法華文句記 6.16

6.16

若記菩薩但通途云得無生等，今記聲聞須約劫國，應佛成處須有機緣，此諸聲聞昔未曾有淨土之行，蒙記已後與物結緣，物機不同致劫多少。龍女雖畜，以乘急故，先習方便，若據權迹此復別論。又諸聲聞時不同者，為逗物宜隨機長短，機緣不等初住何殊。世人覩聲聞受記，則嫌劫數長遠，見龍女作佛，乃疑時節短促，或疑少過獲罪太廣，或思小善招功自多，或譏佛說迴或不定，或責菩薩示迹參差，或聞勝行多劫疑教門虛構，聞諸佛神變謂世術相兼，或疑六十小劫以為半日，或迷一剎那經無量劫，如是邪言不可知數。乃由邪見種彊宿熏力弱，端拱守弊空談是非；但信教仰理何須臆度？赴緣益物非世所知，當知是人豈了初住得八相記，十方作佛種種示現，雖種種示現與法身記殊，若不為物修淨土行，成佛之處為誰取土？

If giving a prophecy to a bodhisattva, one merely says in general that they attain the non-arising [of dharmas], and so on; now in prophesying for the voice-hearers, one must frame it in terms of kalpas and lands. The place where a response buddha accomplishes [enlightenment] requires the conditions of capacities [of beings]. In the past, these voice-hearers never had the practice of pure lands; after receiving the prophecy, they form affinities with sentient beings, and because the capacities of beings differ, this leads to a greater or lesser number of kalpas. Although the dragon girl is an animal, because her vehicle was urgent, she had previously trained in skillful means; if considered from her provisional trace, that is discussed separately again. Moreover, that the times differ for the voice-hearers is to adapt to what is suitable for beings according to the length of their capacities; though their conditions of capacity are unequal, how could the first abidance differ? Worldly people, seeing the voice-hearers receive prophecies, dislike the kalpa counts as long and distant; seeing the dragon girl become a buddha, they doubt the time period as brief; or they doubt that a minor fault incurs too vast an offense, or consider that a small good deed attracts excessive merit on its own; or they deride the Buddha's preaching as wavering or indeterminate, or blame the bodhisattvas for manifesting traces unevenly; or hearing of superior practices spanning many kalpas, they suspect the doctrinal teachings are fabrications, and hearing of the divine transformations of the buddhas, they claim worldly arts are mixed in; or they doubt sixty minor kalpas being like half a day, or are confused by a single instant passing through immeasurable kalpas. Such perverse statements are beyond count. They are caused by the seeds of perverse views being strong and the power of past perfuming being weak, folding their arms and clinging to corruption, idly talking about right and wrong. If one only has faith in the teaching and reveres the principle, why engage in conjecture? Responding to conditions to benefit beings is not known to the world. One should know: how could such people comprehend that upon the first abidance one attains the prophecy of the eight phases, becoming buddhas and making diverse manifestations in the ten directions? Although there are diverse manifestations, they differ from the prophecy of the dharmakāya. If one does not cultivate pure land practices for the sake of beings, for whom would one take a land when attaining buddhahood?