法華義疏 5.20

5.20

為是義故眾教不同，若須一類，何名多部？又《法華》之前大小分流，《法華》之後三一已會。此經既是大小交際，反三之始、歸一之初，以義難明，故須述解。又小乘之人而信大法，雖言已解容有僻謬；今欲自陳請佛印定，故須述解也。又自陳領解即是重敷一乘，使守迷之徒因此得曉。又若上根人不序領悟，則中下之流便謂無人得解，教便虛設則望崖而退，為欲誨引迷情故須述解也。又佛上自說則是大人化小人，今身子陳悟則是小人化小人。又上父化於子，今是子化子，以義兼二化，故取信不難。又是大人稟大教而悟大，小人稟小教而悟小，此皆稱其理分不足述解。今忽小人悟大，蓋是教所希聞，故須述解；若不述解，容言小人終不悟大，無得佛理則還同昔經，則今教空設也。又自述領解，擊彼迷徒，令守隅之人專情自策，伊既已解我何猶迷？為是因緣故須自述也。又上品末佛示弘經之方，勸上根人秉解傳化；今既述解，則從佛前命也。

It is for this very reason that the various teachings differ; if they had to be uniform, why would there be so many collections? Furthermore, before the Lotus Sūtra, the great and the small flowed in separate streams; after the Lotus Sūtra, the three and the one were already united. Since this sūtra marks the intersection of the great and the small, the beginning of turning away from the three and the start of returning to the one, because the meaning is difficult to understand, he had to express his understanding. Furthermore, when a person of the Hīnayāna has faith in the Great Dharma, though he says he has understood, there may still be errors and deviations; now wishing to state it himself to request the Buddha's verification, he had to express his understanding. Furthermore, to state his own expression of understanding is precisely to expound the ekayāna once again, enabling those who cling to delusion to thereby attain clarity. Furthermore, if the person of superior capacity did not narrate his awakening, then those of middling and lower sorts would think that no one had attained understanding; the teaching would then be in vain, and looking at the steep cliff, they would retreat. In order to instruct and guide deluded minds, he had to express his understanding. Furthermore, when the Buddha previously spoke himself, it was a great person transforming small persons; now Śāriputra stating his awakening is a small person transforming small persons. Furthermore, previously the father transformed the sons; now the son transforms the sons. Since the meaning encompasses both types of transformation, gaining faith is not difficult. Furthermore, when a great person receives the great teaching and awakens to the great, or a small person receives the small teaching and awakens to the small, these both match their rightful capacities and do not warrant an expression of understanding. Now, that a small person suddenly awakens to the great is something rarely heard of in the teachings, so he had to express his understanding; if he did not express his understanding, it might be said that small persons never awaken to the great and have no attainment of the Buddha's principle, which would reduce it back to the former sūtras, and the present teaching would have been set forth in vain. Furthermore, by narrating his own expression of understanding, he stirs those deluded followers, causing those clinging to their corners to focus their minds and spur themselves on: 'Since he has already understood, why am I still deluded?' For these reasons, he had to narrate it himself. Furthermore, at the end of the previous chapter, the Buddha showed the method of propagating the sūtra and exhorted those of superior capacity to uphold understanding and transmit the transformation; now, in expressing his understanding, he complies with the Buddha's prior instruction.