大乘莊嚴經論 種性品

How this treatise uses “lineage” to explain the starting point of the bodhisattva path

Taking refuge is the doorway; within this treatise’s structure, lineage is the root beneath the one who has entered, meaning the spiritual capacity for awakening figured as an inner seed.

The chapter infers lineage from differences in realm, faith, practice, and fruit; then, by four qualities, it ranks bodhisattva lineage as excellent and presents innate lineage, cultivated lineage, and the marks of compassion, faith, endurance, and practice. These are claims made by the treatise and reported here without using them to classify anyone.

As to whether every being possesses this seed, there have come down from of old two teachings — the "single lineage" and the "five lineages" — each with its transmission from the ancient masters, each grounded in scripture and treatise. This edition records both faithfully and passes no verdict.

Now see how the treatise develops this account through the seed and the tree of awakening.

This chapter's account of lineage intersects with ancient debates over five lineages and one lineage; the edition records the parallel traditions without deciding between them.

Having spoken of taking refuge, the text next speaks of the distinctions of lineage (種性, gotra — the spiritual capacity for awakening, the inner seed).

There are essence, supremacy, kind, and character, faults and qualities, the gold-simile and the jewel-simile: nine categories, four each.

Lineage may be considered under nine headings: (1) it has an essence, (2) supremacy, (3) intrinsic nature, (4) character, (5) kinds, (6) faults, (7) qualities, (8) the simile of gold, (9) the simile of the jewel. Each of these nine, in turn, has four subdivisions. This verse states the whole in summary; the verses that follow explain each in turn. First, then, the analysis of "it has an essence."

By realm and by faith, by practice and by fruit — by these four distinctions one should know that the lineage has an essence.

Lineage has an essence, [known] through four distinctions: (1) by the distinction of realm, (2) by the distinction of faith, (3) by the distinction of practice, (4) by the distinction of fruit.

1. By the distinction of element (界, the elemental disposition, the seed-nature): sentient beings have manifold elements, differing without measure, as the Sūtra of the Many Elements (《多界修多羅》) teaches. Because the elements differ, one should know that the lineages of the three vehicles (聲聞·緣覺·菩薩, the listeners, the solitary awakeners, and the bodhisattvas) differ too.
2. By the distinction of faith: sentient beings are found to have manifold kinds of faith — some aroused by an inner cause, some aroused by an outer condition — and each can incline in faith toward one of the three vehicles, but not toward all. If there were no distinction of lineage, there would be no distinction of faith either.
3. By the distinction of practice: as sentient beings undertake their practice, some are able to press forward and some are not. If there were no distinction of lineage, there would be no distinction of practice either.
4. By the distinction of fruit: the awakening (菩提, bodhi) that beings realize is lower, middling, or higher, for the fruit resembles its seed. If there were no distinction of lineage, there would be no distinction of fruit either.

Through these four distinctions, then, one should know that the lineage has an essence. Having spoken of the lineage's essence, the text next speaks of the lineage's supremacy.

Bright and pure, and all-embracing, of great import and also inexhaustible: by [these four] wholesome [roots] it has four excellences, and so the lineage is foremost.

The bodhisattva's lineage is supreme for four reasons: (1) its wholesome roots (善根, kuśala-mūla) are bright and pure, (2) its wholesome roots are all-embracing, (3) its wholesome roots are of great import, (4) its wholesome roots are inexhaustible. How so? Because the wholesome roots of the listeners and the rest are not so bright and pure; because they are not all-embracing — they lack the powers, the fearlessnesses, and the like; because others' wholesome roots do nothing for the benefit of others; and because others' wholesome roots run out at the time of [their] nirvāṇa. The bodhisattva's wholesome roots are not so — and for this reason the lineage is supreme. Having spoken of the lineage's supremacy, the text next speaks of the lineage's intrinsic nature.

