無量壽經連義述文贊 2.15

2.15

On the passage from "Penetrating the nature of all dharmas" to "clearly understanding all lands": The commentary states: Next is the virtue of conversion. Some say: 'Penetrating the nature of all dharmas' refers to penetrating the principle of the emptiness of dharmas; 'comprehending the characteristics of sentient beings' refers to comprehending the emptiness of persons and realizing the true; and 'clearly understanding all lands' refers to comprehending the emptiness of the vessel world. This is not correct, because apart from the emptiness of persons and the emptiness of dharmas, there is no other emptiness. If there were another, then apart from the two types of wisdom, there would also have to be another wisdom. Some say: 'Penetrating the nature of all dharmas' is the autonomous practice of the wisdom-enlightened realm, because one penetrates and comprehends the dharma-nature of the two truths. 'Comprehending the characteristics of sentient beings' is the autonomous practice in the realm of sentient beings, because one completely comprehends the diverse forms and conditions of sentient beings. 'Clearly understanding all lands' is the autonomous practice in the vessel world; using 'penetrating' first, 'comprehending' next, and 'clearly understanding' last are merely stylistic variations in phrasing. This is also not so, for sentient beings and the external vessel [world] would then not be conventional truth. If they were conventional truth, then once the two truths are penetrated, there would be nothing further to know. Now, 'penetrating the nature of all dharmas' is practice regarding the immeasurability of the dharma-realm. 'Comprehending the characteristics of sentient beings' is practice regarding the immeasurability of the realm of sentient beings. 'Clearly understanding all lands' is practice regarding the immeasurability of the world-realm. The immeasurability of the realm to be disciplined is not included here because [those without Buddha-nature] have no gotra. It also omits speaking of the immeasurability of skillful means for disciplining, because this was already stated as the aforementioned skillfulness, and thus is not repeated.