法華玄贊義決 1.17

1.17

Eighth, there are four items demonstrating 'eight': (1) for the aspiration that the teaching possesses eight profundities, as the treatise says: 'first, recitation; second, practice; third, fruition-practice; fourth, mind of increasing merit; fifth, delightful and wondrous matter; sixth, unsurpassed profundity; seventh, profundity of entry; eighth, the profundity of maintenance unshared with śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas'—correlating these with the text will make them clear—so that [beings] know the differences and its superiority over the lesser teaching; (2) to cause [beings] to leave behind the eight wrongnesses, as the text below says: 'people of thin virtue and little merit,' and so forth, and further: 'not seeking the Buddha of great might,' and further: 'I was originally attached to wrong views,' and so forth, so that [beings] know the wrong and the correct; (3) to cause [beings] to cultivate the eight correct [paths], as the text below says: 'The World-Honoured One, knowing my mind, uprooted the wrong and taught nirvāṇa,' so that [beings] know the superior function and attain supramundane bliss; (4) to cause [beings] to avoid the eight difficulties, as the 'Devadatta' chapter says: 'not being born in hell,' and so forth, so that [beings] know the superior benefits and obtain mundane good fruits.