The innate lineage and the cultivated lineage, that on which [it] rests and that which rests [upon it]: one should know [these as] existent and non-existent, for its meaning is "producing qualities."

The bodhisattva's lineage has four aspects of intrinsic nature: (1) the intrinsic nature of the innate lineage (性種; 本性住種姓, the lineage present by nature), (2) the intrinsic nature of the cultivated lineage (習種; 習所成種姓, the lineage formed by cultivation), (3) the intrinsic nature that is the basis, (4) the intrinsic nature that rests upon [the basis] — respectively in that order. Further: it is "existent" because, as cause, it has substance; it is "non-existent" because, as fruit, its substance is not yet present. Question: If so, why is it called "nature" (性)? Answer: because of the meaning "producing" (度, bringing forth) — "producing" means bringing forth qualities. By this line of reasoning it is called "nature." Having spoken of the lineage's intrinsic nature, the text next speaks of the lineage's character.

Great compassion and great faith, great endurance and great practice: where these characters are found, that is called the bodhisattva's lineage.

The bodhisattva's lineage has four characters by which it may be recognized: (1) great compassion as its character, for it grieves over all suffering beings; (2) great faith as its character, for it loves and delights in all the teachings of the great vehicle (大乘, mahāyāna); (3) great endurance as its character, for it can bear all hard practices; (4) great practice as its character, for it practices throughout the perfections (波羅蜜, pāramitā, the [means of] reaching the far shore) — this being its own wholesome-root nature. Where these four characters are found, that is called the bodhisattva's lineage. Having spoken of the lineage's character, the text next speaks of the lineage's kinds.

Fixed and unfixed, non-regressing or regressing: according to the conditions they meet, in order, the kinds are four.

The kinds of the bodhisattva's lineage are, in brief, four: (1) the fixed, (2) the unfixed, (3) the non-regressing, (4) the regressing — respectively in that order. "Fixed" means one who, meeting [adverse] conditions, does not regress; "unfixed" means one who, meeting [adverse] conditions, regresses and falls. Having spoken of the lineage's kinds, the text next speaks of the lineage's faults.

One should know that the bodhisattva's lineage, in brief, has four faults: habituated delusion and bad companions, poverty and dependence on others.

The bodhisattva's lineage [before it has developed] may have four faults: (1) habituated delusion — the qualities do not operate while the afflictions operate much (the deluding [tendencies] built up by habit become active); (2) bad companions — being apart from a good friend and keeping close to base people; (3) poverty — lacking all the necessary provisions; (4) dependence on others — bound to another, not one's own master. Having spoken of the lineage's faults, the text next speaks of the lineage's qualities.

The qualities too are four: though [the bodhisattva] falls into an evil destiny, [he] enters slowly and leaves quickly, the suffering is slight and the compassion deep.

Though the bodhisattva's lineage has the faults just described, even if [the bodhisattva] falls into an evil destiny, one should know there are still four qualities in that: (1) entering slowly — for [he] does not fall repeatedly; (2) leaving quickly — for [he] does not dwell there long; (3) suffering slight — for the torment that presses upon [him] is light; (4) compassion deep — for even [amid suffering] his grief for beings is accomplished all the more. Having spoken of the lineage's qualities, the text next speaks of the lineage's gold-simile.

As with the nature of fine gold, what it yields is of four kinds — the wholesome and the wise, the pure and the [powers of] penetration.

The nature of fine gold yields four things: (1) great abundance, (2) radiance, (3) freedom from impurity, (4) malleability. The bodhisattva's lineage is likewise: (1) [as gold's abundance] it is the basis for measureless wholesome roots; (2) [as gold's radiance] it is the basis for measureless wisdom; (3) [as gold's purity] it is the basis for the complete purification of all the afflictive obstruction and the cognitive obstruction (煩惱障·智障, the two obstructions); (4) [as gold's malleability] it is the basis for all the supernormal powers and transformations. Having spoken of the lineage's gold-nature simile, the text next speaks of the lineage's jewel-nature simile.

