無量壽經優婆提舍願生偈註 1.48

1.48

Question: Names designate realities; only when there is a reality is there a name. Since in the Land of Peace and Bliss there are no realities of the two vehicles, women, or defective sense-faculties, why is it necessary to further say that there are not even these three names?
Answer: Just as when a soft-hearted bodhisattva is not very courageous, people mockingly call him a "śrāvaka"; or when a person is deceitful or timid and weak, people mockingly call him a "woman"; and just as when someone's eyes are clear but cannot recognize things, people mockingly call him a "blind person"; or when someone's ears hear but cannot understand the meaning heard, people mockingly call him a "deaf person"; or when someone's tongue speaks but stutters and stammers clumsily, people mockingly call him a "mute person"—in cases like these, although their sense-faculties are complete, there are names of blame and reproach. Therefore it is necessary to say "not even the names [exist]," making clear that in the Pure Land there are no such names of reproach or disparagement.