大乘起信論 立義分
全論最要緊的一句話只有六個字：
「所言法者，謂眾生心」
大乘的「法」——那個被信、被乘、被走的東西——是眾生心。
而這一句的分量，全在「眾生」那兩個字上。
換兩個字試試看
若論主當初寫的是『所言法者，謂真如』，這部論就成了另一部書：所信的東西被推到遠處，讀的人只能仰望。
若寫的是『謂佛心』，那更遠——那是別人有的東西。
他偏偏寫「眾生心」。
所信的與能信的，是同一個。
而「眾生」不是貶詞
它是方位詞。
同一個心，在這個位置上叫眾生心。若在佛地，就沒有和合這一義了——心沒有換，位置換了。
前一分裡論主說「有法能起摩訶衍信根」，那個「有法」當時沒說是什麼。到這裡才揭曉：就是此刻正在讀這幾行字的這個心。
一個心，怎麼裝得下一切
「是心則攝一切世間法、出世間法。」
這句容易被讀成豪語，其實是一個很緊的判斷：順流下去成不覺，攝的是世間法；逆流回來的本覺與始覺，攝的是出世間法。
染與淨不是兩個心，是一個心的兩個方向。
後面講熏習、講覺與不覺、講返流，全從這一句出。
兩道門裡的不對稱
「是心真如相，即示摩訶衍體故；是心生滅因緣相，能示摩訶衍自體相用故。」
真如那一面只示體，生滅這一面卻體、相、用三樣全有。
這個不對稱是要緊的：要見那個不動的，不必離開這個動的。
三個「大」，各說一面
體大——「一切法真如平等不增減故」。不因為是凡夫就少一分。
相大——「如來藏具足無量性功德故」。功德不是外加的裝飾。
用大——「能生一切世間、出世間善因果故」。
平等故人人有分，本具故不待外求，能生故不落枯寂。
而「乘」是一個動詞
「一切諸佛本所乘故，一切菩薩皆乘此法到如來地故。」
一句說諸佛，一句說菩薩——已到的與正在走的，乘的是同一輛車。
這一分沒有把佛與眾生分成兩種材質，它只分了兩個位置。
一百七十四個字
說完就收。而後面的解釋分有七千六百多字，沒有一句不是在解釋這裡。
它之所以短，是因為它只需要立。
而它立的那個東西，就在讀它的人身上。
The most consequential sentence in the whole treatise is six characters long:
“What is spoken of as dharma means the mind of sentient beings.”
The dharma of the Great Vehicle — the thing that is believed in, that is ridden, that is walked — is the mind of sentient beings.
And the whole weight of that sentence rests on those two words: sentient beings.
Try Changing Two Words
Had the author written instead what is spoken of as dharma means suchness, this would have become another book: the object of faith pushed off into the distance, and the reader left with nothing to do but look up at it.
Had he written means the buddha-mind, that is further still — that is something somebody else has.
He wrote, of all things, the mind of sentient beings.
What is believed in and what does the believing are one and the same.
And “Sentient Beings” Is Not a Word of Disparagement
It is a word of position.
The same mind, standing in this position, is called the mind of sentient beings. Were it at the stage of a buddha, the sense of conjunction would no longer apply — the mind has not been exchanged; the position has.
In the preceding part the author said there is “a dharma able to give rise to the root of faith in the Mahāyāna,” and did not then say what that dharma was. Only here is it disclosed: it is this very mind, at this moment reading these few lines.
How Can One Mind Hold Everything
“This mind holds within it all dharmas, mundane and supramundane.”
It is easy to read this as a grand claim. It is in fact a tightly drawn judgment: going down with the current there is non-awakening, and what is held is the mundane dharmas; turning back against the current there are original awakening and initial awakening, and what is held is the supramundane.
Defilement and purity are not two minds. They are two directions of one mind.
Everything that follows — perfuming, awakening and non-awakening, the turning back against the current — comes out of this one sentence.
The Asymmetry Between the Two Aspects
“The mark of this mind as suchness shows, then and there, the substance of the Mahāyāna; the mark of this mind as the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing is able to show the substance, the mark, and the function of the Mahāyāna itself.”
The side of suchness shows the substance only. The side of arising and ceasing has all three — substance, mark, function.
This asymmetry matters: to see the one that does not move, you do not have to leave the one that moves.
Three “Greatnesses,” Each Saying One Side
Greatness of substance — “the suchness of all dharmas is equal, neither increasing nor decreasing.” Not one fraction less for being an ordinary being.
Greatness of mark — “the Tathāgata-womb is complete in immeasurable qualities of its own nature.” The qualities are not ornament added from outside.
Greatness of function — “it can give rise to all wholesome causes and effects, mundane and supramundane.”
Equal, and so everyone has a share; inherently complete, and so nothing need be sought outside; able to give rise, and so it does not fall into barren quiet.
And “Ride” Is a Verb
“Because this is what all the buddhas originally rode; and because all bodhisattvas ride this dharma to reach the stage of the Tathāgata.”
One line speaks of the buddhas, one of the bodhisattvas — those who have arrived and those still walking ride the same cart.
This part does not divide buddhas and sentient beings into two materials. It divides only two positions.
One Hundred and Seventy-Four Characters
It is said, and it stops. And the part on explication that follows runs to more than seven thousand six hundred characters, of which not one sentence is doing anything but explaining what is here.
It is short because all it has to do is set up.
And the thing it sets up is in the person reading it.
