妙法蓮華經文句 釋見寶塔品
三周說法講完了。弟子一一受記，該做的事都做完了。
就在這時，地面裂開，一座七寶塔升了上來，停在空中。
塔很大——高五百由旬，寬二百五十由旬。四面飄出栴檀香，塔身垂著寶鈴與瓔珞，高得幾乎頂到四天王宮。
塔裡有聲音傳出來。是一位久已滅度的佛，在讚歎：所說的都是真實。
然後塔就停在那裡。關著門。
本論在這一刻做了一件事，把整個場面讀成了一句話。
塔從地涌出，表示不滅。分座共坐，表示不生。入塔，表示不常。現塔，表示不斷。分身，表示不一。全身，表示不異。多寶讓座，表示不來。釋迦坐半座，表示不出。
八個動作，八個「不」。
所以這座塔不只是來作證的證人。它自己就是那個證明——每一個舉動都在演示中道。
而塔的位置更值得留意。
本論說：七種方便之人被無明所隱，就像塔還埋在地裡。聽聞開三顯實、法身顯出來了，就像塔升上虛空。
可是升上來以後呢？
塔在空中，關著門，沒有人打得開。
本論解釋：修得的法身久已顯著，卻仍然無人能開——這表示本地久遠成佛而大眾不認識。
這句話很值得咀嚼。
法身已經顯出來了，就在眼前，明明白白停在半空中。可是門是關的。看得見，進不去。
我們也常在這樣的位置上。道理都懂了，話也都聽明白了，它就停在那裡——清清楚楚，而我進不去。
塔門後來是佛親手打開的。經文說，如同打開門閂鎖鑰。本論解這一句：遮障除却而根機發動。
門一開，裡面的佛就讓出半個座位，請釋迦坐下。
兩位佛並肩坐在一起。
然後釋迦大聲宣告：如來不久將入涅槃，佛想要把這部經交付給有能承擔的人。
原來塔升上來、停住、開門，整套動作都是為了走到這一句。
本論說得很清楚：要開塔就得集合分身佛，集佛就是為了付囑，付囑就要召喚下方。
一件事扣著一件事。
所以那座塔不是奇景。它是一連串門的第一道；門開了，後面十七品才有地方走。
於是讀這一品，最要緊的也許不是那些數字與寶物，而是：我心裡有沒有一座那樣的塔——已經升上來，看得清清楚楚，卻始終沒有打開過？
而它要等什麼才開？
經上說，等佛伸手。可是佛伸手之前，是有人先開口請的。
The three rounds of teaching are complete. The disciples have each received predictions, and everything that had to be done has been done.
At that moment, the earth splits open. A seven-jeweled stūpa rises and comes to rest in midair.
The stūpa is immense—five hundred yojanas high and two hundred fifty yojanas wide. Sandalwood fragrance streams from its four sides; jeweled bells and necklaces hang from its body; it rises almost to the palace of the Four Heavenly Kings.
A voice comes from within. It is a buddha who entered extinction long ago, praising the teaching: all that was spoken is true.
Then the stūpa remains there. Its door is closed.
At this moment the root treatise does one thing: it reads the entire scene as a single sentence.
The stūpa rising from the earth signifies noncessation. Sharing the seat signifies nonarising. Entering the stūpa signifies nonpermanence. Manifesting the stūpa signifies nonannihilation. The emanation bodies signify nonidentity. The whole body signifies nondifference. Many Jewels yielding half the seat signifies noncoming. Śākyamuni sitting upon that half signifies nondeparture.
Eight actions, the eight negations: eight instances of “not.”
Thus the stūpa is not merely a witness that has come to testify. It is itself the proof: every one of its movements enacts the middle way.
Its position deserves even closer attention.
The root treatise says that the people of the seven skillful means are hidden by ignorance, like the stūpa still buried in the earth. When they hear the three opened and the real revealed, the dharma-body becomes manifest, like the stūpa rising into open space.
But what happens after it rises?
The stūpa is in midair, its door closed, and no one can open it.
The root treatise explains: the cultivated dharma-body has long been manifest, yet still no one can open it—this signifies that the Buddha attained awakening in the distant original ground, while the assembly does not recognize it.
That sentence deserves to be savored.
The dharma-body is already manifest. It stands visibly before one, plainly suspended in midair. Yet the door remains closed. One can see it but cannot enter.
We too often stand in just this place. We understand the principle and have understood the words. It remains there—entirely clear—yet I cannot enter.
The Buddha later opens the stūpa door with his own hand. The sutra says it is like drawing back the bolt and unlocking the door. The root treatise explains the sentence: the obstruction is removed and the capacity is set in motion.
Once the door opens, the buddha inside yields half his seat and invites Śākyamuni to sit.
The two buddhas sit side by side.
Śākyamuni then proclaims in a great voice: the Tathāgata will soon enter nirvāṇa, and the Buddha wishes to entrust this sutra to someone able to bear it.
The stūpa’s rising, remaining, and opening—the entire sequence of actions—was all leading to this sentence.
The root treatise is explicit: opening the stūpa requires gathering the emanation buddhas; gathering the buddhas is for entrustment; entrustment requires summoning those from below.
One matter catches upon the next.
The stūpa is therefore not a marvel. It is the first in a chain of gateways. Once it opens, the following seventeen chapters have somewhere to proceed.
Perhaps the most important question when reading this chapter is therefore not about its numbers or precious objects, but this: is there such a stūpa within my own mind—already risen, completely visible, yet never opened?
And what must it await before opening?
The sutra says it awaits the Buddha’s outstretched hand. Yet before the Buddha stretches out his hand, someone first speaks and asks.
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 0112c16〕。段/行首〔T34 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨（換頁一枚）。
〔T34 0112c16〕妙法蓮華經文句卷第八下 天台智者大師說 釋見寶塔品 梵言塔婆，或偷婆，此翻方墳，亦言靈廟。又言支提，無骨身者也。此塔既有全身不散，則不稱支提。《阿含》明四支徵〔知倚切〕，謂生處、得道、轉法輪、入滅四處起塔，今之寶塔是先佛入滅支徵。經云，佛三種身從此經生，諸佛於此而坐道場、諸佛於此而轉法輪、諸佛於此而般涅槃，秖此《法華》即是三世諸佛之四支徵。先佛已居，今佛並坐，當佛亦然。此塔出來明顯此事，四眾皆覩，故言「見寶塔品」。《瓔珞經》善吉問「生身全身碎身功德等耶？」佛言「不等。色身言教化訓，三業具足清淨，眾生得至道場；全碎舍利正可威神光明，供養得福，是故不等。」又問頂王如來「十二那術劫說法教化，舍利亦爾此應是等。」佛言「皆頂王如來神力所作耳。」彼經格全碎舍利皆由生身佛力，今經格生身全碎舍利、法身偏圓舍利皆從經出，顯此經功德弘持力大，從地涌來證明此事，四眾皆覩，故言「見寶塔品」。北地師云：「佛為身子說經時，寶塔已現為作證明，若說經竟，來證何等？經家作次第，安置三周後耳。」此乃人情則不可信。今依《薩雲分陀利經》云「佛說法華無央數偈時，有七寶塔從地涌出，中有金床，床上有佛，字袍休蘭羅，漢言大寶，歎釋尊言：『我故來供養，願坐我金床，更為我說《薩雲分陀利》。』」依此經證即是說三周，後更請壽量，明文聖說而不肯用，人之穿鑿那可承耶？此塔正為證前請後從地涌出，四眾皆覩，故言「見寶塔品」。地師說多寶是法身佛；《釋論》說多寶誓願化身來證經，此文亦爾。師言，法身無來無出，報身巍巍堂堂，應身普應一切，若即此謂是三佛者，未盡其體也，秖是表示而已，多寶表法佛，釋尊表報佛，分身表應佛，三佛雖三而不一異，應作如此說，如此信解也。此四番即四悉檀解見寶塔云云。塔出為兩：一、發音聲以證前，開塔以起後。證前者，證三周說法皆是真實，若略言真實者，皆與實相相應也；若廣言真實者，離四句絕百非也；若處中說者，八不名真實。塔從地涌示不滅，分座共坐示不生，入塔示不常，現塔示不斷，分身示不一，全身示不異，多寶讓座示不來，釋迦坐半座示不出，八不顯然，故是真實。又證迹門流通，持經功深弘宣力大，皆真實也。「平等大慧」者，與般若云何？《釋論》七十九云「般若是三世諸佛妙法，如一城門四方皆入」，當知般若亦稱妙法，此經稱平等大慧，二文相指其意可知。起後者，若欲開塔，須集分身明玄付囑，聲徹下方召本弟子論於壽量，久遠之塔從地涌出，開自在神通之力，顯過去世益物也。發大音聲，開師子奮迅之力，顯現在十方開權顯實也。有大誓願，未來諸佛若說此經，我之寶塔皆到其所為作證明，開大勢威猛之力，顯未來常住不滅也。又塔在空中亦證前起後，七方便人藏理未開無明所隱，如塔在地；聞三周開三顯實開佛知見，顯出法身如塔涌空此即證前；修得法身久已明著，如塔在空無能開者，表本地久成眾所不識。若發迹顯本了達無疑，此即起後也。若塔從地出，表法身顯，與餘經亦同亦異，菩薩顯法身則同，二乘顯法身則異。若塔在空開門見佛，表發迹顯本，與餘經永異。若塔來證，前事已彰灼，蓋不須疑；塔來起後，密有其意眾所未知，今取後義預作此釋亦復無咎。觀心解者，依經修觀與法身相應境智必會，如塔來證經，境智既會則大報圓滿，如釋迦與多寶同坐一座，以大報圓故隨機出應，如分身皆集，由多寶出故則三佛得顯，由持經故即具三身，《普賢觀》云「佛三種身從方等生」，即此義也。有人分此品下十一品，是神通身輪開本迹，從「彌勒問」下，是說法口輪開本迹，本迹意未彰，從此分文太早〔云云〕。 〔T34 0113c06〕此品有長行、偈頌。長行有三：一、明多寶涌現，二、明分身遠集，三、明釋迦唱募。初文有六：一、塔現之相，二、諸天供養，三、多寶稱歎，四、時眾驚疑，五、大樂說問，六、如來答。「七寶為塔」者，明法身之地以性得七覺七聖財寶，塔者實相之境，法身所依處也。「高五百由旬」者是二萬里，豎明因中萬行、果中萬德也。「廣二百五十由旬」即是一萬里，橫用萬善莊嚴也。「地」者，無明心地也，以無所破，破於無明；以無所住，住第一義空。「種種寶物」者，眾多定慧而莊校也。「欄楯」是總持也。「龕室千萬」者，無量慈悲之室，亦是無量空舍。「幢幡」是神通勝相也。「垂寶纓絡」者，四十地功德，上莊嚴法身，下被眾生也。「寶鈴萬億」者，八音四辯也。「四面出香」者，四諦道風吹四德香也。「高至四天王宮」者，窮四諦理也。 從「三十三天」下，第二諸天供養，事解可知，更復約理。三十心為三十，十地為一、等覺為一、妙覺為一，合為三十三，同依實相境也。「雨天曼陀羅」者，初心亦具四十二地功德，後心亦爾，皆以四十地所有因花歸向法身也。「餘諸天龍」下，即是內凡外凡等，亦依實相向果行因也。 「爾時寶塔中」下，第三，多寶稱歎，正證前開權顯實不虛也。「平等大慧」者，即是諸佛智慧，如前行步平正義也。平等有二：一、法等，即中道理；二、眾生等，一切眾生同得佛慧。「大」者如前高廣義也。約觀心者，空觀豎等、假觀橫等、中觀橫豎平等，平等雙照即是平等大慧也。「如是如是」者，一、如法相是，二、如根性是也。「皆是真實」也，如法相說故言真實也。 〔T34 0114a07〕「爾時四眾見」下，第四，時眾驚疑。文有二：一、得法喜，二者疑怪也。 「爾時有菩薩」下，第五，大樂說因疑請問。若望下答意，應為三問：一問、何因有此塔？二問、何故塔從地出？三問、何故發是音聲也？ 「爾時佛告」下，第六，佛答。此三：一、先答第二問，此佛有願為證法華，故從地涌出也。「彼佛成道」下，追答第一問，由彼佛命令造此塔也。次「其佛以神」下，第三答第三，為作證明，故發是音聲也。《釋論》明多寶佛不得說法而取滅度，師解不爾。彼佛告諸比丘，比丘即是受化之人，何謂不說？當是多寶亦得開三不得顯實，故《釋論》云不得說法耳。以是義故，雖復滅度，在在處處有說《法華經》，便隨喜作證也。 「大樂說以如來神力」下，第二，明分身遠集。就此有七：一、樂說請見多寶，二、應集分身，三、樂說請集，四、放光遠召，五、諸佛同來，六、嚴淨國界，七、與欲開塔。釋初請，云「承佛神力」者，欲開塔須集佛，集佛即付囑，付囑即召下方，下方出即應開近顯遠，此是大事之由，豈非佛神力令問也？餘段如文。「爾時佛放白毫」下，四，放光遠召。三變土淨者，此正由三昧，三昧有三，初變娑婆，是背捨能變穢為淨；次變二百那由他，是勝處轉變自在；後變二百那由他，是一切處於境無閡。又初一變淨表淨除四住，次一變淨表淨除塵沙，後一變淨表淨除無明。「是時諸佛坐師子座」，第七，與欲開塔，復五：一、諸佛問訊說欲，二、釋迦開塔，三、四眾皆同見聞，四、二佛分座而坐，五、四眾請加。諸佛同與欲開塔，如僧中作法與欲意也。《大集》明若干佛與欲，《華嚴》亦說十方若干佛同說《華嚴》，《大品》亦云千佛同說《般若》，皆不云是釋迦分身；準今經者應是分身，彼帶方便故時中不顯說耳。今經非但數多，亦直說是分身咸來與欲也。「爾時釋迦見」下，第二，開塔者即是開權，見佛者即是顯實，亦是證前，復將開後。「如却關鑰」者，却障機動也。「以大音聲」下，第二，釋迦唱募覓流通人。復為三：一、大聲唱募。「如來不久」下，第二，明付囑時至。「佛欲以」下，第，三明付囑有在。「有在」者，若佛在世隨機利物，自說正法無待他人；今佛化緣機盡，欲令此法利益無窮，故須付囑流通也。「付囑有在」者，此有二意：一、近令有在，付八萬二萬舊住菩薩此土弘宣；二、遠令有在，付本弟子下方千界微塵，令觸處流通，又發起壽量也。 偈有四十八行，頌上三意：初有三行半，頌多寶滅度；第二有八行半，頌分身集；第三有三十六行，頌釋迦付囑。前二如文。「告諸大眾」下，第三，復二：初八行半，舉三佛以勸流通；次有二十七行半，舉難持之法以勸流通。就初有三：初一行半，募覓其人；次「其多寶」下，第二，有三行，正舉三佛以勸持經；次「其有能護」下，第三，四行，能持此經，即是供養三佛及見三佛，以釋勸意。「諸善男子」下，第二，二十七行半，舉難持之法以勸流通，復二：初二十行，正舉勸；二，七行半，釋勸意。就初復三：初一行，誡勸；次「諸餘經典」下，第二，十七行，正舉難持以勸流通。「後我為佛道」下，第三，二行，釋難持意，若有能持即持佛身，此意豈易？第二，「諸善男子我於」下七行半，明能持難持能成勝德以釋勸意。就此復三：初一行半，重募持經人；次「此經難持」下，第二，一行半，明能持難持則諸佛喜歎；次「是則勇猛」下，第三，四行半，明能持難持即成勝行，勝行有自他也。「恐畏世」者，天竺名沙悖，此云恐畏，天竺云颰陀，此云賢劫之異〔名耳〕。
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.
