大般涅槃經集解 24.12

24.12

案僧亮曰：長者譬先佛也。牛譬行人。色異譬三乘也。一人譬今佛也。三乘成佛，報先佛之恩，如祠祀也。得大涅槃，一器也。色白譬我樂淨也。「尋便驚怪」至「皆同一色」，將釋所由，假為驚辭，怪因異而果一也。是人思惟者，謂八萬行因，果不應異也。

Sengliang comments: The elder is a parable for previous Buddhas. The cows are a parable for practitioners. The different colors are a parable for the three vehicles. The one person is a parable for the present Buddha. The three vehicles attaining Buddhahood repays the kindness of previous Buddhas, like an ancestral sacrifice. Attaining Great Nirvāṇa is the single vessel. The white color is a parable for self, bliss, and purity. From "he immediately was astonished and amazed" down to "they are all of the same color": being about to explain the reason, he feigns words of surprise, wondering why the causes differ while the fruit is one. "This person reflected": this means that with causes of eighty thousand practices, the fruit should not be different.