妙法蓮華經玄贊 10.253

10.253

贊曰：此中有二，第五正明付囑、第六令守護。守護中，初標、後釋。「後五百歲」者，《大集經》云：「佛滅度後初五百年解脫堅固，第二五百年禪定堅固，第三五百年多聞堅固，第四五百年福德堅固，第五五百年鬪諍堅固。」皆以五百年為類記之，故言滅後後五百歲。或正法五百年、像法一千年，於像法後其初末法五百年中。

The Eulogy says: Herein there are two: fifth, directly clarifying the entrustment; sixth, causing it to be guarded and protected. Within guarding and protecting, first it marks, and later it explains. As for 'the final five-hundred-year period', the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra says: 'For the first five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, liberation is solid; for the second five hundred years, meditation is solid; for the third five hundred years, erudition is solid; for the fourth five hundred years, merit is solid; for the fifth five hundred years, quarreling and dispute are solid.' All are recorded in categories of five hundred years, hence it is said 'the final five-hundred-year period after extinction'. Alternatively, the correct Dharma lasts five hundred years, the semblance Dharma lasts one thousand years, and it is within the first five hundred years of the final Dharma after the semblance Dharma.