妙法蓮華經文句 化城喻品 · 先明知見久遠
人在險路上累到走不動時，最需要的也許不是再聽一句『終點還很遠』，而是眼前真有一處可以停下。
化城就在這時出現。它能防護，能讓疲憊的人甦醒、止息。這份休息不是錯；錯的是因為終於安穩，便把中途當成究竟。
所以品題不是只寫『城』，而是寫『化城』。一個『化』字，把城的護持與城的限度同時留下：它確實接住疲極的人，卻不是最後的寶所。
本論問得很直接：既然寶所是真實，為什麼反而標出權宜的城？
答案也很直接：知道城是化的，便知道寶所是實的。看清眼前不是終點，不會使這段路失去意義；它會使人休息以後，仍記得前路。
這也解釋了為何有人入城，有人從城門徑過，有人知道不須城。同一處止息，對不同的人並不成為同一種執取。問題不只在我到了哪裡，也在我把所到之處認作什麼。
接著，經文要說一件極久遠的往事。遠到把無數國土磨成微塵，再以一塵算一劫，仍不能窮盡。面對這樣的久遠，本論先不急著敘事；它先說，如來看見往昔，就像看見今日，所引之事決定不虛，然後才說宿命。
一邊是化城：提醒我們不要把暫時所得認作究竟。一邊是久遠知見：提醒我們，以下所聞不是模糊傳說。前者使人願意繼續走，後者使人能夠信受這條久遠的來路。
下次終於得到一點安穩時，不妨問自己：這是寶所，還是一座讓我恢復力量的城？
能休息，不必急著否定；知道它是化城，也就不必害怕再出發。
When people on a perilous road are too exhausted to continue, what they need most may not be another reminder that the destination is still far away, but a real place before them where they can stop.
The conjured city appears at precisely this moment. It can protect them; it can let the exhausted recover and rest. This rest is not a mistake. The mistake is to take a midway station for the ultimate simply because one has at last found peace.
The chapter title therefore does not say only “city,” but “conjured city.” The word “conjured” preserves both the city’s protection and its limit: it truly receives those exhausted to the utmost, yet it is not the final place of jewels.
The root treatise asks directly: since the place of jewels is real, why does the title instead mark the provisional city?
Its answer is equally direct: knowing that the city is conjured, one knows that the place of jewels is real. Seeing clearly that what lies before one is not the destination does not deprive this stretch of road of meaning; it enables one, after resting, still to remember the road ahead.
This also explains why some enter the city, some pass straight through its gate, and some know that they have no need of it. The same resting place does not become the same attachment for different people. The question concerns not only where I have arrived, but also what I take that place to be.
The scripture will next recount an event from an exceedingly distant past—so distant that even if countless lands were ground into dust and each mote counted as an eon, its measure could not be exhausted. Faced with such remoteness, the root treatise does not rush into the story. It first says that the Tathāgata sees the past just as He sees today, so the event cited is certainly not false; only then does it recount past lives.
On one side stands the conjured city, reminding us not to take a temporary attainment for the ultimate. On the other is knowledge and vision of the distant past, reminding us that what follows is not a vague legend. The former makes people willing to continue walking; the latter enables them to trust and receive this distant course by which they came.
The next time some measure of peace is finally attained, one might ask: is this the place of jewels, or a city in which to recover one’s strength?
There is no need to deny the value of rest. Knowing that it is a conjured city, one need not fear setting out again.
隋天台智者大師說《妙法蓮華經文句》〔灌頂法師私記・唐天寶戊子朗和尚條倫治定本・卷端序＝鏡中沙門神逈述〕· 大正藏 T34n1718〔起 T34 0098a06〕。段/行首〔T34 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨（換頁一枚）。
〔T34 0098a06〕妙法蓮華經文句卷第七下 天台智者大師說 釋化城喻品 「化」者，神力所為也，以神力故無而欻有，名之為化。防非禦敵，稱之為「城」，內合二乘涅槃者，權智所為也。以權智力無而說有，用教為化防思禦見，名為涅槃；蘇息引入實未究竟，而言滅度。權假施設故言「化城」。喻如前說。此是因緣釋也。約教者，若三藏義者，於涅槃生安隱想、生滅度想；若通教二乘與三藏同；菩薩不爾，《釋論》云，如父過險，一脚入城一脚門外，憶妻子故從城入險，誓願扶餘習入生死，而不以空為證也；別教不道城如化，用城防險，從城門徑過，將城作方便斷見思惑，不道此為極也；圓教知無賊病亦不須城，故言化城也。今是圓教意，故題為「化城喻品」也。本迹、觀心不記。 問： 此品說因緣事，下根得悟，應名宿世品。 答： 品初廣說因緣，末則結譬化城，若從前應稱宿世，經從末故言化城。又上根疑薄，但取道樹三七思惟，以明機緣；中根疑濃加以譬喻，探取二萬億佛所教無上道，以為機緣；下根疑復厚，則明宿世久遠機緣。若從宿世之始，明久遠因緣，語其中間言其化城，明其究竟言其寶所，經家處中標品，收得初後，從此義便，故言化城品。 問： 化城是權、寶所是實，何意棄實從權？ 答： 由知城是化，則知寶所是實，故標化不失實也。 此段三品經文，例前應四，但領解、述成皆在授記段中。何者？若不領解，安得授記、述成，故兼得二意。又領解、述成、得記，或前後不定，領解或默念、發言不同，其文少，不足分品，但入他段中。此品正說因緣，後兩品授記。初又二：一、先明知見久遠，二、明宿世結緣。如來三達，遠明如見今日，所引往事決定不虛，然後說宿命也。此二各有長行、偈頌。初長行有三：一、出所見事，即是好成、大相、大通勝佛也；二、舉譬明久遠；三、結見昔如今〔云云〕。偈有七行，頌前三義，如文。
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.
《妙法蓮華經文句》第七卷下，天台智者大師說。
一、為什麼名為化城
先解釋『化』。化，是神力造成的；由於神力，本來沒有的忽然出現，所以名為化。
再解釋『城』。城能防止不法、抵禦敵人，所以稱為城。向內配合經義，這座城指二乘涅槃，是權宜智慧所施設的。依權宜智慧之力，在本來沒有之處說成有；用言教造出一座化城，防止思惑、抵禦見惑，把它稱作涅槃。眾人在這裡甦醒、休息，再被引向真實；實際上尚未到達究竟，卻先說是滅度。正因為這是權宜假設，所以稱為化城。譬喻的內容如前文已說。這是依因緣所作的解釋。
二、依四種教法看這座城
再依教法分別。依三藏教的意思，二乘人在涅槃中生起安穩之想，也生起已經滅度之想。
通教的二乘與三藏教相同，通教菩薩卻不是這樣。《釋論》說，譬如父親越過險路，一隻腳已踏進城，一隻腳仍在城門之外；因為憶念妻子，他又從城中走回險路，發誓願意扶持尚存的習氣而進入生死，卻不把空當作所證的終點。
別教不說這座城像幻化而有；它借城防禦險難，從城門直接通過，把城當作斷除見惑、思惑的方便，不說這裡就是極處。
圓教知道並沒有賊害之患，也不需要一座城，所以說它是化城。這一品現在所取的是圓教之意，因此題作〈化城喻品〉。本迹與觀心兩重解釋，這裡沒有記錄。
三、既說久遠因緣，為何不題作宿世品
有人問：這一品說的是過去因緣之事，下根人因此得悟，照理應當名為〈宿世品〉。
回答說：品初廣說過去因緣，品末以化城作譬喻總結。如果依開頭立名，確實應稱宿世；經題卻依品末立名，所以稱為化城。
再從三種根機來看。上根人的疑惑較薄，只取佛在道樹下三七日思惟之事，顯明祂與眾生的機緣。中根人的疑惑較濃，便再加上譬喻，並向前探取佛在二萬億佛處所教的無上道，作為彼此機緣。下根人的疑惑又更深厚，所以要說明久遠宿世中的機緣。
若依全品的進程，從宿世的開端說久遠因緣；到了中間，說的是化城；說到究竟，則是寶所。結集經典的人取中段的化城標作品名，卻能把開頭與結尾一起收攝。依這層意思最為便利，所以稱作〈化城喻品〉。
四、標舉權宜，是否會遺失真實
又有人問：化城是權宜，寶所是真實，為什麼捨棄真實的寶所，反而依從權宜的化城立名？
回答說：正因為知道這座城是化現的，便會知道寶所是真實的。因此標舉化城，並不會遺失寶所所指的真實。
五、三品經文為何兼有四類內容
這一段共有三品經文。按照前例，內容應有四類；可是領解與述成都收在授記段內。為什麼？若沒有領解，怎麼能得到授記，又怎麼會有述成？所以授記段同時兼得領解、述成兩層意思。
而且領解、述成與得記三事，前後次序並不固定。領解有時只是默念，有時發為言說，表達方式也不相同；相關文字又少，不足以各自分成一品，所以收入別的段落之中。眼前這一品正式宣說因緣，後面兩品則為授記。
六、先明知見久遠，再說宿世結緣
這一品開頭又分成兩部分：第一，先說如來知見久遠；第二，再說宿世結緣。
如來具有三達，對極其久遠之事，看得如同今日眼前之事；這就表明祂所引的往事確定不虛，然後才宣說過去世的事情。知見久遠與宿世結緣兩部分，各自都有長行與偈頌。
先明知見久遠的長行又有三層。第一，說出如來所見之事，也就是好成、大相、大通勝佛。第二，舉出譬喻，顯明時間多麼久遠。第三，總結如來看見往昔之事，就像看見今日之事一樣〔云云：以下從略〕。
偈頌共有七行，重頌前面三層意義，照經文即可知道。
Fahua Wenju, second half of fascicle seven, spoken by the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai.
I. Why It Is Called the Conjured City
First, “conjured” is explained. Conjuration is something produced through supernormal power. Through supernormal power, what originally did not exist suddenly appears, and it is therefore called conjured.
Next, “city” is explained. A city can prevent transgression and resist enemies and is therefore called a city. Inwardly correlating this with the sūtra’s meaning, the city refers to the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles, established by provisional wisdom. Through the power of provisional wisdom, existence is asserted where there originally was none. Verbal teaching creates a conjured city that defends against conceptual delusion and resists view-delusion, calling it nirvāṇa. Here the assembly recovers and rests before being led toward the real. Although they have not actually reached the ultimate, this is provisionally called extinction. Precisely because it is a provisional establishment, it is called the conjured city. The content of the simile has already been explained above. This is the interpretation through causes and conditions.
II. Viewing This City through the Four Teachings
Next comes distinction according to the teachings. According to the Tripiṭaka Teaching, people of the two vehicles form thoughts of peace and thoughts that they have attained extinction within nirvāṇa.
The two vehicles under the Shared Teaching are the same as in the Tripiṭaka Teaching, but bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching are not. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom says that it is like a father crossing a perilous road: one foot has entered the city while the other remains outside its gate. Because he remembers his wife and children, he returns from the city to the perilous road, vowing to support the remaining habituations and enter birth and death without taking emptiness as the endpoint of realization.
The Distinct Teaching does not say that the city exists like an illusion. It uses the city to defend against dangers and passes straight through its gate, treating the city as an expedient for severing view-delusion and conceptual delusion without saying that this is the ultimate.
The Perfect Teaching knows that there is no danger from brigands and no need for a city, and therefore calls it a conjured city. The present chapter follows this meaning of the Perfect Teaching and is accordingly titled “The Parable of the Conjured City.” Interpretations in terms of Origin and Trace and through contemplating the mind are not recorded here.
III. Since the Chapter Explains Causes and Conditions from the Distant Past, Why Is It Not Called “Past Lives”?
Someone asks: this chapter concerns causes and conditions from the past, through which those of lesser capacity awaken. Logically, it should be called the “Past Lives” chapter.
