法華文句記 3.39

3.39

It is indeed as you ask: the assembly at that time only knew that they saw by virtue of the light; the great marvel lay with the World-Honoured One, and what was seen was not their own realm. However, the intention behind causing them to see was fundamentally to verify identity; the radiance emitted was to accomplish the single reality. Those whose phenomena diverge and whose principle is severed are not bathed in this light. Since it caused them to see and hear both the far and the near alike, how could the past and future ever obstruct their seeing and listening? Thus, it caused the origins and terminations of the ten directions to be as clear as if before their eyes. How could one measure the holy realm with ordinary sentiments? Nor was it only the Buddha’s power as host of conversion that made them see; among the assembly who heard alike and among those who compiled the sūtra, there were ancient buddhas at that time who had concealed their traces therein, whose wisdom illuminated the occasion and related this horizontal and vertical [teaching], additionally causing those who saw—both holy and ordinary—to become of one equal level. Hence we know that simply by relying on the sequence of the text, the intention of the sūtra is vivid and clear.