法華玄義釋籤 2.39

2.39

Next, explaining the present sūtra: [disciples] such as Pūrṇa had already entered into the real, and because he was foremost in explaining the Dharma, he first understood and practiced the provisional. Next, in the comparison, he also first cites the past; not speaking of one or two segments before the Bodhi tree, he therefore says "near of the near". When viewed from the perspective of the present, those one or two segments before then are still near—how much more so when lacking the near within the far in the interval? Hence he says "near of the near". Next, contrasting and bringing forth the present sūtra: saying "far of the far" simply means long, long ago. Moreover, as for the difference, in terms of duration of time it is long ago or recent, and in terms of the places traversed it is far or near; the traces of transformation after achieving [awakening] are the places traversed. Both have these two meanings, so they are spoken of interchangeably. Next, regarding the persons who do not know, where it says "the [bodhisattva] of the subsequent rank counts the worlds and does not know": as in the "Life Span" chapter, where five hundred billion nayutas of asaṃkhyeyas of trichiliocosms are completely ground into dust, and having passed that many worlds, one speck of dust is then dropped. The number of dust specks is already great; how much more so the worlds where dust has or has not been dropped—how could they ever be counted? The worlds where dust has or has not been dropped are already unknowable; how much more so the dust within those worlds—how could it ever be counted? Furthermore, taking one speck of dust as one kalpa, the number of billions of asaṃkhyeyas since the Buddha achieved the Way exceeds even this. Before the traces were revealed, Maitreya did not know; even after the traces were revealed, the power of wisdom of the [bodhisattva] of the subsequent rank could not know the number of worlds, so how could he know the dust? Therefore, opening the traces and revealing the origin, all enter the first dwelling, and are thus said to become buddhas. In the origin gate, with the traces revealed, they have no doubt about the fruit; thus all make the vow seeking this real fruit, hence saying: "May I in future ages also explain a life span such as this."