The Six Meanings of a Cause, Continued
Establishing, Analyzing, Combining, and Applying the Six Meanings因六義・建立乃至約教
Having named and explained the six meanings of a cause in the previous part, Fazang now defends the number six itself, works the six through a fourfold analysis of essence and function, multiplies them out into groupings running all the way to thirty-six, folds them into the Six Characteristics that Parts 33 and 34 will unpack in full, and finally sorts them across the Five Teachings. This closes Fazang's entire theory of causation — the ground the Ten Mysterious Gates are about to be built on.
1. Why Exactly Six
Fazang defends the number itself. Considered strictly as cause set against condition, there are really only three positions; each of those three, in turn, carries two further aspects — emptiness and existence — which is how three becomes six.
第二建立者。問何以故。定說六義不增至七。不減至五耶。答為正因對緣。唯有三義。一因有力不待緣。全體生故。不雜緣力故。二因有力待緣。相資發故。三因無力待緣。全不作故。因歸緣故。又由上三義因中各有二義。謂空義有義。二門各有三義。唯有六故不增減也。
Second, establishing why there are exactly six. Question: Why is it definitively said that there are six meanings, neither increased to seven nor reduced to five? Answer: Considered strictly as cause set against condition, there are only three meanings. First, the cause is potent and condition-independent, since it generates the result in its entirety, without mixing in the power of conditions. Second, the cause is potent and condition-dependent, since cause and condition mutually assist and bring each other forth. Third, the cause is impotent and condition-dependent, since it does nothing at all of itself, and the cause in this case is subsumed entirely under the conditions. And then, since each of these three meanings, within the cause, further has two aspects — namely the meaning of emptiness and the meaning of existence — the two aspects, applied to the three, give three meanings each; and so there are exactly six in all, neither more nor fewer.
問何故不立第四句無力不待緣義耶。答以彼非是因義故不立。思之可見。問待緣者待何等緣。答待因事之外增上等三緣。不取自六義更互相待耳。
Question: Why is a fourth position not set up — the meaning of being impotent and condition-independent? Answer: Because that would not be the meaning of a cause at all, it is not set up. Consider this and it will become clear. Question: When it is said that a cause depends on conditions, what conditions does it depend on? Answer: It depends on the three remaining conditions — the dominant condition and the rest — apart from the matter of the cause itself; it does not mean that the six meanings, among themselves, mutually depend on one another.
問因望緣得有六義。未知緣對因亦有六義不。答此有二義。增上緣望自增上果得有六義。以還是親因攝故。望他果成疏緣故不具六。親因望他亦爾。問果中有六義不。答果中唯有空有二義。謂從他生無體性。故是空義。酬因有故是有義。若約互為因果義說。即此一法為他因時具斯六義。與他作果時即唯有二義。是故六義唯在因中。
Question: A cause, considered in relation to its conditions, is granted these six meanings — but do conditions, considered in relation to a cause, likewise have six meanings? Answer: There are two cases here. A dominant condition, considered in relation to its own dominant result, does have six meanings, since in that respect it is itself subsumed under the intimate cause; but considered in relation to another's result, where it serves only as an auxiliary condition, it does not possess all six. And an intimate cause, considered in relation to another's result, is the same way. Question: Does a result have these six meanings? Answer: A result has only the two meanings of emptiness and existence: since it arises from another, it has no substantial nature of its own, which is the meaning of emptiness; and since it answers to and fulfills its cause, it exists, which is the meaning of existence. If one speaks in terms of things mutually serving as cause and result, then this same single dharma, at the time it serves as another's cause, possesses these six meanings; but at the time it serves as another's result, it has only the two. Hence the six meanings belong to the cause alone.
問若爾。現行為種因。豈得有六義。答隨勝緣不具。如論說。種子有六義。此約初教。若緣起祕密義。皆具此六義。約終教。以此教中六七識等。亦是如來藏隨緣義。無別自性。是故六七識亦具本識中六義也。思之可見。
Question: If so, when a manifest activity serves as the cause of a seed, how can it possess these six meanings? Answer: This is a matter of not possessing them fully, in accordance with which factor predominates — as the treatise says, a seed has all six meanings; this pertains to the Initial Teaching. But as regards the secret meaning of dependent origination, the manifest activity possesses all six meanings as well; this pertains to the Final Teaching, since in this teaching the sixth and seventh consciousnesses and the rest are likewise instances of the tathāgatagarbha following conditions, without any separate nature of their own — and so the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, too, possess the same six meanings found within the root consciousness. Consider this and it will become clear.
