妙法蓮華經玄義 9.156

9.156

通就本門一一妙中皆具十意。若別論者，破迹顯本，亦就破情。〈序品〉、〈方便〉、〈寶塔〉三文，已動執生疑。如文殊答彌勒云：昔八王子師事妙光，妙光先居補處，而王子成佛，號曰然燈。弟子今又成佛，號曰釋迦。妙光翻為弟子，字曰文殊。動迹執生此疑，何由可決？今言非是補處淹緩，亦非弟子超越，良由釋迦成道已久，昔示弟子、今示作師耳。拂此迹疑，顯於本智，故言破迹顯本也。〈方便品〉云：「我從久遠劫來，讚示涅槃道，生死苦永盡，我常如是說。」當知生死久已永盡，非是中間始入涅槃。寶塔涌現，證示滅不滅，即迹而常。分身皆集，八方不可稱數，分身既多，當知成佛久矣！如荷積滿池之喻。推三品文，已是破迹之漸。所以下方涌出，非寂滅道場受化，亦非他方分身所受化，此兩處人彌勒皆識，而今不識，所以驚疑。破此近情，顯本長遠，故文云：「一切世間皆謂我釋迦牟尼，出釋氏宮，去伽耶城不遠，得三菩提。然我實成佛來，無量百千萬億那由他劫。」直舉世界問彌勒，彌勒不知其數，何況世界中塵而當可數？此是破近執謂，生其遠智也。

Generally speaking, each subtlety of the original source gate possesses all ten meanings. If discussed specifically, 'shattering the traces and revealing the original source' likewise concerns shattering sentiments. The texts of the three chapters—the 'Introductory Chapter', 'Expedients', and 'Apparition of the Jeweled Stūpa'—have already shaken attachments and produced doubts. As Mañjuśrī answered Maitreya, saying: Formerly the eight princes served Varaprabha as master; Varaprabha previously held the rank of one bound to one more birth, yet a prince became a buddha named Dīpaṃkara. The disciple has now also become a buddha named Śākyamuni. Varaprabha has conversely become a disciple named Mañjuśrī. This attachment to the traces being shaken produces this doubt: by what means can it be resolved? Now it is explained that it was not that the one bound to one more birth was slow, nor that the disciple leaped ahead; it was truly because Śākyamuni had attained the Way long ago, formerly displaying himself as a disciple and now displaying himself as the master. Sweeping away these doubts about the traces reveals the original wisdom; hence it is called 'shattering the traces and revealing the original source.' The 'Expedients Chapter' says: 'From kalpas long remote, I have praised and shown the path of nirvāṇa, that the suffering of birth and death is forever ended; I have constantly spoken thus.' One should know that birth and death were already forever ended long ago, not that he only first entered nirvāṇa midway. The jeweled stūpa welling forth demonstrates that extinction is non-extinction, and that the traces are identical to the eternal. The emanations all gathered, uncountable in the eight directions; since the emanations were so numerous, one should know he attained buddhahood long ago—like the metaphor of lotus plants filling an entire pond. Deducing from the text of the three chapters, this is already the gradual process of shattering the traces. This is why when [bodhisattvas] welled forth from below, having neither received transformation at the bodhimanda of quiet extinction nor received transformation from the emanations of other directions—people from both of these places Maitreya recognized, yet these he did not recognize, and therefore he was astonished and doubtful. Shattering this sentiment of grasping to the near reveals the vast length of the original source; hence the text says: 'All the world considers that I, Śākyamuni, left the palace of the Śākyas, and not far from the city of Gayā, attained samyaksaṃbodhi. Yet I truly attained buddhahood immeasurable hundreds of thousands of ten-thousands of millions of nayutas of kalpas ago.' Directly citing the worlds, he asked Maitreya, and Maitreya did not know their number; how much less could the dust particles within the worlds be counted? This shatters the grasping and presumption of the near, producing their distant wisdom.