大毘盧遮那成佛經疏 3.50

3.50

The verse says:
'And other various quarters,
Monasteries and araṇyas':
Apart from the sacred traces, these are simply wherever practitioners of pure conduct live in any land. 'Monastery' is in Sanskrit vihāra, translated as 'dwelling place', which means a dwelling place of perpetual merit. Because laypeople wish to foster perpetual merit, they build rooms for the bhikṣus so that those who uphold precepts, dhyāna, and wisdom can shelter from wind, cold, heat, dampness, and various unbeneficial things, and practice the path with tranquil minds, causing the dānapatis to enjoy the merit of their giving flowing day and night without interruption; hence it is called a dwelling place. 'Araṇya' means a place of delight, meaning a place delighted in by practitioners of empty solitude. Whether alone without companions or two or three persons, building a small room of limited size outside a temple—whether built by a donor or merely dwelling beneath a tree on empty ground—all are such. Furthermore, if one cultivates all wholesome dharmas apart from bodhicitta—namely, extensively practicing generous giving, receiving boundless rules of discipline, cultivating various dhyānas, upholding the twelvefold division of teachings and pondering their meanings, and with compassion and diligence transforming and delivering sentient beings—because these myriad practices lack the guiding path, they are all called 'without sacred traces'. The monastery is also like this: where ordinary people and noble ones dwell together is a place that generates merit, and is also next best. Except for the prajñā shared with the two vehicles, all the other Dharma gateways of Śrāvakas and Pratyekabuddhas are called 'araṇya places without sacred traces' because they depart from mahākaruṇā and seek personal release. One may also directly choose and prepare a level site within them to paint the maṇḍala.