[Concerning Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn,] the five hundred arhats are those who had “the virtues filled inside and their names flowing outside.” Thus, they received their prophecies earlier. These learners and adepts are advanced very little in “name and actuality” (ming-shih); hence, they receive their prophecies later. All that is dealt with throughout this one segment is [the Buddha’s] bestowal of the prophecies upon them.

“World-Honored One! Suppose a man visited {arrives at the house} his good friend.

The five hundred arhats, after their subtle triggering-mechanism was awakened, were delighted and reproached themselves. Insofar as they reproached themselves, their pleasure also was not a shallow one. Although the speeches the Thus Come One has made are so multifarious, with no set pattern, the li underlying them is by no means different. However, these five hundred people went astray from the [Buddha’s] words, failing to grasp his import through their own extreme fault. Thus they themselves draw an analogy in order to express this idea.

Friend refers to the sixteen princes. House means the residence accommodating the teaching of the Greater [Vehicle]. Although these five hundred people in the beginning heard equally [the doctrine], their innate dispositions (chih) varied [in absorbing the Buddha’s speeches, like] white silk, which is dyed differently from one part to another. That is what arrives at the house of a [close] friend means.

He was treated to drink, and fell asleep drunk.

What the friend’s words of advice mean is that beings’ innate [nature], sufficiently [existent in them] has now become completely lacking (submerged). Although still unable to forget the [Buddha’s] words, they have become deluded in thought. The deluded thought has turned passionate. They are intoxicated with the five desires and birth and death (saṃsāra), like the man “getting drunk and lying down.”

His friend had to go out on official business. He fastened a priceless gem inside the garment of the man as a gift to him, and went out.

Although it was said that they were in confusion and delusion, wouldn’t they rather begin to have subtle understanding? Their understanding being truly subtle, the great enlightenment will arise from it; so, speaking of a cause in terms of its effect, one can say it is “priceless.” It is covered with delusion like [the jewel] present in the interior of [the man’s] garment. Because of “the friend,” [the Buddha] has come; he “leaves” [it with them]. Li is never to be lost; it also is what that “friend” “sews.” It was sewed secretly [into all] without discrimination; it cannot be overlooked. The import of the statement about the Greater Vehicle is concealed, leaving them ignorant of this meaning; thus, they are “unaware of anything.” After [“unawareness”] ends they can be transformed. The [Sage’s] stimulus (kan) to teach is stopped temporarily, which is implicit in “having official business, [he] is on the point of going away.”

The drunken man did not notice what his friend had given him. After a while he got up, and went to another country. He had great difficulty in getting food and clothing. He satisfied himself with what little he had earned.

Their previous understanding was activated, enabling them to oppose illusion: they “recovered” from lying down. “Recovering,” they then listened to the teaching. But what they were following was not the original [path]; it is said: they “set out on their travels.” The nirvāṇa of the two vehicles did not “belong to the original”: thus they “reached another country” to lead the pleasure-seeking life. Going astray from the path of the Greater [Vehicle], they suffered hardship in [reaching] li. The joy they found there was less than that found in the Greater Vehicle, but it was something “to be content with” in comparison with that of the world.

Some time later the good friend happened to see him.

Following the teaching [of the three] is what they had grasped, still short of meeting their old friend. Now [the Buddha] has preached that the three are the One: Just now they have “encountered” it. It was not what they themselves had sought: they “encountered it by chance.”

He said, ‘Alas, man! Why have you had such difficulty in getting food and clothing? I fastened a priceless gem inside your garment on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year so that you might live peacefully and satisfy your five desires. The gem is still there, and you do not notice it. You are working hard, and worrying about your livelihood. What a fool you are! Trade that gem for what you want! You will not be short of anything you want.’

“Once when I” was in the place of [the Buddha] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge, “I sewed a priceless jewel” of Dharma “into the inside of your” hearts. To show that they had obtained the One, [they] made up this story. As cause changes into effect, there is no pleasure that cannot be obtained; there cannot be any “want” in anything whatsoever.

We thought that we had attained extinction when we attained Arhatship because we forgot that we had been taught to aspire for the knowledge of all things

When formerly they received the transformative teaching, they had the subtle understanding “sewn” in. “Later” they were attached to the trappings (or disguised aspect) of the transformative teaching, or to the idea [itself] (or deluded thought): They “forgot.”