法華文句記 3.152

3.152

授記同中先正述徵問，「昔事」下答。「若說」下明隱昔意。「文殊巧譚不發迹」者，明所隱意意待定起。一代所說非無圓融，未記二乘化道不暢，今方始遂推功有歸，豈可文殊怱卒盡理？故隱所見待佛定起。說記德藏時眾不驚，故云「諸經皆爾」。「執教者未驚」下「云云」者，應敘一代記不記意，如華嚴法界何所不含？隔彼聲聞使如聾瘂，後分雖有授記事乖，鹿苑初聞一向唯小，五等尚昧般若猶生，雖《楞伽》方等有記小之言，《楞伽》乃密對菩薩，方等為斥奪聲聞，故一代教文彰灼唯此，請搜檢大藏方驗有所歸。故將護執權教者，謂聲聞永住涅槃，而隱昔記小之言，從後以菩薩立號，或恐聞者驚疑憚教，或恐拂席以亡後聞，此前未驚等文處處說故，故不重論。

Under the section on the sameness of conferring predictions, it first properly recounts the inquiry, and then answers from "past events" onwards. From "If one explains" onwards, it clarifies the intention behind concealing the past. Regarding "Mañjuśrī's skillful discourse does not disclose the traces," it clarifies that the concealed intention was intended to await [the Buddha's] rising from samādhi. What was preached throughout his lifetime was not devoid of perfect fusion, but before conferring predictions upon [the practitioners of] the two vehicles, the path of transformation was not fully unimpeded. Only now does it begin to be accomplished, attributing the merit where it belongs; how could Mañjuśrī precipitously exhaust the principle? Therefore he concealed what he saw and awaited the Buddha's rising from samādhi. When the prediction was conferred upon Guṇagarbha, the assembly was not startled; hence it says, "All the sūtras are like this." Regarding "Those clinging to the teachings were not yet startled" down to "and so forth," one should narrate the intention of conferring or not conferring predictions throughout his lifetime: for instance, what does the Avataṃsaka's dharma realm not encompass? Yet it blocked those śrāvakas and made them as if deaf and mute. Although the latter part contains the conferring of predictions, the circumstances diverge; what was first heard at the Deer Park was purely and solely Hinayāna; the five equanimities were still obscured, and prajñā was still unfamiliar. Although the Laṅkāvatāra and the Vaipulya have words about conferring predictions on the Hinayāna, the Laṅkāvatāra was secretly directed at bodhisattvas, and the Vaipulya was to rebuke and dismiss the śrāvakas. Therefore, in the textual passages of the lifetime teachings, only this [Lotus Sūtra] is explicitly manifest; please search and examine the great canon, and only then will you verify where it belongs. Therefore, to protect those who cling to the provisional teachings—thinking that śrāvakas permanently dwell in nirvāṇa—he concealed the past words conferring predictions on the Hinayāna and subsequently established the appellation of bodhisattva; or he feared the hearers would be startled, suspicious, and intimidated by the teaching; or he feared they would shake out their robes and leave, forfeiting what was to be heard later. Since passages such as "not yet startled" have already been stated in various places previously, they are not discussed again.