The answer says: the beginning of the chapter extensively explains past causes and conditions, while its end concludes with the simile of the conjured city. If the title were established from the beginning, it indeed should be called “Past Lives”; the scripture instead names it from the final passage and therefore calls it “The Parable of the Conjured City.”
The matter can also be considered through the three capacities. Those of superior capacity have slighter doubt; their connection with the Buddha is clarified using only His reflection for three weeks beneath the bodhi tree. Those of middling capacity have heavier doubt, so a simile is added and the unsurpassed path taught by the Buddha in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas is drawn forward to serve as their mutual connection. Those of lesser capacity have still denser doubt and delusion, so the causes and conditions from distant past lives must be explained.
According to the movement of the whole chapter, distant past causes and conditions are explained at the beginning through past lives; the conjured city appears in the middle; and the place of jewels appears as the ultimate. The compilers of the scripture took the conjured city in the middle as the chapter title, yet thereby gathered both beginning and end. According to this meaning, it is most fittingly called “The Parable of the Conjured City.”
IV. Does Marking the Provisional Cause the Real to Be Lost?
Someone further asks: the conjured city is provisional and the place of jewels real. Why set aside the real place of jewels and instead follow the provisional conjured city in establishing the title?
The answer says: precisely by knowing that this city is conjured, one knows that the place of jewels is real. Marking the conjured city therefore does not lose the reality indicated by the place of jewels.
V. Why Three Scriptural Chapters Contain Four Kinds of Content
This passage comprises three scriptural chapters. According to the earlier pattern, its content should have four kinds, but understanding and confirmation are both included within the prediction passage. Why? Without understanding, how could one receive a prediction, and how could there be confirmation? Thus the prediction passage simultaneously contains the additional meanings of understanding and confirmation.
Moreover, the sequence of understanding, confirmation, and receiving a prediction is not fixed. Understanding sometimes remains a silent thought and sometimes issues as speech, so its modes of expression differ. The relevant passages are also too brief to form separate chapters and are therefore gathered into other sections. The present chapter directly explains causes and conditions; the following two chapters bestow predictions.
VI. First Clarifying Knowledge and Vision of the Distant Past, Then Explaining the Formation of Connections in Past Lives
The beginning of this chapter again divides into two parts: first, clarifying the Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision of the distant past; second, explaining the formation of connections in past lives.
The Tathāgata possesses the three penetrations and sees events of the exceedingly distant past as though they were present before Him today. This establishes that the events He cites are certainly not false; only then does He recount past lives. Both knowledge and vision of the distant past and the formation of connections in past lives have prose and verse sections.
The prose that first clarifies knowledge and vision of the distant past has three levels. First, it states what the Tathāgata sees: Good Formation, Great Mark, and the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence. Second, it gives a simile revealing how distant the time is. Third, it concludes that the Tathāgata sees past events just as He sees events today〔and so forth; the remainder is omitted〕.
The verse comprises seven lines and restates the preceding three meanings; they can be understood directly from the scripture.
一座忽然出現的城，能使走在險路上的人停下來；可它若只是化現，進城又有什麼意義？一處真實的寶所，明明才是道路的究竟；可品題若不標寶所，反而標出化城，會不會使人只記得休息，忘了仍須前行？
本論沒有避開這個張力。它先逐字解開『化』與『城』，再把城放回四種教法中辨明，接著連設兩問：既然全品廣說久遠宿世，為何不名宿世；既然化城是權、寶所是實，為何又棄實從權？答案不是另添一套說法，而是讓化城自身的作用、限度與所指一同顯出。
一、本來沒有的城，為何仍能讓人休息
『化』先說城如何出現：由神力所作，本來沒有，忽然便有。『城』再說它能做什麼：防止過非，抵禦敵害。兩字相合，一面明示它不是本有的實處，一面也沒有抹去它在險路中防護、止息的作用。
當譬喻向內配合法義，化城所指的是二乘涅槃。它由權宜智慧施設，在沒有之處說成有，以言教防思、禦見，使疲憊者甦醒休息。可是，本論緊接著說，這份休息仍要把人引向真實；既然尚未究竟，眼前所稱的滅度便不能被誤認為最後寶所。
因此，化城的要點不只在『有一座城』，更在『這座城是化』。若只看城的防護，容易在止息處安住；若只看它並非究竟，又可能看輕它曾經使疲極之眾得以續行。本論把兩面寫在同一品題中：可入、可息，卻不可把暫息當成究竟。
二、同一座城，為何有人入、有人過、有人不須
依三藏教，二乘人在涅槃中生起安隱與滅度之想。依通教，二乘仍與此相同，菩薩卻不如此。《釋論》所舉的父親，一隻腳在城內，一隻腳仍在門外；他因憶念妻子，從城返回險路，誓願進入生死而不取空證。這幅圖像把菩薩放在城門上：不是未曾到城，也不是入城後便不再回頭。
別教仍用城防險，卻從城門徑直通過。城在此是斷除見惑、思惑的方便，不被說成終極。到了圓教，既知沒有賊害之患，也不需要一座城，所以正可說它是化城；當前品題便依這一意義安立。
這一連串分別沒有把化城拆成四座互不相干的城。所問始終是同一件事：面對涅槃之城，受教者把它認作什麼，又停在何處？有人生已滅度之想，有人一腳入而一腳不入，有人借城防險而徑過，有人知道無賊亦無須城。城沒有改變，對城的理解與行止卻並不相同。
本論到此明記本迹、觀心兩重不錄。這句停筆同樣屬於正文邊界：前面已說的依前面讀，沒有寫下的便不替它補成正文。
三、全品從宿世開始，為何取中間的城立名
第一問直指品題：本品說久遠因緣，使下根得悟，似乎應名〈宿世品〉。回答先看首尾。品初廣說因緣，品末以化城譬作結；依開頭立名可以稱宿世，經卻依末段而稱化城。
本論又把上、中、下三根並列。上根疑薄，只取道樹下三七日思惟來明機緣；中根疑濃，再加譬喻，並向前探取二萬億佛所教無上道；下根疑惑更厚，才展開宿世久遠機緣。取材一層比一層久遠，不是為了把三種材料混成同一段，而是說明三種根機各由何處顯出機緣。
若單看本品自身，宿世是開始，化城在中間，寶所顯究竟。立題者取處中的化城為名，卻同時收得開頭與結尾：說城由化而有，便回攝前面的久遠因緣；說城只是化，便使讀者望向後面的真實寶所。品題落在中間，不表示停在中間，而是由中間把始、終一同提起。
四、標出權宜，為何不會遮住真實
第二問比第一問更尖銳：化城是權，寶所是實，為什麼不標真實，反而標權宜？
本論的回答很短：知道城是化的，便知道寶所是實的。兩者不是各自封閉的兩個名稱。若把城誤作實有，寶所反而會被遮住；當城被如實認作化現，城與寶所的差別才清楚。標出『化城』，正是把『非究竟』寫進品名之內，所以不會遺失真實。
根經的譬喻也沿著同一方向前進。導師不是讓眾人永住城中；眾人止息、不再疲倦以後，導師便滅去化城，告知寶處已近。化城所成辦的是中路止息，寶所才是前行所至。兩者先後相接，卻不可互換位置。
五、只有三品，領解與述成去了哪裡
品題問答之後，本論轉而處理三品經文的開合。按前例，內容應有四類；眼前卻只有三品，因為領解與述成都收入授記段。沒有領解，便無從授記，也無從述成，所以同一授記段能兼得兩層意義。
這裡不是說領解、述成、得記永遠必須按一種順序出現。本論明說，三者前後不定；領解又可能只在心中默念，也可能發為言說。相關文字若少，不足以獨立成品，便收入其他段落。經品的數目因而不能反過來抹去文中實有的作用：沒有另成一品，不等於沒有領解或述成。
三品的分工由此確定：本品正說因緣，後兩品授記。當前單元又只取本品開頭的第一層，也就是先明知見久遠；宿世結緣則隨後另說。
六、為何先說如見今日，再敘久遠往事
久遠之事既然遠到不可計量，現在的說法憑什麼使人確信？本論先答這個問題，才讓敘事開始：如來以三達照見久遠，如同看見今日，所以所引往事決定不虛，然後才說宿命。
這個先後使『久遠』不只是一個龐大的數字。長行先說所見之事：國名好成，劫名大相，佛名大通勝佛。接著以磨土成墨、過國下一點、再把所經國土盡皆磨塵的譬喻，令不可量的久遠有了可想見的形狀；最後再收回如來之見，說看見往昔猶如今日。
所見、久遠、如今日，三層彼此承接。若只有所見之名，還不能顯出往事何等遙遠；若只有塵點之譬，久遠又可能只剩令人驚歎的數量；末後結成如見今日，才把極遠的往昔與當下確定的知見合在一起。七行偈再重頌這三義，使長行已立的次第由偈聲重新顯明。
於是，化城與久遠在這一單元中並非兩件偶然相鄰的事。品題先讓人知道中途之城不可作究竟，科文再讓人知道將說的久遠往事並非傳聞。前者辨清正在走向何處，後者確立以下所引之事何以可信；道路與往事各守自己的位置，共同把〈化城喻品〉的開端立住。
文句記之眼
湛然先把因緣釋分成依譬釋名、以法相合、說明化城用意、總結權假四段，又從能引之權與所對之機兩路各配四悉檀〔T34n1719 0296c07–0296c22〕。祂並以見近、思遠補釋城所防禦的兩惑〔0296c10–0296c12〕。這些分段與配當是《文句記》的鏡釋；本論本段只明標因緣釋，未自行列出四悉檀。把層位標清，才能使後釋照明正文而不取代正文。
約教一段，湛然先說三藏菩薩尚未起行，故此處不論；通教菩薩雖同到城，卻能入而復出，所以一腳入城、一腳不入。祂又把子、妻各作機緣配釋，並展開別教徑過與圓教對化城的判釋〔0296c22–0297a05〕。其中把三界機緣釋為子、久發心者釋為妻，都是鏡文對譬喻所作的配當，不是本論直說。本論明記本迹、觀心不錄，湛然則說可依例推知，另補本住、迹入與化主示說〔0297a06〕；補說仍須留在鏡面。
第一問的發問者，湛然判為依《正法華》而問，並以其〈往古品〉題名校讀宿世之問；祂再分三根所取的三時，又把本品的宿世、化城、寶所作三時對讀〔0297a08–0297a18〕。這些發問者歸屬與三時名目都是鏡釋。第二問的短答，祂再以說化、開權、顯實相即展開〔0297a19〕。領解與述成併入授記，祂舉陳如記後方領作釋〔0297a22〕；昔如今的夾註，祂指向前漸後頓與古今二同〔0297a24〕。最後，湛然把七行偈細分為一行頌所見、四行頌久遠、二行結今昔〔0297a25–0297a27〕。這一、四、二是鏡中細科，不回填為本論在本段已明列的數目。
A city that suddenly appears can give people walking a perilous road a place to stop. Yet if it is only conjured, what meaning is there in entering it? The real place of jewels is plainly the road’s ultimate destination. But if the chapter title marks not the place of jewels but the conjured city, might people remember only their rest and forget that they must still continue?
The root treatise does not evade this tension. It first unfolds the words “conjured” and “city,” then places the city within the four teachings for distinction. It next poses two questions in succession: since the entire chapter extensively explains distant past lives, why is it not called “Past Lives”; and since the conjured city is provisional while the place of jewels is real, why set aside the real and follow the provisional? Its answer does not add another system. It allows the conjured city’s function, limit, and referent to become visible together.
I. How a City That Did Not Originally Exist Can Still Give People Rest
“Conjured” first explains how the city appears: it is made through supernormal power. Because something that did not originally exist suddenly comes into being through that power, it is called conjured. “City” next explains what it can do: prevent transgression and resist enemies. The two words together explicitly show that it is not an originally existent real place, without erasing its function of protection and rest along the perilous road.