馬鳴菩薩造·梁西印度三藏法師真諦譯《大乘起信論》〈立義分〉· 大正藏 T32n1666〔起 T32 0575c19〕。段／行首〔T32 …〕＝大正藏頁・欄・行錨。
〔T32 0575c19〕次說立義分。 摩訶衍者，總說有二種。云何為二？一者、法，二者、義。所言法者，謂眾生心，是心則攝一切世間法、出世間法。依於此心顯示摩訶衍義。何以故？是心真如相，即示摩訶衍體故；是心生滅因緣相，能示摩訶衍自體相用故。所言義者，則有三種。云何為三？一者、體大，謂一切法真如平等不增減故。二者、相大，謂如來藏具足無量性功德故。三者、用大，能生一切世間、出世間善因果故。一切諸佛本所乘故，一切菩薩皆乘此法到如來地故。已說立義分。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
馬鳴菩薩造·梁西印度三藏法師真諦譯《大乘起信論》〈立義分〉，自「次說立義分」至「已說立義分」。段首（…）＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔一·入第二分〕（0575c19）接著說第二分，立義分。
〔二·摩訶衍有法與義二種〕（0575c20）摩訶衍——大乘——總的說來有兩種。哪兩種？第一是法，第二是義。
〔三·法就是眾生心〕（0575c21）所說的「法」，指的就是眾生心。這個心，含攝了一切世間法與出世間法。（0575c22）就依著這個心，把摩訶衍的「義」顯示出來。
〔四·何以能顯〕（0575c23）為什麼呢？因為這個心的「真如相」，當下就顯示摩訶衍的體；（0575c24）而這個心的「生滅因緣相」，能夠顯示摩訶衍自身的體、相、用。
〔五·義有三種〕（0575c25）所說的「義」，則有三種。哪三種？
第一，體大——一切法的真如平等，不增也不減。（0575c26）第二，相大——如來藏具足了無量的性功德。（0575c27）第三，用大——能生起一切世間與出世間的善因與善果。
〔六·何以稱乘〕（0575c28）因為這是一切諸佛本來所乘的，（0575c29）也因為一切菩薩都乘著這個法，到達如來的地位。
〔七·立義分結〕（0576a01）以上，立義分說完了。
Composed by the Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa; translated by Paramārtha, Tripiṭaka Master of Western India, under the Liang. The Awakening of Faith in the Great Vehicle, “The Part on Setting Up the Meaning,” from “Next is spoken the part on setting up the meaning” to “The part on setting up the meaning has been spoken.” The bracketed figures at the head of each segment give the Taishō page, register, and line.
〔1 · Entering the second part〕（0575c19）Next is spoken the second part, the part on setting up the meaning.
〔2 · The Mahāyāna has two — dharma and meaning〕（0575c20）The Mahāyāna — the Great Vehicle — spoken of as a whole, has two. Which two? First, dharma; second, meaning.
〔3 · The dharma is the mind of sentient beings〕（0575c21）What is spoken of as “dharma” means just the mind of sentient beings. This mind holds within it all dharmas, mundane and supramundane.（0575c22）It is in dependence upon this mind that the “meaning” of the Mahāyāna is shown forth.
〔4 · How it is able to show〕（0575c23）Why so? Because the mark of this mind as suchness shows, then and there, the substance of the Mahāyāna;（0575c24）and the mark of this mind as the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing is able to show the substance, the mark, and the function of the Mahāyāna itself.
〔5 · The meaning has three〕（0575c25）What is spoken of as “meaning” has three. Which three?
First, greatness of substance — the suchness of all dharmas is equal, neither increasing nor decreasing.（0575c26）Second, greatness of mark — the Tathāgata-womb is complete in immeasurable qualities of its own nature.（0575c27）Third, greatness of function — it can give rise to all wholesome causes and effects, mundane and supramundane.
〔6 · Why it is called a vehicle〕（0575c28）Because this is what all the buddhas originally rode;（0575c29）and because all bodhisattvas ride this dharma to reach the stage of the Tathāgata.
〔7 · The part on setting up the meaning concludes〕（0576a01）With this, the part on setting up the meaning has been spoken.
全論最短的一分，是這一分。一百七十四字，說完就收。
而它後面那一分——解釋分——有七千六百多字，佔全論的七成。那七千多字，沒有一句不是在解釋這一百七十四字裡已經立好的東西。
所以讀這部論，若只讀一段，就讀這一段。
先分兩件事：法與義
論主開口先分：「摩訶衍者，總說有二種。云何為二？一者、法，二者、義。」
大乘，總的說有兩種：一個是法，一個是義。
- 法——是那個東西本身。所信的、所乘的，究竟是什麼。
- 義——是那個東西大在哪裡。憑什麼稱它為「大」。
這個分法不是修辭。先指出它是什麼，再說它為什麼稱得上大——次第若倒過來，就成了先給一個尊號、再回頭找內容。一部要人起信的論，總得先把所信的那個東西端出來，否則信的只是一個名字。
有一種讀法把這一分的結構科得很清楚：先法後義；而法之下又分二重——先總立，後開門別立。下面就依這個次第讀。
總立三句：出體、辨功、釋名