As with the nature of a wondrous jewel, [there are] four causes of its perfection — the great fruit and the great wisdom, the great concentration and the great import.

The nature of a wondrous jewel is a basis for four kinds of perfection: (1) a basis for perfection of genuineness, (2) a basis for perfection of color, (3) a basis for perfection of form, (4) a basis for perfection of measure. The bodhisattva's lineage is likewise: (1) it is a cause of great awakening [as the jewel's genuineness]; (2) it is a cause of great wisdom [as the jewel's color]; (3) it is a cause of great concentration [as the jewel's form] — concentration being [accomplished] through the settling of the mind; (4) it is a cause of great import [as the jewel's measure] — bringing to accomplishment boundless beings. Having thus fully analyzed the state of those who possess the lineage, the text next analyzes the state of those without lineage.

Wholly given to evil conduct, utterly cutting off all wholesome dharmas, having no portion [conducive to] liberation, the wholesome being scant and also without a cause.

Those "without the dharma of parinirvāṇa" (無般涅槃法, without the nature inclining toward nirvāṇa) are the state without lineage. This is, in brief, of two kinds: (1) those without the dharma of parinirvāṇa for a time, (2) those forever without the dharma of nirvāṇa. Those without the dharma of parinirvāṇa for a time are four kinds of person: (1) one wholly given to evil conduct, (2) one who has utterly cut off all wholesome dharmas, (3) one without the wholesome root that is the "portion [conducive to] liberation" (解脫分善根, the wholesome root inclining toward liberation), (4) one whose wholesome roots are not complete. Those forever without the dharma of nirvāṇa [are so] because the cause is lacking: they have no nature inclining toward parinirvāṇa — this means the person who seeks only birth-and-death and does not delight in nirvāṇa. Having spoken of the state without lineage, the text next speaks of leading [such beings] to enter.

Expounding at length the profound and vast Dharma, [the bodhisattva] leads [them] to faith and to utmost endurance, ultimately to great awakening — the two who come to know [that] the two natures are supreme.

Expounding at length the profound and vast Dharma — this is for the benefit of others. That is: for those without wisdom, [he] brings them to great faith; for those who already have great faith, [he] brings them to accomplish utmost endurance, able to practice without regressing; for those who have already [reached] utmost endurance, [he] brings them ultimately to accomplish unsurpassed awakening. The two who come to know are the two [kinds of] person: ordinary beings and the listeners. If they attain this [entering], then those two will come to know that the fullness of the qualities of the innate lineage (自性住種性, the lineage present by nature) is the most supreme of all. Question: How is it supreme?

It grows the tree of awakening, gives rise to joy and extinguishes suffering, its fruit being the benefit of self and others — this supremacy is like an auspicious root.

Such a lineage can grow the tree of great awakening with its vast qualities, can win great joy, can extinguish great suffering, and can win the joy that is the benefit of self and others as its great fruit. Therefore this lineage is the very foremost — like the root of an auspicious tree. So it is, too, with the bodhisattva's lineage.

(Here the chapter on Lineage ends.)

Within the treatise’s own framework, the Chapter on Lineage explains the starting point of the bodhisattva path through “lineage” (gotra). It argues for possessing a lineage from nine sides, then presents the state of no lineage, and finally explains drawing beings in and the growth of lineage into a great tree of awakening. This exposition reports that structure without using it to classify any present reader.

The treatise uses “lineage” for the capacity for buddhahood, figured as an inner seed, and first presents an argument that this lineage has substance. What follows reports that argument; it does not presuppose it as the only possible adjudication.

The first verse raises all nine sides at once:

There are its being, its supremacy, its self-nature, and its marks, its classes, its faults, and its qualities, the simile of gold and the simile of the jewel: nine kinds, each of four kinds.

