妙法蓮華經玄義 10.83

10.83

三引〈信解品〉，四大聲聞領教證次第者，文云：「其父先來，求子不得，中止一城，其家大富，多有僮僕，臣佐吏民，亦甚眾多。時貧窮子，遇到父舍，疾走而去，即遣傍人，急追將還。窮子驚愕，稱怨大喚，無罪囚執，此必定死。父語使言：不須此人，勿強將來。」此領何義？領初成佛，寂滅道場，法身大士四十一地眷屬圍遶，說圓頓教門，于時以大擬子，機生悶絕，當知佛日初出，頓教先開，譬如從牛，必先出乳。

Third, citing the 'Chapter on Faith and Understanding' where the four great śrāvakas' expression of their understanding demonstrates the sequence. The text says: 'His father had previously sought his son in vain, and stopped in a certain city. His household was exceedingly wealthy, with many servants, retainers, officers, and people in great numbers. At that time the impoverished son happened to come to his father's house, but fled away in haste. [The father] immediately sent bystanders to pursue him swiftly and bring him back. The impoverished son was alarmed and terrified, crying out in grievance: "I am innocent, yet seized and held captive; this means certain death!" The father said to the messenger: "There is no need for this man; do not force him to come."' What meaning does this express? It expresses that when [the Buddha] first attained buddhahood in the bodhimaṇḍa of serene extinction, surrounded by the retinue of the great beings of the dharma-kāya of the forty-one stages, he expounded the gate of the perfect and sudden teaching. At that time, when he confronted the son with the great, the [son's] capacity collapsed in faintness. One should know that when the Buddha-sun first emerges, the sudden teaching is first opened up—just as from a cow, milk must first be produced.