法華義疏 5.195

5.195

初文又二：第一、身子請說；第二、佛受請為說。就初又三：第一、自陳己解；第二、騰眾未解；第三、請佛為說。所以須自陳己解者，凡有二義：一者、若不自陳己解，則為物之意不彰，容謂假他而實自未悟，則上授記不成、陳解亦謬，故須自述己解。二者、欲為他請法，須得彼意；若未有解，請容落漠也。

The first text also has two parts: first, Śāriputra requests the teaching; second, the Buddha accepts the request to teach for them. Regarding the first, there are again three parts: first, he expresses his own understanding; second, he raises the assembly's lack of understanding; third, he requests the Buddha to teach for them. The reason he must express his own understanding has two meanings: first, if he did not express his own understanding, his intention to help beings would not be manifest, and people might think he was acting on behalf of others while actually remaining unawakened himself, which would invalidate the preceding conferment of prediction and render his expression of understanding erroneous; hence he must state his own understanding. Second, when wishing to request the Dharma on behalf of others, one must grasp their situation; if one does not yet understand, the request might be ineffectual.