法華經義記 8.14

8.14

"When the Buddha said this, the Sahā world": from here down is the second, directly clarifying the emergence, wherein there are also two: first, the compiler of the sūtra narrates the marks of the bodhisattvas' springing up and emerging; second, from "In this assembly of bodhisattvas there were four leaders" down, clarifying the springing-up bodhisattvas and the Buddha going back and forth in question and answer. Now within the sūtra-compiler's narration of the marks of springing up and emerging, there are of themselves eight stages: first, narrating and listing the marks of springing up and emerging. Second, from "These bodhisattvas were all golden in body" down, narrating the physical appearance of the bodhisattvas. Third, from "Previously all were here" down, narrating where the bodhisattvas came from. Fourth, from "These bodhisattvas, hearing the sound spoken by Śākya, came up from below" down, the sūtra-compiler narrates the reason for their springing up and coming: because Śākya told the bodhisattvas from other directions that there was no need for them, as Sahā has its own bodhisattvas who can propagate this sūtra, having heard these words they therefore sprang up and came out. Fifth, from "Each and every bodhisattva" down, the sūtra-compiler narrates the retinue of the springing-up bodhisattvas. Sixth, from "Having emerged from the earth, they each went into empty space" down, clarifying the threefold-karma offerings made by the springing-up bodhisattvas once they had emerged. Seventh, from "When these bodhisattvas first sprang up and emerged" down, the sūtra-compiler narrates the number of kalpas that elapsed during their springing up and emerging. Eighth, from "At that time the fourfold assembly, also by the Buddha's supernatural power" down, the sūtra-compiler narrates the fourfold assembly seeing all the bodhisattvas everywhere.