法華文句記 9.85

9.85

The fifth, "according to merit": beginning from the seven worthy ones and ending at the arhat, all possess portions of concentration and wisdom. "The city is nirvāṇa": this is the fourth fruit. "Attaining the contaminated": this is the dharma of the stages of the worthy ones. In the sixfold correspondence of the parable, they correspond to the six in sequence: the first corresponds to the first; below "and the various" corresponds to the second; below "the Tathāgata" corresponds to the third; below "those who have" corresponds to the fourth; below "among the four" corresponds to the fifth; and below "and not" corresponds to the sixth. In matching the bestowal of the jewel, the sūtra states "seeing the worthy and noble" and so forth. The Mahāsaṃnipāta states: "Knowing suffering destroys the māra of the skandhas; cutting off the origin departs from the māra of defilements; realizing cessation departs from the māra of death; cultivating the path destroys the māra of the heavenly son." The present text does not mention the māra of the heavenly son because the Hīnayāna mostly severs the three māras and has not destroyed the māra of the heavenly son; nevertheless, there is an implicit meaning of destruction. The sūtra states "having great..." and so forth: when the Tathāgata sees these Hīnayāna worthy and noble ones have already eliminated cause and effect within the realm, it is called "battling the skandhas"; reaching after prajñā, it is called "great meritorious achievement." Therefore the three poisons and so forth are temporarily within the small. After that, time is long, and it is comprehensively called "rejoicing." Within the obstacle of defilements, first there are three, namely the three poisons of greed and so forth; the next sixteen lines say "all." Corresponding to the explanation of "all" below, beginning from the ten faiths and ending at wondrous enlightenment, we know the three delusions are merely the coarse three poisons in the desire realm, because the ten faiths completely eliminate the defilements of the three realms. Below there are still the three of views and thoughts and so forth, hence it says "all," because the word "all" comprehensively embraces the transformation of all three delusions. Since peaceful practice is the practice of the Tathāgata, those who propagate the sūtra foreshadow the completion of the fruition; hence we know the power of the merit of propagation is not small.