無量壽經連義述文贊 1.9

1.9

Regarding the sūtra text: "all great sages who had attained supernormal powers": The commentary states: This is third, praising their virtues. "All" is a word indicating universality and reaching the utmost bounds. "Great sages" refers to the virtue of tallying with ultimate truth, being known among both ordinary beings and sages. The treatise says: "The mind obtaining mastery and reaching the other shore—that is their greatness." "Supernormal powers" is a general term encompassing the six supernormal knowledges, with the meaning of being unobstructed and unfathomable. "Had" means finished, and "attained" means realization, because they have all conclusively realized the six supernormal knowledges. Someone says: Since Ānanda is still at the stage of a trainee (śaikṣa), although he has not yet attained the supernormal powers, he has superior virtues, so he is also said to have "already attained" them. This is not correct. What kind of person Ānanda is cannot be known by ordinary people. In truth, as the sūtra says: "Although in outward traces he is at the first fruit, the first fruit also subdues the obstacles of desire and obtains the fundamental dhyāna." Even if he lacks the extinction of outflows, since he has manifested the five supernormal knowledges, speaking in terms of the majority that they have "already attained" them is in no way strange.