法華義疏 4.13

4.13

「此眾無枝葉」者，第二、頌淨眾也。「舍利弗善聽」下，第二、頌上正說。上有四門：初、一乘真實門；次、三乘方便門；三、得失門；四、勸信門。今偈頌轉勢說法亦有四門：初、頌一乘真實門；二、頌三乘方便門；三、明讚歎門；四、明勸信門。所以有此四門者：初、明一乘真實，次、明三乘方便。此二明一化始終故。第三、讚歎，以讚歎竟勸物信受。初一乘真實門有三：一、釋迦自說門；二、引證門；三、順同門。今頌此三則為三段也。上長行釋迦自說門有三：一、稱歎門；二、不虛門；三、顯教意門。今偈轉勢頌之亦開三門：一、顯教意門；二、釋疑門；三、勸信門。初、正明說教大意，明為歸一乘。二、明時眾疑，若但為歸一乘者，何故不前說於一而前說三耶？為釋此疑，明前三後一所以，故次辨釋疑門。教意既彰、前後又顯，故第三勸信。初門又二：一、明說昔教意，則頌上長行隨宜所說意趣難解。二、明今教意，頌上長行為一大事因緣故出現於世。就初門又二：第一、明昔說小乘教意；二、明昔說大乘教意。初門有二：第一、明昔說小乘教，即頌上長行隨宜所說意趣難解；次、頌昔說教所表意，即頌上唯有諸佛乃能知之。初門又二：第一、敘昔說人天教；第二、敘昔說二乘教。初中有三門：第一偈，頌歎佛權智有巧說之功。第二偈，頌歎佛智內照根性。「佛悉知是已」下，第三，有四偈，正明佛說教。所以昔教但有此三門者，初歎佛權智，謂良醫也；次知根性，謂識病也；後說教，授藥也。初偈云「諸佛所得法」，謂實智也。「無量方便力」，謂權智也。次、內具此二，外能為物說法也。第二偈，上三句知現在性欲，下一句明照過去業因，以現欲由於往業，故次頌之。次四偈為二：初一偈，總明赴緣說教、教稱於緣；次三偈，別明教門。前總、後別，為解義故。別明說教中，初一行半，明九部經謂教法也；次一行半，明涅槃果法也。小乘法中說九部之教，令得涅槃之果，則是次第。又九部通於四乘，果法但明二乘教也。昔說雖多，不出斯二。又九部謂人天教，次說涅槃謂二乘教。然經論不同凡有四句：一、大小俱廣，大乘具足十二，小乘隨分十二。所以但明十二者，以十二是一數之圓，又治眾生十二緣病故也。二、大小俱略，同明九部，所以但明九部者，亦是一數之圓，又為九道眾生故說九部。小乘約法淺故除三：以小乘法淺狹故無方廣；授佛記非小乘之宗，又小乘人無補佛處義故除授記；小乘法淺有人能問故除無問自說。又大士能為眾生作不請之友故有無問自說，小乘不能濟物要待請方說故無無問自說。大乘約人根利故除三：大乘人根利直說則解，不須因緣及以譬喻，亦不假論義，故略以此三部也。第三句、小廣而大略，如《地持論》說，菩薩藏名方廣經，聲聞藏謂十一部。此意明大乘十二為明方廣之理，從所詮之理為名故十二部悉名方廣；小乘十二部不為明方廣之理，故存其十一部名，沒方廣之稱也。第四句、大廣小略，顯大乘是滿字故具足十二部；小乘是半字故唯有九部，則如今文說，正是《法華》宗也。十二部通以言教為體，故《涅槃經》明知法知義，知法者知十二部經法，故知是教也。次開為二者，雖有十二部不出長行與偈也。亦得開三：修多羅、祇夜、伽陀。此三就教制名，則以教為此三部體，餘之九部從別事受名，亦不離此三也。修多羅者，《成論》及《智度論》明直說語言為修多羅，謂別相修多羅也。《涅槃經》從如是至奉行，謂通相修多羅也。三藏中修多羅竪長橫狹，竪長故攝於十二，橫狹故但一藏也。十二部中修多羅橫闊竪短，不攝十一故竪短，攝三藏故為橫闊也。伽陀者第二部，謂不等偈也。

"In this assembly there are no branches or leaves": second, this versifies the purification of the assembly. From "Śāriputra, listen well" downward is second, versifying the main exposition above. Above there were four gates: first, the gate of the reality of the ekayāna; next, the gate of the expedient means of the triyāna; third, the gate of gain and loss; fourth, the gate of encouraging belief. Now the verse section turns its momentum to expound the Dharma, also having four gates: first, it versifies the gate of the reality of the ekayāna; second, it versifies the gate of the expedient means of the triyāna; third, it explains the gate of praise; fourth, it explains the gate of encouraging belief. The reason there are these four gates is: first, it clarifies the reality of the ekayāna; next, it clarifies the expedient means of the triyāna. These two clarify the beginning and end of a single period of conversion. Third, it offers praise, and having praised, encourages living beings to believe and accept. The initial gate of the reality of the ekayāna has three [parts]: first, the gate of Śākyamuni's own exposition; second, the gate of citing corroboration; third, the gate of showing concordant agreement. Now, versifying these three forms three sections. In the prose above, the gate of Śākyamuni's own exposition had three [parts]: first, the gate of praise; second, the gate of unfalsity; third, the gate of revealing the purport of the teaching. Now the verses turn momentum to versify them, also opening three gates: first, the gate of revealing the purport of the teaching; second, the gate of resolving doubts; third, the gate of encouraging belief. First, it directly clarifies the grand purpose of expounding the teaching, showing that it is for the sake of returning to the ekayāna. Second, it explains the doubt of the assembly at the time: if it was solely for returning to the ekayāna, why did he not expound the one earlier, but rather expounded the three earlier? To resolve this doubt, he explains the reason for having the three first and the one afterward; thus next is distinguished the gate of resolving doubts. The purport of the teaching having already been displayed, and the sequence of before and after also having been illuminated, third is therefore the encouragement of belief. The first gate also has two [parts]: first, clarifying the