Eliminating Affliction III
Eighteen Gates of Using Affliction to Show Position寄惑顯位
Fazang now switches from the abhidharma bookkeeping of Parts 17–18 to a different exegetical task entirely: reading scripture's own language about affliction being cut as a coded index of a bodhisattva's stage, rather than as a literal report of what is actually cut and when. He calls this 寄惑顯位, "using affliction to reveal position," and sets out eighteen scriptural devices for it, drawn from across the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the Bodhisattvabhūmi-śāstra, the Golden Light Sūtra, and other treatises. This part carries the first eight.
The Text
Gate 1 — Two Hindrances, Two Positions
第二明寄惑顯位者。諸聖教說。略有一十八門。一寄二障以顯二位。謂分惑智二障。以顯比證二位故。梁攝論云。地前漸除煩惱障。地上漸除智障。又云。十解已去得出世淨心。又云。地前雖得人無我。以法無我未淨故。人無我亦不清淨。又云。其人我執前十解中已除。今唯滅法我執。又仁王經云。習種性已入生空位。得聖人性故。本業經起信論亦同此說。
Second, explaining the use of affliction to reveal position: the sacred teachings, taken together, set out eighteen gates, in brief. First, using the two hindrances to reveal two positions — that is, dividing affliction into the afflictive hindrance and the cognitive hindrance in order to reveal the position of inferential approximation and the position of direct realization. The Liang translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "Before the ground, the afflictive hindrance is gradually removed; upon the grounds, the cognitive hindrance is gradually removed." It also says: "From the Ten Abodes onward, one attains a mind pure and transcending the world." It also says: "Although one attains the selflessness of the person before the ground, since the selflessness of dharmas is not yet purified, the selflessness of the person is likewise not yet pure." It also says: "Attachment to a self of persons is already removed within the earlier Ten Abodes; what remains now is only to extinguish attachment to a self of dharmas." And the Sūtra for Humane Kings says: "Once the lineage of habituated seeds has entered the position of the emptiness of birth, one attains the nature of a noble person." The Sūtra of the Bodhisattva's Original Acts and the Awakening of Faith say the same.
The device announced here is simple to state and easy to underestimate. When a scripture says "the afflictive hindrance is removed before the ground, the cognitive hindrance upon the grounds," Fazang is not reading this as an abhidharma report of which hindrance is literally cut at which moment — Parts 17–18 have already given two rival, mutually inconsistent versions of that report. He is reading it as a marker: a way scripture has of telling the reader which of two broad positions a passage is talking about, "before the ground" (inferential approximation of the truth) or "on the ground" (its direct realization), using the vocabulary of affliction as the label. The self of persons and the self of dharmas being removed at different points is the same device applied to selflessness rather than to hindrance.
Gates 2–3 — Husk, Flesh, and Heart, Across the Three Asaṃkhyeya Kalpas
二寄皮等三惑顯三僧祇故。梁攝論云。初僧祇斷皮煩惱。第二僧祇斷肉煩惱。第三僧祇斷心煩惱。三以此三惑。寄顯地地三心不同。如梁攝論三十三僧祇中說。地地之中入心除皮。住心除肉。出心除心等。
Second, using the three afflictions of husk, flesh, and heart to reveal the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. The Liang Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "In the first asaṃkhyeya kalpa one cuts the husk-affliction; in the second asaṃkhyeya kalpa one cuts the flesh-affliction; in the third asaṃkhyeya kalpa one cuts the heart-affliction." Third, using these same three afflictions to reveal the three distinct minds within each and every ground. As the Liang Mahāyānasaṃgraha's account of the three asaṃkhyeya kalpas explains: within each ground, the mind of entering removes the husk, the mind of abiding removes the flesh, and the mind of emerging removes the heart, and so on.
