妙法蓮華經 法師品第十
前面幾品，佛把弟子一個一個喊了名字、授了成佛之記。到這一品，經文轉過身來，問了一個和你我有關的問題：佛不在了以後，誰把這部經接著傳下去？
答案出乎意料地寬：不必是大菩薩，不必已證什麼果。只要你在這部經前，聽到一偈一句、乃至只起了一念的歡喜——佛說，他就記了你，記你將來必定作佛。而那真去受持、讀誦、解說、書寫它的人，佛把話說得極重：這人是「如來使」，替佛做著佛的事，是被如來的肩擔荷著的；毀他一句，比一劫罵佛還重。經卷停放的地方，不必再安舍利——因為那部經本身，就已經是佛的全身。
那麼佛不在了，要怎麼把這部難信之經說給人聽？佛給了三句話，安頓弘經人的一顆心：進到大慈悲這間屋裡，披上柔和忍辱這件衣，坐上一切法空這個座——然後，開口說法。沒有悲心，說法只是逞能；沒有忍辱，惡世一句頂撞就把法斷了；不見法空，便執著有我在說、有人可度，坐也坐不穩。慈悲、忍辱、法空，一間屋、一件衣、一個座，替你把心安好。
至於你離佛的智慧還有多遠，佛教你一個自己就能量的法子：像在高原鑿井，若挖出的還是乾土，水尚遠；可一旦見了濕泥，便知道——近了。
且入此品，看佛怎樣把這部經，交到每一個肯聽、肯傳的人手上；也看看自己手裡挖出的，是乾土，還是濕泥。
In the preceding chapters, the Buddha called the disciples by name, one after another, and bestowed predictions of buddhahood on them. In this chapter, the sutra turns around and asks a question that concerns you and me: after the Buddha is no longer present, who will carry this sutra forward?
The answer is unexpectedly wide: you need not be a great bodhisattva, nor need you already have realized any fruit. You need only hear a single verse or sentence of this sutra and give rise to so much as a single thought of rejoicing. The Buddha says that he has given you a prediction: you will certainly become a buddha in the future. Of those who actually receive, uphold, read, recite, explain, and copy it, the Buddha speaks in the strongest terms: such a person is an “envoy of the Tathāgata,” doing the Buddha’s work on the Buddha’s behalf and borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder. To revile that person with a single sentence is graver than reviling the Buddha for an entire aeon. Wherever a scroll of the sutra rests, there is no need to enshrine relics as well—because the sutra itself is already the Buddha’s full body.
How, then, after the Buddha is no longer present, is this difficult-to-trust sutra to be taught to others? The Buddha gives three sentences to settle the heart of the person who will transmit it: enter the room of great loving-kindness and compassion, put on the robe of gentleness and patient endurance, and sit upon the seat of the emptiness of all dharmas—then open your mouth and teach. Without compassion, teaching the Dharma is only self-display. Without patient endurance, a single retort in an evil age can sever the Dharma. Without seeing the emptiness of all dharmas, one clings to “I am teaching” and “there are people for me to deliver,” and cannot sit steadily. Compassion, patient endurance, and the emptiness of all dharmas: one room, one robe, and one seat settle your heart for you.
As for how far you remain from the Buddha’s wisdom, the Buddha teaches you a way to measure it for yourself. It is like digging a well on a high plain: if what you unearth is still dry soil, the water remains far away; but once you see moist earth and mud, you know—it is near.
Enter this chapter and see how the Buddha places this sutra into the hands of every person willing to hear and willing to transmit it. See, too, whether what your own hands have dug up is dry soil or moist mud.
後秦龜茲國三藏法師鳩摩羅什奉詔譯《妙法蓮華經》卷四〈法師品第十〉· 大正藏 T09n0262〔起 T09 0030b29〕。段/行首〔T09 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T09 0030b29〕爾時世尊因藥王菩薩，告八萬大士：「藥王！汝見是大眾中，無量諸天、龍王、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、人與非人，及比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，求聲聞者、求辟支佛者、求佛道者，如是等類，咸於佛前，聞妙法華經一偈一句，乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記，當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」
佛告藥王：「又如來滅度之後，若有人聞妙法華經，乃至一偈一句，一念隨喜者，我亦與授阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。若復有人受持、讀誦、解說、書寫妙法華經，乃至一偈，於此經卷敬視如佛，種種供養——華、香、瓔珞、末香、塗香、燒香，繒蓋、幢幡、衣服、伎樂，乃至合掌恭敬。藥王！當知是諸人等已曾供養十萬億佛，於諸佛所成就大願，愍眾生故，生此人間。
「藥王！若有人問：『何等眾生於未來世當得作佛？』應示：『是諸人等於未來世必得作佛。』何以故？若善男子、善女人，於法華經，乃至一句，受持、讀誦、解說、書寫，種種供養經卷——華、香、瓔珞、末香、塗香、燒香、繒蓋、幢幡、衣服、伎樂，合掌恭敬；是人，一切世間所應瞻奉，應以如來供養而供養之。當知此人是大菩薩，成就阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，哀愍眾生，願生此間，廣演分別妙法華經。何況盡能受持、種種供養者？
「藥王！當知是人自捨清淨業報，於我滅度後，愍眾生故，生於惡世，廣演此經。若是善男子、善女人，我滅度後，能竊為一人說法華經，乃至一句；當知是人則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事。何況於大眾中廣為人說？
「藥王！若有惡人，以不善心，於一劫中現於佛前，常毀罵佛，其罪尚輕；若人以一惡言，毀呰在家、出家讀誦法華經者，其罪甚重。
〔T09 0031a03〕「藥王！其有讀誦法華經者，當知是人以佛莊嚴而自莊嚴，則為如來肩所荷擔。其所至方，應隨向禮，一心合掌，恭敬供養，尊重讚歎，華、香、瓔珞，末香、塗香、燒香，繒蓋、幢幡，衣服、餚饌，作諸伎樂，人中上供，而供養之，應持天寶而以散之，天上寶聚應以奉獻。所以者何？是人歡喜說法，須臾聞之，即得究竟阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故。」
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
「若欲住佛道，成就自然智，
常當勤供養，受持法華者。
其有欲疾得，一切種智慧，
當受持是經，并供養持者。
若有能受持，妙法華經者，
當知佛所使，愍念諸眾生。
諸有能受持，妙法華經者，
捨於清淨土，愍眾故生此。
當知如是人，自在所欲生，
能於此惡世，廣說無上法。
應以天華香，及天寶衣服，
天上妙寶聚，供養說法者。
吾滅後惡世，能持是經者，
當合掌禮敬，如供養世尊。
上饌眾甘美，及種種衣服，
供養是佛子，冀得須臾聞。
若能於後世，受持是經者，
我遣在人中，行於如來事。
若於一劫中，常懷不善心，
作色而罵佛，獲無量重罪。
其有讀誦持，是法華經者，
須臾加惡言，其罪復過彼。
有人求佛道，而於一劫中，
合掌在我前，以無數偈讚。
由是讚佛故，得無量功德，
歎美持經者，其福復過彼。
於八十億劫，以最妙色聲，
及與香味觸，供養持經者。
如是供養已，若得須臾聞，
則應自欣慶，我今獲大利。
藥王今告汝，我所說諸經，
而於此經中，法華最第一。」
爾時佛復告藥王菩薩摩訶薩：「我所說經典無量千萬億，已說、今說、當說，而於其中，此法華經最為難信難解。
「藥王！此經是諸佛祕要之藏，不可分布妄授與人；諸佛世尊之所守護，從昔已來，未曾顯說。而此經者，如來現在，猶多怨嫉，況滅度後？
「藥王！當知如來滅後，其能書、持、讀、誦、供養、為他人說者，如來則為以衣覆之，又為他方現在諸佛之所護念。是人有大信力，及志願力、諸善根力。當知是人與如來共宿，則為如來手摩其頭。
「藥王！在在處處，若說、若讀、若誦、若書，若經卷所住處，皆應起七寶塔，極令高廣嚴飾，不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身。此塔，應以一切華、香、瓔珞，繒蓋、幢幡，伎樂、歌頌，供養恭敬，尊重讚歎。若有人得見此塔，禮拜、供養，當知是等皆近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
「藥王！多有人在家、出家行菩薩道，若不能得見聞、讀誦、書持、供養是法華經者，當知是人未善行菩薩道；若有得聞是經典者，乃能善行菩薩之道。其有眾生求佛道者，若見、若聞是法華經，聞已信解受持者，當知是人得近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
「藥王！譬如有人渴乏須水，於彼高原穿鑿求之，猶見乾土，知水尚遠；施功不已，轉見濕土，遂漸至泥，其心決定、知水必近。菩薩亦復如是，若未聞、未解、未能修習是法華經者，當知是人去阿耨多羅三藐三菩提尚遠；若得聞解、思惟、修習，必知得近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。所以者何？一切菩薩阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，皆屬此經——此經開方便門，示真實相。是法華經藏，深固幽遠，無人能到，今佛教化成就菩薩而為開示。
「藥王！若有菩薩聞是法華經，驚疑、怖畏，當知是為新發意菩薩；若聲聞人聞是經，驚疑、怖畏，當知是為增上慢者。
「藥王！若有善男子、善女人，如來滅後，欲為四眾說是法華經者，云何應說？是善男子、善女人，入如來室，著如來衣，坐如來座，爾乃應為四眾廣說斯經。如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是；如來衣者，柔和忍辱心是；如來座者，一切法空是。安住是中，然後以不懈怠心，為諸菩薩及四眾廣說是法華經。
「藥王！我於餘國遣化人為其集聽法眾，亦遣化比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷聽其說法。是諸化人聞法信受，隨順不逆。若說法者在空閑處，我時廣遣天、龍、鬼神、乾闥婆、阿修羅等，聽其說法。我雖在異國，時時令說法者得見我身。若於此經忘失句逗，我還為說，令得具足。」
〔T09 0032a06〕爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
「欲捨諸懈怠，應當聽此經，
是經難得聞，信受者亦難。
如人渴須水，穿鑿於高原，
猶見乾燥土，知去水尚遠；
漸見濕土泥，決定知近水。
藥王汝當知！如是諸人等，
不聞法華經，去佛智甚遠，
若聞是深經，決了聲聞法。
是諸經之王，聞已諦思惟，
當知此人等，近於佛智慧。
若人說此經，應入如來室，
著於如來衣，而坐如來座，
處眾無所畏，廣為分別說。
大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，
諸法空為座，處此為說法。
若說此經時，有人惡口罵，
加刀杖瓦石，念佛故應忍。
我千萬億土，現淨堅固身，
於無量億劫，為眾生說法。
若我滅度後，能說此經者，
我遣化四眾，比丘比丘尼，
及清信士女，供養於法師，
引導諸眾生，集之令聽法。
若人欲加惡，刀杖及瓦石，
則遣變化人，為之作衛護。
若說法之人，獨在空閑處，
寂寞無人聲，讀誦此經典，
我爾時為現，清淨光明身。
若忘失章句，為說令通利。
若人具是德，或為四眾說，
空處讀誦經，皆得見我身。
若人在空閑，我遣天龍王，
夜叉鬼神等，為作聽法眾。
是人樂說法，分別無罣礙，
諸佛護念故，能令大眾喜。
若親近法師，速得菩薩道，
隨順是師學，得見恒沙佛。」
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
因藥王告八萬大士·一念隨喜皆與授記
那時候，世尊藉著藥王菩薩（發願以良藥救治眾生的大菩薩）這個因緣，告訴在座的八萬位大菩薩說：「藥王啊！你看見在這個大眾當中，有無量無數的諸天、龍王、夜叉（一類威猛的鬼神）、乾闥婆（不食酒肉、只尋香氣為食的天樂神）、阿修羅（好爭鬥的非天）、迦樓羅（金翅大鳥神）、緊那羅（似人而頭上有角的歌神）、摩睺羅伽（大蟒神）、人與非人，以及比丘（受具足戒的男眾出家人）、比丘尼（受具足戒的女眾出家人）、優婆塞（在家受戒的男居士）、優婆夷（在家受戒的女居士）；還有追求聲聞果（聽佛說法而斷惑證果）的人、追求辟支佛果（無師自悟的緣覺）的人、追求成佛之道的人——像這樣種種的人，只要在佛的面前，聽聞《妙法華經》哪怕只是一首偈頌、一句經文，甚至只生起一念的隨喜（隨著他人的善而心生歡喜），我都給他們授予記別（預先斷言將來必得的果報），斷言他們將來一定會證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提（無上正等正覺，即圓滿的佛果）。」
佛又告訴藥王說：「還有，在如來滅度（謝世入涅槃）以後，假使有人聽聞《妙法華經》，哪怕只是一首偈頌、一句經文，只生起一念的隨喜，我也一樣給他們授予阿耨多羅三藐三菩提的記別。假使又有人受持（領受並牢記奉行）、讀誦、解說、書寫《妙法華經》，哪怕只是一首偈頌，對於這部經卷恭敬瞻視，如同瞻視佛陀一般，用種種東西去供養——花、香、瓔珞（用珠玉串成的飾物）、末香（研成粉末的香）、塗香（塗在身上的香）、燒香，還有絲織的傘蓋、幢幡（旗幟）、衣服、伎樂（歌舞音樂），乃至於只是合起掌來恭敬。藥王啊！你應當知道，這些人等，過去世已經曾經供養過十萬億尊佛，在諸佛那裡成就了廣大的誓願，是為了憐愍眾生的緣故，才降生到這個人間來的。
何等眾生當得作佛·應以如來供養而供養之
「藥王啊！假使有人問說：『什麼樣的眾生，在未來世當中將會得以作佛呢？』就應當指示他說：『這些人等，在未來世當中必定會得以作佛。』為什麼這樣說呢？假使有善男子、善女人，對於《法華經》，哪怕只是一句經文，能夠受持、讀誦、解說、書寫，並且用種種東西去供養這部經卷——花、香、瓔珞、末香、塗香、燒香、絲蓋、幢幡、衣服、伎樂，乃至合掌恭敬；這樣的人，是一切世間所應當瞻仰奉事的對象，應當用供養如來的規格去供養他。你應當知道，這樣的人就是大菩薩，將要成就阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，因為哀愍眾生，發願降生到這人間來，廣泛地演說、分別解釋《妙法華經》。何況是那些能夠完完全全受持、又用種種東西供養的人呢？
如來使·自捨清淨業報生於惡世
「藥王啊！你應當知道，這樣的人，是自己捨棄了清淨的業報（本可享受的清淨果報），在我滅度以後，為了憐愍眾生的緣故，才降生到這惡濁的世間，來廣泛地演說這部經。假使這善男子、善女人，在我滅度以後，能夠私下地只為一個人講說《法華經》，哪怕只是一句；你應當知道，這樣的人就是如來的使者，是如來所差遣的人，正在替如來辦事。何況是在大眾當中，廣泛地為眾人演說呢？
毀罵輕重·呰持經者其罪甚重
「藥王啊！假使有惡人，用不善的心，在一整劫（極長的時間單位）當中，現身在佛的面前，經常詆毀辱罵佛，他的罪過還算是輕的；假使有人只用一句惡言，去毀謗辱罵那些在家、出家而讀誦《法華經》的人，他的罪過卻是極其深重的。
以佛莊嚴而自莊嚴·如來肩所荷擔
「藥王啊！凡是有讀誦《法華經》的人，你應當知道，這樣的人是用佛的莊嚴（成佛的功德妙相）來莊嚴自己，這就等於是被如來用肩膀承擔著。他所去到的地方，眾人都應當隨著他的方向頂禮，專一心地合起掌來，恭敬供養，尊重讚歎，用花、香、瓔珞，末香、塗香、燒香，絲蓋、幢幡，衣服、餚饌（精美的飲食），奏起種種伎樂，把人間最上等的供品，拿來供養他，還應當拿著天上的珍寶散在他身上，把天上的寶物聚積起來奉獻給他。這是什麼緣故呢？因為這個人歡喜地演說佛法，眾人只要片刻聽聞一下，就能夠究竟地證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提的緣故。」
以佛莊嚴·重頌
那時候，世尊想要把這個意思再宣說一遍，就說了偈頌：
「假使想要安住在成佛的道路上，
成就那不假造作、自然現前的智慧，
就應當經常勤勉地供養，
那些受持《法華經》的人。
凡是想要迅速獲得，
一切種智（佛遍知一切諸法的智慧）的人，
就應當受持這部經，
並且供養受持這部經的人。
假使有人能夠受持，
《妙法華經》的人，
你應當知道他就是佛所差遣的使者，
是為了憐愍種種眾生而來。
凡是能夠受持，
《妙法華經》的人，
都是捨棄了清淨的國土，
為憐愍眾生的緣故才降生到這裡。
你應當知道這樣的人，
是自由自在、隨自己心願而降生的，
他能夠在這惡濁的世間，
廣泛地演說無上的佛法。
應當用天上的花與香，
以及天上的珍寶衣服，
還有天上的美妙寶物聚積起來，
供養那演說佛法的人。
在我滅度以後的惡世裡，
凡是能夠受持這部經的人，
都應當合起掌來禮拜恭敬，
如同供養世尊一般。
用上等的餚饌、種種甘美的滋味，
以及種種的衣服，
供養這樣的佛子，
只盼望能夠片刻聽聞他說法。
假使有人能夠在後世當中，
受持這部經的人，
那就是我差遣他到人間，
來替如來辦事。
假使有人在一整劫當中，
經常懷著不善的心，
變了臉色去辱罵佛，
他所獲得的是無量深重的罪。
而那些讀誦、受持，
這部《法華經》的人，
假使有人只片刻對他加上惡言，
他的罪過又超過了前面那個。
假使有人追求成佛之道，
在一整劫當中，
合起掌來站在我面前，
用無數的偈頌來讚歎我。
由於這樣讚佛的緣故，
得到了無量的功德，
但假使去讚歎那受持經的人，
他的福報又超過了前面那個。
在八十億劫這麼長的時間裡，
用最美妙的色與聲，
以及香、味、觸，
去供養受持經的人。
像這樣供養完了以後，
假使能夠片刻聽他說法，
那就應當自己欣喜慶幸，
說：我如今獲得了廣大的利益。
藥王啊！我如今告訴你，
在我所宣說的種種經典當中，
而在這一切經當中，
《法華經》是最為第一的。」
難信難解·諸佛祕要之藏
那時候，佛又告訴藥王菩薩摩訶薩（大菩薩）說：「我所宣說的經典有無量千萬億那麼多，已經宣說過的、如今正在宣說的、將來要宣說的，而在這其中，這部《法華經》是最為難以相信、難以理解的。
「藥王啊！這部經是諸佛祕密精要的寶藏，不可以隨便散布、輕率地授予他人；它是諸佛世尊所守護的，從往昔以來，不曾明白地宣說。而這部經，在如來現今還在世的時候，尚且有許多人怨恨嫉妒，何況是在如來滅度以後呢？
「藥王啊！你應當知道，在如來滅度以後，那些能夠書寫、受持、讀、誦、供養、又為他人講說這部經的人，如來就會用衣裳覆蓋他（庇護他），又會被他方世界現今在世的諸佛所護念（護持憶念）。這樣的人具有廣大的信力，以及志願的力量、種種善根的力量。你應當知道，這樣的人是與如來同住一處，就等於是被如來親手摩著他的頭頂（加以護念印可）。
經卷所住·起七寶塔如來全身
「藥王啊！無論在什麼地方，只要有人講說、有人讀、有人誦、有人書寫這部經，或者只要是經卷所安放的地方，都應當建起七寶（金、銀、琉璃等七種珍寶）之塔，把它造得極其高大寬廣、莊嚴華飾，不需要再安放舍利（佛遺留的靈骨）。這是什麼緣故呢？因為這塔中已經有了如來的全身（法身圓具，經在如同佛在）。這座塔，應當用一切的花、香、瓔珞，絲蓋、幢幡，伎樂、歌頌，去供養恭敬，尊重讚歎。假使有人能夠得見這座塔，向它禮拜、供養，你應當知道，這些人都已經接近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提了。
聞經修習·方善行菩薩之道
「藥王啊！有許多人，無論在家、出家而修行菩薩道，假使不能夠得以見到、聽到、讀誦、書寫受持、供養這部《法華經》，你應當知道，這樣的人還沒有善巧地修行菩薩道；假使有人能夠得以聽聞這部經典，那才算是能夠善巧地修行菩薩之道。那些追求成佛之道的眾生，假使能夠見到、或者聽到這部《法華經》，聽聞了以後又能夠信解（相信並理解）、受持，你應當知道，這樣的人就已經接近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提了。
鑿井喻·穿鑿高原見濕漸近
「藥王啊！打個譬喻：好比有人口渴缺水，很需要水喝，於是在那高原上鑿地找水，一開始只看見乾燥的土，就知道水還離得很遠；持續用功挖掘不停，漸漸看見濕潤的土，接著慢慢挖到了泥，他的心裡就篤定了，知道水必定就在附近了。菩薩也是像這樣：假使還不曾聽聞、還不曾理解、還不能夠修習這部《法華經》，你應當知道，這樣的人離阿耨多羅三藐三菩提還很遙遠；假使能夠得以聽聞理解、思惟、修習，就必定知道自己已經接近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提了。這是什麼緣故呢？因為一切菩薩的阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，全都繫屬於這部經——這部經開啟了方便的法門，顯示了真實的實相（諸法真實的本相）。這《法華經》的寶藏，深邃堅固、幽微遙遠，沒有人能夠自行到達，如今是佛在教化、成就菩薩，才為他們開啟顯示的。
驚疑怖畏·新發意菩薩與增上慢者
「藥王啊！假使有菩薩，聽到這部《法華經》，就驚駭疑惑、恐怖畏懼，你應當知道，這是剛剛發起道心的初學菩薩；假使有聲聞乘的人，聽到這部經，就驚駭疑惑、恐怖畏懼，你應當知道，這是增上慢的人（尚未證得卻自以為證得、貢高我慢的人）。
弘經三軌·入如來室著衣坐座
「藥王啊！假使有善男子、善女人，在如來滅度以後，想要為四眾（比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷）講說這部《法華經》，應該要怎麼講說呢？這善男子、善女人，要進入如來的房室，穿上如來的衣裳，坐上如來的座位，這樣才可以為四眾廣泛地講說這部經。所謂如來的房室，就是對一切眾生所懷的大慈悲心；所謂如來的衣裳，就是柔和忍辱的心；所謂如來的座位，就是體悟一切諸法本空。安穩地安住在這裡面，然後再用毫不懈怠的心，為諸位菩薩以及四眾廣泛地講說這部《法華經》。
遣化人集聽·忘失句逗還為說
「藥王啊！我會在其他的國土，差遣變化出來的人，去替講說《法華經》的人聚集起聽法的大眾，也差遣變化出來的比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，去聽他說法。這些變化出來的人，聽聞了佛法就會信受，隨順而不違逆。假使那說法的人是在空曠寂靜的地方，我這時候就會廣泛地差遣天、龍、鬼神、乾闥婆、阿修羅等等，去聽他說法。我雖然身在別的國土，卻會時時讓那說法的人得以見到我的身相。假使他對於這部經有所遺忘、漏失了字句，我還會回過頭來為他講說，使他能夠具足完整。」
弘經三軌·重頌
那時候，世尊想要把這個意思再宣說一遍，就說了偈頌：
「想要捨離種種懈怠，
就應當聽聞這部經，
這部經是難以得以聽聞的，
能夠信受它的人也很稀少。
好比有人口渴需要水喝，
在那高原上鑿地找水，
起初還看見乾燥的土，
知道離水還很遙遠；
漸漸看見濕潤的土與泥，
便篤定地知道靠近水了。
藥王啊！你應當知道！
像這樣種種的人，
假使不曾聽聞《法華經》，
那就離佛的智慧極其遙遠，
假使聽聞了這部深奧的經，
就能決斷通達聲聞乘的法。
這是一切經當中的王，
聽聞了以後又能仔細地思惟，
你應當知道這樣的人等，
已經接近佛的智慧了。
假使有人要講說這部經，
就應當進入如來的房室，
穿上如來的衣裳，
並且坐上如來的座位，
安處在大眾當中毫無所畏，
廣泛地分別解說。
以大慈悲心作為房室，
以柔和忍辱作為衣裳，
以一切諸法本空作為座位，
安處在這裡面來為眾說法。
假使講說這部經的時候，
有人惡口辱罵，
乃至加上刀杖瓦石傷害，
都應當因為憶念佛而忍耐。
我在千萬億的國土當中，
示現出清淨堅固的身相，
在無量億劫這麼長的時間裡，
為眾生演說佛法。
假使在我滅度以後，
有能夠講說這部經的人，
我就差遣變化的四眾，
比丘、比丘尼，
以及清淨守信的男女居士，
去供養那位法師，
引導種種眾生，
聚集他們前來聽法。
假使有人想要加害，
用刀杖以及瓦石，
我就差遣變化出來的人，
去替他作衛護。
假使那說法的人，
獨自身在空曠寂靜之處，
寂寞冷清、沒有人聲，
讀誦這部經典，
我這時候就為他示現，
清淨光明的身相。
假使他遺忘漏失了章句，
我就為他講說，使他通達順利。
假使有人具備這樣的德行，
或者為四眾講說，