purport of expounding the former teachings, which versifies the prose above on how what is expounded in accord with suitability has an import difficult to understand; second, clarifying the purport of the present teaching, which versifies the prose above on appearing in the world for the sake of the one great cause and condition. In this first gate there are also two [parts]: first, clarifying the purport of expounding the Hīnayāna teachings in the past; second, clarifying the purport of expounding the Mahāyāna teachings in the past. The first gate has two [parts]: first, clarifying the expounding of the Hīnayāna teachings in the past, which versifies the prose above on how what is expounded in accord with suitability has an import difficult to understand; next, versifying the purport indicated by expounding the teachings in the past, which versifies the prose above on how only Buddhas can know it. This first gate also has two [parts]: first, recounting the past expounding of the human and deva teachings; second, recounting the past expounding of the two-vehicle teachings. In the first there are three gates: the first verse versifies the praise of the Buddha's provisional wisdom as possessing the efficacy of skillful exposition. The second verse versifies the praise of the Buddha's wisdom inwardly illuminating capacities and inclinations. From "The Buddha, having fully known this" downward is third, with four verses directly clarifying the Buddha's expounding of the teachings. Why the past teachings have only these three gates is that the initial praise of the Buddha's provisional wisdom refers to the skilled physician; next, knowing the capacities and inclinations refers to diagnosing the disease; afterward, expounding the teachings refers to dispensing the medicine. The first verse says "The Dharma attained by all Buddhas," which refers to real wisdom. "Incalculable power of expedient means" refers to provisional wisdom. Next, inwardly endowed with these two, externally he is able to expound the Dharma for living beings. In the second verse, the upper three lines know present nature and desires, while the lower one line clarifies the illumination of past karmic causes; because present desires stem from past karma, it is versified next. The next four verses form two [parts]: the first single verse generally clarifies adapting to conditions to expound the teaching, the teaching matching the conditions; the next three verses separately clarify the teaching-gates. The general comes first and the specific after, in order to explain the meaning. In separately clarifying the expounding of the teaching, the first line and a half clarifies the nine divisions of scriptures, which refers to the teaching Dharma; the next line and a half clarifies the fruit Dharma of nirvāṇa. In the Hīnayāna Dharma, expounding the teachings of the nine divisions causes them to attain the fruit of nirvāṇa; this, then, is the sequential order. Furthermore, the nine divisions apply generally to the four vehicles, whereas the fruit Dharma only clarifies the teaching of the two vehicles. Although what was expounded in the past was extensive, it does not go beyond these two. Furthermore, the nine divisions refer to the human and deva teachings, while the subsequent exposition of nirvāṇa refers to the two-vehicle teachings. However, sūtras and treatises differ, generally having four propositions: First, both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna are broad: the Mahāyāna completely possesses twelve, and the Hīnayāna possesses twelve according to its capacity. Why they only clarify twelve is because twelve is the fullness of a single number, and also because it cures the twelvefold conditioned disease of living beings. Second, both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna