法華玄義釋籤 12.30

12.30

次問中言「若未來善為機四正勤意云何」者，四勤中已生未生皆可令生，如何但云未來為正？若準正勤，應云已生善為機，如溉甘果栽；未生善為機，如鑽木出火；已生惡為機，猶如除毒蛇；未生惡為機，如預防流水。答意者，機分通別，通則通於三世如四正勤，別則唯在未來，如前所說。雖在未來，功由過現，是故過現以為機者，本為未來生善滅惡，是故四正勤中言「雖過去」等者，文中雖云「已生善惡」，意令此善未來增長，意令此惡未來除滅故云也。又如救火，已燒正燒皆不可救，救正燒者本為未燒。

Next, in the question, as for stating 'If future good is taken as capacity, what is the meaning of the four right exertions?': in the four exertions, both what has already arisen and what has not yet arisen can be made to arise; why is it said only that the future is the primary? If conforming to the right exertions, one should say that good already arisen is capacity, like watering a sweet fruit sapling; good not yet arisen is capacity, like drilling wood to produce fire; evil already arisen is capacity, like removing a poisonous snake; evil not yet arisen is capacity, like guarding in advance against flowing water. The intention of the answer is that capacity is divided into general and specific: in the general sense, it pervades the three time periods, like the four right exertions; in the specific sense, it resides solely in the future, as explained previously. Although it resides in the future, its function derives from the past and present. Therefore, taking the past and present as capacity is fundamentally for generating good and extinguishing evil in the future. Therefore, in the four right exertions, as for stating 'although in the past' and so forth: although the text says 'good and evil already arisen,' the intention is to cause this good to increase in the future, and the intention is to cause this evil to be extinguished in the future; hence it is spoken thus. Furthermore, it is like fighting a fire: what has already burned and what is currently burning cannot be saved; saving what is currently burning is fundamentally for the sake of what has not yet burned.