起信論疏筆削記 2.22

2.22

As the *Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra* says: "All definitive scriptures cyclicly examine and analyze the mātṛkā." According to this, what is subsumed under the Abhidharma-piṭaka is also spoken by the Buddha. Since this treatise was composed by a bodhisattva after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, how can it also enter the Abhidharma-piṭaka? Answer: The Dharma spoken by the Buddha is of three kinds: first, spoken by the Buddha himself; second, spoken through his empowerment of others; third, spoken through prophecy. The present [treatise] is of the latter kind. Thus the *Māyā-sūtra* states: "The Buddha prophesied that Aśvaghoṣa would light the torch of the true Dharma, destroy the banner of false views, and skillfully explain the essentials of the Dharma." Having received a prophecy, it is identical to the Buddha's words; therefore it is subsumed here. Question: If you say it enters the Śāstra-piṭaka because of a prophecy, could it be that all bodhisattvas who composed treatises after the Buddha's extinction had prophecies? Because of this objection, I now provide an alternative explanation: although discourses and discussions were spoken by the Buddha, they all belong to the Sūtra-piṭaka, because all twelve divisions are called sūtras. Those composed by bodhisattvas are only called treatises; they either take those sūtras as their source or comment on them, so their subsumption here is also not contradictory.