法華文句記 9.95

9.95

First, an overall interpretation is given using the four siddhāntas: under the mundane [siddhānta], it first explains the reason for the command to come, and next, from "the Tathāgata" onward, directly explains the command and arrival. Regarding "the master is revered" and so forth, two meanings mutually illuminate each other: because the Way rests in the master, the Way is exalted; because the master possesses the Way, the master is revered. Because the master is revered, the command cannot be disobeyed; because the Way is exalted, when there is a command, it must be answered. Because the master embodies both, "they bowed and reverently obeyed." Next, it directly clarifies the command and arrival. As for what is called the "command": first, at the end of the "Treasure Tower Chapter," it states that "the Buddha wishes to entrust this Wondrous Lotus Sūtra so that it may abide," which is still a general command. Second, in the text below, eight Ganges-sands of assemblies of bodhisattvas from other regions request to propagate the sūtra in other lands, and the Buddha stops them, saying: "In my Sahā world there are of themselves sixty thousand Ganges-sands of assemblies." This is the specific command. Therefore the compiler of the sūtra narrates it. When the bodhisattvas heard the sound emitted by Śākyamuni Buddha, they set out and came forth from below. "Leaping up from the four directions": "leaping" means swiftness, the utmost of reverence. Freely ascending here is therefore the mundane [siddhānta]; the lower three together complete the initial stimulus and response. From "three periods of time" onward is [the siddhānta] for individuals, which has doctrine, metaphor, and application. First, in the doctrine: from their original attainment onward, they have benefited beings throughout the three periods of time; hence these three periods of time all belong to the past. Now the Buddha himself should benefit beings in the present; the bodhisattvas' propagation of the sūtra will take place in the future. Since their benefit of wisdom is vast, it cannot be fathomed by the mind. Citing the metaphor of the moon: the one moon is the origin, and the myriad reflections are the traces. Provided there is water, it responds untiringly; how could it be conceived in terms of the three periods of time? If one does not stir away the reflections, how can one know the moon in the sky? This shows that the true origin of the bodhisattvas is difficult to fathom, and the Tathāgata's traces, both hidden and manifest, cannot be measured. Regarding "summoning the past" and so forth: if the traces are not opened, no one below the Buddha could know it. Now, wishing to reveal the origin, he first brings forth those who originally belonged to it, possessing the growth of roots of goodness across two periods of time; therefore he summons the original persons to show them to the present persons, causing the present persons to generate present goodness, and causes the original persons to propagate the present sūtra, causing future persons to generate future goodness. Regarding "space and so forth being the counteractive [siddhānta]": this is in terms of what is expressed. Space is the principle; origin and traces are phenomena. In phenomena there are origin and traces, but in principle there is no earlier or later. The deluded are confused about principle and blind to origin and traces, so they cling to the recent traces and lose the distant origin. When they are still confused about origin and traces, how much more so about the inconceivable oneness! Thus the original disciples abide in the lower space, the master of the ground of origin has traversed long ages in space, and the present master and disciples are in the present space. Although the long-past space, the present space, the lower space, and the upper space are identical in essence, the original disciples fundamentally know the recent traces, while the present disciples are still deluded about the distant origin. To break their clinging to what is recent, he summons the past to show it to the present; the present disciples formulate an inquiry based on doubt, and only upon hearing the explanation is it broken. Because it breaks the evil of clinging to what is recent, it is called counteractive. From "the tranquil site" onward is the supreme-truth [siddhānta]: because Vairocana at the tranquil site displays his initial attainment, the father is young; because the bodhisattvas of the Tranquil Light have practiced for a long time and are prominent, the sons are old. As for the metaphor of the "power of medicine": why is the father young and the sons old? Following the meaning of the metaphor of father and sons below, the father has long beforehand taken the medicine of the wisdom of all modes that restores youth, so the father is old yet appears young; the sons have also long received the prescription for the constantly abiding and deathless, so the sons are young yet appear old. Although each has the efficacy of ingesting medicine, the father and sons are long established. Although these four siddhāntas universally explain the present text and their purport encompasses later chapters, the text of the first siddhānta is in the present chapter, the second's purport encompasses later chapters, and the third and fourth anticipate and employ later chapters; all of them assist what follows in order to accomplish the revelation of the distant [origin], because goodness is generated, evil is broken, and the origin is seen. Thus we know that the mundane is the source of the three siddhāntas; hence the "Leaping Forth Chapter" is devoted to the mundane. Below "The text states," citations are given for proof, which generally prove the four siddhāntas; that is, they gather because of the causes and conditions of the four siddhāntas. Regarding "and so forth" below "the transmission section": one should explain all the chapters in full, as discussed in detail below. Furthermore, among the twenty-eight chapters, only eleven and a half chapters belong to the transmission of origin and traces; sixteen and a half chapters, by the power of the sūtra, broadly cite the teaching and cite persons, adduce the present and adduce the past, east and west, whether manifest or hidden, collective bodies or individual bodies, either counter or accordant, past buddhas and present buddhas, from subtle to prominent, present benefit and future benefit, benefit to animals and benefit to humans, benefit to men and benefit to women, intimate benefit and distant benefit, phenomenal benefit and noumenal benefit, and so forth, praising it unceasingly. Moreover, the four stages of faith in half a chapter are unsettled in their inclusion or omission, not to mention that the intentions of transmission in the two sections of origin and traces are distinct. Therefore the note says "and so forth." Hence the transmission of the origin section is forever distinct from that of the other sections.