法華玄論 9.13

9.13

Answer: The verse below says: "Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata and my body, together with the gathered transformation-buddhas, should know this intention." Now, the words of the sage are close at hand while his intention reaches far; one cannot seek it from the Buddha merely on the level of external events. Fearing that people might trace the words and lose the ultimate point, he therefore proclaimed, "You should know this intention," merely to startle and awaken them. If the intention were solely to uphold and propagate [the sūtra], this would have already been made manifest in his words; how could he say that this intention is difficult to know, and why trouble to proclaim, "You should know this intention"? Furthermore, if the appearance of the stūpa were merely to confirm what was previously expounded, why bother emitting light to assemble the buddhas and opening the stūpa to sit side by side? What was the intention? Hence we know that all of this was done to open the root and the traces.