或者在空曠處讀誦這部經，
都能夠得以見到我的身相。
假使有人身在空曠寂靜之處，
我就差遣天龍王，
夜叉、鬼神等等，
去替他作聽法的大眾。
這樣的人樂於演說佛法，
分別解說毫無障礙，
因為得到諸佛護念的緣故，
能夠使大眾歡喜。
假使有人親近這位法師，
就能迅速地證得菩薩之道，
隨順著這位法師修學，
就能得以見到多如恒河沙數的佛。」
Kumārajīva's Chinese root text (T09n0262) is retained as a visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders it in plain, continuous prose.
Through Medicine King, the Buddha Addresses Eighty Thousand Great Beings · Even a Single Thought of Rejoicing Receives a Prediction
爾時世尊因藥王菩薩，告八萬大士：「藥王！汝見是大眾中，無量諸天、龍王、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、人與非人，及比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，求聲聞者、求辟支佛者、求佛道者，如是等類，咸於佛前，聞妙法華經一偈一句，乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記，當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 佛告藥王：「又如來滅度之後，若有人聞妙法華經，乃至一偈一句，一念隨喜者，我亦與授阿耨多羅三藐三菩提記。若復有人受持、讀誦、解說、書寫妙法華經，乃至一偈，於此經卷敬視如佛，種種供養——華、香、瓔珞、末香、塗香、燒香，繒蓋、幢幡、衣服、伎樂，乃至合掌恭敬。藥王！當知是諸人等已曾供養十萬億佛，於諸佛所成就大願，愍眾生故，生此人間。
At that time, the World-Honored One, taking the Bodhisattva Medicine King (Bhaiṣajyarāja)—the great bodhisattva who vowed to heal sentient beings with good medicine—as the occasion, addressed the eighty thousand great bodhisattvas: “Medicine King! Do you see within this great assembly the immeasurable devas, dragon kings, yakṣas (a class of powerful spirits), gandharvas (heavenly musicians who do not eat meat or drink wine but feed only on fragrances), asuras (quarrelsome non-devas), garuḍas (great golden-winged bird spirits), kinnaras (singers with humanlike forms and horns upon their heads), mahoragas (great serpent spirits), humans and nonhumans; monks, nuns, laymen who have received the precepts, and laywomen who have received the precepts; those seeking the fruit of the śrāvaka, attained by hearing the Buddha teach and ending delusion; those seeking the fruit of the pratyekabuddha, who awakens to causes and conditions without a teacher; and those seeking the buddha-way? If any among all these kinds of beings, before the Buddha, hear even a single verse or a single sentence of the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma, or give rise to so much as a single thought of rejoicing—rejoicing in another’s good—I give every one of them a prediction, declaring beforehand the fruit they shall attain: they will attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening, the complete fruit of buddhahood.”
The Buddha again told Medicine King: “Moreover, after the Tathāgata has entered extinction—departed this life and entered nirvāṇa—if anyone hears the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma, even a single verse or a single sentence, and gives rise to a single thought of rejoicing, I likewise give that person the prediction of unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. If anyone receives and upholds this sutra—accepting it, retaining it firmly, and putting it into practice—reads and recites it, explains it, or copies it, even so much as a single verse; regards this sutra scroll with reverence as though beholding the Buddha; and makes many kinds of offerings to it—flowers, incense, jeweled necklaces made from strings of gems, powdered incense, fragrant ointments, burning incense, silken canopies, standards and banners, robes, and music and performance—even if the person merely joins the palms in reverence: Medicine King, you should know that people such as these have already made offerings to ten trillion buddhas in past lives. In the presence of those buddhas they accomplished vast vows, and it is because they feel compassion for sentient beings that they have been born into this human world.
Which Beings Shall Become Buddhas? · They Should Be Honored with the Offerings Due a Tathāgata
「藥王！若有人問：『何等眾生於未來世當得作佛？』應示：『是諸人等於未來世必得作佛。』何以故？若善男子、善女人，於法華經，乃至一句，受持、讀誦、解說、書寫，種種供養經卷——華、香、瓔珞、末香、塗香、燒香、繒蓋、幢幡、衣服、伎樂，合掌恭敬；是人，一切世間所應瞻奉，應以如來供養而供養之。當知此人是大菩薩，成就阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，哀愍眾生，願生此間，廣演分別妙法華經。何況盡能受持、種種供養者？
“Medicine King! If someone asks, ‘What kinds of sentient beings shall become buddhas in a future age?’ one should point out people such as these and say, ‘These people will certainly become buddhas in a future age.’ Why is this? If a good man or good woman receives and upholds, reads and recites, explains, or copies even a single sentence of the Lotus Sutra; makes many kinds of offerings to the sutra scroll—flowers, incense, jeweled necklaces, powdered incense, fragrant ointments, burning incense, silken canopies, standards and banners, robes, and music and performance—and joins the palms in reverence, that person should be looked up to and served by the entire world. One should honor that person with the same offerings used to honor a Tathāgata. You should know that this person is a great bodhisattva who is to accomplish unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. Out of compassion for sentient beings, this bodhisattva has vowed to be born here and to unfold, distinguish, and explain the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma far and wide. How much more is this true of one able to uphold it completely and make every kind of offering?
The Tathāgata’s Envoy · Freely Relinquishing a Pure Karmic Recompense to Be Born in an Evil Age
「藥王！當知是人自捨清淨業報，於我滅度後，愍眾生故，生於惡世，廣演此經。若是善男子、善女人，我滅度後，能竊為一人說法華經，乃至一句；當知是人則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事。何況於大眾中廣為人說？
“Medicine King! You should know that this person freely relinquishes a pure karmic recompense—the pure fruit that the person could otherwise enjoy—and, after my extinction, is born into an evil age out of compassion for sentient beings, there to proclaim this sutra far and wide. If, after my extinction, a good man or good woman can privately teach the Lotus Sutra to even one person, even so much as a single sentence, you should know that this person is an envoy of the Tathāgata, sent by the Tathāgata to perform the Tathāgata’s work. How much more is this true of one who teaches it broadly to a great assembly?
The Relative Gravity of Reviling · The Offense of Disparaging One Who Upholds the Sutra Is Exceedingly Grave
「藥王！若有惡人，以不善心，於一劫中現於佛前，常毀罵佛，其罪尚輕；若人以一惡言，毀呰在家、出家讀誦法華經者，其罪甚重。
“Medicine King! Suppose an evil person, with an unwholesome mind, appeared before the Buddha throughout an entire aeon—an immensely long span of time—and constantly disparaged and reviled the Buddha. That person’s offense would still be light. But if someone used even a single malicious word to disparage and revile a householder or renunciant who reads and recites the Lotus Sutra, that person’s offense would be exceedingly grave.
Adorned with the Buddha’s Adornments · Borne upon the Tathāgata’s Shoulder
「藥王！其有讀誦法華經者，當知是人以佛莊嚴而自莊嚴，則為如來肩所荷擔。其所至方，應隨向禮，一心合掌，恭敬供養，尊重讚歎，華、香、瓔珞，末香、塗香、燒香，繒蓋、幢幡，衣服、餚饌，作諸伎樂，人中上供，而供養之，應持天寶而以散之，天上寶聚應以奉獻。所以者何？是人歡喜說法，須臾聞之，即得究竟阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故。」
“Medicine King! Whenever anyone reads and recites the Lotus Sutra, you should know that this person adorns the self with the Buddha’s adornments—the wondrous marks produced by the qualities of buddhahood—and is borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder. Wherever this person goes, people should turn in that direction and bow, single-mindedly join their palms, make offerings with reverence, honor and praise the person, and present flowers, incense, jeweled necklaces, powdered incense, fragrant ointments, burning incense, silken canopies, standards and banners, robes, and fine food and drink. They should perform all kinds of music and offer the finest offerings found among humans. They should scatter heavenly jewels over the person and present stores of treasure from the heavens. Why is this? Because this person joyfully teaches the Dharma, and those who hear it for even a moment thereby ultimately attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.”
Adorned with the Buddha’s Adornments · Repeated in Verse
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言： 「若欲住佛道，成就自然智，
常當勤供養，受持法華者。
其有欲疾得，一切種智慧，
當受持是經，并供養持者。
若有能受持，妙法華經者，
當知佛所使，愍念諸眾生。
諸有能受持，妙法華經者，
捨於清淨土，愍眾故生此。
當知如是人，自在所欲生，
能於此惡世，廣說無上法。
應以天華香，及天寶衣服，
天上妙寶聚，供養說法者。
吾滅後惡世，能持是經者，
當合掌禮敬，如供養世尊。
上饌眾甘美，及種種衣服，
供養是佛子，冀得須臾聞。
若能於後世，受持是經者，
我遣在人中，行於如來事。
若於一劫中，常懷不善心，
作色而罵佛，獲無量重罪。
其有讀誦持，是法華經者，
須臾加惡言，其罪復過彼。
有人求佛道，而於一劫中，
合掌在我前，以無數偈讚。
由是讚佛故，得無量功德，
歎美持經者，其福復過彼。
於八十億劫，以最妙色聲，
及與香味觸，供養持經者。
如是供養已，若得須臾聞，
則應自欣慶，我今獲大利。
藥王今告汝，我所說諸經，
而於此經中，法華最第一。」
At that time, the World-Honored One wished to proclaim this meaning again, and spoke in verse:
“If you wish to abide upon the buddha-way
and accomplish knowledge that naturally appears, without contrivance,
you should constantly and diligently make offerings
to those who receive and uphold the Lotus Sutra.
If anyone wishes swiftly to attain
the knowledge of all modes—the Buddha’s knowledge of all dharmas—
that person should receive and uphold this sutra
and make offerings to those who uphold it.
If anyone is able to receive and uphold
the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma,
you should know that this person is sent by the Buddha
out of compassionate concern for sentient beings.
All those able to receive and uphold
the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma
have relinquished a pure land
and are born here out of compassion for sentient beings.
You should know that people such as these
freely choose where they wish to be born.
Within this evil age they are able
to proclaim the unsurpassed Dharma far and wide.
With heavenly flowers and incense,
with heavenly jeweled robes,
and with wondrous stores of heavenly treasure,
one should make offerings to those who teach the Dharma.
In the evil age after my extinction,
those able to uphold this sutra
should be greeted with joined palms, bows, and reverence,
just as one makes offerings to the World-Honored One.
With the finest food and many delicious flavors,
and with many kinds of robes,
one should make offerings to this son of the Buddha,
hoping to hear the Dharma for even a moment.
If anyone in a future age
is able to receive and uphold this sutra,
I have sent that person among humans
to perform the Tathāgata’s work.
If throughout an entire aeon
someone constantly harbors an unwholesome mind,
scowls and reviles the Buddha,
that person incurs immeasurably grave offenses.
But if, toward one who reads, recites, and upholds
this Lotus Sutra,
someone utters a malicious word for even a moment,
that person’s offense exceeds the former one.
Suppose someone seeking the buddha-way
stood before me throughout an entire aeon,
joined the palms,
and praised me with countless verses.
By praising the Buddha in this way,
that person gains immeasurable qualities;
yet one who praises the upholder of this sutra
gains merit surpassing even that.
Throughout eight billion aeons,
suppose someone made offerings to the sutra’s upholder
with the most wondrous visible forms and sounds,
together with fragrances, flavors, and tangible objects.
After making offerings in this way,
if that person heard the Dharma for even a moment,
the person should rejoice and celebrate within:
‘Today I have gained a vast benefit.’
Medicine King, I now tell you:
among all the sutras I have taught,
within this whole body of sutras,
the Lotus Sutra is foremost.”
Difficult to Trust, Difficult to Understand · The Treasury of the Buddhas’ Secret Essence
爾時佛復告藥王菩薩摩訶薩：「我所說經典無量千萬億，已說、今說、當說，而於其中，此法華經最為難信難解。 「藥王！此經是諸佛祕要之藏，不可分布妄授與人；諸佛世尊之所守護，從昔已來，未曾顯說。而此經者，如來現在，猶多怨嫉，況滅度後？ 「藥王！當知如來滅後，其能書、持、讀、誦、供養、為他人說者，如來則為以衣覆之，又為他方現在諸佛之所護念。是人有大信力，及志願力、諸善根力。當知是人與如來共宿，則為如來手摩其頭。
At that time, the Buddha again told the Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva Medicine King (a great bodhisattva): “The sutras I have taught are immeasurable tens of millions of billions in number. Among those I have taught, those I teach now, and those I shall teach, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to trust and the most difficult to understand.