Lineage may be seen from nine sides — its having a substance, its supremacy, its self-nature, its marks, its classes, its faults, its qualities, the simile of gold, and the simile of the jewel; and each side is further divided into four items. The passages below expound them one by one.

One · That lineage truly has a substance: seen from four differences

By reason of the elements, and by reason of faith, by reason of practice, and by reason of fruit — by these four differences one should know that the lineage has a substance.

How does the prose commentary argue that lineage has substance? It reasons back from four kinds of difference, inferring lineage as their ground.

• Difference of elements: beings have all manner of "elements" (界, the essential natures of the seeds, the root kinds), differing without measure. It is precisely because these underlying seeds differ that the lineages of the three vehicles differ.
• Difference of faith: each person has his own bent of faith — some incline toward this path from birth, some arouse it only on meeting a condition; and moreover a single person can usually raise true faith toward one vehicle only, and not toward all three alike. If faith differs, the nature behind it must differ.
• Difference of practice: with the same cultivation, some can advance and some cannot. If practice differs, the nature must differ.
• Difference of fruit: the awakening realized has its low, middling, and high. This is just like "sowing melons and reaping melons" — what seed you sow, that fruit you reap (the prose commentary says "seed and fruit resemble each other"). If fruit differs, the seed must differ.

This is the treatise’s mode of argument: it does not point out a separate seed, but infers lineage from the differences it describes.

Two · This seed of the bodhisattva is the most excellent

Bright-and-pure, and all-embracing, of great meaning, and inexhaustible: by these four excellences of its good roots, the lineage attains the first place.

Why does the treatise rank the bodhisattva lineage as excellent? The prose commentary raises four points, all falling upon the quality of the “good roots”:

• Bright-and-pure: the bodhisattva's good roots are bright and pure; the good roots of the listeners and the rest are not so bright and pure.
• All-embracing: they have the power of embracing and of fearlessness, not narrow and small like ordinary people's good roots.
• Great meaning (benefiting others): others' good roots benefit only themselves, whereas the bodhisattva's good roots can benefit others — this is a difference in kind.
• Inexhaustible: others' good roots are spent once they enter nirvāṇa, whereas the bodhisattva's good roots are drawn upon without ever running dry.

By these four qualities, the treatise ranks the bodhisattva lineage as excellent.

Three · Innate and cultivated: the "self-nature" of the lineage

The innate lineage and the cultivated lineage, the supporting and the supported: one should know it as existent and as non-existent, for it has the sense of "quality" and "bringing across."

What, in itself, is the structure of this seed? The prose commentary divides it into four layers: the innate lineage (性種, the innate-abiding lineage — that portion inherently possessed, so of dharma-nature, from beginningless time), the cultivated lineage (習種, the lineage formed through cultivation — that portion fostered afterward by hearing the Dharma and perfuming practice), and their relation as "supporting" and "supported." To draw a comparison: the innate lineage is like the seed already buried in the ground, and the cultivated lineage is like the watering and banking-up of soil that later raise it — the one is the inborn base, the other the increase through perfuming; the two rest upon each other.

This pair of terms is spoken of more plainly in the treatises of the same lineage. The Yogācārabhūmi divides lineage into "first, the innate-abiding lineage (本性住種姓); second, the lineage formed through cultivation (習所成種姓)": the innate-abiding one is "handed down turning and turning from a beginningless world, obtained by the very nature of things (法爾所得)" (there from the start), while the cultivated one is "obtained by prior repeated practice of good roots (先串習善根所得)" (fostered afterward); and moreover "both kinds are taken" — not one chosen of two, but base plus cultivation together making the whole. 〔exposition-borrowed simile〕The same treatise gives, besides, a serviceable way to tell them apart: a seed that has not yet been perfumed into bearing fruit is "called subtle, because it has as yet no fruit (說名為細，未有果故)"; one already perfumed, whose fruit is about to appear together with it, is "called coarse, because it is together with its fruit (說名為麁，與果俱故)." The Bodhisattvabhūmi (菩薩地持經) says it more plainly still: "For one who does not cultivate, the fruit is subtle and the fruit is far; for one who cultivates, the fruit is coarse and the fruit is near." — one and the same seed: uncultivated, that trace of news is subtle and far, as though behind a veil; but let one be willing to perfume and cultivate, and it turns from subtle to coarse, from far to near, its fruit visibly about to set. So although the innate lineage is inherently possessed, it still awaits the cultivated lineage to raise it: what is inherent, if never watered, stays forever only a "subtle and far" trace; raised up, it grows "coarse and near" into full stature.

