法華論疏 1.276

1.276

如來為上首者，牒經又覩諸佛聖主師子文也。如來已為眾聖之主，故稱上首也。諸菩薩等依如來住故者，菩薩有依佛得住於理，故佛為菩薩上首。「以彼如來」下，釋師子之言也。以佛於大眾中自在，故云師子。問：何故不釋偈初文？答：長行已釋，故不復釋也。問：何故但釋為上首等二句？答：此二攝下一切經盡。以佛為上首，一切菩薩及二乘眾依佛得住理。又佛於一切大小眾中，自在能化大小等眾，下一切經不出斯二事，是以但釋二也。

"Regarding the Tathāgata being the leader," this takes up the sūtra passage, "and again seeing the Buddhas, the holy lords, lions." Since the Tathāgata is already the lord of all the noble ones, he is called the "leader." Regarding "because the bodhisattvas and others dwell relying upon the Tathāgata," bodhisattvas rely upon the Buddha to be able to dwell in the principle; hence the Buddha is the leader of the bodhisattvas. From "because that Tathāgata" onwards, it explains the word "lion." Because the Buddha has mastery among the great assemblies, he is called a "lion." Question: Why does it not explain the opening lines of the verse? Answer: Because they were already explained in the prose, they are not explained again. Question: Why does it only explain the two phrases, "being the leader" and so forth? Answer: These two encompass all the remaining sūtra text completely. With the Buddha as the leader, all bodhisattvas and the assemblies of the two vehicles rely upon the Buddha to dwell in the principle. Furthermore, the Buddha possesses mastery among all the assemblies, both great and small, and can transform the assemblies, both great and small; all the sūtra text below does not go beyond these two matters, which is why it only explains these two.