The last exchange quietly does real doctrinal work: it takes a technical point that, in the Cheng Weishi Lun's Initial Teaching, applies strictly to seeds in the storehouse consciousness, and extends it — under the Final Teaching's tathāgatagarbha framework — to the sixth and seventh consciousnesses as well, on the grounds that they too are simply the tathāgatagarbha following conditions and have no separate nature of their own. This is a small, technical instance of the same move the three-natures discussion made at the doctrinal level: a scheme built for one register of teaching turns out to generalize once its underlying nature is seen to be shared more broadly than the original register assumed.
2. Existence, Nonexistence, and Neither Self-Caused nor Uncaused
Fazang runs the six meanings through a fourfold analysis twice over — once with respect to essence, once with respect to function — showing that they rule out self-generation, generation by another alone, joint generation, and generation without any cause at all.
第三句數料揀者有二種。一約體。二約用。初約體有無而有四句。一是有。謂決定義。二是無。謂剎那滅義。三亦有亦無。謂合彼引自果及俱有無二是也。四非有非無。謂合彼恒隨轉及彼待眾緣無二是也。
Third, the fourfold analysis of positions is of two kinds: one with respect to essence, the other with respect to function. First, with respect to essence and the four positions of existence and nonexistence: the first is existent — this is the meaning of fixed nature. The second is nonexistent — this is the meaning of momentary cessation. The third is both existent and nonexistent — this is drawing forth its own result together with co-existence with its result, the two not being two. The fourth is neither existent nor nonexistent — this is continuing without interruption together with depending on a gathering of conditions, the two not being two.
就用四句者。由合彼恒隨轉及待眾緣無二故。是不自生也。由合彼剎那滅及決定無二故。不他生也。由合彼俱有及引自果無二故。不共生也。由具三句合其六義因義方成故。非無因生也。是則由斯六義。因緣全奪顯緣起勝德。
As for the four positions with respect to function: because continuing without interruption and depending on a gathering of conditions are not two, a result does not arise from itself. Because momentary cessation and fixed nature are not two, it does not arise from another. Because co-existence with its result and drawing forth its own result are not two, it does not arise from both together. And because it is only by combining these three positions, uniting all six meanings, that the meaning of a cause is accomplished at all, it does not arise without a cause. It is by these six meanings, then, that cause and condition wholly negate these four extremes and bring to light the excellent virtue of dependent origination.
故地論云。因不生。緣生故。緣不生。自因生故。不共生。無知者故。作時不住故。不無因。生隨順有故。又集論云。自種有故不從他生。待眾緣故非自生。無作用故不共生。有功能故非無因生。
Hence the Daśabhūmikasūtra-śāstra says: "It does not arise from the cause alone, since it arises from conditions; it does not arise from the condition alone, since it arises from its own cause; it does not arise from both together, since there is no agent who knows, and since, at the time of acting, nothing remains fixed; and it does not arise without a cause, since it arises in accordance with what exists." And the Abhidharmasamuccaya says: "Since it has its own seed, it does not arise from another; since it depends on a gathering of conditions, it does not arise from itself; since it has no independent activity, it does not arise from both together; and since it has genuine efficacy, it does not arise without a cause."
問此六義與八不分齊云何。答八不據遮六義約表。又八不約反情理自顯。六義據顯理情自亡。有斯左右耳。
Question: How do these six meanings relate to the eight negations? Answer: The eight negations proceed by way of negation, while the six meanings proceed by way of positive statement. Again, the eight negations work by turning back deluded feeling, so that the true principle becomes manifest of itself; the six meanings work by manifesting the true principle, so that deluded feeling of itself falls away. They differ only in this respect, left hand and right.
The "eight negations" (八不) are Nāgārjuna's opening verse of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā — no arising, no ceasing, no permanence, no annihilation, no unity, no plurality, no coming, no going — and Fazang's four-part refutation here (not self-caused, not other-caused, not both, not causeless) is a direct application of that same structure to the question of causation specifically. His closing comment is a small but telling piece of comparative method: Madhyamaka's eight negations and his own six meanings of a cause are not rival theories of causation to be adjudicated between, but two complementary strategies — one clearing away wrong views by refutation, the other establishing the right view directly — arriving at the identical destination from opposite directions, "left hand and right."
