大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 3.21

3.21

Regarding [the passage in] the Commentary: "Fourth, serving as the root of the teaching": the text has three parts: first, indicating the heading; next, presenting the general import; from "However, there are also two" onward, laying out the headings and explaining them individually. In the general import, the first two lines establish the principle. Thus the 'Manifestation Chapter' says: 'Just as the great ocean flows subterraneously throughout the earth of the four continents, so that anyone who digs will unfailingly obtain water.' That is an analogy for the Buddha's wisdom universally entering into the bodies of all sentient beings; here it is borrowed and applied, which is the analogy. 'Without the root there is nothing with which to extend the branches' is the statement of the doctrine: just as without the root source of the ocean, the branch streams cannot flow; without the original moon, there is no reflection of the moon entering into the hundred rivers; and without the dharmakāya, how could it extend to responsive transformation bodies? Therefore, if there were no root Dharma, how could there be teachings adapted to contingencies? The latter two lines, beginning with "Wishing to," directly explain the meaning of serving as the root. Hence Tiantai designates it as the 'milk teaching,' because milk is the root of the various tastes such as coagulated milk and the rest.