法的總立只有三句，而三句各有其職。有一種讀法逐句點出：第一句「出其法體」，第二句「辨法功能」，第三句「釋其法名」。
第一句，出其法體：「所言法者，謂眾生心」。
大乘的法，就是眾生心。
這句話的份量，要跟前面一分對著看才顯出來。因緣分裡他說「有法能起摩訶衍信根」，那個「有法」當時沒說是什麼。到這裡才揭曉：就是你此刻正在用來讀這幾行字的這個心。
不是另有一個高遠的東西在別處等著被信。所信的與能信的，是同一個。
有一種讀法把這句解得極乾淨：一切諸法都沒有另外的自體，唯用一心作為它們的自體，所以說法就是眾生心。另一種讀法說得更細：這個「眾生心」就是如來藏心，含著和合與不和合兩門；之所以叫「眾生」心，是因為它現在還在隨染的位置上——「若在佛地。則無和合義」。
換句話說，「眾生」二字不是貶詞，是方位詞。同一個心，在這個位置上叫眾生心。
第二句，辨法功能：「是心則攝一切世間法、出世間法。」
一個心，把世間法與出世間法全收了。
這句容易被讀成豪語，其實是一個很緊的判斷。有一種讀法把它拆成兩邊：此心「體相無礙。染淨同依」；順流下去、逆流回來，「唯轉此心」。所以隨染而成不覺的時候，它攝的是世間法；而不變的本覺與返流的始覺，攝的是出世間法。
染與淨不是兩個心，是一個心的兩個方向。 這是整部論最根本的一個判斷——後面講熏習、講覺與不覺、講返流，全從這裡出。
第三句，釋其法名：「依於此心顯示摩訶衍義。」
為什麼這個心可以叫做「法」？因為大乘之所以為大的那些義，全要依著它才顯得出來。它不是與大乘並列的一樣東西，它是大乘之義的所依。
三句連起來：這是什麼（體）→ 它能做什麼（功）→ 它憑什麼得這個名（名）。 六個字立體，十四個字辨功，九個字釋名——一分文字之省，可以省到這個地步。
別立二門：一個「何以故」轉出全論的架子
總立既畢，論主自己設問：「何以故？」
有一種讀法指出，這個「何以故」一身兼兩職：向上是解釋前面的總立，向下是開出下面的別門。心法只有一個，而大乘之義極廣，憑什麼直接依這個心就能顯出大乘之義？答案是：心雖一，而有二門。
「是心真如相，即示摩訶衍體故；是心生滅因緣相，能示摩訶衍自體相用故。」
一個心，兩個面：真如相、生滅因緣相。前者顯示大乘的體，後者顯示大乘的體、相、用。
這裡有一個不對稱，值得停一下：真如那一面只示「體」，生滅這一面卻示「自體相用」——三樣全有。
古來的注家自己就設了這個問：真如門是不起之門，只示體也就罷了；生滅門是起動之門，照理應該只示相與用，怎麼連體也在裡面？他自己的答覆是：真如那一門含著不起，所以「起中具三大」。
這個答覆對讀的人有很實際的意義：要見那個不動的，不必離開這個動的。 你不需要先把生滅停下來，才去找真如——生滅這一門裡，體、相、用三樣都在。這是這部論後面之所以能講「從生滅門即入真如門」的根據，也是它與那些要人先滅盡一切才見真的路數不同的地方。
有一種讀法把二門與三義配得更直接：真如門中有大乘之體，生滅門中有體、相、用，「大乘之義莫過是三」——所以依一心就能顯盡大乘之義。
義有三種：三個「大」，逐條看
「所言義者，則有三種。云何為三？」
第一，體大——「一切法真如平等不增減故」。
有一種讀法說：真性深廣，凡與聖、染與淨都以它為依，所以受一個「大」字。
不增不減四個字要緊：不因為你是凡夫就少一分，不因為成了佛就多一分。這一句是整部論所有安慰之語的根據——後面說本覺、說始覺、說返流，都不曾說那個體有過增減。
第二，相大——「如來藏具足無量性功德故」。
這是全論第一次出現「如來藏」三個字，而它出現的位置很值得注意：不在講體的地方，在講相的地方。體那一條就其平等說，相這一條就其含藏說。
有一種讀法把它繫得更準：這裡說的是二種如來藏之中「不空」的那一義，是「不異體之相」——不是另有一個東西附在體上，是體自己的樣子。
「藏」字本身有兩面：能藏的是它，所藏的也在它裡面。這部論用這個字，是要說一件事——那些無量的功德不是修出來以後才有的，是本來就在那裡、只是還沒有顯出來。前面體大已經鋪好了路：不增不減。若功德是修來的，就會有增；說它本有而未顯，才與不增不減相合。
第三，用大——「能生一切世間、出世間善因果故」。
有一種讀法釋為「隨染業幻自然大用」——順著染的境況而起的作用，不是另造一個東西出來。
三條連起來看：體說其平等，相說其本具，用說其能生。平等故人人有分，本具故不待外求，能生故不落枯寂。 三者缺一，這部論就講不下去：少了體，信心無根；少了相，修行無所期；少了用，真如成了死物。
「乘」是一個動詞
三大立完，論主補了兩句：「一切諸佛本所乘故，一切菩薩皆乘此法到如來地故。」
這兩句在解釋「大乘」的「乘」字，而解釋的方式，是把「乘」當動詞用：諸佛本來乘的是這個，菩薩也乘著這個到如來地。
我們平常說「大乘」，聽起來像一個學派的名字。這兩句把它拉回原義——乘是車，是走，是被人騎乘著走到某處去的東西。 一個心，既是所信的，又是所乘的：信它是起點，乘它是路，如來地是到處。
有一種讀法在此引論為證，說「乘大性故名為大乘」——因為所乘的那個性是大的，所以叫大乘。大不在乘的人身上，在所乘之法上。這對讀的人其實是一句寬慰的話：大不大，不取決於你此刻的分量。
再看那兩句的主語：一句說諸佛，一句說菩薩。已到的與正在走的，乘的是同一輛車。 這一分沒有把佛與眾生分成兩種材質，它只分了兩個位置。
「已說立義分」——一個不對稱的收尾
這一分的最後五個字是收句。
有一件很細的事：全論五分之中，因緣、解釋、修行信心三分的收句都是獨立成段的，唯獨立義分這一句，是綴在末段句尾——「一切菩薩皆乘此法到如來地故。已說立義分。」中間沒有斷開。
這不是可以隨手抹平的事，它就是底本的樣子。而它讀起來也確實像：這一分太短、太密，說完「到如來地」那口氣還沒落地，收句就跟上來了。
整理古書最容易犯的毛病，是把不整齊的地方弄整齊。這裡不動它——不整齊本身是傳本留下來的痕跡，把它抹平，等於把痕跡擦掉。
一百七十四字，一句閒話都沒有
回頭看這一分的全貌：先分法與義，再以三句總立法（出體、辨功、釋名），再以一個「何以故」開出二門，再立三大，最後以「乘」字收。
而它最要緊的一著，其實是那兩個字：眾生。
若論主當初寫的是『所言法者，謂真如』或『謂佛心』，這部論就會變成另一部書——所信的東西被推到遠處，讀的人只能仰望。他偏偏寫「眾生心」，把所信的東西放回讀者自己身上，然後再用七千多字去說明：這個心怎麼會迷、迷了怎麼還能覺、覺的時候並沒有多出什麼東西來。
立義分之所以短，是因為它只需要立；解釋分之所以長，是因為要把已立的東西一層層剝開給人看。 讀完後面的解釋分再回頭看這一百七十四字，會發現它一個字也不多。
承衍——注家如何讀這一段
上來是這一段自身的義。此下另以注家之眼旁照——注非論，只是同一樁事，換一個位置來看。
法藏《大乘起信論義記》釋此分之得名：「二由致既興。次略標綱要。令物生信。故名立義分。」造論之由既已交代，接著把綱領簡要標出——「略標」二字，正是這一分只有一百七十四字的緣故。他把本分之文科為四節：先立法，次開二門，再立義，末釋「乘」義；上文所說總立三句之「出其法體」「辨法功能」「釋其法名」，以及三大的逐條之釋、「起中具三大」的問答，皆出其手。他釋「乘」義時另引《攝論》為證——「乘大性故名為大乘」。
元曉《起信論疏》的分判與之相合：初就體總立，次依門別立。他釋法之為法，走的是另一條路——「一切諸法皆無別體。唯用一心為其自體」；又直說二門何以能盡大乘之義：「真如門中有大乘體。生滅門中有體相用。大乘之義莫過是三。」上文所說「何以故」一身兼兩職（望上釋總、望下立別），亦是他點出來的。
兩位注家一自如來藏心入，一自諸法無別體入，落處卻是同一個：一心。兩說並存，這裡不作調停。
而論自己那六個字——「所言法者，謂眾生心」——始終立在那裡，等著解釋分把它一層一層打開。
The shortest part of the whole treatise is this one. A hundred and seventy-four characters: it is said, and it stops.
