起信論疏筆削記 1.50

1.50

爰有下，二、興悲造論，三：今初、悲歎人法也。初二句能歎。爰，曰也。謂如來滅度已六百年，人根雖劣，正法尚存。聖人示生，興我真教，故云爰有大士。謂馬鳴論主本成正覺，號大光明，迹居八地，為法身菩薩。發大心、信大法、解大義、修大行、證大道、趣大果，非其小流，故云大士也。馬鳴者，謂此菩薩生時及說法時，感眾馬悲鳴，故受斯稱，如下廣釋。

From "Thereupon there was..." onward is the second: giving rise to compassion to compose the treatise, in three [parts]: here, first is lamenting beings and the Dharma. The first two lines are that which laments. "Thereupon" means "there was." It means that six hundred years after the Tathāgata's extinction, although human faculties were inferior, the True Dharma still remained. When a sage manifested birth to revive our true teaching, it says "thereupon there was a Great Being." This means the treatise master Aśvaghoṣa originally attained right enlightenment with the title Great Luminescence, and manifested his traces in the eighth stage as a dharmakāya bodhisattva. He gave rise to the great mind, had faith in the Great Dharma, understood the great meaning, cultivated great practice, realized the Great Way, and aimed for the great fruit; he was no minor sort, and thus is called a "Great Being." "Aśvaghoṣa" (Horse-Neigh) means that when this bodhisattva was born and when he preached the Dharma, he moved herds of horses to neigh sorrowfully; hence he received this name, as is explained in detail below.