Śrāvaka-turned-Pratyekabuddha. Which vehicle a practitioner ends up embodying, on this account, is less a fixed fact about his capacity than an accident of timing — whether a buddha happens to be teaching, and what he happens to be teaching, when the practitioner's own faculties finally ripen.
Huiyuan frames the entire ladder from ordinary practice through buddhahood in a single line just before this passage: 善有五品：凡善為一，聲聞為二，緣覺為三，菩薩為四，佛善為五 — "wholesome practice has five grades: the good of the ordinary person is first, the Śrāvaka's second, the Pratyekabuddha's third, the Bodhisattva's fourth, and the buddha's own good fifth" — which is what the treatise's own terminology of "superior" and "superior upon superior" is quietly tracking: relative to the ordinary person, the two lesser vehicles' good is called superior, and relative to that superior, the Great Vehicle's good is superior upon superior. This same ladder is why the ten powers, though grammatically attached to the same ten wholesome courses every vehicle practices, belong to the fifth grade alone: 十力唯是佛法非小乘法 — "the ten powers belong only to the buddha-dharma, not to the lesser vehicles" — Huiyuan's gloss on why subduing Māra's own hostility is what marks this power as superior even to the Small Vehicle's own version of these very same ten courses of action.
The Pure Precept of Benefiting Sentient Beings Begins: The Ten Unwholesome Courses in Full
經曰：是菩薩復作是思惟：此十不善業道，上者地獄因緣、中者畜生因緣、下者餓鬼因緣。於中殺生之罪，能令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者短命、二者多病。劫盜之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者貧窮、二者共財不得自在。邪婬之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者婦不貞良、二者二妻相諍不隨己心。妄語之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者多被誹謗、二者恒為多人所誑。兩舌之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者得破壞眷屬、二者得弊惡眷屬。惡口之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者常聞惡聲、二者所有言說恒有諍訟。綺語之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者所說正語人不信受、二者所有言說不能辯了。貪欲之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者貪財無有厭足、二者多求恒不從意。瞋恚之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者常為他人求其長短、二者常為他所惱害。邪見之罪，亦令眾生墮於地獄、畜生、餓鬼；若生人中，得二種果報：一者常生邪見家、二者心恒諂曲。諸佛子！如是十不善業道，皆是眾苦大聚因緣。
論曰：時差別者，依不善業道因果上中下差別，如經「是菩薩作是思惟：此十不善業道，上者地獄因緣、中者畜生因緣、下者餓鬼因緣」故。前總觀不善業道因，今別觀報果一切諸惡處，如經「殺生之罪，能令眾生墮於地獄畜生餓鬼，乃至邪見之罪亦令眾生墮於地獄畜生餓鬼」故。習氣果者，人中一一各有二種果，如經「若生人中，得二種果報：一者短命、二者多病，乃至若生人中，得二種果報：一者常生邪見家、二者心恒諂曲」故。是中時報差別者，示現苦深重故。云何示現？下者餓鬼中深故，中者復轉深故，上者轉轉重深故。習氣果差別者，隨順至善道中故。總別合觀惡道中無量大苦，如經「諸佛子！如是十不善業道，皆是眾苦大聚因緣」故。云何為願？
經曰：菩薩復作是念：我當遠離十不善業道，樂行法行。
論曰：願者復樂行大乘法，作利益眾生義故、攝善法故，如經「菩薩復作是念乃至樂行法行」故。云何修行？
經曰：菩薩遠離十不善業道，安住十善業道，亦令他人住於十善業道。
論曰：修行者，自住善法遠離彼障，修行對治，亦令眾生住善法故。如經「菩薩遠離十不善業道，乃至亦令他人住於十善業道」故。云何為集？
Sūtra: This bodhisattva further reflects thus: these ten unwholesome courses of action are, at their highest degree, a cause and condition of hell; at their middling degree, a cause and condition of the animal realm; and at their lowest degree, a cause and condition of the realm of hungry ghosts. Among these, the offense of killing is able to cause sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, a short life, and second, much sickness. The offense of stealing likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, poverty, and second, no self-mastery over wealth held in common with others. The offense of sexual misconduct likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, a wife who is not chaste and virtuous, and second, two wives who quarrel with one another and will not follow one's own wishes. The offense of false speech likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, being greatly slandered, and second, being constantly deceived by many people. The offense of slanderous speech likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, having one's own household and kin broken apart and divided, and second, having depraved and evil kin. The offense of harsh speech likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, constantly hearing evil sounds, and second, having every word one speaks constantly meet with dispute and contention. The offense of frivolous speech likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, though one speaks correct words, others do not believe or accept them, and second, being unable to speak clearly or persuasively in whatever one says. The offense of covetousness likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, being covetous of wealth without any satiety, and second, seeking much yet never having it follow one's own wishes. The offense of anger likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, constantly having others seek out one's own strengths and weaknesses, and second, constantly being troubled and harmed by others. The offense of wrong view likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts; and, if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, being constantly born into a household of wrong view, and second, a mind that is constantly flattering and crooked. Sons of the Buddha! Such are the ten unwholesome courses of action — every one of them a cause and condition of the great mass of every suffering.