And the part that follows it — the part on explication — runs to more than seven thousand six hundred characters, seven tenths of the treatise. Of those seven thousand, not one sentence is doing anything but explaining what has already been set up in these hundred and seventy-four.
So if one is to read only one passage of this treatise, read this one.
First, Two Things Divided: Dharma and Meaning
The author opens by dividing: “The Mahāyāna, spoken of as a whole, has two. Which two? First, dharma; second, meaning.”
The Great Vehicle, spoken of as a whole, has two: one is the dharma, one is the meaning.
- Dharma — the thing itself. What, in the end, is believed in and ridden.
- Meaning — wherein that thing is great. On what ground it is called “great.”
The division is not rhetoric. First point out what it is, then say why it deserves to be called great — reverse the order and you have conferred an honorific first and gone looking for its content afterwards. A treatise meant to raise faith in people had better set out the thing believed in before anything else; otherwise what is believed is only a name.
There is a reading that lays out the structure of this part very cleanly: dharma first, meaning after; and under dharma two levels again — first the general setting-up, then the opening of the aspects and setting up severally. What follows reads it in that order.
The Three Clauses of the General Setting-Up: Substance, Capacity, Name
The general setting-up of the dharma is only three clauses, and each has its office. There is a reading that names them clause by clause: the first “sets out the substance of that dharma,” the second “distinguishes the capacity of that dharma,” the third “explains the name of that dharma.”
First clause, setting out the substance: “What is spoken of as dharma means the mind of sentient beings.”
The dharma of the Great Vehicle is the mind of sentient beings.
The weight of this sentence shows only when it is read against the part before. In the part on the occasion he said there is “a dharma able to give rise to the root of faith in the Mahāyāna,” and did not then say what that dharma was. Only here is it disclosed: it is the mind you are at this moment using to read these lines.
There is not some further, loftier thing waiting elsewhere to be believed in. What is believed in and what does the believing are one and the same.
There is a reading that resolves this sentence with great economy: all dharmas have no separate substance of their own; they take the one mind alone as their own substance, and therefore the dharma is said to be the mind of sentient beings. Another reading puts it more finely: this “mind of sentient beings” is the Tathāgata-womb mind, holding the two aspects of conjunction and non-conjunction; and it is called the mind of sentient beings because it still stands in the position of following upon defilement — “were it at the stage of a buddha, there would be no sense of conjunction.”
Put otherwise: the words sentient beings are not a term of disparagement but a term of position. The same mind, standing in this position, is called the mind of sentient beings.
Second clause, distinguishing the capacity: “This mind holds within it all dharmas, mundane and supramundane.”
One mind, and it has gathered in the mundane and the supramundane entire.
This is easily read as a grand claim; it is in fact a tightly drawn judgment. There is a reading that opens it into two sides: the substance and mark of this mind are “unobstructed, and defilement and purity depend alike upon it”; going down with the current and turning back against it are “only the turning of this one mind.” So when, following defilement, it becomes non-awakening, what it holds is the mundane dharmas; and the unchanging original awakening, with the initial awakening that turns back against the current, holds the supramundane.
Defilement and purity are not two minds. They are two directions of one mind. This is the most fundamental judgment in the treatise — everything later about perfuming, about awakening and non-awakening, about turning back against the current, comes out of here.
Third clause, explaining the name: “It is in dependence upon this mind that the meaning of the Mahāyāna is shown forth.”
Why may this mind be called the dharma? Because the very meanings by which the Great Vehicle is great can be shown forth only in dependence upon it. It is not one item standing alongside the Great Vehicle; it is what the meaning of the Great Vehicle rests on.
The three clauses together: what this is (substance) → what it can do (capacity) → on what ground it takes this name. Six characters set up the substance, fourteen distinguish the capacity, nine explain the name — this is how far the economy of a part can be carried.
Setting Up Severally in Two Aspects: One “Why So” Turns Out the Frame of the Whole Treatise
The general setting-up done, the author raises his own question: “Why so?”
There is a reading which points out that this “why so” holds two offices at once: looking back, it explains the general setting-up; looking forward, it opens the several aspects below. The dharma of mind is one only, while the meaning of the Great Vehicle is vast — on what ground can that meaning be shown forth in dependence on this one mind directly? The answer: the mind is one, and yet it has two aspects.
“The mark of this mind as suchness shows, then and there, the substance of the Mahāyāna; the mark of this mind as the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing is able to show the substance, the mark, and the function of the Mahāyāna itself.”
One mind, two sides: the mark as suchness, and the mark as the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing. The first shows the substance of the Great Vehicle; the second shows its substance, mark, and function.
There is an asymmetry here worth halting over: the side of suchness shows the substance only, while the side of arising and ceasing shows “the substance, mark, and function” — all three.
