大般涅槃經集解 15.95

15.95

案道生曰：法理湛然，有何興何沒？但行之則盛、不行則衰耳。僧宗曰：前出四十年是正法五百年初四十年，已一過流布。今明正法將終，餘八十年，此四十年正法將盡，復一興盛也。若二時既過，惡法增長，非德不傳、非因不樹，欲令時眾慕道修因也。僧亮曰：佛般涅槃四十年後，爾來四依之人更互為化，凡三百八十年信受四依也。并前四十年，合為四百二十年，正法唯餘八十年在。而四十年中，經法尚流行，四十年後稍近像末，不復流通。所以爾者，此一時人盡為四依所化，皆能受持此經。過是以後，于時滅度盡，無復有流通，故言沒於地也。

Daosheng comments: The principle of the Dharma is clear and still; what rising or submerging could it have? It is merely that when it is practiced, it flourishes, and when it is not practiced, it declines. Sengzong says: The forty years mentioned earlier are the first forty years of the five hundred years of the True Dharma, when it was once circulated. Now it is clarified that when the True Dharma is about to end, with eighty years remaining, these forty years when the True Dharma is nearing its end will see another flourishing. If both periods have passed, evil dharmas will increase; without virtue it cannot be transmitted, and without causes it cannot be planted. He wishes to cause the assembly of that time to yearn for the path and cultivate the causes. Sengliang says: Forty years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, from then on the persons of the four refuges took turns converting others, and for three hundred and eighty years people had faith in and received the four refuges. Combining this with the previous forty years makes four hundred and twenty years, leaving only eighty years of the True Dharma. In those [first] forty years, the scriptural Dharma was still in circulation; after forty years, nearing the Semblance and Final periods, it will no longer circulate. The reason is that the people of that single period were entirely converted by the four refuges and could all accept and uphold this sūtra. After this passed, at that time they all passed into extinction, and there was no longer any propagation; hence it is said to 'submerge into the earth.'"