釋淨土群疑論 5.13

5.13

釋曰：有二釋。一釋言：唯有化鳥而無化女。何以故？以經唯說有於化鳥，無說有諸化女故。若有者，經文亦應說。又淨土論言「女人及根缺，二乘種不生。」難曰：經說淨土變化莊嚴，豈能盡也。《稱讚淨土經》言「假使世尊住世百千劫，化無數舌，說彼淨土莊嚴之相亦不可盡。」豈以不說即言無也？二釋言：彼有化女，如《觀音授記經》說「觀世音菩薩化無量女人」，此豈不是化女者也？《鼓音聲王經》說「阿彌陀佛有父有母」。為化下位示有女人，化上位者說無女人，不相違也。

The explanation says: There are two explanations. One explanation says: There are only apparitional birds and no apparitional women. Why? Because the sūtras only state that there are apparitional birds, and do not state that there are apparitional women. If there were, the sūtra texts would also have stated it. Furthermore, the Pure Land Treatise states: 'Women and those with defective sense faculties, as well as the seed of the two vehicles, are not born there.' The objection counters: The sūtras state that the apparitional adornments of the pure land—how could they be described exhaustively? The Chengzan jingtu jing says: 'Even if the World-Honoured One were to abide in the world for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, manifesting countless tongues to describe the adornments of that pure land, they could not be exhausted.' How can one say they do not exist merely because they are not mentioned? The second explanation says: That realm has apparitional women. As the Guanyin shouji jing says: 'Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva manifests countless women'—is this not an instance of apparitional women? The Guyinsheng wang jing states: 'Amitābha Buddha has a father and a mother.' To transform those of lower rank, women are manifested; to transform those of higher rank, it is taught that there are no women. There is no contradiction between these.