法華義疏 4.17

4.17

欲明佛說法無定故改於常規，以昔說九部為明小，今明九部乃為通大，欲顯不定之義故亂說也。又今合此九部為五雙：初、長行與偈一雙。諸佛或為眾生直說修多羅，或命初則偈說故名伽陀，以經並標或字，則知修多羅未必在前、伽陀不必在後。本事、本生，此第二、自他一雙。本事說他過去世事，如〈藥王本事品〉等，說自過去世事為本生。未曾有、因緣，此明善惡事一雙。未曾有謂善事，如青牛行鉢、白狗聽經、大地震動、諸天身量；因緣謂起罪本末事，而說名因緣經。譬喻、祇夜，法喻一雙。具足應云路伽祇夜、伽陀祇夜，上存別略通，今存通略別。優婆提舍稱為論義，則是能論，上八部四雙名為所論，謂能論所論一雙也。

Wishing to show that the Buddha's expounding of the Dharma is unfixed, he altered the conventional norm; since expounding nine divisions in the past was to clarify the small, and now clarifying nine divisions is to open into the great, wishing to display this meaning of indefiniteness he expounded them in mixed order. Furthermore, here these nine divisions are combined into five pairs: First, prose and verse form a pair. All Buddhas either expound sūtras directly for living beings, or right from the outset expound in verse, hence called gāthās; since the sūtra repeatedly marks them with the word "or," we know that sūtras are not necessarily first, and gāthās are not necessarily behind. Itivṛttaka and jātaka form the second, self-and-other pair. Itivṛttaka recounts past events of others, as in the "Former Deeds of the Medicine King Chapter" and so forth; recounting one's own past events is jātaka. Adbhutadharma and nidāna form the pair of good and evil events. Adbhutadharma refers to auspicious events, such as the blue ox carrying the almsbowl, the white dog listening to the sūtra, the great earth trembling, and the physical stature of the devas; nidāna refers to the events concerning the origin and consequences of generating transgressions, which are expounded under the name of nidāna scriptures. Avadāna and geya form the pair of teaching and parable. In full, they should be called loka-geya and gāthā-geya; above, the specific was kept while the general was abridged, but here the general is kept while the specific is abridged. Upadeśa is called treatise, which is that which explicates; the above eight divisions forming four pairs are what is explicated, which forms the pair of the explicator and what is explicated.