四明尊者教行錄 4.79

4.79

Answer: The sūtras and treatises of the *Saṃdhinirmocana* and *Vijñapti[mātratā]* are teachings that explicitly deploy expedient means. Śrāvakas seeking quiescence only esteem biased truth; generating the mind on the basis of [that] principle only results in reducing [body] to ashes and extinguishing [wisdom]. Not knowing that the true principle is ultimately real and eternal, they can never attain bodhi though they wish to seek it. When it came to the assembly of the Lotus on Vulture Peak, the provisional was opened to reveal the real; uprightly discarding expedients, [the Buddha] spoke only of the unexcelled path. In the three cycles [of preaching], he conferred prophecies that the śrāvakas would become Buddhas. One must not cling any further to the sūtras and treatises of earlier times [stating that] śrāvakas cannot become Buddhas.