法華經義記 1.99

1.99

「有八龍王」，此下是第二列龍眾也。此下龍神等四眾例皆有三：一者總唱數、二者列名、三者總結也。「難陀」者，譯言歡喜。「跋難陀」者，譯為善歡喜也。變為人形佛邊聽法，於人有染潤之恩，見人皆歡喜也。龍唯五時中不得變身：一眠、二睡、三嗔、四婬、五死時也。「娑加羅」者，因國得名也。「和修吉」者，譯為多頭，即九頭龍王也。「德叉迦」者，譯為多舌也。「阿那婆達多」者，譯言無熱也，諸龍相與連甲中有小虫唼食，故於熱沙中曝，復有熱沙之苦，唯此龍無小虫，故無熱沙之苦也。「摩那斯」者，譯為大身，則是繞須彌七匝也。「漚盋羅」者，池名也，此龍住在塸盋羅花池之中，因池立名也。

'There were eight dragon kings': from this point down is the second, listing the assembly of nāgas. For the four assemblies below, including nāgas and spirits, there are uniformly three points: first, the general statement of the number; second, the listing of their names; and third, the general conclusion. 'Nanda' translates as 'joy'. 'Upananda' translates as 'excellent joy'. Transforming into human form, they listen to the Dharma beside the Buddha; they possess the kindness of moistening and enriching humanity, and seeing people, they are always joyful. There are only five times when nāgas cannot transform their bodies: first, sleeping; second, slumbering; third, wrath; fourth, lust; fifth, at the time of death. 'Sāgara' obtains his name from a kingdom. 'Vāsuki' translates as 'many heads', which is the nine-headed dragon king. 'Takṣaka' translates as 'many tongues'. 'Anavatapta' translates as 'without heat'; dragons usually have small bugs eating away between their interconnected scales, so they expose themselves in hot sand, thus suffering the torment of hot sand again; only this dragon has no small bugs, and therefore has no suffering of hot sand. 'Manasvin' translates as 'large body', meaning it coils around Mount Sumeru seven times. 'Utpalaka' is the name of a pond; this dragon dwells in a pond of utpala flowers, establishing his name from the pond.