When the simile is inwardly correlated with the Dharma, the conjured city refers to the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles. Provisional wisdom establishes it, speaking of existence where there is none; verbal teaching creates a conjured city that defends against conceptual delusion and resists view-delusion, allowing the exhausted to recover and rest. Yet the root treatise immediately says that this rest must still guide them toward the real. Since they have not reached the ultimate, what is presently called extinction cannot be mistaken for the final place of jewels.
The point of the conjured city therefore lies not only in “there is a city,” but more deeply in “this city is conjured.” If one sees only its protective function, one may settle at the place of rest. If one sees only that it is not ultimate, one may undervalue how it enabled those exhausted to the utmost to continue. The root treatise writes both sides into a single chapter title: one may enter and rest, but one may not take temporary rest for the ultimate.
II. Why Some Enter, Some Pass through, and Some Have No Need of the Same City
According to the Tripiṭaka Teaching, people of the two vehicles form thoughts of peace and extinction within nirvāṇa. Under the Shared Teaching, the two vehicles remain the same, but bodhisattvas do not. The father cited from the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom has one foot within the city and the other still outside its gate. Because he remembers his wife and children, he returns from the city to the perilous road, vowing to enter birth and death while supporting the remaining habituations, without taking realization of emptiness as his endpoint.
The Distinct Teaching still uses the city to defend against danger, but passes straight through its gate. Here the city is an expedient for severing view-delusion and conceptual delusion and is not called the ultimate. In the Perfect Teaching, one knows there is no danger from brigands and therefore has no need of a city; precisely for that reason, it can be called a conjured city. The present chapter title is established according to this meaning.
These distinctions do not divide the conjured city into four unrelated cities. The question remains the same throughout: confronted with the city of nirvāṇa, what do those taught take it to be, and where do they stop? Some think they have already attained extinction; some place one foot inside and keep one outside; some use the city to defend against danger and pass straight through; some know there are no brigands and no need for a city. The city does not change, but their understanding of it and movement in relation to it are not the same.
At this point the root treatise expressly records that the interpretations in terms of Origin and Trace and through contemplating the mind are omitted. This stopping of the brush is itself a boundary of the body text: what precedes is read as written, while what was not recorded is not supplied as though it were part of the root text.
III. Why a Chapter Beginning with Past Lives Is Named for the City in Its Middle
The first question goes directly to the chapter title: this chapter recounts distant past causes and conditions through which those of lesser capacity awaken, so it would seem that it should be called the “Past Lives” chapter. The answer begins by considering its beginning and end. The opening extensively explains causes and conditions, while at the chapter’s end the conjured-city simile concludes the teaching. A title taken from the opening could call it “Past Lives,” but the scripture names it from the final passage and calls it “The Parable of the Conjured City.”
The root treatise then places the three capacities side by side. Because those of superior capacity have slight doubt, their connection is clarified using only the Buddha’s reflection for three weeks beneath the bodhi tree. Those of middling capacity have heavier doubt, so a simile is added and the teaching of the unsurpassed path in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas is drawn forward to explain the connection. Those of lesser capacity have still denser doubt and delusion; only for them are the causes and conditions of distant past lives unfolded. The materials reach progressively farther into the past, not to blend all three into one passage but to show where the connection for each capacity is revealed.
Considered within the chapter itself, past lives form the beginning, the conjured city stands in the middle, and the place of jewels reveals the ultimate. The one who supplied the title chose the conjured city in the middle, yet thereby gathered both beginning and end: saying the city comes into being through conjuration gathers the preceding distant causes and conditions; saying it is only conjured turns the reader toward the real place of jewels that follows. The title falls in the middle, not because it stops there, but because from the middle it raises beginning and end together.
IV. Why Marking the Provisional Does Not Conceal the Real
The second question is sharper than the first: the conjured city is provisional and the place of jewels real, so why mark the provisional rather than the real?
The root treatise answers briefly: knowing that the city is conjured, one knows that the place of jewels is real. They are not two names sealed away from one another. If the city is mistakenly taken as real, the place of jewels is instead obscured. When the city is recognized for what it is—a conjuration—the difference between city and place of jewels becomes clear. The title “Conjured City” writes “not ultimate” into the chapter’s very name and therefore does not lose the real.
The root scripture’s simile moves in the same direction. The guide does not let the assembly remain in the city forever. After they have rested and are no longer exhausted, he makes the conjured city disappear and tells them that the place of jewels is near. The conjured city accomplishes rest along the road; the place of jewels is what forward movement reaches. They follow one another, but their positions cannot be exchanged.
V. Where Understanding and Confirmation Went When There Are Only Three Chapters
After the questions and answers on the chapter title, the root treatise turns to the opening and closing of the three scriptural chapters. According to the earlier pattern, their content should have four kinds, yet only three chapters appear because understanding and confirmation are both included within the prediction passage. Without understanding, there could be neither prediction nor confirmation; the same prediction passage can therefore carry both additional meanings.
This does not say that understanding, confirmation, and receiving a prediction must always appear in one fixed order. The root treatise expressly says that the sequence of the three is not fixed. Understanding may remain a silent thought in the mind or may issue as speech. When the relevant text is brief and insufficient to form a separate chapter, it is gathered into another passage. The number of scriptural chapters therefore cannot erase functions actually present in the text: the absence of a separate chapter does not mean that understanding or confirmation is absent.
The division of labor among the three chapters is thus established: the present chapter directly explains causes and conditions, while the following two bestow predictions. The present unit takes only the first level at the opening of this chapter—first clarifying knowledge and vision of the distant past; the formation of connections in past lives is explained separately afterward.
VI. Why Knowledge and Vision of the Distant Past Comes before the Account of Past Connections
Since these events are so remote as to be incalculable, what enables the present account to command confidence? The root treatise answers this before beginning the narrative: through the three penetrations, the Tathāgata illuminates the distant past as though seeing today; this establishes that the events He cites are certainly not false, and only then does He recount past lives.
This sequence prevents “distant past” from becoming merely an enormous number. The prose first states what is seen: the land Good Formation, the eon Great Mark, and the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence. It then uses the simile of grinding lands into ink, passing through lands and depositing a dot, and finally grinding all the lands traversed into motes of dust, giving imaginable form to immeasurable remoteness. At the end it returns to the Tathāgata’s vision, saying that He sees the past just as He sees today.
What is seen, how distant it is, and how it is like today form three successive levels. If only the names of what is seen were given, they would not show how remote the event is. If there were only the dust-dot simile, the distant past might remain merely an astonishing quantity. Only the final conclusion, “as though seeing today,” joins the exceedingly distant past to certain knowledge and vision in the present. The seven-line verse restates these three meanings, allowing the sequence already established in prose to become clear again through verse.
The conjured city and the distant past are therefore not two matters accidentally adjacent in this unit. The chapter title first lets readers know that the city along the road must not be taken as ultimate; the doctrinal division then lets them know that the distant event about to be related is not hearsay. The former clarifies where the road is going; the latter establishes why the event cited below can be trusted. Road and past event each keep their own place while together establishing the opening of the “Parable of the Conjured City” chapter.
Through the Eye of the Wenjuji
Zhanran first divides the interpretation through causes and conditions into four: explaining the title through the simile, correlating it with the Dharma, explaining the purpose of the conjured city, and concluding its provisional status. He then correlates each of the four siddhāntas along two lines—the provisional that guides and the capacities addressed〔T34n1719 0296c07–0296c22〕. He further uses seeing what is near and thinking what is far away to explain the two delusions against which the city defends〔0296c10–0296c12〕. These divisions and correlations are explanations in the Mirror; the present root-treatise passage explicitly marks only interpretation through causes and conditions and does not itself enumerate the four siddhāntas. Keeping the levels clear allows the later explanation to illuminate rather than replace the body.
In the passage on interpretation in terms of the teaching, Zhanran first says that the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva has not yet begun the practice and is therefore not discussed here. A bodhisattva of the Shared Teaching reaches the city but can enter and then emerge, and therefore has one foot within the city and one outside. Zhanran further correlates child and wife with particular capacities and conditions and expands the Distinct Teaching’s straight passage through the city and the Perfect Teaching’s judgment of the conjured city〔0296c22–0297a05〕. The interpretation of capacities and conditions in the three realms as the child and those who long ago produced the aspiration as the wife are correlations made by the Mirror, not direct statements of the root treatise. The root treatise expressly says that Origin and Trace and contemplation of the mind are omitted; Zhanran says they may be inferred by precedent and adds original abiding, traced entry, and the transforming lord’s demonstrative teaching〔0297a06〕. These supplements must remain on the mirror side.
Zhanran judges that the speaker of the first question asks on the basis of the True Dharma Lotus, reading the question about past lives through its chapter title “Ancient Times.” He then distinguishes the three times used for the three capacities and cross-reads past lives, the conjured city, and the place of jewels within this chapter as three times〔0297a08–0297a18〕. The attribution of the questioner and these three temporal names are explanations of the Mirror. He expands the second question’s short answer as teaching conjuration, opening the provisional, and revealing the real being mutually implicative〔0297a19〕. In explaining how understanding and confirmation are included in prediction, he cites Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya, who expresses understanding only after his prediction〔0297a22〕. For the inline note that the past is like today, he points to the earlier gradual and later sudden and two correspondences between past and present〔0297a24〕. Finally, Zhanran divides the seven-line verse into one line restating what is seen, four lines restating the distant past, and two lines concluding past and present〔0297a25–0297a27〕. This one-four-two division is the Mirror’s detailed analysis and is not written back as a numerical list already explicit in the root treatise.
