[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法華文句記](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719) › 9.227 # 法華文句記 9.227 法華文句記 9.227 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [9.227](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9.227) 「寄此四字」者，「常住不滅」也。既其不滅，益至未來。「舊人」下先舉舊計。云「前過恒沙」等者，古師見經中有「所成壽命」之言，謂為果壽。乃指前文「過於塵界」，為前過恒沙，以非恒沙可能喻故，乃用世界以之為喻，于今未盡，為後倍上數。又古人見「復倍」之言，便為有限，況復不知是實因壽，而云神通？經中云「復」，他云「後」者，章疏之言。從此已後復倍上數，如是並為神通延壽。意言：今雖未盡必有盡時。《經》「舉因況果」者，明本行菩薩道時，所感因壽尚自未盡，況果壽耶？古人不曉，判屬無常。故知以不盡之因壽，況不盡之果壽，明因果俱常；古釋反令因果無常。「云何棄所況」等者，彼見能況有所成之言，便為所況之果，但《經》文中前已明果，何重言之？言「縱令」者，指初住位分得常壽，豈有初住真變易壽，便同分段有無常耶？若言盡者，何當盡耶？何名分常？分但對佛及以後地，準行證文自應知之。「譬如」下舉太子祿以為況者，猶是分況，對□人財言「不盡」耳。「捩」字（里結切）謂抝捩也。「抝」字（鳥飽切）不順之貌，謂棄於常而取無常。 > "Relying on these four characters" refers to "constantly abiding and never extinguished." Since it is not extinguished, its benefit extends into the future. From "Former commentators" downward, \[the text\] first cites past interpretations. When they say, "It surpasses the sands of the Ganges in the past," and so on: ancient masters, seeing the words "the life span achieved" in the sūtra, considered it to be the life span of the fruit \[of buddhahood\]. They took the preceding text's "surpassing the dust-mote realms" to mean surpassing the sands of the Ganges in the past; because it could not be illustrated by the sands of the Ganges, \[the sūtra\] used worlds to illustrate it, and \[the phrase\] "has not yet been exhausted up to the present" was taken to mean twice the above number for the future. Furthermore, when the ancients saw the words "twice again," they immediately took it to be limited, and moreover, not knowing that it is the life span of the real cause, claimed it was spiritual powers! In the sūtra it says "again," whereas others say "subsequently"—these are the words of commentaries and subcommentaries. From this time onward it is twice the number above, and all such things were taken to be extending the life span through spiritual powers. Their idea was: although it is not yet exhausted now, there must be a time when it is exhausted. When the sūtra "adduces the cause to illustrate the fruit," it explains that the causal life span evoked when originally practicing the bodhisattva path has not yet been exhausted even now, so how much less the life span of the fruit? Ancient masters did not understand this and classified it as impermanent. Therefore we know that by using the inexhaustible causal life span to illustrate the inexhaustible fruition life span, it illuminates that cause and fruit are both constant; the ancient explanations conversely made cause and fruit impermanent. As for "Why discard that which is illustrated..." and so forth: seeing the words "that which is achieved" in that which illustrates, they immediately took it to be the fruit that is illustrated; but since the text of the sūtra had already clarified the fruit earlier, why would it repeat it? The words "Even if" refer to partially attaining a constant life span at the stage of the first abodal station; how could the true life span of inconceivable transformation of the first abodal station be the same as \[the life span of\] conditioned portions and thus have impermanence? If one says it has an end, when would it end? Why is it called partially constant? "Partially" is only spoken in contrast to the buddha and the subsequent grounds; one should naturally know this by referring to the texts on practice and realization. From "For example..." downward, adducing the prince's stipend as an illustration is still a partial illustration; it is only called "inexhaustible" in comparison to the wealth of \[ordinary\] people. The character liè (捩, glossed as lǐ + jié) means to twist or distort (àoniè). The character ào (抝, glossed as niǎo + bǎo) has the appearance of non-compliance, meaning discarding the constant and adopting the impermanent. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 9.226](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9.226) - [Next: 9.228](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9.228) - [Up: 9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719~en-mt.9.227) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9.227](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1719.9.227) · Pramāṇa