法華文句記 5.32

5.32

In "two point upward and two point downward," the headings in the sections on the five buddhas must all possess six. The section on the general buddha contains only four, lacking the fifth and sixth; the section on Śākyamuni lacks only the first; and the buddhas of the intermediate three periods of time each have only two. The two pointing to the general buddha are the first two meanings; the two pointing to Śākyamuni are the latter two meanings. However, in the sections on the three periods of time, the revelation of the real always says "this dharma," and in the section on Śākyamuni, the two words "like this" both point to the provisional being the real; hence it is called revealing the real. Why? In the past when the provisional was deployed, there was not even the name of "provisional," much less "real." Therefore, now opening the provisional, the provisional is precisely the real, hence it says "these dharmas are all for the sake of the buddha vehicle." Thus we know that recounting their deployment of the provisional had the intention of opening it. In the section on the past buddhas, the statement that within the revelation of the real it concurrently encompasses the oneness of persons should also concurrently encompass principle; the word "concurrently" above extends to what follows below. Because being concurrent is not primary, the text above says it is not as apparent as the general text. The future and present are also like this. In the section on the present buddha, from the very beginning it opens the provisional and reveals the real; the sūtra text from "Śāriputra, all these buddhas" downward corresponds to the general text. Therefore, in the preceding evaluation it was said that the sections on the buddhas of the three periods of time each explain the teaching and practice, and afterward generally explain persons and principle. According to this, it should first open the chapter by saying "first the specific, next the general." The reason it does not open it first is that in the subsequent general text there is no general [statement] on opening the provisional, but only a single text on revealing the real; hence, compared to the three periods of time each having provisional and real, it would be inconvenient to divide general and specific. Therefore, combining it into the section on the present buddha to complete the text together, it is said that the text is complete. If so, why not simply combine it into the section on the present buddha as the text of the four onenesses, rather than taking it as the general? Because the beginning of the sūtra text itself says "Śāriputra, all these buddhas" and so forth, we know that it is general.