法華玄論 5.36

5.36

Answer: In the initial three requests, all three capacities were in doubt; therefore we know that the first preaching was for people of all three capacities. Next, in the "Parable Chapter", Śāriputra fully conveys the doubts and regrets of people of middling and inferior capacities, requesting the Buddha to resolve them; therefore we know that the parabolic preaching broadly applies to people of middling and inferior capacities. Furthermore, by being complete with the preachings of three cycles, it is fully equipped in meaning. If there were only doctrine and no parable, the momentum of the meaning would not be exhausted; if there were only parables and no doctrine, the purport would also not be complete. Therefore there must be the doctrinal preaching in the first cycle and parables in the second cycle. Although doctrine and parables are complete, they only clarify the present and have not distinguished the cultivation of causes in past lives; hence next there is the third preaching. Furthermore, the path of the one vehicle has many gates of entry: some naturally delight in hearing doctrinal preaching and enter through the gate of doctrinal preaching; some naturally delight in hearing parables and enter through the gate of parables—these are the previous two cycles; some delight in both doctrine and parables, and both gates are preached together—this is the third cycle. Therefore, before the "Conjured City" is called the gate of doctrinal preaching, and after the "Conjured City" is the gate of parables. There are also those who cannot attain awakening through any of these three gates, for whom none of them is preached, like the group of five thousand.