大般涅槃經集解 8.96

8.96

Sengzong states: This is the third passage among the fourfold sections of the text. The first clarified cause and effect; the purport and destination of the whole sūtra having already been manifested, the second praised the teaching. Now it clarifies practicing in accordance with the sūtra to take hold of the permanent fruit, also desiring to make those aspiring seekers yearn for the former model. Wanting to discuss the lines and phrases, they mutually involve one another: in the previous clarification of the fruit, the cause was also spoken of; in the present differentiation of the cause, the text also clarifies the fruit; even in clarifying the object, it also differentiates practice, and with regard to the text on practice, it also discusses the object. Thus the sūtra text is intertwined and seems undistinguished. Yet one must grasp its essential guideline, for each has its proper place. "Please preach the extremely profound": the practices and vows of the ten stages cannot be spied out by the two vehicles, hence they are called "extremely profound." But practices have shallow and deep aspects: when shallow, one speaks of practice; when deep, one details the virtues. Virtue and practice, though different in breadth and brevity, do not differ in the meaning of the cause.