維摩經略疏 8.64

8.64

From "Śāriputra said" onward, fourth, Śāriputra praises the goddess. The text has two parts: first, Śāriputra's praise; second, the goddess's reply. As for the initial praise: having heard this wondrous Dharma expounded, Śāriputra inferred that she must have attained the realization of superior liberation, and so he praised her first. Next he asked what she had attained, that her eloquence was such as this. Second, the goddess first replies and then satirizes him. Her reply says, "Because of having neither attainment nor realization, my eloquence is like this." The Great Sūtra says that one who has something to attain is called the Small Vehicle, while one who realizes only emptiness and has nothing to attain is called the Great Vehicle; because it is emptiness that cannot be attained, one does not dwell in the phantom city. Śrāvakas learn partially and seize realization, whereas bodhisattvas learn completely and do not seize realization, fully as [explained in] the Dàpǐn. Now, it is made clear that because she knows the four unattainables, she does not dwell in the three provisionals or the one real; being inexhaustibly free, her eloquence is like this. As for "for what reason..." and so forth, next, by way of explanation, she lodges a satire, satirizing him for having attained only biased emptiness and taking the nirvāṇa of the phantom city as ultimate, not seeking the great parinirvāṇa of the Middle Way; this is [being] a person of overweening pride in the Buddha-Dharma.