法華義疏 1.155

1.155

《法華論》有二義：一、欲因處表教。一切城中此城最大，一切山中此山最勝，表《法華經》眾經中勝。二者、示現自在功德成就故。言此偏舉王舍城為喻，如王於世間自在，顯此經是眾經之王，以一乘攝一切乘、一切乘歸一乘故也。《釋論》六種義：一云報法身恩故。如來既本於摩伽陀國成道，為報此恩，故多住也。二者、彼處地廣民多、受化彌廣，故多住也。三者、彼處多聰明大智人，身子、迦葉之流，長爪、六師之例，欲降制之，故多住也。四者、彼國有龍王兄弟二人，以時降雨國無荒年，出家之人資身既立，則練神亦易，故多住也。五者、此處多精舍，平地有竹林，伽藍五山有五精舍，餘國既少，故多住也。六者、此處靈華瑞草閑靜清潔，實是眾聖之所栖遊、神仙之所窟宅，故多住也。

The *Fahua lun* offers two points. First, it is to express the teaching by means of the place: among all cities, this city is the greatest; among all mountains, this mountain is supreme; this symbolizes that the *Lotus Sūtra* is supreme among all sūtras. Second, it is to demonstrate the accomplishment of the merits of sovereignty. That is to say, this singles out Rājagṛha as a metaphor: just as a king is sovereign in the world, it reveals that this sūtra is the king among all sūtras, because the ekayāna gathers in all yānas, and all yānas return to the ekayāna. The *Explanatory Treatise* (*Zhidu lun*) provides six reasons: First, to repay the debt of gratitude to the dharmakāya. Since the Tathāgata originally attained enlightenment in the country of Magadha, in order to repay this gratitude, he mostly dwelt there. Second, that place has vast territory and a large population, and those receiving conversion were extremely widespread; hence he mostly dwelt there. Third, that place had many intelligent persons of great wisdom, such as the cohort of Śāriputra and Kāśyapa, and the company of Dīrghanakha and the six non-Buddhist teachers; desiring to subdue them, he mostly dwelt there. Fourth, that country had two nāga-king brothers who caused rain to fall at the proper seasons so that the kingdom suffered no famine years; once the provisions of renunciants were established, cultivating the spirit was also easy; hence he mostly dwelt there. Fifth, this place had many vihāras: on flat ground there was the Bamboo Grove, and among the five mountains of the saṅghārāma there were five vihāras; as other countries had few, he mostly dwelt there. Sixth, this place had miraculous flowers, auspicious herbs, and was quiet and clean; it was truly the dwelling and roaming place of the multitude of sages and the retreat of divine immortals; hence he mostly dwelt there.