維摩經玄疏 1.44

1.44

These six identities are not different in principle; but when considered in terms of practice and understanding, heaven and humankind are worlds apart. How could one, hearing 'identity,' lump them all together! If people in the world who study and sit in meditation do not skillfully understand the distinctions among the six identities, they will mostly give rise to presumptuous claims: claiming understanding when they have not understood, claiming attainment when they have not attained, falling into overweening pride, and giving rise to various faults and transgressions. How could such a person be one who has grasped the meaning of studying the Buddha's Dharma! Now, raising one example can serve for all: when any profound Mahāyāna sūtra states that sentient beings are identical with the Buddha, identical with the Mahāyāna, identical with bodhi, identical with nirvāṇa… and all such clarifications of 'identical with,' one must in every case apply the meaning of the 'six identities' to restrict them, so that none will be presumptuous.