維摩經略疏 4.12

4.12

Question: If the ten virtues represent mutual strengths and they are designated according to their strengths, then as when Śāriputra held his robe sash and Maudgalyāyana exhausted all his supernatural power shaking the three thousand [worlds] yet could not move Śāriputra's sash, Maudgalyāyana reported the matter to the Buddha, and the Buddha said, 'When the Buddha enters meditative absorption, Śāriputra does not know its name; when Śāriputra enters absorption, Maudgalyāyana does not know its name.' If Maudgalyāyana's supernatural power was not superior to Śāriputra's, the remaining eight might not each have had a particular strength. Answer: It was either a specific strength or not a specific strength. Why? In comparison to others, one might not definitely have a superior strength, but with respect to these ten virtues, they each had a specific strength, and therefore were called foremost. Moreover, the Buddha is the Dharma King, and the Dharma ministers he established are like the ministers of a worldly state: although each has various abilities, the ministers of the eight seats each have their separate responsibilities. Although the ten great disciples each possessed combined virtues, one person could not take charge of two functions alone; therefore the ten virtues were divided and assigned to each person, helping the Buddha proclaim ten kinds of doctrinal gateways to cause beings to look up to them in admiration, and thus each was called foremost. According to their faculties and conditions, their minds found refuge; although each helped to proclaim [a different method], ultimately they return to the one Way.