維摩經略疏 1.87

1.87

問：那得處處對法門以約觀心？佛意豈然？答：佛心如海眾流皆入，如如意珠隨念雨寶，亦如淨鏡隨對像生，亦如大地隨種生長。《大經》摸象各不能知，執見之徒自謂己解諍論是非，寧會佛旨？若言經中無對法門者，如普現色身問淨名言：「父母妻子親戚眷屬悉為是誰？」大士答言：「智度菩薩母，方便以為父」等。淨名既是在家菩薩，何容無有父母家屬，而不依事答悉約法門？當知不起道法現凡夫事，雖現凡夫事皆內表道法。亦如佛涅槃處在枯榮間，豈可直作樹木之解。且佛誠說皆表半滿，今欲說不思議解脫法門，不捨道法現迹同凡住於毘耶，豈不表於極地所住法門？華嚴明十城十園，豈止直是世間城園？此經下文〈菩薩行品〉云「諸佛威儀有所進止無非佛事」，何得但作事解而已，不思諸聖善權祕密表發之事。又《法華》云「欲說是經，應入如來室，著如來衣，坐如來座，然後於四眾中以無所畏心說。」若彼經不對法門者，欲講說時，將不入佛殿昇佛座披佛衣處眾說法得佛意耶？

Question: How can one correlate with Dharma gates and apply the contemplation of mind at every point? Could the Buddha's intention really be like this? Answer: The Buddha's mind is like an ocean into which all streams flow; like a wish-fulfilling jewel that rains down gems in accordance with thought; like a clean mirror that produces images corresponding to what faces it; and like the great earth where growth corresponds to the seeds. In the Great [Nirvāṇa] Sūtra, each person groping the elephant could not know it; grasping at their views, they claimed their own understanding was correct and disputed right and wrong—how could they accord with the Buddha's intention? If you say there are no correspondences to Dharma gates in the sūtras, consider when Universal Manifestation of the Physical Body asked Vimalakīrti: "Parents, wife and children, relatives and kin—who are all of these?" The Great Being replied: "The perfection of wisdom is the bodhisattva's mother, expedient means is the father," and so on. Since Vimalakīrti was a lay bodhisattva, how could he not have parents and family members, and yet not answer according to worldly phenomena, but entirely in terms of Dharma gates? One should know that without departing from path-dharmas, he manifested the matters of ordinary people; though manifesting the matters of ordinary people, inwardly they all signify path-dharmas. It is also like the Buddha's place of nirvāṇa being between the withered and flourishing [trees]—how could one understand it merely as trees? Furthermore, the Buddha's sincere words always signify the partial or the perfect; now, wishing to preach the Dharma gate of inconceivable liberation, without abandoning path-dharmas he manifested traces identical to the ordinary and dwelt in Vaiśālī—how could this not signify the Dharma gate in which the ultimate stage abides? The Avataṃsaka explains ten cities and ten groves; how could they merely be worldly cities and groves? Below in this sūtra, the chapter "Bodhisattva Practice" says: "In all the bodily comportment, movements, and pauses of the buddhas, there is nothing that is not buddha-work." How can one treat them merely as worldly matters, without considering the matters signified and expressed by the holy ones' skillful expedients and esoteric depths? Moreover, the Lotus Sūtra says: "If one wishes to preach this sūtra, one should enter the Tathāgata's room, put on the Tathāgata's robe, sit on the Tathāgata's seat, and only then preach among the four assemblies with a mind free of fear." If that sūtra did not correlate with Dharma gates, when wishing to lecture on it, would one enter the Buddha's hall, ascend the Buddha's seat, drape oneself in the Buddha's robe, and preach the Dharma among the assembly in order to attain the Buddha's intention?