妙法蓮華經文句 4.3

4.3

First, explaining general and specific: the first cycle is specifically called teaching by Dharma, but in general it possesses all three: "Just like an udumbara flower appearing only once in a while" is teaching by parable; "If I encounter sentient beings, I teach them all with the Buddha Path" is teaching by causal conditions. The middle cycle is specifically called teaching by parable, but in general it also possesses all three: "Did I not say before that it was all to convert bodhisattvas?" and matching the parable by differentiating and explaining the three within the One Buddha Vehicle is teaching by Dharma; "At the place of twenty thousand koṭīs of buddhas I constantly taught and transformed you" is teaching by causal conditions. If one says this text belongs to teaching by Dharma, one can take the elder who, having heard, was alarmed and entered the burning house to effect rescue, which is teaching by causal conditions. The lower cycle is specifically called past causal conditions, but in general it also possesses all three: "The time for nirvāṇa has arrived, the assembly is clean and pure, causing them to enter the Buddha's wisdom" is teaching by Dharma; "There is a guide..." is teaching by parable. That three cycles are made is following the predominant and primary, omitting the secondary and incidental, in order to keep the names from being confused, each based on a single sense.