妙法蓮華經玄義 6.168

6.168

今問《華嚴》師頓極之教，說一切眾生有佛性不？若其有者，二乘何不聞經授記作佛，那忽如聾如瘂？若言二乘本有佛性，而怱怱取小，如閹本根，本根已敗，為可治？為不可治？若可治，何故不治？若不可治，那得復言一切眾生皆有佛性？故知《華嚴》所不能治，是方便之說。《法華》能治，是如實之說。能治、難治，此處則妙。

Now I ask the Huayan masters of the sudden and ultimate teaching: Does it say that all sentient beings have the Buddha-nature, or not? If they have it, why did those of the two vehicles not hear the sūtra, receive vyākaraṇa, and become Buddhas, but instead suddenly became like the deaf and dumb? If it is said that those of the two vehicles originally had the Buddha-nature, but hurriedly grasped the lesser, just like castrating their original faculties, and that once the original faculties were ruined, could it be cured or not? If it could be cured, why was it not cured? If it could not be cured, how can it be said again that all sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature? Therefore we know that what the Huayan could not cure is an expedient discourse. That the Lotus can cure is a discourse of true reality. That it can cure what is difficult to cure—herein lies the subtlety.