考據Apparatus
本單元是智者消釋〈化城喻品〉的開端。它先釋化城之名，依次作因緣釋與約教釋；再以兩組問答說明何以取化城立品，以及標舉權宜何以不失寶所之實；末後交代三品開合，立出知見久遠、宿世結緣兩段。本單元嚴格域止於七行偈頌三義，尚未進入佛壽與宿世結緣的正文。
一、科判定位
嚴格域為 T34n1718〔0098a06–0098b16〕，正文共五百九十八個漢字。起處含卷題「妙法蓮華經文句卷第七下」〔0098a06〕、署名「天台智者大師說」〔0098a08〕與品題「釋化城喻品」〔0098a09〕；義科正文自「「化」者，神力所為也」〔0098a10〕起，止於「偈有七行，頌前三義，如文」〔0098b16〕。同一行其後「「佛壽五百四十」下，正明結緣」已開下一單元，不納入本域。
本單元位於迹門第七品之首，依本論自身的問答、法數與轉折，可分如下：
| 次第 | 行域 | 本論內容 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 0098a06–0098a10 | 卷題、署名、品題 |
| 二 | 0098a10–0098a15 | 釋化、城二字，以二乘涅槃、權智、教、蘇息、滅度作法合，結為因緣釋 |
| 三 | 0098a15–0098a24 | 依次列三藏、通教、別教、圓教，結「今是圓教意」；末明本迹、觀心不記 |
| 四 | 0098a24–0098b03 | 第一問答：何以不名宿世品；依品初、品末、三根機緣及宿世、化城、寶所三時作答 |
| 五 | 0098b03–0098b06 | 第二問答：何以標權不標實；以知城是化即知寶所是實作答 |
| 六 | 0098b06–0098b11 | 三品經文例前應四；領解、述成收入授記段，本品正說因緣，後二品授記 |
| 七 | 0098b11–0098b16 | 初分知見久遠、宿世結緣；二段各有長行、偈頌，初長行三義，偈七行頌前三義 |
湛然《法華文句記》的對位正文自「因緣釋中為四：初約喻釋名」〔T34n1719 0296c07〕起，至「三二行頌結今昔」〔0297a26〕止；同頁其後「《經》云「其佛」等者」〔0297a27〕已解下一單元。鏡文與本論在佛壽句前同步換科。
二、成立與傳本
卷端神逈序說此書「迺是灌頂法師私記，合二十卷」〔T34n1718 0001a23–0001a24〕，又記唐天寶戊子朗和尚治定時「方始條倫」〔0001b07〕，並自陳「非苟求同異輒有增減於其間矣」〔0001b07–0001b08〕。本單元現行卷題下仍只署「天台智者大師說」〔0098a08〕；故義說歸智者，文字傳錄歸灌頂及後世治定。原序沒有留下另一套可逐段對勘的治定前次第，故只誌所自陳，不判每一字由何時形成。
品題所在有單邊校語「不分卷【甲】」〔0098a09〕。它記甲本的卷次形態，不改品題「釋化城喻品」，也不把全書傳承語改作本單元署名。
三、所帖經文與所引
（一）先明知見久遠的長行
本單元所帖直接根經，回錨本倉封印本 canon/tiantai/fahua/treatise/07_huachengyu/07_huachengyu_source.md，並以 T09n0262 原始經藏檔覆核。長行共有四個段落，依經文次序全錄如下。
第一段〔T09n0262 0022a19〕
佛告諸比丘：「乃往過去無量無邊不可思議阿僧祇劫，爾時有佛，名大通智勝如來、應供、正遍知、明行足、善逝、世間解、無上士、調御丈夫、天人師、佛、世尊。其國名好成，劫名大相。諸比丘！彼佛滅度已來，甚大久遠，譬如三千大千世界所有地種，假使有人磨以為墨，過於東方千國土乃下一點，大如微塵，又過千國土復下一點，如是展轉盡地種墨。於汝等意云何？是諸國土，若算師，若算師弟子，能得邊際，知其數不？」
第二段〔T09n0262 0022a28〕
「不也，世尊！」
第三段〔T09n0262 0022a28〕
「諸比丘！是人所經國土，若點不點，盡末為塵，一塵一劫；彼佛滅度已來，復過是數無量無邊百千萬億阿僧祇劫。我以如來知見力故，觀彼久遠，猶若今日。」
第四段〔T09n0262 0022b03〕
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
（二）七行偈頌
根經以十四個偈行承載七個四句偈單位；本論因此說「偈有七行」〔T34n1718 0098b16〕。十四行依次如下：
| 次第 | 根經逐字 | 行錨 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 「我念過去世，無量無邊劫， | 0022b05 |
| 二 | 有佛兩足尊，名大通智勝。 | 0022b06 |
| 三 | 如人以力磨，三千大千土， | 0022b07 |
| 四 | 盡此諸地種，皆悉以為墨。 | 0022b08 |
| 五 | 過於千國土，乃下一塵點， | 0022b09 |
| 六 | 如是展轉點，盡此諸塵墨。 | 0022b10 |
| 七 | 如是諸國土，點與不點等， | 0022b11 |
| 八 | 復盡末為塵，一塵為一劫。 | 0022b12 |
| 九 | 此諸微塵數，其劫復過是， | 0022b13 |
| 十 | 彼佛滅度來，如是無量劫。 | 0022b14 |
| 十一 | 如來無礙智，知彼佛滅度， | 0022b15 |
| 十二 | 及聲聞菩薩，如見今滅度。 | 0022b16 |
| 十三 | 諸比丘當知！佛智淨微妙， | 0022b17 |
| 十四 | 無漏無所礙，通達無量劫。」 | 0022b18 |
本論將長行分成三義；《文句記》再把七行偈分為一、四、二。三層次序如下：
| 根經段落 | 本論自說 | 《文句記》鏡釋 |
|---|---|---|
| 佛名大通智勝、國名好成、劫名大相 | 「出所見事，即是好成、大相、大通勝佛也」〔T34n1718 0098b14〕 | 初一行頌所見事〔T34n1719 0297a25〕 |
| 地種為墨、千國一點、點與不點盡末為塵、一塵一劫 | 「舉譬明久遠」〔T34n1718 0098b15〕 | 次四行頌譬久遠〔T34n1719 0297a25〕 |
| 如來知見久遠猶若今日 | 「結見昔如今〔云云〕」〔T34n1718 0098b15〕 | 後二行頌結今昔〔T34n1719 0297a26〕 |
本論作「大通勝佛」，根經作「大通智勝」；兩本各守其字，不以根經的智字靜默補入本論。
（三）品題所據的化城譬與法合
因緣釋的「喻如前說」〔T34n1718 0098a15〕，所指是同品後文的化城譬及法合；它們不在本單元直接經段內，卻是釋品題與第二問答的根經底本。
化城譬〔T09n0262 0025c26〕
「譬如五百由旬險難惡道，曠絕無人、怖畏之處。若有多眾，欲過此道至珍寶處。有一導師，聰慧明達，善知險道通塞之相，將導眾人欲過此難。所將人眾中路懈退，白導師言：『我等疲極，而復怖畏，不能復進；前路猶遠，今欲退還。』導師多諸方便而作是念：『此等可愍，云何捨大珍寶而欲退還？』作是念已，以方便力，於險道中過三百由旬，化作一城，告眾人言：『汝等勿怖，莫得退還。今此大城，可於中止，隨意所作。若入是城，快得安隱。若能前至寶所，亦可得去。』是時疲極之眾，心大歡喜，歎未曾有：『我等今者免斯惡道，快得安隱。』於是眾人前入化城，生已度想、生安隱想。爾時導師，知此人眾既得止息，無復疲惓。即滅化城，語眾人言：『汝等去來，寶處在近。向者大城，我所化作，為止息耳。』
法合〔T09n0262 0026a13〕
「諸比丘！如來亦復如是，今為汝等作大導師，知諸生死煩惱惡道險難長遠，應去應度。若眾生但聞一佛乘者，則不欲見佛，不欲親近，便作是念：『佛道長遠，久受懃苦乃可得成。』佛知是心怯弱下劣，以方便力，而於中道為止息故，說二涅槃。若眾生住於二地，如來爾時即便為說：『汝等所作未辦，汝所住地，近於佛慧，當觀察籌量所得涅槃非真實也。但是如來方便之力，於一佛乘分別說三。』如彼導師，為止息故，化作大城。既知息已，而告之言：『寶處在近，此城非實，我化作耳。』」爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
本論與根經的對位如下：
| 本論原句 | 根經今本 |
|---|---|
| 「於涅槃生安隱想、生滅度想」〔T34n1718 0098a16〕 | 「生已度想、生安隱想」〔T09n0262 0026a10〕 |
| 「蘇息引入實未究竟」〔T34n1718 0098a13〕 | 「為止息故，化作大城」〔T09n0262 0026a23〕與「寶處在近」〔T09n0262 0026a24〕 |
| 「化城是權、寶所是實」〔T34n1718 0098b04〕 | 「所得涅槃非真實也」與「此城非實，我化作耳」〔T09n0262 0026a21、0026a24〕 |
| 「由知城是化，則知寶所是實」〔T34n1718 0098b04〕 | 根經先滅化城，再明「寶處在近」〔T09n0262 0026a11、0026a24〕 |
最後一列是本論對根經的釋義，不改標作根經逐字。
（四）上根與中根的跨品機緣
本論說上根「但取道樹三七思惟」〔T34n1718 0098a27〕。所取根經五行如下：
| 根經逐字 | 行錨 |
|---|---|
| 我始坐道場，觀樹亦經行， | 0009c04 |
| 於三七日中，思惟如是事， | 0009c05 |
| 我所得智慧，微妙最第一。 | 0009c06 |
| 眾生諸根鈍，著樂癡所盲， | 0009c07 |
| 如斯之等類，云何而可度？ | 0009c08 |
本論說中根「探取二萬億佛所教無上道」〔T34n1718 0098a28〕。根經完整段為：
T09n0262〔0011b09〕
爾時佛告舍利弗：「吾今於天、人、沙門、婆羅門等大眾中說，我昔曾於二萬億佛所，為無上道故，常教化汝，汝亦長夜隨我受學。我以方便引導汝故，生我法中。舍利弗！我昔教汝志願佛道，汝今悉忘，而便自謂已得滅度。我今還欲令汝憶念本願所行道故，為諸聲聞說是大乘經，名妙法蓮華，教菩薩法，佛所護念。
「二萬億佛所教無上道」是本論壓縮提稱；根經逐字是「我昔曾於二萬億佛所，為無上道故，常教化汝」〔0011b10〕。
（五）《正法華》的品題
| 層位 | 逐字 | 行錨 |
|---|---|---|
| 本論問句 | 「應名宿世品」 | T34n1718 0098a24 |
| 《文句記》鏡釋 | 「《正法華》名「往古品」，問者潛改云「宿世品」」 | T34n1719 0297a09 |
| 《正法華經》今本 | 「往古品第七」 | T09n0263 0088b22 |
《正法華經》正文隨即作「佛告諸比丘：「乃去往古久遠世時，不可計會」〔T09n0263 0088b23〕。此處只覆核鏡釋所稱品題，不以異譯全文替代本工程所依 T09n0262。
（六）本論所引《釋論》與今本平行
本論原錄如下：
T34n1718〔0098a17–0098a19〕
《釋論》云，如父過險，一脚入城一脚門外，憶妻子故從城入險，誓願扶餘習入生死，而不以空為證也；
今本《大智度論》有三段可平行對讀。
壯夫扶親過險、不取漏盡證〔T25n1509 0592b23–0592c08〕
「須菩提！譬如壯夫，勁勇猛健，善於兵法、六十四能，堅持器仗，安立不動，巧諸伎術，端正淨潔，人所愛敬，少修事業，得報利多。以是因緣故，眾所恭敬、尊重、讚歎；見人敬重，倍復歡喜。少有因緣，當至他處，扶將老弱，過諸險難恐怖之處；安慰父母，曉喻妻子：『莫有恐懅！我能過此，必無所苦。』嶮難道中，多有怨賊潛伏劫害，其人智力具足故，能度惡道，還歸本處，不遇賊害，歡喜安樂。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩亦如是，於一切眾生中，慈、悲、喜、捨心遍滿足。爾時，菩薩摩訶薩住四無量心，具足六波羅蜜，不取漏盡證；學一切種智，入空、無相、無作解脫門。是時菩薩不隨一切諸相，亦不證無相三昧；以不證無相三昧故，不墮聲聞辟支佛地。
論釋配譬〔T25n1509 0594a21–0594a26〕
是中說譬喻：「壯夫」是菩薩，「父母親族」是可度眾生，「險道」是三界生死，「惡賊」是魔民及諸煩惱，「器仗」是菩薩五神通等種種方便力，「還歸本處」是菩薩所行道，「安立不動」是菩薩住畢竟空，以四無量心運致可度眾生著涅槃安樂處。
行空不證、不捨眾生〔T25n1509 0594b07–0594b15〕
須菩提歡喜白佛言：「諸菩薩所為甚難，實為希有！所謂行空而不作證。」佛答：「是菩薩本願諸一切眾生令得離苦，以是本願、大悲心所持故，雖行空，不作證。」復次，若菩薩作是念：「一切眾生處在苦中，為顛倒所縛，沒在無所有中。」是時即行空、無相、無作解脫門。當知是菩薩有方便力，行三解脫門，而不捨眾生。
兩本對讀結果如下：
| 本論原錄成分 | 今本可對讀字面 | 狀態 |
|---|---|---|
| 父過險、憶妻子 | 「扶將老弱，過諸險難恐怖之處；安慰父母，曉喻妻子」〔0592b28〕 | 有平行 |
| 從城入險、入生死 | 「能度惡道，還歸本處」；論釋又說險道是三界生死 | 有平行，方向措辭不同 |
| 不以空為證 | 「不取漏盡證」〔0592c05〕；「行空而不作證」〔0594b09〕；「行三解脫門，而不捨眾生」〔0594b14〕 | 有平行 |
| 一脚入城一脚門外 | 今本未見完整同字搭配 | 原錄與今本並存 |
| 扶餘習入生死 | 今本未見完整同字搭配 | 原錄與今本並存 |
以上只並錄同、異，不把今本三段拼接成《文句》所引的一段，也不判所傳孰是。
四、文句記釋要〔鏡〕
《文句記》對本單元的骨幹釋讀如下。凡分段、配當與補說，均署在鏡下，不倒作智者原說。
| 本論節點 | 《文句記》釋要 |
|---|---|
| 因緣釋〔0098a10–0098a15〕 | 分約喻釋名、以法合、說化意、總結四段〔T34n1719 0296c07〕 |
| 權智、用教、防思禦見〔0098a11–0098a13〕 | 逐句配神力所為、無而歘有、化、城，另以「見逼思遙」釋見、思〔0296c10–0296c12〕 |
| 因緣釋本未列四悉檀 | 鏡從能引之權與所對之機，各作世界、為人、對治、第一義四益〔0296c16〕 |
| 三藏、通、別、圓〔0098a15–0098a23〕 | 展開通教一脚入與不入、別教徑過、圓教昔斥今開〔0296c22–0297a05〕 |
| 「本迹、觀心不記」〔0098a23〕 | 鏡說「可比知」，再補本住三德涅槃、迹入化城與化主示說〔0297a06〕 |
| 第一問答〔0098a24–0098b03〕 | 判問者附《正法華》而問，並解三根三時及今經處中立題〔0297a08–0297a18〕 |
| 第二問答〔0098b03–0098b06〕 | 以「說化即是開權，開權即是顯實」展開短答〔0297a19〕 |
| 領解、述成收入授記〔0098b06–0098b10〕 | 以陳如記後方領及文少等情形釋妨〔0297a22〕 |
| 「昔如今〔云云〕」〔0098b16〕 | 說應出前漸後頓之相，並指文中古今二同〔0297a24〕 |
| 七行偈〔0098b16〕 | 細分初一行所見事、次四行譬久遠、後二行結今昔〔0297a25–0297a26〕 |
其中四悉檀、見逼思遙、本住三德涅槃、問者歸屬、開權顯實、陳如記後方領、前漸後頓及一四二分配，都是鏡釋，不改寫為本論在本段已逐字說出。
五、諸家異釋
本論嚴格域未見有人云、或言、舊云、解者不同、一云等他家異解標記，故本目據實記為零，不另造一說。
本論有兩組自設問答，但兩問均由作者直接設問、作答，不列作他家異釋：
| 次第 | 問 | 答的骨架 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 「此品說因緣事，下根得悟，應名宿世品」〔0098a24〕 | 依品初、品末、三根機緣及宿世、化城、寶所三時說明取題 |
| 二 | 「化城是權、寶所是實，何意棄實從權」〔0098b04〕 | 「由知城是化，則知寶所是實，故標化不失實也」〔0098b04–0098b05〕 |
《文句記》所說問者附《正法華》、四悉檀配當等，屬鏡家判釋，已入前目，不反向充作本論自錄異解。
六、術語
| 詞語 | 本段義位 |
|---|---|
| 化 | 由神力所為，原無而忽然出現；法合時以權智無而說有 |