The commentators of old raised this very question themselves: suchness is the aspect that does not arise, so let it show the substance only; but arising and ceasing is the aspect of arising and stirring, and by rights should show the mark and function alone — how does the substance come to be inside it as well? The answer given is that the aspect of suchness includes the not-arising, and therefore “within the arising the three greatnesses are complete.”
That answer has a very practical bearing for the reader: to see the one that does not move, you do not have to leave the one that moves. You are not required to bring arising and ceasing to a halt first and then go looking for suchness — within this aspect of arising and ceasing, substance, mark, and function are all present. This is the ground on which the treatise can later say that one enters the aspect of suchness from within the aspect of arising and ceasing; and it is where it parts company with those approaches that would have a person extinguish everything before seeing the true.
There is a reading that matches the two aspects to the three meanings more directly still: within the aspect of suchness there is the substance of the Great Vehicle; within the aspect of arising and ceasing there are substance, mark, and function — “the meaning of the Great Vehicle goes no further than these three.” And so, in dependence on the one mind, the meaning of the Great Vehicle can be shown forth entire.
The Meaning Has Three: The Three “Greatnesses,” One by One
“What is spoken of as meaning has three. Which three?”
First, greatness of substance — “the suchness of all dharmas is equal, neither increasing nor decreasing.”
There is a reading which says: the true nature is deep and vast, and ordinary and holy, defiled and pure, all take it as their support; hence it receives the word “great.”
The four words neither increasing nor decreasing carry the weight: not one fraction less for your being an ordinary being, not one fraction more for having become a buddha. This clause is the ground of every consoling word in the treatise — all the later talk of original awakening, of initial awakening, of turning back against the current, never once says that this substance has increased or decreased.
Second, greatness of mark — “the Tathāgata-womb is complete in immeasurable qualities of its own nature.”
This is the first appearance of the words Tathāgata-womb in the treatise, and the place where it appears is worth noticing: not where the substance is being spoken of, but where the mark is. The clause on substance speaks in terms of its equality; this clause on mark speaks in terms of its holding within.
There is a reading that fastens it more precisely: what is spoken of here is the “not-empty” sense among the two kinds of Tathāgata-womb, the “mark that is not other than the substance” — not some further thing attached onto the substance, but the substance’s own look.
The word womb itself has two faces: it is what holds, and what is held is also within it. The treatise uses this word to say one thing — that those immeasurable qualities are not something acquired after cultivation, but are there from the first and merely not yet shown. Greatness of substance has already laid the road for this: neither increasing nor decreasing. If the qualities were come by through cultivation, there would be increase; only by saying that they are inherent and not yet shown does one keep faith with “neither increasing nor decreasing.”
Third, greatness of function — “it can give rise to all wholesome causes and effects, mundane and supramundane.”
There is a reading which glosses this as “the spontaneous great functioning of the illusory workings that follow upon defilement” — a functioning that arises along with the defiled situation, not a further thing manufactured elsewhere.
The three clauses read together: substance speaks of its equality, mark of its inherence, function of its power to give rise. Equal, and so everyone has a share; inherent, and so nothing need be sought outside; giving rise, and so it does not fall into barren quiet. Take away any one and the treatise cannot go on: without substance, faith has no root; without mark, practice has nothing to look toward; without function, suchness becomes a dead thing.
“Ride” Is a Verb
The three greatnesses set up, the author adds two lines: “Because this is what all the buddhas originally rode; and because all bodhisattvas ride this dharma to reach the stage of the Tathāgata.”
These two lines explain the vehicle of “Great Vehicle,” and they explain it by using ride as a verb: what the buddhas originally rode was this; the bodhisattvas too ride this to the stage of the Tathāgata.
In ordinary speech “the Great Vehicle” sounds like the name of a school. These two lines pull it back to its own sense — a vehicle is a cart, is going, is the thing one is carried on to arrive somewhere. One mind, and it is both what is believed in and what is ridden: believing it is the setting out, riding it is the road, and the stage of the Tathāgata is the arriving.
There is a reading which cites a treatise here as witness — “because it rides the great nature, it is called the Great Vehicle” — the nature ridden being great, the vehicle is called great. The greatness is not in the person riding but in the dharma ridden. Which is, for the reader, a word of reassurance: whether it is great does not depend on how much you weigh at this moment.
Look again at the subjects of those two lines: one speaks of the buddhas, one of the bodhisattvas. Those who have arrived and those still walking ride the same cart. This part does not divide buddhas and sentient beings into two materials. It divides only two positions.
“The Part on Setting Up the Meaning Has Been Spoken” — An Asymmetrical Close
The last five characters of this part are its closing line.
There is a very fine matter here. Of the five parts of the treatise, the closing lines of the parts on the occasion, on explication, and on cultivating the mind of faith each stand as a segment of their own; the closing line of the part on setting up the meaning alone is tacked onto the end of its last segment — “…and because all bodhisattvas ride this dharma to reach the stage of the Tathāgata. The part on setting up the meaning has been spoken.” No break between them.
This is not something to be smoothed over in passing. It is simply how the base text stands. And it does read that way: this part is too short, too dense; the breath has not yet come to rest after “to reach the stage of the Tathāgata” before the closing line arrives.
The commonest fault in putting old books in order is to make the uneven places even. Here it is left alone — the unevenness is itself a trace left by the transmitted text, and to smooth it is to rub the trace away.
One Hundred and Seventy-Four Characters, Not One Idle Sentence
Look back over the whole shape of this part: first dharma and meaning are divided; then the dharma is set up as a whole in three clauses (substance, capacity, name); then one “why so” opens the two aspects; then the three greatnesses are set up; and at the last it closes on the word ride.
And its most consequential move is in fact those two words: sentient beings.
Had the author written what is spoken of as dharma means suchness, or means the buddha-mind, this would have become another book — the object of faith pushed off into the distance, the reader left only to look up at it. He wrote, of all things, the mind of sentient beings: he set the object of faith back into the reader himself, and then spent seven thousand characters explaining how this mind comes to be deluded, how, being deluded, it can still awaken, and how in awakening nothing further has been added to it.