〔妙法蓮華經文句卷第八下。天台智者大師說。〕
一、釋品名·第一番
梵語稱塔婆，或稱偷婆，此地譯作方墳，也叫靈廟。又有稱支提的，那是沒有骨身舍利的。這座塔既然有全身舍利不散，就不稱為支提。
《阿含經》說明四支徵——生處、得道、轉法輪、入滅，這四處起塔。如今的寶塔，是先佛入滅的支徵。經中說，佛的三種身都從此經而生；諸佛在此坐道場，諸佛在此轉法輪，諸佛在此般涅槃——因此單單這部《法華》，就是三世諸佛的四支徵。先佛已經住在其中，今佛與之並坐，未來佛也將如此。這座塔出現，是要顯明這件事，四眾都親眼看見，所以稱為〈見寶塔品〉。
二、釋品名·第二番
《瓔珞經》記載善吉問：『生身、全身、碎身的功德相等嗎？』佛說：『不相等。色身以言教化導訓誨，三業具足清淨，能使眾生達到道場；全身舍利與碎身舍利只能以威神光明使人供養得福——所以不相等。』
又問頂王如來：『在十二那術劫中說法教化，舍利也是如此，這應當相等了。』佛說：『這都是頂王如來的神力所作成的罷了。』
那部經比較全身與碎身舍利，說都由生身佛的力量而來；此經則比較生身、全身、碎身舍利以及法身的偏、圓舍利，說都從此經而出——顯示此經的功德弘大、持力廣大。寶塔從地涌來證明這件事，四眾都親眼看見，所以稱為〈見寶塔品〉。
三、釋品名·第三番——駁北地師
北方諸師說：『佛為舍利弗說經的時候，寶塔已經出現作為證明；如果等說經完畢才來，還能證什麼？這是經家排定次第，把它安置在三周說法之後罷了。』
這只是人的臆度，不可相信。
如今依《薩雲分陀利經》所說：『佛宣說《法華》無央數偈的時候，有七寶塔從地涌出，塔中有金床，床上有佛，名叫袍休蘭羅，漢語稱作大寶，讚歎釋尊說：我特地前來供養，願您坐我的金床，再為我宣說《薩雲分陀利》。』
依這部經作證，就是在三周說法之後，才更請宣說壽量。明文是聖者所說而不肯採用，人的穿鑿附會哪能承受？
這座塔正是為了證明前文、發起後文而從地涌出，四眾都親眼看見，所以稱為〈見寶塔品〉。
四、釋品名·第四番——三佛表示
地論師說多寶是法身佛；《釋論》說多寶以誓願化身前來證經，本文也是這樣說。
老師說：法身無來無出，報身巍巍堂堂，應身普應一切。若直接說這三位就是三佛，還沒有窮盡它們的體性——這只是表示而已。多寶表示法佛，釋尊表示報佛，分身表示應佛；三佛雖然是三，卻不一也不異。應當這樣說，也應當這樣信解。
以上四番，就是以四悉檀解釋〈見寶塔〉。
五、塔出為兩：證前與起後
塔的出現有兩重作用：一是發出音聲以證明前文，二是開塔以發起後文。
證明前文，是證明三周說法都是真實。若簡略地說真實，就是都與實相相應；若廣泛地說真實，就是離四句、絕百非；若取中道而說，就是八不名為真實。
塔從地涌出，表示不滅；分座共坐，表示不生；入塔，表示不常；現塔，表示不斷；分身，表示不一；全身，表示不異；多寶讓座，表示不來；釋迦坐半座，表示不出。八不顯然，所以是真實。
又證明迹門的流通——持經功夫深、弘宣力量大，都是真實。
『平等大慧』一語與般若是什麼關係？《大智度論》第七十九說：『般若是三世諸佛的妙法，如同一座城有四方城門都能進入。』可見般若也稱為妙法，而此經稱為平等大慧；兩處文字互相指涉，其意可知。
發起後文：若要開塔，必須集合分身佛，說明玄妙的付囑；聲音傳徹下方，召喚本地弟子，論說壽量。久遠之塔從地涌出，開顯自在神通之力，顯示過去世利益眾生。發出大音聲，開顯師子奮迅之力，顯示現在十方開權顯實。有大誓願——未來諸佛若宣說此經，我的寶塔都要到那裡去作證明——開顯大勢威猛之力，顯示未來常住不滅。
六、塔在空中之表
塔在空中也兼有證前與起後。
七種方便之人，藏理未開、被無明所隱，如同塔在地中；聽聞三周開三顯實、開佛知見，顯出法身，如同塔涌出虛空——這就是證前。修得的法身久已顯著，如同塔在空中而無人能開，表示本地久遠成佛而大眾不認識；若能發迹顯本、了達無疑，這就是起後。
若說塔從地出表示法身顯現，那麼與其他經典既相同也相異：菩薩顯法身則相同，二乘顯法身則相異。若說塔在空中開門見佛表示發迹顯本，那就與其他經典永遠相異。
塔前來作證，前面的事已經彰明顯著，不必疑惑；塔前來發起後文，其中密含深意而大眾尚未知曉——如今取後一義預先作此解釋，也沒有過失。
若依觀心解釋：依經修觀而與法身相應，境與智必定會合，如同塔來證經；境智既已會合，則大報圓滿，如同釋迦與多寶同坐一座；因為大報圓滿而隨機出現應身，如同分身佛都來聚集。由於多寶出現，三佛才得以顯明；由於持經，就具足三身。《觀普賢菩薩行法經》說『佛的三種身從方等經生』，正是這個意思。
有人把本品以下十一品判為神通身輪開本迹，從『彌勒問』以下判為說法口輪開本迹。但本迹之意尚未彰顯，從這裡分文太早了。
七、長行三分與塔相逐句釋
本品有長行與偈頌。長行分三部分：一是說明多寶涌現，二是說明分身遠集，三是說明釋迦唱募。
第一部分有六事：塔現之相、諸天供養、多寶稱歎、時眾驚疑、大樂說發問、如來作答。
『七寶為塔』，說明法身之地以性德所具的七覺支、七聖財為寶；塔是實相之境，法身所依之處。『高五百由旬』就是二萬里，豎的方面說明因中萬行、果中萬德。『廣二百五十由旬』就是一萬里，橫的方面以萬善莊嚴。
『地』是無明心地——以無所破而破除無明，以無所住而安住第一義空。『種種寶物』是眾多定慧來莊嚴校飾。『欄楯』是總持。『龕室千萬』是無量慈悲之室，也是無量空舍。『幢幡』是神通的勝相。『垂寶纓絡』是四十地功德，向上莊嚴法身、向下覆被眾生。『寶鈴萬億』是八音四辯。『四面出香』是四諦道風吹送四德之香。『高至四天王宮』是窮盡四諦之理。
八、諸天供養與多寶稱歎
從『三十三天』以下是第二事諸天供養。就事相解釋可以理解，再就理來說：三十心為三十，十地為一、等覺為一、妙覺為一，合為三十三，同樣依於實相之境。『雨下天上的曼陀羅華』，是說初心也具足四十二地功德，後心也是如此，都以四十地所有的因華歸向法身。『其餘諸天龍』以下，就是內凡外凡等，也是依實相、向果而行因。
從『那時寶塔中』以下是第三事多寶稱歎，正是證明前面開權顯實不虛。
『平等大慧』就是諸佛的智慧，如同前面所說行步平正之義。平等有兩重：一是法平等，就是中道之理；二是眾生平等，一切眾生同得佛慧。『大』就是前面所說高廣之義。若就觀心說，空觀是豎的平等，假觀是橫的平等，中觀是橫豎都平等；平等而雙照，就是平等大慧。
『如是如是』有兩重：一是如法相而是，二是如根性而是。『都是真實』，是說如法相而說，所以稱為真實。
九、時眾驚疑與大樂說三問
從『那時四眾見到』以下是第四事時眾驚疑。文分兩層：一是得到法喜，二是疑惑怪異。
從『那時有菩薩』以下是第五事，大樂說菩薩因疑而請問。若就下文答意來看，應當是三個問題：第一問，因什麼緣故有這座塔？第二問，為什麼塔從地涌出？第三問，為什麼發出這樣的音聲？
從『那時佛告訴』以下是第六事，佛作答，分三層：先答第二問——這位佛有誓願要為《法華》作證，所以從地涌出。『那位佛成道』以下追答第一問——由於那位佛的命令而造此塔。其次『那位佛以神力』以下第三層答第三問——為了作證明，所以發出這樣的音聲。
《大智度論》說明多寶佛不得說法而取滅度，老師的解釋不是這樣。那位佛告訴諸位比丘，比丘就是受化之人，怎能說不說法？應當是多寶也能開三而不能顯實，所以《釋論》說不得說法罷了。因為這個緣故，雖然已經滅度，在在處處只要有宣說《法華經》的地方，就隨喜而來作證。
十、分身遠集與三變土淨
從『大樂說以如來神力』以下是第二部分，說明分身遠集。這裡有七事：一是樂說請求見多寶，二是應當集合分身，三是樂說請求集合，四是放光遠召，五是諸佛同來，六是嚴淨國界，七是與欲開塔。
解釋最初的請求，說『承佛神力』——要開塔就須集合諸佛，集佛就是為了付囑，付囑就要召喚下方，下方出現就應當開近顯遠。這是大事的緣由，豈不是佛的神力使他發問？其餘各段如經文所示。
從『那時佛放白毫光』以下是第四事放光遠召。三度變化土地令淨，這正是由於三昧之力。三昧有三：最初變化娑婆世界，是背捨三昧，能變穢為淨；其次變化二百那由他國土，是勝處三昧，轉變自在；最後變化二百那由他國土，是一切處三昧，於境界無所障礙。又：最初一變令淨，表示淨除四住煩惱；其次一變令淨，表示淨除塵沙；最後一變令淨，表示淨除無明。
『這時諸佛坐師子座』是第七事與欲開塔，又分五層：一是諸佛問訊說欲，二是釋迦開塔，三是四眾都同樣見聞，四是二佛分座而坐，五是四眾請佛加被。
諸佛共同與欲開塔，如同僧團中作法與欲之意。《大集經》說明若干佛與欲，《華嚴經》也說十方若干佛共同宣說《華嚴》，《大品般若》也說千佛共同宣說《般若》——都不說是釋迦的分身。若依今經來看，應當就是分身；那些經帶有方便，所以當時不明說罷了。今經不但數目眾多，而且直接說是分身都來與欲。
從『那時釋迦見到』以下是第二層開塔。開塔就是開權，見佛就是顯實；也是證明前文，又將發起後文。『如同打開門閂鎖鑰』，是說遮障除却而根機發動。
十一、釋迦唱募與付囑有在
從『以大音聲』以下是第三部分，釋迦唱募尋覓流通之人。又分三層：一是大聲唱募。『如來不久』以下是第二層，說明付囑的時候到了。『佛欲以』以下是第三層，說明付囑有其人。
所謂『有在』——若佛在世，隨機利益眾生，自己宣說正法而不必等待他人；如今佛的化緣機宜將盡，想要使此法利益無窮，所以必須付囑流通。
『付囑有在』有兩重意思：一是就近使有其人，付囑八萬、二萬久住此土的菩薩在此土弘揚宣說；二是就遠使有其人，付囑本地弟子——下方千界微塵數的菩薩，使他們處處流通，又藉此發起壽量之說。
十二、偈四十八行
偈頌有四十八行，重頌上面三重意思：最初三行半重頌多寶滅度，第二有八行半重頌分身集合，第三有三十六行重頌釋迦付囑。前二如經文所示。
『告訴諸位大眾』以下是第三部分，又分兩層：最初八行半舉三佛以勸流通，其次二十七行半舉難持之法以勸流通。
最初一層分三：最初一行半募覓其人；其次『那位多寶』以下第二，有三行，正式舉三佛以勸持經；其次『若有能護』以下第三，四行，說明能持此經就是供養三佛以及得見三佛，用以解釋勸勉之意。
『諸位善男子』以下是第二層，二十七行半舉難持之法以勸流通，又分兩層：最初二十行正式舉出勸勉，其次七行半解釋勸勉之意。
最初一層又分三：最初一行是誡勸；其次『其餘諸經典』以下第二，十七行，正式舉出難持以勸流通；『後來我為佛道』以下第三，二行，解釋難持之意——若有人能持，就是持佛之身，這意思豈是容易的？
第二層『諸位善男子，我於』以下七行半，說明能持難持而成就殊勝功德，用以解釋勸勉之意。這裡又分三：最初一行半重新募覓持經之人；其次『此經難持』以下第二，一行半，說明能持難持則諸佛歡喜稱歎；其次『這就是勇猛』以下第三，四行半，說明能持難持就成就勝行——勝行有自行與化他兩面。
『恐畏世』一語，天竺名為沙悖，此地譯作恐畏；天竺說颰陀，此地譯作賢劫的異名。
[Fahua Wenju, Fascicle Eight, Second Part. Taught by Tiantai Master Zhiyi.]
