新華嚴經論 2.9

2.9

Fifth, the difference in the hearing of the Dharma by the arriving assembly: This Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra was for the śrāvakas and the provisional bodhisattvas of the two vehicles who cultivated various contemplative practices but had not yet abandoned the obstacle of attachment, being attached to various practices and clinging to the forms of practice, confused with regard to these forms of practice about the uncreated dharmakāya and the original self-nature that is without realization and without cultivation. Taking practice and cultivation as arising, and cultivation as manifesting establishment, they posited subject and object in realizing bodhi and nirvāṇa. Because of these faculties, the Tathāgata spoke in this Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: 'All conditioned phenomena are impermanent; they are the phenomena of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, tranquil extinction is bliss.' Because the good practices performed and the bodhi that can be realized are phenomena of arising, and the realized nirvāṇa is a phenomenon of ceasing, the mind already preserves subject and object, and arising and ceasing never rest. Because arising and ceasing never rest, one is obstructed from the true principle. Now, in this Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, he therefore spoke of all practices, and that both the bodhi that can realize and the nirvāṇa that is realized are extinguished, only then conforming to the true principle; hence: 'All conditioned phenomena are impermanent; they are the phenomena of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, tranquil extinction is bliss.' Therefore, the Tathāgata hid his body and did not appear, and when all minds of subject and object were exhausted, it was named Great Nirvāṇa. The nirvāṇa of the two vehicles can admit subject and object, cultivation and realization; therefore it is named conditioned undefiled [dharmas]. Therefore, the Tathāgata's nirvāṇa has no subject or object. For this reason, in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Cunda said to Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī: 'Do not say that the Tathāgata is the same as conditioned phenomena. Furthermore, Mañjuśrī, do you speak knowing or speak not knowing, when you say that the Tathāgata is the same as conditioned phenomena? If you say that the Tathāgata is the same as conditioned phenomena, then he cannot be called the sovereign King of the Dharma among humans and devas within the three realms.' Therefore, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra causes those of the three vehicles to know that all practices, the bodhi that can realize, and the realized nirvāṇa are all impermanent; that which arises originally does not exist, and one does not realize various extinctions; being without practice and without cultivation is named Great Nirvāṇa, and this is called perfect tranquility. Therefore, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra causes those of the three vehicles who delight in and cling to practice to abandon practice and cultivation, and causes those who have realization to practice without realization and without cultivation.
As for the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, all the assemblies coming from other regions, as well as the humans and devas of this land who partake in the stages of that assembly, from the initial resolve penetrate the sovereignty of principle and phenomena and the non-obstruction of principle and practice. Mañjuśrī is principle and Samantabhadra is practice, sealed simultaneously and suddenly, like a seal stamping clay. Sealed simultaneously and suddenly, there is no before, after, middle, and so on; all rely on the fundamental Dharma, naturally fitting in this way. If one preserves beginning, end, cause, effect, before, and after, these are all ordinary sentiments, all arising and ceasing, with formation and destruction, all breaking attachments according with faculties, and failing to reveal the authentic lineage of achieving buddhahood. When the doorways of induction in the various teachings enter the Avataṃsaka's ocean of the fruit of principle and wisdom, only then are they properly matched. The teaching is clear and distinct, like a mirror before us; one should peruse the sūtra text, let contemplative wisdom illuminate accordingly, and suddenly attain great awakening. The sun of wisdom parts the clouds; one immediately ascends the Wondrous Peak and suddenly enters the ocean of wisdom; the two views of the ordinary and the holy are washed away by the water of samādhi; the two gates of compassion and wisdom are manifest through the dharmakāya. This Avataṃsaka Sūtra is spoken directly for those of the highest, great minds, like conferring a treasured throne directly upon an ordinary person, or like a thousand-year dream at night vanishing upon awakening. As the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra states: 'In the Snow Mountains there is a grass called Feini; if cows eat it, they yield pure ghee, without blue, yellow, red, white, or black colors.' Those of the highest, great minds are also like this: suddenly seeing the Buddha-nature, they immediately achieve true awakening, not arriving gradually from lesser stages. Therefore, we now say there is a difference in the hearing of the Dharma by the arriving assemblies, because the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra gathers the branches back to the essence, not yet discussing the unimpeded, simultaneous functioning of wisdom and compassion, the ultimate and the conventional.