妙法蓮華經文句 8.29

8.29

從「爾時佛復告」下，第二，歎所持法及弘經方法。所持法是自軌法，弘經法是軌他法。有長行、偈頌。長行，初、歎經法，次、方軌。歎為五：一、約法歎亦格量歎，二、約人歎，三、約處歎，四、約因歎，五、約果歎。法妙故人貴，人貴故處尊，處尊因圓，因圓果極也。初歎法者，已、今、當說，此經為最。有師解，已是《般若》，當是《涅槃》，《法華》之前小大相隔，《法華》已後已得會同，此經正是會三之始、歸一之初，故言第一。經歎《法華》在已、今、當外。此師闕一節（云云）。今初，言「已」者，《大品》已上漸頓諸說也。「今」者，同一座席，謂無量義經也。「當」者，謂《涅槃》也。《大品》等漸頓皆帶方便取信為易；今無量義一生無量，無量未還一，是亦易信；今《法華》論法，一切差別融通歸一法，論人則師弟本迹俱皆久遠，二門悉與昔反，難信難解，當鋒難事《法華》已說，《涅槃》在後則易可信也。「祕要之藏」者，隱而不說為祕，總一切為要，真如實相包蘊為藏。「不可分布」者，法妙難信，深智可授、無智益罪，故不可妄說也。「從昔已來未曾顯說」者，於三藏中不說二乘作佛，亦不明師弟本迹，方等《般若》雖說實相之藏，亦未說五乘作佛，亦未發迹顯本，頓漸諸經皆未融會故名為祕。此經具說昔所祕法，即是開祕密藏，亦即是祕密藏。如此祕藏未曾顯說。「如來在世猶多怨嫉」者，四十餘年不得即說，今雖欲說而五千尋即退座，佛世尚爾，何況未來！理在難化也。

From "At that time the Buddha again addressed" downward is the second part, praising the Dharma upheld and the method of propagating the sūtra. The Dharma upheld is the rule for oneself; the method of propagating the sūtra is the rule for others. There are prose and gāthās. In the prose, first is praising the sūtra's Dharma, and next the method and rules. The praise has five parts: first, praising in terms of the Dharma, also praising by comparative evaluation; second, praising in terms of persons; third, praising in terms of place; fourth, praising in terms of cause; fifth, praising in terms of effect. Because the Dharma is wondrous, the person is noble; because the person is noble, the place is revered; the place is revered, the cause is complete; the cause is complete, the effect is ultimate. First, in praising the Dharma: among those spoken in the past, present, and future, this sūtra is foremost. A master explained that the past is the *Prajñā*, the future is the *Nirvāṇa*; before the *Lotus*, the small and the great were separated from each other, but after the *Lotus*, they have already been unified, so this sūtra is precisely the beginning of converging the three and the start of returning to the one, and hence it is called the first. The sūtra praises the *Lotus* as being outside past, present, and future. This master lacked a segment (and so forth). Now, first, regarding "past": this refers to the gradual and sudden teachings from the *Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā* on up. "Present" refers to sharing the same assembly seat, meaning the *Anantanirdeśa-sūtra*. "Future" refers to the *Nirvāṇa-sūtra*. The gradual and sudden teachings such as the *Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā* all carry expedients, making it easy to inspire faith; now, in the *Anantanirdeśa*, the one produces the immeasurable, but the immeasurable has not yet returned to the one, so this too is easy to believe; now, when the *Lotus* discusses the Dharma, all differences are integrated and return to the one Dharma, and when it discusses persons, teacher and disciple, origin and traces, are both long-distant, both approaches being completely opposite to what was taught formerly, making it difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Once the most challenging matters at the forefront have already been spoken in the *Lotus*, the *Nirvāṇa* comes later and is easily believable. "Storehouse of the secret and essential": being concealed and unspoken is "secret"; gathering all together is "essential"; the containment of true suchness and the true mark is the "storehouse". "Cannot be distributed": the Dharma is wondrous and hard to believe; it may be bestowed upon those of profound wisdom, but to those without wisdom it increases sin, so it cannot be spoken rashly. "Never explicitly spoken from the past to the present": within the Tripiṭaka, the two vehicles' attainment of buddhahood is not spoken, nor are the origin and traces of teacher and disciple clarified; although the Vaipulya and *Prajñā* speak of the storehouse of the true mark, they also do not speak of the five vehicles attaining buddhahood, nor do they reveal the origin and disclose the traces; since the sudden and gradual sūtras have not yet integrated them, it is called secret. This sūtra fully expounds the Dharma secretly kept in the past, which is opening the secret storehouse and is also itself the secret storehouse. Such a secret storehouse has never been explicitly spoken before. "Even while the Tathāgata was in the world, there was much resentment and jealousy": for more than forty years it could not be spoken right away, and now, although he wishes to speak it, five thousand immediately withdraw from their seats; if it was like this even during the Buddha's lifetime, how much more so in the future! By principle, it is difficult to convert.