妙法蓮華經文句 1.87

1.87

Regarding “assembly” (saṃgha): in the language of India it is called saṃgha; here translated as ‘harmonious assembly.’ A single person is not called harmonious; only four or more persons are called harmonious. In phenomenal harmony there are no discordant assemblies; in dharmic harmony there is no discordant principle. The Buddha was constantly together with 1,250 people: the three Kāśyapas and their 1,000 men, and Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana and their 250 men. It is also said that Yaśas had fifty. Samyuktāgama 45 says: ‘Among the five hundred bhikṣus, ninety have the three knowledges, ninety are liberated both ways, and the remainder are liberated by wisdom.’ The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa explains four kinds of saṃgha: those who do not rely on pure livelihood are called precept-breaking saṃgha; those who do not understand the vinaya and rules are called foolish saṃgha; those at the stage of the five expedient means are called ashamed and conscience-stricken saṃgha; and from the stage of the patient acceptance of the dharma of suffering onward, they are called the true saṃgha. Here, they are not the [first] three kinds, but only the true saṃgha. If according to the four teachings, this saṃgha has passed through the assemblies of the five flavors of the biased and perfect [teachings] to serve as co-listeners; here they are precisely the witnesses generating faith in the perfect teaching.