I. Explaining the Chapter Title · First Round
In Sanskrit a stūpa is called stūpa or thūpa, translated here as “square tomb” and also called a “numinous shrine.” Another term is caitya, which applies where there are no relics of the physical body. Because the present stūpa contains the whole, undispersed body relic, it is not called a caitya.
The Āgama Sutra explains four memorial sites: the place of birth, the place of attaining the path, the place of turning the Dharma wheel, and the place of extinction; stūpas are raised at these four places. The present jeweled stūpa is the memorial site of a former buddha’s extinction. The sutra says that the Buddha’s three bodies are all born from this sutra; buddhas sit at the site of the path here, turn the Dharma wheel here, and enter parinirvāṇa here. Thus this Lotus alone is the fourfold memorial of the buddhas of the three times. A former buddha already abides within it, the present buddha sits beside him, and future buddhas will do likewise. The stūpa appears to reveal this matter, and all four assemblies see it with their own eyes; therefore the chapter is called “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.”
II. Explaining the Chapter Title · Second Round
The Sutra of the Jeweled Necklace records Subhūti asking: “Are the merits of the physical body, the whole body, and the fragmented body equal?” The Buddha replies: “They are not equal. Through verbal teaching, the physical body transforms, guides, and instructs; its three karmas are completely pure, and it can bring sentient beings to the site of the path. Whole-body and fragmented-body relics can only use awesome spiritual radiance to cause people to make offerings and gain merit. Therefore they are not equal.”
He further asks Tathāgata Crown King: “You taught and transformed for twelve nayuta kalpas, and the relics do likewise; these should be equal.” The Buddha says: “This is all accomplished only through Tathāgata Crown King’s spiritual power.”
That sutra compares whole-body and fragmented-body relics and says that both derive from the power of the Buddha’s physical body. The present sutra compares the physical body, whole-body and fragmented-body relics, and partial and perfect relics of the dharma-body, saying that all emerge from this sutra. It thereby reveals the vast merit of this sutra and the breadth of its sustaining power. The jeweled stūpa rises from the earth to verify this matter, and all four assemblies see it with their own eyes; therefore the chapter is called “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.”
III. Explaining the Chapter Title · Third Round—Refuting the Northern Masters
The northern masters say: “When the Buddha taught the sutra for Śāriputra, the jeweled stūpa had already appeared to bear witness. If it came only after the teaching was complete, what could it verify? The compiler arranged the sequence and simply placed it after the three rounds of teaching.”
This is merely human conjecture and cannot be trusted.
The present explanation follows the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra: “When the Buddha proclaimed countless verses of the Lotus, a seven-jeweled stūpa rose from the earth. Within it was a golden couch, and upon the couch was a buddha named Paoxiulanluo, rendered in Chinese as Great Jewel. Praising Śākyamuni, he said: ‘I have come especially to make offerings. Please sit upon my golden couch and teach the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka once more for me.’”
According to this sutra’s testimony, only after the three rounds of teaching does he further request the teaching of the lifespan. Explicit wording spoken by a sage is rejected; how could human contrivance and forced interpretation be accepted?
This stūpa rises from the earth precisely to verify what precedes and initiate what follows, and all four assemblies see it with their own eyes; therefore the chapter is called “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.”
IV. Explaining the Chapter Title · Fourth Round—Representing the Three Buddhas
The Dilun masters say that Many Jewels is a dharma-body buddha; the Explanatory Treatise says that Many Jewels comes in an emanation body through the power of his vow to verify the sutra, as the present text likewise states.
The master says: the dharma-body neither comes nor departs, the reward-body is majestic and imposing, and the response-body responds universally to all. If these three figures are directly identified as the three buddhas, their substance is not exhausted—this is only a representation. Many Jewels represents the Dharma Buddha, Śākyamuni the Reward Buddha, and the emanation bodies the Response Buddha. Although the three buddhas are three, they are neither one nor different. It should be taught this way and trusted and understood this way.
These four rounds explain “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa” through the four siddhāntas.
V. The Stūpa’s Appearance Has Two Functions: Verifying What Precedes and Initiating What Follows
The stūpa has two functions in appearing: first, issuing a voice to verify what precedes; second, opening the stūpa to initiate what follows.
Verifying what precedes means verifying that all three rounds of teaching are true. Briefly, “true” means that all correspond to the true mark. Extensively, it means separation from the four propositions and cessation of the hundred negations. Taking the middle way, the eight negations are called true.
The stūpa rising from the earth signifies noncessation; sharing the seat signifies nonarising; entering the stūpa signifies nonpermanence; manifesting the stūpa signifies nonannihilation; the emanation bodies signify nonidentity; the whole body signifies nondifference; Many Jewels yielding the seat signifies noncoming; Śākyamuni sitting upon half the seat signifies nondeparture. The eight negations are manifest, and therefore it is true.
It also verifies the circulation of the Trace Gate: the profound work of upholding the sutra and the great power of proclaiming it are all true.
What relation does the phrase “great impartial wisdom” have to prajñā? Fascicle Seventy-nine of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra says: “Prajñā is the wondrous Dharma of the buddhas of the three times, like a city whose gateways on all four sides may all be entered.” Prajñā is therefore also called the wondrous Dharma, while the present sutra calls it great impartial wisdom. The two passages point to one another; their meaning can be understood.
Initiating what follows: opening the stūpa requires gathering the emanation buddhas, revealing the subtle entrustment. The voice penetrates below, summoning the disciples of the original ground and bringing forth the teaching of the lifespan. The long-remote stūpa rises from the earth, revealing the power of sovereign spiritual penetration and disclosing benefit to sentient beings in the past. It issues a great voice, revealing the power of the lion’s vigorous advance and disclosing the present work of opening the provisional to reveal the real throughout the ten directions. It bears a great vow—whenever future buddhas proclaim this sutra, my jeweled stūpa will go there to testify—revealing the power of great might and disclosing future permanent abiding without cessation.
VI. What the Stūpa in Midair Represents
The stūpa in midair likewise both verifies what precedes and initiates what follows.
For the people of the seven skillful means, the principle within the treasury has not opened and is hidden by ignorance, like the stūpa still within the earth. When they hear the three rounds opening the three and revealing the real, opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and manifesting the dharma-body, it is like the stūpa rising into open space. This verifies what precedes. The cultivated dharma-body has long been manifest, like the stūpa standing in midair while no one can open it; this represents awakening in the distant original ground, which the assembly does not recognize. If the Trace can be revealed and the Origin disclosed without doubt, this initiates what follows.
If the stūpa’s emergence from the earth represents the manifestation of the dharma-body, it is both the same as and different from other scriptures: bodhisattvas manifesting the dharma-body is the same, while practitioners of the two vehicles manifesting it is different. If opening the door of the stūpa in midair and beholding the buddha represents revealing the Trace and disclosing the Origin, it is forever different from the other scriptures.
The stūpa comes to testify, so what precedes is already clear and manifest and need not be doubted. It comes to initiate what follows, whose profound meaning remains secretly contained and unknown to the assembly. Taking the latter meaning here and explaining it in advance entails no error.
Interpreted through contemplation of mind: cultivating contemplation in reliance upon the sutra and corresponding with the dharma-body necessarily joins object and wisdom, like the stūpa coming to verify the sutra. Once object and wisdom have joined, the great reward is perfected, like Śākyamuni and Many Jewels sharing one seat. Because the great reward is perfected, response-bodies appear according to capacities, like all the emanation buddhas gathering. Through Many Jewels’ appearance, the three buddhas become manifest; through upholding the sutra, one perfects the three bodies. The Sutra on the Practice of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva says, “The Buddha’s three kinds of body are born from the Vaipulya sutras.” This is precisely the meaning.
Someone classifies the eleven chapters below the present one as the opening of Origin and Trace through the wheel of the body’s supernormal powers, and from “Maitreya asks” onward as the opening of Origin and Trace through the wheel of verbal teaching. But the meaning of Origin and Trace has not yet become manifest; dividing the text from this point is too early.
VII. The Three Divisions of the Prose and a Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation of the Stūpa’s Features
This chapter has prose and verse. The prose has three parts: first, Many Jewels’ emergence; second, the distant gathering of the emanation bodies; third, Śākyamuni’s recruitment.
The first part contains six events: the signs of the stūpa’s appearance, offerings by the gods, Many Jewels’ praise, the assembly’s surprise and doubt, Mahāpratibhāna’s question, and the Tathāgata’s answer.
“A stūpa of seven jewels” explains that the ground of the dharma-body takes the seven factors of awakening and the seven noble riches inherent in nature as its jewels. The stūpa is the object of the true mark and the place upon which the dharma-body relies. “Five hundred yojanas high” is twenty thousand li and vertically explains the myriad practices within the cause and the myriad virtues within the result. “Two hundred fifty yojanas wide” is ten thousand li and horizontally uses the myriad wholesome qualities as adornment.
“Earth” is the mind-ground of ignorance: breaking ignorance while there is nothing broken, abiding in the emptiness of the ultimate meaning while abiding nowhere. “Various precious objects” are the many concentrations and wisdoms that adorn it. “Balustrades” are retention. “Countless alcoves and chambers” are immeasurable rooms of compassion and immeasurable empty dwellings. “Banners and streamers” are the excellent marks of supernormal powers. “Hanging jeweled necklaces” are the merits of the forty stages, adorning the dharma-body above and covering sentient beings below. “Countless jeweled bells” are the eight tones and four eloquences. “Fragrance issuing from all four sides” is the wind of the path of the Four Truths carrying the fragrance of the four virtues. “Reaching the palace of the Four Heavenly Kings” is exhausting the principle of the Four Truths.
VIII. Offerings by the Gods and Many Jewels’ Praise
From “the Heaven of the Thirty-three” onward begins the second event, offerings by the gods. The explanation at the level of appearances can be understood; at the level of principle, the thirty minds make thirty, the ten grounds make one, equivalent awakening one, and wondrous awakening one, totaling thirty-three, all relying upon the object of the true mark. “Raining heavenly māndārava flowers” means that the beginning mind is fully endowed with the merits of the forty-two stages and the later mind is likewise so; all direct the flowers of the cause possessed by the forty stages toward the dharma-body. From “the other gods and nāgas” onward are inner and outer ordinary beings and others, who likewise rely upon the true mark and practice the cause while facing the result.
From “at that time, within the jeweled stūpa” onward begins the third event, Many Jewels’ praise, directly verifying that the preceding opening of the provisional to reveal the real is not false.
“Great impartial wisdom” is the wisdom of the buddhas, like the earlier meaning of walking evenly and uprightly. Impartiality has two levels: the impartiality of Dharma, namely the principle of the middle way; and the impartiality of sentient beings, all of whom equally attain the Buddha’s wisdom. “Great” is the preceding meaning of height and breadth. In contemplation of mind, contemplation of emptiness is vertical impartiality, contemplation of the provisional is horizontal impartiality, and contemplation of the middle is impartiality both horizontally and vertically. Impartiality that illuminates both is great impartial wisdom.
“So it is, so it is” has two levels: it is so in accordance with the characteristics of Dharma, and it is so in accordance with root natures. “All is true” means that it is spoken in accordance with the characteristics of Dharma and is therefore called true.
IX. The Assembly’s Surprise and Doubt and Mahāpratibhāna’s Three Questions
From “at that time, the four assemblies saw” onward begins the fourth event, the assembly’s surprise and doubt. The text has two levels: first they gain Dharma joy; second, they are doubtful and perplexed.
From “at that time there was a bodhisattva” onward begins the fifth event: Bodhisattva Mahāpratibhāna asks because of doubt. Judging by the meaning of the answer below, there should be three questions. First: for what cause does this stūpa appear? Second: why does the stūpa rise from the earth? Third: why does it issue this voice?
From “at that time the Buddha told” onward begins the sixth event, the Buddha’s answer, with three levels. He first answers the second question: this buddha vowed to verify the Lotus, and therefore rises from the earth. From “that buddha attained the path” onward, he goes back to answer the first question: the stūpa was built by that buddha’s command. Next, from “that buddha, through spiritual power” onward, the third level answers the third question: he issues this voice in order to bear witness.
The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra explains that Many Jewels Buddha entered extinction without being able to teach the Dharma; the master’s explanation is not so. That buddha addressed the bhikṣus, who were the people transformed—how could one say that he did not teach? It should mean that Many Jewels could open the three but could not reveal the real; for this reason the Explanatory Treatise says he could not teach the Dharma. Therefore, although already extinct, wherever the Lotus Sutra is taught he rejoices and comes to bear witness.
X. The Distant Gathering of the Emanation Bodies and the Three Purifications of the Lands
From “Mahāpratibhāna, through the Tathāgata’s spiritual power” onward begins the second part, the distant gathering of the emanation bodies. It has seven events: first, Mahāpratibhāna asks to see Many Jewels; second, the emanation bodies must be gathered; third, Mahāpratibhāna asks that they be gathered; fourth, light is emitted to summon them from afar; fifth, the buddhas all arrive; sixth, the domains are adorned and purified; seventh, they give their assent to opening the stūpa.
Explaining the first request, the text says “receiving the Buddha’s spiritual power.” Opening the stūpa requires gathering the buddhas; gathering the buddhas is for entrustment; entrustment requires summoning those from below; when those below appear, the near should be opened to reveal the distant. This is the cause of a great matter—could it be anything other than the Buddha’s spiritual power causing him to ask? The remaining passages are as shown in the sutra.
From “at that time the Buddha emitted light from the white tuft” onward begins the fourth event, emitting light to summon them from afar. The lands are transformed and purified three times, precisely through the power of samādhi. There are three samādhis: the initial transformation of the Sahā world is the samādhi of the eight liberations, able to transform impurity into purity; the next transformation of two hundred nayutas of lands is the samādhi of the spheres of mastery, free in transformation; the final transformation of two hundred nayutas is the samādhi of the total spheres, unobstructed in relation to objects. Further, the first purification represents cleansing the afflictions of the four abidings; the next represents cleansing dust-and-sand delusions; the last represents cleansing ignorance.
