佛祖統紀 5.7

5.7

The commentary says: The Sublime Sūtra states that when the Bhagavat opened and revealed the Great Dharma, Kāśyapa comprehended it; this is the general sense of the transmission of the Dharma. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra states that the Buddha told the monks, 'The unsurpassed true Dharma that I now possess has all been entrusted to Kāśyapa.' The Latter Part states that when Kāśyapa arrived at the Buddha's coffin and spoke a verse, the Buddha manifested his two feet. When Ānanda inquired about the sūtras, the Buddha, on the verge of nirvāṇa, told Kāśyapa, 'You shall be a great refuge for the fourfold assembly.' All such passages appear in the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra], which is the specific sense of the transmission of the Dharma. In the general sense, the entire great assembly attained comprehension; in the specific sense, Kāśyapa alone took up the duty of upholding [the Dharma]. The present entrustment in the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] precisely corresponds to the specific sense. For this reason, the patriarchs transmitted it one to another, upholding it without interruption. Those who wish to take the comprehension in the Lotus [Sūtra] as the transmission of the Dharma have grasped only the general meaning.