法華義疏 6.160

6.160

「鳩槃茶鬼隨取而食」者，此半行明起見外道生於無色界。外道多執無見撥其所計因果皆無，故言隨取而食。應具如色界說，今略舉造苦因義耳。又釋此轉譬明義，雖生三空，由未免火，故言隨取而食，鬼喻火也。「又諸餓鬼頭上火燃」下，第二、明非想火起。雖生三空，由未免苦，故求生非想，是三有之頂稱之為頭。亦為無常眾苦所逼，故言火燃。雖生非想之極，終無出世定慧，如「飢渴熱惱」。又飢渴常欲飲食，計非想凡夫恒欲片破正涅槃法也。初在宅被燒故諍入穴，穴內被燒復走出穴，穴外復不免火，更無去處，故言「周章悶走」。如本在欲界受苦，故求生色界，色界復不免苦，故求生無色界，無色界復不免苦，則無避苦處，如周章悶走也。

As for "The kumbhāṇḍa ghosts seize and eat them at will," this half-line explains non-Buddhists who give rise to views being born into the formless realm. Non-Buddhists mostly hold to the view of nonexistence, negating the cause and effect that they had posited as nonexistent; therefore it says they seize and eat them at will. It should be fully stated as in the form realm, but here it merely briefly adduces the meaning of creating the cause of suffering. Another explanation takes this as shifting the parable to clarify the meaning: although born in the three concentrations of emptiness, because they have not yet escaped the fire, it says they seize and eat them at will, the ghosts being a parable for the fire. From "Furthermore, on the heads of the various hungry ghosts, fires blaze" onward, second, explains the fire starting in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. Although born in the three concentrations of emptiness, because they have not yet escaped suffering, they seek birth in the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, which is the peak of the three states of existence and is called the "head." Being pressed by impermanence and various sufferings, it therefore says "fires blaze." Although born at the culmination of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, they ultimately lack supramundane concentration and wisdom, like being "hungry, thirsty, and distressingly hot." Furthermore, being hungry and thirsty, they constantly desire food and drink; this means that ordinary persons who cling to neither-perception-nor-non-perception constantly desire to tear down the true Dharma of nirvāṇa. Initially, being burned in the house, they scrambled into the holes; when burned within the holes, they ran out of the holes again; and outside the holes they still could not escape the fire, with nowhere else to go, so it says "flurried and distressed, running about frantically." This is like originally undergoing suffering in the desire realm, so they sought birth in the form realm; in the form realm they still could not escape suffering, so they sought birth in the formless realm; and in the formless realm they still could not escape suffering, having no place to avoid suffering, like being flurried and distressed, running about frantically.