法華玄論 9.9

9.9

答：一乘難信，恐釋迦化偏，故古佛證，顯諸佛道同，非釋迦偏化也。又既說窮理之法，必感非常之瑞。瑞中之大者，莫過三世佛集，時會見之則未信者信、已信堅明。又多寶涌現及十方佛集，共嘆經福重命人弘宣，則始心終行莫不受旨。如是等義，故證前也。開後者，上來開三顯一明教權實已竟，今次顯如來身方便、身真實。從〈現塔〉至〈壽量〉略明三義：一者明多寶滅既不滅，則知釋迦生亦非生，欲顯不生不滅為實身、生滅為方便，則開身方便門顯身真實義。二者集分身開本一迹多。既互相為分身，則知彼此皆是迹。彼此皆是迹，必有統一之本，故本一而迹多。迹多故開身方便門，本一故顯身真實也。三者命覓弘經之人，因此則有〈持品〉，乃至他方菩薩奉命弘經，如來便得止其宣持，顯下方菩薩廣開壽量久已證常也。

Answer: The one vehicle is difficult to believe, and there was fear that Śākyamuni's teaching might seem biased. Therefore, an ancient buddha gave confirmation to make clear that the path of all buddhas is identical, and not that Śākyamuni's teaching was biased. Moreover, having expounded the teaching that plumbs ultimate principle, extraordinary auspicious signs were bound to be evoked. Among auspicious signs, nothing is greater than the gathering of the buddhas of the three periods of time; when the assembly witnessed this, those who did not yet believe came to believe, and those who already believed became firmly resolute. Furthermore, Prabhūtaratna welled forth and the buddhas of the ten directions assembled to jointly praise the great merit of the sūtra and repeatedly command people to propagate it; consequently, from the initial resolve to the final practice, none failed to receive the instruction. For meanings such as these, [the present passage] confirms what came before. As for opening what follows: up to this point, opening the three and revealing the one to illuminate the provisional and real teachings has concluded; next, the provisionality of the Tathāgata's body and the reality of his body are revealed. From the "Appearance of the Jeweled Stūpa" chapter up through the "Lifespan" chapter, three meanings are briefly clarified: First, it clarifies that since Prabhūtaratna's extinction is not extinct, one knows that Śākyamuni's birth is likewise not birth; wishing to reveal non-birth and non-extinction as the real body and birth-and-extinction as skillful means, it opens the gate of the body's skillful means to reveal the meaning of the body's reality. Second, gathering the emanations opens [the understanding that] the root is one and the traces are manifold. Since they are reciprocal emanations, one knows that both this and that are traces. Since both this and that are traces, there must be a unified root; hence the root is one and the traces are manifold. Because traces are manifold, it opens the gate of the body's skillful means; because the root is one, it reveals the reality of the body. Third, commanding that persons who propagate the sūtra be sought leads to the "Upholding" chapter and so forth, until the bodhisattvas from other lands receive the command to propagate the sūtra, whereupon the Tathāgata is able to halt their preaching and upholding, revealing the bodhisattvas from below and broadly unfolding the Lifespan, showing that he has long since realized the eternal.