妙法蓮華經玄義 10.78

10.78

復言醍醐者，是眾味之後也。《涅槃》稱為醍醐，此經名大王饍，故知二經俱是醍醐。又燈明佛說《法華經》竟，即於中夜唱入涅槃。彼佛一化，初說《華嚴》，後說《法華》。迦葉佛時，亦復如是，悉不明《涅槃》，皆以《法華》為後教後味。今佛熟前番人，以《法華》為醍醐，更熟後段人，重將《般若》洮汰，方入《涅槃》。復以《涅槃》為後教後味。譬如田家先種先熟先收，晚種後熟後收。《法華》八千聲聞，無量損生菩薩，即是前熟果實，於《法華》中收，更無所作。若五千自起，人天被移，皆是後熟，《涅槃》中收。為此義故，故云：「從摩訶般若出大涅槃。」即後番次第也。按《無量義》云：「摩訶般若，次華嚴海空。」即前番法華中次第也。

Furthermore, speaking of ghee: this comes after all the flavors. The *Nirvāṇa Sūtra* is called ghee, and this sūtra is named the Great King's Feast; hence we know that both sūtras are ghee. Moreover, when Dīpaṃkara Buddha finished expounding the *Lotus Sūtra*, he announced his entry into nirvāṇa right at midnight. During that Buddha's single teaching period, he expounded the *Avataṃsaka* at the beginning and the *Lotus Sūtra* at the end. In the time of Kāśyapa Buddha it was also like this: neither of them clarified the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*, both taking the *Lotus Sūtra* as the final teaching and the final flavor. Our present Buddha matured the earlier group of people, taking the *Lotus Sūtra* as ghee; then, to further mature the later segment of people, he again used the *Prajñā* to refine them before they could enter *Nirvāṇa*, again taking *Nirvāṇa* as the final teaching and the final flavor. It is like a farming family: what is planted first ripens first and is harvested first; what is planted late ripens later and is harvested later. In the *Lotus Sūtra*, the eight thousand śrāvakas and the immeasurable bodhisattvas who cut off further rebirths were the earlier-ripened fruits, harvested in the *Lotus Sūtra*, having nothing further to do. Those five thousand who got up and left on their own, and the humans and devas who were transferred, were all later-ripening, harvested in the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*. For this reason, it is said: 'From the Mahā-prajñā emerges the Mahā-nirvāṇa'—this is the sequence for the later group. According to the *Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings*, which says: 'Mahā-prajñā, followed by the Avataṃsaka sea-like emptiness'—this is the sequence within the Lotus Sūtra for the earlier group.