“At this time the buddhas sat upon lion seats” is the seventh event, giving their assent to opening the stūpa. It has five levels: first, the buddhas send greetings and state their assent; second, Śākyamuni opens the stūpa; third, all four assemblies see and hear alike; fourth, the two buddhas share the seat; fifth, the four assemblies ask for the Buddha’s empowering aid.
The buddhas jointly give their assent to opening the stūpa, as in the meaning of giving assent to a formal act within the saṅgha. The Mahāsaṃnipāta Sutra explains many buddhas giving assent; the Avataṃsaka Sutra likewise says that many buddhas of the ten directions jointly teach the Avataṃsaka; the Larger Prajñāpāramitā likewise says that a thousand buddhas jointly teach the Prajñāpāramitā. None says that they are Śākyamuni’s emanation bodies. Judging by the present sutra, they should in fact be emanation bodies; those sutras carried skillful means and did not state it explicitly at that time. The present sutra not only presents a vast number but directly says that all are emanation bodies who have come to give assent.
From “at that time Śākyamuni saw” onward begins the second level, opening the stūpa. Opening the stūpa is opening the provisional; beholding the buddha is revealing the real. It both verifies what precedes and is about to initiate what follows. “Like drawing back the bolt and unlocking the door” means that the obstruction is removed and the capacity set in motion.
XI. Śākyamuni’s Recruitment and Entrusting It Where There Is Someone
From “with a great voice” onward begins the third part, Śākyamuni’s recruitment of people to circulate the sutra. It has three levels: first, recruiting in a great voice. From “the Tathāgata will soon” onward begins the second, explaining that the time for entrustment has arrived. From “the Buddha wishes to” onward begins the third, explaining that there are people to whom it can be entrusted.
What is meant by “where there is someone”? While the Buddha is in the world, he benefits sentient beings according to their capacities and personally proclaims the true Dharma without awaiting another. Now the opportunities and conditions for the Buddha’s transforming work are nearly exhausted. Wishing this Dharma to benefit beings without end, he must entrust it for circulation.
“Entrusting it where there is someone” has two meanings. First, nearby, ensure that there are people: entrust it to the eighty thousand and twenty thousand bodhisattvas who have long abided in this land so that they proclaim it here. Second, in the distance, ensure that there are people: entrust it to the disciples of the original ground—the bodhisattvas from below as numerous as the dust motes of a thousand worlds—so that they circulate it everywhere, and thereby initiate the teaching of the lifespan.
XII. Forty-Eight Lines of Verse
The verse has forty-eight lines and restates the three meanings above. The first three and a half lines restate Many Jewels’ extinction; the second eight and a half lines restate the gathering of the emanation bodies; the third thirty-six lines restate Śākyamuni’s entrustment. The first two are as shown in the sutra.
From “telling the great assembly” onward begins the third part, with two levels: the first eight and a half lines raise the three buddhas to encourage circulation; the next twenty-seven and a half lines raise the Dharma that is difficult to uphold to encourage circulation.
The first level has three parts: the first one and a half lines recruit the people; the next three lines, from “that Many Jewels” onward, formally raise the three buddhas to encourage upholding the sutra; the next four lines, from “if there is one who can protect” onward, explain that upholding this sutra is making offerings to the three buddhas and beholding the three buddhas, thereby explaining the meaning of the exhortation.
From “good men” onward begins the second level, twenty-seven and a half lines raising the Dharma that is difficult to uphold to encourage circulation. It has two parts: the first twenty lines formally give the exhortation; the next seven and a half explain its meaning.
The first part is further divided into three: first, one line of admonition and exhortation; second, seventeen lines from “the other scriptures” onward formally raise what is difficult to uphold in order to encourage circulation; third, two lines from “later, for the Buddha path” onward explain why it is difficult to uphold. If someone can uphold it, that person upholds the Buddha’s body—how could this be easy?
The second part, seven and a half lines from “good men, I” onward, explains the excellent merit accomplished by upholding what is difficult to uphold, thereby explaining the meaning of the exhortation. It has three parts: first, one and a half lines again recruit people to uphold the sutra; second, one and a half lines from “this sutra is difficult to uphold” onward explain that upholding what is difficult to uphold causes the buddhas to rejoice and praise; third, four and a half lines from “this is courage” onward explain that upholding what is difficult to uphold accomplishes excellent practice, which has both the personal practice and transformation-of-others dimensions.
The phrase “fearful world” is named shabei in India and translated here as fearful; India says bhadra, translated here as another name for the Auspicious Kalpa.
三周說法講完了。聲聞弟子一一受記，迹門該做的事已經做完。就在這時，一座七寶塔從地下涌出，停在空中；塔裡有一位久已滅度的佛，出聲讚歎說：所說的都是真實。
然後釋迦打開塔門，與那位佛分座並坐，召集十方分身佛，三度變化國土，最後大聲宣告：如來不久將入涅槃，佛想要把這部經交付給有能承擔的人。
本論在此品四次解釋品名，每一次都以『所以稱為〈見寶塔品〉』收尾。四番之中，第三番駁斥北地師，語氣是全書中少見的峻切；第四番則立下一個判語，把多寶、釋迦、分身三者讀成法、報、應三身的表示。
這一品是迹門與本門之間的門檻。門檻上立著一座塔。
一、為什麼非要有這座塔不可？
一個很自然的疑問：三周說法都講完了，弟子也都受了記，還需要誰來證明什麼？
本論的回答分兩層。塔的出現有兩重作用——發出音聲以證明前文，開塔以發起後文。
證前的部分好懂：多寶佛出聲說『都是真實』，是為三周說法作證。但本論隨即問了一個更深的問題：什麼叫真實？它給了三種答法——簡略地說，是與實相相應；廣泛地說，是離四句、絕百非；取中道說，就是八不。
而八不從哪裡來？本論的做法非常漂亮：它不去別處找，就從塔本身這一連串動作裡讀出來。塔從地涌出，表示不滅；分座共坐，表示不生；入塔，表示不常；現塔，表示不斷；分身，表示不一；全身，表示不異；多寶讓座，表示不來；釋迦坐半座，表示不出。
八個動作，八個「不」。於是這座塔不只是來作證的證人，它自己就是那個證明——它的每一個舉動都在演示中道。
至於起後，本論說得也很實在：要開塔就得集合分身佛，集佛就是為了付囑，付囑就要召喚下方，下方一出現就該開近顯遠。一件事扣著一件事，最後扣到壽量品上。所以塔不只是收尾，它是啟動器。
二、塔為什麼在空中，不在地上？
本論特別留意塔的位置——它從地涌出，卻停在空中。
七種方便之人，藏理未開、被無明所隱，就像塔還在地裡。聽聞三周開三顯實、開佛知見，法身顯出來了，就像塔涌上虛空——這是證前。
但故事沒有停在這裡。塔涌上空中之後，還關著門，沒有人能開。本論說：修得的法身久已顯著，如同塔在空中而無人能開，這表示本地久遠成佛而大眾不認識。要等到開門見佛，才是發迹顯本——這是起後。
於是塔的三個位置對應三個階段：在地是未開，涌空是法身顯，開門見佛是本迹顯。
本論還做了一個很細的比較：塔從地出表示法身顯現，這一層與其他經典既相同也相異——菩薩顯法身則同，二乘顯法身則異。但塔在空中開門見佛表示發迹顯本，這一層「與餘經永異」。
「永異」二字用得很重。法身之說別的經也有，二佛並坐、開近顯遠這一路，唯此經獨有。
三、本論為何要駁北地師？
北地師的說法其實聽起來滿有道理：佛為舍利弗說經的時候，寶塔就該已經出現作證；等說完了才來，還能證什麼？現在文本把它放在三周之後，那是經家編排次第的結果。
本論的回應只有一句：「此乃人情則不可信。」
然後它舉出《薩雲分陀利經》——那部經明明記載，佛宣說《法華》無央數偈的時候，七寶塔才從地涌出，塔中之佛請釋尊坐他的金床、再為他說一遍。依這部經，塔現就在三周之後，而且是為了更請壽量。
舉完證，本論下了一句很不客氣的話：明文是聖者所說而不肯採用，人的穿鑿附會哪能承受？
這一駁值得停一下，因為它示範了本論判異說的標準。北地師錯的不是推理——他的推理甚至相當自然；錯的是用推理去對抗明文。本論並不反對推想，它自己整品都在推想（塔的每個動作配一個「不」，就是推想）；它反對的是在有明文可據時，仍舊憑人情去改動次第。
四、三佛之說，本論為何說「未盡其體」？
關於塔中那位多寶佛究竟是誰，本論錄了兩家：地論師說他是法身佛，《釋論》說他是以誓願化身前來證經。
本論沒有選邊，而是把問題往上提了一層。它說：法身無來無出，報身巍巍堂堂，應身普應一切；若直接說多寶、釋迦、分身這三位就是三佛，「未盡其體也」——這只是表示而已。
多寶表示法佛，釋尊表示報佛，分身表示應佛；三佛雖然是三，卻不一也不異。
這個「表示」用得極有分寸。若說多寶就是法身佛，那法身就成了一個會來會去、會說話的存在，與「法身無來無出」自相矛盾。本論的處理是：眼前這一幕是一個可見的排布，它讓不可見的三身關係變得可讀——但排布本身不等於所排布的東西。
於是這一幕就成了一種示意圖。看的人要透過它看見三身，而不是把它當成三身本身。
五、三度變化國土，變的是什麼？
分身佛要來，可是娑婆世界容不下。於是釋迦三度變化國土——先變娑婆，再變二百那由他國土，又再變二百那由他。
本論給了兩重讀法。第一重就三昧說：初變是背捨三昧，能變穢為淨；次變是勝處三昧，轉變自在；後變是一切處三昧，於境界無所障礙。第二重就所斷說：初變淨表示淨除四住煩惱，次變淨表示淨除塵沙，後變淨表示淨除無明。
兩重合看，「變土」就不是搬家或裝修。三度變化，對應的是三重惑的次第清除；國土之所以能容得下十方分身佛，是因為障礙一層層被除掉了。
而這也回頭解釋了為什麼非得變土不可。分身佛不是不肯來，是眾生的境界還容不下。所謂淨土，在本論的讀法裡，從來不是一個更好的地方，而是障礙被除掉之後所看見的同一個地方。
六、「付囑有在」，交給誰？
本品的最後，釋迦大聲唱募，說如來不久將入涅槃，想要把此經「付囑有在」。
本論先解釋為什麼要付囑：佛在世的時候，隨機利益眾生、自己說法，用不著別人；如今化緣將盡，想要使此法利益無窮，所以必須付囑流通。
然後它把「有在」拆成兩重：一是就近使有其人——付囑八萬、二萬久住此土的菩薩，在此土弘揚；二是就遠使有其人——付囑本地弟子，也就是下方千界微塵數的菩薩，使他們處處流通。
第二重是伏筆。此刻經文還沒有出現任何「下方菩薩」，讀者也還不知道有這批人存在；本論卻已經指出，這一句同時是在為壽量之說發起張本。
事實上鏡層後來正是引本品這一句，判為召喚下方菩薩的通命。也就是說，〈從地踊出品〉裡那批誰也不認得的菩薩之所以會來，命令就下在這裡。
七、承衍：塔開之後，故事往哪裡去？
本單元止於偈頌，末後解釋兩個梵語詞：恐畏世與颰陀。
但這一品真正的去向不在偈頌，而在那座開著的塔。本品之後，經文一路往下：〈提婆達多品〉引古來弘經的實例，〈勸持〉〈安樂行〉說持經之法，然後〈從地踊出〉那批下方菩薩才涌出來——而他們正是本品「遠令有在」所付囑的那批人。
再往後，〈囑累品〉裡佛摩頂交付完畢，多寶塔關閉、分身散去。那一刻所收的，正是本品所開的。鏡層在那裡立八不可駁移品之說，其中五條都以本品的出塔、散身、變土、還地為據——若沒有本品這座塔，那場論證一條也站不住。
所以本品是一個開口。開了以後，經要走十七品才把它合上。讀路由『佛把經交出去』，轉入『古來受持者的實例』。
文句記之眼
本品的鏡釋散在《文句記》相應卷次，而它在本帙中最顯眼的作用，反而出現在別的單元裡。
第一處是在〈從地踊出品〉的鏡釋中。湛然在那裡解釋下方菩薩何以「聞命故來」——本論說了「聞命」卻沒有出示命文，湛然便補上：命有兩重，一重是本品末「佛欲以此妙法華經付屬有在」，這是通命；另一重是〈從地踊出品〉中他方菩薩請求弘經而佛止之，這是別命。
於是本品這一句經文，在鏡層被正式指認為召喚下方眾的命令。值得誌明的是，記引作「付屬」而今本根經作「付囑」，二形已在該單元並錄不判。
第二處是在〈囑累品〉的鏡釋中，份量更重。湛然在那裡處理一場品次之諍——慈恩、安國等家主張把〈囑累品〉移到全經最末，他立八個「不可」逐條駁斥。而八條之中，有五條直接以本品的事為據：出塔以後凡提到多寶都說「塔中」而不說「見佛」，移到後面就沒有出塔之處；分身散去以後所述唯論佛塔而不涉分身，移到後面佛就沒有遣散分身之處；〈囑累〉文中佛把土地散為穢相，移到後面就沒有復穢之處；法會本在地上、因塔而升空，移到後面就沒有還地之處。
換句話說，本品所發生的一連串動作——塔涌、開塔、集分身、變土為淨、二佛並坐——成了後世判定經文次第的硬證據。塔一旦開了，經文之中就有了一連串必須依次關上的門；哪一品該在哪個位置，就由這些門的開合來決定。
這一點對讀者是有啟發的：本品在本論那裡是一場莊嚴的示現，在鏡層則同時是一組不可移動的敘事錨。義理的示現與文本的結構，在此處是同一件事的兩面。
The three rounds of teaching are complete. The śrāvaka disciples have each received predictions, and the work of the Trace Gate has been accomplished. At that moment, a seven-jeweled stūpa rises from beneath the earth and comes to rest in midair. Within it, a buddha who entered extinction long ago proclaims in praise: everything spoken is true.