The part on setting up the meaning is short because all it has to do is set up; the part on explication is long because what has been set up must be peeled open layer by layer and shown. Read the part on explication and then come back to these hundred and seventy-four characters, and you will find there is not one character too many.
Carrying Forward — How the Commentators Read This Passage
The foregoing is the sense of this passage in itself. What follows lets the commentators’ eyes shine on it from the side — a commentary is not the treatise, only the same matter seen from another position.
Fazang’s Record of the Meaning of the Awakening of Faith in the Great Vehicle glosses how this part got its name: “the occasion having been raised, next the outline is briefly set out, so that beings may give rise to faith; hence the name, the part on setting up the meaning.” The reason for composing the treatise having been given, the guiding outline is next set out in brief — and the words set out in brief are exactly why this part runs to only a hundred and seventy-four characters. He divides its text into four segments: first the dharma is set up, next the two aspects are opened, then the meaning is set up, and last the sense of vehicle is explained. The three clauses of the general setting-up named above — “sets out the substance,” “distinguishes the capacity,” “explains the name” — together with the clause-by-clause gloss of the three greatnesses and the question and answer on “within the arising the three greatnesses are complete,” are all from his hand. In explaining the sense of vehicle he further cites the Compendium of the Great Vehicle as witness — “because it rides the great nature, it is called the Great Vehicle.”
Wonhyo’s Commentary on the Awakening of Faith divides it in accord with this: first setting up as a whole in terms of substance, next setting up severally in terms of the aspects. His account of why the dharma is a dharma takes another road — “all dharmas have no separate substance; they take the one mind alone as their own substance”; and he says outright how the two aspects can exhaust the meaning of the Great Vehicle: “within the aspect of suchness there is the substance of the Great Vehicle; within the aspect of arising and ceasing there are substance, mark, and function; the meaning of the Great Vehicle goes no further than these three.” That the “why so” holds two offices at once — explaining the general above, setting up the several below — is likewise his observation.
The two commentators enter, the one from the Tathāgata-womb mind, the other from dharmas having no separate substance; and they come down in the same place: the one mind. Both accounts stand; no mediation is set up here.
While the treatise’s own six characters — “what is spoken of as dharma means the mind of sentient beings” — stand where they are throughout, waiting for the part on explication to open them layer by layer.
考據Apparatus
一、科判定位
本單元為全論十六單元之第三，範圍〔T32 0575c19–0576a01〕，一百七十四字——全論最短的一分，而其後解釋分七千六百餘字全是它的開展。
法藏《大乘起信論義記》釋此分之名：「二由致既興。次略標綱要。令物生信。故名立義分。」〔T44n1846 0248c19〕造論之由既已交代，接著把綱領簡要標出。
其釋文之科：「辨相中二。先法後義。法中亦二。初舉法總立。次何以故下開門別立。」〔T44n1846 0250b11〕即本分四段：先立法（眾生心）、次開二門、再立義（三大）、末釋「乘」義。
元曉《起信論疏》科同而語異：「初立法中亦有二立。一者就體總立。」〔T44n1844 0206a21〕・「二者依門別立。」〔T44n1844 0206a22〕
二、異譯對勘
本分之名於實叉難陀本作「立義」（「一作因、二立義、三解釋、四修信、五利益」〔T32 0584b02〕），與本段「立義分」三字之全形不同——對勘不得以本段之名去搜彼本。
「摩訶衍」之語：本段全用音寫（本單元四見），實叉難陀本全論「摩訶衍」僅二見而「大乘」二十見——彼本多取意譯。二形並存，不取一為正。
三、經論宗依
本段自身不引經。逐文疏於釋「乘」義處引論為證：「攝論云。乘大性故名為大乘。」〔T44n1846 0251b02〕——此為疏主之徵引，誌其所出，不代本段立宗依。
四、本段釋要
「所言法者謂眾生心」——何謂眾生心：《義記》牒此句而釋云：「總中三句。初眾生心者。出其法體。謂如來藏心含和合不和合二門。以其在於眾生位故。若在佛地。則無和合義。以始覺同本。唯是真如。即當所顯義也。今就隨染眾生位中故。得具其二種門也。」〔T44n1846 0250b14〕
何以此心能攝一切：「次攝一切世出世法者。辨法功能。以其此心體相無礙。染淨同依。隨流返流。唯轉此心。是故若隨染成於不覺。則攝世間法。不變之本覺及返流之始覺。攝出世間法。」〔T44n1846 0250b20〕
何以生滅門能示三大：《義記》自設問答——「問真如是不起門。但示於體者。生滅是起動門。應唯示於相用。」答曰真如「含不起。故起中具三大」〔T44n1846 0251a03〕。
三大逐條：
- 體大——「初體者。真性深廣。凡聖染淨皆以為依。故受大名。」〔T44n1846 0251a12〕
- 相大——「相大者。二種如來藏中不空之義。謂不異體之相。」〔T44n1846 0251a19〕
- 用大——「用大者。謂隨染業幻自然大用。」〔T44n1846 0251a22〕
元曉釋「法」之所以為法：「自體名法。今大乘中一切諸法皆無別體。唯用一心為其自體。故言法者謂眾生心也。」〔T44n1844 0206a23〕又釋二門何以能盡大乘之義：「心法雖一。而有二門。真如門中有大乘體。生滅門中有體相用。大乘之義莫過是三。」〔T44n1844 0206b03〕
五、諸家異釋（分欄並錄）
| 鏡 | 逐字 | 錨 |
|---|---|---|
| 法藏《義記》（唐） | 「初眾生心者。出其法體。謂如來藏心含和合不和合二門。」 | 〔T44n1846 0250b14〕 |
| 元曉《疏》（新羅） | 「自體名法。今大乘中一切諸法皆無別體。唯用一心為其自體。」 | 〔T44n1844 0206a23〕 |
二家皆以一心為體，而入手處各異：法藏自『如來藏心含二門』說，元曉自『諸法無別體』說。並錄不判，不設調停。
六、術語
- 眾生心〔0575c21〕：本論所立之「法」。全論四見。此詞在本叢書之內另有他用——般若一系之『廣心』等語不與此同，引用時須各繫其書，不得混計。
- 真如〔0575c23〕：本論最頻之名相，全論六十一見（實叉難陀本六十六見）。
- 如來藏〔0575c27〕：本段首見於「相大」條，全論十二見（實叉難陀本十八見）。
- 體大・相大・用大〔0575c25–c28〕：三者於本論各一見，且全在本段。 ⚠️ 論文無「三大」一詞（全論零見）——「三大」是注家之綜稱（如《義記》「故起中具三大」〔T44n1846 0251a07〕）。讀者面若用此語，不得加「」。
- 摩訶衍〔0575c20〕：本段四見。
七、譬喻·修辭
本段無譬喻——一百七十四字全為標舉之語，無一譬。論之用譬要到解釋分（如海與波、瓦器與微塵）才出現。誌此，不代為本段造譬。
八、徵引承衍
- 論內之前後相繫：本段「是心真如相」與「是心生滅因緣相」二語，即解釋分『心真如門』與『心生滅門』之所本；三大之「相大」以如來藏立，亦為解釋分辨如來藏與阿梨耶識之前置。論自標其所將說。
