法華文句記 8.47

8.47

Regarding "The old questions": first the objections are established, and next under "Why the carts" the three questions are listed. In the answers, the answer regarding existence and nonexistence comes first: first in terms of the parable, and next from "principle and teaching" down in terms of dharma. First, as for the parable: now asking about the two parables of the carts and the city, both depart from the house of the triple world; together with the three hundred [yojanas], both are parables of the triple world. Could it be that in contrast to the carts, the triple world is separated from nirvāṇa, whereas in contrast to the city, the triple world is distant from nirvāṇa? Next, in terms of dharma: the city is outside the realm, so how can one cling to the teaching? If that makes principle exist, when the elder speaks of carts, it should not be only principle; why must teaching be absent? However, since the place being illustrated is the same, how can the carts be separated while the city is distant? Since the elder sits in the open ground, the carts should also be distant; since the road passes through three hundred yojanas, the city should also be separated. If it is said that the road being barren and deserted is called distant, then when the gate and house are both burning, what separation could there be? Since questioning the dharma and the parable yields no grounds of reliance, why are existence and nonexistence answered differently? Now, only by matching the parable in terms of dharma can this be resolved: in the past, concealing the real and clarifying the provisional, the provisional obscured the real, so it is said that the carts are separated; now, clearly and explicitly stating that the city is a phantom, it is called a distant land. How could clinging to teaching to grasp principle make the one principle exist, or clinging to principle to grasp teaching make the three teachings nonexistent? If so, carts and city both possess principle and teaching, and both are existent and nonexistent.