大般涅槃經義記 1.148

1.148

第二人中亦應具三，文但有二：初言先受，直是眾生，彰昔異今，前受施時生死未盡，猶是眾多生死所攝，故名眾生。二「後受」下明今異昔，如下文中天有五種：一是世天，《大智論》中名假號天，謂世人王名為天子，或云天王。二者生天，從四天王乃至非想；三者淨天，從須陀洹乃至辟支；四者義天，從初地上乃至法雲諸菩薩等解達空義，故名義天；五第一義天，謂佛如來見性窮極，名第一義佛，於如是五天之中最為上天，名天中天。三應結破，文略無也。

In the second, regarding the person, there should also be three complete [parts], but the text has only two: first, stating that the previous recipient was merely a sentient being reveals how the past differed from the present; when he previously received the giving, birth and death were not yet exhausted, and he was still subsumed under manifold births and deaths, and therefore was called a sentient being. Second, from "subsequently received" down clarifies how the present differs from the past. As stated below in the text, there are five kinds of gods (devas): first are worldly gods, called "nominal gods" in the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra*, referring to human kings in the world being called "sons of heaven" (tianzi) or "heavenly kings"; second are gods by birth, from the Four Heavenly Kings up to [the Heaven of] Neither Perception nor Non-Perception; third are pure gods, from srotāpannas up to pratyekabuddhas; fourth are gods of meaning, referring to the bodhisattvas from the first ground up to the Dharma Cloud who have realized and mastered the meaning of emptiness, and are therefore called "gods of meaning"; fifth are gods of ultimate truth, referring to the Buddha, the Tathāgata, whose seeing of the nature has reached the utmost limit, who is called the Buddha of ultimate truth. Among these five kinds of gods, he is the most supreme god, and is called the god among gods. Third, there should be a concluding refutation, but it is omitted in the text.