大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 4.42

4.42

Regarding the Commentary's statement: 'Or where it is said that the reward body is in other pure lands, this is spoken in terms of attracting and guiding': this is the second, resolving sūtras such as the Nirvāṇa and the Aṅgulimāla. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra, fascicle twenty-four, the 'Bodhisattva Noble and Virtuous King Chapter,' explains the fourth of the ten virtues. The Bodhisattva Noble and Virtuous King questions: 'If there are bodhisattvas cultivating the Mahāparinirvāṇa who perform all ten virtuous actions, why does the Tathāgata cultivate only nine and not cultivate a pure land?' The Buddha answers: 'I cultivate them completely.' At the end it says: 'Good son! Going west from this Sahā world, crossing as many Buddha lands as the sands of forty-two Ganges rivers, there is a world named Unsurpassed. Why is that land named Unsurpassed? All the adornments in that land are completely equal and without distinction, just like the Sukhāvatī world in the west, and also like the Full Moon world in the east. I appeared in the world in that land; to transform sentient beings, I manifest turning the wheel of the Dharma here in Jambudvīpa of this world. Not only do I alone manifest turning the wheel of the Dharma here, but all Buddhas also turn the wheel of the Dharma here. For this reason, the Buddha-Bhagavāns do not fail to cultivate these ten actions. Good son! Due to his vows, the Bodhisattva Maitreya will cause this world to be pure and adorned in future ages. For this reason, there are no worlds of all Buddhas that are not adorned and pure.' Exposition: Since it says that to transform sentient beings he resides in this Jambudvīpa, and that the Unsurpassed land is my adorned and pure land, this clearly indicates that the reward body is in another pure land. As for the Aṅgulimāla Sūtra, the text of the sūtra is rather broad; here its meaning is cited briefly. That is, the Buddha answered Aṅgulimāla: 'I abide at the limit of non-arising, yet you do not perceive it,' and so forth. Aṅgulimāla objected: 'If you abide at the limit of non-arising, why were you born in this land?' The Buddha answered: 'In the east there is a Buddha; go and ask him, and he will explain it to you.' Aṅgulimāla and Mañjuśrī went together to ask that Buddha, and that Buddha answered: 'That Śākya is my body.' The general meaning clarifies that the Buddha in the other pure land is the one who has realized the limit of non-arising; his present birth in the Sahā world is merely a transformation manifestation; hence it is said to be in another pure land. But when the Commentary says 'spoken in terms of attracting and guiding,' it does not speak of the adorning of the Lotus Treasury or the realms of Indra's net pervading the dharmadhātu, nor does it say that this body fully pervades the dharmadhātu; rather, it says that it resides in the east and so on, making clear that this is adapting expediently to attract and guide the mixed, defiled sentient beings of the Sahā world to cultivate the practices of the pure land.