維摩經略疏 5.35

5.35

Question: Earlier it was said that Kātyāyana, in order to reveal the four flourishing [states], showed himself accepting the rebuke. Now the Mahāyāna clarifies the five meanings, and the first four conclude with the withering [states]; how can this be revealing the flourishing? Answer: If one breaks through the ultimate truth to enter the Middle, concluding that the ultimate truth constitutes the withering, the Middle naturally becomes the flourishing. As the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra clarifies two birds flying together, permanence and impermanence coexisting, the true meaning of impermanence cannot be separated from permanence. Therefore, this sūtra clarifies that being non-dual with respect to self and non-self is the true meaning of non-self. When the Great Sūtra clarifies that self and non-self are non-dual in their nature, and this non-dual nature is the true meaning of self, this means that within the dharma of non-self there is the true self. Vimalakīrti's concluding the ultimate truth to clarify the four withering states is intended to reveal the flourishing, which is precisely the intention of the raw-curd teaching of the vaipulya [period]. Its emergence is not yet fully manifest; how could it be instantaneously identical to the Lotus Sūtra and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra?