妙法蓮華經文句 3.27

3.27

From "At that time there was a bodhisattva" onward, fifthly, as for the correspondence of conferral of prophecy: in the past he conferred prophecy on the Bodhisattva Guṇagupta, while in the present sūtra prophecy is conferred on śrāvakas—how can this be correspondent? Because the past event had already been completed, it says prophecy was conferred on a bodhisattva; however, it was precisely the converging of the three into the one, with śrāvakas obtaining prophecy. If he spoke of having conferred prophecy on śrāvakas in the past, when the Buddha arose from samādhi, what more would there be to discuss? It was Mañjuśrī's skillful discussion, and so he did not disclose the traces. If he spoke of conferring prophecy on bodhisattvas, this is so in all sūtras, so those who cling to the teachings would not be startled (and so forth).