法華文句記 1.97

1.97

三、「且依」下，正釋。又三：初、約漸教者，避繁文故，寄漸明四。次、「若頓」下，釋頓等三。三、「敷八教」下，結責古師。初文又二：初、約傳詮相對以釋；次、「若動」下，直約所詮觀諦以釋。於所聞時具能所故，亦是以理結略前釋，是故四釋皆以如為名。又前以文契理，名之曰如，乃指所詮稱文為是；此以智如境為如，如通二真，故前兩教俗對偏真，後之兩教俗對中真，兩文各二隨義消之。故前約傳詮一一文中，皆約諦與文字，故能詮既同，驗知所詮理當，故所傳所詮皆所聞體。故初二教皆以文字為俗、所詮為真，但有即不即異，乃辨二教傳詮不同；後二教皆以能詮對所詮三諦以說，亦即不即異。以四例四亦應可見。若不爾者，豈以阿難傳佛無詮之教？故彼文理相稱之法，是我所傳，故下方云聞等也。言「云云」者，應更以是對向四文，及以漸中具教多少，準前可知。次、「頓」等三者，言頓與圓同，且從少分，以彼兼別今且從勝，故云圓同。應更云頓中別教與漸中別同，不云漸教有同異者，漸既離四，舉圓即攝諸部中圓，三教即是諸部中異，故但更對餘之三教。不定中云「更互」者，並約漸頓四教說之，深淺相望故云前後。「祕密不傳」者，降佛已還非所述故，尚非阿難能受，豈弘教者所量？又阿難非不傳祕，赴機之密非所傳耳。故祕密所用全是顯教，是故傳祕秖名傳顯。三、「敷八教」下，結責者，《華嚴》云「張佛教網亘法界海，漉天人魚，置涅槃岸」，故知佛教不出於八，所詮無外故云法界，教網既亘於法界，涅槃必遍於偏圓，岸唯果地一如，教必權實本迹，天人機具眾教，漉至究竟涅槃。故諸師偏釋不可獨張，比竊讀者尚云天台唯藏等四，一何昧哉！一何昧哉！是故須知消經方軌，頓等是此宗判教之大綱，藏等是一家釋義之綱目，若消諸教但用藏等，其文稍通。若釋《法華》無頓等八，舉止失措，故又舉喻責云「接四箭」等。故《大經》「迦葉菩薩問云：云何智者觀念念滅？佛言：譬如四人皆善射術，聚在一處各射一方，念言我等四箭俱射俱墮。復有人念，及其未墮，我能一時以手接取。佛言：捷疾鬼復速是人，如是飛行鬼、四天王、日月神、堅疾天展轉疾前，無常過此。」今借接四以喻八教未敢稱當，況古一兩如驢鼈耶？若深得是意入文自融。言「云云」者，應舉八教以合譬意，況若不識開權拂近，徒知八教經旨未分？所以今文多不云開者，以《玄》文具故。又開顯圓與兼帶圓，二理無殊，故云頓與圓同等。故不定、祕密義各含四，顯之與密、定與不定，相對論故。

