維摩經玄疏 6.8

6.8

Second, clarifying the necessity of knowing the sūtra's substance: If one examines a sūtra and misses its purport, one's case is like that of Devadatta, who, though reciting sixty thousand treasuries of Dharma, could not avoid falling into the great hells in his present body; while Panthaka merely chanted a single gāthā and accomplished the path of an arhat. As the Dazhidulun states: 'Śrāvaka sūtras have three dharma seals: the seal of impermanence, of non-self, and of tranquil extinguishing nirvāṇa.' When Hīnayāna sūtras possess these seals, they are Hīnayāna definitive sūtras; practitioners who receive the teaching can attain the path. If they lack the three dharma seals, they are non-definitive sūtras, and those who hear them will not necessarily escape birth and death. All Mahāyāna sūtras have only a single dharma seal, namely the true mark of all dharmas. If a Mahāyāna sūtra possesses the seal of the true mark, it is a Mahāyāna definitive sūtra, and those who hear it can indeed attain the bodhisattva path. If it lacks the seal of the true mark of all dharmas, it is a non-definitive sūtra; those who hear it will mostly fall into the two extremes and will be unable to attain anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti. Furthermore, if it lacks the seal of the true mark, even though it expounds various vows and practices, it is still confounded with what Māra teaches. Why is this? The Māra king can also speak of various vows and practices, but he cannot speak of the true mark of all dharmas. Therefore, the Dazhidulun says: 'Except for the true mark of all dharmas, all the rest is the work of Māra.' The true mark of all dharmas is precisely another name for the liberation of true nature.