3. Opening and Combining: One, Two, Three, All the Way to Thirty-Six
Fazang now shows that the same six meanings can be counted at any of several levels of resolution — one, two, three, six, nine, twelve, eighteen, or thirty-six — depending on how finely the underlying distinctions are drawn out.
第四開合者。或約體唯一。以因無二體故。或約義分二。謂空有。以無自性故。緣起現前故。或約用分三。一有力不待緣。二有力待緣。三無力待緣。初即全有力。後即全無力。中即亦有力亦無力。以第四句無力不待緣非因故不論也。是故唯有三句也。
Fourth, opening and combining. Considered with respect to essence, there is only one, since a cause has no second essence. Considered with respect to meaning, it divides into two — emptiness and existence — since it is without a nature of its own, and since conditioned arising stands manifest before us. Considered with respect to function, it divides into three: potent and condition-independent; potent and condition-dependent; and impotent and condition-dependent. The first is wholly potent, the last is wholly impotent, and the middle is both potent and impotent together. The fourth position, impotent and condition-independent, is not discussed, since it is not the meaning of a cause at all — hence there are only these three.
或分為六。謂開三句入二門故也。如前辯。或分為九。謂於上三義。隨一皆具彼三故。何以故。若非有力即無無力。是故隨一具三故有九也。或分十二。謂於上六義。空有二門不相離故。隨空即有隨有即空。有空有六。空有亦六。故有十二也。
Or it divides into six, opening the three positions out into the two gates of emptiness and existence, as discussed above. Or it divides into nine, since each of the three meanings above, taken singly, contains all three within it — why? Because if it were not potent, there would be no impotent to speak of either — and so, each one containing all three, there come to be nine. Or it divides into twelve, since, of the six meanings above, the two gates of emptiness and existence are inseparable — wherever there is emptiness there is existence, and wherever there is existence there is emptiness. The "existent" side has six, and the "empty" side likewise has six — hence twelve.
或分十八。謂於上六義中。一一皆有三義故。一體有無。二力有無。三約待緣不待緣。三六成十八也。或分為三十六。謂於上六義。隨一皆具六。何以故。以若無一餘皆無故。餘門思而準之。
Or it divides into eighteen, since each and every one of the six meanings above itself contains three aspects: first, existence or nonexistence of essence; second, presence or absence of potency; third, condition-dependence or condition-independence. Three times six makes eighteen. Or it divides into thirty-six, since each one of the six meanings above, taken singly, contains all six within it — why? Because were any single one absent, all the rest would be absent as well. The remaining approaches should be considered and understood in the same manner.
None of these larger numbers name new meanings a cause could have. They are the same six meanings, viewed under progressively finer magnification: at one level of resolution, a cause is simply a cause (one); pull back to its most basic split and it is empty-or-existent (two); look at its function and it sorts into three; cross those two views and get six; notice that each of the three functional types already contains its own inner potent/impotent structure and get nine; notice that emptiness and existence are inseparable at every one of the six meanings and get twelve; and so on up through eighteen to thirty-six. Every larger number is the same six meanings, examined more closely — the exercise itself models, in miniature, the "one in the many, the many in the one" doctrine that the Ten Mysterious Gates take up in full over the following parts of this collection.
4. Interfusion with the Six Characteristics, and Across the Teachings
Fazang closes with two final sub-gates: how the six meanings map onto the Six Characteristics — a doctrine this collection unpacks fully starting in Part 33 — and how the doctrine of a cause's six meanings applies differently, or not at all, across the Five Teachings.
第五融攝者。然此六義以六相融攝取之。謂融六義為一因是總相。開一因為六義是別相。六義齊名因是同相。六義各不相知是異相。由此六義。因等得成是成相。六義各住自位義是壞相。
Fifth, interfusion. These six meanings are taken up and interfused by way of the six characteristics: fusing the six meanings into a single cause is the Total characteristic; opening the single cause out into the six meanings is the Particular characteristic; the six meanings equally sharing the name "cause" is the Identical characteristic; the six meanings each not encroaching on the others is the Different characteristic; the six meanings, by virtue of which the cause and so forth are accomplished, is the Formative characteristic; and the six meanings each abiding in its own distinct position is the Disintegrating characteristic.