Commentary: "The distinction of time" means the distinction of the higher, middling, and lower degrees within the causes and fruits of the unwholesome courses of action — as the sūtra says, "this bodhisattva reflects thus: these ten unwholesome courses of action are, at their highest degree, a cause and condition of hell; at their middling degree, a cause and condition of the animal realm; and at their lowest degree, a cause and condition of the realm of hungry ghosts." Previously the cause of the unwholesome courses of action was contemplated as a whole; now the retributive fruit is contemplated distinctly, encompassing every evil destiny — as the sūtra says, "the offense of killing is able to cause sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts," all the way to "the offense of wrong view likewise causes sentient beings to fall into hell, into the animal realm, or into the realm of hungry ghosts." "The fruit of habitual tendency" means that, among human beings, each and every one of the ten has its own two kinds of fruit — as the sūtra says, "if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, a short life, and second, much sickness," all the way to "if born among human beings, they obtain two kinds of retributive fruit: first, being constantly born into a household of wrong view, and second, a mind that is constantly flattering and crooked." Here, the distinction of time and retribution makes manifest that suffering runs deep and heavy. How does it make this manifest? The lowest degree is already deep within the hungry ghosts; the middling degree turns deeper still; and the highest degree turns deeper and more severe again and again. The distinction of the fruit of habitual tendency accords with reaching the wholesome destinies. Contemplating together, as a whole and in each particular, the boundless great suffering within the evil destinies — as the sūtra says, "Sons of the Buddha! Such are the ten unwholesome courses of action — every one of them a cause and condition of the great mass of every suffering." What is meant by the vow?
Sūtra: The bodhisattva further gives rise to this thought: I shall depart from the ten unwholesome courses of action, and delight in practicing the practice of the Dharma.
Commentary: "The vow" means, further, delighting in practicing the Dharma of the Great Vehicle, for the sake of the meaning of benefiting sentient beings, and for the sake of gathering wholesome dharmas — as the sūtra says, "the bodhisattva further gives rise to this thought," all the way to "delight in practicing the practice of the Dharma." What is meant by practice?
Sūtra: The bodhisattva departs from the ten unwholesome courses of action, abides securely in the ten wholesome courses of action, and likewise causes other people to abide in the ten wholesome courses of action.
Commentary: "Practice" means himself abiding in wholesome dharmas, departing from their hindrances, cultivating and practicing the antidote, and likewise causing sentient beings to abide in wholesome dharmas — as the sūtra says, "the bodhisattva departs from the ten unwholesome courses of action," all the way to "likewise causes other people to abide in the ten wholesome courses of action." What is meant by arising?
Huiyuan reads the sūtra's exhaustive, unbroken run through all ten unwholesome courses as organized by a threefold structure he names before the list even begins: 智者有三種相：一者時差別；二者報果差別；三者習氣果差別 — "wisdom has three marks: the distinction of time, the distinction of retributive fruit, and the distinction of the fruit of habitual tendency." The opening clause sorting hell, the animal realm, and the hungry-ghost realm into highest, middling, and lowest degrees is the distinction of time; the itemized fall into the three evil destinies, repeated for each of the ten in turn, is the distinction of retributive fruit; and the paired human consequences closing each entry is the distinction of the fruit of habitual tendency — three different lenses trained on the same twenty clauses, not one undifferentiated catalogue.