Then follows one weighty point of adjudication: is the lineage "existent" or "non-existent"? The prose commentary answers with precision — spoken of on the side of "cause," it exists (as the cause of buddhahood, the seed does exist); spoken of on the side of "fruit," it is non-existent (the buddha-fruit has not yet arisen, so of course the substance of the fruit is not yet present). 〔Question〕That being so, on what ground is it called "nature"? 〔Answer〕Because it has the sense of "bringing across" (度) — it can "bring forth" qualities. Only what can bring forth qualities deserves to be called "nature." Only what can sprout and bear fruit counts as a seed; a mere dead grain of sand does not.

Four · The marks of the lineage: four dispositions of heart make it known

Great compassion, and great faith, great endurance, and great practice: where these marks are found, that is called the bodhisattva-nature.

A seed buried in the soil cannot be seen, but it lets news of itself show through in outward marks. The bodhisattva lineage has four discernible marks:

• Great compassion: seeing all beings that suffer, it grieves for them and cannot bear it.
• Great faith: toward the Dharma of the great vehicle, it delights and deeply trusts.
• Great endurance: toward all hard-to-do austerities, it can bear up and shoulder them.
• Great practice: it is willing to cultivate throughout all the perfections (the practices that reach the far shore).

The treatise takes compassion, faith, endurance, and practice as marks of bodhisattva lineage. This exposition reports that classification and does not apply it to classify present persons.

Five · Classes, faults, qualities: the seed has its circumstances too

Once the seed is in the ground, one must still reckon with season and human affairs. The prose commentary speaks in turn of three matters.

Classes (settled or not) —

Settled, and unsettled, not-turning-back, or falling-back: as, in due order, they meet conditions, the classes are of four kinds.

The bodhisattva lineage divides in brief into four classes: settled, unsettled, not-turning-back, and falling-back. The key lies in the two words "meeting conditions": the settled, meeting adverse conditions, still does not turn back; the unsettled, meeting adverse conditions, then falls back. Being the same good seed, cast into differing favorable or adverse conditions, the outcome then differs.

Faults (four drags upon it when not yet developed) —

One should know the bodhisattva-nature has, told in brief, four faults: habit-defilements and evil companions, poverty, and being subject to another.

Though the seed be good, it can also be dragged down by four things: habit-defilements (ingrained afflictions ever manifesting, so that qualities on the contrary fail to act), evil companions (parting from good spiritual friends, keeping close to bad people), poverty (want of the requisites of support), and being subject to another (not one's own master, bound in subjection to others). This warns the learner: to guard the seed well, one must keep far from these four troubles.

Qualities (four benefits that remain even should it fall into evil destinies) —

Its qualities too are of four kinds: though it fall into an evil destiny, late to enter and quick to come out, its suffering thin, and its compassion deep.

According to this verse, even one of bodhisattva lineage who falls for a time into an evil destiny retains four qualities: late to enter, quick to come out, suffering thin, and compassion deep. The seed in a crack of rock is only an expository image; this passage reports the treatise’s classification and does not adjudicate anyone’s lineage.

Six · Gold and jewel: the rich store held within the seed

The prose commentary next uses the two similes proper to this treatise to show how deep the lineage's store is.

As with the nature of fine gold, what it brings forth is of four kinds — all the good and all the wisdoms, all purity and all the powers.