- 本叢書之內：《大乘莊嚴經論》第十品之考據引本論「覺體」四鏡一段〔T32n1666 0576c20・0576c23–c25〕，所引在解釋分，不在本段。
九、校本定位
本單元域〔0575c19–0576a01〕之異讀：零。 全論一百三十一條校記、一百四十三條異讀之中，落在本段者一條也沒有——此為實查所得，非默省。
本單元域內：缺字標記 0、私用區字 0、夾註 0。
Placement of the passage as a whole. This unit is the third of the sixteen units of the whole treatise, its range 〔T32 0575c19–0576a01〕, one hundred and seventy-four characters — the shortest part of the treatise, and the part on explication that follows, of more than seven thousand six hundred characters, is entirely its unfolding.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
Fazang’s Record of the Meaning of the Awakening of Faith in the Great Vehicle glosses the name of this part: 「二由致既興。次略標綱要。令物生信。故名立義分。」—“Second, the occasion having been raised, next the outline is briefly set out, so that beings may give rise to faith; hence the name, the part on setting up the meaning” 〔T44n1846 0248c19〕. The reason for composing the treatise having been given, the guiding outline is next set out in brief.
His outline of the text runs: 「辨相中二。先法後義。法中亦二。初舉法總立。次何以故下開門別立。」—“In distinguishing the marks there are two: first dharma, then meaning. Within dharma there are also two: first, raising the dharma and setting it up as a whole; next, from ‘why so’ onward, opening the aspects and setting them up severally” 〔T44n1846 0250b11〕. That is, this part in four segments: first the dharma is set up (the mind of sentient beings), next the two aspects are opened, then the meaning is set up (the three greatnesses), and last the sense of “vehicle” is explained.
Wonhyo’s Commentary on the Awakening of Faith divides it the same way in other words: 「初立法中亦有二立。一者就體總立。」—“Within the first setting up of dharma there are also two settings up. The first sets it up as a whole in terms of substance” 〔T44n1844 0206a21〕; 「二者依門別立。」—“The second sets it up severally in terms of the aspects” 〔T44n1844 0206a22〕.
II. Cross-Recension Collation
The name of this part in Śikṣānanda’s recension is 「立義」—“setting up the meaning” (「一作因、二立義、三解釋、四修信、五利益」—“first, the making of the cause; second, setting up the meaning; third, explication; fourth, cultivating faith; fifth, benefit” 〔T32 0584b02〕), not the full three-character form 「立義分」 of the present passage — the collation may therefore not be conducted by searching that recension for the name used here.
The word 「摩訶衍」: the present passage uses the transcription throughout (four occurrences in this unit), whereas in Śikṣānanda’s recension 「摩訶衍」 occurs only twice in the whole treatise against twenty occurrences of 「大乘」 — that recension favors the rendering by sense. Both forms are recorded; neither is taken as the correct one.
〔In this edition the two are kept apart in English on the same principle: 「摩訶衍」 as Mahāyāna (transcription), 「大乘」 as the Great Vehicle (sense).〕
III. Scriptural and Treatise Basis
The passage itself cites no scripture. The word-by-word commentary, in explaining the sense of “vehicle,” cites a treatise as witness: 「攝論云。乘大性故名為大乘。」—“The Compendium of the Great Vehicle says: because it rides the great nature, it is called the Great Vehicle” 〔T44n1846 0251b02〕 — this is the commentator’s own citation. Its provenance is recorded; it is not made to stand as the doctrinal basis of the passage itself.
IV. Exegesis of the Passage (the word-by-word mirror, phrase by phrase)
「所言法者謂眾生心」—“what is spoken of as dharma means the mind of sentient beings”: what the mind of sentient beings is. The Record of the Meaning takes up this sentence and glosses it: 「總中三句。初眾生心者。出其法體。謂如來藏心含和合不和合二門。以其在於眾生位故。若在佛地。則無和合義。以始覺同本。唯是真如。即當所顯義也。今就隨染眾生位中故。得具其二種門也。」—“In the general statement there are three clauses. The first, ‘the mind of sentient beings,’ sets out the substance of that dharma: that is, the Tathāgata-womb mind, which holds the two aspects of conjunction and non-conjunction, because it stands in the position of sentient beings. Were it at the stage of a buddha, there would be no sense of conjunction, since initial awakening would be identical with original awakening and there would be suchness alone — which would fall under the meaning that is shown. Here, because it is taken in the position of sentient beings following upon defilement, it can be complete in those two aspects” 〔T44n1846 0250b14〕.
How this mind can hold all things: 「次攝一切世出世法者。辨法功能。以其此心體相無礙。染淨同依。隨流返流。唯轉此心。是故若隨染成於不覺。則攝世間法。不變之本覺及返流之始覺。攝出世間法。」—“Next, ‘it holds all mundane and supramundane dharmas’ distinguishes the capacity of that dharma. Because the substance and mark of this mind are unobstructed, defilement and purity depend alike upon it; going down with the current and turning back against it are only the turning of this one mind. Therefore, if following defilement it becomes non-awakening, it holds the mundane dharmas; the unchanging original awakening, and the initial awakening that turns back against the current, hold the supramundane dharmas” 〔T44n1846 0250b20〕.