| 城 | 以防非禦敵得名；法合時以教為化，以防思、禦見為城 |
| 二乘涅槃 | 化城所內合之法，由權智施設，使人暫得蘇息，尚未究竟 |
| 因緣釋 | 以化城之譬、法合、施設之意解釋品題；本論在〔0098a15〕明標 |
| 約教 | 依三藏、通教、別教、圓教次第解釋化城；四個名目與次序照本論 |
| 三藏義 | 於涅槃生安隱想、滅度想 |
| 通教 | 二乘與三藏同；菩薩不如此，所引《釋論》譬其入城而又返險、不以空為證 |
| 別教 | 不說城如化，以城為方便斷見思惑，從城門徑過，不以此為究竟 |
| 圓教 | 知無賊患而不須實城，故說化城；本論以此結當前品題之意 |
| 本迹、觀心不記 | 本論明說此處不錄後二釋；鏡有補說，兩層不可合寫 |
| 三根 | 上根疑薄、中根疑濃、下根疑復厚；依次取道樹三七思惟、二萬億佛所教無上道、宿世久遠機緣 |
| 宿世、化城、寶所 | 依次表示品初、其中、究竟；經家取中間化城立題而收初後 |
| 知見久遠 | 以如來三達明見久遠往事如見今日，使所引往事決定不虛 |
| 長行三義 | 出所見事、舉譬明久遠、結見昔如今 |
本域固定詞面未見五時八教、化儀、化法、藏通別圓、迹門十妙、本門十妙、一念三千七個後世約詞。這只是字面邊界，不據零見推論相關義理不存在。
七、譬喻・互讀・承衍
化城先以神力造成，又以防非禦敵得名；法合則把二乘涅槃放在暫時蘇息的位置。根經中的導師知道眾人疲極，於險道中化作一城；眾人止息以後，導師隨即滅城，指出寶處在近。故本論說蘇息能引入實而尚未究竟，又說知城是化，便知寶所是實。暫息與前進不是兩套相反譬義，而是同一導引的前後。
約教段另用一脚在城、一脚在門外，及由城返險的形象，說通教菩薩不以空為證；別教則從城門徑過，不把城認作究竟。兩個形象都承本論所引，不以今本《大智度論》的平行文替換其原貌。
品題問答把全品拉成三個位置：宿世之始、其中化城、究竟寶所。取中間的化城立題，不是把初、後刪去；本論說經家處中標品，正因化城一名能收得初後。第二問又把同一作用說得更緊：標化而不失實，因為知道城是所化，寶所之實反而同時顯出。
與本倉《妙法蓮華經》〈化城喻品〉互讀，本單元所立長行三義，正對佛名、國名、劫名，地墨塵劫之譬，以及久遠猶若今日；七行偈再重頌三義〔T09n0262 0022a19–0022b18〕。與今本《大智度論》互讀，只能確認扶親過險、不取漏盡證、行空不證而不捨眾生三組平行〔T25n1509 0592b23–0592c08、0594a21–0594a26、0594b07–0594b15〕；本論原錄與今本措辭不同處仍並存，不以平行文改寫本論。
本單元末後立出知見久遠、宿世結緣兩分。眼前先以如來遠見如今日，保證所引往事不虛；其後才正式說宿命、結緣。這一先後承衍至下一單元，不能把佛壽句與宿世結緣內容提前收入本域。
八、校本定位
（一）本域校記
嚴格域有一組正文對舉校記與一組獨立單邊校語：
| 行錨 | 類型 | 大正本 | 甲本 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0098a09 | 單邊校語 | 品題照正文 | 不分卷 |
| 0098a22 | 對舉式空讀 | 病 | 甲本缺 |
〔0098a22〕原始校記以大正本「病」對甲本空讀，文字化校語作「病【大】，〔－〕【甲】」。本版明記甲本缺，不把空讀寫成另一個字。
本域的星號回指校記為零，省略式首末字數校記亦為零；不因別單元有此兩型而在本域虛列。
（二）隨文夾註與外字
本域有一枚所傳隨文夾註：「結見昔如今〔云云〕」〔0098b15–0098b16〕。它位於 07a 末句，先於同一〔0098b16〕的下一單元首字，故歸本域，並以〔云云〕保留層次。
本域原始切片沒有外字標籤，故外字分母為零；不由此推成全卷無外字。
（三）目錄與頁錨
全帙一級品題有兩形：〈序品〉不冠釋字，其餘二十七品題作釋某品；本單元品題為「釋化城喻品」〔0098a09〕。本單元又是長品內的次級切分，不另占一品。
讀者原典只有一個換頁錨〔T34 0098a06〕，置於段首並與正文同行；其後全域仍在同一排印頁內，故不逐欄、逐行重標，也沒有句中頁錨。考據中的每條引文另依引句首字前最近的大正藏行標定位，不能拿讀者頁錨代替精確行錨。
This unit opens Zhiyi’s explanation of the “Parable of the Conjured City” chapter. It first explains the name conjured city through interpretation by causes and conditions and interpretation in terms of the teaching. Two sets of questions and answers then explain why the conjured city supplies the chapter title and why marking the provisional does not lose the reality of the place of jewels. Finally, the unit explains how three chapters open and close and establishes the two passages on knowledge and vision of the distant past and the formation of connections in past lives. The strict domain ends with the three meanings of the seven-line verse and has not yet entered the body concerning the buddha’s lifespan and the formation of connections in past lives.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
The strict domain is T34n1718〔0098a06–0098b16〕 and contains 598 Han graphs. Its entrance includes the fascicle title 「妙法蓮華經文句卷第七下」 tr. “Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, Fascicle Seven, Second Half”〔0098a06〕, the attribution 「天台智者大師說」 tr. “spoken by the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai”〔0098a08〕, and the chapter title 「釋化城喻品」 tr. “Explanation of the ‘Parable of the Conjured City’ Chapter”〔0098a09〕. The doctrinal body begins with 「「化」者，神力所為也」 tr. “‘Conjured’ means what is produced through supernormal power”〔0098a10〕 and ends with 「偈有七行，頌前三義，如文」 tr. “the verse has seven lines and restates the preceding three meanings, as in the text”〔0098b16〕. Later on the same line, 「「佛壽五百四十」下，正明結緣」 tr. “from ‘the buddha’s lifespan was five hundred forty’ onward, the formation of connections is directly clarified” has already opened the next unit and is not included in this domain.
This unit stands at the beginning of the seventh chapter in the Trace Gate. According to the root treatise’s own questions and answers, enumerations, and transitions, it divides as follows:
| Sequence | Domain | Root Treatise’s Content |
|---|---|---|
| I | 0098a06–0098a10 | Fascicle title, attribution, and chapter title |
| II | 0098a10–0098a15 | Explanation of the two words conjured and city; correlation with the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles, provisional wisdom, teaching, recovery, and extinction; conclusion as interpretation through causes and conditions |
| III | 0098a15–0098a24 | Tripiṭaka, Shared, Distinct, and Perfect Teachings in sequence, concluding 「今是圓教意」 tr. “the present meaning is that of the Perfect Teaching”; final note that Origin and Trace and contemplation of the mind are not recorded |
| IV | 0098a24–0098b03 | First question and answer: why the chapter is not called “Past Lives”; answer through the beginning and end of the chapter, the connections for the three capacities, and the three times of past lives, conjured city, and place of jewels |
| V | 0098b03–0098b06 | Second question and answer: why the provisional rather than the real is marked; answer that knowing the city is conjured means knowing the place of jewels is real |
| VI | 0098b06–0098b11 | Three scriptural chapters should, by earlier precedent, make four parts; understanding and confirmation are included within the prediction passage, while this chapter directly explains causes and conditions and the following two chapters bestow predictions |
| VII | 0098b11–0098b16 | Initial division into knowledge and vision of the distant past and formation of connections in past lives; each has prose and verse, the first prose has three meanings, and the seven-line verse restates those three |
The corresponding body in Zhanran’s Fahua Wenjuji begins with 「因緣釋中為四：初約喻釋名」 tr. “Within interpretation through causes and conditions there are four: first, explaining the name through the simile”〔T34n1719 0296c07〕 and ends with 「三二行頌結今昔」 tr. “third, two lines restate the conclusion concerning past and present”〔0297a26〕. Later on the same page, 「《經》云「其佛」等者」 tr. “as for the scripture’s words ‘that buddha’ and so forth”〔0297a27〕 already explains the next unit. Mirror and root treatise change divisions together before the statement on the buddha’s lifespan.
II. Formation and Transmission
Shenjiong’s preface at the head of the fascicle says that this work was 「迺是灌頂法師私記，合二十卷」 tr. “privately recorded by Dharma Master Guanding, comprising twenty fascicles”〔T34n1718 0001a23–0001a24〕. It further records that when Master Lang settled the text in the Tang Tianbao wuzi year, he 「方始條倫」 tr. “only then began to arrange it in order”〔0001b07〕 and stated that he did 「非苟求同異輒有增減於其間矣」 tr. “not casually seek agreement or difference and arbitrarily add or subtract within it”〔0001b07–0001b08〕. Beneath the extant fascicle title, this unit is still attributed only as 「天台智者大師說」 tr. “spoken by the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai”〔0098a08〕. The doctrinal teaching is therefore attributed to Zhiyi, while textual transmission belongs to Guanding and later settlement. The original preface leaves no alternate pre-redaction sequence that can be collated passage by passage, so this apparatus records only what it states and does not decide when each graph was formed.
