妙法蓮華經玄義 7.116

7.116

經曰：今日座中無央數眾，各見不同：或見如來入涅槃；或見如來住世一劫減一劫；或見如來住世無量劫；或見丈六身；或見小身、大身；或見報身坐蓮華藏世界海，為百千億釋迦牟尼佛說心地法門；或見法身同於虛空，無有分別，無相無礙，遍同法界虛空；或見此處娑羅樹林，悉是土砂、草木、石壁；或見此處金銀七寶清淨莊嚴；或見此處三世諸佛所遊之處；或見此處即是不可思議，諸佛境界真實法體。此明佛身依正各有四相，即前四涅槃相也。《大經》與此經義同。《大經》以常住為宗，迦葉初問長壽。佛答中處處多顯未來常住，少明先成壽命，為《法華》已說故。彼經雖一兩處說，不可判為近成短命。今經正明發迹顯本，無量壽命為宗，少說未來常住，雖一兩處少說，不可判為無常。二經互舉，利根知本常，未來亦常，解未來長壽，亦解本來長壽。其義是同。

The sūtra says: Among the countless assembly seated today, each sees differently: some see the Tathāgata enter nirvāṇa; some see the Tathāgata abide in the world for an eon or an eon minus one; some see the Tathāgata abide in the world for immeasurable eons; some see a sixteen-foot body; some see a small body or a great body; some see the reward-body seated upon the ocean of the Lotus Womb World, expounding the teaching of the mind-ground for hundreds of thousands of koṭīs of Śākyamuni Buddhas; some see the dharma-kāya identical to empty space, without discrimination, signless and unobstructed, pervading equally the empty space of the dharma-realm; some see the śāla grove in this place entirely as dirt, sand, grass, trees, and stone walls; some see this place purely adorned with gold, silver, and the seven jewels; some see this place as the realm roamed by the Buddhas of the three times; some see this place as precisely the inconceivable, true dharma-substance of the realm of the Buddhas. This clarifies that the Buddha's body, environment, and person each have four aspects, which are precisely the four aforementioned aspects of nirvāṇa. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra and this sūtra are identical in meaning. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra takes constant abiding as its central purport, and Kāśyapa first asks about longevity. In the Buddha's answers, throughout many places, he mostly reveals future constant abiding, and seldom clarifies longevity attained previously, because the Lotus Sūtra had already expounded it. Although that sūtra speaks of it in one or two places, it cannot be judged as recent attainment and short life-span. The present sūtra directly clarifies revealing the original source by opening the traces, taking immeasurable life-span as its central purport, and seldom speaks of future constant abiding; although it speaks of it rarely in one or two places, it cannot be judged as impermanent. The two sūtras evoke each other: those of sharp faculties know that the original source is permanent, and the future is also permanent; understanding future longevity, they also understand original longevity. Their meaning is identical.