維摩經玄疏 6.93

6.93

答曰：若通論，亦得此義。而義有傍、正，《大涅槃》果正、因傍，《大品》因正、果傍，今經雙舉佛國因果，是故佛國因果以當宗也。所以者何？如長者子獻蓋，云「願聞得佛國土清淨」，即問果；「唯願世尊說諸菩薩淨土之行」，即是問因。佛答云「直心是菩薩淨土」，即是答因；「不諂眾生，來生其國」，即是答果。命宗之始，雙問因果，答亦俱答因果。且淨名輔佛，弘因果之教也。如室外「勸國王、長者，令厭此身」，即是弘因；「當樂佛身」，即是弘果，乃至彈諸弟子、菩薩等，處處有明因果之文。又如室內明「十方佛土皆空」，即是明果；「有疾菩薩用三觀調心」，即是明因；〈不思議品〉是果，〈觀眾生品〉、〈佛道品〉、〈入不二法門品〉、〈香積品〉是因。出室掌擎大眾，向菴羅園，即表迴因向果；如來述成，復宗明義，具辨菩薩之行，即是述因；明諸佛土音聲為佛事，寂滅為佛事等，即是述果。驗知一教始終，皆明因果，以成佛國，故並用當宗也。

Answer: If discussed broadly, this meaning is also valid. However, within the meaning there are secondary and primary aspects: in the Mahāparinirvāṇa [Sūtra], effect is primary and cause is secondary; in the Larger [Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra], cause is primary and effect is secondary; this sūtra raises both the cause and effect of the buddha-land, and therefore the cause and effect of the buddha-land serve as its central theme. Why is this so? When the elder's son presented the canopies, saying, "We wish to hear about attaining the purity of the buddha-land," this was asking about the effect; "we only wish that the World-Honoured One will explain the bodhisattvas' practices for purifying the land," this was asking about the cause. The Buddha answered, saying, "The straight mind is the pure land of the bodhisattva," which was answering about the cause; "sentient beings who are free from deceit will be born in that land," which was answering about the effect. At the very beginning when the central theme was declared, both cause and effect were asked, and the answer likewise answered both cause and effect. Furthermore, Vimalakīrti assisted the Buddha in propagating the teaching of cause and effect. Outside the room, when he "exhorted kings and elders to weary of this body," this was propagating the cause; when he said "you should delight in the Buddha's body," this was propagating the effect; and further, when he reproached the various disciples, bodhisattvas, and so forth, there are passages everywhere explaining cause and effect. Inside the room, when it explains that "the buddha-lands in the ten directions are all empty," this explains the effect; when it explains that "a sick bodhisattva uses the three contemplations to regulate the mind," this explains the cause. The "Chapter on the Inconceivable" is the effect, while the "Chapter on Contemplating Sentient Beings", "Chapter on the Buddha Path", "Chapter on Entering the Non-Dual Dharma-Door", and "Chapter on Fragrance Accumulation" are the cause. When he emerged from the room holding the great assembly in his palm and headed toward the Āmrapālī park, this represented turning the cause toward the effect. When the Tathāgata endorsed it, reiterating the central theme to elucidate its meaning and fully distinguishing the practices of the bodhisattva, this was reiterating the cause; explaining that the various buddha-lands take sounds as buddha-work, take extinction as buddha-work, and so forth, was reiterating the effect. By this examination one knows that this one teaching, from beginning to end, entirely clarifies cause and effect in order to accomplish the buddha-land; hence both together serve as its central theme.