三彌勒經疏 1.38

1.38

Question: If so, why does the Da zhidu lun, when the Buddha praises energetic striving, say that Śākyamuni Buddha and Bodhisattva Maitreya and others generated the mind simultaneously, and that Śākyamuni's power of energetic striving surpassed [him by] nine kalpas? Answer: These two bodhisattvas generating the mind has two aspects: the first is determined, and the second is indeterminate. As for the indeterminate, they generated the mind simultaneously; if it is the determined mind, it naturally has priority and posteriority. If discussing it according to ultimate principle, one should speak thus: Bodhisattva Maitreya generated the determined mind for more than forty kalpas, and only then did Śākyamuni generate the determined mind. Yet, because of the power of energetic striving, he surpassed him by more than forty kalpas and, being in the same kalpa, realized bodhi first. Therefore, the Daśabhūmikavibhāṣā says: 'Some initially generate differing minds, and later generate the determined mind, like Bodhisattva Śākyamuni and others.' This means that Bodhisattva Śākyamuni generated the determined mind on account of Śākyamuni Buddha, and Bodhisattva Maitreya generated the determined mind on account of Maitreya Buddha.