天台八教大意 1.3

1.3

初言頓者，從部得名，即《華嚴》也。佛垂迹化，塵劫叵量，因壽倍之，果寧可喻？且從今日一期降生，託陰摩耶，主伴互為，唯資大法。譬如日出先照高山，機不經歷，故名為頓。約譬次第，以初譬初，名為乳味，故《涅槃》云：「從佛出十二部經，譬從牛出乳。」又二乘機生，未受大化，雖復在座，如聾若盲，初會俱無見聞之益，亦名為乳。故迦葉領解云：「即遣傍人急追將還，迷悶躄地」等，即第一時也。

First, as for the sudden: it takes its name from the collection [of texts], namely the Avataṃsaka. The Buddha's manifest traces convert beings through dust-mote kalpas beyond measure; the cause and lifespan are double that, so how could the result ever be compared? For now, speaking from his appearance in this single lifetime, he took birth relying on the womb of Māyā; host and retinue mutually served one another, relying solely on the great Dharma. Just as the rising sun first illuminates the high mountains, capacities do not undergo a progression; hence it is called 'sudden'. In terms of the sequence of the metaphor, using the first to illustrate the first, it is called the flavor of milk. Therefore the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] says: 'From the Buddha emerge the twelve divisions of scriptures, just as from a cow comes milk.' Furthermore, the capacities of the two vehicles were raw and had not yet received the great conversion; although they were in the assembly, they were as if deaf and blind, and in the first assembly neither gained the benefit of seeing or hearing; this too is called milk. Therefore Kāśyapa expressed his understanding, saying: 'He immediately dispatched a bystander to rush after him and bring him back, but [the son] fell unconscious to the ground in terror,' and so forth; this is the first period.