妙法蓮華經玄義 7.75

7.75

以三義故，知此諸因悉是迹因：一、近故。二、淺深不同故。三、被拂故。今世已前，本來已後，中間行行，悉是方便，故知是迹因也。若執迹因為本因者，斯不知迹，亦不識本。如不識天月，但觀池月，若光、若桂、若輪，準下知上。光譬智妙，桂譬行妙，輪譬位妙。若識迹中三妙，拂迹顯本，即知本地因妙，如撥影指天，云何臨盆而不仰漢？嗚呼！聾騃，若為論道耶？若得斯意，迹本非本，本迹非迹，本迹雖殊，不思議一也。

By three reasons we know that all these causes are causes in the trace: first, because they are recent; second, because they differ in shallowness and depth; third, because they are brushed away. All the practices cultivated before the present lifetime and after the original source, in the intermediate [periods], are expedients; therefore we know they are causes in the trace. If one grasps the causes in the trace as the original cause, one does not understand the trace, nor does one recognize the original source. It is like not knowing the moon in the sky and merely viewing the moon in the pond: whether its light, its laurel tree, or its disc, one knows the upper by analogy with the lower. The light is an analogy for the wondrousness of wisdom, the laurel tree for the wondrousness of practice, and the disc for the wondrousness of the stage. If one recognizes the three wonders in the trace and brushes away the trace to reveal the original source, one then knows the wondrousness of the cause at the original ground. It is like pushing aside the reflection to point to the sky: why look down into the basin instead of gazing up at the Milky Way? Alas! The deaf and foolish—how could one discuss the Way with them? If one grasps this idea, the trace is original and yet not original, and the original source is trace and yet not trace; though original source and trace differ, their inconceivability is one.