妙法蓮華經玄贊 9.410

9.410

贊曰：下第二舉喻難。「色美」喻佛相好莊嚴，「髮黑」表佛設年八十而無老相。於一切時好，巡舊處故。《大般若》說八十種好中云：「常小不老，好巡舊處」。「年二十五」，表佛雖出生死，示居二十五有。以上表佛成道極近。設年八十但如二十五指百歲人，表所化菩薩德高位遠、百福莊嚴。云我生育令其道長，是事難信。

Commentary: Below is the second part, raising the difficulty based on a metaphor. "Fine complexion" illustrates the adornment of the Buddha's major and minor marks; "black hair" represents that even though the Buddha is eighty years of age, he has no sign of old age. Because at all times his marks are fine, returning to his former appearance. As the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra* states among the eighty minor marks: "Constantly young and not aging, his marks returning to their former appearance." "Twenty-five years of age" represents that although the Buddha has transcended birth and death, he manifests dwelling in the twenty-five realms of existence. The above represents that the Buddha's attainment of the Way was extremely recent. Supposing he is eighty, he is merely like twenty-five pointing to a hundred-year-old person, representing that the bodhisattvas he transformed possess high virtues and distant stages, adorned with the hundred merits. Saying "I gave birth to them and caused them to grow in the Way" is a matter difficult to believe.