大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 8.4

8.4

Regarding the Commentary's "Since it says 'not yet mature'..." downward, it explains the treatise passage cited above. If determinate śrāvakas were definitely never to attain buddhahood, it should have said that the faculties of the other two śrāvakas "are not mature," and therefore the Buddha does not give them predictions. Since it says "not yet mature," it does not mean they will never mature. As Dharma Master Dacheng said: It should have read "not mature"; it was an error by the translator that made it "not yet mature." Therefore, the Commentary concludes with a censure: One must not, simply because it does not accord with one's own school that definitely posited entering into quiescence, judge the treatise text to be mistaken! Furthermore, regarding the above statement that it is an expedient to cause them to generate bodhicitta, just prior in that treatise there is a question: Do those śrāvakas receive predictions because they will truly attain buddhahood, or do they receive predictions while not attaining buddhahood? If they will truly become buddhas, why do bodhisattvas cultivate immeasurable and boundless varieties of merit throughout immeasurable kalpas? If they will not become buddhas, why confer false predictions upon them? The answer states: The predictions conferred on those śrāvakas are given because they have attained a determinate mind, not because the śrāvakas have actualised the dharmatā. This is because the Tathāgata expounds the Dharma of the one vehicle relying on three equalities: because the Tathāgata's dharmakāya and the dharmakāya of those śrāvakas are equal and without difference, he therefore confers predictions upon them, not because they have immediately perfected the practice of merit. Thus, bodhisattvas have perfected merits, while śrāvakas have not yet perfected merits. Explanation: Due to this passage of the treatise, it was stated above that it is an expedient to cause them to generate bodhicitta. As for the three equalities: first is the equality of the vehicle, because there are no two vehicles; second is the equality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa; third is the equality of the dharmakāya. The present case is the third equality.