妙法蓮華經文句 2.61

2.61

Above, origin and traces and the contemplation of mind were explained separately; now we discuss them in summary, to display the subtleties of skillful expedients and clarify the exquisite precision of contemplative practice. The Śūraṅgama [samādhi] produces manifold manifestations, adapting to beings' roots and characters without anything it cannot do. Now let us discuss what is close at hand: taking trace in the royal palace, descending into the holy queen—bodhisattvas of the Dharma Body all assist the Buddha in executing transformation, casting reflections into other households. As with the thirty-two auspicious signs and the birth-response of the golden form, the various great beings were each born: either empty chambers rained treasures, or dreams conveyed eloquent communications. Just as the august crown prince renounced his kingdom and abdicated kingship, leaping over the city wall to study the Way, the great beings all requested instruction from masters, mastering both talents and arts to become masters of their traditions. When the wheel of the Dharma was first set in motion and the gate of sweet dew was opened, hearing that the great beings' converting affinities were not yet mature, they manifested being as if not receptive, standing on equal terms and venerating the truth of their own traditions, so that both converter and converted were entirely crude, like milk. When the affinities of those to be converted matured, then white silk was easily dyed and pond flowers bloomed early, revolutionising the ordinary into the noble, turning milk into curd. The masters and ancestors were the Buddha's foremost disciples, each foremost in wisdom, supernormal powers, eloquence, or samādhi, joining together to assist the Dharma King in saving those yet unsaved and further maturing those already matured. At the seats of the Correct and Equal [period], hearing of the bodhisattvas' inconceivable merit, they felt shame at the small and longed for the great. Feeling shame at the small, they sighed in self-reproach for having lost the Tathāgata's immeasurable knowledge and vision; longing for the great, they did not know how the Buddha's unsurpassed wisdom might be attained, which was like turning curd into raw ghee. Next, hearing the Mahāyāna gate of prajñā, from form and mind at the start down to the knowledge of all forms at the end, embracing the small and the great, expelling and admitting, taking and giving, whether shared or distinctive, biased or perfect, they received the command to take charge and understand it, yet had no longing or grasping; though not yet abandoning [the small] at once, they gradually attained broad ease, which was like turning raw ghee into cooked ghee. Next, hearing the Lotus Sūtra, inborn nature was united, father and son were established, prophecies were bestowed, and the Mahāyāna was entrusted; the three were discarded and returned to the One, just as the other four flavors are the same single ghee; not permitting a single person to attain extinction alone, all are brought to extinction through the extinction of the Tathāgata. The Dharma King and his Dharma ministers, appearing in the world for the great matter, skillfully employed expedients: first using the half-word teachings, they cleared away the tangled overgrowth of the twenty-five realms of existence, manifesting the four withered twin trees to benefit sentient beings; next using the half-and-full teachings, they shattered the selfish virtue of the two vehicles, establishing the vastness of the bodhisattvas, manifesting the four flourishing twin trees to benefit the noble ones; finally using the permanent full-word teachings, they shattered the past and present of the two extremes, establishing the secret treasury of the Buddha that is neither withered nor flourishing, achieving ultimate benefit. The task of the chief commander completed, the vows of the great resolution fulfilled, Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana consequently brought their converting work to rest in the Lotus Sūtra. For the holy Lord to redeem his life was likewise not to be long; the text states: 'As in my original vow, / now it has been completely fulfilled; / the Tathāgata before long / shall enter nirvāṇa.' The announcement of extinction arose from this. The twenty-thousand Candrasūryapradīpas, Kāśyapa Buddha, and others all reached finality in the Lotus Sūtra. Now, since master and disciples both uncover their traces in this sūtra, inwardly concealing their bodhisattva practice and outwardly appearing as śrāvakas—'It has been immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of kalpas since I actually attained Buddhahood'—deducing from this, the great arhats, from the stage of the Dharma Body, cast their reflections to follow affinities, their traces descending upon the myriad waters, acting as learners and those beyond learning, appearing as men and women, demonstrating the monastic life and the secular life; through the power of the Śūraṅgama, there is nothing they do not manifest. The skillful expedients are like this (and so forth).