法華遊意 1.26

1.26

Direct persons have long practiced the Buddha Way, possessing merit and sharp faculties, and for that reason he taught them first. Persons who turn from the small to enter the great did not practice the Buddha Way, possessing meager merit and dull faculties, and for that reason he taught them later. Therefore the "Chapter on Upāya" states: "There are Buddha's children whose minds are pure, pliant, and sharp-witted, who in the presence of immeasurable Buddhas have practiced the profound and subtle Way; for these Buddha's children, I preach this Mahāyāna sūtra." And: "Those of dull faculties delight in the Hīnayāna dharma, are greedily attached to saṃsāra, and in the presence of immeasurable Buddhas do not practice the profound and subtle Way; afflicted by a multitude of sufferings, for them I preach nirvāṇa"—down to: "Now is precisely the time; I definitively preach the Mahāyāna." Thus we know that bodhisattvas of sharp faculties hear the Great Way first, while śrāvakas of shallow and inferior [faculties] enter the buddha-jñāna later; the text itself is evidence of this.