Fine gold has four virtues: it is exceedingly plentiful, radiant, without stain, and pliant. The bodhisattva lineage is just like this gold — because it is exceedingly plentiful, it is the support of measureless good roots; because it is radiant, it is the support of measureless wisdom; because it is without stain, it is the support for exhausting the afflictive obstruction and the cognitive obstruction and attaining purity; because it is pliant, it is the support of all the supernormal powers and transformations. A piece of good gold can be wrought into ten thousand vessels; a good seed can open into the good, the wisdoms, purity, and the powers.

As with the nature of a wondrous jewel, a cause of four kinds of accomplishment — of the great fruit and the great wisdom, the great concentration and the great meaning.

A wondrous jewel has four accomplishments: it is true (true in substance), it has color (fine of hue), it has form (well-fashioned), and it has measure (full in weight). The bodhisattva lineage is just like this jewel — because it is true, it is the cause of the great awakening; because it has color, it is the cause of great wisdom; because it has form, it is the cause of great concentration (concentration is accomplished through the mind's abiding fixed); because it has measure, it is the cause of the great meaning (benefiting others), accomplishing boundless beings. Gold is a simile for its power to bring forth all virtues, the jewel a simile for its power to accomplish the great fruit: a single seed turns out to be a rich store.

Seven · The state of no lineage: an old and great question

Ever practicing evil conduct, utterly cutting off all pure dharmas, having no portion of liberation, its good scant and, moreover, without cause.

Having spoken of "possessing a lineage," this chapter must honestly face the other side: is there such a thing as a person with "no lineage"? The prose commentary says that one "having no dharma of nirvāṇa" (無般涅槃法, no nature tending toward nirvāṇa) is one in the "state of no lineage," which divides in brief into two —

• Those with a time-bounded absence of the dharma of nirvāṇa: comprising four kinds of person (those ever practicing evil, those utterly cutting off good dharmas, those without the good roots of the portion of liberation, those whose good roots are not complete). This kind is "for a time": should conditions turn, there is still a chance.
• Those utterly without the dharma of nirvāṇa: because they lack that "cause," therefore (so far as the wording of this treatise goes) they have no nature tending toward nirvāṇa — meaning those who only crave birth-and-death and take no delight at all in nirvāṇa.

Whether all beings finally become buddhas is an old controversy in Han Buddhist interpretation. This treatise and the Ci’en lineage speak through the five lineages; Tiantai, Huayan, and tathāgatagarbha traditions offer different one-lineage and icchantika interpretations. This exposition reports the present chapter’s account and records the alternatives without deciding which is definitive. Above all, it does not use the treatise’s categories to classify any present person.

Eight · Drawing in, and conclusion: the root of the auspicious tree

Broadly setting forth the deep and great Dharma, making them faithful, making them supremely enduring, to the ultimate great awakening: the two who know, and the excellence of the two natures.

According to this passage, the Buddha draws in those not yet entered by first producing great faith, then supreme endurance, and finally progress toward unsurpassed awakening. This is the sequence stated by the treatise and reported here without independent adjudication. 〔Question〕How does the treatise distinguish its excellence?

It grows the tree of awakening, gives rise to joy and extinguishes suffering, with the benefit of self and other as its fruit: this excellence is like an auspicious root.

The prose commentary closes with the treatise’s final simile: lineage grows the great tree of awakening and bears self-benefit and benefit of others as fruit; the treatise therefore calls it excellent, like the root of an auspicious tree. This exposition reports the relation stated by the simile and makes no further lineage judgment.

Conclusion: the whole life of a single seed

Seen whole, the chapter presents an argument for lineage having substance, four excellences of bodhisattva lineage, innate and cultivated lineage, four marks, classes, faults, qualities, and the similes of gold and jewel; it then states the condition of no lineage and closes with the auspicious-tree root. This is the sequence of the treatise’s own position. The exposition reports it without classifying readers or deciding between one lineage and five.