“Medicine King! This sutra is the treasury of the buddhas’ secret essence. It must not be distributed casually or recklessly entrusted to others. It is guarded by the buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, and from the distant past until now it has never been openly taught. Even while the Tathāgata is present, this sutra still meets with much resentment and jealousy; how much more will it after his extinction?
“Medicine King! You should know that, after the Tathāgata’s extinction, anyone able to copy, uphold, read, recite, make offerings to, and teach this sutra to others will be covered by the Tathāgata with his robe (protecting that person) and will also be guarded and kept in mind by the buddhas now present in other worlds. This person possesses great powers of trust, resolve and vow, and wholesome roots. You should know that this person dwells together with the Tathāgata and is touched upon the crown of the head by the Tathāgata’s own hand, under his protection and seal of affirmation.
Wherever the Sutra Scroll Abides · Raise a Seven-Jeweled Stūpa, for the Tathāgata’s Full Body Is There
「藥王！在在處處，若說、若讀、若誦、若書，若經卷所住處，皆應起七寶塔，極令高廣嚴飾，不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身。此塔，應以一切華、香、瓔珞，繒蓋、幢幡，伎樂、歌頌，供養恭敬，尊重讚歎。若有人得見此塔，禮拜、供養，當知是等皆近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
“Medicine King! Wherever this sutra is taught, read, recited, or copied, and wherever a scroll of this sutra abides, a stūpa made of the seven treasures—gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and the other precious substances—should be raised. It should be made exceedingly tall and broad and adorned magnificently. There is no need to place relics in it. Why is this? The full body of the Tathāgata is already present within it: the Dharma-body is complete, and wherever the sutra is present, the Buddha is present. This stūpa should be honored with every kind of flower, incense, jeweled necklace, silken canopy, standard and banner, music, and song; people should make offerings to it with reverence, honor it, and praise it. If anyone sees this stūpa, bows before it, and makes offerings to it, you should know that such people have all drawn near to unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.
Hearing and Practicing This Sutra · Only Then Does One Skillfully Practice the Bodhisattva Path
「藥王！多有人在家、出家行菩薩道，若不能得見聞、讀誦、書持、供養是法華經者，當知是人未善行菩薩道；若有得聞是經典者，乃能善行菩薩之道。其有眾生求佛道者，若見、若聞是法華經，聞已信解受持者，當知是人得近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
“Medicine King! Many householders and renunciants practice the bodhisattva path. If they are unable to see or hear this Lotus Sutra, read or recite it, copy and uphold it, or make offerings to it, you should know that they have not yet learned to practice the bodhisattva path skillfully. Only those able to hear this sutra can skillfully practice the bodhisattva path. If sentient beings seeking the buddha-way see or hear this Lotus Sutra and, after hearing it, trust, understand, receive, and uphold it, you should know that they have drawn near to unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.
The Well-Digging Parable · Digging on a High Plain, One Sees Moist Earth and Gradually Draws Near
「藥王！譬如有人渴乏須水，於彼高原穿鑿求之，猶見乾土，知水尚遠；施功不已，轉見濕土，遂漸至泥，其心決定、知水必近。菩薩亦復如是，若未聞、未解、未能修習是法華經者，當知是人去阿耨多羅三藐三菩提尚遠；若得聞解、思惟、修習，必知得近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。所以者何？一切菩薩阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，皆屬此經——此經開方便門，示真實相。是法華經藏，深固幽遠，無人能到，今佛教化成就菩薩而為開示。
“Medicine King! Take this parable. A person is thirsty and without water, desperately needing something to drink. He digs into the earth upon a high plain in search of water. At first he sees only dry soil and knows that the water is still far away. He continues working without stopping. In time he sees moist soil, and as he digs on, he gradually reaches mud. His mind then becomes certain: he knows that water must be near. A bodhisattva is just the same. If someone has not yet heard, has not yet understood, and is not yet able to cultivate and practice this Lotus Sutra, you should know that this person is still far from unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. But if someone is able to hear and understand it, reflect upon it, and cultivate and practice it, that person will know with certainty that unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening has drawn near. Why is this? The unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening of every bodhisattva belongs entirely to this sutra. This sutra opens the gateway of skillful means and reveals the true mark—the true appearance of all dharmas. The treasury of this Lotus Sutra is deep, firm, hidden, and far-reaching; no one can arrive there unaided. Now the Buddha opens and reveals it in order to teach, transform, and bring bodhisattvas to accomplishment.
Startled, Doubtful, and Afraid · Newly Resolved Bodhisattvas and Those of Overweening Pride
「藥王！若有菩薩聞是法華經，驚疑、怖畏，當知是為新發意菩薩；若聲聞人聞是經，驚疑、怖畏，當知是為增上慢者。
“Medicine King! If bodhisattvas hear this Lotus Sutra and become startled, doubtful, frightened, and afraid, you should know that they are newly resolved bodhisattvas, beginners who have only just aroused the aspiration for awakening. If śrāvakas hear this sutra and become startled, doubtful, frightened, and afraid, you should know that they are people of overweening pride—people who have not yet realized the fruit but believe that they have.
The Three Guides for Transmitting the Sutra · Enter the Tathāgata’s Room, Put On His Robe, Sit on His Seat
「藥王！若有善男子、善女人，如來滅後，欲為四眾說是法華經者，云何應說？是善男子、善女人，入如來室，著如來衣，坐如來座，爾乃應為四眾廣說斯經。如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是；如來衣者，柔和忍辱心是；如來座者，一切法空是。安住是中，然後以不懈怠心，為諸菩薩及四眾廣說是法華經。
“Medicine King! If, after the Tathāgata’s extinction, a good man or good woman wishes to teach this Lotus Sutra to the fourfold assembly—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—how should that person teach it? This good man or good woman must enter the Tathāgata’s room, put on the Tathāgata’s robe, and sit on the Tathāgata’s seat; only then should the person teach this sutra broadly to the fourfold assembly. The Tathāgata’s room is a heart of great loving-kindness and compassion toward all sentient beings. The Tathāgata’s robe is a gentle and patiently enduring heart. The Tathāgata’s seat is the realization that all dharmas are empty. Abiding securely within these, the person should then, with a mind that never grows indolent, teach this Lotus Sutra broadly to the bodhisattvas and the fourfold assembly.
Emanated Beings Are Sent to Gather Listeners · If a Phrase Is Forgotten, the Buddha Returns to Teach It
「藥王！我於餘國遣化人為其集聽法眾，亦遣化比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷聽其說法。是諸化人聞法信受，隨順不逆。若說法者在空閑處，我時廣遣天、龍、鬼神、乾闥婆、阿修羅等，聽其說法。我雖在異國，時時令說法者得見我身。若於此經忘失句逗，我還為說，令得具足。」
“Medicine King! From other lands I will send emanated people to gather an assembly to hear this person teach the Dharma. I will also send emanated monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen to hear the teaching. When these emanated people hear the Dharma, they will trust and receive it, accord with it, and never oppose it. If the Dharma teacher is in an open, secluded place, I will send devas, dragons, spirits, gandharvas, asuras, and others in great numbers to hear the Dharma. Although I am in another land, from time to time I will enable the Dharma teacher to see my body. If the teacher forgets or loses any words or phrases of this sutra, I will return and teach them, enabling the teacher to possess the text in full.”
The Three Guides for Transmitting the Sutra · Repeated in Verse
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言： 「欲捨諸懈怠，應當聽此經，
是經難得聞，信受者亦難。
如人渴須水，穿鑿於高原，
猶見乾燥土，知去水尚遠；
漸見濕土泥，決定知近水。
藥王汝當知！如是諸人等，
不聞法華經，去佛智甚遠，
若聞是深經，決了聲聞法。
是諸經之王，聞已諦思惟，
當知此人等，近於佛智慧。
若人說此經，應入如來室，
著於如來衣，而坐如來座，
處眾無所畏，廣為分別說。
大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，
諸法空為座，處此為說法。
若說此經時，有人惡口罵，
加刀杖瓦石，念佛故應忍。
我千萬億土，現淨堅固身，
於無量億劫，為眾生說法。
若我滅度後，能說此經者，
我遣化四眾，比丘比丘尼，
及清信士女，供養於法師，
引導諸眾生，集之令聽法。
若人欲加惡，刀杖及瓦石，
則遣變化人，為之作衛護。
若說法之人，獨在空閑處，
寂寞無人聲，讀誦此經典，
我爾時為現，清淨光明身。
若忘失章句，為說令通利。
若人具是德，或為四眾說，
空處讀誦經，皆得見我身。
若人在空閑，我遣天龍王，
夜叉鬼神等，為作聽法眾。
是人樂說法，分別無罣礙，
諸佛護念故，能令大眾喜。
若親近法師，速得菩薩道，
隨順是師學，得見恒沙佛。」
At that time, the World-Honored One wished to proclaim this meaning again, and spoke in verse:
“If you wish to cast off every form of indolence,
you should listen to this sutra.
This sutra is difficult to hear,
and those able to trust and receive it are likewise difficult to find.
It is like a thirsty person in need of water,
digging upon a high plain.
While he sees only dry soil,
he knows that water is still far away;
when he gradually sees moist soil and mud,
he knows with certainty that water is near.
Medicine King, you should know!
People such as these,
if they do not hear the Lotus Sutra,
are exceedingly far from the Buddha’s wisdom.
But if they hear this profound sutra,
they gain decisive understanding of the Dharma taught to śrāvakas.
This is the king of all sutras.
If, after hearing it, they reflect upon it carefully and truly,
you should know that people such as these
have drawn near to the Buddha’s wisdom.
If anyone teaches this sutra,
that person should enter the Tathāgata’s room,
put on the Tathāgata’s robe,
and sit on the Tathāgata’s seat.
Amid the assembly, fearless,
the person should distinguish and explain it broadly.
Great loving-kindness and compassion are the room;
gentleness and patient endurance are the robe;
the emptiness of all dharmas is the seat.
Abiding here, one teaches the Dharma.
If, while this sutra is being taught,
someone reviles the teacher with malicious speech
or attacks with knives, staves, tiles, or stones,
the teacher should remember the Buddha and therefore endure.
Throughout tens of millions of billions of lands,
I manifest a pure and steadfast body.
Through immeasurable millions of aeons,
I teach the Dharma for sentient beings.
If, after my extinction,
someone is able to teach this sutra,
I will send an emanated fourfold assembly—
monks and nuns,
and men and women of pure trust—
to make offerings to the Dharma teacher,
guide many sentient beings,
and gather them to hear the Dharma.
If anyone wishes to do the teacher harm
with knives, staves, tiles, or stones,
I will send emanated people
to serve as guards and protect the teacher.
If the Dharma teacher is alone
in an open, secluded place,
where all is lonely and no human voice is heard,
reading and reciting this sutra,
I will then manifest for that person
a pure and radiant body.
If any chapter or sentence is forgotten,
I will teach it and enable the person to understand and recite it fluently.
If someone possesses these qualities,
whether teaching the fourfold assembly
or reading and reciting the sutra in an open place,
that person will in every case be able to see my body.
If someone is in an open, secluded place,
I will send devas and dragon kings,
yakṣas, spirits, and others
to form an assembly that hears the Dharma.
This person will delight in teaching the Dharma
and will distinguish and explain without obstruction.
Because the buddhas guard and keep this person in mind,
the teacher will be able to bring joy to the great assembly.
Those who draw near to the Dharma teacher
will swiftly attain the bodhisattva path;
those who follow and learn from this teacher
will behold buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.”
前面幾品，佛把上、中、下根的聲聞弟子，一個一個地喊了名字、授了成佛之記——授記三周到這裡，該記的都記了。這一品，經文卻轉了個身：不再問「誰得了記」，而問『佛不在了以後，誰把這部經接著傳下去？』佛因著藥王菩薩，向座下八萬大士，鄭重地讚起了一種人——受持、讀、誦、解說、書寫這部《法華經》的人，經裡叫他「法師」，弘法的人。以下順經文次第，把這一品每一義講明；末後再以唯識一系的讀法，補一點旁照。
聽一句而歡喜，佛就記了他
佛先把這扇門開得極寬：無論是誰——天、龍、夜叉，或是比丘、比丘尼、在家二眾，求聲聞的、求緣覺的、求佛道的——只要在佛前，聽到《法華經》哪怕一偈一句，乃至只起了一念的隨喜，佛都給他授記，說他當得無上菩提。不但佛在世如此，佛滅度之後也一樣：有人聞經一偈一句、一念隨喜，佛也照樣與記。何況那真去受持、讀誦、解說、書寫此經的人？那對著經卷，恭敬得如同對著佛，以華、香、瓔珞、幢幡、伎樂種種來供養、乃至只是合掌的人——佛說，你當知道：這樣的人，早已在過去供養過十萬億佛，在諸佛座下成就了大願；他如今生在人間，是為了哀愍眾生才來的。若有人問：『什麼樣的眾生，將來能作佛？』就該指著這種人說：『就是他，將來必定作佛。』因為凡於此經乃至一句受持讀誦、書寫供養的，一切世間都該瞻仰奉事、以供養如來的禮來供養他——當知這人是大菩薩，是自願捨了清淨的福報、為憐眾生而生到這惡濁之世，來把這部經廣宣分別的。
這人是佛的使者，替佛做著佛的事
佛把話說得更重了：就算佛滅度以後，有人只是悄悄地為一個人講說《法華經》、乃至只講一句——當知這人就是「如來使」,是如來所差遣、替如來行著如來的事業的人。何況在大眾中廣為人說？反過來，若有惡人，存著不善的心，在一劫這麼長的時間裡，當著佛面前，不停地毀罵佛，這罪還算輕；可是若有人只用一句惡言，去譏毀那在家、出家讀誦《法華經》的人，這罪反倒極重。為什麼一句惡言比一劫罵佛還重？因為毀的不是那個人，是那人身上所荷的這部經。所以佛說：凡讀誦此經的人，是『以佛的莊嚴來莊嚴自己』,是被如來的肩所擔荷著的；他所到之處，人都該向他頂禮、一心合掌，以人間、乃至天上最上的供養來供養他。何以值得這樣？因為這人歡喜說法，你只要一時片刻聽他一聞，便種下了究竟無上菩提的因。
難信難解：這部經是諸佛的祕藏
佛接著把這部經的分量，說到了極處。佛對藥王說：我所說的經典，有無量千萬億那麼多，已經說過的、如今正說的、將來要說的——而在這一切經裡，這部《法華經》是「最為難信難解」的。為什麼難信難解？因為它要人捨掉走慣了的權巧方便、直下承當那唯一的一乘，這在執著三乘各別的人聽來，實在難信；它所指的道理幽深迂迴，要繞過許多路才親證得到，所以難解。佛又說：這部經，是「諸佛祕要之藏」,不可以隨隨便便分布、胡亂授與人；它是諸佛世尊一向所守護的，從久遠以來，從不曾公開顯說。就連如來如今還在世、親自來說，尚且招來許多怨恨嫉妒，何況佛滅度以後？正因如此，佛對那些在佛滅後肯書寫、受持、讀誦、供養、為人解說此經的人，許下了極深的護持：如來就像用衣把他覆蓋起來一樣護著他，他方世界現在的諸佛也都護念著他；這樣的人，有廣大的信力、志願之力、種種善根之力——當知這人是與如來同宿在一處的，是被如來親手摩著頭頂、印可過的人。佛把弘經人抬到這樣的地位，正是要讓後世那擔經而行、卻要受盡怨嫉的人知道：你不是孤身一個，佛與十方佛，都在你身邊。
經卷所在的地方，就已經是佛的全身
佛又把這部經抬到了極處：無論在什麼地方，只要有人說、有人讀、有人誦、有人書寫，或但是這部經卷停放的地方，都應當起一座七寶塔，造得極高極廣、極其莊嚴，而且——不必再在塔裡安放舍利。為什麼不必安舍利？佛說：「此中已有如來全身。」經卷所在的地方，那部經本身，就已經是如來的全身了，還要另安什麼遺骨？這一句，把「經」與「佛身」畫上了等號：佛的色身會滅，佛所說的這部法卻不滅；法在的地方，佛就在。所以那座供經的塔，該以一切華香瓔珞、幢幡伎樂來供養恭敬；有人見了這塔、禮拜供養，當知他已臨近無上菩提了。這一重「經即佛身」的意思，下一品〈見寶塔品〉多寶佛以全身舍利湧塔證經，正是把它接著演下去。
鑿井喻：離佛的智慧，還有多遠
有人會問：我到底離成佛還有多遠？這是最難自知的一件事。佛便說了一個極親切的譬喻——鑿井求水。有一個人，渴極了要找水，便在一片高原上動手開鑿。起初挖出來的，全是乾土，他就知道：水還遠著呢。可他不停手，挖著挖著，土漸漸見了濕氣；再挖，竟見了泥；到這時，他心裡就篤定了：水，一定近了。求佛智慧的菩薩也正是這樣：一個人若還不曾聽聞、不曾理解、不能修習這部《法華經》,那就像剛挖出乾土，離無上菩提還遠；可他一旦聽到了、理解了、思惟了、修習了，那就像見了濕泥，便可以斷定：離佛的智慧近了。這譬喻的妙處，在於它把「近」與「遠」交到了自己手上——你不必問別人，只看自己手裡挖出的是乾土還是濕泥，便知道自己到了哪裡。為什麼一切菩薩的無上菩提都繫於此經？因為佛說：這部經「開方便門，示真實相」——推開了那道權巧方便的門，讓人看見門後真實的實相。這法華的法藏，深固幽遠、無人自能到得，是今日佛親自教化、為成就菩薩才為之開示的。所以佛又說：若有菩薩聽了這經而驚、而疑、而怕，那是剛發心的新學菩薩，情有可原；可若是聲聞人聽了就驚疑怖畏，那便是「增上慢者」——把還沒到的當作已到、把半路當作終點的人。這一句，遙遙接著〈方便品〉那五千位起座退席的增上慢眾：同是一部經，信得下的近了佛智，信不下的，自己退到了門外。
弘經三軌：入如來室，著如來衣，坐如來座
那麼，佛滅度之後，一個人若要為四眾講說這部《法華經》,該憑什麼心去說？佛給了三句話，後人稱它作弘經的「三軌」——講經的人，要「入如來室、著如來衣、坐如來座」,這樣才好為四眾廣說此經。佛怕人不解，自己一句一句地點破了：所謂「如來室」,是對一切眾生的大慈悲心；所謂「如來衣」,是柔和忍辱的心；所謂「如來座」,是了達一切法空。安住在這三者之中，然後以不懈怠的心，為菩薩與四眾廣說此經。這三句，是把弘經人的整個心地，安排成了一間屋子：先進到大慈悲這間屋裡——沒有悲心，說法只是逞能；再披上柔和忍辱這件衣——在惡世說此難信之經，免不了有人惡口、有人加以刀杖瓦石，若無忍辱，一句頂撞就把法斷了，所以佛在偈裡叮嚀：縱有人罵、有人打，「念佛故應忍」;最後坐上一切法空這個座——若不見諸法本空，便會執著自己在說、有法可說、有人可度，那就坐不穩、也度不了人。慈悲是入手、忍辱是護持、法空是根柢：一間屋、一件衣、一個座，把弘經人該有的心，安頓得妥妥貼貼。佛還許下一個極溫柔的承諾：這樣的說法人，即使獨自在空曠寂靜處讀誦此經，佛也會遣天龍鬼神去作他的聽眾、遣化人去替他集眾，並時時令他得見佛身；他若忘了經裡的章句，佛還會為他補說，令他通利。末了佛說：若有人肯親近這樣的法師，便能迅速得菩薩道；隨順這位師父修學，便能得見恒河沙數的佛。
以唯識之眼：換一副眼，看弘經人的心地與階位
上來是法師品自身的義。這一品以「弘經」為主，講的是佛滅度後，誰來、憑什麼心、走到哪一步，把這部經傳下去。這一系譯註，另以唯識（慈恩窺基《玄贊》）為一面旁照的鏡子——鏡非經，只換一副眼，看這『弘經人的心地與階位』,在唯識的地圖上落在何處。
有意思的是，窺基讀這一品，並不往「三性」「賴耶種子」那條深路上走，而落在「智」與「理」這條線上——這一品的唯識義本就偏輕，鏡也只照這一層。他把經文「受持、讀、誦、解說、書寫」開成六種法師（末後再加一個「供養」）,並接上《辯中邊論》的「十法行」——弘經原不只誦讀，而是書寫、供養、施他、聽聞、受持、開演、諷誦、思惟、修習這一整套行門，此品但舉其易行者罷了。至於那「入如來室、著如來衣、坐如來座」,窺基看出一個層次：大慈悲那一間室，是「有觀」——在有的境界上起利他的悲；而衣與座這兩樣，是「空觀」——依次配著「生空」與「法空」。可見弘經人的忍辱與安坐，底下是一步步照見「我空、法空」的觀智；慈悲向外攝眾，空觀向內安心，一有一空，才撐得起說法。再看『經卷所在即如來全身』,窺基把「全身」讀作「法身舍利」:所謂全身，是理與智兩皆圓滿，便是法身、報身具足；經在之處，如如之理與如如之智都在，所以說『有經即有佛的全身』。連那鑿井喻，他也讀成一張教法漸近的地圖：乾土，是昔日權說的二乘教，全無大乘氣息，離水最遠；濕土，是般若空教，已有菩提之勢；至泥而近水，才是這部經所詮的中道——二乘教為遠、大乘教為近，空教還疏、中道教方親。這一路讀下來，弘經人挖井的手，便一寸寸量著自己離佛智的遠近。
這只是一副眼。天台智顗讀這三句室衣座，不往二空觀上配，而把慈悲、忍辱、法空收攝成「三德祕密之藏」的一體，說到〈安樂行品〉還要再展開這三法；三論吉藏則把室、衣、座讀作說法前立心的「三門次第」——先入慈悲、次著忍辱、後坐法空，一步接一步。就連「法師」該開作幾種，幾家也各執一數：羅什經文字面本作四支，天台開成五種，慈恩開成六種，三論索性說『隨時而立，並無定數』;那「全身舍利」,慈恩讀作理智圓滿的法報身，天台讀作對著生身舍利的法身舍利，三論引論讀作真如法身的堅固舍利。同一部經、同一句話，幾副眼各照出一層意思——此處並錄，不加裁斷，各還其位。要緊的，始終是佛自己那一句：進到大慈悲裡，披上柔和忍辱，坐定一切法空，然後，把這部經，替佛說下去。
In the preceding chapters, the Buddha called the śrāvaka disciples of higher, middling, and lower faculties by name, one after another, and gave each a prediction of buddhahood. The three rounds of prediction have now run their course; all who were to receive predictions have received them. In this chapter, however, the sutra turns around. It no longer asks, “Who received a prediction?” It asks, “After the Buddha is no longer present, who will carry this sutra forward?” Taking the Bodhisattva Medicine King as his occasion, the Buddha solemnly praises before eighty thousand great beings a certain kind of person: one who receives, upholds, reads, recites, explains, and copies the Lotus Sutra. The sutra calls such a person a “Dharma teacher,” one who transmits the Dharma. We will follow the sequence of the sutra and make every meaning in this chapter clear; only at the end will we add a further reflection from the Consciousness-Only tradition.
