法華經義記 3.54

3.54

Third, from "When I first sat at the place of awakening" downward, there are six and a half verses, designated here as the Buddha being unable to transform beings through the Great Vehicle, which then serves as the basis for the third parable in the burning house below, the elder being unable to rescue his children, as below it says: "Śāriputra, this elder then thought: 'In my body and hands there is strength…'" and so forth. Now, within these six and a half verses, there are themselves three parts: first, half a line explains the place where he was unable to transform beings; second, half a line explains the period when he was unable to transform beings; third, five and a half verses directly explain his inability to transform beings. From "When I first sat at the place of awakening" downward, half a line is the first, the place where the Buddha was unable to transform beings through the Great Vehicle. Regarding "contemplating the tree": one interpretation says that it means establishing all beings in the world, and that walking around it was surely for this purpose; it is also said to mean remembering and repaying the debt of kindness for the four branches of the tree providing sheltering shade, thereby establishing a model for beings—if insentient trees still receive repaid kindness, how much more so people! "For three times seven days I contemplated such matters": this half verse is the second, explaining the period when the Buddha was unable to transform beings through the Great Vehicle. From "The wisdom I have obtained" downward, there are five and a half verses, the third, directly explaining that the Buddha was unable to transform beings through the Great Vehicle, which itself has three levels: first, from "The wisdom I have obtained is subtle, wondrous, and foremost" downward, half a line explains the Buddha tentatively adapting by means of the Great Vehicle; second, from "Beings' faculties are dull" downward, there are three verses, which explain that the Buddha saw that beings lacked the capacity for the Great Vehicle; third, two verses explain the cessation of teaching. Within the second, the lack of capacity, there are themselves three parts: "Beings' faculties are dull"—half a line explains that they possess the small capacity of humans and devas; from "Such classes as these" downward, half a line directly explains that they lack the great capacity; from "At that time all the Brahmā kings" downward, two verses attest to their lack of capacity: only because the Brahmā kings petitioned did he remain in the world, which proves that they lacked the great capacity. From "I then reflected: 'If I only praise the Buddha Vehicle'" downward, two verses are the third, explaining the Buddha's cessation of teaching the Great Vehicle, which itself has two parts: first, one and a half verses explain an increase in dreading the peril—if they lack the capacity for the Great Vehicle and one merely preaches the Great Vehicle to them, they may give rise to thoughts of slander and enter the three bad paths, hence it is said they would "sink into suffering"; second, from "Rather than that, I will not preach the dharma" downward, half a line directly explains the cessation of teaching.