維摩經略疏垂裕記 2.189

2.189

Question: At what point did Ratnākara come? Answer: According to the text of this sūtra, it seems to have been at the end of the universal gathering. How is this known? The sūtra says: "At that time, in the city of Vaiśālī, there was an elder [named Ratnākara]... until [the umbrellas] combined into a single umbrella." Since this passage contains no words about hearing the sūtra and only speaks of holding an umbrella to come and make offerings to the Buddha, we can verify that "at that time" simply refers to when the universal gathering was concluded. According to this, when he praises the superior response Dharma, saying, "He preaches the Dharma as neither existing nor non-existing," and so on, it seems as if he heard the Dharma. What harm is there in his having heard the superior Dharma prior to this? Because it does not say that he heard the universal gathering sūtra, it is just that upon reaching this point he saw the superior response Buddha and inferred the Dharma from the body; logically, there is no contradiction.