斥世妄執大小相違
Refuting Worldly Clinging to the Contradiction Between Great and Small
事鈔(中一)云。今時不知教者多自毀傷(身□□□□弗□□□□□□故云自毀也)。云此戒律所禁止是聲聞之□□□□□□同糞土。猶如黃葉。木牛木馬。誑止小兒。此之戒法。亦復如是。誑汝聲聞弟子也。原夫。大小二乘。理無分隔。對機設藥除病為先。故鹿野初唱。本為聲聞。八萬諸天。便發大道。雙林告滅終顯佛性。而有聽眾果成羅漢。以此推之。悟解在心。不唯教旨。故世尊處世。深達物機。凡所施為。必以威儀為主。但由身口所發。事在戒防。三毒悖興。要由心使。今先以戒捉。次以定縛。後以慧殺。理次然乎。
The Commentary on the Vinaya says: Nowadays, people who do not understand the teaching often harm themselves. They claim that what these Precepts prohibit belongs only to the śrāvakas, and that for them it is no different from dung, or like yellow leaves, or wooden cows and horses used to trick children into stopping their crying. "These Precepts," they say, "are likewise just a trick to deceive you śrāvaka disciples."
But originally, the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna — the two Vehicles — are not separated in principle. Medicine is prescribed according to the patient's capacity, with curing the illness as the priority. That is why at the Deer Park, the Buddha's first teaching was originally intended for the śrāvakas, yet eighty thousand celestial beings there gave rise to the aspiration for the Great Path. And at the Twin Sāl Trees, when he announced his passing into Cessation, he finally revealed the Buddha-nature — yet some in that audience still attained the fruit of Arhatship. From this we can infer that awakening and understanding lie in the mind, not solely in the intent of the teaching.
Therefore the World-Honored One, living in the world, deeply understood the capacities of beings. In all that he did, he invariably made deportment and discipline the foundation. Since what is expressed through body and speech is a matter to be guarded by the Precepts, while the three poisons arise perversely and must be controlled by the mind — now first one is caught by the Precepts, next bound by Concentration, and finally slain by Wisdom. This is surely the natural order of things.