首楞嚴義疏注經 4.451

4.451

Question: In the transition of the three times, it should proceed from future moving to present, and from present era changing to past; why does this text state it in reverse? Answer: Here it is discussed in terms of proceeding from subtle to prominent, transforming few into many; being already twelve, it should become hundreds and thousands. Therefore one cannot first take the future to correspond to the first layer, because in the future the count is not yet seen; hence one must match them in reverse, because 'transformation' has the sense of reversal. A later text says: "Life follows habitual compliance; death follows transformative flow." Since the sūtra text says "flowing and transforming", one must increase the count in reverse. This refers to the inherent functional capacities and operations of the six faculties within the bodies of sentient beings when taking up objects, which are termed 'virtues'; it is not the same as the pure functioning brought about by the perfuming of upholding the sūtra in the Lotus Sūtra. However, although defilement and purity are different, both are completed from the perfuming power of the fundamentally existent; hence there is no difference in count between that text and this.