起信論疏筆削記 1.50

1.50

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.