[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法華傳記](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068) › 1.5 # 法華傳記 1.5 法華傳記 1.5 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1.5) 夫部類增減者。機樂有廣略。遂致部類增減。雖有增減。不失其冥顯利。略為七例。一者一會之經法用為一部。如十地等。二者多會共為一部。如華嚴等。三者經之初分用為一部。如六卷泥洹等。四者具足二分為一部。如大涅槃等。五者略本以為一部。如小品經等。六者廣本以為一部。如大品等。七者一品為一部。如觀世音經。今此法華。於中是具足本。若依梵本。文應是略說。所以者何。此經是三身一體能所寂說。普賢觀云。釋迦牟尼佛。名毘盧遮那遍一切處。其佛住處名常寂光。四波羅蜜所建立。法王開運。說無量義經已。入義處定。現奇特瑞。生大眾慇重。與文殊等八萬大士。舍利弗等萬億諸大聲聞。八龍四緊乾脩等。六天四禪。萬億轉輪聖王。國王王子國女雜民。不可說不可說海會眾。而所說也。始自如是。終至而去。俱是妙法。字字結妙。一文一句無非法界。一字一點無非是佛。上窮舍那功德。下點阿鼻依正。不即不離。體具微妙不可思議。此乃圓滿修多羅甘露法寶也。西方相傳。靈山八載結集之文。應敷一由旬城。若盡結集。無處容受。無量無邊海會之眾。令其開解。正說領解述成授記歡喜說偈自界他方讚佛發誓。一一品各無量無邊字義成就。如大通佛。說是法華經。如恒河沙偈。宿王智佛。說甄迦羅頻婆羅阿閦婆等偈。威音王。說二十千億偈。今佛亦爾。芬陀利亦云說無央數偈。時有七寶塔。踊現其前。寶塔已前。有無央數偈。又涌出眾。以諸菩薩種種讚法。而讚於佛。千界塵數種種讚偈。誰知其偈數。覺愛三藏云。西方相傳。佛說法華。不可說。品品之內。有多偈句。以須彌山聚筆。大海水墨書。一一品一一句偈。不可窮盡。佛常在靈山。共大菩薩諸聲聞眾。圍遶說法。天人充滿。窮前後際。無有休息。唯是無盡總持力所持。非是翰墨之所能記。但約一期機感。八載結為一部。雖略結集。葉敷一由旬量。誦本最略。滿方丈室。二十八品大綱目足。又如真諦三藏云。西域傳記說。龍樹菩薩逕海。龍宮見此法華平等摩訶衍經。有大千界微塵偈四天下塵數品。具記錄奇瑞問答重重往覆。東方土相南西北方四維上下光中所現。又二百億燈明。一一說法華經儀。歎十方三世諸佛智慧大事因緣。化三乘人。開悟一乘。菩薩聲聞本緣得記佛說自領節節無盡重重不可說自界他方發願弘持踊出讚詞果後方便十方來會等事。具如隱顯中。今長安所傳四本不同。一五千偈。正無畏所傳是也。二六千五百偈。竺法護所譯是也。三六千偈。鳩摩羅什所傳是也。四六千二百偈。闍那崛多所傳是也。三本是多羅葉。什本白㲲也。此土所傳。尚有偈數增減。西方經何量。然相傳言。梵文唯有二十八品。文前皆無題目。但云悉曇。此云吉法。亦名成就。不成立名。皆在品末經終。而迴後在初者。蓋是譯經之人。隨震旦法。欲令因名字不同議部類。但護多本二十七品。名結其末。闕提婆品目。不同之事。如下傳譯中。或分其品成部。如下支派辨。廣略在器。部類增減。本法大義無虧矣。 > As for the additions and reductions of recensions: the inclinations and preferences of capacities have the broad and the brief, and this consequently brought about additions and reductions of recensions. Although there are additions and reductions, they do not lose their unseen and manifest benefits. Briefly, there are seven examples: first, the sūtra-dharma of a single assembly is made into a single work, such as the Daśabhūmika and so forth; second, multiple assemblies together constitute a single work, such as the Avataṃsaka and so forth; third, the initial portion of a sūtra is made into a single work, such as the Six-Fascicle Nirvāṇa and so forth; fourth, the complete two portions constitute a single work, such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa and so forth; fifth, an abridged text is made into a single work, such as the Smaller Prajñāpāramitā and so forth; sixth, an expanded text is made into a single work, such as the Larger Prajñāpāramitā and so forth; seventh, a single chapter is made into a single work, such as the Avalokiteśvara Sūtra. Now, this Lotus \[Sūtra\] among them is a complete text. If based on the Sanskrit text, the text should be an abridged exposition. Why is that? This sūtra is an exposition in quiescence by the agent and object as the trikāya in one essence. The Samantabhadra Contemplation Sūtra says: 'Śākyamuni Buddha is named Vairocana Who Pervades All Places; that Buddha's dwelling place is named Ever-Tranquil Light, established by the four pāramitās.' The Dharma King set his fortune in motion; having preached the Amitārtha-sūtra, he entered the samādhi on the station of immeasurable meanings, and manifested extraordinary portents, engendering deep earnestness in the great assembly. He expounded it together with the eighty thousand Mahāsattvas such as Mañjuśrī, the tens of thousands of kotis of great śrāvakas such as Śāriputra, the eight dragons, four kiṃnaras, gandharvas, asuras, and so forth, the six desire heavens, the four dhyānas, tens of thousands of kotis of wheel-turning sage kings, kings, princes, royal women, and common people—an unspeakably, unspeakably vast ocean-like assembly. From the beginning with 'Thus \[have I heard\]' to the end with 'departed', all of it is the wondrous Dharma. Every character gathers wonder; not a single phrase or line fails to be the dharmadhātu; not a single word or dot fails to be the Buddha. Above, it exhausts the merits of Vairocana; below, it touches the environments and bodies of Avīci. Neither identical nor distinct, its essence is endowed with the subtle and inconceivable. This is indeed the complete sūtra, the nectar jewel of the Dharma. Western traditions relate that the text compiled during the eight years on Gṛdhrakūṭa would spread over a city of one yojana; if all had been compiled, there would be no place to contain it. He caused the boundless, limitless ocean-like assembly to attain understanding: the main teaching, grasping understanding, approving confirmation, bestowal of prophecy, joyful recitation of gāthās, praising the Buddha and making vows in this realm and other directions—every single chapter each has limitless and boundless words and meanings fully accomplished. For example, Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū Buddha expounded this Lotus Sūtra in verses as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; Nakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña Buddha expounded verses in kaṅkaras, bimbaras, akṣobhyas, and so forth; Bhīṣmagarjitasvararāja