新華嚴經論 3.42

3.42

Regarding the teaching of the fifth period, which expounds the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra to clarify that the mundane is ever the true: because in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, the śrāvakas of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas of the three vehicles are not regarded as those who understand the Dharma. For this reason, the ten great disciples stopped their speech in Vaiśālī, and Maitreya and Prabhāvyūha silenced their fragrant words on that evening of the Dharma. This sūtra refutes the notion in the preceding four teachings where bodhisattvas and śrāvakas have not yet eliminated [the duality of] defilement and purity, and constantly delight in transcending the mundane. Using Vimalakīrti's dwelling as a lay householder, it clarifies that the mundane is ever the true, breaking their notion of purity and habitual thoughts of defilement and purity; therefore, it states that 'ignorance and craving are the seeds of the Tathāgata,' and so forth, causing the assemblies of the three vehicles to lose the mind that clings to characteristics of purity, so that transcending the mundane and entering entanglement are equal and unobstructed, only then clarifying true virtue. Because it possesses the ultimate doctrine, it also manifests the pure land of true fruition, like the land manifested when the Buddha touched the earth with his toe. Because the faculties of the three vehicles were inferior, they relied on the Buddha's supernatural powers; when their faith faltered, the land vanished, as it was not their own realization. The remaining purports have already been explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets. Therefore, this Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra is called the teaching that the mundane is ever the true. Hence it takes Mañjuśrī as the dharmakāya and Vimalakīrti as the practice of entering entanglement—taking the dharmakāya as essence and the practice as function—causing essence and function to engage in dialogue with each other. For those of the three vehicles who delight in studying the empty principle of suchness, reviling the provisional to cultivate the true and accumulating practices over many lifetimes before attaining buddhahood, it causes them to return to the simultaneous coexistence of nature and characteristics, principle and phenomena, and cause and effect in the dharmadhātu. The convergences and divergences of this sūtra have already been explained in the earlier section on classifying teachings and distinguishing tenets.