法華經義記 7.44

7.44

Below "and spoke verses saying", this is the second, directly clarifying the Buddha's bestowal of prophecy on Pūrṇa, within which there are intrinsically two: prose and verse. Now this is the second, the verse recitation, having twenty-one and a half lines of verse in total. There are two kinds of explanations: one explanation says it is divided into two, with the first fourteen lines versifying the first, predicting his practice of causes, and the subsequent seven and a half lines versifying the second, predicting his attainment of the fruit. There is also another explanation that divides it into three sections: first, there are seven lines of verse that do not versify the prose above, but express the meaning by broadly clarifying that bodhisattvas manifest as voice-hearers to assist and influence the Tathāgata; second, there are seven lines versifying the first [part] in the prose above, the practice of causes; third, there are seven and a half lines versifying the second [part] in the prose, predicting his attainment of the fruit.