Śākyamuni then opens the stūpa door, shares the seat with that buddha, gathers the emanation buddhas of the ten directions, transforms the lands three times, and finally proclaims in a great voice: the Tathāgata will soon enter nirvāṇa, and the Buddha wishes to entrust this sutra to someone able to bear it.
The root treatise explains the chapter title four times, each explanation concluding, “therefore it is called the chapter ‘Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.’” In the third, it refutes the Northern masters in language unusually severe for the work; in the fourth, it establishes a judgment that reads Many Jewels, Śākyamuni, and the emanation buddhas as representations of the dharma-, reward-, and response-bodies.
This chapter is the threshold between the Trace Gate and the Origin Gate. Upon that threshold stands a stūpa.
I. Why Must This Stūpa Appear?
A natural question arises: the three rounds of teaching are complete, and all the disciples have received predictions. What remains for anyone to verify?
The root treatise answers on two levels. The stūpa has two functions: issuing a voice to verify what precedes and opening the stūpa to initiate what follows.
The first is easy to understand. Many Jewels Buddha declares that “all is true,” thereby verifying the three rounds of teaching. The root treatise immediately asks a deeper question: what does “true” mean? It offers three answers. Briefly, it is correspondence with the true mark; extensively, it is separation from the four propositions and cessation of the hundred negations; taking the middle way, it is the eight negations.
Where do the eight negations come from? The root treatise’s method is beautiful: it looks nowhere else but reads them from the stūpa’s own sequence of actions. The stūpa rising from the earth signifies noncessation. Sharing the seat signifies nonarising. Entering the stūpa signifies nonpermanence. Manifesting the stūpa signifies nonannihilation. The emanation bodies signify nonidentity. The whole body signifies nondifference. Many Jewels yielding the seat signifies noncoming. Śākyamuni sitting upon half the seat signifies nondeparture.
Eight actions, eight “negations.” Thus the stūpa is not merely a witness that has come to testify; it is itself the proof—every one of its movements enacts the middle way.
As for initiating what follows, the root treatise is equally concrete: opening the stūpa requires gathering the emanation buddhas; gathering the buddhas is for entrustment; entrustment requires summoning those from below; when those below appear, the near should be opened to reveal the distant. One matter catches upon the next until it reaches “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata.” The stūpa is therefore not merely a conclusion; it is an initiator.
II. Why Is the Stūpa in Midair Rather Than on the Ground?
The root treatise pays particular attention to the stūpa’s position: it rises from the earth yet remains in open space.
For the people of the seven skillful means, the principle within the treasury has not opened and is hidden by ignorance, like the stūpa still within the earth. When they hear the three rounds opening the three and revealing the real, thereby opening the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, the dharma-body becomes manifest, like the stūpa rising into open space. This verifies what precedes.
But the story does not end there. After the stūpa rises into the air, its door remains closed and no one can open it. The root treatise says: the cultivated dharma-body has long been manifest, like the stūpa standing in midair while no one can open it. This signifies that the Buddha attained awakening in the distant original ground, but the assembly does not recognize it. Only when the door is opened and the buddha seen are the Trace revealed and the Origin disclosed. This initiates what follows.
The stūpa’s three positions thus correspond to three stages: within the earth, it is unopened; risen into space, the dharma-body is manifest; when the door opens and the buddha is seen, Origin and Trace are disclosed.
The root treatise makes a further fine comparison. The stūpa’s emerging from the earth represents the manifestation of the dharma-body, and at this level it is both the same as and different from other scriptures: bodhisattvas manifesting the dharma-body is the same, while practitioners of the two vehicles manifesting it is different. But opening the door of the stūpa in midair and beholding the buddha represents revealing the Trace and disclosing the Origin, and at this level it is “forever different from the other scriptures.”
The two words yongyi (“forever different”) carry great force. Other scriptures also teach the dharma-body; the path of two buddhas sitting together and opening the near to reveal the distant belongs to this sutra alone.
III. Why Does the Root Treatise Refute the Northern Masters?
The Northern masters’ account actually sounds quite reasonable. When the Buddha was teaching the sutra for Śāriputra, the jeweled stūpa should already have appeared to bear witness. If it arrived only after the teaching was complete, what could it verify? Its placement after the three rounds in the present text is the result of the compiler’s arrangement.
The root treatise answers in only one sentence: “This is merely human sentiment and cannot be trusted.”
It then cites the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra: that sutra clearly records that only when the Buddha had proclaimed countless verses of the Lotus did the seven-jeweled stūpa rise from the earth, whereupon the buddha inside invited Śākyamuni to sit upon his golden couch and teach it once more. According to this sutra, the stūpa appears after the three rounds and does so to request the teaching of the lifespan.
After presenting the evidence, the root treatise speaks bluntly: explicit wording spoken by a sage is rejected; how could human contrivance and forced interpretation be accepted?
This refutation deserves a pause because it demonstrates the root treatise’s standard for judging divergent interpretations. The Northern masters are not wrong merely because they reason—their reasoning is quite natural. They are wrong because they use reasoning to oppose explicit wording. The root treatise does not reject inference; it infers throughout the chapter, as when correlating each action of the stūpa with one “negation.” It rejects changing the sequence by human sentiment when explicit wording is available.
IV. Why Does the Root Treatise Say the Three-Buddha Account “Does Not Exhaust Their Substance”?
Concerning the identity of Many Jewels Buddha within the stūpa, the root treatise records two schools: the Dilun masters say he is a dharma-body buddha, while the Explanatory Treatise says that he comes in an emanation body through the power of his vow to verify the sutra.
The root treatise chooses neither side but raises the question to a higher level. It says that the dharma-body neither comes nor departs, the reward-body is majestic and imposing, and the response-body responds universally to all. If Many Jewels, Śākyamuni, and the emanation buddhas are directly identified as the three buddhas, “this does not exhaust their substance”—it is only a representation.
Many Jewels represents the Dharma Buddha, Śākyamuni represents the Reward Buddha, and the emanation buddhas represent the Response Buddha. Although the three buddhas are three, they are neither one nor different.
The word biaoshi (“representation”) is used with exact restraint. If Many Jewels simply were the dharma-body buddha, then the dharma-body would become an entity that comes and goes and speaks, contradicting “the dharma-body neither comes nor departs.” The root treatise’s solution is that the visible scene is a readable arrangement that makes the invisible relation among the three bodies legible—but the arrangement is not identical with what it arranges.
The scene thus becomes a diagram. One must see the three bodies through it, rather than take it as the three bodies themselves.
V. What Is Changed When the Lands Are Transformed Three Times?
The emanation buddhas are to arrive, but the Sahā world cannot contain them. Śākyamuni therefore transforms the lands three times—first the Sahā world, then two hundred nayutas of lands, and then another two hundred nayutas.
The root treatise gives two readings. The first is in terms of samādhi: the initial transformation is the samādhi of the eight liberations, able to transform impurity into purity; the next is the samādhi of the spheres of mastery, free in transformation; the last is the samādhi of the total spheres, unobstructed in relation to objects. The second is in terms of what is severed: the first purification represents cleansing the afflictions of the four abidings; the next represents cleansing dust-and-sand delusions; the last represents cleansing ignorance.
Read together, the two levels show that “transforming the lands” is not moving house or redecorating. The three transformations correspond to the successive removal of three layers of delusion; the lands can contain the emanation buddhas of the ten directions because the obstructions are removed one layer at a time.
This in turn explains why the lands must be transformed. The emanation buddhas are not unwilling to come; the realm of sentient beings cannot yet contain them. In the root treatise’s reading, a pure land is never a better place elsewhere, but the same place seen after obstruction has been removed.
VI. “Entrust It Where There Is Someone”—To Whom?
At the end of the chapter, Śākyamuni loudly recruits those who will transmit the sutra. He says that the Tathāgata will soon enter nirvāṇa and wishes to “entrust this sutra where there is someone.”
The root treatise first explains why entrustment is needed. While the Buddha remains in the world, he benefits sentient beings according to their capacities and teaches the Dharma himself; there is no need for another. Now that the conditions for his transforming work are nearly exhausted, he wishes this Dharma to benefit beings without end, and therefore must entrust it for circulation.
It then divides “where there is someone” into two meanings. First, nearby, ensure that there are people: entrust it to the eighty thousand and twenty thousand bodhisattvas who long abide in this land so that they propagate it here. Second, in the distance, ensure that there are people: entrust it to the disciples of the original ground—the bodhisattvas from below as numerous as the dust motes of a thousand worlds—so that they circulate it everywhere.
The second meaning is a foreshadowing. At this point no “bodhisattvas from below” have appeared in the sutra, and readers do not yet know that such a group exists. Yet the root treatise already indicates that this sentence simultaneously initiates and lays the foundation for the teaching of the lifespan.
The Mirror later cites this very sentence and judges it to be the general command summoning the bodhisattvas from below. In other words, the command by which those unrecognized bodhisattvas arrive in “Emerging from the Earth” is issued here.
VII. Carrying Forward: Where Does the Story Go after the Stūpa Opens?
This unit ends with the verse, followed by explanations of two Sanskrit terms: fearful world and bhadra.
But the chapter’s real direction lies not in the verse but in the open stūpa. After this chapter, the sutra proceeds through “Devadatta,” which invokes an ancient example of propagating the sutra; “Encouragement to Uphold” and “Peaceful Practices,” which teach how to uphold it; and then the bodhisattvas from below emerge in “Emerging from the Earth”—precisely those entrusted in the present chapter through “ensuring that there are people in the distance.”
Further on, in “Entrustment,” the Buddha completes the entrustment by stroking their crowns; Many Jewels’ stūpa closes and the emanation buddhas disperse. What closes at that moment is precisely what opens in this chapter. There the Mirror establishes eight reasons why the chapter cannot be moved, five of them based on the stūpa’s emergence, the dispersal of the emanation bodies, transformation of the lands, and return to the ground in this chapter. Without this stūpa, not one of those arguments could stand.
This chapter is therefore an opening. Once opened, the sutra must pass through seventeen chapters before it closes. The reading path turns from “the Buddha entrusts the sutra” to “examples of those who upheld it in the past.”
Through the Eye of the Wenjuji
The Mirror’s explanations of this chapter are scattered across the corresponding fascicles of the Wenjuji, yet their most conspicuous role in this work appears in other units.
The first occurs in the Mirror’s explanation of “Emerging from the Earth.” Zhanran there explains why the bodhisattvas from below “came because they heard the command.” The root treatise says “heard the command” without presenting its wording, so Zhanran supplies it. The command has two levels. One is the ending of this chapter: “The Buddha wishes to entrust this Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra where there is someone”; this is the general command. The other is in “Emerging from the Earth,” where bodhisattvas from other lands ask to propagate the sutra and the Buddha stops them; this is the specific command.
Thus the Mirror formally identifies this sentence in the present chapter as the command that summons the assembly from below. It is worth noting that the Record cites it with “entrust,” while the received root sutra has “entrust.” The two written forms are recorded side by side without adjudication in that unit.
The second occurs in the Mirror’s explanation of “Entrustment” and carries still greater weight. Zhanran there addresses a dispute over chapter order: masters including Cien and Anguo maintain that “Entrustment” should be moved to the very end of the sutra. He establishes eight “impossibilities” to refute the move point by point. Five of the eight rely directly on events in the present chapter: after the stūpa emerges, whenever Many Jewels is mentioned the text says “within the stūpa” rather than “beholding the buddha”; if the chapter were moved, there would be no place for the stūpa to emerge. After the emanation bodies disperse, the narrative concerns only the Buddha and the stūpa, not emanation bodies; if moved, there would be no place for the Buddha to dispatch them. In “Entrustment,” the Buddha lets the lands return to their impure appearance; if moved, there would be no restoration of impurity. The assembly began upon the ground and rose into the air because of the stūpa; if moved, there would be no return to the ground.
In other words, the sequence of actions in this chapter—the stūpa rising, the door opening, the emanation buddhas gathering, the lands becoming pure, and the two buddhas sitting together—became hard evidence for later determinations of the sutra’s textual order. Once the stūpa has opened, the text contains a series of gateways that must close in sequence; the opening and closing of these gateways determines where each chapter belongs.
This offers readers an important insight: for the root treatise, the chapter is a majestic manifestation; for the Mirror, it is simultaneously a set of immovable narrative anchors. The doctrinal manifestation and textual structure are two faces of the same event.
