大般涅槃經集解 20.18

20.18

Sengliang comments: When sentient beings' defilements manifest in a one-sided manner, the Tathāgata responds to them, also providing partial teachings to cut off their one-sided delusions and cause them to meet the Middle Way. If one hears a partial teaching, one thinks that the buddhadhātu undergoes change. Sengzong comments: The fourth point. The physician is the Buddha: for those with the disease of permanence, he teaches the partial teaching; for those with the disease of annihilation, he teaches the complete teaching; and according to the differences among the three poisons, he also teaches three medicines to treat them. Baoliang comments: The fourth provides a simile for the Buddha. Just as that skilled physician well knows the source of the illness, he takes measures according to the illness.