妙法蓮華經文句 6.38

6.38

「爾時窮子傭賃」下，第二父子相見譬，近領火宅中見火，遠領方便中五濁意。為三：一、明窮子傭賃，領火宅所見之火，法說所見五濁；二、父見子，領火宅長者見，法說中佛眼見也；三、歡喜適願，領火宅中驚怖，法說中起大悲心。法譬並明父前見子，此中明子前見父。就佛則靈智先知，機後起應，故言父先見子；若約眾生，必先機而後應，故言子先見父。機應不可思議，不後不前，故前後互舉也。今取文便但為二段：一、子見父，二、父見子。此兩段中各復為四。初子見父四者：一、見父之由，由求衣食；二、見父之處，處在門側；三、見父之相，踞師子床；四、生畏避，悔來至此。見父之由，由厭苦欣樂推求理味，漸漸積習，遂成出世善根，故言「傭賃展轉」。以此善根能扣佛慈悲，故言「遇到父舍」。父喻道後法身，舍喻無緣慈悲。大小二機雙扣此舍，有大機故，故言「遙見其父」，有小機故「住在門側」。若唯小無大則應不見尊特之身，父不應言「我財物庫藏今有所付」；若唯大無小，不應住立門側，子不應言「非我傭力得物之處」也。見父之處者即是門側，二觀為方便即門二邊，圓中之機當門正見，二乘偏真故言門側，但空三昧偏真慧眼，傍窺法身耳。「遙見其父」，正見有二種，一近見、二遠見，今言大機始發扣召事遠，是故言「遙」；又機微非應赴，名之為「遙」也。「踞師子床」者，圓報法身安處空理，無復通別二惑、八魔等畏，故云踞師子床也。《華嚴》說第一義空，四無所畏為床也。「寶几承足」者，定慧為足，實諦為几，無生定慧依真如境也。「婆羅門」，舊云，高良大姓，八地已上也。「剎利」者，七地已還也。「居士」，內凡夫等。舊云，此經中明法身，非常住法身也，乃是他方應身將應此土，即為此間之法身，故有內凡諸人圍遶。今謂不爾，若作他方佛者，子父機應體用著脫，皆不成，如前說。又不容小機扣此、大機扣彼，亦不應結大緣於彼、結小緣於此，亦不應雙結在此、雙應在彼，如是大惑亂。今明勝應應菩薩，即盧舍那尊特身，大機所扣者也；劣應應小乘，丈六弊衣，小機所扣者也。今經明常住醍醐與《涅槃》等，法身圓頓與《華嚴》等，所譬長者威德侍衛剎利婆羅門恭敬圍遶，悉指《華嚴》中眷屬皆無異也，所說法相如彼所明亦復無別。婆羅門名淨行，貴族高潔即等覺離垢菩薩也；剎利即是王種，九地已下初地已上也；居士富而不貴，即三十心也。「真珠瓔珞」者，即戒定慧。陀羅尼、三昧，四瓔珞也。「價直千萬」者，即四十地功德，以嚴法身也。「吏民僮僕」者，異門明義，即是稟方便教，斷通惑者名為民，稟別教斷通惑者名為吏；若同門明義者，還是方便波羅蜜也。內與實智同，外與機緣同，喻如吏民有內奉外役之義也。「白拂」者，即是權智之用也。「左右」者，右即入空智用。拂四住塵，左即入假智用；拂無知塵，此二為中道方便，故言侍立（云云）。「覆以寶帳」者，真實慈悲也。「垂諸花幡」者，花即四攝，幡即神通。「香水灑地」，降注法水灑諸菩薩心地以淹惑塵，亦是定水灑散心也。「散眾名花」者，布以七淨花，謂戒、定、慧、斷疑、道非道、知見淨、斷知淨也，戒者攝律儀等三種戒也，定者首楞嚴等也，慧者實智慧也，斷疑者已度二諦之疑也，道非道淨者行於非道通達佛道也，知見淨者智德圓滿了了見佛性也，斷知者斷德成就無明永盡也。「羅列寶物」者，羅列諸地真實功德也。出內如前釋（云云）。「威德特尊」者，光明無邊、色像無邊，相海巍巍堂堂，此義須作舍那之佛，豈得作餘釋耶？

From “At that time the poor son, hiring out his labor” downward is the second [section], the parable of the father and son seeing each other, which closely expresses understanding of seeing the fire in the burning house, and distantly expresses understanding of the meaning of the five turbidities in the Expedient Means [Chapter]. It has three parts: first, explaining the poor son hiring out his labor expresses understanding of the fire seen in the burning house and the five turbidities seen in the exposition of the Dharma; second, the father seeing the son expresses understanding of the elder seeing [them] in the burning house and seeing with the Buddha-eye in the exposition of the Dharma; third, rejoicing that his wish is fulfilled expresses understanding of the alarm and fright in the burning house and the arising of the mind of great compassion in the exposition of the Dharma. Both the Dharma and the parable explain that the father sees the son first, whereas here it is explained that the son sees the father first. In terms of the Buddha, his spiritual wisdom knows beforehand and the response arises after the capacity, hence it says the father sees the son first; in terms of sentient beings, the capacity must come first and the response follows, hence it says the son sees the father first. The capacity and the response are inconceivable, neither later nor earlier; thus, the earlier and later are alternately adduced. Now, for textual convenience, we divide this simply into two sections: first, the son sees the father; second, the father sees the son. Within each of these two sections, there are again four parts. First, the four parts of the son seeing the father are: 1. the cause of seeing the father—caused by seeking food and clothing; 2. the place of seeing the father—the place is beside the gate; 3. the physical appearance of seeing the father—sitting on a lion throne; 4. producing fear and turning away, regretting having come here. The cause of seeing the father: caused by disgust with suffering and joy in happiness, seeking after the taste of the principle, gradually accumulating and practicing it, so that he eventually formed supramundane wholesome roots; hence it says “hiring out his