妙法蓮華經玄贊 6.267

6.267

贊曰：下陳喻詞。有二：初喻昔不悕，後喻今獲得，「復經少時父知子意漸已通泰」下是。即是初喻昔住權而不悕，後喻聞今實而獲得。初文有六：一最初發心喻，二「捨父逃逝」下退流生死喻。三「年既長大」下中還見佛喻。四「父每念子」下不肯脩大喻。五「父遙見之而語使言」下化以二乘喻。六「世尊爾時長者有疾」下示大不悕喻。此即初文。初之四段同前所說，二萬佛所化以大乘。第五段方便引導生我法中。第六段法華會前為說般若，但念空等不生欣樂。今獲得中方是令憶本所行道，為說法華。「幼」者弱，「稚」者小。最初為十六王子時，教發大心尚密說故，未廣脩行名為幼稚。

The Commentary says: Presenting the words of the parable follows below. There are two parts: first, parabolizing the past having no longing; second, parabolizing now having obtained it, beginning from "After a short time, the father knew his son's mind was gradually becoming open and calm..." below. That is, first parabolizing their abiding in the past in the expedient and having no longing, and later parabolizing their hearing the present real and obtaining it. The first text has six parts: 1. the parable of initially arousing the resolve; 2. the parable of degenerating and drifting in saṃsāra, from "abandoned his father and fled" below; 3. the parable of seeing the Buddha again midway, from "when his years were grown" below; 4. the parable of refusing to cultivate the Great [Vehicle], from "the father constantly thought of his son" below; 5. the parable of transforming by means of the two vehicles, from "the father saw him from afar and said to a messenger" below; 6. the parable of showing the Great [Vehicle] and having no longing, from "Bhagavat, at that time the elder was ill" below. This is the first part. The first four sections are identical to what was said previously, regarding being transformed through the Great Vehicle in the presence of the two myriads of buddhas. The fifth section is expediently guiding him to be born into my Dharma. The sixth section is teaching the Prajñā prior to the Lotus Assembly, where he only contemplated emptiness and so forth and generated no fond joy. In the part on now having obtained it, this is only then causing him to remember the path he originally practiced, teaching the Lotus [Sūtra] for his sake. "Young" means weak; "infantile" means small. When they were initially the sixteen princes, teaching them to arouse the great resolve was still done secretly, and because they had not yet widely cultivated practice, they are called "young and infantile."