大般涅槃經集解 63.49

63.49

案僧亮曰：答意若不往不記者，外則長人眾惡，內則久受重罪，是以先記必入地獄。及今往彼，果陷無間，豈是無慈？乃所以滅其惡因也。真實無二者，以人聞佛言故，不信善星之語，則不增外惡，令其受罪少也。

Sengliang comments: The intent of the answer is that if [the Buddha] had not gone and not prophesied, externally it would have fostered manifold evils in others, and internally he would have suffered severe retribution for a long time; therefore it was prophesied beforehand that he would definitely enter hell. And now when [the Buddha] went there, he indeed sank into Avīci. How could this be a lack of compassion? It is precisely that by which his evil causes are extinguished. 'Truly without duality': because people heard the Buddha's words, they did not believe Sunakkhatta's words, and thus external evil was not increased, causing his suffering of retribution to be lessened.