I have never felt like this before. Why is that? We [Śrāvakas and the Bodhisattvas] heard this Dharma before. [At that time] we saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood, but not that we were. We deeply regretted that we were not given the immeasurable insight of the Tathāgata.

[Śāriputra] has expressed his joy [for attaining] what he had wanted to understand formerly. His [long held] intention to understand helped him to realize what he heard, namely, “such a Dharma as this.” Hearing that all beings are bound to become Buddhas, and seeing the bodhisattvas receive the prophecy of their enlightenment, he was sorely grieved himself that he alone was not included in this. What he heard today tallies with [what he heard] in the past. Thus once the [doctrine] was passed to him, he was immediately awakened. He regretted in the past having missed the Greater [Vehicle]; now his enlightenment obviously made him delighted.

Śāriputra, who felt like dancing with joy …

From this phrase to the beginning of [the parable of] “the burning house” there are altogether three segments explaining the purport. The first [segment] explains that Śāriputra has achieved understanding within himself and issues outward what he has comprehended. Because his doubts, arisen earlier, were serious, his anxiety and worry were very deep. Now, the first [among the congregation] enlightened to the One Vehicle, he expressed his pleasure, saying that he wanted to dance for joy. Unable to get over his pleasure, he could not help saying so. It is shown here that, by resort to the traces, [the Buddha] exigently draws [the attention of] the congregation of the moment, making the collective sentiment at the time deeply earnest.

In faculties there is [the distinction between] keeness and dullness: it follows that in enlightenment there is [the differences between those who can be awakened] early and [those who can only be awakened] late. [The Buddha] hitherto has made a presentation of the Dharma Blossom in a straightforward way, and those disciples with keen faculties have obtained an understanding of it, [as shown] in the preceding. Those who are dull have not been awakened yet. Thus [the Buddha] will explain it by resort to a parable. li is so profound and unfathomable that it is difficult to grasp it in one encounter. Therefore, [the Buddha] by evervarying adaptation, resorts to worldly things (shih) and images to depict his recondite purport. The worldly things borrowed to be analogized with li are referred to as parable.

I for the first time sat at the place of enlightenment[,]
[And attained enlightenment].
For three weeks afterwards,
I gazed on the tree,
Or walked about, thinking:
“The wisdom I obtained is
The most wonderful and excellent.
The living beings [of the six regions]
Are dull, attached to pleasures,
And blinded by stupidity.
How shall I save them?”

The fact that for the first seven days [the Buddha] “beheld the
Tree,” means that he intended to express his desire to requite the favors [he had received]. That he “walked about” for the intermediate seven days means that as [the future Buddha], while walking around [in meditation], [he] perfected the Tao under the shady trees; these favors thereby must have been requited. For the final seven days, he meditated on how to ferry the multitudinous beings across [to the other shore]. [Then] the Brahmā king begged [the Buddha] to turn the Dharma [wheel]. Perceiving (or stimulated by) (kan) [this request] [the Buddha] gave him transformative instruction.

The Leading Teachers expound the Dharma with expedients
After realizing at the place of enlightenment:
“This is the abode of the Dharma and the position of the Dharma.
The reality of the world is permanently as it is.”

This articulates what was said earlier, [namely, the passage] “know that the dharmas are ever without a nature of their own (svabhāva).” In this way, therefore, they came to “know that [the dharmas] are without a nature of their own.”