維摩經略疏 3.40

3.40

"Upholding the right Dharma, he gathered together old and young": in foreign countries, those with virtue are appointed as the "Three Elders" to uphold the nation's laws; this is a trace manifestation. In speaking of "the old and young": how could it be only people that have old and young? All roots of goodness also have great and small, which are precisely the old and young. Although old and young differ, regarding their roots of goodness they do not go beyond the four teachings; responding to the four kinds of faculties, he gathered them together and returned them to the four lands.