labor and wandering about from place to place.” Through these wholesome roots he was able to knock upon the Buddha's compassion, hence it says “he happened to reach his father's house.” “Father” is a metaphor for the Dharmakāya after [attaining] the Way; “house” is a metaphor for unconditional compassion. The two capacities, Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, simultaneously knock upon this house; because there is the Mahāyāna capacity, it therefore says “saw his father from afar,” and because there is the Hīnayāna capacity, he “stopped beside the gate.” If there were only Hīnayāna and no Mahāyāna, he should not have seen the supreme and distinctive body, and the father should not have said, “My wealth and storehouses now have someone to whom to entrust them.” If there were only Mahāyāna and no Hīnayāna, he should not have stood beside the gate, and the son should not have said, “This is no place for me to hire out my labor and obtain goods.” The place where he sees the father is “beside the gate.” The two contemplations serve as expedients, namely the two sides of the gate; the capacity of the perfect Middle faces the gate and sees directly, whereas the two vehicles are biased toward the truth [of emptiness], hence it says “beside the gate”—their mere-emptiness samādhi and biased-truth wisdom-eye only catch a glimpse of the Dharmakāya from the side. “Saw his father from afar”: seeing directly has two kinds—first, seeing from near; second, seeing from afar. Here, because the Mahāyāna capacity has just begun to arise and its knocking and summoning pertains to things far off, it is therefore called “afar”; furthermore, because the capacity is subtle and not yet matched by the response, it is called “afar.” “Sitting on a lion throne”: the Dharmakāya of perfect reward resides peacefully in the principle of emptiness, no longer having the fear of the two afflictions (shared and distinctive) or the eight māras, and so forth; hence it says “sitting on a lion throne.” The Huayan says that supreme-truth emptiness and the four fearlessnesses constitute the throne. “With a jeweled footstool supporting his feet”: concentration and wisdom are the feet, the true reality is the footstool, and unproduced concentration and wisdom rely on the realm of True Suchness. “Brahmins”: old [commentators] say these are high, noble, and great clans, [corresponding to bodhisattvas of] the eighth stage and above. “Kṣatriyas”: those of the seventh stage and below. “Householders”: internal ordinary persons, and so forth. Old [commentators] say that the Dharmakāya explained in this sūtra is not the permanently abiding Dharmakāya, but rather a response body from another world about to respond to this land, which serves as the Dharmakāya for this world; hence it is surrounded by various internal ordinary persons. Now I say this is not so. If one takes it to be a Buddha from another world, the capacity and response, substance and function, and putting on and taking off [of clothes] between father and son would all fail to be established, as explained before. Furthermore, it would not admit that a Hīnayāna capacity knocks here while a Mahāyāna capacity knocks there, nor should one form a Mahāyāna connection there and a Hīnayāna connection here, nor should one form both connections here and have both responses there; this would be great confusion. Now we explain that the superior response responds to bodhisattvas, which is the supreme and distinctive body of Rocana, knocked upon by the Mahāyāna capacity; the inferior response responds to the Hīnayāna, being the sixteen-foot body