大般涅槃經義記 1.243

1.243

In the third request, there is first the simile and then the application. In the simile, "just as a man who has just begun learning his work is arrested by officials and locked in a prison" is a simile for the beginning of the Buddha's transforming work, following beings to abide in existence. "A man" is a simile for the Buddha: originally while in the causal stage he first practiced transforming people, which is called "learning his work." The capacity of beings that responds to the sage is called "officials"; that their response causes the Buddha to abide in existence is called "arrested by officials"; that he constantly accompanies them without abandoning them is called "locked in a prison"—an old square jail is called a "prison." "Someone asked him..." and so on is a simile for the transforming work not yet being completed, such that he cannot be at ease himself. "Someone asked him: 'What are you undergoing?'" is a fictive question to introduce the topic. A fellow traveler is called "someone." Asking why the Buddha abides in the three existences is called asking "what are you undergoing." "He replied: 'I am now undergoing great suffering'" is a fictive answer that reveals his virtue: laboring and exhorting for the sake of beings is called "undergoing great suffering." "If he is released..." and so on is a simile explaining that only after his transforming work is completed can he then experience joy. Next comes the application. "The World-Honoured One is also like this" applies to "a man." "Cultivating various ascetic practices for our sake" applies to "just begun learning his work and was arrested by officials." "We have not yet escaped birth and death; how can the Tathāgata experience joy?" applies to "someone asked him what he was undergoing, and he answered, 'I am now undergoing great suffering and affliction, and have not yet escaped suffering.' The Buddha right now ought to undergo suffering for our sake; how could he abandon us and experience peace and joy himself?" The clause "if he is released, he experiences joy" is omitted and not applied.