expounded twenty thousand kotis of verses. The present Buddha was also like this: the Puṇḍarīka also says that he expounded an immeasurable number of verses. At that time, a seven-jeweled stūpa welled up and appeared before him; before the jeweled stūpa, there were immeasurable numbers of verses. Furthermore, the multitude that welled forth praised the Buddha with the bodhisattvas' diverse methods of praise; with diverse gāthās of praise as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds, who knows the number of those gāthās? Tripiṭaka Master Bodhiruci said: 'According to western tradition, the Buddha's preaching of the Lotus \[Sūtra\] was unspeakable. Within chapter after chapter, there are many gāthās and lines; if one heaped up Mount Sumeru as brushes and used the water of the great ocean as ink to write them, every single chapter, every single line and gāthā could not be exhausted. The Buddha is constantly on Gṛdhrakūṭa, surrounded by the great bodhisattvas and the śrāvaka assembly, preaching the Dharma, filled with gods and humans, exhausting the limits of past and future without rest. It is held only by the power of endless dhāraṇī; it is not something that brush and ink can record.' Only with reference to the capacities and conditions of a single period was it compiled into a single work over eight years. Although it was an abridged compilation, the leaves spread to the measure of one yojana. The recitation text is the most abridged, filling a ten-foot-square room, complete in the major outline of twenty-eight chapters. Furthermore, as Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha said: 'Records transmitted in the Western Regions state that Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna went through the ocean and in the dragon palace saw this Mahāyāna Sūtra of the Lotus of Equality, having verses as numerous as the fine dust particles of a great chiliocosm, and chapters as numerous as the dust particles of the four continents. It fully recorded extraordinary portents, repeated questions and answers back and forth, appearances in the light of the eastern realm, southern, western, northern, intermediate directions, above, and below; also the deportment of the two hundred billion Candrasūryapradīpas each expounding the Lotus Sūtra; praises of the wisdom of all Buddhas of the ten directions and three periods and their great cause and condition; converting people of the three vehicles, opening them to awakening in the eka-yāna; the original causes of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, their receiving of prophecy, the Buddha's exposition and their personal understanding, segment by segment without end, repeatedly unspeakable; making vows in this realm and other directions to propagate and uphold it, words of praise by those who welled forth, skillful means after fruition, the assembly coming from the ten directions, and other matters.' These are fully detailed under 'Hiddenness and Manifestation'. At present, the four texts transmitted in Chang'an differ: first, five thousand verses, which is that transmitted by Śubhakarasiṃha; second, six thousand five hundred verses, which is that translated by Dharmarakṣa; third, six thousand verses, which is that transmitted by Kumārajīva; fourth, six thousand two hundred verses, which is that transmitted by Jñānagupta. Three versions are on tāla leaves; Kumārajīva's version is on white cotton cloth. Even in what has been transmitted to this land, there are additions and reductions in the number of verses; what measure could the scriptures in the West have? However, tradition relates that the Sanskrit text has only twenty-eight chapters. None has a title before the text, but only says 'siddhaṃ'—here translated as 'auspicious dharma', also called 'accomplishment'—without establishing a title; they are all at the end of the chapter and the conclusion of the sūtra. That they have been moved from the end to the beginning was probably done by the translators of the sūtra following the custom of China, wishing to cause the discussion of recensions based on different titles. However, the Dharmarakṣa and Jñānagupta versions have twenty-seven chapters, with the title concluding at their end, lacking the chapter title of Devadatta. The matters of difference are as explained below in 'Transmission and Translation'. Or chapters are separated to form independent works, as distinguished below in 'Branch Recensions'. The broad and the brief depend on the vessel; though there are additions and reductions in recensions, the fundamental Dharma and great meaning suffer no loss. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1.4) - [Next: 1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1.6) - [Up: 1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068~en-mt.1.5) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2068.1.5) · Pramāṇa