妙法蓮華經玄義 10.176

10.176

達摩欝多羅釋教迹義云：教者謂佛被下之言，迹謂蹤跡，亦應跡、化跡。言聖人布教各有歸從，然諸家判教非一，一云釋迦一代不出頓漸，漸有七階五時，世共同傳，無不言是。又云：五時之言，那可得定？但雙林已前，是有餘不了，涅槃之唱，以之為了。

Dharmottara, explaining the meaning of the traces of the teaching, says: "Teaching" refers to the Buddha's words that guide those below; "trace" means footprints, and also response-traces and transformation-traces. It is said that the holy man deployed teachings, each with its intended destination. However, the classifications of teachings by the various masters are not uniform. One says: Śākyamuni's lifetime does not go beyond the sudden and the gradual; the gradual has seven stages and five periods, universally transmitted across generations, and none say it is not so. Another says: how could the statement about the five periods be fixed? Merely that prior to the twin śāla trees it was with remainder and incomplete, whereas the proclamation of nirvāṇa was taken as complete.