At the chapter title is the one-sided editorial note 「不分卷【甲】」 tr. “witness A does not divide the fascicle”〔0098a09〕. It records the fascicle arrangement of witness A, does not alter the chapter title 「釋化城喻品」 tr. “Explanation of the ‘Parable of the Conjured City’ Chapter,” and does not convert the work’s general transmission statement into a separate attribution for this unit.
III. Sutra Passages Explained and Works Cited
1. Prose First Clarifying Knowledge and Vision of the Distant Past
The direct root scripture attached to this unit is anchored to the sealed repository edition canon/tiantai/fahua/treatise/07_huachengyu/07_huachengyu_source.md and checked against the original T09n0262 canon file. Its prose comprises four passages, recorded in full below in scriptural order.
**First Passage〔T09n0262 0022a19〕 **
佛告諸比丘：「乃往過去無量無邊不可思議阿僧祇劫，爾時有佛，名大通智勝如來、應供、正遍知、明行足、善逝、世間解、無上士、調御丈夫、天人師、佛、世尊。其國名好成，劫名大相。諸比丘！彼佛滅度已來，甚大久遠，譬如三千大千世界所有地種，假使有人磨以為墨，過於東方千國土乃下一點，大如微塵，又過千國土復下一點，如是展轉盡地種墨。於汝等意云何？是諸國土，若算師，若算師弟子，能得邊際，知其數不？」
tr. The Buddha told the bhikṣus: “In the past, immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable asaṃkhyeya eons ago, there was then a buddha named Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Completely Awakened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone One, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed One, Tamer of Persons, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One. His land was called Good Formation and his eon Great Mark. Bhikṣus, an exceedingly long and distant time has passed since that buddha’s extinction. Suppose all the earth in a great trichiliocosm were ground into ink. After passing eastward through a thousand lands, someone deposited one dot as large as a mote of dust; after another thousand lands, another dot; and in this way continued until all the earth-ink was exhausted. What do you think? Could mathematicians or their disciples reach the limit of these lands and know their number?”
**Second Passage〔T09n0262 0022a28〕 **
「不也，世尊！」tr. “No, World-Honored One!”
**Third Passage〔T09n0262 0022a28〕 **
「諸比丘！是人所經國土，若點不點，盡末為塵，一塵一劫；彼佛滅度已來，復過是數無量無邊百千萬億阿僧祇劫。我以如來知見力故，觀彼久遠，猶若今日。」tr. “Bhikṣus, take all the lands that person traversed, whether marked by a dot or not, grind them entirely into dust, and count each mote as one eon. Since that buddha’s extinction, still more than this number of immeasurable, boundless, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of asaṃkhyeya eons have passed. Through the power of the Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision, I behold that distant past as though it were today.”
**Fourth Passage〔T09n0262 0022b03〕 **
爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
tr. At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to proclaim this meaning again, spoke in verse:
2. Seven-Line Verse
The root scripture carries seven four-phrase verse units in fourteen verse lines; the root treatise therefore says 「偈有七行」 tr. “the verse has seven lines”〔T34n1718 0098b16〕. The fourteen lines are:
| Sequence | Root Scripture Verbatim | Line Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| I | 「我念過去世，無量無邊劫， tr. “I recall a past age, immeasurable, boundless eons ago,” | 0022b05 |
| II | 有佛兩足尊，名大通智勝。 tr. “there was a buddha, Honored One Complete in Both, named Great Universal Wisdom Excellence.” | 0022b06 |
| III | 如人以力磨，三千大千土， tr. “Suppose a person exerted strength to grind all the earth of a great trichiliocosm,” | 0022b07 |
| IV | 盡此諸地種，皆悉以為墨。 tr. “reducing every bit of that earth entirely to ink.” | 0022b08 |
| V | 過於千國土，乃下一塵點， tr. “After passing through a thousand lands, that person would deposit one dust-mote dot,” | 0022b09 |
| VI | 如是展轉點，盡此諸塵墨。 tr. “and continue depositing dots in this way until all the dust-ink was exhausted.” | 0022b10 |
| VII | 如是諸國土，點與不點等， tr. “All these lands, whether marked by dots or not,” | 0022b11 |
| VIII | 復盡末為塵，一塵為一劫。 tr. “would again be ground entirely into dust, each mote counted as an eon.” | 0022b12 |
| IX | 此諸微塵數，其劫復過是， tr. “The number of those eons would exceed the number of all these dust motes;” | 0022b13 |
| X | 彼佛滅度來，如是無量劫。 tr. “so immeasurable are the eons since that buddha’s extinction.” | 0022b14 |
| XI | 如來無礙智，知彼佛滅度， tr. “The Tathāgata’s unobstructed wisdom knows that buddha’s extinction” | 0022b15 |
| XII | 及聲聞菩薩，如見今滅度。 tr. “and his śrāvakas and bodhisattvas as though seeing their extinction today.” | 0022b16 |
| XIII | 諸比丘當知！佛智淨微妙， tr. “Bhikṣus, you should know: buddha-wisdom is pure and subtle,” | 0022b17 |
| XIV | 無漏無所礙，通達無量劫。」 tr. “uncontaminated and unobstructed, penetrating immeasurable eons.’” | 0022b18 |
The root treatise divides the prose into three meanings; the Wenjuji further divides the seven-line verse into one, four, and two. The three levels proceed as follows:
| Root-Scripture Passage | Root Treatise’s Own Statement | Wenjuji Mirror Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| The buddha named Great Universal Wisdom Excellence, the land named Good Formation, and the eon named Great Mark | 「出所見事，即是好成、大相、大通勝佛也」 tr. “Stating the events seen means Good Formation, Great Mark, and the Buddha Great Universal Excellence”〔T34n1718 0098b14〕 | The first line restates the events seen〔T34n1719 0297a25〕 |
| Earth made into ink, a dot after a thousand lands, all dotted and undotted lands ground into dust, and one mote as one eon | 「舉譬明久遠」 tr. “giving a simile to clarify the distant past”〔T34n1718 0098b15〕 | The next four lines restate the simile of the distant past〔T34n1719 0297a25〕 |
| The Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision behold the distant past as though it were today | 「結見昔如今〔云云〕」 tr. “concluding that He sees the past as though it were today, and so forth”〔T34n1718 0098b15〕 | The latter two lines restate the conclusion concerning past and present〔T34n1719 0297a26〕 |
The root treatise reads 「大通勝佛」 tr. “Buddha Great Universal Excellence,” while the root scripture reads 「大通智勝」 tr. “Great Universal Wisdom Excellence.” Each text retains its own graphs; the graph for wisdom in the root scripture is not silently inserted into the root treatise.
3. The Conjured-City Simile Underlying the Chapter Title and Its Application to the Dharma
The statement 「喻如前說」 tr. “the simile is as explained before” in the interpretation through causes and conditions〔T34n1718 0098a15〕 refers to the conjured-city simile and its application to the Dharma later in the same chapter. Although they do not fall within the direct root-scripture passage of this unit, they are the scriptural basis for the explanation of the chapter title and the second question and answer.
**Conjured-City Simile〔T09n0262 0025c26〕 **
「譬如五百由旬險難惡道，曠絕無人、怖畏之處。若有多眾，欲過此道至珍寶處。有一導師，聰慧明達，善知險道通塞之相，將導眾人欲過此難。所將人眾中路懈退，白導師言：『我等疲極，而復怖畏，不能復進；前路猶遠，今欲退還。』導師多諸方便而作是念：『此等可愍，云何捨大珍寶而欲退還？』作是念已，以方便力，於險道中過三百由旬，化作一城，告眾人言：『汝等勿怖，莫得退還。今此大城，可於中止，隨意所作。若入是城，快得安隱。若能前至寶所，亦可得去。』是時疲極之眾，心大歡喜，歎未曾有：『我等今者免斯惡道，快得安隱。』於是眾人前入化城，生已度想、生安隱想。爾時導師，知此人眾既得止息，無復疲惓。即滅化城，語眾人言：『汝等去來，寶處在近。向者大城，我所化作，為止息耳。』
tr. “It is like a perilous, difficult, evil road five hundred yojanas long, desolate and without people, a place of terror. A great assembly wishes to cross this road and reach a place of precious jewels. A guide, intelligent and discerning and thoroughly familiar with the open and obstructed features of the perilous road, leads them through the danger. Midway, those he leads become weary and retreat. They tell the guide: ‘We are utterly exhausted and also afraid. We cannot go farther; the road ahead is still distant, and now we wish to turn back.’ The guide possesses many skillful means and thinks: ‘These people are pitiable. Why would they abandon great precious jewels and turn back?’ Having thought this, through the power of skillful means he conjures a city more than three hundred yojanas along the perilous road and tells them: ‘Do not be afraid and do not turn back. You may stop within this great city and do as you wish. If you enter this city, you will quickly attain peace. If you can proceed to the place of jewels, you may also go on.’ The exhausted assembly then rejoices greatly and exclaims at what it has never experienced: ‘We have now escaped this evil road and quickly attained peace.’ The people enter the conjured city and form the thought that they have crossed over and the thought that they are at peace. The guide knows that they have rested and are no longer weary. He immediately makes the conjured city disappear and tells them: ‘Come, all of you; the place of jewels is near. The great city just now was conjured by me only to give you rest.’”
**Application to the Dharma〔T09n0262 0026a13〕 **
「諸比丘！如來亦復如是，今為汝等作大導師，知諸生死煩惱惡道險難長遠，應去應度。若眾生但聞一佛乘者，則不欲見佛，不欲親近，便作是念：『佛道長遠，久受懃苦乃可得成。』佛知是心怯弱下劣，以方便力，而於中道為止息故，說二涅槃。若眾生住於二地，如來爾時即便為說：『汝等所作未辦，汝所住地，近於佛慧，當觀察籌量所得涅槃非真實也。但是如來方便之力，於一佛乘分別說三。』如彼導師，為止息故，化作大城。既知息已，而告之言：『寶處在近，此城非實，我化作耳。』」爾時世尊欲重宣此義，而說偈言：
tr. “Bhikṣus, the Tathāgata is also like this. I now serve as your great guide, knowing that the evil roads of birth and death and affliction are perilous, difficult, long, and distant and that they must be left and crossed. If living beings hear only of the One Buddha-Vehicle, they do not wish to see or draw near the Buddha, but think: ‘The Buddha Way is long and distant; only after long enduring diligent suffering can it be attained.’ The Buddha knows that their minds are timid and inferior. Through the power of skillful means, to give them rest along the middle of the road, He teaches the two nirvāṇas. If living beings abide in these two grounds, the Tathāgata immediately tells them: ‘What you had to do is not complete. The ground on which you abide is near buddha-wisdom. You should examine and consider that the nirvāṇa you attained is not real; it is only through the Tathāgata’s power of skillful means that the One Buddha-Vehicle is distinguished and taught as three.’ He is like the guide who conjures a great city to give them rest. Knowing they have rested, He tells them: ‘The place of jewels is near. This city is not real; I merely conjured it.’” At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to proclaim this meaning again, spoke in verse:
The correspondences between root treatise and root scripture are:
| Root Treatise Verbatim | Extant Root Scripture |
|---|---|
| 「於涅槃生安隱想、生滅度想」 tr. “forming within nirvāṇa the thought of peace and the thought of extinction”〔T34n1718 0098a16〕 | 「生已度想、生安隱想」 tr. “forming the thought that they have crossed over and the thought that they are at peace”〔T09n0262 0026a10〕 |
| 「蘇息引入實未究竟」 tr. “allowing recovery and guiding into the real, though the ultimate has not yet been reached”〔T34n1718 0098a13〕 | 「為止息故，化作大城」 tr. “conjuring a great city to give them rest”〔T09n0262 0026a23〕 and 「寶處在近」 tr. “the place of jewels is near”〔T09n0262 0026a24〕 |
| 「化城是權、寶所是實」 tr. “the conjured city is provisional and the place of jewels real”〔T34n1718 0098b04〕 | 「所得涅槃非真實也」 tr. “the nirvāṇa you attained is not real” and 「此城非實，我化作耳」 tr. “this city is not real; I merely conjured it”〔T09n0262 0026a21、0026a24〕 |
| 「由知城是化，則知寶所是實」 tr. “by knowing that the city is conjured, one knows that the place of jewels is real”〔T34n1718 0098b04〕 | The root scripture first makes the conjured city disappear and then states 「寶處在近」 tr. “the place of jewels is near”〔T09n0262 0026a11、0026a24〕 |
The final row is the root treatise’s interpretation of the root scripture and is not relabeled as root-scripture verbatim.
