法華玄論 10.85

10.85

Answer: If forms in the light can definitely be seen and forms in the dark cannot be seen, why do human eyes see by day and not by night, while burrowing birds see by night and not by day? If one says that because eyes have light they can see at night, why do they not see by day? Furthermore, it is like the Ruoshui River which does not float a feather but floats iron, or a diamond which shatters other things but is broken by mercury: who can determine what is strong and what is weak? Therefore we know that dharmas have no fixed nature, but turn according to the mind; reaching or not reaching is also like this. Moreover, explaining it now in terms of phenomena: bodhisattvas attain a fraction of the two wisdoms; by real wisdom they know that the six sense faculties and six sense objects are empty and non-existent, just as the Avataṃsaka explains that the eye enters samādhi and the ear emerges from correct reception, contemplating that the eye has no arising, no self-nature, and is taught to be empty, quiescent, and non-existent. By provisional wisdom they possess the functioning of the six sense faculties; treated in terms of provisional wisdom, they are able to know the nature of fragrance, and therefore it is said that the nose smells fragrance from afar. It is not that the physical nose faculty is able to smell from afar. The rest are likewise by analogy.