法華文句記 7.92

7.92

前以旁人即華嚴中四大菩薩，《大經》中云「從牛出乳」，譬從佛出十二部經，今何得以牛譬菩薩為旁人耶？

Previously, the bystanders were taken as the four great bodhisattvas in the *Avataṃsaka*; the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra* says, "From the cow comes milk," which is a simile for the twelve divisions of scriptures coming from the Buddha. Now why can the cow be used as a simile for the bodhisattvas being bystanders?