妙法蓮華經玄義 6.231

6.231

The first text simply says: "Since long kalpas ago." The words "long kalpas ago" are indeed vague and boundless, without revealing the original ground, or they might rely on an intermediate period. The second simply says: "In the past, at the place of twenty thousand kotis of buddhas," not determining the number of kalpas; its distance or proximity is difficult to clarify, and measured against the later text, it appears relatively recent. Now, in discussing the ancient benefits, we take the third text: "Suppose someone takes ink of the three-thousand-fold world... passes a thousand realms to the east and drops a dot; whether dotted or not, all are ground to dust, each dust speck being a kalpa, and further surpassing this number by immeasurable, boundless hundreds of thousands of ten thousands of kotis of asaṃkhyeya kalpas." Using this explicit text, when looking toward the place of twenty thousand kotis of buddhas, that is merely yesterday. From that time onwards, the beginning of the Mahāyāna was bound; that buddha spoke the sūtra for eight thousand kalpas, and the sixteen princes expounded it in repetition for eighty-four thousand kalpas. The sūtra text of that time was extensive and its duration deep. Among the audience at that time, some were awakened right at their seats, some were converted in intermediate periods, and some have been converted recently; all reached the place of jewels, received the dharma-nature body, and became retinue of responsive births. Concurrently hidden within and manifested without, they matured sentient beings together and carried out buddha-activities. The Vimalakīrti says: "Although having achieved the path and turned the wheel of the Dharma, they still practice the bodhisattva path." This is that meaning. As for the audience at that time who had not yet attained the real benefit: if they attained the benefit of resemblance, it is not forgotten across rebirths; with the benefits of names/words or contemplation practice, it is forgotten across rebirths, or some do not forget. For those who forget, if they encounter a good friend, their past good roots will arise again; if they encounter an evil friend, they lose their original mind. Therefore, in the intermediate periods there was various soothing and guiding. Some were matured mostly through the Mahāyāna, and some were matured mostly through the Hīnayāna. As for those born into the Land of Expediency: although various paths were spoken, in truth it is for the eka-yāna; all are also caused to reach the place of jewels and receive the dharma-nature body. And in that land, they receive the real benefits of the ninth and tenth turns. The bodhisattvas [as numerous as] the dust specks of a thousand worlds belong to this stream. These individuals have already culminated previously; this is called ancient benefits. Among those sentient beings, for those who today dwell in the stage of śrāvakas, the benefits are discussed as being more recent, as will be explained later, and so on.