法華文句記 7.34

7.34

From "Dharma and simile" to "mutually cited": stimulus and response interpenetrate neither before nor after; it is merely following the convenience of the text that one side is cited alternately. First the difference is brought out; next, under "Regarding the Buddha," it discusses living beings and the Buddha mutually. As in the explanation of the meaning of stimulus and response in the Zhǐguān, first the ordinary and the sage are juxtaposed as mutual causes and conditions; next, when stimulus and response interpenetrate and self and other have been demolished, only then is it called an inconceivable emergence. "Now taking the convenience of the text": although here there are three passages, we tentatively rely on the convenience of the two passages for interpretation; it is not that the two passages cause one to see a sequence of before and after, and hence they are likened separately. The first still follows the time of being in the five defilements after retrogressing from the Mahāyāna, which is why there are three passages. From "The cause of seeing the father" to "passing through": due to aversion to suffering and so forth, the two natures of views and cultivation both have the meaning of aversion. Cultivation deliberates, so its principle is weak; views arise and seize, so they are dull. Various views mutually arise, and all are able to deliberate principle. The method of hiring out labor is to exchange labor for wealth: originally giving rise to wrong views, one still hopes to escape suffering; although it is a wrong seeking, it darkly assists the true path. Thus it causes worldly aversion to suffering to ultimately become a good capacity for transcendence. The worldly being exchanged for the transcendent is therefore called "hired out"; passing from one to another is therefore called "passing through." As for "roots of goodness," it still has the meaning of being able to arise; hence there is the principle of coming through transition; thus it says that through this, he even reached the father's house. Meeting without anticipating is therefore called an "encounter." Unexpectedly, based on worldly dharmas, one suddenly stimulates transcendent compassion; again unexpectedly, worldly wrong deliberation gives rise to right views to stimulate the Buddha; again unexpectedly, within Hinayāna goodness, one darkly enters the perfect gate of the Mahāyāna. "The two capacities, large and small, both knock at this house": the Mahāyāna capacity not being ripe, right view is distant; the Hinayāna stimulus being slightly closer, it is near the gate. Therefore, viewed from retrogression and from the branches, the meaning warrants knocking at both; viewed from the origin and from the Mahāyāna, it rests solely on the perfect; spoken of from proximity, the one-sided capacity succeeds first. "The place of seeing the father is near the gate": previously, large and small both knocked, but the place points solely to the side of the gate because the Hinayāna is close. Saying "the two contemplations serve as skillful means": both extremes have the meaning of being able to see, and thus both are broadly borrowed as proof. Both extremes are one-sided; one-sided emptiness is the most biased. From "There are two kinds of right views" to "is distant": within right views these two are further divided: the near refers to the assembly of bodhisattvas in the Avataṃsaka, and the far refers to the two vehicles. Neither has yet united, but both are merely at the side of the gate. In the text there are two explanations, first the capacity and next the response; both are called "distant."