Husk, flesh, and heart describe affliction the way one might describe peeling toward the center of a fruit or a tree: coarsest and most superficial first, then what lies beneath it, then what sits at the very core. Gate 2 uses the image at the largest scale, one layer per entire asaṃkhyeya kalpa — the three "countless aeons" of bodhisattva practice already surveyed in this treatise's account of how long practice takes. Gate 3 nests the same three-part image inside each single ground, so that entering, abiding in, and emerging from any one ground repeats, in miniature, the husk-flesh-heart progression of the path as a whole. It is the same rhetorical habit already seen in the ten-coins simile elsewhere in this treatise: a single pattern, repeated at every scale from the smallest unit to the largest.
Gate 4 — Coarse and Subtle, Across Three Positions
四以二障麁細。寄顯三位。如地持論云。二障三處通。謂地前地上及佛地。
Fourth, using the coarse and subtle grades of the two hindrances to reveal three positions. As the Bodhisattvabhūmi-śāstra says: "The two hindrances run through three locations — before the grounds, upon the grounds, and at the ground of buddhahood."
Gates 5–7 — The Three Bodies, Read Through Affliction
五以染心麁細。寄於三位以顯三身。如金光明經說。依諸伏道起事心盡得顯化身。依法斷道依根本心盡得顯應身。依勝拔道根本心盡得顯法身。有人解云。伏道是地前起事心此是第六識。法斷道是地上。依根本心是末那。以依緣賴耶識本心故。勝拔道是金剛位。根本心是賴耶識。
Fifth, using the coarse and subtle grades of a defiled mind, taken across three positions, to reveal the three bodies. As the Golden Light Sūtra says: "By means of the paths of suppression, once the mind of arising activity is exhausted, the transformation-body is made manifest; by means of the path of dharma-cutting, once the mind of the root-basis is exhausted, the reward-body is made manifest; by means of the path of surpassing extraction, once the mind of the root-basis is exhausted, the dharma-body is made manifest." Some explain this as follows: the path of suppression belongs before the grounds, and "the mind of arising activity" is the sixth consciousness; the path of dharma-cutting belongs upon the grounds, and "the mind of the root-basis" is manas, since it depends upon and takes as its object the root-mind of the storehouse consciousness; the path of surpassing extraction belongs at the vajra ground, and "the root-basis" there is the storehouse consciousness itself.
六寄於三障直顯三身。故彼經云。煩惱障清淨能顯應身。業障清淨能顯化身。智障清淨能顯法身。
Sixth, using three hindrances to reveal the three bodies directly. Hence that same sūtra says: "Purification of the afflictive hindrance is able to make manifest the reward-body; purification of the karmic hindrance is able to make manifest the transformation-body; purification of the cognitive hindrance is able to make manifest the dharma-body."
七以迷三無性所起煩惱寄顯三身。故彼經云。一切凡夫為三相故。有縛有障遠離三身不至三身。何者為三。一者思惟分別相。二者依他起相。三者成就相。如是三相不能解故。不能滅故。不能淨故。是故不得至三身。如是三相能解能滅能淨。是故諸佛至於三身。解云。能解者是所執性。但應知解故。能滅者染分依他起性。應斷滅故。能淨者在纏真如修令淨故。
Seventh, using the afflictions that arise from confusion about the three non-natures to reveal the three bodies. Hence that same sūtra says: "All ordinary beings, on account of three marks, are bound and hindered, remain far removed from the three bodies, and do not arrive at the three bodies. What are the three? First, the mark of discriminating thought; second, the mark of the dependent arising; third, the mark of accomplishment. Because these three marks cannot be understood, cannot be extinguished, and cannot be purified, one does not arrive at the three bodies; but where these three marks can be understood, can be extinguished, and can be purified, the buddhas arrive at the three bodies." Explanation: "able to be understood" refers to the discriminated, attached-to nature, which need only be known and understood; "able to be extinguished" refers to the defiled portion of the dependent nature, which must be cut off and extinguished; "able to be purified" refers to suchness while still entangled, which is cultivated so as to be made pure.