4. Cross-Chapter Connections for Those of Superior and Middling Capacity
For those of superior capacity, the root treatise says 「但取道樹三七思惟」 tr. “only the reflection for three weeks beneath the bodhi tree is taken”〔T34n1718 0098a27〕. The five root-scripture lines are:
| Root Scripture Verbatim | Line Anchor |
|---|---|
我始坐道場，觀樹亦經行， tr. “When I first sat at the place of awakening, I contemplated the tree and also walked in meditation,” | 0009c04 |
於三七日中，思惟如是事， tr. “and for three weeks reflected on this matter:” | 0009c05 |
我所得智慧，微妙最第一。 tr. “the wisdom I attained is subtle, wondrous, and foremost.” | 0009c06 |
眾生諸根鈍，著樂癡所盲， tr. “Living beings’ faculties are dull; attached to pleasure, they are blinded by delusion.” | 0009c07 |
如斯之等類，云何而可度？ tr. “How can those of this kind be delivered?” | 0009c08 |
For those of middling capacity, the root treatise says 「探取二萬億佛所教無上道」 tr. “drawing forward the unsurpassed path taught in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas”〔T34n1718 0098a28〕. The complete root-scripture passage is:
**T09n0262〔0011b09〕 **
爾時佛告舍利弗：「吾今於天、人、沙門、婆羅門等大眾中說，我昔曾於二萬億佛所，為無上道故，常教化汝，汝亦長夜隨我受學。我以方便引導汝故，生我法中。舍利弗！我昔教汝志願佛道，汝今悉忘，而便自謂已得滅度。我今還欲令汝憶念本願所行道故，為諸聲聞說是大乘經，名妙法蓮華，教菩薩法，佛所護念。
tr. At that time the Buddha told Śāriputra: “I now declare before this great assembly of gods, humans, śramaṇas, and brahmans that in the past, in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas, I constantly taught and transformed you for the sake of the unsurpassed path. Throughout the long night you followed Me and received instruction. Because I guided you through skillful means, you were born within My Dharma. Śāriputra, in the past I taught you to aspire to the Buddha Way. You have now forgotten it entirely and instead consider yourself already to have attained extinction. Because I now wish to cause you to remember the path practiced according to your original vow, for the śrāvakas I teach this Great Vehicle scripture named the Lotus of the Wondrous Dharma, a Dharma that teaches bodhisattvas and is guarded and kept in mind by the buddhas.”
「二萬億佛所教無上道」 tr. “the unsurpassed path taught in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas” is the root treatise’s compressed designation. The root scripture reads verbatim 「我昔曾於二萬億佛所，為無上道故，常教化汝」 tr. “in the past, in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas, I constantly taught and transformed you for the sake of the unsurpassed path”〔0011b10〕.
5. The Chapter Title in the True Dharma Lotus
| Layer | Verbatim | Line Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| Root-treatise question | 「應名宿世品」 tr. “it should be called the ‘Past Lives’ chapter” | T34n1718 0098a24 |
| Wenjuji Mirror explanation | 「《正法華》名「往古品」，問者潛改云「宿世品」」 tr. “The True Dharma Lotus calls it the ‘Ancient Times’ chapter; the questioner tacitly changes this to the ‘Past Lives’ chapter” | T34n1719 0297a09 |
| Extant True Dharma Lotus Sutra | 「往古品第七」 tr. “Chapter Seven: Ancient Times” | T09n0263 0088b22 |
The body of the True Dharma Lotus Sutra immediately continues with 「佛告諸比丘：「乃去往古久遠世時，不可計會」 tr. “The Buddha told the bhikṣus: ‘Going back to an ancient, distant age beyond reckoning’”〔T09n0263 0088b23〕. Only the chapter title named by the Mirror is checked here; the full alternate translation does not replace T09n0262, on which this project is based.
6. The Root Treatise’s Citation of the Treatise of Explanation and Parallels in the Extant Text
The root treatise records:
**T34n1718〔0098a17–0098a19〕 **
《釋論》云，如父過險，一脚入城一脚門外，憶妻子故從城入險，誓願扶餘習入生死，而不以空為證也；
tr. The Treatise of Explanation says: it is like a father crossing a perilous place, with one foot inside the city and one foot outside its gate. Because he remembers his wife and children, he goes from the city into danger, vowing to support the remaining habituations and enter birth and death without taking emptiness as realization.
Three passages in the extant Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom can be read in parallel.
**A Strong Man Helps His Family across Danger without Taking the Realization of Ending the Contaminants〔T25n1509 0592b23–0592c08〕 **
「須菩提！譬如壯夫，勁勇猛健，善於兵法、六十四能，堅持器仗，安立不動，巧諸伎術，端正淨潔，人所愛敬，少修事業，得報利多。以是因緣故，眾所恭敬、尊重、讚歎；見人敬重，倍復歡喜。少有因緣，當至他處，扶將老弱，過諸險難恐怖之處；安慰父母，曉喻妻子：『莫有恐懅！我能過此，必無所苦。』嶮難道中，多有怨賊潛伏劫害，其人智力具足故，能度惡道，還歸本處，不遇賊害，歡喜安樂。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩亦如是，於一切眾生中，慈、悲、喜、捨心遍滿足。爾時，菩薩摩訶薩住四無量心，具足六波羅蜜，不取漏盡證；學一切種智，入空、無相、無作解脫門。是時菩薩不隨一切諸相，亦不證無相三昧；以不證無相三昧故，不墮聲聞辟支佛地。
tr. “Subhūti, it is like a strong man, powerful, brave, fierce, and robust, skilled in military arts and sixty-four abilities. He firmly holds his weapons, stands unmoving, is accomplished in techniques, upright and pure, and loved and respected by others. With little labor he gains abundant reward. For this reason the assembly honors, respects, and praises him, and seeing their esteem he rejoices all the more. Through a minor circumstance he must travel elsewhere, supporting the old and weak across perilous, difficult, terrifying places. He comforts his parents and reassures his wife and children: ‘Do not be afraid! I can cross this and will certainly suffer no harm.’ On the perilous road, many hostile brigands lie in wait to rob and harm them. Because the man’s wisdom and strength are complete, he can cross the evil road, return to his original place, avoid the brigands’ harm, and attain joy and peace. Subhūti, a bodhisattva mahāsattva is likewise. Among all living beings he fully pervades them with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. At that time the bodhisattva mahāsattva abides in the four immeasurable minds, fulfills the six perfections, and does not take the realization of ending the contaminants. He studies the wisdom of all modes and enters the gates of liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. At that time the bodhisattva follows no mark and also does not realize the samādhi of signlessness; because he does not realize the samādhi of signlessness, he does not fall to the ground of śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas.”
**The Treatise’s Correlation of the Simile〔T25n1509 0594a21–0594a26〕 **
是中說譬喻：「壯夫」 tr. “the strong man”是菩薩，「父母親族」 tr. “parents and relatives”是可度眾生，「險道」 tr. “the perilous road”是三界生死，「惡賊」 tr. “evil brigands”是魔民及諸煩惱，「器仗」 tr. “weapons”是菩薩五神通等種種方便力，「還歸本處」 tr. “returning to the original place”是菩薩所行道，「安立不動」 tr. “standing unmoving”是菩薩住畢竟空，以四無量心運致可度眾生著涅槃安樂處。
tr. Here the simile is explained: “the strong man” is the bodhisattva; “parents and relatives” are living beings who can be delivered; “the perilous road” is birth and death in the three realms; “evil brigands” are Māra’s people and the afflictions; “weapons” are the bodhisattva’s five superknowledges and various other powers of skillful means; “returning to the original place” is the path practiced by the bodhisattva; “standing unmoving” is the bodhisattva’s abiding in ultimate emptiness, transporting living beings who can be delivered by means of the four immeasurable minds and placing them in nirvāṇa’s place of peace and happiness.
**Practicing Emptiness without Realizing It and without Abandoning Living Beings〔T25n1509 0594b07–0594b15〕 **
須菩提歡喜白佛言：「諸菩薩所為甚難，實為希有！所謂行空而不作證。」 tr. “What bodhisattvas do is exceedingly difficult and truly rare: they practice emptiness without taking realization.”佛答：「是菩薩本願諸一切眾生令得離苦，以是本願、大悲心所持故，雖行空，不作證。」 tr. “This bodhisattva’s original vow is that all living beings be freed from suffering. Because that original vow and the mind of great compassion sustain the bodhisattva, although practicing emptiness, the bodhisattva does not take realization.”復次，若菩薩作是念：「一切眾生處在苦中，為顛倒所縛，沒在無所有中。」 tr. “All living beings abide in suffering, bound by inversion and submerged in non-possession.”是時即行空、無相、無作解脫門。當知是菩薩有方便力，行三解脫門，而不捨眾生。
tr. Subhūti joyfully said to the Buddha: “What bodhisattvas do is exceedingly difficult and truly rare: they practice emptiness without taking realization.” The Buddha replied: “This bodhisattva’s original vow is that all living beings be freed from suffering. Because that original vow and the mind of great compassion sustain the bodhisattva, although practicing emptiness, the bodhisattva does not take realization.” Moreover, if a bodhisattva thinks, “All living beings abide in suffering, bound by inversion and submerged in non-possession,” then that bodhisattva practices the gates of liberation of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. Know that this bodhisattva possesses the power of skillful means, practices the three gates of liberation, and does not abandon living beings.
The results of reading the two texts together are:
| Component Recorded in the Root Treatise | Extant Wording Available for Comparison | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Father crossing danger and remembering wife and children | 「扶將老弱，過諸險難恐怖之處；安慰父母，曉喻妻子」 tr. “supporting the old and weak across perilous, difficult, terrifying places; comforting his parents and reassuring his wife and children”〔0592b28〕 | Parallel present |
| Going from the city into danger and entering birth and death | 「能度惡道，還歸本處」 tr. “able to cross the evil road and return to the original place”; the treatise’s explanation further says that the perilous road is birth and death in the three realms | Parallel present, with different directional wording |
| Not taking emptiness as realization | 「不取漏盡證」 tr. “not taking the realization of ending the contaminants”〔0592c05〕; 「行空而不作證」 tr. “practicing emptiness without taking realization”〔0594b09〕; 「行三解脫門，而不捨眾生」 tr. “practicing the three gates of liberation without abandoning living beings”〔0594b14〕 | Parallel present |
| One foot inside the city and one foot outside its gate | The complete same wording has not been found in the extant text | Root-treatise record and extant text coexist |
| Supporting remaining habituations and entering birth and death | The complete same wording has not been found in the extant text | Root-treatise record and extant text coexist |
The agreements and differences alone are recorded. The three extant passages are not spliced into a single passage supposedly cited by the Fahua Wenju, and no judgment is made about which transmitted wording is correct.
