妙法蓮華經玄贊 4.24

4.24

The Eulogy: From here down is the fifth: based on the Dharma, revealing that the present Śākyamuni follows the rules of preaching the Dharma of all buddhas, first speaking of expedient means and later speaking of the truth, encouraging them to produce faith and guiding others to completion. The major text has three parts: first, clarifying that the rules of the buddhas of the ten directions are like this; next, clarifying that the rules of the buddhas of the three times are like this; and finally, clarifying that through these rules, my [teaching] is also like this. This is the first. Although apart from the three times there are no ten directions, and apart from the ten directions there are no three times, because horizontal and vertical are distinct, they are differentiated. The Mahāyānasaṃgraha says: "Sentient beings in the human destiny / are immeasurable in place and number; / in thought after thought they realize equal awakening, / and therefore one should not falter or shrink." Because of this, the buddhas of the ten directions in the present are also infinite, and their rules are all identical.