妙法蓮華經文句 7.87

7.87

From "Do not think that he only assisted in propagating my Dharma" downward is the second [part], revealing his original practice with reference to past buddhas' eras: he did not merely assist in propagating the half and full teachings under me, but in the presence of buddhas of the distant past he also assisted in propagating the half and full teachings. Taking today's assisting in propagation serves as exposing the traces; taking past assisting in propagation serves as revealing the origin. Revealing the origin has two aspects: first, the distant origin; second, the near origin. The distant origin is dark and remote, and genuinely difficult to believe; hence it is abbreviated and not described. He merely raises the near origin of ninety billion [buddhas]; having the wisdom of recollecting past lives, one can know the near origin, so he raises the near to verify the distant. In the text concerning the ninety billion [buddhas], it fully clarifies his assisting the buddhas in propagating the teachings of the five flavors to mature sentient beings. "Protecting, upholding, and assisting in propagation" corresponds to assisting in propagating the half-word milk-flavor Dharma. "The correct Dharma of the Buddha" corresponds to assisting in propagating the Vaipulya curd-flavor Dharma. Furthermore, being "clear about the empty Dharma" corresponds to assisting in propagating the butter-flavor Dharma; just as under the present Buddha he turned the teaching to expound the Prajñā, clarifying that the six pāramitās mutually contain and revolve without obstruction, under ninety billion buddhas he also assisted in propagation with no difference from the present. The people of those buddhas' eras all thought that he was truly a śrāvaka; at that time, his traces not yet having been exposed, they merely thought he was empowered and commanded to turn the Prajñā, and did not say he was a great bodhisattva. "Converting immeasurable sentient beings, causing them to be established in the three bodhis" is assisting in propagating the ghee-flavor Dharma, which can be understood from the text, and so forth. From "also under the seven buddhas" downward is the third [part], on the causes cultivated under the buddhas of the three periods of time, as in the text. This also follows the previous pattern of assisting in propagating the Dharma of the half and full and the five flavors, benefiting both the great and the small.