大般涅槃經義記 3.283

3.283

就明聲聞有性之中，先喻、後合。喻中有三：一昔說無我喻、二「因告女」下無我覆真喻、三「遂至」下今說真我喻。就初段中，「女」喻如來，佛能養化故說為女。佛於過去化諸眾生，令起大機，名「生一子」，所化眾生法身未增名為「嬰孩」，起惑計我名為「得病」，佛心慈憐說為「愁惱」，訪求化義名「覓醫師」，化儀現心名「醫師來」，說無常、苦、無我等治名「合三藥」，「蘇、乳、石密」舉其藥體，勸之修習名「與令服」。

Regarding the explanation that śrāvakas possess the nature, first there is the metaphor, and then the application. Within the metaphor there are three parts: first, the metaphor of previously expounding non-self; second, from “she then told the woman” onward, the metaphor of non-self veiling the real; third, from “thereupon reaching” onward, the metaphor of now expounding the true self. Within the first section, the “woman” is a metaphor for the Tathāgata; because the Buddha can nurture and transform, he is spoken of as a woman. In the past the Buddha transformed sentient beings and caused them to arouse the capacity for the Great [Vehicle], which is called “giving birth to a son”; the transformed sentient beings whose dharmakāya had not yet grown are called the “infant”; their giving rise to delusion and positing a self is called “falling ill”; the Buddha's heart of compassion is spoken of as “grieving and distressed”; seeking the means of transformation is called “seeking a physician”; the manner of transformation manifesting in his mind is called “the physician came”; expounding the remedies of impermanence, suffering, non-self, and so forth is called “compounding the three medicines”; “ghee, milk, and rock sugar” adduces the substances of those medicines; urging him to cultivate and practice them is called “giving it to him to take.”