問六相六義分齊云何。答六義據緣起自體。六相據緣起義門。以法體入義門遂成差別。如以六義入四句顯是去非故。順三乘入六相顯自德故順一乘。是故四句與六相。俱為入法方便也。
Question: How do the six characteristics and the six meanings differ in scope? Answer: The six meanings are based on the very essence of dependent origination; the six characteristics are based on dependent origination's gate of meaning. It is by the dharma's essence entering the gate of meaning that the distinction between them comes about — just as, when the six meanings enter the fourfold analysis of positions, this manifests the true by dispelling the false, and so accords with the three vehicles; while entering the six characteristics manifests the dharma's own virtue, and so accords with the One Vehicle. Hence both the fourfold positions and the six characteristics serve as skillful means for entering the dharma.
第六約教辨者。若小乘中法執因相。於此六義名義俱無。若三乘賴耶識如來藏法無我因中。有六義名義。而主伴未具。若一乘普賢圓因中。具足主伴無盡緣起方究竟也。
Sixth, distinguishing across the teachings. In the Hīnayāna's grasping of the mark of a cause as a fixed dharma, neither the name nor the meaning of these six is present at all. In the three vehicles' cause of the storehouse consciousness, the tathāgatagarbha, and the selflessness of dharmas, both the name and the meaning of the six are present, but host and retinue are not yet fully present together. In the One Vehicle's perfect cause of Samantabhadra, host and retinue are fully present, and the inexhaustible dependent origination of the dharma-realm is brought to its ultimate completion.
又由空有義故。有相即門也。由有力無力義故。有相入門也。由有待緣不待緣義故。有同體異體門也。由有此等義門故。得毛孔容剎海事也。思之可解。
Again, because of the meanings of empty and existent, there is the gate of mutual identity; because of the meanings of potent and impotent, there is the gate of mutual inclusion; and because of the meanings of condition-dependent and condition-independent, there are the gates of same-substance and different-substance. It is because of these gates of meaning that a single pore of skin can contain the oceans of buddha-lands. Consider this and it will become clear.
This closing paragraph is Fazang's own signpost to what comes next in this collection. "Host and retinue fully present" (主伴具足) and the image of a single pore of skin containing whole oceans of buddha-lands are not passing flourishes — they are the Ten Mysterious Gates and their governing vision of the dharma-realm's dependent origination, which the next part of this collection opens with the simile of ten coins. Fazang is telling the reader directly that everything just established about a cause's six meanings — empty and existent generating the gate of mutual identity, potent and impotent generating the gate of mutual inclusion, condition-dependent and condition-independent generating the gates of same-substance and different-substance — is the technical machinery that the Ten Mysterious Gates will now put to full, cosmic use. Readers of this site's Gaṇḍavyūha translation will recognize this same vision already at work in Sudhana's pilgrimage, most vividly in Maitreya's tower and in the imagery of Indra's Net — worlds contained within worlds, each retaining its own place while never blocking any other.
This closes the treatise's entire theory of a cause. The mark of a cause, its two-aspect three-natures foundation, and now its six meanings in every possible grouping and application, are the ground on which the Ten Mysterious Gates and the Six Characteristics — Gate 10's remaining two sub-gates — are built from here forward.
Part Twenty-Seven Complete
This closes Part 27, and with it the treatise's entire discussion of causation: why there are exactly six meanings of a cause and not seven or five; the fourfold analysis showing that a result arises neither from itself, nor from another alone, nor from both together, nor from no cause at all; the six meanings' comparison to Nāgārjuna's eight negations; their opening and combining into groupings of one, two, three, six, nine, twelve, eighteen, and thirty-six; their interfusion with the Six Characteristics; and their application, present in name and meaning but not yet with host and retinue fully complete, across the three vehicles, reaching completion only in the One Vehicle's perfect cause.
Part 28, by another hand, opens the treatise's third sub-gate of the principle itself: the Ten Mysterious Gates of unobstructed dependent origination, beginning with the simile of ten coins used to explain mutual inclusion.