法苑珠林 25.6

25.6

如分別功德論云。如來所以廣為四部各說第一者。乃為將來遺法之中。四姓出家見解不同。共相是非自稱為尊餘人為卑。如是之輩不可稱計故。預防於未然開其自足之路。如光明之中日為其最。星宿之中月為其最。川流之中海為其最。六天之中波旬以為其最。色界十八天之中淨居以為其最。九十六部之中釋僧以為其最。九十六道之中佛道以為其最。如五百聲聞弟子之中。神解各別不可具列（略列一二十人餘之不盡備在廣本）。

As the Fenbie Gongde Lun states: The reason why the Tathāgata broadly pronounced each of the fourfold assembly to be foremost was that, within the bequeathed Dharma of the future, the renunciants of the four castes would have different understandings, contending over right and wrong, claiming themselves to be superior and others to be inferior. Persons of this sort would be beyond count. Therefore, he guarded against this beforehand, opening a path for them to be self-sufficient. Just as among radiances the sun is the foremost, among constellations the moon is the foremost, among flowing streams the ocean is the foremost, among the six desire heavens Pāpīyas is the foremost, among the eighteen heavens of the form realm the Śuddhāvāsa is the foremost, among the ninety-six schools the Śākya Saṃgha is the foremost, and among the ninety-six paths the Buddhist path is the foremost; likewise, among the five hundred śrāvaka disciples, their spiritual insights were distinct and cannot be enumerated in full (ten or twenty are briefly listed here, the rest being too numerous to include, being found in full in the comprehensive text).