維摩經略疏 4.5

4.5

Question: If the five hundred each recounting [their rebukes] to reveal Vimalakīrti's virtue is the ground for entering the room and [accomplishing] curd, then this definitely belongs to the preface, not the main teaching. Answer: If it accomplishes curd, how could it be exclusively upon entering the room? It might be hearing the various vaipulya [sūtras] before that, such as the rebuke by Aṅgulimāla; or at the time of the past rebukes; or hearing the present retellings; or upon entering the room; or upon the later preaching of the various vaipulya [teachings]—at all such times curd is accomplished. How could it be definitely determined that serving as the prelude to entering the room and accomplishing curd must belong to the preface section? If, because it is the prelude to curd, it is therefore the preface, then entering the room is the ground for returning to the Āmrapālī Grove, and that too would then become the preface.