仁王護國般若經疏 2.6

2.6

From "There were also eight hundred million" downward, secondly, lists the assembly of pratyekabuddhas. The text has four [parts]: first, declaring the number; second, indicating the rank; third, praising the virtues; fourth, concluding. The first text is understandable. "Great ṛṣi pratyekabuddhas" is the second, indicating their rank. There are three distinctions: First, the solitary realisers (pratyekabuddhas). For example, formerly a king entered a park for sightseeing. In the clear dawn, he saw that the groves, flowers, and fruits were exceedingly lovely. At that time, when the king had finished eating, he then lay down to sleep. The king's various court ladies all competed to pluck and pick them, destroying the groves and trees. When the king awoke, he immediately became enlightened to the impermanence of all dharmas. If one uses the external to infer the internal, one becomes a great ṛṣi pratyekabuddha. Second, those who awaken to conditions (pratyekabuddhas). They appear during the era of a Buddha, hear the twelve links of dependent origination, and sever the afflictions of view and thought. Third, the lesser pratyekabuddhas. These are srotāpannas born among humans at a time when there is no Buddha and the Buddha's Dharma has already been extinguished; having seven births among humans and likewise in heaven, they do not undergo an eighth birth, awakening on their own and achieving the Way, which is achieving [the rank of] a lesser pratyekabuddha.