法華經義記 4.27

4.27

The questioner asks: “The gate itself is narrow and small and cannot let the children through to escape; what does that have to do with the children being unwilling to come out?” The explicator says: “The sūtra text itself says that the children are young and childish, lacking understanding, and unwilling to come out through the gate; if they had understanding and knowledge, how could they stay inside the gate and be burned by fire? It is simply that at that time the teaching of the Great Vehicle was of no use to sentient beings, so in meaning it became narrow and small.”