妙法蓮華經文句 3.99

3.99

The gāthās comprise twenty-one lines, divided into two parts: the first seventeen and a half lines reiterate the prose, and the latter three and a half lines briefly open the three and reveal the one, shaking attachments and giving rise to doubts. The former section also has two parts: the first four lines reiterate the praise lodged in words, and the latter thirteen and a half lines reiterate the praise cutting off speech. That the verses and prose alternate between extensive and brief is simply to make the meaning easier to reveal. In the prose, the two Buddhas' expedient and real are praised separately to show that their conditions for conversion differ; therefore, in the verses, the two Buddhas are praised together to show that the principles of their two wisdoms are identical.