Hearing a Single Sentence and Rejoicing, One Receives the Buddha’s Prediction
The Buddha first opens this gate exceedingly wide. Whoever one may be—a deva, dragon, or yakṣa; a monk, nun, layman, or laywoman; one seeking the fruit of a listener, the awakening of a solitary awakener, or the buddha-way—if that person, before the Buddha, hears even a single verse or sentence of the Lotus Sutra and gives rise to so much as one thought of rejoicing, the Buddha gives that person a prediction and declares that the person shall attain unsurpassed awakening. This is true not only while the Buddha is present. It remains so after his extinction: one who hears a single verse or sentence of the sutra and gives rise to one thought of rejoicing likewise receives the Buddha’s prediction. How much more is this true of one who actually receives, upholds, reads, recites, explains, and copies the sutra? One who regards the sutra scroll with the same reverence as the Buddha, makes offerings of flowers, incense, jeweled necklaces, banners, music, and the rest, or even merely joins the palms—the Buddha says that such a person has already made offerings to ten trillion buddhas in the past and accomplished vast vows in their presence. That person has now been born into the human world out of compassion for sentient beings. If someone asks, “What kind of sentient being will become a buddha in the future?” one should point to this kind of person and say, “This very person will certainly become a buddha.” For anyone who receives and upholds even one sentence of this sutra, reads, recites, copies, or makes offerings to it should be looked up to and served by the entire world, and honored with the offerings due a Tathāgata. You should know that this person is a great bodhisattva who freely relinquished a pure recompense and chose to be born into this turbid, evil world out of compassion for beings, in order to proclaim and explain this sutra far and wide.
This Person Is the Buddha’s Envoy, Doing the Buddha’s Work on His Behalf
The Buddha now makes the statement still stronger. Even if, after the Buddha’s extinction, someone quietly teaches only one person a single sentence of the Lotus Sutra, you should know that this person is an envoy of the Tathāgata, sent by the Tathāgata to perform the Tathāgata’s work. How much more is this true of one who teaches it broadly to a great assembly? Conversely, suppose an evil person, harboring an unwholesome mind, stood before the Buddha throughout an entire aeon and ceaselessly disparaged and reviled him. That offense would still be light. But if someone used even one malicious word to disparage a householder or renunciant who reads and recites the Lotus Sutra, that offense would instead be exceedingly grave. Why should one malicious word be graver than reviling the Buddha throughout an aeon? Because what is being disparaged is not merely that person, but the sutra borne upon that person. Therefore the Buddha says that all who read and recite this sutra adorn themselves with the Buddha’s adornments and are borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder. Wherever they go, people should bow in their direction, single-mindedly join their palms, and honor them with the finest offerings found among humans and even among devas. Why are they worthy of such honor? Because they joyfully teach the Dharma, and if you hear them for even a moment, the cause of ultimate, unsurpassed awakening has thereby been planted.
Difficult to Trust, Difficult to Understand: This Sutra Is the Buddhas’ Secret Treasury
The Buddha next declares the weight of this sutra in the strongest possible terms. He tells Medicine King: the sutras I have taught are immeasurable tens of millions of billions in number—those I have already taught, those I teach now, and those I shall teach in the future—yet among them all, this Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to trust and the most difficult to understand. Why is it difficult to trust and understand? It asks people to relinquish the provisional means to which they have grown accustomed and directly take up the sole One Vehicle. To those attached to the separate reality of the three vehicles, this is truly difficult to trust. The principle it points toward is deep and winding; one must pass through many turns before realizing it directly, and so it is difficult to understand. The Buddha further says that this sutra is the treasury of the buddhas’ secret essence. It must not be distributed casually or recklessly entrusted to others. The buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, have always guarded it, and from the distant past it has never been openly taught. Even while the Tathāgata is present and teaches it himself, it still gives rise to much resentment and jealousy; how much more will this be so after his extinction? For precisely this reason, the Buddha promises profound protection to those who, after his extinction, are willing to copy, uphold, read, recite, make offerings to, and explain this sutra. The Tathāgata will protect such a person as though covering the person with his own robe, and the buddhas now present in other worlds will likewise guard and keep that person in mind. Such a person possesses great powers of trust, resolve and vow, and wholesome roots. You should know that this person dwells together with the Tathāgata and is touched upon the head by the Tathāgata’s own hand in protection and affirmation. By raising the one who transmits the sutra to such a place, the Buddha lets those in later ages who bear the sutra through every resentment and jealousy know: you are not alone; the Buddha and all the buddhas of the ten directions are beside you.
Wherever the Sutra Scroll Abides, the Buddha’s Full Body Is Already There
The Buddha then raises the sutra itself to the highest place. Wherever someone teaches, reads, recites, or copies it, or wherever a scroll of this sutra merely rests, a seven-jeweled stūpa should be raised, made exceedingly tall and broad and magnificently adorned. Moreover, there is no need to place relics inside. Why are relics unnecessary? The Buddha says: the Tathāgata’s full body is already present within. Wherever the sutra scroll abides, the sutra itself is already the Tathāgata’s full body; what further bodily relics need be placed there? This one sentence places an equals sign between the sutra and the Buddha’s body. The Buddha’s physical body passes into extinction, but the Dharma he taught in this sutra does not pass away. Wherever the Dharma is, the Buddha is. Therefore the stūpa that enshrines the sutra should be revered and honored with every flower, incense, jeweled necklace, banner, and kind of music. Whoever sees this stūpa, bows to it, and makes offerings should be known to have drawn near to unsurpassed awakening. In the next chapter, the Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa, Many Jewels Buddha emerges in a stūpa with his full-body relic and bears witness to the sutra, carrying this meaning of “the sutra is the Buddha’s body” forward.
The Well-Digging Parable: How Far Are You from the Buddha’s Wisdom?
Someone may ask: how far am I, in truth, from buddhahood? This is one of the hardest things to know about oneself. The Buddha therefore gives an exceedingly intimate parable: digging a well in search of water. A person desperately thirsty for water begins digging on a high plain. At first everything that comes out is dry soil, and the person knows that the water is still far away. But the person does not stop. As the digging continues, the earth gradually grows moist; digging farther, the person finally reaches mud. At that point the heart becomes certain: water must be near. A bodhisattva seeking the Buddha’s wisdom is just the same. If someone has not yet heard, has not yet understood, and is not yet able to cultivate this Lotus Sutra, that person is like one who has only just dug up dry soil and remains far from unsurpassed awakening. But once the person hears it, understands it, reflects upon it, and cultivates it, that is like seeing moist earth and mud; one may then know with certainty that the Buddha’s wisdom has drawn near. The wonder of this parable is that it places “near” and “far” into your own hands. You do not need to ask another person. You need only look at whether what your own hands have dug up is dry soil or moist mud, and you will know where you stand. Why does the unsurpassed awakening of every bodhisattva belong to this sutra? Because the Buddha says that this sutra opens the gateway of skillful means and reveals the true mark: it pushes open the gateway of provisional means and lets one see the true mark beyond it. The Dharma treasury of the Lotus is deep, firm, hidden, and far-reaching; no one can reach it unaided. The Buddha now opens and reveals it in person in order to teach, transform, and bring bodhisattvas to accomplishment. Therefore the Buddha further says that if a bodhisattva hears this sutra and becomes startled, doubtful, and afraid, that person is a newly resolved bodhisattva and the fear is understandable. But if a listener hears it and becomes startled, doubtful, and afraid, that person is one of overweening pride—taking what has not yet been reached as already reached, mistaking the halfway point for the end. This statement reaches back to the five thousand people of overweening pride who rose from their seats and withdrew in the Chapter on Skillful Means. Faced with the same sutra, one who can trust draws near to the Buddha’s wisdom; one who cannot trust retreats outside the gate.
The Three Guides for Transmitting the Sutra: Enter the Tathāgata’s Room, Put On His Robe, Sit on His Seat
After the Buddha’s extinction, with what kind of heart should one teach this Lotus Sutra to the fourfold assembly? The Buddha gives three sentences that later generations call the three guides for transmitting the sutra. The Dharma teacher must enter the Tathāgata’s room, put on the Tathāgata’s robe, and sit on the Tathāgata’s seat; only then should the person teach this sutra broadly to the fourfold assembly. Lest anyone fail to understand, the Buddha himself explains them one by one. The Tathāgata’s room is a heart of great loving-kindness and compassion toward all sentient beings. The Tathāgata’s robe is a heart of gentleness and patient endurance. The Tathāgata’s seat is the realization that all dharmas are empty. Abiding in these three, one then teaches this sutra broadly to the bodhisattvas and the fourfold assembly with a mind that never grows indolent. These three sentences arrange the entire inward ground of the Dharma teacher as a room. First enter the room of great loving-kindness and compassion: without compassion, teaching the Dharma is only a display of oneself. Next put on the robe of gentleness and patient endurance. In an evil age, one who teaches this difficult-to-trust sutra cannot avoid malicious speech, knives, staves, tiles, and stones. Without patient endurance, a single retort can cut off the transmission of the Dharma. Therefore the Buddha admonishes in verse: even if someone reviles or strikes you, remember the Buddha and endure. Finally sit upon the seat of the emptiness of all dharmas. Without seeing that all dharmas are empty, one clings to “I am teaching,” “there is a Dharma to teach,” and “there are beings for me to deliver.” Then one cannot sit steadily and cannot deliver anyone. Compassion is the entrance, patient endurance the protection, and the emptiness of dharmas the foundation. One room, one robe, and one seat settle the Dharma teacher’s heart completely. The Buddha also makes an exceedingly gentle promise: even if such a Dharma teacher reads and recites the sutra alone in an open and silent place, the Buddha will send devas, dragons, and spirits to become an audience and emanated people to gather listeners, and will from time to time enable the teacher to see his body. If the teacher forgets a chapter or sentence, the Buddha will teach it again and make the teacher fluent. At the close the Buddha says that one who draws near to such a Dharma teacher will swiftly attain the bodhisattva path; one who follows and learns from this teacher will behold buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.
Through the Eyes of Consciousness-Only: Another Set of Eyes on the Mind and Stage of One Who Transmits the Sutra
Everything above is the Chapter on the Dharma Teacher in its own meaning. The chapter is centered on transmitting the sutra: after the Buddha’s extinction, who will carry it forward, with what state of heart, and to what stage? This translation and exposition adds one further mirror, drawn from the Cien Consciousness-Only reading of Kuiji’s Profound Praise of the Lotus. The mirror is not the sutra. Consciousness-Only is not the source of the Lotus, only another set of eyes through which to see where the “mind and stage of the person who transmits the sutra” fall upon the Consciousness-Only map.
What is striking is that Kuiji does not take this chapter down the deeper road of the three natures or seeds in the store consciousness. He remains upon the line of knowledge and principle. The Consciousness-Only meaning of this chapter is light, and the mirror illuminates only that much. He opens the sutra’s “receiving and upholding, reading, reciting, explaining, and copying” into six kinds of Dharma teacher by adding “making offerings,” and connects them with the ten Dharma practices in the Treatise on Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes. Transmitting the sutra is not only reading or reciting. It is a whole course of copying, making offerings, giving to others, listening, receiving and upholding, rightly expounding, chanting and reciting, reflecting, and cultivating; this chapter simply raises the practices that are easier to perform. In the room, robe, and seat, Kuiji sees a sequence: the room of great loving-kindness and compassion is the contemplation of existence, giving rise to compassion for others within the sphere of beings; the robe and seat are contemplations of emptiness, correlated respectively with the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas. Beneath the Dharma teacher’s patient endurance and settled seat, therefore, lies a contemplative knowledge that sees, step by step, the emptiness of self and of dharmas. Compassion reaches outward to gather beings; the contemplations of emptiness turn inward to settle the mind. Existence and emptiness together sustain the teaching of Dharma. When he turns to “wherever the sutra scroll abides, the Tathāgata’s full body is present,” Kuiji reads the “full body” as the relic of the dharma-body: full body means that principle and knowledge are both perfect, and therefore the dharma-body and reward body are complete. Wherever the sutra is present, the principle of suchness and the knowledge of suchness are present; for that reason the Buddha’s full body is said to be there. Even the well-digging parable becomes for him a map of teachings gradually drawing near: dry soil is the former provisional teaching of the two vehicles, with no sign of the great vehicle and therefore farthest from the water; moist soil is the Prajñā teaching of emptiness, where the tendency toward awakening is already present; mud near water is the middle-way teaching disclosed by this sutra. The teaching of the two vehicles is far, the great-vehicle teaching near; the teaching of emptiness is still more distant, while the teaching of the middle way is intimate. Read in this sequence, the hand of the Dharma teacher digging the well measures, inch by inch, its own distance from the Buddha’s wisdom.
This is only one set of eyes. Zhiyi of Tiantai does not correlate the room, robe, and seat with the two contemplations of emptiness. He gathers loving-kindness and compassion, patient endurance, and the emptiness of dharmas into the single secret treasury of the three virtues, and says that the Chapter on Peaceful Practices will unfold these three dharmas again. Jizang of Sanlun instead reads the room, robe, and seat as three gateways by which the heart is established before teaching: first enter loving-kindness and compassion, next put on patient endurance, and finally sit upon the emptiness of dharmas, one step following another. Even the number of kinds of Dharma teacher differs from house to house. Kumārajīva’s text literally has four members; Tiantai opens them into five, Cien into six, and Sanlun simply says that the number is established according to the time and is not fixed. The “full-body relic” is likewise read in three ways: Cien as the dharma-body and reward body in which principle and knowledge are perfect; Tiantai as the relic of the dharma-body contrasted with bodily relics; Sanlun, citing the treatise, as the indestructible relic of the true-suchness dharma-body. The same sutra and the same sentence disclose a distinct layer through each set of eyes. They are recorded here side by side without adjudication, each kept in its own place. What matters always remains the Buddha’s own instruction: enter great loving-kindness and compassion, put on gentleness and patient endurance, sit firmly upon the emptiness of all dharmas, and then carry this sutra forward by teaching it on the Buddha’s behalf.
