妙法蓮華經文句 5.2

5.2

From "When I first sat in the place of enlightenment" downward, the second [part of] seventeen and a half stanzas versifies the bestowal of expedient conversions. This is divided into two parts: first, six and a half stanzas explain his intention to use the Mahāyāna, which was deemed unsuitable; next, from "Immediately reflecting" downward, twenty-one stanzas explain his intention to be identical with the various buddhas in using the three vehicles to convert them, which was deemed suitable and feasible. Regarding the initial intention to convert them with the Great [Vehicle], it again has three parts: first, one and a half stanzas explain assessing the suitability of using the Great [Vehicle]; next, from "living beings" downward, the second part, three stanzas, explains that living beings lacked the capacity; next, from "I then" downward, the third part, two stanzas, explains the cessation of the thought of converting them with the Great [Vehicle]. As for "when first sitting in the place of enlightenment," the ultimate principle is without time; it provisionally adopts time to transform living beings, and because it is the beginning of conversion, it is called "first." As for the literal explanation: because he first cultivated and attained the Way at this location, it is called the "place of enlightenment"; because he attained supreme enlightenment sitting under this tree, it is called the "Bodhi tree"; feeling grateful for the tree's kindness, he contemplated it; being mindful of the virtue of the earth, he walked in meditation; at the time when his realization of the Way repaid his debt of grace, he wished to assess living beings' suitability with the Great Dharma. As for the contemplation of mind explanation: the tree is the great tree of the twelve links of dependent origination; deeply contemplating dependent origination, he attained bodhi on his own, and wishing to shade and benefit living beings with the grove of uncontaminated Dharma, it says "contemplated the tree." "Walked in meditation": the thirty-seven factors of the Mahāyāna are the methods of walking the path; treading upon all grounds with the factors of enlightenment himself, he attained the Buddha path, and wishing to convert and deliver living beings with this Dharma, he therefore arose and walked. Tree and earth have no discrimination, so how could there be a need to repay kindness? The Weicengyou jing says: "Merely propagating conversion and transmitting the Dharma is called repaying kindness." The Past and Present Sūtra of Causes and Effects says: "During the first seven days after the Buddha realized the Way, he reflected: 'My Dharma is subtle and wondrous; none can receive it.' In the second seven days, he reflected upon the superior, middling, and inferior capacities of living beings. In the third seven days, he reflected upon who should hear the Dharma first. He then went to Vārāṇasī and expounded the Four Truths for the five people. Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya obtained the purity of the Dharma eye; Aśvajit, Bhadrika, Daśabala-Kāśyapa, Mahānāma, and Kolita had not yet attained the Way. The Buddha expounded the Four Truths again, and the four people obtained the purity of the Dharma eye. The Buddha then taught that the five aggregates are impermanent, suffering, empty, and non-self, and the five people attained arhatship. The Buddha was the Buddha Jewel, the Four Truths were the Dharma Jewel, and the five people together with the Buddha were six arhats, which was the Saṅgha Jewel." Master Xiaoyun's commentary says: "At the time of the initial three periods of seven days, he had already expounded the Lotus Sūtra. The text below states that the Buddha Jaladharagarjitaghoṣasusvaranakṣatrarājasaṅkusumitābhijña expounded the Lotus Sūtra under the seven-jeweled Bodhi tree; one should know that the present Buddha also expounded the Lotus Sūtra at the Bodhi tree, but living beings of dull capacities were incapable of it, so in complete accordance with the various buddhas he opened the three [vehicles] to teach and transform them, and later in the royal city expounded the One Vehicle." If one infers the intention of the Wise One [Zhiyi], it is that first beneath the Bodhi tree he spoke the Buddha wisdom, and later in other places he spoke the Buddha wisdom, just as the present Buddha first taught the Avataṃsaka and later taught the Lotus Sūtra; hence the text says: "When they first saw my body and heard what I expounded, they entered the Tathāgata's wisdom." Excepting those who had previously cultivated and studied the Hīnayāna, now he also causes them to enter the Tathāgata's wisdom; this has the same meaning. As for the five monks: when various maidens were listening to the ṛṣi expound the Dharma, King Dusprasaha (Evil-Born) became enraged and severed his two arms, ears, nose, and so forth, and his blood transformed into milk. King Dusprasaha was Kauṇḍinya, and the ṛṣi was the Buddha; the Buddha vowed to cause him to attain amṛta and to cause him to be the first to hear the sound of the Dharma.