阿彌陀經疏 1.46

1.46

爾時下，二、正宗分。為二：一、總告；二、別示。初文告舍利弗者，經家敘對告人也。所以不告菩薩諸天而告聲聞者，意令小乘初心欣樂求生迴小入大故。身子已證上果，在方等時菩提心死，自謂證入無餘究竟滅度，大乘望之方生變易，而此二途並不求生極樂同居也。今如來對告者，高訓下耳。

From “At that time” downward is the second part, the main body of the sūtra. It has two parts: first, the general address; second, the specific explanation. In the first text, addressing Śāriputra is the sūtra compiler recounting the interlocutor. As for why he did not address the bodhisattvas and devas but addressed a śrāvaka: his intention was to cause beginners of the Hīnayāna to joyfully seek rebirth, turning from the small and entering the great. Śāriputra had already realized the supreme fruit, but during the Vaipulya period his bodhicitta had died; he considered himself to have realized entry into ultimate extinction without remainder, whereas from the Mahāyāna perspective he would only then undergo change. Yet neither of these two paths seeks rebirth in the Land of Common Residence of Sukhāvatī. The Tathāgata addressing him now is simply the superior instructing the inferior.