妙法蓮華經玄義 4.59

4.59

As for Uttarakuru's existence being destroyed by the hot-flame samādhi: the northern region is a yin land where ice is frozen and hard to melt; unless the hot flame blazes brilliantly, it will never melt down. The people of the northern continent cling like ice to 'non-self' and are difficult to transform and deliver; if not for the fire of discernment and the flame of wisdom devoid of the mind of 'mine', they could never be delivered. Their 'non-mine' is in fact a false imputation, for they still have an essential human self, a dharma-self, and a tathatā-self. In order to destroy these selves, the bodhisattva cultivates wisdom regarding arising-and-perishing and non-arising-and-non-perishing, destroying the essential human self; cultivates immeasurable wisdom, destroying the dharma-self; and cultivates unconditioned wisdom, destroying the tathatā-self. Attaining human emptiness, he perfects the wisdom-flame of the true truth; attaining dharma emptiness, he perfects the wisdom-flame of the conventional truth; attaining tathatā emptiness, he perfects the wisdom-flame of the Middle Way. Through his original compassion, he subtly perfumed the dharma realm. If in that Uttarakuru there is a spiritual capacity and condition that pertains to compassion, through the power of the king samādhi, without stirring from the dharma nature, he goes to respond to it, manifesting a body and expounding the Dharma. If there is a capacity for concrete goodness, he responds with the compassion of keeping precepts, freeing them from the false imputation of non-self; if there is a capacity for entering emptiness, he responds with the compassion of arising and non-arising, freeing them from the essential self; if there is a capacity for entering the provisional, he responds with immeasurable compassion, freeing them from the dharma-self; if there is a capacity for entering the Middle, he responds with unconditioned compassion, freeing them from the tathatā-self. Having himself destroyed the false selves, he also causes others to destroy the false selves; hence it is called the hot-flame samādhi.