維摩義記 4.52

4.52

Question: Is this food real food, or is it Dharma metaphorically called food? The school of Muqi says this is Dharma, metaphorically called food. [They argue:] If it were real food, how could it be like this? But if Dharma were able to do so, why would it be praised as wonderful? Only if material food is able to manifest this is it truly inconceivable. Furthermore, if Dharma were able to manifest it, it would be shallow rather than profound; only when material food is able to manifest it is it truly profound in the extreme. To take the truly profound as shallow and seek profundity elsewhere is an erroneous understanding! All the sense-objects enjoyed by the buddhas and bodhisattvas are entirely like this; they are able to aid practice and function, not this food alone. Just as with the gem cushion born to a wheel-turning king, when the holy king sits upon it, he naturally separates from desire and attains the four dhyānas; and though the jade woman is seen, it is like beholding a buddha's image, not giving rise to lustful defilement. How much more so the sense-objects experienced by bodhisattvas! As a sūtra states: "A bodhisattva possesses a crown that illuminates the nature of dharmas; when wearing this crown, the nature of all dharmas appears completely in his mind." All matters are equally like this.