in soiled clothes, knocked upon by the Hīnayāna capacity. This sūtra explains the permanently abiding ghee as equal to the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra], and the perfect and sudden Dharmakāya as equal to the Huayan; the majestic elder with his attendants and the kṣatriyas and brahmins reverently surrounding him used as a metaphor all refer to the retinue in the Huayan without any difference, and the characteristics of the Dharma expounded are likewise without difference from what is explained there. Brahmins are called “those of pure practice”; of noble clan and pure conduct, they are bodhisattvas of virtual enlightenment who are free of defilement. Kṣatriyas are the royal caste, from the ninth stage down to the first stage and above. Householders are wealthy but not noble, namely [those of] the thirty minds. “Pearl necklaces” are morality, concentration, and wisdom, dhāraṇī, and samādhi—the four necklaces. “Valued at tens of millions” refers to the virtues of the forty stages, with which the Dharmakāya is adorned. “Officials, commoners, and servants”: explaining the meaning through different approaches, those who receive the expedient teaching and sever the shared afflictions are called “commoners”; those who receive the distinctive teaching and sever the shared afflictions are called “officials.” If explaining the meaning through the shared approach, these are still the expedient pāramitā. Internally they accord with real wisdom, and externally they accord with capacities and conditions; this is like officials and commoners having the meanings of internal service and external labor. The “white whisk” is the function of expedient wisdom. “Left and right”: the right is the function of the wisdom that enters emptiness, flicking away the dust of the four dwellings; the left is the function of the wisdom that enters the provisional, flicking away the dust of ignorance; these two serve as expedients for the Middle Way, hence it says “standing in attendance” (and so forth). “Covered with a jeweled canopy” is true compassion. “Hanging with various flower banners”: flowers are the four means of embracing, and banners are spiritual superknowledges. “Water perfumed with incense sprinkled on the ground”: raining down the Dharma water and sprinkling it on the mind-ground of all bodhisattvas to settle the dust of affliction; it is also the water of concentration sprinkled on the distracted mind. “Scattering various famous flowers”: spreading the flowers of the seven purifications, namely [purification of] morality, concentration, wisdom, overcoming doubt, knowledge and vision of path and non-path, knowledge and vision, and purification of severing knowledge. Morality refers to the three kinds of morality, such as the morality of observing the rules; concentration refers to the Śūraṅgama, and so forth; wisdom is real wisdom; overcoming doubt is having crossed beyond doubt regarding the two truths; purification of path and non-path is walking on non-paths and penetrating the Buddha path; purification of knowledge and vision is the virtue of wisdom being perfected and clearly seeing the buddha-nature; severing knowledge is the accomplishment of the virtue of severance and the eternal exhaustion of ignorance. “Precious objects arrayed”: arraying the true virtues of the various stages. Disbursing and receiving are as explained before (and so forth). “Majestic and particularly exalted”: boundless light, boundless physical forms, with an ocean of marks towering and grand. This meaning must refer to the Rocana Buddha; how could it be interpreted otherwise?