《妙法蓮華經》「三草二木」段的解讀 -- 文獻學與義理學的進路=An Interpretation of The Paragraph of "The Tree Herbs and two Trees" in Kumarajiva's Translation of The Lotus Sutra: Based on a Philological Study
三草二木=the three herbs and two trees; 菩薩階位=bodhisattva's stages; 阿蘭若行=forest-living practice; 版本對勘=textual criticism; 義理分析=hermeneutics; 漢文注釋書=Chinese exegesis
This article aims at clarifying some philological problems and expound the thought of the paragraph of "the three herbs and two trees" in the fifth chapter (osadhi) of Kumarajiva's Translation of the Lotus Sutra. The findings are as follows: (1) The Arhat and the Pratyekabuddha are both matched to the middle-sized herb in Kumarajiva's chinese translation. It must not be a wrong translation. The most possible reason for this rendering is the differences in different manuscripts. However, the sanskirt manuscripts found in Gilgit and Nepal connects the Arhat with the small-sized herb. This is well-matched with the context of the three vehicles in the Lotus Sutra. (2) Except for the three vehicles, there are another two vehicles of human and heaven in this paragraph. An explanation for this is that the sutra bollowed the story of "a timely rain moistens all plants", which has the implication of teaching all the beings in earth and heaven. (3) The large-sized herb, small three and big three are considered to be three stages of bodhisattvas' development ─ the bodhisattva whose bodhi-citta is newly aroused, the bodhisattva who has developed for a long-time, and the bohisattva who has become non-turning back. This is similar to a common theory of bodhisattva's stages in that time. (4) The practices in these three bodhisattva's stages are closely connected with meditation. This must be due to the forest-living style of those who divulged the Lotus Sutra. (5) The ancient Chinese exegetes all accepted the vehicles of human and heaven. With regard to the three bodhisattva's stages, each of them matched them with a framework of bodhisattvas' stages based on his own buddhist theory.
