御注金剛般若波羅蜜經宣演 2.77

2.77

The commentary says: "What does this mean? At the time of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, it was not the foremost bodhisattva practice. Why is this? Among all the practices I cultivated at that time, there was not a single dharma that attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. If I had already realized bodhi under that Buddha, then the buddhas of a later time would not have bestowed a prophecy on me. Therefore, through my practice at that time, I had not yet become a Buddha." Exposition: The meaning is the same as this treatise. However, where the commentary says, "then the buddhas of a later time would not have bestowed a prophecy on me," the translator made an error; it should say, "then he would not have bestowed upon me a prophecy for a later time." The verse in the new treatise says: "Because of receiving a prophecy for a later time, / the practice under Dīpaṃkara was not superior." Question: Earlier it was said that because nothing is attained on the eighth ground, one receives the Buddha's prophecy; how is it that now it is said that the practice was not superior and did not attain bodhi? Answer: The intended meanings are different. Earlier, it was because on the eighth ground the non-arising patience is attained and manifests continuously, and because nothing is attained, that one receives the prophecy. Now, it is based on the fact that in the true principle of non-arising, there is no superior practice; if it were truly existent, why did he not attain bodhi at that time, but instead received a prophecy for the distant future? This precisely resolves the question asked previously: because bodhi was not attained, it is clarified that it was not the foremost bodhisattva practice.