考據Apparatus
本單元是迹門與本門之樞紐。本論以四番釋品名，其中第三番駁北地師而據《薩雲分陀利經》定塔現之時，第四番判多寶、釋尊、分身表法報應三佛；其下逐節釋塔相、諸天供養、多寶稱歎、分身遠集、三變土田、開塔付囑。本文之四悉釋名、八不顯真實、三變配三惑等語，都是《文句》本身明說；本論所錄北地師、地師二家並加評判，另有《釋論》一說。
一、科判定位
本品屬迹門（01–14）之末段，為開塔付囑之所在。嚴格域為 T34n1718〔0112c16–0114c16〕：起於卷題「妙法蓮華經文句卷第八下」〔0112c16〕，止於偈頌末「天竺云颰陀，此云賢劫之異〔名耳〕」〔0114c16〕。全域實有二千七百八十四個漢字。本單元起於卷界——卷第八下自此開卷，其下復題「天台智者大師說」〔0112c18〕。
| 次第 | 本論自科 | 行域與內容 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 釋品名·第一番 | 塔婆・偷婆・方墳・靈廟・支提之辨〔0112c20–0112c22〕；引《阿含》四支徵〔0112c22〕；此經即三世諸佛之四支徵〔0112c26〕 |
| 二 | 釋品名·第二番 | 引《瓔珞經》全碎舍利功德不等，格出經功德弘持力大〔0113a01–0113a08〕 |
| 三 | 釋品名·第三番 | 駁北地師〔0113a09〕；據《薩雲分陀利經》定塔現在三周後〔0113a11–0113a18〕 |
| 四 | 釋品名·第四番 | 地師與《釋論》二說〔0113a19〕；師言三佛表示：多寶表法、釋尊表報、分身表應〔0113a21–0113a26〕 |
| 五 | 塔出為兩 | 發音聲以證前・開塔以起後〔0113a27〕；真實三釋（略・廣・處中）〔0113a28–0113b01〕 |
| 六 | 八不顯真實 | 涌／坐・共坐／分座・入塔／現塔・分身／全身・讓座／坐半座配八不〔0113b01–0113b04〕 |
| 七 | 平等大慧與般若 | 引《釋論》七十九「一城門四方皆入」〔0113b05–0113b07〕 |
| 八 | 起後三力 | 自在神通力顯過去・師子奮迅力顯現在・大勢威猛力顯未來〔0113b08–0113b13〕 |
| 九 | 塔在空之表 | 七方便藏理未開如塔在地；顯法身如塔涌空；開門見佛表發迹顯本〔0113b14–0113b25〕 |
| 十 | 觀心解 | 境智會如塔來證・大報圓如二佛同坐・隨機出應如分身皆集〔0113b26–0113c02〕 |
| 十一 | 駁「有人」分文太早 | 神通身輪／說法口輪之分，本論判「從此分文太早」〔0113c02–0113c05〕 |
| 十二 | 長行三分 | 多寶涌現・分身遠集・釋迦唱募〔0113c06–0113c08〕；初文六事 |
| 十三 | 塔相逐句釋 | 七寶・高廣・地・寶物・欄楯・龕室・幢幡・纓絡・寶鈴・四面香・四天王宮〔0113c09–0113c21〕 |
| 十四 | 諸天供養 | 三十三天配三十心・十地・等覺・妙覺〔0113c21–0113c26〕 |
| 十五 | 多寶稱歎 | 平等有二（法等・眾生等）；觀心三觀平等〔0113c27–0114a06〕 |
| 十六 | 時眾驚疑·大樂說三問 | 得法喜與疑怪〔0114a07〕；三問〔0114a12–0114a15〕 |
| 十七 | 佛答三問 | 先答第二・追答第一・後答第三〔0114a16 前〕；《釋論》多寶不得說法之師解〔0114a16–0114a19〕 |
| 十八 | 分身遠集七事 | 請見・應集・請集・放光・同來・嚴淨・與欲〔0114a26–0114b01〕 |
| 十九 | 三變土淨配三昧三惑 | 背捨・勝處・一切處；淨除四住・塵沙・無明〔0114b03–0114b07〕 |
| 二十 | 與欲開塔五事 | 引《大集》《華嚴》《大品》諸佛同說而不云分身，今經直說是分身〔0114b08–0114b12〕 |
| 廿一 | 釋迦唱募三分 | 大聲唱募・付囑時至・付囑有在（近／遠二意）〔0114b17–0114b24〕 |
| 廿二 | 偈四十八行 | 三行半頌多寶滅度・八行半頌分身集・三十六行頌釋迦付囑〔0114b26–0114c16〕 |
《文句記》對位：見 T34n1719 相應卷次；本表所引以〔0295c01〕以下之囑累相關段為限，餘從略。
二、成立與傳本
卷端序記灌頂法師私記、合二十卷〔0001a23–0001a24〕，又記唐天寶戊子朗和尚條倫；本單元卷首復題「天台智者大師說」〔0112c18〕。義說歸智者，記錄歸灌頂，現行文字又經條倫治定；神逈序、朗和尚治定語與湛然《文句記》皆屬傳本或鏡釋層，不改作智者正文。
三、所帖經文與所引
（一）所帖根經：〈見寶塔品〉
| 本論所標 | 根經逐字 | 行錨 |
|---|---|---|
| 塔之高廣 | 「高五百由旬，縱廣二百五十由旬」 | T09n0262〔0032b17〕 |
| 種種寶物 | 「種種寶物而莊校之」 | 〔0032b18〕 |
| 欄楯・龕室 | 「五千欄楯」・「龕室千萬」 | 〔0032b19〕 |
| 纓絡・寶鈴 | 「垂寶瓔珞」・「寶鈴萬億」 | 〔0032b20〕 |
| 四面出香 | 「四面皆出多摩羅跋栴檀之香」 | 〔0032b21〕 |
| 高至四天王宮 | 「高至四天王宮」 | 〔0032b23〕 |
| 諸天供養 | 「雨天曼陀羅華」 | 〔0032b23〕 |
| 多寶稱歎 | 「平等大慧」 | 〔0032b28〕 |
| 稱歎之語 | 「如是如是」・「皆是真實」 | 〔0032c01〕〔0032c02〕 |
| 開塔 | 「如却關鑰」 | 〔0033b27〕 |
| 付囑時至 | 「如來不久當入涅槃」 | 〔0033c14〕 |
| 付囑有在 | 「佛欲以此妙法華經付囑有在」 | 〔0033c14–0033c15〕 |
本論所作「垂寶纓絡」〔0113c18〕，今本作「垂寶瓔珞」〔0032b20〕——「纓」「瓔」二形並錄不判。
（二）本論所引：《長阿含經》四支徵
「《阿含》明四支徵〔知倚切〕，謂生處、得道、轉法輪、入滅四處起塔」〔0112c22–0112c24〕。今本《長阿含經》〈遊行經〉作四念：「一曰念佛生處」「二曰念佛初得道處」「三曰念佛轉法輪處」「四曰念佛般泥洹處」〔T01n0001 0026a04–0026a08〕。四處之名全同而標目異（今本作「四念」，本論作「四處起塔」「四支徵」），二形並錄不判。本論此引與 21_rulai_shenli 之引同源，彼處標作「四處起塔」而未用「支徵」一名。
（三）本論所引：《菩薩瓔珞本業經》——今本零命中
「《瓔珞經》善吉問「生身全身碎身功德等耶？」」以下一段〔0113a01–0113a08〕。今本《菩薩瓔珞本業經》T24n1485 以標記容錯法檢「生身全身碎身」「頂王如來」「善吉」諸語，皆零命中。本論所標之《瓔珞經》或別有所指（同名之經非一），據實誌之，不代擬出處。
（四）本論所引：《薩雲分陀利經》——今本作《薩曇分陀利經》，三處字異
「今依《薩雲分陀利經》云」以下一段〔0113a11–0113a18〕。所繫為 T09n0265《薩曇分陀利經》。今本相應段〔0197a12–0197a25〕與本論所引有三處出入，並錄不判：
| 本論所作 | 今本逐字 | 行錨 |
|---|---|---|
| 經名作《薩雲分陀利》 | 「說《薩曇分陀利》漢言法華」 | T09n0265〔0197a12〕 |
| 「有七寶塔從地涌出」 | 「是時，七寶浮圖，涌從地出上至梵天」 | 〔0197a13〕 |
| 佛名作「袍休蘭羅」 | 「字抱休羅蘭漢言大寶」 | 〔0197a15–0197a16〕 |
今本又作「我故來出，欲供養釋迦文佛并度諸下劣，願釋迦文佛，坐我金床，更說《薩曇分陀利經》」〔0197a21–0197a24〕，與本論所引「我故來供養，願坐我金床，更為我說《薩雲分陀利》」大意相合而文字有省。
（五）本論所引：《大智度論》二處
其一，「《釋論》說多寶誓願化身來證經」〔0113a19–0113a20〕——今本《大智度論》T25n1509 有「多寶」多見（〔0109b23〕〔0124a12〕等），本論撮其義而未逐句迻錄。
其二，「《釋論》七十九云「般若是三世諸佛妙法，如一城門四方皆入」」〔0113b06–0113b07〕——今本以標記容錯法檢此二語皆零命中，據實誌之，不代擬出處。
其三，「《釋論》明多寶佛不得說法而取滅度」〔0114a16–0114a17〕——本論隨即以「師解不爾」駁之，並自釋為「多寶亦得開三不得顯實，故《釋論》云不得說法耳」〔0114a18–0114a19〕。
（六）本論所引：《觀普賢菩薩行法經》
「《普賢觀》云「佛三種身從方等生」」〔0113c01–0113c02〕——今本逐字命中：「佛三種身從方等生」〔T09n0277 0393a10〕。
（七）本論所舉之三經：《大集》《華嚴》《大品》
「《大集》明若干佛與欲，《華嚴》亦說十方若干佛同說《華嚴》，《大品》亦云千佛同說《般若》，皆不云是釋迦分身」〔0114b08–0114b10〕。本論在此不引其文而舉其事，用以對照今經「直說是分身咸來與欲」〔0114b12〕，屬舉事非徵文，不列逐字對錨。
四、文句記釋要〔鏡〕
本單元之鏡釋散在《文句記》相應卷次。與本品直接相關而見於他單元考據者，為〈見寶塔品〉末付囑之引：《文句記》於 15_congdi_yongchu 之鏡釋中引本品末「佛欲以此妙法華經付屬有在」〔T34n1719 0323b11〕，判為召下方菩薩之通命——記作「付屬」而今本根經作「付囑」〔T09n0262 0033c14–0033c15〕，二形已於彼單元並錄。
又 22_zhulei 之鏡釋中，湛然立八不可駁移品之說，其中五條直接以本品之出塔、散身、土淨穢、還地諸事為據〔T34n1719 0350b28–0350c13〕——本品之開塔與唱散，遂成彼處品次論證之基石。
五、諸家異釋
本單元錄有三家，皆本論自錄：
其一·北地師：「佛為身子說經時，寶塔已現為作證明，若說經竟，來證何等？經家作次第，安置三周後耳。」〔0113a09–0113a11〕本論判之曰：「此乃人情則不可信。」〔0113a11〕隨即據《薩雲分陀利經》為證，結以「明文聖說而不肯用，人之穿鑿那可承耶？」〔0113a16–0113a17〕——本論於本品之駁最為峻切。
其二·地師：「地師說多寶是法身佛」〔0113a19〕。其三·《釋論》：「《釋論》說多寶誓願化身來證經」〔0113a19–0113a20〕。本論於此二說不逐一駁斥，而別立己說：「若即此謂是三佛者，未盡其體也，秖是表示而已」——多寶表法佛、釋尊表報佛、分身表應佛，三佛雖三而不一異〔0113a21–0113a26〕。
其四·「有人」（分文太早）：有人以本品下十一品為神通身輪開本迹，自「彌勒問」以下為說法口輪開本迹。本論判「本迹意未彰，從此分文太早」〔0113c04–0113c05〕。
另本論於多寶不得說法一事，錄《釋論》之說而以「師解不爾」明白不從〔0114a21〕，並自出調和之釋。
六、術語
| 語 | 釋 |
|---|---|
| 塔婆・偷婆・支提 | 塔婆或作偷婆，此翻方墳，亦言靈廟；支提則無骨身者。此塔有全身不散，故不稱支提〔0112c20–0112c22〕。 |
| 四支徵 | 生處・得道・轉法輪・入滅四處起塔；本論判此經即三世諸佛之四支徵〔0112c22–0112c26〕。 |
| 八不 | 塔從地涌示不滅・分座共坐示不生・入塔示不常・現塔示不斷・分身示不一・全身示不異・多寶讓座示不來・釋迦坐半座示不出〔0113b01–0113b04〕。 |
| 真實三釋 | 略言＝與實相相應・廣言＝離四句絕百非・處中＝八不〔0113a28–0113b01〕。 |
| 三變土淨 | 背捨（能變穢為淨）・勝處（轉變自在）・一切處（於境無閡）；又表淨除四住・塵沙・無明〔0114b03–0114b07〕。 |
| 起後三力 | 自在神通力顯過去益物・師子奮迅力顯現在開權顯實・大勢威猛力顯未來常住不滅〔0114b09–0114b13 前段〕。 |
| 付囑有在（二意） | 近令有在＝付八萬二萬舊住菩薩此土弘宣；遠令有在＝付本弟子下方千界微塵〔0114b21–0114b24〕。 |
| 恐畏世・颰陀 | 天竺名沙悖，此云恐畏；天竺云颰陀，此云賢劫之異名〔0114c14–0114c16〕。 |
七、譬喻・互讀・承衍
本單元之意象為寶塔涌空。本論不把塔讀作景物，而逐句配義：七寶為七覺七聖財寶，塔為實相之境、法身所依處；高五百由旬豎明因中萬行果中萬德，廣二百五十由旬橫用萬善莊嚴；「地」為無明心地，以無所破破於無明。塔的每一個部件都被讀成法身之相。
與〈從地踊出品〉互讀：本品末之「付囑有在」，《文句記》判為召下方菩薩之通命（見第四目）；本品之遠令有在「付本弟子下方千界微塵」〔0114b23〕，正預告彼品之踊出。
與〈囑累品〉互讀：本品之開塔、分身遠集、三變土淨，是彼品唱散（塔閉而在、分身去而不現）所繫之全部前提；《文句記》於彼品之八不可，五條以本品之事為據。
與〈如來神力品〉互讀：本論釋起後三力所用之自在神通、師子奮迅、大勢威猛三名，正是彼品結要付囑所用之語〔0126b03–0126b10 見 15 單元〕；本品先立其表，彼品乃申其用。
承衍：本單元止於偈頌釋難持之語〔0114c16〕。其下〈提婆達多品〉引古弘經以證今宣化不虛；讀路由『佛把經交出去』，轉入『古來受持者的實例』。
八、校本定位
本單元嚴格域內有十四個校勘正文位置，皆為【大】【甲】對舉之內容，其中十三枚以單邊校記繫之、一枚以星號回指繫之；無省略字數式校記，亦無 CBETA 校改：
| 次 | 校勘正文位置 | 【大】 | 【甲】 | 繫法 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | 0112c20 | 或 | 或言 | 單邊 |
| 二 | 0112c22 | 倚切 | 荷反 | 單邊 |
| 三 | 0112c26 | 秖 | 只 | 單邊 |
| 四 | 0113a08 | 涌 | 踊 | 單邊 |
| 五 | 0113a15 | 雲 | 云 | 單邊 |
| 六 | 0113a22 | 秖 | 只 | 星號回指 |
| 七 | 0113a24 | 此 | 是 | 單邊 |
| 八 | 0113b07 | 般 | 波 | 單邊 |
| 九 | 0113b12 | 子 | 甲本缺 | 單邊 |
| 十 | 0114a06 | 也 | 者 | 單邊 |
| 十一 | 0114a06 | 言 | 甲本缺 | 單邊 |
| 十二 | 0114a15 | 三 | 三問 | 單邊 |
| 十三 | 0114a18 | 當 | 當知 | 單邊 |
| 十四 | 0114b07 | 同 | 甲本缺 | 單邊 |
其中四枚值得誌明。第二枚〔0112c22〕落在「四支徵」之音注，大正本作「知倚切」而甲本作「知荷反」——切、反二體皆古音注之式，並錄。第五枚〔0113a15〕落在《薩雲分陀利經》引文之中，甲本作「云」；本論所標經名之「雲」字，今本作「曇」（見第三目第四項），此處甲本又作「云」，三形並存。第六枚〔0113a22〕落在四番釋名之第四番「秖是表示而已」之「秖」，繫以星號回指而非單邊校記，甲本作「只」；此形與第三枚〔0112c26〕同，本單元二見。第八枚〔0113b07〕落在《釋論》七十九引文「般若」處，甲本作「波」（波若），為般若之異寫，並錄。
本單元嚴格域內無通用字庫外字。品題兩形之例（「序品」無釋冠、餘二十七品作「釋Ｘ品」）於本品見「釋見寶塔品」〔0112c19〕。卷首題見第一目。
This unit is the pivot between the Trace Gate and the Origin Gate. The root treatise explains the chapter title in four rounds. In the third, it refutes the Northern masters and uses the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra to determine when the stūpa appears; in the fourth, it judges that Many Jewels, Śākyamuni, and the emanation bodies represent the Dharma, Reward, and Response Buddhas. It then explains in sequence the stūpa’s features, offerings by the gods, Many Jewels’ praise, the distant gathering of the emanation bodies, the three transformations of the lands, and the opening of the stūpa for entrustment. The four-siddhānta explanation of the title, the eight negations revealing truth, and the three transformations correlated with the three delusions are all expressly stated by the Wenju itself. The root treatise records and judges the Northern and Dilun masters and separately records one account from the Explanatory Treatise.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
This chapter belongs to the final segment of the Trace Gate (01–14) and is the site of opening the stūpa and entrusting the teaching. The strict domain is T34n1718 〔0112c16–0114c16〕: it begins with the fascicle title 「妙法蓮華經文句卷第八下」 tr. “Fahua Wenju, Fascicle Eight, Second Part” 〔0112c16〕 and ends with the final explanation of the verse, 「天竺云颰陀，此云賢劫之異〔名耳〕」 tr. “India says bhadra; here it is another name for the Auspicious Kalpa” 〔0114c16〕. The full domain contains 2,784 Han characters. This unit begins at a fascicle boundary: Fascicle Eight, Second Part opens here, followed by the repeated attribution 「天台智者大師說」 tr. “taught by Tiantai Master Zhiyi” 〔0112c18〕.
