大般涅槃經疏 32.18

32.18

From "Pūrṇa said: 'Please speak of a simile...'" downward is the second part, submission. The simile says: 'Just as outside a great village...', which illustrates the Buddha-fruit of nirvāṇa. 'There is a śāla grove', which some compare to the adamantine mind, but here illustrates the minds of sentient beings. 'In the midst there is a tree', which illustrates buddhadhātu. 'Full one hundred years', which is the round designation of a number, illustrating the perfection and uprightness of the middle way buddhadhātu. The text says 'one tree was born before the grove'; since the one tree illustrates buddhadhātu, one could say that buddhadhātu precedes sentient beings. If there were no sentient beings, that would be all, but when there are sentient beings, there is buddhadhātu. Why now does it say 'born before the grove'? If one says that buddhadhātu and sentient beings have a before and after, or are combined or separate, none of these is admissible; all must be refuted. Only after clinging to an intrinsic nature is refuted can one provisionally speak of before and after; this before and after then do not contradict each other. Since they do not contradict each other, one may provisionally speak doctrinally of buddhadhātu being prior. Why? Buddhadhātu is fundamentally existent. Because it is fundamentally existent, it is doctrinally called 'prior', which does not lose the principle. 'The grove's owner cultivates it' refers to the person who cultivates and upholds it. 'The tree is old and decayed, and the bark has entirely fallen off' illustrates that defilements and all evils are completely exhausted. Only the true and actual remains, which is the myriad virtues.