法華遊意 1.52

1.52

七者、欲釋聲聞菩薩二種疑故演說此經。聲聞二種疑：一者舊疑，如身子云「我等同入法性，云何如來以小乘法而見濟度」，又云「欲以問世尊，為失為不失，四十餘年常懷此疑」，謂舊疑也；如云「初聞佛所說心中大驚疑」，則是新疑也。菩薩舊疑者，昔稟三乘之教，既執道理有三，或疑退墮二乘地，或疑進成佛道。今疑者，疑佛所說今昔相違，昔說有三今不應明一，今辨有一昔不應說三。大小二人聞說此經兩疑皆息，故〈方便品〉云「菩薩聞是法疑網皆已除，千二百羅漢悉亦當作佛」。

Seventh, it is because he wished to resolve the two kinds of doubts of the śrāvakas and bodhisattvas that he expounded this sūtra. The two kinds of doubts of the śrāvakas: first is the old doubt, as Śāriputra said: “We equally entered the nature of phenomena; why did the Tathāgata deliver us with the small vehicle Dharma?” and also said: “I wished to ask the World-Honoured One whether this was a loss or not a loss, and for more than forty years I have constantly harboured this doubt”—this refers to the old doubt. When it is said, “Upon first hearing what the Buddha preached, my mind was greatly alarmed and doubtful,” this is the new doubt. As for the old doubt of the bodhisattvas: in the past they received the teaching of the triyāna, and having clung to the principle as being threefold, they either doubted they would regress and fall back to the stage of the two vehicles, or doubted they would advance and accomplish the buddha path. As for their present doubt: they doubt that what the Buddha preaches contradicts the past and the present—if he preached three in the past, he should not clarify one now, and if he explains one now, he should not have preached three in the past. When these two kinds of persons, the great and the small, heard this sūtra preached, both doubts were brought to rest. Therefore the ‘Upāya’ chapter says: “When the bodhisattvas hear this Dharma, their net of doubts is completely removed; the twelve hundred arhats shall all likewise become buddhas.”