妙法蓮華經文句 5.9

5.9

初轉法輪處、菩提樹處、初忉利下處、大神變處，此四處諸佛皆定，餘處不定。又除轉法輪一處，其三處決定。「三七日」者，舊云「思理教等」，又云「勸誡等」。瑤師云：「事之至深，至聖猶思而後行。一七思佛智微妙，二七思眾生根性不同，三七思法藥萬品，即舉偈證之：『我所得智慧，微妙最第一，眾生諸根鈍，云何而可度？』」今明佛在法身之地寂而常照，恒以佛眼洞覽無遺，豈始至道場淹留三七方思此事？言三七者，明有所表也，表佛初欲三周說法，故假言三七耳。初七思法說，次七思譬說，後七思因緣說，皆無機不得，是故息大施小也，此偏就圓教大乘為釋耳。若通途約大乘釋者，初七思惟欲說圓教大乘，次七思惟欲說別教，後七思惟欲說通教大乘，皆無機不得，是故息大說三藏三乘，為方便之化也。觀心釋者，初欲觀中道，中道妙難觀不得；次欲觀即假，即假觀分別智難生不得；後欲觀即空，即空巧度又不得，方觀方便析法小觀也。

The place of the first turning of the Dharma wheel, the place under the Bodhi tree, the place of first descending from Trāyastriṃśa, and the place of the great supernormal transformation—these four places are fixed for all Buddhas; other places are not fixed. Moreover, excluding the single place of turning the Dharma wheel, the [other] three places are definitely fixed. Regarding 'three [times] seven days', the old [commentary] says 'pondering principle, teaching, and so forth', and also says 'exhortation, admonition, and so forth'. Master Yao says: 'A matter of the utmost depth—even the ultimate sage ponders it before acting. In the first seven [days], he ponders the subtlety and wonder of the Buddha's wisdom; in the second seven, he ponders the differing faculties and natures of sentient beings; in the third seven, he ponders the myriad kinds of Dharma medicines. Thus he cites the verse as proof: "The wisdom I have attained / Is subtle, wondrous, and supreme; / Sentient beings have dull faculties— / How could they be crossed over?"' Now, to explain: the Buddha resides in the realm of the Dharma body, quiescent yet ever illuminating, constantly viewing all without omission through the Buddha eye; how could he only upon arriving at the place of awakening linger for three sevens before pondering this matter? The mention of 'three sevens' clarifies that it has a symbolic meaning: it signifies that the Buddha initially wished to preach the Dharma in three turnings, and thus 'three sevens' is spoken of provisionally. In the first seven, he pondered preaching by Dharma; in the next seven, he pondered preaching by parables; in the final seven, he pondered preaching by causes and conditions—yet since there were no receptive capacities [for any of them], it could not be done; therefore he ceased the great and dispensed the small. This is an interpretation specifically based on the perfect teaching of the Mahāyāna. If interpreted generally in terms of the Mahāyāna: in the first seven, he pondered wishing to teach the perfect teaching Mahāyāna; in the next seven, he pondered wishing to teach the distinctive teaching; in the final seven, he pondered wishing to teach the shared teaching Mahāyāna—yet since for all of them there were no receptive capacities, it could not be done; therefore he ceased the great and taught the three vehicles of the Tripiṭaka as an expedient conversion. In the contemplation of mind interpretation: first, he wished to contemplate the Middle Way, but the Middle Way is subtle and difficult to contemplate, so it could not be done; next, he wished to contemplate the identical-with-provisional, but the discriminative wisdom of contemplating the identical-with-provisional is difficult to generate, so it could not be done; finally, he wished to contemplate the identical-with-empty, but skilful crossing over through identical-with-empty again could not be done; only then did he contemplate the minor contemplation of expediently analysing dharmas.