Third, from “provisionally relying upon” onward, is the correct explanation. This also has three parts: first, according to the gradual teaching, in order to avoid prolixity, the four are clarified by drawing upon the gradual; second, from “as for the sudden” onward, he explains the three such as the sudden; third, from “displaying the eight teachings” onward, he concludes with a reprimand of the ancient masters. The first text also has two parts: first, it is explained in terms of the mutual correlation between the transmission and what is expounded; second, from “if one sets in motion” onward, it is explained directly in terms of the contemplation of the truths which are what is expounded. At the time of what was heard, the active and passive are fully present; it also briefly concludes the former explanation in terms of principle; therefore, all four explanations take “thus” as their designation. Furthermore, previously, matching the text to principle was named “thus,” and pointing to what was expounded as corresponding to the text was “is”; here, wisdom being like the object is “thus,” and “thus” applies to both truths; hence the former two teachings contrast the conventional with the one-sided true, while the latter two teachings contrast the conventional with the middle true; the two texts each have two, which are to be explained according to their sense. Thus, in the former [section] on transmitting what was expounded, every text deals with the truths and the written words; since that which expounds is the same, it verifies that the principle of what is expounded is proper; therefore, both what is transmitted and what is expounded are the essence of what was heard. Thus the first two teachings both take the written words as conventional and what is expounded as true, differing only in identity or non-identity; this distinguishes the difference in transmitting what is expounded between the two teachings. The latter two teachings both speak of that which expounds in contrast to the three truths of what is expounded, also differing in identity and non-identity. By exemplifying the four with the four, this should also be apparent. If not so, how could Ānanda transmit the Buddha's teaching that is devoid of exposition? Therefore, that dharma in which text and principle correspond to each other is what was transmitted by me; hence below it speaks of “hearing,” and so forth. The word “and so on” means that one should further correspond “is” to the four texts, and the number of teachings contained within the gradual can be known by following the preceding model. Second, as for the three such as “the sudden”: saying that the sudden is the same as the perfect is provisionally following a minor part; because that [sudden] includes the separate, we now provisionally follow the superior; hence it says “the same as the perfect.” One should further state that the separate teaching within the sudden is the same as the separate within the gradual. Not mentioning that the gradual teaching has sameness and difference is because, since the gradual is separated into the four, citing the perfect subsumes the perfect in all divisions, and the three teachings are the differences among the various divisions; hence it merely contrasts them with the remaining three teachings. As for “mutually alternating” in the indeterminate: this is spoken in reference to both the gradual and sudden four teachings; looking toward depth and shallowness, it is called “before and after.” As for “the secret is not transmitted”: below the Buddha, it is not what can be narrated; it is not even what Ānanda could receive, so how could it be fathomed by propagators of the teaching? Furthermore, it is not that Ānanda did not transmit the secret; it is just that the secret responding to capacities was not what was transmitted. Hence what is employed in the secret is entirely the exoteric teaching; therefore transmitting the secret is merely called transmitting the exoteric. Third, from “displaying the eight teachings” onward, the concluding reprimand: the *Avataṃsaka* states, “Spreading the Buddha's net of teaching across the ocean of the dharmadhātu, to catch the fish of devas and humans and place them on the shore of nirvāṇa.” Thus we know the Buddha's teachings do not go beyond the eight. Because what is expounded has nothing outside it, it is called the “dharmadhātu”; since the net of teaching extends across the dharmadhātu, nirvāṇa must pervade the one-sided and the perfect; the shore is solely the single “thus” of the fruition stage; the teachings must comprise provisional and real, origin and traces; the capacities of devas and humans are endowed with the manifold teachings, caught and brought to ultimate nirvāṇa. Therefore, the one-sided explanations of the various masters cannot be deployed in isolation. Recently, some casual readers even say that Tiantai possesses only the four such as the Tripiṭaka—how benighted! How benighted! Therefore, one must know the standard methods for interpreting sūtras: the sudden and the like are the grand outline of this school's classification of teachings, and the Tripiṭaka and the like are the specific items of our school's doctrinal exposition. If interpreting the various teachings, merely using the Tripiṭaka and the like will render the text passably coherent. But if explaining the *Lotus Sūtra* without the eight such as the sudden, one will be entirely at a loss. Therefore he further adduces an analogy to reprimand them, saying “catching four arrows,” etc. Thus the *Great Sūtra* says: “Bodhisattva Kāśyapa asked: How does a wise person contemplate the thought-to-thought perishing? The Buddha said: For example, suppose four men, all skilled in archery, gather in one place and each shoots in one direction, thinking, ‘Our four arrows will be shot together and fall together.’ Another person thinks, ‘Before they fall, I can catch them all at once with my hand.’ The Buddha said: The fleet-footed ghost is faster than this man; likewise, flying ghosts, the Four Heavenly Kings, the sun and moon deities, and the firm-and-swift devas are successively faster than the preceding; impermanence is swifter than this.” Now, borrowing the catching of the four to allegorize the eight teachings does not yet venture to be an exact fit; how much more so the ancient [masters who knew only] one or two, like donkeys and turtles? If one deeply grasps this meaning, on entering the text it will naturally be integrated. The word “and so on” means one should cite the eight teachings to match the meaning of the analogy; how much more so, if one does not recognize the opening of the provisional and brushing away of the near, merely knowing the eight teachings will leave the purport of the sūtra undistinguished! The reason why the present text mostly does not speak of “opening” is that it is fully set forth in the *Profound Meaning*. Moreover, the perfect of opening and revealing and the perfect that includes and carries [the separate] do not differ in the two principles; hence it says the sudden is the same as the perfect, etc. Therefore, the indeterminate and the secret each implicitly contain the four, because exoteric and secret, determinate and indeterminate, are discussed in mutual correlation.