佛祖統紀 3.44

3.44

Regarding 'the devas, nāgas, and eight classes whose capacities had matured in past lives': when various sūtras list the assembly including nāgas, beasts, and so on, one should apply the fourfold analysis of the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra*: First, those urgent in the vehicle but lax in the precepts, who hear the Dharma in the four destinies and awaken to the Way. Second, those urgent in the precepts but lax in the vehicle, who attach to pleasure in the human and deva realms and do not hear the Dharma. Third, those urgent in both the vehicle and the precepts, who hear the Dharma as devas or humans and attain the Way. Fourth, those lax in both the vehicle and the precepts, who do not hear the Dharma in the four destinies. The present assembly consists entirely of those who in past lives had heard the *Huayan*, either planting or ripening [their roots], and who now are to attain liberation. The *Zhiguan* says that with bodies in the three evil paths, encountering Maitreya Buddha and hearing the *Huayan Sūtra*, precisely refers to this meaning. The eight classes are as commonly discussed.