法華義疏 4.25

4.25

答：現在機緣樂於小法，過去久遠貪著生死。又約機樂於小法，據情則貪著生死也。又樂小法則是貪於生死，以小涅槃則是大乘生死，故為是說涅槃第二明小乘教也。「我設是方便」下，上明昔二種教，今明二種教意。前逐近明說小乘教意，明昔說涅槃法者意令得入佛慧故也。「決定說大乘」者，昔日言說於小意在於大，教不稱意不名決定；今言意俱顯稱為決定。又《大品》等經顯教菩薩、密化二乘，於菩薩是決定，於二乘未得決定；今顯教菩薩、顯教二乘故名決定。又大乘是決定法，如《涅槃經》師子吼者名決定說，謂諸眾生悉有佛性；今亦決定說於眾生悉有一乘也。以道理無有餘、性唯有佛性故，說佛性名決定說，一乘亦爾。

Answer: In their present capacity and conditions they delight in lesser dharmas, but over the long past they were greedily attached to saṃsāra. Furthermore, according to their capacity they delight in lesser dharmas, but based on emotional attachments they are greedily attached to saṃsāra. Moreover, delighting in lesser dharmas is itself being greedy for saṃsāra, because lesser nirvāṇa is just Mahāyāna saṃsāra. Therefore, "For them I expound nirvāṇa" is second, clarifying the Hīnayāna teaching. From "I devised these expedient means" downward: above clarified the two kinds of past teachings, while this clarifies the purport of the two kinds of teachings. First, closely following the preceding, it clarifies the purport of expounding the Hīnayāna teaching, showing that expounding the Dharma of nirvāṇa in the past was intended to cause them to enter the Buddha's wisdom. "Definitively expounding the Mahāyāna": in the past, words expounded the small while the intent was in the great, so the teaching did not match the intent and was not called definitive; now both words and intent are revealed, so it is called definitive. Furthermore, sūtras such as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā explicitly teach bodhisattvas while secretly transforming the two vehicles; for bodhisattvas it was definitive, but for the two vehicles it was not yet definitive. Now explicitly teaching bodhisattvas and explicitly teaching the two vehicles, it is therefore called definitive. Furthermore, the Mahāyāna is the definitive Dharma, as the Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: the Lion's Roar is called the definitive exposition, meaning that all living beings possess Buddha-nature; here too, it definitively expounds that all living beings possess the ekayāna. Because in ultimate principle there is no remainder and in nature there is only Buddha-nature, expounding Buddha-nature is called the definitive exposition; the ekayāna is likewise.