金光明經文句記 6.122

6.122

初、大師約因人讚果釋。能讚是三番菩薩者，一是經初陳列之眾、二是信相發起之人、三是樹神善女，此雖眾兼道俗、形混人天，既發大心咸名菩薩。所讚是一佛世尊者，即釋迦教主一佛也。斯欲異前〈讚品〉能讚是往世金龍一人、所讚是三世極果諸佛也。然准前釋題品目具含四悉，今文略示。欲明其相者，應云題標讚佛義含能所，即世界歡喜也。二能讚善生必托緣起，緣中最勝莫過讚佛，故三菩薩能讚，即為人生善也。三所讚為能讚，乃印成三菩薩說無虛謬，即破惡對治也。四如來讚樹神快說果地大體大智大用，即入理第一義也。題含四義文理一如，今疏存略不無其以。蓋題讚佛實通能所，以所讚果佛反讚因人，生善破惡二俱不便。然或以所讚為能讚，生他善業、破他事惡，斯何不可？故知略也。

First, the Great Master explains based on persons in the cause praising the fruition. Those who praise are the three groups of bodhisattvas: first, the assembly listed at the beginning of the sūtra; second, the person who initiates [the teaching], Ruciraketu; third, the tree deity, the good woman. Although this assembly includes both monastics and laity, and its forms mix humans and devas, having aroused the great mind, they are all called bodhisattvas. The one praised is the single Buddha, the World-Honoured One, who is precisely the single Buddha, the teaching master Śākyamuni. This is intended to differ from the previous "Praise Chapter," in which the one praising was a single person from past lives, Golden Dragon, and those praised were all the Buddhas of the highest fruition across the three periods of time. However, following the previous explanation of the title, the chapter name completely encompasses the four siddhāntas, which this text only briefly indicates. If one wishes to clarify its aspects: the title designating "Praising the Buddha" contains both subject and object, which is the mundane delight [siddhānta]. Second, that the goodness of the praiser arises must depend on conditions, and among conditions the most supreme is none other than praising the Buddha; thus the three bodhisattvas' capacity to praise is producing good for the sake of persons [siddhānta]. Third, the praised one acting as the praiser seals that the three bodhisattvas' words are without falsehood, which is eradicating evil and counteracting [siddhānta]. Fourth, the Tathāgata praising the tree deity for skillfully expounding the great essence, great wisdom, and great function of the stage of fruition is entering principle, the supreme truth [siddhānta]. The title contains the four meanings, and text and principle are unified as one; the present commentary retains brevity not without reason. Generally, the title "Praising the Buddha" truly applies to both subject and object; since the Buddha of the fruition, who is praised, praises in turn the persons in the cause, [applying the title strictly to both] for producing good and eradicating evil is inconvenient in both cases. Yet if one takes the praised one as the praiser, producing wholesome karma in others and eradicating external evil in others, how could this not be permissible? Therefore, we know it was abbreviated.