On why even the human-realm outcomes still carry two further penalties apiece, Huiyuan makes an observation easy to miss inside such a relentless list: 至善道者，至人善道。前時及報明苦深重，今此習氣彰苦難離，善道亦有 — "'reaching the wholesome path' means reaching the wholesome path of being human; the foregoing account of time and retribution shows that suffering runs deep and heavy, while this present account of habitual tendency makes manifest that suffering is hard to leave behind — it exists even within the wholesome path itself." Being born human, after hell, the animal realm, or the hungry-ghost realm, already counts as arriving at the "good" destiny relative to the other three — yet the same karmic habit that produced the fall still trails the practitioner even there, in the form of short life, poverty, an unfaithful spouse, slander, ruined kinship, contentious speech, and the rest. The list's real point, on Huiyuan's reading, is not simply that evil deeds lead to bad rebirths, but that their residue outlives even a fortunate one.
The Ten Kinds of Mind Toward Eight Kinds of Sentient Beings
經曰：是菩薩復於一切眾生中生安隱心、樂心、慈心、悲心、憐愍心、利益心、守護心、我心、師心、生尊心。
論曰：集者依增上悲，復為念眾生故生十種心。復次此心為八種眾生故生：一者於惡行眾生，欲令住善行故，如經「安隱心」故。二者於苦眾生，欲令樂具不盡故，如經「樂心」故。三者於怨憎眾生，不念加報，如經「慈心」故。四者於貧窮眾生，欲令遠離彼苦，如經「悲心」故。五者於樂眾生，欲令不放逸，如經「憐愍心」故。六者於外道眾生，欲令現信佛法故，如經「利益心」故。七者於同行眾生，欲令不退轉，如經「守護心」故。八者於一切攝菩提願眾生，取如己身，是諸眾生即是我身，如經「我心」故。生餘二心者，觀彼眾生乘大乘道進趣，集具足功德，如經「師心故、生尊心」故。集果者，勝悲所攝欲勝。
復次依增上顛倒為首，於三種眾生：一、欲求；二、有求；三、梵行求。欲求眾生者有二種：一、受用時；二、追求時。受用有三種：一、受不共財；二、受無厭足財；三、受貯積財。追求有二種：一、追求現報，習惡行故；二、追求後報，習善行故。有求眾生亦有二種：一者道差別、二者界差別。梵行求眾生亦有二種：一者邪見諸外道等、二者正見同法小乘等。彼諸眾生趣如是道，隨順對治，令住如所應處。云何顛倒為首？
Sūtra: This bodhisattva, further, gives rise, toward every sentient being, to a mind of peace and security, a mind of joy, a mind of loving-kindness, a mind of compassion, a mind of pity, a mind of benefit, a mind of protection, a mind of self, a mind of teacher, and a mind that gives rise to reverence.
Commentary: "Arising" means that, relying on ever-increasing compassion, one further gives rise to ten kinds of mind for the sake of being mindful of sentient beings. Furthermore, this mind arises for the sake of eight kinds of sentient being. First, toward sentient beings of evil conduct, wishing to cause them to abide in wholesome conduct — as the sūtra says, "a mind of peace and security." Second, toward sentient beings in suffering, wishing that the sources of their happiness never be exhausted — as the sūtra says, "a mind of joy." Third, toward sentient beings who bear enmity and hatred, not intending to repay them in kind — as the sūtra says, "a mind of loving-kindness." Fourth, toward impoverished sentient beings, wishing them to be free of that suffering — as the sūtra says, "a mind of compassion." Fifth, toward sentient beings enjoying happiness, wishing them not to fall into heedlessness — as the sūtra says, "a mind of pity." Sixth, toward sentient beings who are followers of other paths, wishing to cause them to manifest faith in the buddha-dharma — as the sūtra says, "a mind of benefit." Seventh, toward sentient beings of shared practice, wishing to cause them not to regress — as the sūtra says, "a mind of protection." Eighth, toward every sentient being who has gathered in the vow for enlightenment, taking them as identical with his own person, these very sentient beings being none other than his own body — as the sūtra says, "a mind of self." As for giving rise to the remaining two kinds of mind: contemplating these sentient beings' advancement upon the path of the Great Vehicle, and their gathering of complete merit — as the sūtra says, "a mind of teacher," and "a mind that gives rise to reverence." "The fruit of arising" means that supreme compassion, in what it encompasses, wishes for what is supreme.