Three gates, three different hindrance-schemes, one target: the dharma-body, reward-body (saṃbhogakāya), and transformation-body (nirmāṇakāya) that Part 22 and Part 23 will examine at length in their own right. Gate 7 is worth pausing on, since it quietly imports the three-natures doctrine (the discriminated, attached-to nature; the dependent nature; the perfectly accomplished nature) that will become the entire subject of Gate 10 later in this treatise, from Part 24 onward. Here the three natures appear only as a lens for reading a passage about affliction: the discriminated nature is something to be understood away rather than fought, the defiled portion of the dependent nature is something to be actively cut, and suchness-while-entangled (the perfectly accomplished nature, not yet purified) is something to be cultivated toward purity. The same three verbs — understand, extinguish, purify — recur throughout this treatise's account of practice, and here they are matched one-to-one against the three natures for the first time.
Gate 8 — Four Hindrances, Four Wheel-Kings, and the Child of the Buddhas
八寄四障以顯四位。此有二義。一約正使寄顯地前四位四行四因四報。何者為四。一謂以闡提不信障使滅已。翻顯十信之位成信樂大乘行為淨德因及鐵輪王報。二以外道執我障。寄以翻顯十解位成般若行。為我德因銅輪王報。三聲聞畏苦障。寄顯十行位成破虛空定器三昧行為樂德因銀輪王報。四獨覺捨大悲障。寄顯十迴向位成大悲行為常德因金輪王報。
Eighth, using four hindrances to reveal four positions. This has two aspects. First, with reference to the direct affliction, using it to reveal, before the grounds, four positions, four practices, four causes, and four retributions. What are the four? First, once the icchantika's hindrance of unbelief, as direct affliction, has been extinguished, this is turned about to reveal the position of the Ten Faiths, accomplishing the practice of faith and delight in the Mahāyāna, which becomes the cause of the virtue of purity and the retribution of an iron-wheel king. Second, using the outsider's hindrance of attachment to a self, this is turned about to reveal the position of the Ten Abodes, accomplishing the practice of prajñā, which becomes the cause of the virtue of self and the retribution of a copper-wheel king. Third, the śrāvaka's hindrance of dread of suffering is used to reveal the position of the Ten Practices, accomplishing the practice of the samādhi that breaks open the vessel of the concentration on emptiness, which becomes the cause of the virtue of bliss and the retribution of a silver-wheel king. Fourth, the pratyekabuddha's hindrance of abandoning great compassion is used to reveal the position of the Ten Dedications, accomplishing the practice of great compassion, which becomes the cause of the virtue of permanence and the retribution of a gold-wheel king.
又翻前四障。所得四行即為佛子四義。翻初障成信樂大乘種子為因。即如父也。二般若為緣。即如母也。三顯破虛空定離小乘執令法身堅固。如胎也。四大悲益生。如乳母。具此四緣故。得從地前生在初地已上諸佛家故名佛子也。又此四種和合。如車輪能運能轉至解脫處。如聖王輪備有四事。謂轂輞輻軸。如其次第四義應知。
Moreover, turning about these four hindrances, the four practices thereby obtained become the four meanings of being a child of the buddhas. Turning about the first hindrance to accomplish the seed of faith and delight in the Mahāyāna serves as the cause — this is like the father. Second, prajñā serves as the condition — this is like the mother. Third, the manifestation of the samādhi that breaks open the concentration on emptiness, departing from attachment to the Lesser Vehicle so as to make the dharma-body firm, is like the womb. Fourth, great compassion's benefiting of beings is like the wet-nurse. Possessed of these four conditions, one is able, from before the grounds, to be born, from the first ground onward, into the household of all the buddhas — and is therefore called a child of the buddhas. Further, these four, combined together, are like a chariot's wheel, able to convey and turn its way through to the place of liberation — like a sage-king's wheel, complete with its four parts: hub, rim, spoke, and axle. The four meanings should be understood in just this same order.