考據Apparatus
本品因藥王菩薩而發，佛廣歎能持此經之「法師」——凡聞法華一偈一句、一念隨喜者，佛皆與授記；受持、讀、誦、解說、書寫此經者，是如來使、行如來事、為如來肩所荷擔。經卷所住處應起七寶塔、不須舍利，以此中已有如來全身。復以「鑿井喻」（穿鑿高原，乾土→濕土→泥，知水漸近）明去佛智之遠近；以「入如來室（大慈悲）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱）、坐如來座（一切法空）」示滅後弘經之心地。慈恩窺基《玄贊》以「六種法師」開之，掛《辯中邊論》十法行、以生空／法空二空觀配衣座、以理智二圓滿（法身報身）釋如來全身——此品玄贊之唯識義落於「智／理」一軸，不涉三性、賴耶（機掃遍計／依他／圓成／阿賴耶／藏識／轉依皆零），義中偏輕，據實標明。天台智顗以室衣座配三德祕密之藏、三論吉藏以「三門次第」讀之，並錄不判。
一、科判定位
| 科判系統 | 此品之位 |
|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 二十八品 | 第十 法師品（卷四；〔T09n0262 0030b29〕起）· 迹門「歎人美法、勸募持行」之首（〈法師〉〈見寶塔〉〈提婆〉〈勸持〉〈安樂行〉一組之初） |
| 窺基《玄贊》科文（主錨·慈恩） | 品段〔T34n1723 0806c24〕三門分別：一來意、二釋名、三解妨。來意有三（正宗流通判／十九品判／《法華論》二種力判——修行力七之「持力」三品〈法師〉〈安樂行〉〈持品〉，「初〈法師品〉總明能持、所持人之與法」〔0807b07〕）· 大文分二：初明「人法師」、後明「法法師」〔0807c04〕 |
| 天台《文句》（旁證） | 〈釋法師品〉〔T34n1718 0107c25〕起 · 釋名「法者軌則也，師者訓匠也……五種通經皆得稱師」〔0108b02〕 |
窺基釋名〔T34n1723 0807b12〕：「可軌可持名之為法，可習可範目之為師……此法可習名為法師」，又「有法之師名為法師……品下雙說法及學者並名法師，義通為勝」〔0807b19〕——「法即是師」（法為師）與「有法之師」（人為師）雙釋，人法俱通。
二、異譯·三譯對勘
本品三漢譯：羅什 T262（底本）·〈法師品第十〉· 竺法護 T263〈藥王如來品第十〉〔T09n0263 0099a27〕（以品初「藥王如來・善蓋太子・法之供養」本生命品，非以「法師」立目；開卷結構大異）· 闍那崛多共笈多 T264〈法師品第十〉〔T09n0264 0165a15〕（添品，逐字近同羅什）。
辨：竺法護全經無「法師品」之名；其後另有〈歎法師品第十八〉〔T09n0263 0119a17〕，內容對應羅什〈法師功德品第十九〉，非本品，勿混。
句一 隨喜授記
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 聞妙法華經一偈一句，乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記，當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 | T09n0262 0030c05 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕聞妙法華經一偈一句乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記 | T09n0264 0165a21 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 聞一頌一偈，一發意頃歡喜勸助，佛皆授斯四部之決，當得無上正真道 | T09n0263 0100b19 |
異文所繫：「一偈一句」竺作「一頌一偈」；「一念隨喜」竺作「一發意頃歡喜勸助」（「隨喜」作「勸助」，竺法護通例）；「授記」作「授……決」；「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」作「無上正真道」。羅什／添品逐字全同。
句二 五種／六種法師（受持·讀·誦·解說·書寫）
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 受持、讀誦、解說、書寫妙法華經〔四支·「讀誦」不析〕；又「書、持、讀、誦、供養、為他人說」 | T09n0262 0030c10／0031b22 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕受持、讀誦、解說、書寫 | T09n0264 0165a24 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 〔無定型列·散說〕受持一頌，諷誦書寫載於竹帛；其受是經持讀誦寫 | T09n0263 0100b25／0100c04 |
異文所繫：羅什／添品字面作四支（受持・讀誦・解說・書寫，「讀誦」合舉）；竺法護無定型「法師行」列，散說作「持・諷誦・讀・書寫」，且無「解說」單支對應（開合全異）。「五種法師」之數乃疏家開合而立（詳目四·目五），非羅什原文字面之數。
句三 如來使·毀罵輕重
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事……若人以一惡言，毀呰在家出家讀誦法華經者，其罪甚重 | T09n0262 0030c28／0031a02 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事 | T09n0264 0165b14 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 彼人行如來事，世尊所遣〔次序異〕……若一劫中誹謗如來、毀斯人者，罪等無異 | T09n0263 0100c12／0100c15 |
異文所繫：如來使三支羅什／添品全同，竺法護作「行如來事……世尊所遣」（用「世尊所遣」·次序倒置）；毀罵羅什／添品作輕重對比（毀佛罪輕・毀持經者罪重），竺法護無輕重句式，改作「罪等無異」（義理走向異——二者等罪）。
句四 經卷起塔·如來全身
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 皆應起七寶塔，極令高廣嚴飾，不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身 | T09n0262 0031b27 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身 | T09n0264 0166a12 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 起佛神寺，以大寶立……不當復著佛舍利也。所以者何？則為全著如來舍利 | T09n0263 0101b20 |
異文所繫：起塔・不安舍利・因塔中已具佛體，三譯俱在。「七寶塔」竺作「佛神寺・以大寶立」；「如來全身」羅什／添品獨有四字，竺法護作「全著如來舍利」（意謂此塔即等同安置如來全體舍利），無「全身」字面。
句五 弘經三軌（入如來室·著衣·坐座）
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是；如來衣者，柔和忍辱心是；如來座者，一切法空是〔偈：大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，諸法空為座〕 | T09n0262 0031c25／0032a21 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是 | T09n0264 0166b08 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 著如來衣、坐於世尊師子之座……忍辱柔和安雅，是則名為如來被服……解一切法皆悉空寂，處無想願，是為世尊師子之座〔長行缺「室」別釋·偈方見「慈心入吾室」〕 | T09n0263 0101c23／0101c25／0101c27 |
異文所繫：三軌俱備。羅什／添品長行三軌完釋、逐字全同（室＝大慈悲・衣＝柔和忍辱・座＝一切法空）；竺法護長行僅釋衣、座二軌，缺「室（大慈悲）」之長行別釋（室義僅出於偈頌「慈心入吾室」），「座」多出「處無想願」、稱「師子之座」。
句六 難信難解·祕要之藏
| 版本 | 逐字（節） | 出處 |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 此法華經最為難信難解……此經是諸佛祕要之藏，不可分布妄授與人 | T09n0262 0031b17 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕此法華經最為難信難解……諸佛祕要之藏 | T09n0264 0166a02 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 名祚顯綽最尊第一，普天率土所不信樂〔無「難解」對·無「祕要之藏」正對句〕 | T09n0263 0101b07 |
異文所繫：「最為難信難解」竺作「最尊第一・普天率土所不信樂」（以「不信樂」表難信，無「難解」對）；「諸佛祕要之藏」竺法護本品無正對句（義近者為品初法供養段「菩薩諸篋之藏」）。羅什／添品逐字全同。
添品定位：九核心義句添品 T264 幾與羅什逐字全同（差異僅書名號、「是經／此經」等單字虛詞、異體字），無義理層差異，確為羅什本之潤補系。
三、唯識義之經據（眼）
本品玄贊之唯識義落於「智／理」一軸——生空／法空二空觀、理智二圓滿（法身報身）、如如／如如智、《辯中邊論》十法行——不涉三性（遍計／依他／圓成）、賴耶（藏識／轉依）框架（機掃全段〔0806c24–0811a11〕，三性／賴耶相關詞皆零）。義中偏輕，據實列之。
(一) 六種法師·掛《辯中邊論》十法行——窺基明立「六種法師」〔T34n1723 0808a01〕：
「六法師者，一受持、二讀、三誦、四解說、五書寫、六供養。此明初五法師於經一偈行，後一法師行供養行。」〔T34n1723 0808a01〕
並以《辯中邊論》十法行為骨架〔0808a08〕：「十法行者，謂書寫、供養、施他、聽聞、披讀、受持、正開演、諷誦及思、修……此舉易行且說六種。其餘四種：施他、聽聞、思惟、修習，應皆行之，難故不說。」→ 論本：《辯中邊論》十法行（六種法師之義理骨架）。
(二) 弘經三軌·生空／法空二空觀——經「入如來室（大慈悲）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱）、坐如來座（一切法空）」，窺基逐一別釋〔0810b15 起〕：室「恒常安處寢息身心於慈悲，故名為室」〔0810b15〕、衣「柔和忍辱衣，外物不侵故」〔0810b20〕、座「安身心於空境……名空為座」〔0810b24〕。唯識義落點〔0810b28〕：
「大慈悲，有觀也；衣、座二，空觀也，謂生空、法空如次。」〔T34n1723 0810b28〕
室配「有觀」（大慈悲）、衣配「生空觀」、座配「法空觀」；末繫「《對法》、《顯揚》、《瑜伽》等中皆有問難說法等相」〔0810c05〕。→ 論本：二空觀（生空・法空）·唯識論典指引。窺基不用「弘經三軌」一詞、不配三性。
(三) 如來全身＝法身舍利＝理智二圓滿（法身報身）——「不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身」，窺基釋〔0809c07 起〕：「下明是法身舍利應可供養」〔0809c07〕，「初顯是全身舍利」〔0809c12〕，其唯識義〔0809c13〕：
「明理、智二皆圓滿故，即是具足法身、報身。」〔T34n1723 0809c13〕
又本《金光明經》〔0809c19〕：「如如、如如智名法身，故經有處即有全身。」→ 論本：理智二法身（法身報身・如如／如如智）。
(四) 鑿井喻＝教判階位（權二乘→般若空→中道）——窺基配釋〔0810a05 起〕：須水「喻佛性水，成大菩提故」〔0810a05〕（本《法華論》），乾土「即昔日權二乘教跡，全無大乘之相」〔0810a12〕，濕土「謂逢般若空教大乘，有菩提之勢」〔0810a14〕，至泥「喻聞此經教」，知水必近〔0810a18〕：
「二乘教為遠、大乘教為近，空教為疎、中道教為親。」〔T34n1723 0810a18〕
合文再以「聞・解・習」配十法行之三慧（聞思修）〔0810a21〕。→ 論本：《法華論》佛性水·權實中道教判。
(五) 開方便門示真實相＝權實教判——〔0810a26〕：「『開方便門』者，即攝遠、傍，昔說二乘教理行果；『顯真實相』者，攝近、正因，今說一乘教理行果」〔0810a27〕。→ 一乘教理行果（近正因）／二乘教理行果（遠傍因），非三性密意讀。
(六) 增上慢＝連〈方便品〉避席——「聲聞聞經驚疑怖畏＝增上慢」，窺基〔0810b05〕：「初聞便驚、思起疑惑、修行怖畏，名為新學及增上慢，未入三位。」並明連〈方便品〉五千退席〔0809b27〕：「佛在自說，聲聞之中猶有怨嫉增上慢者尚起避席，況佛滅後誹謗不信。」→ 佛在尚有增上慢避席，況滅後——遞進較量。
（按：此品玄贊未以三性、賴耶、種子熏習配任一義；釋名「法師」、六種法師、弘經三軌、全身舍利、鑿井喻、開方便門，皆落於「智／理・二空・十法行・教判」，與方便品「三性／一乘密意」框架不同。全品唯識義止於上六處，據實標明——勿挪引他品三性賴耶框架。）
四、諸家異釋（古德·標宗·誌錄不判）
同一「法師」義，慈恩・天台・三論以六種法師、室衣座三德、三門次第讀之。本編義疏鏡＝慈恩窺基《玄贊》；天台智顗、三論吉藏並錄之，誌其異而不判。
約詞辨：「弘經三軌」「三法妙」「三軌」三詞，於智顗《文句》T34n1718、吉藏《義疏》T34n1721 全論機掃皆零命中——係後世天台約詞盤定名，非二疏原文連文。二疏實文唯以「室・衣・座」配「慈悲・柔和忍辱・（畢竟）空」，不作「三軌」逐字引。
慈恩·窺基《玄贊》T34n1723（鏡骨幹）
六種法師（掛《辯中邊論》十法行）、弘經三軌（生空／法空二空觀）、全身舍利（理智二圓滿）、鑿井喻（權實中道教判）、開方便門（權實教判）—— 詳目三。慈恩承衍：慧沼《法華玄贊義決》T34n1724。
天台·智顗（旁證）
五種法師〔T34n1718 0107c26〕：「此品五種法師：一受持、二讀、三誦、四解說、五書寫」；引《大論》六種法師，「今經合受、持為一，合解、說為一，開讀誦為二，足書寫為五」〔0108a01〕；別論四人自行、一人化他。室衣座配三德〔0112b10〕：「修如來室是大慈悲，若就同體即法身也……坐座即法身……〈安樂行〉中還廣此三法」，收於「當知三力，即是三德祕密之藏」〔0110b20〕。全身舍利〔0110c02〕：引《釋論》「碎骨是生身舍利，經卷是法身舍利」，此經是法身舍利；「全身」義延至下品〈釋見寶塔品〉〔0112c20〕。鑿井雙門：觀門配通別圓（乾土＝乾慧地／泥＝相似圓解／清水＝入初住破無明）〔0110c24〕、教門配五時（三藏＝乾土／方等般若＝濕土／法華＝泥近水）〔0111a06〕，並錄諸師異釋而「錄之耳」〔0111a13〕（誌錄不判典範）。
三論·吉藏《法華義疏》T34n1721（旁證）
四門科判（來意・釋名・體相・階位）〔0583b25〕；釋名以藥師為喻立「上弘大法、下為物師」正義、兼存「以法為師」〔0584a19〕。五種無定數〔0584a22〕：「舊云五種……龍樹解受持信力受・念力持，則分受持為二故成六種……若加正憶念者則為七種法師，然多小適時無定數也。」室衣座三門次第〔0587b04〕：以室・衣・座配慈悲・忍辱・空，「空是安神之所，如坐是安身之處……此之三門即是次第」（重說法前建慈悲心之次第，非配三德）；引《淨名》慈悲為女／畢竟空為舍對勘，答「二經各有一義」。全身舍利〔0586b19〕：引《法華論》「堅固舍利……如來真如法身於此經中常不壞，故不須更安碎身舍利」。鑿井三慧〔0586c17〕：施功＝聞慧・濕土＝思慧・至泥＝修慧・知水近＝佛性水必近。
三家並錄（誌·不判）
「法師」數：羅什文四支（受持・讀誦・解說・書寫）、天台開為五、慈恩開為六（加供養）、三論五／六／七「無定數」——四說並錄不判。「全身舍利」：慈恩＝理智二圓滿法身報身、天台＝法身舍利（全身義延見寶塔品）、三論＝《法華論》堅固舍利，三讀並錄。「室衣座」：慈恩二空觀、天台三德祕密之藏、三論三門次第，並錄不判。智顗（538–597）在窺基（632–682）前，其室衣座三德義為天台自宗讀法，非承慈恩。
五、術語
| 漢 | 傳梵（羅馬字·發音輔助） | 古德所徵 | 義 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 法師 | dharma-bhāṇaka | 窺基「可軌可持名法，可習可範目師……法即是師」〔T34n1723 0807b11〕；智顗「法者軌則也，師者訓匠」〔T34n1718 0108b02〕；吉藏「上弘大法、下為物師，故云法師」（藥師喻）〔T34n1721 0584a14〕 | 受持、讀、誦、解說、書寫（乃至供養）此經、弘傳於他者 |
| 五種／六種法師 | — | 羅什文四支〔本經 0030c09〕；智顗五〔T34n1718 0107c26〕；窺基六（加供養）〔T34n1723 0808a01〕；吉藏「無定數」〔T34n1721 0584a22〕 | 受持・讀・誦・解說・書寫（開合異·詳目四） |
| 如來使 | — | 〔本經 0030c28〕；窺基「使者意業、遣者語業、事者身業」〔T34n1723 0808b15〕；智顗「如智照如理為事」〔T34n1718 0109b27〕 | 秉如來之教、宣如來之理、行如來之事者 |
| 如來全身 | — | 〔本經 0031b28〕；窺基「理智二圓滿・如如如如智名法身」〔T34n1723 0809c13〕；智顗「經卷是法身舍利」〔T34n1718 0110c02〕；吉藏「堅固舍利」〔T34n1721 0586b21〕；竺法護作「全著如來舍利」〔T09n0263 0101b20〕 | 經卷所在即如來全身舍利、法身所在 |
| 弘經三軌（如來室·衣·座） | — | 〔本經 0031c25「大慈悲・柔和忍辱・一切法空」〕；窺基「大慈悲有觀・衣座二空觀（生空法空）」〔T34n1723 0810b28〕；智顗配三德祕密之藏〔T34n1718 0112b10〕；吉藏「三門次第」〔T34n1721 0587b04〕（「三軌」＝後世約詞·二疏無連文） | 滅後弘經之心地：大慈悲（室）・柔和忍辱（衣）・一切法空（座） |
| 佛性水 | — | 窺基引《法華論》「喻佛性水，成大菩提故」〔T34n1723 0810a05〕；吉藏「佛性水必定近」〔T34n1721 0586c17〕 | 鑿井喻所求之水·喻大菩提所詮之理性 |
六、譬喻·修辭
(一) 鑿井喻（穿鑿高原·乾土→濕土→泥→知水近·本品主喻）——〔T09n0262 0031c09〕：「譬如有人渴乏須水，於彼高原穿鑿求之，猶見乾土，知水尚遠；施功不已，轉見濕土，遂漸至泥，其心決定、知水必近。」喻依＝鑿井求水，喻體＝求無上菩提，所顯義＝聞解思修法華則去佛智漸近。三家配位：窺基教判（乾土＝權二乘教／濕土＝般若空教／泥近水＝此經中道教）〔T34n1723 0810a12〕· 智顗雙門（觀門通別圓／教門五時）〔T34n1718 0110c24〕· 吉藏三慧（聞・思・修）〔T34n1721 0586c17〕。
辨：鑿井喻為本品獨有之喻，非法華七喻之一（七喻＝火宅③・窮子④・藥草⑤・化城⑦・衣珠⑧・髻珠⑭・醫子⑯）。
(二) 弘經三軌·如來衣座室（心地意象）——〔T09n0262 0031c25〕：「入如來室（一切眾生中大慈悲心）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱心）、坐如來座（一切法空）。」滅後說法者所安住之三重心地。偈重宣〔0032a21〕：「大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，諸法空為座，處此為說法。」
(三) 經卷即如來全身（塔·舍利意象）——〔T09n0262 0031b27〕：經卷所住處起七寶塔、不須舍利，「此中已有如來全身」。以「經＝佛身」立弘經之尊，遙接下品〈見寶塔品〉多寶佛全身塔。
七、互讀·承衍
(一) 本品所依論（窺基《玄贊》所引·穩定徵引·本藏諸論相涉）：
- 《辯中邊論》——十法行（貫六種法師與三慧）〔T34n1723 0808a08〕。
- 世親《法華論》（法華經論）——佛性水〔0810a05〕· 堅固舍利（吉藏引〔T34n1721 0586b19〕）· 二種力（法力・修行力）之科判本〔0807a27〕。
- 《金光明經》（如如・如如智名法身〔0809c19〕）· 《十住毘婆沙》（師子座四法〔0810b29〕）· 《對法》《顯揚》《瑜伽》（說法問難之相·指引〔0810c05〕）。
(二) 法華內互讀：
- 全身舍利 → 遙接〈見寶塔品第十一〉多寶佛全身塔（智顗「全身」義正延於彼品〔T34n1718 0112c20〕）。
- 弘經三軌（室衣座） → 〈安樂行品第十四〉「還廣此三法」〔T34n1718 0112b19〕。
- 開方便門示真實相 → 呼應〈方便品第二〉開權顯實（窺基「攝遠傍昔二乘・攝近正今一乘」〔T34n1723 0810a26〕）。
- 增上慢 → 連〈方便品〉五千增上慢起座避席〔T34n1723 0809b27〕。
(三) 承衍：慈恩後學慧沼《法華玄贊義決》T34n1724;天台後學湛然《法華文句記》T34n1719——各承其宗，誌不判。
八、校本定位
- 羅什 T262（底本）：〈法師品第十〉〔T09n0262 0030b29〕起（卷四）。因藥王告八萬大士 0030b29 · 隨喜授記 0030c05 · 五種法師（四支）0030c09 · 如來使 0030c28／毀罵輕重 0031a02 · 肩所荷擔 0031a05 · 法華最第一 0031b15／難信難解 0031b17／祕要之藏 0031b18 · 以衣覆之 0031b23／手摩其頭 0031b25 · 起塔全身 0031b27／如來全身 0031b28 · 鑿井喻 0031c09／漸至泥 0031c10 · 開方便門 0031c16／深固幽遠 0031c17 · 新發意 0031c19／增上慢 0031c20 · 如來室衣座 0031c25 · 遣化人 0031c29 · 偈三軌 0032a21／忘失句逗 0032a05 · 親近法師 0032b14 迄〔0032b15〕。源檔：原典層（逐字校訖·28 核心義句逐字驗）。
- 竺法護 T263〈藥王如來品第十〉〔T09n0263 0099a27〕起（卷六）：藥王如來善蓋太子法供養本生（羅什無）· 隨喜勸助授決 0100b19 · 行如來事世尊所遣 0100c12 · 誹謗如來罪等無異 0100c15 · 不當著佛舍利·全著如來舍利 0101b20 · 最尊第一普天不信樂 0101b07 · 穿鑿高原但見燥土 0101c04 · 忍辱柔和如來被服 0101c25／解空師子座 0101c27。
- 添品 T264〈法師品第十〉〔T09n0264 0165a15〕起：隨喜授記 0165a21 · 五種法師 0165a24 · 如來使 0165b13 · 難信難解 0166a02 · 起塔全身 0166a11 · 鑿井 0166a22 · 如來室大慈悲 0166b08。〔九核心義句逐字近同羅什，差異僅書名號・「是經／此經」等虛詞・異體字〕
- 窺基《玄贊》T34n1723（義疏鏡）：〈法師品〉〔0806c24〕—〔0811a11〕（卷八本）。三門分別 0806c24 · 釋名雙說 0807b19／大文分二 0807c04 · 六種法師 0808a01／十法行 0808a08 · 如來使三業 0808b15 · 法身舍利 0809c07／理智二圓滿 0809c13／如如如如智 0809c19 · 難信 0809b21／增上慢避席 0809b27 · 鑿井佛性水 0810a05／權二乘乾土 0810a12／般若空濕土 0810a14／中道教為親 0810a18 · 開方便門 0810a26／顯真實相 0810a27 · 增上慢未入三位 0810b05 · 室 0810b15／座 0810b24／二空觀 0810b28／繫對法顯揚瑜伽 0810c05。下品〈見寶塔品〉起〔0811a12〕。
- 智顗《文句》T34n1718（旁證）：〈釋法師品〉0107c25 起—0112c18 · 五種法師 0107c26 · 釋名 0108b02 · 室衣座配三德 0112b10／三力三德祕密之藏 0110b19 · 如來使如智如理 0109b23 · 法身舍利 0110c02（全身延見寶塔品 0112c20）· 鑿井觀門 0110c24／教門五時 0111a06／錄諸師異釋 0111a13 · 增上慢乾土 0112b06。
- 吉藏《法華義疏》T34n1721（旁證）：〈法師品第十〉0583b24 起—0587c17 · 四門科判 0583b25 · 釋名藥師喻 0584a14 · 五種無定數 0584a22 · 如來使 0585b01 · 堅固舍利 0586b19 · 鑿井三慧 0586c17 · 三門次第 0587b04 · 驚疑怖畏增上慢 0587a23。
- 成立史誌：品名羅什「法師品」（以能持之人法）／竺法護「藥王如來品」（以品初本生·開卷結構大異）；竺法護另有〈歎法師品第十八〉（＝羅什法師功德品·勿混）；「如來全身」羅什／添品獨有·竺作「全著如來舍利」；「五種法師」之數係疏家開合（羅什四支・天台五・慈恩六・三論無定數）；「弘經三軌」係後世約詞（智顗吉藏無連文）。添品逐字近同羅什。
