法華玄論 6.14

6.14

Answer: This is a rebuke of the two vehicles for obstinately clinging to the former teaching: 'If you do not change from impermanence and do not believe in the eternal, you will not attain the bodhi of the two vehicles either.' It is merely to make this rebuke. Moreover, this was because he wished at that time's assembly to make them believe in the eternal. Furthermore, if not knowing the eternal means not attaining the bodhi of the two vehicles, then if one does not know the eternal, one would also not attain the three refuges and the five precepts; if so, before the Nirvāṇa[-sūtra], there would have been no disciples of the Buddha, and all would have been laypeople. Yet the sūtra merely says, 'Not recognizing the eternal, the refuges and precepts are not complete'—it does not mean that they do not attain them according to their capacity. The two vehicles are also like this: they merely sever the afflictions of the three realms according to their capacity and become arhats.