首楞嚴義疏注經 10.22

10.22

"The basis of birth is completely broken through" means that the aggregate of volitional formations appears. "The eight hundred merits" means that through the power of samādhi, the fundamental merits of his visual faculty are brought forth, increasing a hundredfold in superiority. Relying on this supernormal power, he sees sentient beings dying here and being born there throughout eighty thousand eons; beyond this he does not know, which is also the point where the power of the aggregate of volitional formations comes to an end. He does not know the causal origin of the aggregate of consciousness, nor the differentiation of karmic fruits perfumed by seeds of ignorance (avidyā). Because he does not know, he clings to the view that beings originally exist without a cause, just as someone seeing a flying bird beyond the reach of his vision asserts that it does not exist. Because the visual faculty grasps sense objects with originally only eight hundred merits, mundane supernormal power does not exceed this; supramundane supernormal power, however, transcends this without obstruction.