This chapter takes the Bodhisattva Medicine King as its occasion, and the Buddha broadly praises the 「法師」 tr. “Dharma teacher” who can uphold this sutra. To anyone who hears even a single verse or sentence of the Lotus and gives rise to a single thought of rejoicing, the Buddha gives a prediction. Those who receive, uphold, read, recite, explain, or copy this sutra are envoys of the Tathāgata, perform the Tathāgata’s work, and are borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder. Wherever a sutra scroll abides, a seven-jeweled stūpa should be raised; no relics need be placed within, because the full body of the Tathāgata is already there. The chapter further uses the 「鑿井喻」 tr. “well-digging parable”—digging upon a high plain, passing from dry soil → moist soil → mud, and thereby knowing that water is drawing near—to show one’s distance from or proximity to the Buddha’s wisdom. Through 「入如來室（大慈悲）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱）、坐如來座（一切法空）」 tr. “entering the Tathāgata’s room” (great loving-kindness and compassion), “putting on the Tathāgata’s robe” (gentleness and patient endurance), and “sitting on the Tathāgata’s seat” (the emptiness of all dharmas), it reveals the inward ground for transmitting the sutra after the Buddha’s extinction. Kuiji of the Cien tradition, in the 《玄贊》 Fahua Xuanzan (Profound Praise of the Lotus), opens the passage into 「六種法師」 tr. “six kinds of Dharma teacher,” connects them with the ten Dharma practices of the 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga, correlates the robe and seat with the two contemplations of the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas, and explains the Tathāgata’s full body through the perfection of both principle and knowledge—the dharma-body and reward body. The Consciousness-Only meaning of this chapter rests upon the single axis of 「智／理」 tr. “knowledge and principle”; it does not involve the three natures or the store consciousness (mechanical scans return zero for wholly-imagined, other-dependent, perfectly-accomplished, ālaya, store consciousness, and transformation of the basis). Its doctrinal weight is light, and is stated honestly as such. Zhiyi of Tiantai correlates the room, robe, and seat with the secret treasury of the three virtues; Jizang of Sanlun reads them as 「三門次第」 tr. “three gateways in sequence.” Their readings are recorded side by side without adjudication.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
| Outline system | Placement of this chapter |
|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 二十八品 | 第十 法師品 — Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher（卷四；〔T09n0262 0030b29〕起）· the first of the Trace-Gate group that 「歎人美法、勸募持行」 tr. “praises the person, extols the Dharma, and exhorts beings to uphold and practice”—the group consisting of 〈法師〉 “The Dharma Teacher,” 〈見寶塔〉 “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa,” 〈提婆〉 “Devadatta,” 〈勸持〉 “Exhortation to Uphold the Sutra,” and 〈安樂行〉 “Peaceful Practices” |
| 窺基《玄贊》科文（主錨·慈恩） | The chapter passage at 〔T34n1723 0806c24〕 is 三門分別 tr. “distinguished through three gateways”: (1) the reason for its coming; (2) the explanation of its name; (3) the resolution of a difficulty. 來意有三 tr. “The reason for its coming is threefold”: the division into principal teaching and transmission; the division into nineteen chapters; and the two powers in the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra. Within the seven aspects of practice-power, 「持力」 tr. “upholding-power” comprises three chapters—〈法師〉 “The Dharma Teacher,” 〈安樂行〉 “Peaceful Practices,” and 〈持品〉 “Exhortation to Uphold the Sutra.” 「初〈法師品〉總明能持、所持人之與法」 tr. “The first, the Chapter on the Dharma Teacher, generally clarifies the persons who uphold and the Dharma that is upheld” 〔0807b07〕. The major text is divided into two: first 「人法師」 tr. “the person as Dharma teacher”; then 「法法師」 tr. “the Dharma as teacher” 〔0807c04〕 |
| 天台《文句》（旁證） | The 〈釋法師品〉 “Explanation of the Chapter on the Dharma Teacher” begins at 〔T34n1718 0107c25〕. Zhiyi explains the name: 「法者軌則也，師者訓匠也……五種通經皆得稱師」 tr. “Dharma is a rule and standard; teacher is one who instructs and shapes. … All five ways of transmitting the sutra may be called teachers” 〔0108b02〕 |
Kuiji explains the name at 〔T34n1723 0807b12〕: 「可軌可持名之為法，可習可範目之為師……此法可習名為法師」 tr. “What can serve as a standard and can be upheld is named Dharma; what can be learned and can serve as a model is designated teacher. … Because this Dharma can be learned, it is named Dharma teacher.” He further says, 「有法之師名為法師……品下雙說法及學者並名法師，義通為勝」 tr. “A teacher who possesses the Dharma is named a Dharma teacher. … Later in the chapter, both the Dharma and the one who learns it are spoken of and are named Dharma teacher; the interpretation that embraces both is superior” 〔0807b19〕. Thus both 「法即是師」 tr. “the Dharma itself is the teacher” and 「有法之師」 tr. “the teacher who possesses the Dharma” are explained; the meaning applies both to person and to Dharma.
II. Alternate Translations · Collation of the Three Translations
This chapter has three Chinese translations: Kumārajīva’s T262, the base text, 〈法師品第十〉 “Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher”; Dharmarakṣa’s T263, 〈藥王如來品第十〉 “Chapter 10, Medicine King Tathāgata” 〔T09n0263 0099a27〕, which takes its title from the former-life account at the chapter’s opening concerning 「藥王如來・善蓋太子・法之供養」 tr. “Medicine King Tathāgata, Prince Good Canopy, and the offering of Dharma,” rather than from the 「法師」 tr. “Dharma teacher,” and whose opening structure differs greatly; and the supplemented edition T264 by Jñānagupta and Dharmagupta, 〈法師品第十〉 “Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher” 〔T09n0264 0165a15〕, which agrees almost word for word with Kumārajīva.
Distinction: nowhere in Dharmarakṣa’s entire sutra is there a chapter entitled 「法師品」 tr. “Chapter on the Dharma Teacher.” It later has a separate 〈歎法師品第十八〉 “Chapter 18, Praising the Dharma Teacher” 〔T09n0263 0119a17〕, whose content corresponds to Kumārajīva’s 〈法師功德品第十九〉 “Chapter 19, The Qualities of the Dharma Teacher,” not to this chapter. The two must not be confused.
Passage One · The Prediction for Rejoicing
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 聞妙法華經一偈一句，乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記，當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 tr. “Those who hear even a single verse or a single sentence of the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma, and give rise to so much as a single thought of rejoicing—I give them all a prediction that they shall attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening.” | T09n0262 0030c05 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕聞妙法華經一偈一句乃至一念隨喜者，我皆與授記 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] Those who hear even a single verse or a single sentence of the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma, and give rise to so much as a single thought of rejoicing—I give them all a prediction.” | T09n0264 0165a21 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 聞一頌一偈，一發意頃歡喜勸助，佛皆授斯四部之決，當得無上正真道 tr. “Those who hear a single stanza or a single verse and, in the moment of arousing the mind, rejoice and encourage—the Buddha gives the fourfold assembly an assurance that they shall attain the unsurpassed true and right Way.” | T09n0263 0100b19 |
What the variants bear upon: Kumārajīva’s 「一偈一句」 tr. “a single verse or a single sentence” becomes Dharmarakṣa’s 「一頌一偈」 tr. “a single stanza or a single verse.” 「一念隨喜」 tr. “a single thought of rejoicing” becomes 「一發意頃歡喜勸助」 tr. “in the moment of arousing the mind, rejoicing and encouraging,” with 「隨喜」 tr. “rejoicing” rendered as 「勸助」 tr. “encouraging,” as is usual for Dharmarakṣa. 「授記」 tr. “giving a prediction” becomes 「授……決」 tr. “giving … an assurance”; and 「阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. “unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening” becomes 「無上正真道」 tr. “the unsurpassed true and right Way.” Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition agree word for word.
Passage Two · The Five or Six Kinds of Dharma Teacher (Upholding · Reading · Reciting · Explaining · Copying)
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 受持、讀誦、解說、書寫妙法華經〔四支·「讀誦」不析〕；又「書、持、讀、誦、供養、為他人說」 tr. “Receive and uphold, read and recite, explain, and copy the Lotus Sutra of the Wondrous Dharma [four members, with ‘read and recite’ not divided]; elsewhere, ‘copy, uphold, read, recite, make offerings, and teach it to others.’” | T09n0262 0030c10／0031b22 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕受持、讀誦、解說、書寫 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] receive and uphold, read and recite, explain, and copy.” | T09n0264 0165a24 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 〔無定型列·散說〕受持一頌，諷誦書寫載於竹帛；其受是經持讀誦寫 tr. “[No fixed enumeration; stated in scattered form:] uphold a single stanza, chant and recite it, copy it onto bamboo and silk; those who receive this sutra, uphold, read, recite, and copy it.” | T09n0263 0100b25／0100c04 |
What the variants bear upon: Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition literally have four members—upholding; reading-and-reciting; explaining; copying—with 「讀誦」 tr. “reading and reciting” stated together. Dharmarakṣa has no fixed list of 「法師行」 tr. “practices of a Dharma teacher”; it speaks in scattered form as 「持・諷誦・讀・書寫」 tr. “upholding, chanting and reciting, reading, and copying,” with no independent member corresponding to 「解說」 tr. “explaining.” The divisions and combinations differ throughout. The number in 「五種法師」 tr. “five kinds of Dharma teacher” is established by the commentators’ divisions and combinations, not by the literal number of items in Kumārajīva’s text. See Headings IV and V.
Passage Three · The Tathāgata’s Envoy · The Relative Gravity of Reviling
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事……若人以一惡言，毀呰在家出家讀誦法華經者，其罪甚重 tr. “This person is an envoy of the Tathāgata, sent by the Tathāgata, performing the Tathāgata’s work. … If someone, with a single malicious word, disparages a householder or renunciant who reads and recites the Lotus Sutra, that person’s offense is exceedingly grave.” | T09n0262 0030c28／0031a02 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕則如來使，如來所遣，行如來事 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] this person is an envoy of the Tathāgata, sent by the Tathāgata, performing the Tathāgata’s work.” | T09n0264 0165b14 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 彼人行如來事，世尊所遣〔次序異〕……若一劫中誹謗如來、毀斯人者，罪等無異 tr. “That person performs the Tathāgata’s work and is sent by the World-Honored One [the order differs]. … One who slanders the Tathāgata throughout an aeon and one who disparages this person incur offenses equal and without difference.” | T09n0263 0100c12／0100c15 |
What the variants bear upon: Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition agree completely in the three clauses concerning the Tathāgata’s envoy. Dharmarakṣa has 「行如來事……世尊所遣」 tr. “performs the Tathāgata’s work … sent by the World-Honored One,” using 「世尊所遣」 tr. “sent by the World-Honored One” and reversing the order. For reviling, Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition make a contrast of lighter and graver—the offense of reviling the Buddha is light, while that of reviling one who upholds the sutra is grave. Dharmarakṣa has no such lighter-versus-graver construction and instead says 「罪等無異」 tr. “the offenses are equal and without difference.” The doctrinal directions differ.
Passage Four · Raising a Stūpa for the Sutra Scroll · The Tathāgata’s Full Body
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 皆應起七寶塔，極令高廣嚴飾，不須復安舍利。所以者何?此中已有如來全身 tr. “In every case a seven-jeweled stūpa should be raised, made exceedingly tall and broad and magnificently adorned. There is no need to place relics in it. Why is this? The Tathāgata’s full body is already present within.” | T09n0262 0031b27 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕不須復安舍利。所以者何?此中已有如來全身 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] There is no need to place relics in it. Why is this? The Tathāgata’s full body is already present within.” | T09n0264 0166a12 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 起佛神寺，以大寶立……不當復著佛舍利也。所以者何?則為全著如來舍利 tr. “Raise a sacred shrine of the Buddha, established from great jewels. … One should not place the Buddha’s relics there again. Why is this? It is thereby as though the Tathāgata’s relics in their entirety were placed within.” | T09n0263 0101b20 |
What the variants bear upon: raising a stūpa, not placing relics, and the reason that the Buddha’s body is already present in the stūpa occur in all three translations. Kumārajīva’s 「七寶塔」 tr. “seven-jeweled stūpa” becomes Dharmarakṣa’s 「佛神寺・以大寶立」 tr. “sacred shrine of the Buddha, established from great jewels.” The four-character phrase 「如來全身」 tr. “the Tathāgata’s full body” occurs only in Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition. Dharmarakṣa has 「全著如來舍利」 tr. “the Tathāgata’s relics in their entirety are placed within,” meaning that the stūpa is equivalent to one containing the Tathāgata’s entire relic-body; it does not use the literal phrase 「全身」 tr. “full body.”
