大般若波羅蜜多經般若理趣分述讚 1.12

1.12

問：阿難于時親見佛說亦親覺知佛說，何故不言如是我見我覺我知，但言我聞？答：有三義。一、欲證深理、欲悟所詮要依聞教，見覺知等非初達理，雖亦實見等，但得言我聞。二、娑婆世界以音聲為佛事，欲顯異於諸佛國土，故但言聞。諸餘佛土或以光明妙香味等為佛事者，經首亦得言我見覺知等；今顯異彼，故但言聞。三、欲顯智覺菩提要因熏習方得。若不聽聞正法，三慧無由得生，故經首言聞，令熏習增長有漏無漏，遞相增長能生出世世間果等，故但言聞。

Question: At that time, Ānanda directly saw the Buddha teach and also directly perceived and knew the Buddha's teaching. Why did he not say, 'Thus have I seen, I perceived, I knew,' but only said, 'I heard'?
Answer: There are three reasons. First, if one wishes to realize the profound principle and awaken to what is explained, one must rely on hearing the teaching. Seeing, perceiving, knowing, and the like are not the initial arrival at the principle; although he did indeed genuinely see and so forth, he could only say 'I heard'. Second, in the Sahā World, the Buddha's work is carried out through sound. Because he wished to show the difference from other Buddha lands, he only said 'heard'. In other Buddha lands, where light, marvelous fragrances, and the like may perform the Buddha's work, the opening of a sūtra may also say 'I saw, perceived, knew,' and so forth; here, to show the difference from those, he only said 'heard'. Third, he wished to show that wisdom, awakening, and bodhi must be obtained through perfuming. If one does not hear the true Dharma, there is no way for the three insights to arise. Therefore, stating 'heard' at the head of the sūtra causes perfuming to increase, both with effluents and without effluents, mutually augmenting each other so as to be able to generate supramundane and mundane fruits, and so on. Therefore he only said 'heard'.