觀音義疏 1.56

1.56

As for the number of people, it merely adduces the general number of 'hundreds of thousands', without fixing or determining how many, clarifying that when entering the sea in search of treasures, companions are gathered without a fixed count, and perils have no fixed number, but ultimately one cannot go alone; thus it adduces hundreds of thousands. The [Sūtra of the] Wise and the Foolish states: 'Farming yields a hundredfold, trading a thousandfold, official service ten-thousandfold, but entering the sea and returning auspiciously yields immeasurable fold; therefore they enter the sea.' Next, encountering the wind is the reason for the peril based on the text below; if one were now to open wind as the principal peril, the lower text says: 'all obtain liberation from the peril of rākṣasas.' How could this not be solely the peril of rākṣasas? The reason for the peril corresponds directly: there is no limit to the reasons. How could it merely be due to wind? Due to the wind, they fall into the peril; due to entering the sea, they encounter the wind; to seek treasures, they enter the sea; due to greedily seeking rare treasures, these conditions sequentially arise from one another. The disaster of the wind is urgent, and so the wind is the reason for falling into the peril.