On the Three Kinds of Enlightenment

Quotes:

 “Good son, one who comprehends the Dharma nature is a Buddha. There are two kinds of Dharma nature: one with general characteristics and one with particular characteristics. The śrāvaka comprehends only the general characteristics and therefore cannot be called a Buddha. The pratyekabuddha comprehends the general characteristics but not from hearing the Dharma, and is thus called a pratyekabuddha rather than a Buddha. The Tathāgata, the World-Honored One, comprehends all general and particular characteristics, does not depend on hearing and reflecting, and becomes enlightened solely through practice, without the help of a teacher; thus, he is called World-Honored One or Buddha.” Sūtra on Upāsaka Precepts,  Chapter 5

「善男子！了知法性故名為佛。法性二種：一者總相，二者別相。聲聞之人，總相知故，不名為佛。辟支佛人同知總相，不從聞故，名辟支佛，不名為佛。如來世尊，總相、別相一切覺了，不依聞思，無師獨悟，從修而得，故名為佛。」《優婆塞戒經》〈三種菩提品〉第五

Remarks:

On pursuing the Path to Liberation, the sound hearer knows only the general aspects (C:總相) pertaining to prajñā: completely extinguishing oneself by eradicating one’s self-view and self-attachment, which denotes liberation.

The same goes for pratyekabuddhas, who know the general aspects pertaining to prajñā and also understand that they need to eradicate their self-view and self-attachment and completely extinguish themselves, which denotes the remainderless nirvāṇa—a state without the three-realm self, the five-aggregate self, the eighteen-element self, and self-belongings. This denotes the state of transcending the three realms.

All the World-Honored Ones are different from others in terms of wisdom.  They fully understand the contents of liberation and nirvāṇa, the Four Noble Truths, the twelve links of dependent origination, all the way up to the ultimate reality, the core essence behind the twelve links of dependent origination. For example, they understand how the twelve links of dependent origination are formed and why the ten links of dependent arising (the so-called nine links of dependent arising) must exist before the twelve links of dependent origination dharma can come into being. They also understand that without the eighth vijñāna (第八識; the eighth consciousness), the tathāgatagarbha, the twelve links of dependent origination dharma cannot come into being. All Buddhas are well aware of these particular aspects.

The term “particular aspects” (C:別相) refers to prajñā and the wondrous wisdom pertaining to the knowledge-of-the-aspects mentioned in the sutras of the Second and Third Turnings of the Dharma Wheel. The teachings of the Second Turning of the Dharma Wheel expound on prajñā, and the Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel is also called prajñā but has another name, knowledge-of-all-aspects (C:一切種智), which denotes the “training in the higher wisdom” in Mahayana Buddhism, also known as the Mind-only (Vijñāna-only) school.

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