大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 18.49

18.49

From the commentary's "'Like...' below demonstrates through metaphor" downward: the text of the commentary has two parts: first, generally clarifying the broad purport; later, dividing into sections to explain individually. Now, the first. Regarding "the Buddha's three karmic modes cannot be illustrated by metaphors": the end of the eightieth fascicle states, "All phenomena, existent or non-existent in the three realms, / Cannot serve as a metaphor for the Buddha. / Just as mountain forests, birds, beasts, and the like / Never dwell supported by empty space, / Empty space, tathatā, and the bhūtakoṭi, / Nirvāṇa, dharmatā, quiescence-cessation, and so forth— / Only such true and real phenomena / Can be used to reveal the Tathāgata." This is precisely that text. Furthermore, the fourth fascicle of the *Buddhabhūmi-śāstra* states, "As the sūtra says: 'Even all constructed metaphors that illustrate all the virtues of the Tathāgatas are all slanders of the Tathāgatas, with the sole exception of one metaphor, namely empty space, which can illustrate the Tathāgata, because limitless virtues such as morality are identical to empty space.'"