法華經義記 7.18

7.18

From "Having preached this sūtra" below is the fourth stage among the proximate causes and reasons, clarifying that after the Tathāgata had preached the Lotus Sūtra at that time, he then entered concentration, solely because the Buddha entering concentration provided the occasion for the princes to repeat the teaching. This also has three tiers: first, the statement "Having preached this sūtra, he immediately entered a quiet room" first clarifies the feature of entering concentration; second, the statement "dwelling in dhyāna-concentration" directly clarifies being in concentration; third, the statement "for eighty-four thousand kalpas" clarifies the number of kalpas elapsed while the Buddha was in concentration. From the beginning of the chapter up to this point is the end of the first part in the prose, which first clarifies the causes and reasons for establishing ties in the past.