妙法蓮華經文句 2.48

2.48

The assembly of those widely known having been concluded, next is listed the assembly of those less widely known: "There were also two thousand people, both trainees and non-trainees, together with them." Merely indicating their status and making clear their number without praising their virtues, this is termed the assembly of those less widely known. The noble and the ordinary have severed relations; neither do they discriminate between being widely known and less known. It is solely to guide those who aspire to the high and admire the distant that they are guided through those widely known, and to guide those who conceal their name, hide their virtues, and step back that they are guided through those less known. In accordance with sentient beings, there are various [distinctions]; one must not, on account of the traces of more and less, lose sight of their origin.