大般涅槃經集解 35.6

35.6

Sengliang comments: The Buddha's teaching begins from the small. The cow exemplifies the Buddha; the milk exemplifies the Tripiṭaka; the curd exemplifies the mixed teachings of the three vehicles; the raw butter exemplifies the vaipulya; the clarified butter exemplifies the prajñā that teaches emptiness; and the ghee exemplifies the Dharma of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. As for the Dharma being difficult to see: this refers to emptiness and existence, since prajñā teaches emptiness and nirvāṇa teaches existence. It is difficult for the Buddha to see nirvāṇa, so he praises and extols it as supreme and honored.
Sengzong says: The reason holy action is accomplished is that its efficacy relies on the power of the sūtra to produce complete understanding in people. 'As from a cow emerges milk': the Buddha preached the small vehicle's wheel of the Dharma of the Four Truths; this was taught in the twelve years after attaining Buddhahood. 'From milk emerges curd': this refers to preaching the shared teaching of the three vehicles after the twelve years; the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is this. 'From curd emerges raw butter': like the Viśeṣacintibrahma-paripṛcchā and the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, which suppress the two vehicles and praise the bodhisattvas. 'From raw butter emerges clarified butter': preaching the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, which destroys the idea that there are three separate causes and fruits. Now, this sūtra illuminates the eternal presence of the buddhadhātu, fathoming principle and exhausting the nature, like ghee.
Furthermore, 'from [the Buddha] emerge the twelve divisions': these are the twelve divisions of the small vehicle. 'From the twelve divisions emerges the sūtra': this is the sūtra of the teaching of emptiness. It is simply called 'sūtra' because it subsumes the twelve divisions; hence it speaks only of the root. As for 'from it emerge the vaipulya': is its principle correct? The two vehicles equally study prajñā, so the shared teaching is taken as vaipulya. 'From it emerges prajñā': this is the real wisdom prajñā of the One Vehicle. 'From prajñā emerges mahānirvāṇa': this is the present teaching. Another interpretation says: there is a slight error in this sūtra text; prajñā should be third, and vaipulya should be fourth.
Baoliang says: The Buddha is like a cow; the five flavors exemplify the teachings of the five periods. When the Buddha first appeared in the world, during the twelve years, the wheel of the Dharma was preached distinctly as the small vehicle Tripiṭaka, setting forth the supramundane teaching; this initially corresponded to the name of the twelve divisions. After the twelve years, within the gateway of the shared teaching, he distinguished emptiness and existence, clarifying the two truths of the ultimate and conventional. Since the principle is deep and broad, it is like curd emerging from milk. The two truths are the master of the understanding of emptiness and the root of myriad understandings; therefore, it corresponds to the name of sūtra. Prior to the shared teaching, it directly clarified cause and fruit without distinguishing the two truths; since it forgot marks, it was not given the title of root. 'From the sūtra emerge the vaipulya sūtras': after the shared teaching was preached, expounding the Vimalakīrti and Viśeṣacinti advanced the practice of the śrāvakas, causing them to abandon attachments and attain understanding; hence the vaipulya sūtras are exemplified by raw butter emerging from curd. 'From the vaipulya emerges prajñāpāramitā': prajñā means wisdom; after expounding the Vimalakīrti, he clarified the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, distinguishing the single cause and single fruit; the opening and brightening of wisdom exemplifies prajñā, compared to clarified butter. After the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra was completely preached, the nirvāṇa teaching arose, fully clarifying the principle, just like ghee.