妙法蓮華經玄贊 5.87

5.87

As for the resolution of objections, the treatise asks: 'Is prophecy conferred on those śrāvakas and others because they actually become buddhas, or is prophecy conferred on them while they do not become buddhas? If they actually become buddhas, why do bodhisattvas cultivate and accumulate immeasurable merit throughout immeasurable kalpas? If they do not become buddhas, why is a false prophecy conferred?' The intent of this objection is: If śrāvakas and others merely abide for a hundred kalpas or so, training their faculties and cultivating the practice of śrāvakas, and thereupon actually attain buddhahood and are given prophecy, why do bodhisattvas have to cultivate and accumulate immeasurable merit throughout immeasurable kalpas before attaining the bodhi of buddhahood, since a minor cause would already be able to actually achieve buddhahood? If śrāvakas and others, despite cultivating a minor cause, cannot achieve it, why is it necessary to falsely confer prophecy now? The treatise itself answers: 'As for conferring prophecy on those śrāvakas, it is because they have attained a resolute mind, not because they have accomplished the Dharma-nature.' The intent of this statement is: it is to cause the śrāvakas and others to attain the mind resolutely bent on becoming buddhas so that they advance in cultivating the wondrous practices, not because they have already realized, matched, and accomplished the true principle of the Dharma-nature of the two kinds of emptiness that prophecy is conferred. The treatise further explains: 'The Tathāgata teaches the Single Vehicle Dharma based on the equality of the three vehicles; because the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is not different from the dharmakāya of those śrāvakas, prophecy is conferred, not because they have already fully completed the merits of practice that prophecy is conferred. Bodhisattvas of the ten grounds have accomplished the Dharma and therefore their merit is fully completed, whereas the merit of śrāvakas is not yet fully completed; therefore, bodhisattvas cultivate immeasurable practices before attaining bodhi, whereas śrāvakas have not yet cultivated immeasurable merit, and prophecy is conferred merely to cause them to attain the mind resolutely bent on becoming buddhas.'