一切經音義 27.6

27.6

妙法蓮花經序品第一（梵云薩達磨奔茶利迦素怛纜。薩者妙也正也。達磨法也。西域呼白蓮花為奔茶利迦。素怛纜經也。應云妙法白蓮花經。放白毫光駕以白牛。白是眾色之本。一乘為二乘之基故以白蓮花喻於妙法。梵本既無別白字故總云蓮花法含持軌綰群祥以稱妙玉篇云妙精也又要妙好皃也。古文從玄為玅法者軌則也。又揩式也。亦持也花兼秀發總眾美而彰蓮蓮字玉篇云蓮芙蕖實也。花字古譯作華非華字無花音今不取）

Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Chapter 1: Introduction (In Sanskrit: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Sat means 'wondrous' or 'correct.' Dharma means 'teaching' (fa). In the Western Regions, a white lotus is called puṇḍarīka. Sūtra means scripture. It should properly be called the 'Scripture of the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma.' It emits the light of the white curl of hair and is drawn by a white ox. White is the foundation of all colors, and the One Vehicle is the basis of the two vehicles; therefore, the white lotus is used as a metaphor for the Sublime Dharma. Since the Sanskrit text does not have an additional word for 'white,' it simply says 'lotus.' The Dharma encompasses holding and standardizing; uniting all auspicious signs, it is called 'sublime' (miào). The Yupian says: "Miào means refined; it also means fine and beautiful in appearance." In ancient script, it is written with xuán as 玅. Dharma means rules and standards, or a model; it also means to uphold. Huā (flower) combines blooming and flourishing, gathering all beauties to manifest the lotus. For the character lián (蓮), the Yupian says: "Lián is the fruit of the fúqú (lotus)." For the character huā (花), older translations used 華; but it is not the case that 華 lacks the pronunciation of huā, though it is not adopted here).