維摩經略疏 1.93

1.93

Question: If one begins with the lesser, one should place the devas and nāgas first; if one begins with the greater, one should place the bodhisattvas first. [Why are the śrāvakas listed first?] Answer: Those of the Lesser Vehicle left home and attained the Way, bearing deep gratitude for the Buddha's favor; therefore they are constantly at the Buddha's side serving and attending upon him, keeping their precepts and conduct, and winning the faith and allegiance of beings. Their testimony to the sūtra's meaning is intimate, so they must be explained first. Bodhisattvas transform others and are not constantly at the Buddha's side; harmonizing their light and benefiting beings, they are difficult to fathom. Wordly people merely see their traces and do not know their root; their testimony to the faith and meaning is distant, so they are explained next. The devas, nāgas, and four assemblies have not yet exhausted defilements and delusions, still dwelling on the worldly plane. Lacking internal achievement of the Way and outwardly deficient in the benefit of transforming others, their testimony to the sūtra is inferior, so they are explained last. Furthermore, this signifies something: the two vehicles stagnate in emptiness, and ordinary persons stagnate in existence; bodhisattvas do not stagnate and constantly practice non-duality, so they are situated between them. Thus the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Ordinary persons are existence; those of the two vehicles are emptiness; persons who are bodhisattvas are neither empty nor existent."