法華經義記 4.33

4.33

「是時長者見諸子等安穩得出」此下竟「無復障礙」，是第五明長者見子出火難譬，譬上〈方便品〉中第五「舍利弗當知我見佛子等志求佛道者無量千萬億」，明如來見諸眾生大乘機發，此中亦應具通學人無學人大乘機發，今此文中略明無學人，所以爾者，為欲喻揚無學。學人正使未盡，是故貶之為劣；阿羅漢、辟支佛、大力菩薩斷正使已盡，是故褒之為勝。

From “At that time the elder, seeing that his sons had safely escaped…” down to “having no further obstructions”, this is the fifth section, explaining the parable of the elder seeing his sons escape the disaster of the fire, which illustrates the fifth section in the “Expedient Means” chapter above: “Śāriputra, you should know that when I see the Buddha-sons who aspire to seek the Buddha path, measureless thousands of myriads of koṭis of them…”, explaining the Tathāgata seeing beings’ capacity for the Great Vehicle arise. Here, it should also generally apply to the arising of the capacity for the Great Vehicle in both learners and non-learners; now in this text, it briefly explains it regarding non-learners. The reason it does so is to praise and extol non-learners. Learners have not yet exhausted active afflictions, and are therefore depreciated as inferior; arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and great-powered bodhisattvas have already exhausted active afflictions, and are therefore praised as superior.