are abridged, identically clarifying nine divisions. Why they only clarify nine divisions is also because it is the fullness of a single number, and also because the nine divisions are expounded for the living beings of the nine destinies. In the Hīnayāna, three are removed on account of the shallowness of the doctrine: because the Hīnayāna doctrine is shallow and narrow, it lacks the expansive (vaipulya); conferring prophecy of buddhahood is not the central tenet of the Hīnayāna, and furthermore Hīnayāna practitioners have no sense of succeeding to a buddha's place, so prophecies (vyākaraṇa) are removed; Hīnayāna doctrine is shallow, so there are those who can ask, and thus spontaneous expositions without inquiry (udāna) are removed. Furthermore, great beings can act as uninvited friends to living beings, so they have spontaneous expositions without inquiry; the Hīnayāna cannot save living beings and must await an invitation before expounding, so it lacks spontaneous expositions without inquiry. In the Mahāyāna, three are removed on account of the sharpness of the practitioners' faculties: Mahāyāna practitioners have sharp faculties and understand upon direct exposition, needing neither causes and conditions (nidāna) nor parables (avadāna), nor relying on treatises (upadeśa); hence these three divisions are abridged. The third proposition is that the Hīnayāna is broad while the Mahāyāna is abridged: as the Bodhisattvabhūmi Treatise states, the Bodhisattva Piṭaka is called the Vaipulya Sūtra, whereas the Śrāvaka Piṭaka refers to eleven divisions. This means that the twelve Mahāyāna divisions are for illuminating the principle of the vaipulya; being named after the principle they express, the twelve divisions are all called vaipulya. The twelve Hīnayāna divisions are not for illuminating the principle of the vaipulya, so they preserve the names of the eleven divisions while omitting the designation of vaipulya. The fourth proposition is that the Mahāyāna is broad while the Hīnayāna is abridged: displaying that the Mahāyāna is the complete letter, it therefore fully possesses the twelve divisions; the Hīnayāna is the half-letter, so it only has nine divisions; this is precisely as stated in the present text, and is the central tenet of the Lotus Sūtra. The twelve divisions generally take verbal teachings as their essence; thus the Nirvāṇa Sūtra explains knowing the Dharma and knowing the meaning—knowing the Dharma means knowing the Dharma of the twelve divisions of scriptures, and hence we know this is teaching. Next, dividing them into two: although there are twelve divisions, they do not go beyond prose and verse. They may also be divided into three: sūtra, geya, and gāthā. These three take their names from the teaching itself; thus teaching forms the essence of these three divisions, while the remaining nine divisions receive their names from specific matters, yet also do not depart from these three. As for sūtras, the Chengshi lun and the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa explain that direct verbal exposition is a sūtra, which refers to sūtras of specific characteristic. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra takes everything from "Thus [have I heard]" to "faithfully practiced it" as sūtras of common characteristic. In the Tripiṭaka, the Sūtra[-piṭaka] is vertically long and horizontally narrow: vertically long because it subsumes the twelve [divisions], and horizontally narrow because it is only a single basket. Among the twelve divisions, the sūtra is horizontally broad and vertically short: not subsuming the [other] eleven, it is vertically short; subsuming the three baskets, it is horizontally broad. Gāthās are the second division, referring to unrhymed, non-repeating verses.