Why the aspect of arising and ceasing can show all three greatnesses: the Record of the Meaning raises the question itself — 「問真如是不起門。但示於體者。生滅是起動門。應唯示於相用。」—“Question: if suchness is the aspect that does not arise and shows the substance only, then arising and ceasing is the aspect of arising and stirring and should show the mark and function only” — and answers that suchness 「含不起。故起中具三大」—“includes the not-arising, and therefore within the arising the three greatnesses are complete” 〔T44n1846 0251a03〕.
The three greatnesses, one by one:
- Greatness of substance — 「初體者。真性深廣。凡聖染淨皆以為依。故受大名。」—“First, the substance: the true nature is deep and vast, and the ordinary and the holy, the defiled and the pure, all take it as their support; hence it receives the name ‘great’” 〔T44n1846 0251a12〕.
- Greatness of mark — 「相大者。二種如來藏中不空之義。謂不異體之相。」—“Greatness of mark: the sense of the not-empty among the two kinds of Tathāgata-womb, that is, the mark that is not other than the substance” 〔T44n1846 0251a19〕.
- Greatness of function — 「用大者。謂隨染業幻自然大用。」—“Greatness of function: the spontaneous great functioning of the illusory workings that follow upon defilement” 〔T44n1846 0251a22〕.
Wonhyo glosses why the dharma is a dharma: 「自體名法。今大乘中一切諸法皆無別體。唯用一心為其自體。故言法者謂眾生心也。」—“What has its own substance is called a dharma. Now in the Great Vehicle all dharmas have no separate substance; they take the one mind alone as their own substance. Therefore it is said that the dharma means the mind of sentient beings” 〔T44n1844 0206a23〕. And he glosses how the two aspects can exhaust the meaning of the Great Vehicle: 「心法雖一。而有二門。真如門中有大乘體。生滅門中有體相用。大乘之義莫過是三。」—“The dharma of mind is one, and yet it has two aspects. Within the aspect of suchness there is the substance of the Great Vehicle; within the aspect of arising and ceasing there are substance, mark, and function. The meaning of the Great Vehicle goes no further than these three” 〔T44n1844 0206b03〕.
V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators (recorded side by side, without adjudication)
| Mirror | Word for word | Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| Fazang, Record of the Meaning (Tang) | 「初眾生心者。出其法體。謂如來藏心含和合不和合二門。」—“The first, ‘the mind of sentient beings,’ sets out the substance of that dharma: that is, the Tathāgata-womb mind, which holds the two aspects of conjunction and non-conjunction.” | 〔T44n1846 0250b14〕 |
| Wonhyo, Commentary (Silla) | 「自體名法。今大乘中一切諸法皆無別體。唯用一心為其自體。」—“What has its own substance is called a dharma. Now in the Great Vehicle all dharmas have no separate substance; they take the one mind alone as their own substance.” | 〔T44n1844 0206a23〕 |
Both take the one mind for the substance, and yet their points of entry differ: Fazang speaks from the Tathāgata-womb mind holding the two aspects, Wonhyo from dharmas having no separate substance. Recorded side by side without adjudication; no mediation is set up.
VI. Terms (first occurrences in this passage)
- 眾生心 — the mind of sentient beings 〔0575c21〕: the dharma set up by this treatise. Four occurrences in the whole treatise. This term has another use elsewhere within this series — the vast mind and the like of the Prajñā works are not the same as this, and in citation each must be kept to its own book; the counts may not be pooled.
- 真如 — suchness 〔0575c23〕: the most frequent term of the treatise, sixty-one occurrences in the whole (sixty-six in Śikṣānanda’s recension).
- 如來藏 — Tathāgata-womb 〔0575c27〕: first appearing in this passage under “greatness of mark,” twelve occurrences in the whole treatise (eighteen in Śikṣānanda’s recension).
- 體大・相大・用大 — greatness of substance · greatness of mark · greatness of function 〔0575c25–c28〕: each occurs once only in the whole treatise, and all within this passage. ⚠️ The treatise has no word 「三大」 (zero occurrences in the whole) — “the three greatnesses” is the commentators’ collective name (as in the Record of the Meaning, 「故起中具三大」—“therefore within the arising the three greatnesses are complete” 〔T44n1846 0251a07〕). Where the reader-facing layers use the expression, it may not be placed within quotation marks.
- 摩訶衍 — Mahāyāna 〔0575c20〕: four occurrences in this passage; kept distinct from 「大乘」 the Great Vehicle (see II).
VII. Simile and Rhetoric
This passage has no simile — the whole hundred and seventy-four characters are language of setting forth, without a single figure. The treatise’s use of simile waits until the part on explication (the sea and its waves, the earthen vessels and the fine dust). This is recorded; no simile is manufactured on the passage’s behalf.
VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward
- Within the treatise, what goes before and after: the two expressions of this passage, 「是心真如相」—“the mark of this mind as suchness” and 「是心生滅因緣相」—“the mark of this mind as the causes and conditions of arising and ceasing,” are the source of the aspect of mind as suchness and the aspect of mind as arising and ceasing in the part on explication; and the setting up of “greatness of mark” upon the Tathāgata-womb is likewise the groundwork for that part’s distinguishing of the Tathāgata-womb from the ālaya consciousness. The treatise marks out what it is about to say.
- Within this series: the apparatus of the tenth chapter of the Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sūtras cites this treatise’s passage on 「覺體」—“the substance of awakening” and the four mirrors 〔T32n1666 0576c20・0576c23–c25〕; what is cited lies in the part on explication, not in this passage.
IX. Text-critical Placement
Variant readings within the range of this unit 〔0575c19–0576a01〕: none. Of the one hundred and thirty-one collation notes and one hundred and forty-three variant readings in the whole treatise, not one falls within this passage — this is what an actual check found, not an omission by default.
Within the range of this unit: lacuna markers 0, private-use-area characters 0, interlinear notes 0.