第二以四障習寄顯地上四位四定四德四報。一初二三地滅闡提不信習。即顯此一位相同世間。又得大乘光明三昧成於淨德。除因緣生死變易報。二四五六地滅外道我執習。顯此一位相同二乘。得集福德王三昧成於我德。除方便生死。三七八九地滅聲聞畏苦習。顯此一位相同大乘。得賢護三昧成於樂德。除有有生死。四十地至佛地已還。滅獨覺捨大悲習。顯此一位因圓果滿。得首楞嚴三昧成於常德。無有生死。四德圓故。生死永盡故。云無有也。此上義廣如無上依經．本業經．佛性論．寶性論．梁攝論等說。又此四中。初二通二障。後二唯智障。正使地前除。習氣地上淨。此文亦誠證也。
Second, using the habitual residue of the four hindrances to reveal, upon the grounds, four positions, four concentrations, four virtues, and four retributions. First, at the first, second, and third grounds, the habitual residue of the icchantika's unbelief is extinguished; this reveals this one position as still resembling the world, and one thereby attains the Mahāyāna-Light Samādhi, accomplishing the virtue of purity, and removing the retribution of the saṃsāra of causally-conditioned birth and the saṃsāra of transformation-birth. Second, at the fourth, fifth, and sixth grounds, the habitual residue of the outsider's attachment to a self is extinguished; this reveals this one position as resembling the two vehicles, and one thereby attains the Samādhi That Gathers the Merit-King, accomplishing the virtue of self, and removing the saṃsāra of skillful means. Third, at the seventh, eighth, and ninth grounds, the habitual residue of the śrāvaka's dread of suffering is extinguished; this reveals this one position as resembling the Mahāyāna, and one thereby attains the Bhadrapāla Samādhi, accomplishing the virtue of bliss, and removing the saṃsāra of existence-upon-existence. Fourth, from the tenth ground up through the ground of buddhahood, the habitual residue of the pratyekabuddha's abandonment of great compassion is extinguished; this reveals this one position as one where cause is perfected and fruit fulfilled, and one thereby attains the Śūraṅgama Samādhi, accomplishing the virtue of permanence — there being no more saṃsāra at all. Since the four virtues are now complete, saṃsāra is forever exhausted — hence it is said "there is none." This meaning above is set out at length in the Anuttarāśraya Sūtra, the Sūtra of the Bodhisattva's Original Acts, the Treatise on Buddha-Nature, the Ratnagotravibhāga, the Liang Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and the like. Moreover, of these four: the first two run through both hindrances, while the latter two belong only to the cognitive hindrance. The direct affliction is removed before the grounds, and the habitual residue is purified upon the grounds — this passage, too, stands as clear proof of this.
The four wheel-turning kings — iron, copper, silver, and gold — are a standard Buddhist cosmological ranking, each commanding a progressively larger dominion; matching them to the Ten Faiths, Ten Abodes, Ten Practices, and Ten Dedications turns an ascending scale of worldly kingship into a map of the bodhisattva's own ascent through the stages before the grounds proper. The four virtues named along the way — purity, self, bliss, and permanence — are the four attributes classically predicated of nirvāṇa itself; naming them as the fruit of turning about, in turn, the icchantika's unbelief, the outsider's attachment to self, the śrāvaka's dread of suffering, and the pratyekabuddha's abandonment of compassion, makes each of nirvāṇa's own virtues the specific cure for one specific, named failure of aspiration.
The closing family image is worth sitting with on its own terms: father as cause, mother as condition, womb as what makes the dharma-body firm, wet-nurse as what nourishes it once born. It is an unusually tender metaphor for a passage built almost entirely out of hindrances and their removal — and a reminder that the entire eighteen-gate apparatus exists to make scripture's harder passages legible, not to replace the plainer language of nurture, birth, and growth that sits right alongside it.
Gate 8's second aspect repeats the same four hindrances one register up, matching their habitual residue — rather than their direct, active form — to the four triads of grounds, four named samādhis, and the same four nirvāṇa-virtues once again, this time paired with four kinds of saṃsāra finally brought to an end. The closing note that "the first two run through both hindrances, while the latter two belong only to the cognitive hindrance" quietly answers a question a careful reader might already have from Part 17: it confirms that from the seventh ground onward, only the cognitive hindrance remains in play at all — the afflictive hindrance's own work, retained through the earlier grounds precisely in order to sustain rebirth, is by then already spent.