| Sequence | Root-treatise division | Locus and content |
|---|---|---|
| I | Explaining the chapter title · first round | Distinguishing stūpa, thūpa, square tomb, numinous shrine, and caitya 〔0112c20–0112c22〕; citing the four memorial sites in the Āgama 〔0112c22〕; this sutra as the fourfold memorial of the buddhas of the three times 〔0112c26〕 |
| II | Explaining the chapter title · second round | Citing the Sutra of the Jeweled Necklace on the unequal merit of whole and fragmented relics, thereby bringing out the sutra’s vast merit and sustaining power 〔0113a01–0113a08〕 |
| III | Explaining the chapter title · third round | Refuting the Northern masters 〔0113a09〕; using the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra to place the stūpa’s appearance after the three rounds 〔0113a11–0113a18〕 |
| IV | Explaining the chapter title · fourth round | Two accounts, from the Dilun masters and the Explanatory Treatise 〔0113a19〕; the master’s representation of the three buddhas: Many Jewels as Dharma, Śākyamuni as Reward, emanation bodies as Response 〔0113a21–0113a26〕 |
| V | The stūpa’s appearance has two functions | Issuing a voice to verify what precedes and opening the stūpa to initiate what follows 〔0113a27〕; three explanations of truth (brief, extensive, and centered) 〔0113a28–0113b01〕 |
| VI | The eight negations reveal truth | Rising and sitting, sharing and dividing the seat, entering and manifesting the stūpa, emanation and whole bodies, yielding and sitting upon half the seat correlated with the eight negations 〔0113b01–0113b04〕 |
| VII | Great impartial wisdom and prajñā | Citing Fascicle Seventy-nine of the Explanatory Treatise: 「一城門四方皆入」 tr. “a city whose gateways on all four sides may all be entered” 〔0113b05–0113b07〕 |
| VIII | Three powers initiating what follows | Sovereign spiritual penetration reveals the past; the lion’s vigorous advance reveals the present; great might reveals the future 〔0113b08–0113b13〕 |
| IX | What the stūpa in midair represents | The principle in the treasury unopened for the seven skillful means is like the stūpa within the earth; manifestation of the dharma-body is like the stūpa rising into space; opening the door and beholding the buddha represents revealing the Trace and disclosing the Origin 〔0113b14–0113b25〕 |
| X | Contemplation of mind | Object and wisdom joining like the stūpa verifying the sutra; the great reward perfected like the two buddhas sharing a seat; response-bodies appearing according to capacities like the emanation bodies gathering 〔0113b26–0113c02〕 |
| XI | Refuting an 「有人」 tr. “someone” whose division is too early | The division into the body-wheel of supernormal powers and speech-wheel of teaching; the root treatise judges 「從此分文太早」 tr. “dividing the text from this point is too early” 〔0113c02–0113c05〕 |
| XII | Three divisions of the prose | Many Jewels’ emergence, distant gathering of the emanation bodies, Śākyamuni’s recruitment 〔0113c06–0113c08〕; six events in the first division |
| XIII | Phrase-by-phrase explanation of the stūpa’s features | Seven jewels, height and breadth, earth, precious objects, balustrades, alcoves and chambers, banners and streamers, necklaces, jeweled bells, fragrance from four sides, and palace of the Four Heavenly Kings 〔0113c09–0113c21〕 |
| XIV | Offerings by the gods | The Heaven of the Thirty-three correlated with the thirty minds, ten grounds, equivalent awakening, and wondrous awakening 〔0113c21–0113c26〕 |
| XV | Many Jewels’ praise | Two forms of impartiality (Dharma and sentient beings); the three contemplations as impartial in contemplation of mind 〔0113c27–0114a06〕 |
| XVI | The assembly’s surprise and doubt · Mahāpratibhāna’s three questions | Dharma joy and perplexity 〔0114a07〕; three questions 〔0114a12–0114a15〕 |
| XVII | The Buddha answers the three questions | First answering the second, then returning to the first, then answering the third 〔before 0114a16〕; the master’s explanation of the Explanatory Treatise claim that Many Jewels could not teach the Dharma 〔0114a16–0114a19〕 |
| XVIII | Seven events in the distant gathering of the emanation bodies | Request to see, need to gather, request to gather, emitting light, common arrival, adorning and purifying, assent 〔0114a26–0114b01〕 |
| XIX | Three transformations and purifications correlated with three samādhis and three delusions | Eight liberations, spheres of mastery, total spheres; cleansing the four abidings, dust-and-sand, and ignorance 〔0114b03–0114b07〕 |
| XX | Five events in assenting to open the stūpa | Citing the Mahāsaṃnipāta, Avataṃsaka, and Larger Prajñāpāramitā on buddhas teaching together without saying they are emanation bodies; the present sutra directly says they are emanation bodies 〔0114b08–0114b12〕 |
| XXI | Three divisions of Śākyamuni’s recruitment | Recruiting in a great voice; the time for entrustment arriving; entrusting it where there is someone, in near and distant senses 〔0114b17–0114b24〕 |
| XXII | Forty-eight lines of verse | Three and a half lines on Many Jewels’ extinction; eight and a half on gathering emanation bodies; thirty-six on Śākyamuni’s entrustment 〔0114b26–0114c16〕 |
Mirror correspondence: see the corresponding fascicles of T34n1719. Citations in the present table are limited to the passages concerning “Entrustment” from 〔0295c01〕 onward; the remainder is abbreviated.
II. Formation and Transmission
The prefatory record at the head of the fascicle says that Dharma Master Guanding privately recorded the teaching and combined it into twenty fascicles 〔0001a23–0001a24〕; it further records that Monk Lang arranged and ordered it in the wuxu year of the Tianbao era of the Tang. This unit again bears the fascicle-head attribution 「天台智者大師說」 tr. “taught by Tiantai Master Zhiyi” 〔0112c18〕. The doctrinal exposition belongs to Zhiyi, the record to Guanding, and the received text was further redacted by Lang. Shenjiong’s preface, Lang’s editorial statement, and Zhanran’s Wenjuji belong to the transmission or Mirror layers and are not rewritten as Zhiyi’s main text.
III. Sutra Passages Explained and Works Cited
A. Root-Sutra Passages: “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa”
| Phrase marked by the root treatise | Verbatim root sutra | Locus |
|---|---|---|
| Height and breadth of the stūpa | 「高五百由旬，縱廣二百五十由旬」 tr. “five hundred yojanas high and two hundred fifty yojanas in length and breadth” | T09n0262 〔0032b17〕 |
| Various precious objects | 「種種寶物而莊校之」 tr. “adorned with various precious objects” | 〔0032b18〕 |
| Balustrades · alcoves and chambers | 「五千欄楯」 tr. “five thousand balustrades” · 「龕室千萬」 tr. “countless alcoves and chambers” | 〔0032b19〕 |
| Necklaces · jeweled bells | 「垂寶瓔珞」 tr. “hanging jeweled necklaces” · 「寶鈴萬億」 tr. “countless jeweled bells” | 〔0032b20〕 |
| Fragrance from four sides | 「四面皆出多摩羅跋栴檀之香」 tr. “the fragrance of tamālapattra sandalwood issued from all four sides” | 〔0032b21〕 |
| Reaching the palace of the Four Heavenly Kings | 「高至四天王宮」 tr. “reaching the palace of the Four Heavenly Kings” | 〔0032b23〕 |
| Offerings by the gods | 「雨天曼陀羅華」 tr. “raining heavenly māndārava flowers” | 〔0032b23〕 |
| Many Jewels’ praise | 「平等大慧」 tr. “great impartial wisdom” | 〔0032b28〕 |
| Words of praise | 「如是如是」 tr. “thus it is, thus it is” · 「皆是真實」 tr. “all is true” | 〔0032c01〕 〔0032c02〕 |
| Opening the stūpa | 「如却關鑰」 tr. “like drawing back the bolt and unlocking the door” | 〔0033b27〕 |
| The time for entrustment arrives | 「如來不久當入涅槃」 tr. “the Tathāgata will soon enter nirvāṇa” | 〔0033c14〕 |
| Entrusting it where there is someone | 「佛欲以此妙法華經付囑有在」 tr. “the Buddha wishes to entrust this Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra where there is someone” | 〔0033c14–0033c15〕 |
The root treatise has 「垂寶纓絡」 tr. “hanging jeweled necklaces” 〔0113c18〕, while the received sutra has 「垂寶瓔珞」 tr. “hanging jeweled necklaces” 〔0032b20〕. The two forms 「纓」 tr. “cord” and 「瓔」 tr. “jeweled necklace” are recorded side by side without adjudication.
B. The Dīrghāgama on the Four Memorial Sites
「《阿含》明四支徵〔知倚切〕，謂生處、得道、轉法輪、入滅四處起塔」 tr. “The Āgama explains four memorial sites [pronounced with the zhi-yi fanqie]: stūpas are raised at the four places of birth, attaining the path, turning the Dharma wheel, and extinction” 〔0112c22–0112c24〕. The received Dīrghāgama, “Traveling Practice,” presents four recollections: 「一曰念佛生處」 tr. “first, recollect the Buddha’s birthplace”; 「二曰念佛初得道處」 tr. “second, recollect where the Buddha first attained the path”; 「三曰念佛轉法輪處」 tr. “third, recollect where the Buddha turned the Dharma wheel”; 「四曰念佛般泥洹處」 tr. “fourth, recollect where the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa” 〔T01n0001 0026a04–0026a08〕. The four places have identical names but different headings: the received text has 「四念」 tr. “four recollections,” while the root treatise has 「四處起塔」 tr. “raising stūpas at four places” and 「四支徵」 tr. “four memorial sites.” The forms are recorded side by side without adjudication. This citation shares a source with the citation in 21_rulai_shenli; there it is marked 「四處起塔」 tr. “raising stūpas at four places” without using the term 「支徵」 tr. “memorial site.”
C. The Sutra of the Bodhisattvas’ Fundamental Acts of the Jeweled Necklace—Zero Match in the Received Text
The passage beginning 「《瓔珞經》善吉問「生身全身碎身功德等耶？」」 tr. “In the Sutra of the Jeweled Necklace, Subhūti asks: ‘Are the merits of the physical body, whole body, and fragmented body equal?’” 〔0113a01–0113a08〕. Tolerant-marker searches of the received Sutra of the Bodhisattvas’ Fundamental Acts of the Jeweled Necklace, T24n1485, for 「生身全身碎身」 tr. “physical body, whole body, fragmented body,” 「頂王如來」 tr. “Tathāgata Crown King,” and 「善吉」 tr. “Subhūti” return zero matches for all phrases. The title Sutra of the Jeweled Necklace in the root treatise may refer to another work—more than one scripture bears the name—and the finding is recorded without supplying a conjectural source.
D. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra—The Received Text Is Titled the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra with a Different Graph; Three Wording Differences
The passage from 「今依《薩雲分陀利經》云」 tr. “The present explanation follows what the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra says” onward 〔0113a11–0113a18〕 corresponds to T09n0265, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra. The corresponding received passage 〔0197a12–0197a25〕 differs from the root treatise’s citation in three places; these are recorded side by side without adjudication:
| Root-treatise form | Verbatim received text | Locus |
|---|---|---|
| The title has Sa-yun-fen-tuoli | 「說《薩曇分陀利》漢言法華」 tr. “Teaching the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, rendered in Chinese as Lotus of the Dharma” | T09n0265 〔0197a12〕 |
| 「有七寶塔從地涌出」 tr. “A seven-jeweled stūpa rose from the earth” | 「是時，七寶浮圖，涌從地出上至梵天」 tr. “At that time a seven-jeweled stūpa rose from the earth and reached the Brahmā heaven” | 〔0197a13〕 |
| The buddha’s name is 「袍休蘭羅」 tr. “Paoxiulanluo” | 「字抱休羅蘭漢言大寶」 tr. “Named Baoxiuluolan, rendered in Chinese as Great Jewel” | 〔0197a15–0197a16〕 |
The received text further reads: 「我故來出，欲供養釋迦文佛并度諸下劣，願釋迦文佛，坐我金床，更說《薩曇分陀利經》」 tr. “I have therefore emerged, wishing to make offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha and also deliver those of inferior capacity. May Śākyamuni Buddha sit upon my golden couch and teach the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra again” 〔0197a21–0197a24〕. This agrees in general meaning with the root treatise’s citation, 「我故來供養，願坐我金床，更為我說《薩雲分陀利》」 tr. “I have therefore come to make offerings. Please sit upon my golden couch and teach the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka once more for me,” but differs through abbreviation.
