法華文句記 6.28

6.28

“Dui” (懟) means resentment. As for “opening the parable”: following the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, the metaphor can be called a pervasive metaphor, applying both inside and outside the three realms, to both the great and small vehicles, and so forth; it can also be called a non-metaphor, because in the mundane world there is no such burning house from beginning to end, nor is a fire-rescuer bound to transport by carts, first granting and later withdrawing, first with three and then with one. However, the parable and its application mutually have breadth and brevity. If the parable is brief and the application extensive, one must first gather the text of the application to correspond to the parable completely, and upon reaching the application, explain it in detail. If the parable is extensive and the application brief, how could the World-Honoured One have uttered empty words in vain? One must carefully analyze the parable, whereas the application only requires a brief correspondence. In the overall parable, the phrase “a single gate”: above it said that the diverse corresponds to the non-diverse, which is the single gate. Above, the provision was cited to contrast with the exposition of the Buddha-path; the Buddha-path is the single gate, and the diverse is the provision of the provisional. Now, presenting that which is revealed, it speaks only of a single gate; this is also a case of each displaying its capacity. Matching the capacity with the object, their meaning does not differ; by reflecting upon it, this can be seen. As for “fame is like a guest” and so forth: practice resides in oneself; fame is transmitted by others. Real practice is intimate; provisional practice is distant. When practice is intimate, fame reaches far, pervasively throughout the three lands; when practice is distant, fame is near, confined solely to the land of common residence. The land of expedient means and the land of real reward serve mutually as distant and near. Although intimate and distant mutually reveal each other, when name and practice correspond, others do not transmit it erroneously. Therefore, when practice is high, fame reaches far; when fame is substantial, practice must be intimate. Thus, the places are used to represent it, verifying that name and practice are not confused. In “borders and boundaries” and so forth: “borders” (feng) refers to the delimitations governed; “boundaries” (jiang) refers to the boundary spirits of what has been enfeoffed. A small territory is called a bang; a large one is called a guo (state). It is also said: because the Son of Heaven establishes the state, the furthest place is taken as the state. Zai is the magistrate; an area governed by a master is a yi (town); the individual dwellings within a town are called ju-luo (villages). Therefore, towns and villages diminish progressively in scale. As for “not adopting the old interpretation”: it only matched empty space to the three thousand lands of common residence, omitting the two lands of expedient means and real reward; hence it is not adopted.