Furthermore, relying on ever-increasing inverted view taken as foremost, there are three kinds of sentient being: those who seek desire; those who seek existence; and those who seek the holy life. Those who seek desire are, again, of two kinds: those at the time of enjoyment, and those at the time of pursuit. Enjoyment is of three kinds: enjoying wealth not held in common with others; enjoying wealth without any satiety; and enjoying wealth that is stored away. Pursuit is of two kinds: pursuing a retribution in this very life, through habituation to evil conduct; and pursuing a retribution in a future life, through habituation to wholesome conduct. Those who seek existence are likewise of two kinds: the distinction of path, and the distinction of realm. Those who seek the holy life are likewise of two kinds: those of wrong view, the various followers of other paths, and the rest; and those of right view, sharing the same Dharma, the Small Vehicle, and the rest. All these sentient beings advance toward paths such as these, and, according with the antidote proper to each, are caused to abide in whatever place is fitting for them. What is meant by taking inverted view as foremost?
Huiyuan is explicit that the eightfold division behind these ten kinds of mind is a deliberate revision of an earlier sixfold list on loving-kindness rather than a fresh invention, and he catalogues exactly how the two diverge: 先對前離瞋中六種之心辨其同異…離合不同…通別不同…起心不同…前後不同 — comparing this list against the earlier one point by point, he finds it splits categories the earlier list had merged (the formerly single "beings of evil conduct" now separates from "followers of other paths"; the formerly single "beings who have gathered the vow" now separates from "beings of shared practice"), assigns a different specific mind to a formerly shared category (where the earlier list gave one and the same mind to both the impoverished and the suffering, this one gives pity to the suffering but compassion, specifically, to the impoverished), and reorders the whole sequence besides. Nothing in the substance is contradicted — Huiyuan's point is that the treatise keeps refining the same underlying concern for different kinds of being into ever more exact categories, rather than settling on one classification and simply repeating it.
On the eighth mind, "a mind of self" toward every being who has gathered in the vow for enlightenment, Huiyuan reads the treatise's own justification as more than a figure of speech: 自住大乘欲與眾生作依止處，彼發心者亦為一切而作依止，彼之所作與我無別，故言即是 — "he himself abides in the Great Vehicle, wishing to become a place of refuge for sentient beings; one who has likewise given rise to the resolve also becomes, for the sake of all, a place of refuge — and what that person does is no different from what he himself does, and this is why the sūtra says 'is none other than.'" Two bodhisattvas pursuing the same resolve toward the same end are not merely alike in aspiration, on this reading, but functionally identical in what their practice accomplishes for others — which is exactly why the fellow bodhisattva can be taken as his own body, rather than merely as an object of fellow-feeling.
Part 17 Complete
This closes Part 17: the same ten wholesome courses of action diverging into the Śrāvaka, the Pratyekabuddha, and the Bodhisattva according to the mind that practices them, the ten powers closing the pure precept of gathering wholesome dharmas, and the pure precept of benefiting sentient beings opening with its exhaustive twenty-clause reckoning of the ten unwholesome courses, the bodhisattva's vow and resolve to practice, and the ten kinds of mind arising toward eight kinds of sentient beings. Part 18 turns to the threefold classification of seekers just introduced — those who seek desire, existence, and the holy life — and the notion of inverted view taken as foremost that organizes it.
Continue to Part 18 — Desire, Existence, and the Holy Life: Three Kinds of Seeker →