維摩經玄疏 6.120

6.120

一、略明折伏攝受者，如《勝鬘》云：「應折伏者，而折伏之；應攝受者，而攝受之。以折伏、攝受故，為令正法，得久住故。」今淨名為令不思議法得久住故，是以以方便折伏、實智攝受，類如〈戒序〉云「老死至近，佛法欲滅」者，佛法湛然，何甞有滅？若魔燒經卷，尚有二十億菩薩受持佛法，故知不滅。今言滅者，約人壽盡，故言其滅。如凡夫未得無漏慧命，未能秉持禁戒，身若無常，戒法即謝，故佛法欲滅。戒、定、慧、解脫、解脫知見五分法身，本依色身而起，色身既死，五分亦滅，即是身內佛法滅也。若能勤進，發真得道共戒，此則一受不退常寂然，即有五分法身具足。假令七反人天，雖生惡國，非但不失須陀洹果，此人必得阿羅漢果。是則陰身雖滅，佛法不滅；五分法身，無朽壞也，即是佛法久住。若大乘為義，雖復證羅漢，盡、無生智，乃至辟支迦十種觀，觀十二因緣，能侵習氣，亦歸灰滅。如百二十人，不堪付囑，喪失財寶，若能開佛知見，得二十五三昧無方之用，住持佛法，守護重寶。重寶者，即百斤金、百句解脫真寶也。如盛壯之年二十五者，堪可付囑，此人能折伏、攝受，令法得久住也。

First, briefly explaining subduing and embracing: As the Śrīmālā[devī-siṃhanāda Sūtra] states: 'Those who should be subdued are subdued, and those who should be embraced are embraced. It is through subduing and embracing that the true Dharma is made to abide long.' Now, in order to make the inconceivable Dharma abide long, Vimalakīrti uses expedients to subdue and ultimate knowledge to embrace. This is analogous to what the 'Preface to the Precepts' states: 'Old age and death draw very near; the Buddha-dharma is about to perish.' The Buddha-dharma is serene and constant—how could it ever perish? Even if Māra burns the bundles of scriptures, there are still twenty hundred million bodhisattvas who uphold the Buddha-dharma; thus we know it does not perish. What is meant here by 'perishing' is said with reference to the exhaustion of human lifespans. For example, when ordinary beings have not yet attained the undefiled life of wisdom and are unable to uphold the prohibitive precepts, then when their physical bodies face impermanence, the precept-dharma dissolves; therefore it is said that 'the Buddha-dharma is about to perish.' The fivefold dharma-body of precepts, samādhi, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation fundamentally arises reliant upon the physical body; once the physical body dies, the fivefold [dharma-body] also perishes, which is the perishing of the Buddha-dharma within the body. If one can make diligent progress and generate the real to attain the precepts concurrent with the path, once received this never regresses and is eternally tranquil, fully endowed with the fivefold dharma-body. Even if one transmigrates seven times through the realms of humans and devas, and though one may be born in an evil realm, not only does one not lose the fruit of the srotāpanna, but this person will certainly attain the fruit of an arhat. In that case, though the skandha-body perishes, the Buddha-dharma does not perish; the fivefold dharma-body suffers no decay, which is the long abiding of the Buddha-dharma. If taken according to the meaning of the Great Vehicle: although one may realize arhatship, the knowledge of exhaustion and the knowledge of non-arising, or even the pratyekabuddha's ten kinds of contemplation contemplating the twelvefold dependent origination, and can overcome habitual propensities, they still reduce to ashes and extinction. Just as the one hundred and twenty people were unable to receive the entrustment and lost the treasure, if one can open the knowledge and vision of the Buddha and attain the unobstructed functioning of the twenty-five samādhis, one will maintain the Buddha-dharma and protect the precious treasure. The 'precious treasure' refers to the hundred pounds of gold, the genuine treasure of the hundred phrases of liberation. Like one in the full vigor of age at twenty-five who is capable of receiving the entrustment, such a person can subdue and embrace, making the Dharma abide long.