E. Three Citations from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra
First, 「《釋論》說多寶誓願化身來證經」 tr. “The Explanatory Treatise says that Many Jewels comes in an emanation body through the power of his vow to verify the sutra” 〔0113a19–0113a20〕. The received Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra, T25n1509, has many occurrences of 「多寶」 tr. “Many Jewels,” including 〔0109b23〕 and 〔0124a12〕, but the root treatise summarizes the meaning rather than transcribing a sentence.
Second, 「《釋論》七十九云「般若是三世諸佛妙法，如一城門四方皆入」」 tr. “Fascicle Seventy-nine of the Explanatory Treatise says: ‘Prajñā is the wondrous Dharma of the buddhas of the three times, like a city whose gateways on all four sides may all be entered’” 〔0113b06–0113b07〕. Tolerant-marker searches of the received text for both phrases return zero matches, and the result is recorded without supplying a conjectural source.
Third, 「《釋論》明多寶佛不得說法而取滅度」 tr. “The Explanatory Treatise explains that Many Jewels Buddha entered extinction without being able to teach the Dharma” 〔0114a16–0114a17〕. The root treatise immediately rejects it with 「師解不爾」 tr. “the master’s explanation is not so” and explains instead: 「多寶亦得開三不得顯實，故《釋論》云不得說法耳」 tr. “Many Jewels too could open the three but could not reveal the real; therefore the Explanatory Treatise says only that he could not teach the Dharma” 〔0114a18–0114a19〕.
F. The Sutra on the Practice of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva
「《普賢觀》云「佛三種身從方等生」」 tr. “The Contemplation of Samantabhadra says: ‘The Buddha’s three kinds of body are born from the Vaipulya sutras’” 〔0113c01–0113c02〕. The received text matches verbatim: 「佛三種身從方等生」 tr. “The Buddha’s three kinds of body are born from the Vaipulya sutras” 〔T09n0277 0393a10〕.
G. Three Sutras Raised by the Root Treatise: The Mahāsaṃnipāta, Avataṃsaka, and Larger Prajñāpāramitā
「《大集》明若干佛與欲，《華嚴》亦說十方若干佛同說《華嚴》，《大品》亦云千佛同說《般若》，皆不云是釋迦分身」 tr. “The Mahāsaṃnipāta explains many buddhas giving assent; the Avataṃsaka likewise says that many buddhas of the ten directions jointly teach the Avataṃsaka; the Larger Prajñāpāramitā likewise says that a thousand buddhas jointly teach the Prajñāpāramitā. None says that they are Śākyamuni’s emanation bodies” 〔0114b08–0114b10〕. The root treatise raises these events rather than quoting their wording, using them to contrast with the present sutra, which 「直說是分身咸來與欲」 tr. “directly says that all are emanation bodies who have come to give assent” 〔0114b12〕. This is a report of events, not a textual citation, and no verbatim anchor is listed.
IV. Essential Explanations from the Wenjuji [the Mirror]
The Mirror’s explanations for this unit are scattered through the corresponding fascicles of the Wenjuji. Directly related passages that appear in the apparatus of other units include the citation of this chapter’s final entrustment: in its Mirror explanation for 15_congdi_yongchu, the Wenjuji cites the end of the present chapter, 「佛欲以此妙法華經付屬有在」 tr. “The Buddha wishes to entrust this Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra where there is someone” 〔T34n1719 0323b11〕, and judges it the general command summoning the bodhisattvas from below. The Record has 「付屬」 tr. “entrust,” while the received root sutra has 「付囑」 tr. “entrust” 〔T09n0262 0033c14–0033c15〕; the two forms are recorded in that unit.
Further, in the Mirror explanation for 22_zhulei, Zhanran establishes eight impossibilities to refute moving the chapter. Five rely directly on this chapter’s events—the stūpa’s emergence, dispersal of the emanation bodies, purity and impurity of the lands, and return to the ground 〔T34n1719 0350b28–0350c13〕. Opening the stūpa and later proclaiming the dispersal thus become the foundation for the argument about chapter order.
V. Explanations of Various Masters
This unit records three schools, all in the root treatise:
First · The Northern masters: 「佛為身子說經時，寶塔已現為作證明，若說經竟，來證何等？經家作次第，安置三周後耳。」 tr. “When the Buddha taught the sutra for Śāriputra, the jeweled stūpa had already appeared to bear witness. If it came after the teaching was complete, what could it verify? The compiler arranged the sequence and placed it after the three rounds” 〔0113a09–0113a11〕. The root treatise judges: 「此乃人情則不可信。」 tr. “This is merely human sentiment and cannot be trusted” 〔0113a11〕. It immediately adduces the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra and concludes: 「明文聖說而不肯用，人之穿鑿那可承耶？」 tr. “Explicit wording spoken by a sage is rejected; how could human contrivance and forced interpretation be accepted?” 〔0113a16–0113a17〕. This is the root treatise’s most severe refutation in the chapter.
Second · The Dilun masters: 「地師說多寶是法身佛」 tr. “The Dilun masters say that Many Jewels is a dharma-body buddha” 〔0113a19〕. Third · The Explanatory Treatise: 「《釋論》說多寶誓願化身來證經」 tr. “The Explanatory Treatise says that Many Jewels comes in an emanation body through the power of his vow to verify the sutra” 〔0113a19–0113a20〕. Rather than refuting either individually, the root treatise establishes its own explanation: 「若即此謂是三佛者，未盡其體也，秖是表示而已」 tr. “If these are directly identified as the three buddhas, their substance is not exhausted; this is only a representation.” Many Jewels represents the Dharma Buddha, Śākyamuni the Reward Buddha, and the emanation bodies the Response Buddha; although the three buddhas are three, they are neither one nor different 〔0113a21–0113a26〕.
Fourth · An 「有人」 tr. “someone” (dividing the text too early): someone takes the eleven chapters below this one as the opening of Origin and Trace through the body-wheel of supernormal powers and the passage from 「彌勒問」 tr. “Maitreya asks” onward as opening Origin and Trace through the speech-wheel of teaching. The root treatise judges: 「本迹意未彰，從此分文太早」 tr. “the meaning of Origin and Trace has not yet become manifest; dividing the text from this point is too early” 〔0113c04–0113c05〕.
The root treatise also records the Explanatory Treatise on Many Jewels’ inability to teach, but clearly declines it with 「師解不爾」 tr. “the master’s explanation is not so” 〔0114a21〕 and supplies its own harmonizing interpretation.
VI. Terminology
| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Stūpa · thūpa · caitya | Stūpa, also thūpa, is translated as “square tomb” and also called “numinous shrine.” Caitya applies where there is no physical-body relic. Because this stūpa contains the whole undispersed body, it is not called a caitya 〔0112c20–0112c22〕. |
| Four memorial sites | Stūpas are raised at the four places of birth, attaining the path, turning the Dharma wheel, and extinction. The root treatise judges this sutra the fourfold memorial of the buddhas of the three times 〔0112c22–0112c26〕. |
| Eight negations | The stūpa rising from the earth signifies noncessation; sharing the seat, nonarising; entering the stūpa, nonpermanence; manifesting the stūpa, nonannihilation; emanation bodies, nonidentity; the whole body, nondifference; Many Jewels yielding the seat, noncoming; Śākyamuni sitting upon half the seat, nondeparture 〔0113b01–0113b04〕. |
| Three explanations of truth | Brief = correspondence with the true mark; extensive = separation from the four propositions and cessation of the hundred negations; centered = the eight negations 〔0113a28–0113b01〕. |
| Three transformations and purifications of the lands | The eight liberations transform impurity into purity; the spheres of mastery give freedom in transformation; the total spheres are unobstructed in relation to objects. They also represent cleansing the four abidings, dust-and-sand, and ignorance 〔0114b03–0114b07〕. |
| Three powers initiating what follows | Sovereign spiritual penetration reveals past benefit to beings; the lion’s vigorous advance reveals the present work of opening the provisional to reveal the real; great might reveals future permanent abiding without cessation 〔0114b09–0114b13 前段〕. |
| Entrusting it where there is someone (two meanings) | Nearby = entrusting it to the eighty thousand and twenty thousand bodhisattvas long abiding in this land to proclaim it here. In the distance = entrusting it to the disciples of the original ground, the bodhisattvas from below as numerous as dust motes of a thousand worlds 〔0114b21–0114b24〕. |
| Fearful world · bhadra | India names it shabei, translated here as fearful; India says bhadra, translated here as another name for the Auspicious Kalpa 〔0114c14–0114c16〕. |
VII. Similes · Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward
The governing image of this unit is the jeweled stūpa rising into open space. The root treatise does not read the stūpa as scenery but correlates meaning phrase by phrase: the seven jewels are the seven factors of awakening and seven noble riches; the stūpa is the object of the true mark and the place upon which the dharma-body relies. Five hundred yojanas in height vertically reveal the myriad practices in the cause and myriad virtues in the result; two hundred fifty yojanas in breadth horizontally use the myriad wholesome qualities as adornment. 「地」 tr. “Earth” is the mind-ground of ignorance, breaking ignorance while there is nothing broken. Every component of the stūpa is read as an aspect of the dharma-body.
Cross-read with “Emerging from the Earth”: the Wenjuji judges the present chapter’s final 「付囑有在」 tr. “entrusting it where there is someone” to be the general command summoning the bodhisattvas from below; see Section IV. The present chapter’s distant meaning, 「付本弟子下方千界微塵」 tr. “entrusting it to the disciples of the original ground, the bodhisattvas from below as numerous as dust motes of a thousand worlds” 〔0114b23〕, directly anticipates their emergence in that chapter.
Cross-read with “Entrustment”: the opening of the stūpa, distant gathering of the emanation bodies, and three purifications of the lands in the present chapter are the entire premise of the dispersal proclaimed there—the stūpa remains closed, and the emanation bodies depart and cease to appear. Five of the Wenjuji’s eight impossibilities concerning that chapter rest upon events here.
Cross-read with “The Supernormal Powers of the Tathāgata”: the three names employed when the root treatise explains the three powers initiating what follows—sovereign spiritual penetration, the lion’s vigorous advance, and great might—are precisely the expressions used in that chapter’s summary and entrustment 〔0126b03–0126b10; see unit 15〕. The present chapter first establishes what they represent; that chapter unfolds their function.
Carrying forward: this unit ends with the explanation of the phrase concerning what is difficult to uphold in the verse 〔0114c16〕. “Devadatta” below invokes ancient propagation of the sutra to establish that its present proclamation is not false. The reading path turns from 『佛把經交出去』 tr. “the Buddha entrusts the sutra” to 『古來受持者的實例』 tr. “examples of those who upheld it in the past.”
VIII. Placement of the Editions
The strict domain of this unit contains fourteen textual-variant loci, all juxtaposing the Taishō and recension A. Thirteen are connected by one-sided critical notes and one by an asterisk callback. There is no note giving a number of omitted graphs and no CBETA editorial alteration.
| No. | Textual-variant locus | Taishō | Recension A | Connection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0112c20 | 或 | 或言 | one-sided |
| 2 | 0112c22 | 倚切 | 荷反 | one-sided |
| 3 | 0112c26 | 秖 | 只 | one-sided |
| 4 | 0113a08 | 涌 | 踊 | one-sided |
| 5 | 0113a15 | 雲 | 云 | one-sided |
| 6 | 0113a22 | 秖 | 只 | asterisk callback |
| 7 | 0113a24 | 此 | 是 | one-sided |
| 8 | 0113b07 | 般 | 波 | one-sided |
| 9 | 0113b12 | 子 | absent in recension A | one-sided |
| 10 | 0114a06 | 也 | 者 | one-sided |
| 11 | 0114a06 | 言 | absent in recension A | one-sided |
| 12 | 0114a15 | 三 | 三問 | one-sided |
| 13 | 0114a18 | 當 | 當知 | one-sided |
| 14 | 0114b07 | 同 | absent in recension A | one-sided |
Four loci deserve specific notice. The second 〔0112c22〕 falls in the phonetic note on 「四支徵」 tr. “four memorial sites”: the Taishō has 「知倚切」 tr. “the zhi-yi fanqie,” while recension A has 「知荷反」 tr. “the zhi-he fanqie.” Both qie and fan are forms of ancient phonetic notation and are recorded together. The fifth 〔0113a15〕 falls within the citation from the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra, where recension A has 「云」 tr. “yun.” The graph 「雲」 tr. “yun” in the title marked by the root treatise appears as 「曇」 tr. “tan” in the received text; recension A here again has 「云」 tr. “yun,” leaving three forms. The sixth 〔0113a22〕 falls in the fourth title explanation’s 「秖是表示而已」 tr. “this is only a representation,” specifically on 「秖」 tr. “only.” It is connected by an asterisk callback rather than a one-sided note, and recension A has 「只」 tr. “only.” This is the same form as the third locus 〔0112c26〕, yielding two occurrences in the unit. The eighth 〔0113b07〕 falls on 「般若」 tr. “prajñā” in the Fascicle Seventy-nine citation from the Explanatory Treatise; recension A has 「波」 tr. “bo” (boruo), a variant transcription of prajñā, and both are recorded.
No character outside the shared character library occurs in the strict domain. The two forms of chapter title—「序品」 tr. “Introduction” without the “explanation” prefix, and the remaining twenty-seven chapters as 「釋Ｘ品」 tr. “Explanation of Chapter X”—are represented here by 「釋見寶塔品」 tr. “Explanation of ‘Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa’” 〔0112c19〕. See Section I for the fascicle title.