維摩經略疏垂裕記 7.34

7.34

Second, from "yet formerly..." downward, refuting the ancient [commentators] and revealing the present [teaching]. Regarding "the four periods and five periods": The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra explains that ancient commentators classifying the teachings all regarded the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as sudden, while in the gradual [teachings] there were three periods, four periods, five periods, and so forth. Daoxian states: "Master Ji of Huqiu divided them into three periods. Before the twelfth year, seeing that there is attainment of the path was named the teaching of having characteristics; after the twelfth year up to the Lotus Sūtra, explaining that seeing emptiness attains the path was named the teaching of signlessness; and lastly, in the Twin Trees, explaining the Buddha-nature of all sentient beings and that icchantikas become buddhas was named the teaching of eternal presence. Master Zong'ai posited four periods: three as before, with an additional one after signlessness and before eternal presence, pointing to the Lotus Sūtra's converging of the three into the one, named the teaching of identical return. The two masters Dinglin Rou and Ci explained five periods: four not differing from before, while after signlessness and before identical return, pointing to the Vimalakīrti, Viśeṣacintā, and other Vaipulya sūtras as the teaching of praise, blame, suppression, and exaltation." Regarding "is still the eighty-year-old Buddha": ancient commentators placed Prajñā before Vaipulya, still taking it to be the same as the Tripiṭaka Buddha being impermanent at eighty. Regarding "seven hundred asaṃkhyeyas": Daoxian says: "The lower fascicle of the Śūraṅgamasamādhi Sūtra states: 'Dṛḍhamati addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honoured One! How long is the Buddha's life span? When will he enter extinction?" The Buddha told Dṛḍhamati: "To the east, fifty-two thousand buddha lands away from here, there is a country named Alaṃkāra. The buddha's name is Prabhāvyūha-īśvararāja, fully possessing the ten epithets, and he is currently expounding the Dharma. As is that buddha's life span, so too is mine." He asked again: "How long is that buddha's life span?" The Buddha said: "Go and ask him yourself; he will answer you himself." Dṛḍhamati, relying on the Buddha's spiritual power, [went and the other buddha] even answered, saying: "As is Śākyamuni's life span, so is mine. If you wish to know, my life span is seven hundred asaṃkhyeya kalpas, and Śākyamuni's is also like this."'" The ancient commentators meant that now, explaining the essence of the vajra, it is identical to this superior response body of seven hundred [asaṃkhyeyas], not the eternal presence of the dharmakāya. Regarding "and do not accept what is now explained": Jingxi says: "What is posited by the advocates of the four periods and five periods does not accept that the preceding four periods or three periods possess the principle of eternal presence, and therefore they do not accept the present explanation. The present explanation reveals the glorious, and the glorious is the great; thus it conflicts with their interpretation."