Passage Five · The Three Guides for Transmitting the Sutra (Enter the Tathāgata’s Room · Put On His Robe · Sit on His Seat)
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是；如來衣者，柔和忍辱心是；如來座者，一切法空是〔偈：大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，諸法空為座〕 tr. “The Tathāgata’s room is a heart of great loving-kindness and compassion toward all sentient beings; the Tathāgata’s robe is a gentle and patiently enduring heart; the Tathāgata’s seat is the emptiness of all dharmas [verse: great loving-kindness and compassion are the room; gentleness and patient endurance are the robe; the emptiness of all dharmas is the seat].” | T09n0262 0031c25／0032a21 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕如來室者，一切眾生中大慈悲心是 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] The Tathāgata’s room is a heart of great loving-kindness and compassion toward all sentient beings.” | T09n0264 0166b08 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 著如來衣、坐於世尊師子之座……忍辱柔和安雅，是則名為如來被服……解一切法皆悉空寂，處無想願，是為世尊師子之座〔長行缺「室」別釋·偈方見「慈心入吾室」〕 tr. “Put on the Tathāgata’s robe and sit upon the World-Honored One’s lion seat. … Patient endurance, gentleness, peacefulness, and grace: these are named the Tathāgata’s clothing. … Understand that all dharmas are entirely empty and quiescent, and abide in wishlessness: this is the World-Honored One’s lion seat [the prose lacks a separate explanation of the ‘room’; only in the verse does ‘with a loving heart, enter my room’ appear].” | T09n0263 0101c23／0101c25／0101c27 |
What the variants bear upon: all three guides are present. Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition explain all three completely in prose and agree word for word: room = great loving-kindness and compassion; robe = gentleness and patient endurance; seat = the emptiness of all dharmas. Dharmarakṣa’s prose explains only the robe and seat; it lacks a separate prose explanation of the 「室（大慈悲）」 tr. “room (great loving-kindness and compassion).” The meaning of the room occurs only in the verse 「慈心入吾室」 tr. “with a loving heart, enter my room.” His explanation of the 「座」 tr. “seat” adds 「處無想願」 tr. “abide in wishlessness” and calls it the 「師子之座」 tr. “lion seat.”
Passage Six · Difficult to Trust and Understand · The Treasury of Secret Essence
| Version | Verbatim Chinese and translation | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 羅什 T262 | 此法華經最為難信難解……此經是諸佛祕要之藏，不可分布妄授與人 tr. “This Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to trust and the most difficult to understand. … This sutra is the treasury of the buddhas’ secret essence; it must not be distributed casually or recklessly entrusted to others.” | T09n0262 0031b17 |
| 添品 T264 | 〔逐字同羅什〕此法華經最為難信難解……諸佛祕要之藏 tr. “[Identical word for word with Kumārajīva:] This Lotus Sutra is the most difficult to trust and the most difficult to understand … the treasury of the buddhas’ secret essence.” | T09n0264 0166a02 |
| 竺法護 T263 | 名祚顯綽最尊第一，普天率土所不信樂〔無「難解」對·無「祕要之藏」正對句〕 tr. “Its renowned blessing is illustrious, most honored and foremost; none throughout the whole realm trusts or delights in it [there is no counterpart for ‘difficult to understand,’ and no exact counterpart for ‘treasury of secret essence’].” | T09n0263 0101b07 |
What the variants bear upon: Dharmarakṣa renders 「最為難信難解」 tr. “the most difficult to trust and the most difficult to understand” as 「最尊第一・普天率土所不信樂」 tr. “most honored and foremost; none throughout the whole realm trusts or delights in it.” 「不信樂」 tr. “not trusting or delighting” expresses difficulty in trusting, but there is no counterpart for 「難解」 tr. “difficult to understand.” Nor does Dharmarakṣa’s chapter contain an exact counterpart for 「諸佛祕要之藏」 tr. “the treasury of the buddhas’ secret essence”; the nearest meaning occurs in the chapter’s opening account of the Dharma offering, 「菩薩諸篋之藏」 tr. “the treasury of the bodhisattvas’ many caskets.” Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition agree word for word.
Placement of the supplemented edition: in nine core doctrinal passages, T264 agrees almost word for word with Kumārajīva. Its differences are confined to punctuation, single function words such as 「是經／此經」 tr. “this sutra / the present sutra,” variant character forms, and the like; there is no difference at the doctrinal level. It is indeed a revised and supplemented recension of Kumārajīva’s text.
III. Scriptural Grounds for the Consciousness-Only Meaning (the Point of the Eye)
The Consciousness-Only meaning in this chapter of the Fahua Xuanzan lies along the single axis of 「智／理」 tr. “knowledge and principle”: the two contemplations of the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas; the perfection of principle and knowledge, that is, the dharma-body and reward body; suchness and the knowledge of suchness; and the ten Dharma practices in the 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga. It does not involve the framework of the three natures—wholly-imagined, other-dependent, perfectly-accomplished—or the store consciousness and transformation of the basis. A mechanical scan of the whole span 〔0806c24–0811a11〕 returns zero for every term associated with the three natures and ālaya. The doctrinal weight is light, and it is presented honestly as such.
(1) Six kinds of Dharma teacher · connected with the ten Dharma practices of the 《辯中邊論》 — Kuiji explicitly establishes 「六種法師」 tr. “six kinds of Dharma teacher” 〔T34n1723 0808a01〕:
「六法師者，一受持、二讀、三誦、四解說、五書寫、六供養。此明初五法師於經一偈行，後一法師行供養行。」〔T34n1723 0808a01〕
tr. “The six Dharma teachers are: first, receiving and upholding; second, reading; third, reciting; fourth, explaining; fifth, copying; sixth, making offerings. This clarifies that the first five Dharma teachers practice upon even one verse of the sutra, while the final Dharma teacher practices the practice of making offerings.”
He then takes the ten Dharma practices of the 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga as their framework 〔0808a08〕: 「十法行者，謂書寫、供養、施他、聽聞、披讀、受持、正開演、諷誦及思、修……此舉易行且說六種。其餘四種：施他、聽聞、思惟、修習，應皆行之，難故不說。」 tr. “The ten Dharma practices are copying, making offerings, giving to others, listening, reading through, receiving and upholding, rightly expounding, chanting and reciting, reflection, and cultivation. … Here the easy practices are raised, and six kinds are taught. The remaining four—giving to others, listening, reflection, and cultivation—should all be practiced, but because they are difficult, they are not stated.”
→ 論本 / Treatise source: the ten Dharma practices in the 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga, the doctrinal framework of the six kinds of Dharma teacher.
(2) The three guides for transmitting the sutra · the two contemplations of the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas — The sutra says 「入如來室（大慈悲）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱）、坐如來座（一切法空）」 tr. “enter the Tathāgata’s room (great loving-kindness and compassion), put on the Tathāgata’s robe (gentleness and patient endurance), and sit on the Tathāgata’s seat (the emptiness of all dharmas).” Kuiji explains each separately from 〔0810b15 起〕: the room is 「恒常安處寢息身心於慈悲，故名為室」 tr. “constantly settling and resting body and mind within loving-kindness and compassion, therefore named the room” 〔0810b15〕; the robe is 「柔和忍辱衣，外物不侵故」 tr. “the robe of gentleness and patient endurance, because external things do not invade” 〔0810b20〕; the seat is 「安身心於空境……名空為座」 tr. “settling body and mind upon the object of emptiness … naming emptiness the seat” 〔0810b24〕. The Consciousness-Only point appears at 〔0810b28〕:
「大慈悲，有觀也；衣、座二，空觀也，謂生空、法空如次。」〔T34n1723 0810b28〕
tr. “Great loving-kindness and compassion are the contemplation of existence; the robe and seat are the two contemplations of emptiness, namely the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas, respectively.”
The room corresponds to the 「有觀」 tr. “contemplation of existence,” great loving-kindness and compassion; the robe to the 「生空觀」 tr. “contemplation of the emptiness of the person”; the seat to the 「法空觀」 tr. “contemplation of the emptiness of dharmas.” At the close Kuiji connects the passage with 「《對法》、《顯揚》、《瑜伽》等中皆有問難說法等相」 tr. “the Abhidharma-samuccaya, the Xianyang shengjiao lun, the Yogācārabhūmi, and other works, in which the marks of questioning, answering difficulties, and teaching Dharma are all found” 〔0810c05〕.
→ 論本 / Treatise source: the two contemplations of emptiness—the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas—and pointers to the Consciousness-Only treatises. Kuiji does not use the expression 「弘經三軌」 tr. “the three guides for transmitting the sutra,” nor does he correlate the passage with the three natures.
(3) The Tathāgata’s full body = the relic of the dharma-body = the perfection of both principle and knowledge (dharma-body and reward body) — On 「不須復安舍利。所以者何？此中已有如來全身」 tr. “there is no need to place relics again; the Tathāgata’s full body is already present within,” Kuiji explains from 〔0809c07 起〕: 「下明是法身舍利應可供養」 tr. “below it clarifies that this is the relic of the dharma-body and should be offered to” 〔0809c07〕; and 「初顯是全身舍利」 tr. “first it reveals that this is the full-body relic” 〔0809c12〕. The Consciousness-Only meaning appears at 〔0809c13〕:
「明理、智二皆圓滿故，即是具足法身、報身。」〔T34n1723 0809c13〕
tr. “It clarifies that both principle and knowledge are perfect; therefore the dharma-body and reward body are complete.”
Kuiji further grounds the point in the 《金光明經》 Golden Light Sutra 〔0809c19〕: 「如如、如如智名法身，故經有處即有全身。」 tr. “Suchness and the knowledge of suchness are named the dharma-body; therefore wherever the sutra is present, the full body is present.”
→ 論本 / Treatise source: the two dharma-bodies of principle and knowledge—the dharma-body and reward body; suchness and the knowledge of suchness.
(4) The well-digging parable = classification of stages of teaching (the provisional two vehicles → Prajñā emptiness → the middle way) — Kuiji correlates the parable from 〔0810a05 起〕. The need for water 「喻佛性水，成大菩提故」 tr. “illustrates the water of buddha-nature, because great awakening is accomplished” 〔0810a05〕, based on the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra. Dry soil is 「即昔日權二乘教跡，全無大乘之相」 tr. “the traces of the former provisional teaching of the two vehicles, entirely without any mark of the great vehicle” 〔0810a12〕. Moist soil is 「謂逢般若空教大乘，有菩提之勢」 tr. “encountering the great-vehicle Prajñā teaching of emptiness, in which the tendency toward awakening is present” 〔0810a14〕. Reaching mud 「喻聞此經教」 tr. “illustrates hearing the teaching of this sutra,” after which one knows that water must be near 〔0810a18〕:
「二乘教為遠、大乘教為近，空教為疎、中道教為親。」〔T34n1723 0810a18〕
tr. “The teaching of the two vehicles is far; the teaching of the great vehicle is near. The teaching of emptiness is more distant; the teaching of the middle way is intimate.”
In gathering the passage, Kuiji further correlates 「聞・解・習」 tr. “hearing, understanding, and practice” with the three kinds of wisdom—hearing, reflection, and cultivation—within the ten Dharma practices 〔0810a21〕.
→ 論本 / Treatise source: the water of buddha-nature in the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra; the classification of the provisional and the real through the middle way.
(5) Opening the gateway of skillful means and revealing the true mark = classification of the provisional and the real — At 〔0810a26〕 Kuiji says: 「『開方便門』者，即攝遠、傍，昔說二乘教理行果；『顯真實相』者，攝近、正因，今說一乘教理行果」 tr. “‘Opening the gateway of skillful means’ gathers in the distant and collateral causes—the teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the two vehicles taught in the past. ‘Revealing the true mark’ gathers in the proximate and direct cause—the teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the One Vehicle taught now” 〔0810a27〕.
→ The teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the One Vehicle as proximate and direct cause; the teaching, principle, practice, and fruit of the two vehicles as distant and collateral causes. This is not a reading of implicit intent through the three natures.
(6) Overweening pride = continuous with those who withdrew in 〈方便品〉 “the Chapter on Skillful Means” — On 「聲聞聞經驚疑怖畏＝增上慢」 tr. “śrāvakas who hear the sutra and become startled, doubtful, and afraid are people of overweening pride,” Kuiji says at 〔0810b05〕: 「初聞便驚、思起疑惑、修行怖畏，名為新學及增上慢，未入三位。」 tr. “At first hearing they are startled; in reflection they give rise to doubt; in cultivation and practice they become afraid. They are named beginners and people of overweening pride, who have not entered the three stages.” He also makes the connection with the five thousand who withdrew in 〈方便品〉 “the Chapter on Skillful Means” 〔0809b27〕: 「佛在自說，聲聞之中猶有怨嫉增上慢者尚起避席，況佛滅後誹謗不信。」 tr. “Even while the Buddha was present and teaching in person, among the śrāvakas there were still resentful, jealous people of overweening pride who rose and left their seats. How much more, after the Buddha’s extinction, will there be slander and refusal to trust.” → Even while the Buddha was present, people of overweening pride still rose and left their seats; how much more after his extinction—the comparison advances in force.
Scope note: Kuiji’s treatment of this chapter does not correlate any meaning with the three natures, the store consciousness, seeds and latent impressions, or the transformation of the basis. His explanations of the name 「法師」 tr. “Dharma teacher,” the six kinds of Dharma teacher, the three guides for transmitting the sutra, the full-body relic, the well-digging parable, and the opening of the gateway of skillful means all rest upon 「智／理・二空・十法行・教判」 tr. “knowledge and principle, the two emptinesses, the ten Dharma practices, and the classification of teachings.” This differs from the Chapter on Skillful Means framework of 「三性／一乘密意」 tr. “the three natures and the One Vehicle as implicit intent.” The full Consciousness-Only meaning of this chapter ends with the six points above. No framework of the three natures or ālaya is to be imported from another chapter.
IV. The Explanations of the Various Masters (the Ancients · Their Traditions Stated · Recorded without Adjudicating)
On the same meaning of the 「法師」 tr. “Dharma teacher,” Cien, Tiantai, and Sanlun read through the six kinds of Dharma teacher, the secret treasury of the three virtues correlated with the room, robe, and seat, and the three gateways in sequence. The expository mirror of this edition is Kuiji’s Cien 《玄贊》 Fahua Xuanzan; Zhiyi of Tiantai and Jizang of Sanlun are recorded alongside it. Their differences are stated without adjudication.
Distinction concerning later summary terms: the three expressions 「弘經三軌」 tr. “the three guides for transmitting the sutra,” 「三法妙」 tr. “the subtlety of the three dharmas,” and 「三軌」 tr. “the three guides” return zero matches in full mechanical scans of Zhiyi’s 《文句》 Fahua Wenju T34n1718 and Jizang’s 《義疏》 Fahua Yishu T34n1721. They are later Tiantai summary terms, not verbatim sequences in either commentary. The actual wording of the two commentaries correlates 「室・衣・座」 tr. “room, robe, and seat” with 「慈悲・柔和忍辱・（畢竟）空」 tr. “loving-kindness and compassion, gentleness and patient endurance, and ultimate emptiness”; neither presents 「三軌」 tr. “the three guides” as a verbatim quotation.
Cien · Kuiji’s 《玄贊》 T34n1723 (the Principal Mirror)
The six kinds of Dharma teacher, connected with the ten Dharma practices of the 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga; the three guides for transmitting the sutra, correlated with the two contemplations of the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas; the full-body relic, understood through the perfection of principle and knowledge; the well-digging parable, read as a classification of the provisional and real teachings through the middle way; and the opening of the gateway of skillful means, also read through the provisional and the real—see Heading III. Huizhao’s 《法華玄贊義決》 Decisions on the Meaning of the Profound Praise of the Lotus T34n1724 carries the Cien line forward.
Tiantai · Zhiyi (Parallel Witness)
Five kinds of Dharma teacher 〔T34n1718 0107c26〕: 「此品五種法師：一受持、二讀、三誦、四解說、五書寫」 tr. “This chapter has five kinds of Dharma teacher: first, receiving and upholding; second, reading; third, reciting; fourth, explaining; fifth, copying.” Citing six kinds of Dharma teacher from the 《大論》 Great Treatise, Zhiyi says, 「今經合受、持為一，合解、說為一，開讀誦為二，足書寫為五」 tr. “The present sutra combines receiving and upholding as one, combines interpreting and explaining as one, divides reading and reciting into two, and adds copying, making five” 〔0108a01〕. He further distinguishes four persons practicing for themselves and one transforming others.
The room, robe, and seat correlated with the three virtues 〔0112b10〕: 「修如來室是大慈悲，若就同體即法身也……坐座即法身……〈安樂行〉中還廣此三法」 tr. “Cultivating the Tathāgata’s room is great loving-kindness and compassion; from the standpoint of identity in substance, this is the dharma-body. … Sitting upon the seat is precisely the dharma-body. … In the Chapter on Peaceful Practices these three dharmas are again unfolded at length.” He gathers them into 「當知三力，即是三德祕密之藏」 tr. “Know that these three powers are precisely the secret treasury of the three virtues” 〔0110b20〕.
The full-body relic 〔0110c02〕: citing the 《釋論》 Explanatory Treatise, Zhiyi says, 「碎骨是生身舍利，經卷是法身舍利」 tr. “The broken bones are relics of the embodied body; the sutra scroll is the relic of the dharma-body.” This sutra is the relic of the dharma-body; the meaning of 「全身」 tr. “full body” extends into the following 〈釋見寶塔品〉 “Explanation of the Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa” 〔0112c20〕.
The two gateways of the well-digging parable: in the contemplative gateway, Zhiyi correlates it with the shared, separate, and perfect teachings—dry soil is the ground of dry wisdom; mud is an understanding that resembles the perfect; clear water is entering the first abode and breaking ignorance 〔0110c24〕. In the gateway of teaching, he correlates it with the five periods—the Tripiṭaka teaching is dry soil; the Vaipulya and Prajñā teachings are moist soil; the Lotus is mud, near the water 〔0111a06〕. He records the differing explanations of the various masters and says only 「錄之耳」 tr. “they are merely recorded” 〔0111a13〕, a paradigmatic statement of recording without adjudicating.
Sanlun · Jizang’s 《法華義疏》 T34n1721 (Parallel Witness)
Four-gateway outline—the reason for its coming, explanation of its name, substance and mark, and gradation of stages 〔0583b25〕. In explaining the name, Jizang takes the medicine teacher as a simile and establishes as the principal meaning 「上弘大法、下為物師」 tr. “above, proclaiming the great Dharma; below, serving as teacher to beings,” while also preserving 「以法為師」 tr. “taking the Dharma as teacher” 〔0584a19〕.
No fixed number for the five kinds 〔0584a22〕: 「舊云五種……龍樹解受持信力受・念力持，則分受持為二故成六種……若加正憶念者則為七種法師，然多小適時無定數也。」 tr. “The old explanation speaks of five kinds. … Nāgārjuna explains ‘receiving and upholding’ as receiving through the power of trust and upholding through the power of mindfulness; dividing receiving and upholding into two therefore makes six kinds. … If right recollection is added, there are seven kinds of Dharma teacher. Yet whether many or few, they are established as appropriate to the time and have no fixed number.”
