妙法蓮華經玄義 5.91

5.91

第二十七卷云：「譬如有人，置毒乳中，則能殺人。乃至醍醐，亦能殺人。」此譬兩用：一、通約漸、頓，明不定教，處處皆得見佛性也。二、約行不定。行人心行，譬之如乳。實相智譬之以毒，毒有殞命之能，此智有破無明之力。久遠劫來，說實相毒，置於凡夫心乳，毒慧開發，不可為定，或於初味發，或於後味發，不得次第往判，故言置毒乳中，乃至醍醐，遍五味中，悉有殺義。

Fascicle twenty-seven states: "Just as a person placing poison into milk can cause death, even up to ghee, it can likewise cause death." This parable has two applications. First, applied generally to the gradual and the sudden, it clarifies the indeterminate teaching, wherein one can everywhere see the buddha-nature. Second, it is applied to the indeterminateness of practice. The mental practice of a practitioner is compared to milk. The wisdom of the real mark is compared to poison. Poison has the power to destroy life; this wisdom has the power to destroy ignorance. Since kalpas of remote antiquity, the poison of the real mark has been preached and placed into the mental milk of ordinary persons; the eruption of the poison-wisdom cannot be determined [in advance]: it may erupt at the first flavor, or it may erupt at a later flavor; it cannot be judged successively. Hence it is said that poison placed into milk, up to ghee, universally possesses the meaning of killing throughout all five flavors.