金光明最勝王經疏 1.213

1.213

贊曰：下標正宗之中舉能勸學。於中分二：初三行半，舉諸苦難，令生厭離；後兩行半，顯經能除，令忻修學。初復分二：初二行明惡果、後一行半明苦因。初中又二：初一行內身苦、後一行外緣苦。此即內身。身不具、闕諸根，即生苦收，或病苦攝。壽命將滅，業盡緣終，或枉橫捨壽，即死苦也。諸惡相現者，鳥鳴百怪、頭上華委，四大乖違色相衰變，即病老苦。如次生死老病苦。壽命未盡，由修福業，百神扶衛諸業盡。若現前不能修善，善神捨離。

Commentary: Below, within the indication of the main body of the text, [the verse] presents its power in order to encourage study. Within this, there are two parts: first, three and a half verses present various sufferings and difficulties to engender revulsion and renunciation; next, two and a half verses reveal the sūtra’s ability to eliminate them, prompting aspiration to cultivate and study it. The first part is further divided into two: the first two verses explain evil fruitions, and the following one and a half verses explain causes of suffering. The first of these again has two: the first verse treats suffering of the internal body, and the second verse treats suffering from external conditions. This [present verse] concerns the internal body. ‘Bodies are incomplete’ and lacking the faculties: this is subsumed under the suffering of birth, or included in the suffering of illness. ‘Lifespans are on the verge of diminution’—karma is exhausted and conditions come to an end, or life is untimely and violently discarded—this is the suffering of death. ‘Before whom all evil omens become manifest’—the ominous cries of birds and a hundred portents, the withering of flowers upon the head, the four great elements falling into discord and the physical appearance declining and altering: these are the sufferings of illness and old age. Thus they correspond in sequence to the sufferings of birth, death, old age, and illness. When lifespan is not yet exhausted, because of having cultivated meritorious karma, a hundred spirits protect and guard them, until all karma is spent. If in the present they are unable to cultivate good, the benevolent spirits abandon them.