IV. Essential Explanations from the Wenjuji [the Mirror]
The structural explanations in the Wenjuji for this unit are given below. Every division, correlation, and supplement remains attributed to the Mirror and is not retroactively presented as Zhiyi’s root text.
| Root-Treatise Node | Essential Wenjuji Explanation |
|---|---|
| Interpretation through causes and conditions〔0098a10–0098a15〕 | Four divisions: explaining the name through the simile, correlating it with the Dharma, explaining the purpose of the conjuration, and concluding〔T34n1719 0296c07〕 |
| Provisional wisdom, use of teaching, defense against conceptual delusion, and resistance to view-delusion〔0098a11–0098a13〕 | Successively correlates production by supernormal power, suddenly existing where there was none, conjured, and city; separately explains view and thought through 「見逼思遙」 tr. “views press near, thoughts are remote”〔0296c10–0296c12〕 |
| The root’s interpretation through causes and conditions does not enumerate the four siddhāntas | From the provisional that guides and the capacities addressed, the Mirror gives worldly, person-oriented, counteractive, and ultimate-meaning benefits on each side〔0296c16〕 |
| Tripiṭaka, Shared, Distinct, and Perfect〔0098a15–0098a23〕 | Expands the Shared Teaching’s one foot entering and one not entering, the Distinct Teaching’s straight passage through, and the Perfect Teaching’s former rejection and present opening〔0296c22–0297a05〕 |
| 「本迹、觀心不記」 tr. “Origin and Trace and contemplation of the mind are not recorded”〔0098a23〕 | The Mirror says they 「可比知」 tr. “may be known by comparison,” then adds original abiding in the nirvāṇa of the three virtues, traced entry into the conjured city, and the transforming lord’s demonstrative teaching〔0297a06〕 |
| First question and answer〔0098a24–0098b03〕 | Judges that the questioner asks in reliance on the True Dharma Lotus and explains the three times for the three capacities and the present scripture’s title established from the middle〔0297a08–0297a18〕 |
| Second question and answer〔0098b03–0098b06〕 | Expands the short answer through 「說化即是開權，開權即是顯實」 tr. “teaching conjuration is precisely opening the provisional; opening the provisional is precisely revealing the real”〔0297a19〕 |
| Understanding and confirmation included within prediction〔0098b06–0098b10〕 | Resolves the difficulty through Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya’s expression of understanding after his prediction and through cases of brief wording〔0297a22〕 |
| 「昔如今〔云云〕」 tr. “the past as today, and so forth”〔0098b16〕 | Says that the marks of the earlier gradual and later sudden should be supplied, and points to two correspondences between past and present in the text〔0297a24〕 |
| Seven-line verse〔0098b16〕 | Divides it in detail into the first line on the events seen, the next four lines on the simile of the distant past, and the latter two lines concluding past and present〔0297a25–0297a26〕 |
The four siddhāntas, “views press near, thoughts are remote,” original abiding in the nirvāṇa of the three virtues, attribution of the questioner, opening the provisional to reveal the real, Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya’s expression of understanding after his prediction, the earlier gradual and later sudden, and the one-four-two division are all Mirror explanations. They are not rewritten as wording already spoken verbatim by the root treatise in this passage.
V. Explanations of Various Masters
The strict root-treatise domain contains no marker for another master’s interpretation such as “someone says,” “or it is said,” “an older explanation says,” “interpreters differ,” or “one says.” This section therefore records a zero denominator and does not invent another explanation.
The root treatise has two sets of questions and answers posed by the author himself. Neither question is listed as an interpretation of another master:
| Sequence | Question | Structure of the Answer |
|---|---|---|
| I | 「此品說因緣事，下根得悟，應名宿世品」 tr. “This chapter explains causes and conditions through which those of lesser capacity awaken; it should be called the ‘Past Lives’ chapter”〔0098a24〕 | Explains the title through the beginning and end of the chapter, the connections of the three capacities, and the three times of past lives, conjured city, and place of jewels |
| II | 「化城是權、寶所是實，何意棄實從權」 tr. “The conjured city is provisional and the place of jewels real; why set aside the real and follow the provisional?”〔0098b04〕 | 「由知城是化，則知寶所是實，故標化不失實也」 tr. “Because knowing the city is conjured means knowing the place of jewels is real, marking the conjured does not lose the real”〔0098b04–0098b05〕 |
The Wenjuji’s attribution of the questioner to the True Dharma Lotus, its correlations with the four siddhāntas, and related statements are judgments of the Mirror. They have been placed in the preceding section and are not retroactively treated as different interpretations recorded by the root treatise itself.
VI. Terminology
| Term | Doctrinal Position in This Passage |
|---|---|
化 tr. “conjured” | Produced through supernormal power, suddenly appearing though originally nonexistent; in application to the Dharma, provisional wisdom speaks of existence where there is none |
城 tr. “city” | Named for defending against transgression and resisting enemies; in application to the Dharma, teaching performs the conjuration, while defense against conceptual delusion and resistance to view-delusion make it a city |
二乘涅槃 tr. “nirvāṇa of the two vehicles” | The Dharma inwardly correlated with the conjured city, established by provisional wisdom to allow temporary recovery, but not yet ultimate |
因緣釋 tr. “interpretation through causes and conditions” | Explains the chapter title through the conjured-city simile, its application to the Dharma, and the intention behind its establishment; explicitly marked by the root treatise at〔0098a15〕 |
約教 tr. “interpretation in terms of the teaching” | Explains the conjured city in the sequence Tripiṭaka, Shared, Distinct, and Perfect Teachings; all four names and their order follow the root treatise |
三藏義 tr. “meaning of the Tripiṭaka Teaching” | Forming within nirvāṇa the thought of peace and the thought of extinction |
通教 tr. “Shared Teaching” | The two vehicles are the same as under the Tripiṭaka; bodhisattvas are not. The cited Treatise of Explanation compares them to entering the city and then returning to danger without taking emptiness as realization |
別教 tr. “Distinct Teaching” | Does not say the city exists like a conjuration; uses it as an expedient for severing view-delusion and conceptual delusion, passes straight through its gate, and does not treat it as ultimate |
圓教 tr. “Perfect Teaching” | Knowing there is no danger from brigands and no need of a real city, it therefore speaks of a conjured city; the root treatise uses this to conclude the meaning of the present chapter title |
本迹、觀心不記 tr. “Origin and Trace and contemplation of the mind are not recorded” | The root treatise expressly says that the latter two interpretations are not recorded here. The Mirror supplements them; the two layers must not be combined |
三根 tr. “three capacities” | Those of superior capacity have slight doubt, those of middling capacity denser doubt, and those of lesser capacity still denser doubt; in sequence, the text draws on three weeks of reflection beneath the bodhi tree, the unsurpassed path taught in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas, and the connection in the distant past |
宿世、化城、寶所 tr. “past lives, conjured city, and place of jewels” | In sequence, the beginning of the chapter, its middle, and the ultimate; the scripture’s compilers use the conjured city in the middle for the title and thereby gather beginning and end |
知見久遠 tr. “knowledge and vision of the distant past” | Through the Tathāgata’s three penetrations, seeing events of the distant past as though today, making the events cited certainly not false |
長行三義 tr. “three meanings of the prose” | Stating the events seen, giving a simile to clarify the distant past, and concluding that He sees the past as though today |
The fixed wording of this domain does not contain the seven later summary expressions Five Periods and Eight Teachings, modes of conversion, methods of teaching, Tripiṭaka–Shared–Distinct–Perfect, ten subtleties of the Trace Gate, ten subtleties of the Origin Gate, or three thousand in one thought-moment. This is only a lexical boundary; zero occurrence does not establish that related doctrines are absent.
VII. Similes · Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward
The conjured city is first produced through supernormal power and named for defending against transgression and resisting enemies; in application to the Dharma, the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles is placed at the point of temporary recovery. In the root scripture, the guide sees the assembly exhausted and conjures a city on the perilous road. Once they have rested, he immediately makes the city disappear and points out that the place of jewels is near. Thus the root treatise says that recovery can guide one into the real though the ultimate is not yet attained, and that knowing the city is conjured means knowing the place of jewels is real. Temporary rest and forward movement are not two contrary meanings of the simile, but earlier and later moments in one act of guidance.
The passage on the teachings separately uses the images of one foot in the city and one outside its gate, and of returning from the city to danger, to show that a bodhisattva of the Shared Teaching does not take emptiness as realization. The Distinct Teaching passes straight through the city gate without taking the city as ultimate. Both images follow the root treatise’s citation and are not replaced by the parallel wording of the extant Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom.
The questions and answers on the chapter title draw the whole chapter into three positions: the beginning in past lives, the conjured city in the middle, and the ultimate place of jewels. Using the conjured city in the middle as the title does not delete beginning and end. The root treatise says that the scripture’s compilers mark the chapter in the middle precisely because the name conjured city can gather both. The second question states the same function more tightly: marking the conjured does not lose the real, because knowing the city is conjured simultaneously reveals the reality of the place of jewels.
Read together with the repository’s “Parable of the Conjured City” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the three meanings of the prose established in this unit correspond exactly to the names of buddha, land, and eon; the simile of earth, ink, dust, and eons; and the distant past as though today. The seven-line verse again restates these three〔T09n0262 0022a19–0022b18〕. Read with the extant Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, only three groups of parallels can be confirmed: helping family across danger, not taking the realization of ending the contaminants, and practicing emptiness without realizing it while not abandoning living beings〔T25n1509 0592b23–0592c08、0594a21–0594a26、0594b07–0594b15〕. Differences between the root treatise’s record and extant wording remain side by side; the parallel text does not rewrite the root treatise.
At its end this unit establishes two divisions: knowledge and vision of the distant past and formation of connections in past lives. The present passage first uses the Tathāgata’s distant vision as though today to ensure that the event cited is not false; only afterward does it directly recount past lives and the formation of connections. This sequence carries forward into the next unit, and the statement on the buddha’s lifespan and the content on forming past-life connections cannot be moved into the present domain.
VIII. Placement of the Editions
1. Editorial Notes in This Domain
The strict domain has one body-text variant group and one independent one-sided editorial statement:
| Line Anchor | Type | Taishō | Witness A |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0098a09 | One-sided editorial statement | Chapter title follows the body | 不分卷 tr. “does not divide the fascicle” |
| 0098a22 | Paired empty reading | 病 tr. “affliction” | Witness A lacks the graph |
The original editorial note at 〔0098a22〕 pairs the Taishō graph 「病」 tr. “affliction” with an empty reading in witness A; its textualized form is 「病【大】，〔－〕【甲】」 tr. “affliction [Taishō]; absent [witness A].” This edition explicitly records that witness A lacks the graph and does not turn an empty reading into another character.
The domain has zero asterisk back-reference editorial notes and zero abbreviated first-and-last-graph count notes. Neither type is invented here merely because it occurs in another unit.
2. Inline Annotation and Gaiji
The domain contains one transmitted inline annotation: 「結見昔如今〔云云〕」 tr. “concluding that He sees the past as though today, and so forth”〔0098b15–0098b16〕. It occurs in the final sentence of 07a, before the first graph of the next unit on the same〔0098b16〕 line, and therefore belongs to this domain; the delimiters 〔云云〕 preserve its layer.
The raw slice for this domain contains no gaiji tag, so its gaiji denominator is zero. This does not establish that the entire fascicle has no gaiji.
3. Contents and Page Anchors
The first-level chapter titles of the work have two forms: the “Introduction” chapter lacks the prefix “Explanation of,” while the other twenty-seven are titled “Explanation of [chapter].” The title of this unit is 「釋化城喻品」 tr. “Explanation of the ‘Parable of the Conjured City’ Chapter”〔0098a09〕. This unit is also a secondary division within a long chapter and does not occupy a separate chapter.
The L1 reader’s root text has only one page-break anchor, 〔T34 0098a06〕, placed at the beginning of the passage on the same line as the body. The remainder of the domain stays on the same printed page, so page anchors are not repeated by column or line and none occurs mid-sentence. Every quotation in this apparatus is separately located by the nearest preceding Taishō line marker before its first graph; the reader’s page anchor cannot replace a precise line anchor.