妙法蓮華經玄義 4.114

4.114

小草位者，人天乘也。輪王是人主位，釋梵是天主位，皆約報果明位。果義既有優劣，當知修因必有淺深。人位因者，即是秉持五戒，略為四品：下品為鐵輪王，王一天下。中品為銅輪王，王二天下。上品為銀輪王，王三天下。上上品為金輪王，王四天下。皆是散心持戒，兼以慈心勸他為福故，報為人主，飛行皇帝，四方歸德，神寶自然應也。

The stage of the small herbs is the vehicle of humans and devas. The wheel-turning king is the stage of the ruler of humans; Śakra and Brahmā are the stages of rulers of devas. Both clarify stages in terms of karmic reward. Since the meaning of the fruits possesses superiority and inferiority, one should know that cultivating the causes must possess shallowness and depth. The causes of the human stage consist in upholding the five precepts, summarized into four grades: the lower grade is an iron-wheel king, ruling one continent; the medium grade is a copper-wheel king, ruling two continents; the upper grade is a silver-wheel king, ruling three continents; the upper-upper grade is a gold-wheel king, ruling four continents. All of these uphold precepts with a distracted mind, and by additionally encouraging others with a benevolent mind to produce merit, their reward is to become rulers of humans, emperors flying through the air, with the four directions submitting to their virtue, and divine treasures naturally responding.