法華文句記 7.31

7.31

"Never yet having spoken to anyone," and so forth: the text relies on two meanings to explain this idea: first, skillful means; next, this land. First, as for skillful means: within those skillful means, there are not only those prior to the stages and prior to the abodes, but also those who have manifested traces and ascended to the stages and ascended to the abodes—that is, the ministers and assistants. How could they be completely ignorant of the impoverished son's capacity and nature? It is only that, as far as the impoverished son was concerned, the time had not yet arrived; host and retinue interacting together, to conceal the real was not yet appropriate, and skillfully adapting to the capacities of living beings, it is therefore said not to have been spoken. Because those of the five persons within the realm who had severed common delusions were not yet capable of bearing hearing such words clearly and openly, it is therefore said not to have been spoken to the ministers and assistants, taking the ministers and assistants as intending the servants. Therein, pointing to the Hinayāna, it is therefore said "did not speak to." Therefore, in the mind of the elder, none was not his own son; because of differences in capacity, he established them with Hinayāna names, gradually enticing them, and only then made them ministers and assistants. Thus we know that the dharmakāya originally possessed suspended foreknowledge. Under "Furthermore, since appearing in the world," the second meaning further clarifies that in the former teachings of this land, it had not been overtly spoken; contrasting this with that which was concealed, it is therefore said not to have been spoken. Thus, while the previously established meaning of the superior nirmāṇakāya extended to both places, the words of the inferior nirmāṇakāya adapted to those one-sided capacities. Therefore, the statement of not speaking extends throughout the four flavors, and within the four flavors, ministers, assistants, servants, and so forth are fully present. Under "Since they were not," it explains the persons of the Hinayāna in the second meaning. "Like the deaf and dumb" and so forth refers to the assembly of the Avataṃsaka; "or flowers adhering" and so forth refers to the Vaipulya. The words regarding not keeping up also encompass the Prajñā; and having no desire to seek it is precisely that affair. The adhering flowers were Śāriputra, and abandoning the bowl was Subhūti; thus we know: how could the words of not speaking pertain to the bodhisattvas of the dharmakāya? Under "bearing in mind," it turns back to explain the distant cause; the distant cause is precisely the conditions for not speaking. Truly, because when forming the Mahāyāna bond in the past they had not yet entered the stage of resemblance, reflecting on oneself and reprimanding the other, it therefore says "not diligent." Thereby retrogressing from the Mahāyāna, they lost the seasoning and maturing along the way, hence it says "without instruction." Turning one's back on oneself and going toward others, it therefore says "ran away." Running away has three meanings: first, the capacity ceases and the response dissolves; second, turning one's back on oneself and going toward others; third, abiding where one ought not, which is the five paths. Thus it caused the Tathāgata to remember without any prior condition. Under "regretting the son," it exclusively reprimands the son: not only did he regret that the response ceased early, but he also deplored that the son's capacity arose, resulting in estrangement from my true Dharma and intimacy with the six dusts of others. Under "internal match" and so forth: to discuss escaping difficulties, one must purify the six sense faculties. Accords with principle, those who retrogress are mostly prior to the rank of the five grades; by contrast with the non-retrogressing rank, the five grades are tentatively taken as the rank of retrogression. The text's explanation of regret and deploring divides them between self and other; following the intended sense, they can also both pertain to both sides. Under "period of transformation" and so forth, it is explained in terms of the latter meaning—namely, from appearing in the world down to before the Lotus [Sūtra]; hence it says "old and decrepit." Under "Nor does this rely on," and so forth: it is because it does not rely on the manifested śrāvakas.