大般涅槃經義記 1.162

1.162

自下第四歎成五難。「甚奇，純陀」，總以標歎，下別顯之。何者是五？一人身難得、二佛世難值、三信心難生、四經法難聞、五後供難成。「生在人中」，是初難也。下舉餘四，「復得難得無上之利」，總以標舉於人身上更得四難，故云復得人身世利。後四出世，名無上利，下別列之。於中先明佛出世難，如優曇華，世間希有，喻說彰難。此方名為靈瑞華也，輪王出世，此華乃現，名世希有。佛出世難，合喻顯難。下約此佛明後四難，差別可知，以此皆於難出佛邊而成就故，所以極難。

From here below is the fourth [point]: praising his accomplishment of the five difficulties. "Most wonderful, Cunda!" generally indicates the praise; below it is individually revealed. What are the five? First, human rebirth is difficult to obtain; second, the age of a buddha is difficult to encounter; third, faithful mind is difficult to produce; fourth, the scriptural Dharma is difficult to hear; fifth, the final offering is difficult to accomplish. "Being born among humans" is the first difficulty. Below, it raises the remaining four: "and again obtaining the unsurpassed benefit that is difficult to obtain," generally indicating that on top of human rebirth he further obtained the other four difficulties; hence it says "again obtaining." Human rebirth is a worldly benefit; the latter four are supramundane and are called unsurpassed benefits, which are individually listed below. Therein, it first clarifies that a buddha's appearance in the world is difficult: like an uḍumbara flower, it is rare in the world; this is explained by metaphor to reveal the difficulty. In this land it is called the flower of auspicious omens; only when a wheel-turning king appears in the world does this flower appear, so it is called rare in the world. A buddha's appearance in the world is difficult; the application of the metaphor reveals the difficulty. Below, based on this Buddha, it clarifies the remaining four difficulties; their distinctions can be known. Because these are all accomplished before a Buddha who is difficult to appear, they are therefore extremely difficult.