法華文句記 6.16

6.16

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?