妙法蓮華經玄義 7.239

7.239

譬如蓮子，根依淤泥而華處虛空，風日照動，晝夜增長，榮耀頓足。一切眾生，亦復如是，從無明際，發菩提心，修菩薩行，出離生死，入法性中，因行成就，值於佛日，被神通風，其心念念，入薩婆若海，此名佛界如是因。經言：「於無量劫所作功德，不如五莖蓮華上然燈佛得功德多。」此是真因成就，即其義也。

For instance, like a lotus seed: its roots rely on the mire while its flower rests in open space; illuminated and stirred by wind and sun, growing day and night, its glory is completely fulfilled. All sentient beings are also like this: from the limit of ignorance, they arouse the bodhi-mind, cultivate bodhisattva practices, transcend birth and death, enter into the dharma-nature, achieve the causal practice, encounter the buddha-sun, are touched by the wind of spiritual penetrations, and in every thought-moment their minds enter the ocean of sarvajñā (all-knowledge); this is called the buddha realm's suchness of cause. A sūtra says, 'The merit accomplished over immeasurable kalpas does not equal the great merit obtained by offering five stalks of lotuses to Dīpaṃkara Buddha'—this is the accomplishment of the true cause; this is its meaning.