法華玄論 5.100

5.100

答：今須進退論之。若大辟支與佛齊，佛入道有二說：一云從燸法已入觀，至盡無生方出，辟支亦爾。二釋云佛從不淨觀已去，至盡無生方出，大辟支亦然。迦葉是大辟支，應勝身子；而不及身子，故知非大辟支。既非大辟支，不得用前二說也。迦葉劣身子，復勝七生滿人，即是中根辟支，可得住燸頂二善根，不值佛而成緣覺也。

Answer: This must now be discussed forwards and backwards. If a great pratyekabuddha is on par with the Buddha, there are two explanations for the Buddha's entering the Path: one says that from the heating stage onward he entered contemplation, emerging only upon reaching the knowledge of destruction and non-arising; a pratyekabuddha is also like this. The second explanation says that the Buddha proceeded from the contemplation of impurity onward, emerging only upon reaching the knowledge of destruction and non-arising; a great pratyekabuddha is likewise. Kāśyapa, being a great pratyekabuddha, should have surpassed Śāriputra; yet he was not equal to Śāriputra, so we know he was not a great pratyekabuddha. Since he was not a great pratyekabuddha, one cannot apply the previous two explanations. Kāśyapa was inferior to Śāriputra yet superior to a person who had completed seven births; thus he was a pratyekabuddha of middling faculties, who could abide in the two wholesome roots of heating and summit, and would have become a pratyekabuddha had he not encountered a buddha.