妙法蓮華經玄義 6.129

6.129

四、就眾經者，《華嚴》詮別、詮圓。三藏詮偏。方等四種詮。《般若》三種詮。《法華》唯一詮。又諸經詮妙，與《法華》不異，而帶麁詮，麁詮不得合妙，是故為麁；《法華》不爾，佛平等說，如一味雨。正直捨方便，但說無上道，純是一詮。又云：昔毀呰聲聞，而佛實以大乘教化。又云：「汝等所行，是菩薩道。」此則融麁令妙。如此兩意，異於眾經，是故言妙。譬如良醫，能變毒為藥。二乘根敗，不能反復，名之為毒。今經得記，即是變毒為藥。故《論》云：「餘經非祕密，法華為祕密」也。復有本地圓說，諸經所無，在後當廣明（云云）。

Fourth, regarding the various sūtras: the *Avataṃsaka* signifies the distinctive and signifies the perfect. The tripiṭaka signifies the biased. The vaipulya has four kinds of signification. The *Prajñāpāramitā* has three kinds of signification. The *Lotus Sūtra* has only a single signification. Furthermore, the subtle signified by the other sūtras is not different from that of the *Lotus Sūtra*, yet they carry crude signifiers, and crude signifiers cannot unite with the subtle; therefore they are crude. The *Lotus Sūtra* is not so; the Buddha expounds impartially, like rain of a single flavor. Directly discarding expedient means, he expounds only the unsurpassed Way, being purely a single signification. Moreover, it is said: in the past he disparaged the śrāvakas, yet the Buddha truly transformed them with the Mahāyāna. It is also said: 'What you are practicing is the bodhisattva path.' This is melting the crude to make it subtle. These two meanings differ from the other sūtras, and therefore it is called subtle. For example, a good physician can turn poison into medicine. The faculties of the two vehicles were ruined, unable to recover; this is called poison. In the present sūtra, receiving prediction is precisely turning poison into medicine. Therefore the *Treatise* says: 'Other sūtras are not esoteric; the *Lotus* is esoteric.' Furthermore, there is the perfect exposition of the original ground, which is absent in other sūtras, as will be broadly clarified later (and so on).