The room, robe, and seat as three gateways in sequence 〔0587b04〕: Jizang correlates room, robe, and seat with loving-kindness and compassion, patient endurance, and emptiness. 「空是安神之所，如坐是安身之處……此之三門即是次第」 tr. “Emptiness is the place where the spirit is settled, just as sitting is the place where the body is settled. … These three gateways are precisely a sequence.” This is the sequence by which the heart of loving-kindness and compassion is established before one teaches the Dharma, not a correlation with the three virtues. Citing the 《淨名》 Vimalakīrti Sutra, which treats loving-kindness and compassion as the daughter and ultimate emptiness as the dwelling, he answers that 「二經各有一義」 tr. “the two sutras each have their own meaning.”
The full-body relic 〔0586b19〕: citing the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra, Jizang says, 「堅固舍利……如來真如法身於此經中常不壞，故不須更安碎身舍利」 tr. “The indestructible relic means that the Tathāgata’s true-suchness dharma-body is constantly indestructible within this sutra; therefore there is no need to place the fragmented relics of the physical body again.”
The three kinds of wisdom in the well-digging parable 〔0586c17〕: applying effort = the wisdom of hearing; moist soil = the wisdom of reflection; reaching mud = the wisdom of cultivation; knowing the water is near = knowing that the water of buddha-nature must be near.
The Three Houses Recorded Together (Recorded without Adjudication)
The number of 「法師」 tr. “Dharma teachers”: Kumārajīva’s text literally has four members—upholding; reading-and-reciting; explaining; copying. Tiantai opens them into five; Cien into six by adding offerings; Sanlun allows five, six, or seven and says there is 「無定數」 tr. “no fixed number.” All four statements are recorded side by side without adjudication. The 「全身舍利」 tr. “full-body relic”: Cien reads it as the dharma-body and reward body in which principle and knowledge are perfect; Tiantai as the relic of the dharma-body, with the “full-body” meaning extending into the Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa; Sanlun, citing the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra, as the indestructible relic of the true-suchness dharma-body. The three readings are recorded side by side. The 「室衣座」 tr. “room, robe, and seat”: Cien reads them through the two contemplations of emptiness; Tiantai through the secret treasury of the three virtues; Sanlun through three gateways in sequence. They are recorded without adjudicating. Zhiyi (538–597) preceded Kuiji (632–682); his reading of room, robe, and seat through the three virtues is Tiantai’s own tradition and does not derive from Cien.
V. Terminology
| 漢 | Ancient-transmitted Sanskrit (romanization · pronunciation aid) | Attestation by the ancient masters | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 法師 | dharma-bhāṇaka | Kuiji: 「可軌可持名法，可習可範目師……法即是師」 tr. “What can serve as a standard and can be upheld is named Dharma; what can be learned and can serve as a model is designated teacher. … The Dharma itself is the teacher” 〔T34n1723 0807b11〕; Zhiyi: 「法者軌則也，師者訓匠」 tr. “Dharma is a rule and standard; teacher is one who instructs and shapes” 〔T34n1718 0108b02〕; Jizang: 「上弘大法、下為物師，故云法師」 tr. “Above, proclaiming the great Dharma; below, serving as teacher to beings—therefore called Dharma teacher,” using the medicine teacher as a simile 〔T34n1721 0584a14〕 | One who receives, upholds, reads, recites, explains, and copies this sutra—and even makes offerings to it—and transmits it to others |
| 五種／六種法師 | — | Kumārajīva’s text has four members 〔本經 0030c09〕; Zhiyi has five 〔T34n1718 0107c26〕; Kuiji has six, adding offerings 〔T34n1723 0808a01〕; Jizang says 「無定數」 tr. “there is no fixed number” 〔T34n1721 0584a22〕 | Receiving and upholding · reading · reciting · explaining · copying, divided and combined differently; see Heading IV |
| 如來使 | — | 〔本經 0030c28〕; Kuiji: 「使者意業、遣者語業、事者身業」 tr. “‘Envoy’ is the karma of mind; ‘sent’ is the karma of speech; ‘work’ is the karma of body” 〔T34n1723 0808b15〕; Zhiyi: 「如智照如理為事」 tr. “Taking suchness-wisdom to illumine suchness-principle is the work” 〔T34n1718 0109b27〕 | One who receives the Tathāgata’s teaching, proclaims the Tathāgata’s principle, and performs the Tathāgata’s work |
| 如來全身 | — | 〔本經 0031b28〕; Kuiji: 「理智二圓滿・如如如如智名法身」 tr. “principle and knowledge are both perfect; suchness and the knowledge of suchness are named the dharma-body” 〔T34n1723 0809c13〕; Zhiyi: 「經卷是法身舍利」 tr. “the sutra scroll is the relic of the dharma-body” 〔T34n1718 0110c02〕; Jizang: 「堅固舍利」 tr. “indestructible relic” 〔T34n1721 0586b21〕; Dharmarakṣa has 「全著如來舍利」 tr. “the Tathāgata’s relics in their entirety are placed within” 〔T09n0263 0101b20〕 | Wherever the sutra scroll is present, the Tathāgata’s full-body relic and dharma-body are present |
| 弘經三軌（如來室·衣·座） | — | 〔本經 0031c25「大慈悲・柔和忍辱・一切法空」〕 tr. “In the present sutra at 0031c25: great loving-kindness and compassion; gentleness and patient endurance; the emptiness of all dharmas”; Kuiji: 「大慈悲有觀・衣座二空觀（生空法空）」 tr. “great loving-kindness and compassion are the contemplation of existence; robe and seat are the two contemplations of emptiness—the emptiness of the person and the emptiness of dharmas” 〔T34n1723 0810b28〕; Zhiyi correlates them with the secret treasury of the three virtues 〔T34n1718 0112b10〕; Jizang calls them 「三門次第」 tr. “three gateways in sequence” 〔T34n1721 0587b04〕. 「三軌」 tr. “three guides” is a later summary term and does not occur verbatim in the two commentaries | The inward ground for transmitting the sutra after the Buddha’s extinction: great loving-kindness and compassion (room) · gentleness and patient endurance (robe) · the emptiness of all dharmas (seat) |
| 佛性水 | — | Kuiji, citing the 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra: 「喻佛性水，成大菩提故」 tr. “It illustrates the water of buddha-nature, because great awakening is accomplished” 〔T34n1723 0810a05〕; Jizang: 「佛性水必定近」 tr. “the water of buddha-nature must be near” 〔T34n1721 0586c17〕 | The water sought in the well-digging parable, illustrating the principle disclosed in great awakening |
VI. Similes · Rhetoric
(1) The well-digging parable—digging upon a high plain · dry soil → moist soil → mud → knowing that water is near; the chapter’s principal parable — 〔T09n0262 0031c09〕: 「譬如有人渴乏須水，於彼高原穿鑿求之，猶見乾土，知水尚遠；施功不已，轉見濕土，遂漸至泥，其心決定、知水必近。」 tr. “It is like a person who is thirsty and without water, needing water, and digs upon a high plain in search of it. While the person still sees dry soil, the person knows that water is far away. Applying effort without stopping, the person in time sees moist soil and gradually reaches mud. The mind becomes certain, knowing that water must be near.” The basis of the simile is digging a well in search of water; what it illustrates is seeking unsurpassed awakening; what it reveals is that hearing, understanding, reflecting upon, and cultivating the Lotus bring one gradually closer to the Buddha’s wisdom. The three houses correlate its stages differently: Kuiji classifies the teachings—dry soil = the provisional teaching of the two vehicles; moist soil = the Prajñā teaching of emptiness; mud near water = this sutra’s teaching of the middle way 〔T34n1723 0810a12〕. Zhiyi gives two gateways—the contemplative gateway of shared, separate, and perfect, and the teaching gateway of the five periods 〔T34n1718 0110c24〕. Jizang correlates the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation 〔T34n1721 0586c17〕.
Distinction: the well-digging parable is unique to this chapter. It is not one of the seven parables of the Lotus—the burning house in Chapter 3; the poor son in Chapter 4; the medicinal herbs in Chapter 5; the conjured city in Chapter 7; the jewel in the robe in Chapter 8; the jewel in the topknot in Chapter 14; and the skilled physician and his children in Chapter 16.
(2) The three guides for transmitting the sutra · the images of the Tathāgata’s room, robe, and seat as inward ground — 〔T09n0262 0031c25〕: 「入如來室（一切眾生中大慈悲心）、著如來衣（柔和忍辱心）、坐如來座（一切法空）。」 tr. “Enter the Tathāgata’s room—a heart of great loving-kindness and compassion toward all sentient beings; put on the Tathāgata’s robe—a gentle and patiently enduring heart; sit on the Tathāgata’s seat—the emptiness of all dharmas.” These are the three states of heart in which one who teaches the Dharma after the Buddha’s extinction abides. The verse proclaims them again at 〔0032a21〕: 「大慈悲為室，柔和忍辱衣，諸法空為座，處此為說法。」 tr. “Great loving-kindness and compassion are the room; gentleness and patient endurance are the robe; the emptiness of all dharmas is the seat. Abiding here, one teaches the Dharma.”
(3) The sutra scroll as the Tathāgata’s full body—the imagery of stūpa and relic — 〔T09n0262 0031b27〕: wherever the sutra scroll abides, a seven-jeweled stūpa should be raised, and there is no need for relics, because 「此中已有如來全身」 tr. “the Tathāgata’s full body is already present within.” By establishing 「經＝佛身」 tr. “the sutra is the Buddha’s body,” the chapter establishes the dignity of transmitting the sutra and reaches forward to the full-body stūpa of Many Jewels Buddha in the following 〈見寶塔品〉 “Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.”
VII. Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward
(1) Treatises upon which this chapter relies (cited by Kuiji’s 《玄贊》 Fahua Xuanzan · stable citations · sutras and treatises in this collection that bear upon one another):
- The 《辯中邊論》 Madhyānta-vibhāga — the ten Dharma practices, which run through the six kinds of Dharma teacher and the three wisdoms 〔T34n1723 0808a08〕.
- Vasubandhu’s 《法華論》 Treatise on the Lotus Sutra — the water of buddha-nature 〔0810a05〕; the indestructible relic, as cited by Jizang 〔T34n1721 0586b19〕; and the treatise-source for the outline of the two powers—Dharma-power and practice-power 〔0807a27〕.
- The 《金光明經》 Golden Light Sutra — 如如・如如智名法身 tr. “suchness and the knowledge of suchness are named the dharma-body” 〔0809c19〕. The 《十住毘婆沙》 Treatise on the Ten Stages — the four dharmas of the lion seat 〔0810b29〕. The 《對法》 Abhidharma-samuccaya, 《顯揚》 Xianyang shengjiao lun, and 《瑜伽》 Yogācārabhūmi — pointers to the marks of questioning, answering difficulties, and teaching Dharma 〔0810c05〕.
(2) Cross-reading within the Lotus:
- The full-body relic → reaches forward to the full-body stūpa of Many Jewels Buddha in 〈見寶塔品第十一〉 “Chapter 11, Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa” (Zhiyi extends the 「全身」 tr. “full-body” meaning there 〔T34n1718 0112c20〕).
- The three guides for transmitting the sutra—the room, robe, and seat → 〈安樂行品第十四〉 “Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices” 「還廣此三法」 tr. “again unfolds these three dharmas at length” 〔T34n1718 0112b19〕.
- Opening the gateway of skillful means and revealing the true mark → echoes the opening of the provisional to reveal the real in 〈方便品第二〉 “Chapter 2, Skillful Means” (Kuiji: 「攝遠傍昔二乘・攝近正今一乘」 tr. “gathering the distant and collateral—the former two vehicles—and gathering the proximate and direct—the present One Vehicle” 〔T34n1723 0810a26〕).
- Overweening pride → connects with the five thousand people of overweening pride who rose from their seats and withdrew in 〈方便品〉 “the Chapter on Skillful Means” 〔T34n1723 0809b27〕.
(3) Carrying forward: Huizhao’s 《法華玄贊義決》 Decisions on the Meaning of the Profound Praise of the Lotus T34n1724 carries forward the Cien line; Zhanran’s 《法華文句記》 Record of the Words and Phrases of the Lotus T34n1719 carries forward the Tiantai line. Each carries forward the reading of its own tradition; the lines are recorded without adjudicating.
VIII. Placement of the Editions
- 羅什 T262 (base text): 〈法師品第十〉 “Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher” begins at 〔T09n0262 0030b29〕（卷四）. Through Medicine King, the Buddha addresses eighty thousand great beings 0030b29 · prediction for rejoicing 0030c05 · the five kinds of Dharma teacher, literally four members, 0030c09 · the Tathāgata’s envoy 0030c28 / relative gravity of reviling 0031a02 · borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder 0031a05 · the Lotus as foremost 0031b15 / difficult to trust and understand 0031b17 / treasury of secret essence 0031b18 · covered by the robe 0031b23 / hand touching the head 0031b25 · raising the stūpa and the full body 0031b27 / the Tathāgata’s full body 0031b28 · the well-digging parable 0031c09 / gradually reaching mud 0031c10 · opening the gateway of skillful means 0031c16 / deep, firm, hidden, and far-reaching 0031c17 · newly resolved bodhisattvas 0031c19 / overweening pride 0031c20 · the Tathāgata’s room, robe, and seat 0031c25 · sending emanated people 0031c29 · the three guides in verse 0032a21 / forgetting words and phrases 0032a05 · drawing near to the Dharma teacher 0032b14, ending at 〔0032b15〕. Source file: Source-Text layer, verified word for word; twenty-eight core doctrinal passages verified word for word.
- 竺法護 T263: 〈藥王如來品第十〉 “Chapter 10, Medicine King Tathāgata” begins at 〔T09n0263 0099a27〕（卷六）: the former-life account of Medicine King Tathāgata, Prince Good Canopy, and the offering of Dharma, absent from Kumārajīva · prediction through rejoicing and encouraging 0100b19 · performing the Tathāgata’s work and sent by the World-Honored One 0100c12 · slandering the Tathāgata and disparaging the person equal and without difference in offense 0100c15 · no placement of the Buddha’s relics / the Tathāgata’s relics in their entirety 0101b20 · most honored and foremost / none throughout the realm trusts or delights 0101b07 · digging upon the high plain and seeing only dry soil 0101c04 · patient endurance and gentleness as the Tathāgata’s clothing 0101c25 / understanding emptiness as the lion seat 0101c27.
- 添品 T264: 〈法師品第十〉 “Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher” begins at 〔T09n0264 0165a15〕: prediction for rejoicing 0165a21 · the five kinds of Dharma teacher 0165a24 · the Tathāgata’s envoy 0165b13 · difficult to trust and understand 0166a02 · raising the stūpa and the full body 0166a11 · well-digging 0166a22 · the Tathāgata’s room as great loving-kindness and compassion 0166b08. 〔In nine core doctrinal passages it agrees almost word for word with Kumārajīva; differences are confined to punctuation, function words such as 「是經／此經」 tr. “this sutra / the present sutra,” and variant character forms.〕
- 窺基《玄贊》T34n1723 (the expository mirror): 〈法師品〉 “Chapter on the Dharma Teacher” 〔0806c24〕—〔0811a11〕（卷八本）. Distinguished through three gateways 0806c24 · the two explanations of the name 0807b19 / major text divided into two 0807c04 · six kinds of Dharma teacher 0808a01 / ten Dharma practices 0808a08 · the Tathāgata’s envoy through the three karmas 0808b15 · relic of the dharma-body 0809c07 / perfection of principle and knowledge 0809c13 / suchness and the knowledge of suchness 0809c19 · difficult to trust 0809b21 / people of overweening pride withdrawing while the Buddha was present 0809b27 · water of buddha-nature in the well-digging parable 0810a05 / dry soil as the provisional two-vehicle teaching 0810a12 / moist soil as the Prajñā teaching of emptiness 0810a14 / the teaching of the middle way as intimate 0810a18 · opening the gateway of skillful means 0810a26 / revealing the true mark 0810a27 · people of overweening pride who have not entered the three stages 0810b05 · the room 0810b15 / the seat 0810b24 / the two contemplations of emptiness 0810b28 / connection with the Abhidharma-samuccaya, Xianyang shengjiao lun, and Yogācārabhūmi 0810c05. The following 〈見寶塔品〉 “Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa” begins at 〔0811a12〕.
- 智顗《文句》T34n1718 (parallel witness): 〈釋法師品〉 “Explanation of the Chapter on the Dharma Teacher” from 0107c25 to 0112c18 · five kinds of Dharma teacher 0107c26 · explanation of the name 0108b02 · room, robe, and seat correlated with the three virtues 0112b10 / the three powers as the secret treasury of the three virtues 0110b19 · the Tathāgata’s envoy through suchness-wisdom and suchness-principle 0109b23 · relic of the dharma-body 0110c02, with the full-body meaning extending to the Chapter on Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa at 0112c20 · the contemplative gateway of the well-digging parable 0110c24 / teaching gateway through the five periods 0111a06 / recording the explanations of the various masters 0111a13 · people of overweening pride as dry soil 0112b06.
- 吉藏《法華義疏》T34n1721 (parallel witness): 〈法師品第十〉 “Chapter 10, The Dharma Teacher” from 0583b24 to 0587c17 · four-gateway outline 0583b25 · the medicine-teacher simile in explaining the name 0584a14 · five kinds with no fixed number 0584a22 · the Tathāgata’s envoy 0585b01 · the indestructible relic 0586b19 · the three wisdoms in the well-digging parable 0586c17 · three gateways in sequence 0587b04 · startled, doubtful, and afraid as overweening pride 0587a23.
- Record of formation: Kumārajīva names the chapter 「法師品」 tr. “The Dharma Teacher,” after the person able to uphold the Dharma; Dharmarakṣa names it 「藥王如來品」 tr. “Medicine King Tathāgata,” after the former-life account at the chapter’s opening, whose structure differs greatly. Dharmarakṣa later has a separate 〈歎法師品第十八〉 “Chapter 18, Praising the Dharma Teacher,” corresponding to Kumārajīva’s Chapter on the Qualities of the Dharma Teacher; the two must not be confused. 「如來全身」 tr. “The Tathāgata’s full body” occurs only in Kumārajīva and the supplemented edition; Dharmarakṣa has 「全著如來舍利」 tr. “the Tathāgata’s relics in their entirety are placed within.” The number 「五種法師」 tr. “five kinds of Dharma teacher” arises from commentarial division and combination: Kumārajīva has four members, Tiantai five, Cien six, and Sanlun no fixed number. 「弘經三軌」 tr. “The three guides for transmitting the sutra” is a later summary term and does not occur verbatim in Zhiyi or Jizang. The supplemented edition agrees almost word for word with Kumārajīva.