妙法蓮華經文句 5.37

5.37

From the line "You, in the future" downwards is the fourth major division, the section on bestowing prophecy. Previously, [Śāriputra] stated his own understanding and the Buddha ratified it; therefore, the prophecy is bestowed. If one has attained great understanding and naturally knows that one will attain buddhahood, why must one wait for a prophecy? Prophecy has four intents: first, previously prophecy had not been given to the two vehicles, so now it must be given; second, those of middling and lower faculties have not yet awakened, so the prophecy is used to encourage and exhort them; third, to cause hearers to establish a karmic connection; fourth, to fulfill his original vow. For these reasons the prophecy is bestowed. It consists of prose and gāthās. The prose contains ten [items]: 1. The time period; 2. The practice of causes; 3. The attainment of the fruit—the explanations of the ten epithets are very numerous; here, only one kind is recorded: "one without falsity" is called Tathāgata; "a fine field of merit" is called Worthy of Offerings (Arhat); "knower of the dharma realm" is called Truly and Universally Awakened (Samyaksaṃbuddha); "possessing the three clarities" is called Perfected in Clarity and Conduct (Vidyācaraṇasampanna); "not returning" is called Well Gone (Sugata); "knower of sentient beings and lands" is called Knower of the World (Lokavid); "peerless" is called Unsurpassed Person (Anuttara); "tamer of others' minds" is called Hero (Puruṣadamyasārathi); "the eye of sentient beings" is called Teacher of Gods and Humans (Śāstā devamanuṣyāṇām); "knower of the three collections" is called Buddha; "destroyer of Pāpīyas (Māra)" is called World-Honoured One (Bhagavān); 4. The land; 5. Preaching the Dharma; 6. The name of the kalpa; 7. The number of the assembly; 8. The lifespan; 9. The successor; 10. The duration of the Dharma's dwelling. All are as in the text. Fascicle forty-eight of the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states: "Śāriputra, the correct Dharma [dwelling for] thirty-two small kalpas: when the three calamities of famine, pestilence, and swords destroy sentient beings, this is called a small kalpa." Furthermore, it is simply a span of time called a small kalpa, just as preaching the Lotus Sūtra for sixty small kalpas is also merely a temporal reckoning; it does not mean that the three calamities destroying external objects constitute a small kalpa. The verses consist of eleven and a half lines, divided into two: first, ten lines reiterate the nine items above, omitting the successor in brief, while adding the worship of relics; next, one and a half lines conclude with praise. The first line leaps ahead to versify the attainment of the fruit; next, from "making offerings" downwards, the second part of one line retraces and versifies the practice of causes; next, from "passing immeasurable" downwards, the third part of half a line leaps ahead to versify the name of the kalpa; next, from "the world's name" downwards, the fourth part of one and a half lines versifies the purity of the land; next, from "that land" downwards, the fifth part of one and a half lines versifies the number of the bodhisattva assembly; next, from "such as these" downwards, the sixth part of half a line versifies the preaching of the Dharma; next, from "the Buddha as a prince" downwards, the seventh part of two lines versifies the lifespan; next, from "after the Buddha passes into extinction" downwards, the eighth part of one and a half lines versifies the duration of the Dharma's dwelling; next, from "relics widely" downwards, the ninth part of half a line treats the worship of relics; subsequently, from "the Buddha Flower Light" downwards, the second section of one and a half lines concludes with praise. "One should rightly rejoice" completes the understanding of the first stage of Joy; the first abidance can manifest buddhahood in a hundred buddha-worlds, and the ground of practice doubles this.