妙法蓮華經玄贊 1.7

1.7

Responding to the cause of practice: in the "Expedient Means Chapter," relying on the treatise, it explains the eight profundities of the sūtra, saying: "The Buddha had formerly drawn close to hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of countless buddhas, fully practiced the immeasurable path and teachings of the buddhas, was brave and diligent so that his fame was universally heard, and accomplished the profound, unprecedented Dharma. What is difficult to understand, the Tathāgata can know; that which is preached in accordance with what is fitting has an intent that is difficult to understand, which none of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are able to know." As for the eight profundities: first, the profundity of receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting; second, practice; third, fruitional practice; fourth, the mind of increasing merit; fifth, the mind of delightful and wondrous matters; sixth, the unsurpassed; seventh, entry; eighth, the profundity of abiding and sustaining that is not shared with śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. In the sūtra there are only six, lacking the sixth and the eighth, as will be known below. Since he had fully practiced the path and teachings of all buddhas, only by completely practicing the causes of the Single Vehicle and omniscience did he attain the fruit of Buddhahood; therefore, now responding to these causes, he expounded this marvelous Dharma to encourage the cultivation of causal practices.