Chapter 8 · Opening the Provisional to Reveal the Real — Three into One, and the Ever-Abiding Buddha

Part Two · The Teaching

Chapter 0 quoted the one great cause in the “Skillful Means” chapter and promised that this chapter would explain its relation to gathering the three into the one. Now that promise is fulfilled. The question can be asked plainly. The Buddha taught a śrāvaka vehicle, a pratyekabuddha vehicle, and a bodhisattva vehicle—three roads. Yet the Lotus says that there is only one vehicle. Of three and one, which is real? The Buddha first says that he attained awakening in the recent past; the Lotus says that his buddhahood reaches into the distant past. Of near and far, which is real? Both questions have one framework, and their answer will be one.

1 · Three Statements from “Skillful Means”

The first statement explains where the three came from:

「Through the power of skillful means, the buddhas distinguish and teach three vehicles within the One Buddha-Vehicle.」 〔羅什譯《妙法蓮華經·方便品》·T09n0262 0007b26–27·本版《法華》譯注品二〕 『the buddhas use the power of skillful means to distinguish and teach three vehicles within the One Buddha-Vehicle.』〔本版譯注品二·白話層〕

The three are not three destinations. Through the power of skillful means, the One Buddha-Vehicle is distinguished and taught as three. The three roads reach the same place. In the second statement, the verse fixes the number:

「Throughout the buddha-lands of the ten directions, there is only the Dharma of One Vehicle; there is no second vehicle and no third, apart from what the Buddha teaches through skillful means.」 〔同品·0008a17–18〕 『there is only the Dharma of One Vehicle, with no second vehicle and no third, apart from what the Buddha teaches through skillful means.』〔本版譯注品二·白話層〕

The third statement describes the Buddha's posture when teaching the Lotus:

「I set provisional skillful means aside, straightway, and teach only the unsurpassed way.」 〔同品·0010a19〕 『I set provisional skillful means aside, straightway, and teach only the unsurpassed way.』〔本版譯注品二·白話層〕

Skillful means can be set aside because they were provisionally established. What is revealed when they are set aside is named by the sutra the unsurpassed way. Read together, the three statements complete the “Skillful Means” teaching: the three come from the one; the number is only one; and the moment of teaching the Lotus is the moment when three are set aside and one alone is taught.

2 · The Burning House — No Fault of Falsehood

The principle has been stated completely, but the heart has not yet found its footing. Three roads were promised and only one was given—is that deception? The Buddha explains the relation between three and one through a parable. In the “Parable” chapter, an elder's great house catches fire while his children play inside and refuse to leave. He promises them goat carts, deer carts, and ox carts outside the gate. The children race out, but their father 「gives all the children great carts equally」—three were promised, one was given. The sutra asks and answers its own question:

「Śāriputra! The elder first enticed his children with the three carts and afterward gave them only the great cart, adorned with treasures, foremost in peace and security. Yet the elder incurred no fault of falsehood. The Tathāgata is the same, without falsehood: he first teaches the three vehicles to guide sentient beings and afterward delivers them by means of the great vehicle alone.」 〔同經·譬喻品·0013c11–14·本版譯注品三〕 『The elder first enticed his children with the three carts and afterward gave them only the great cart, adorned with treasures, foremost in peace and security. Yet the elder incurred no fault of falsehood. The Tathāgata is the same, without falsehood: he first teaches the three vehicles to guide sentient beings and afterward delivers them by means of the great vehicle alone.』〔本版譯注品三·白話層〕

No fault of falsehood—because what he gives is greater than what he promised. The three carts are words suited to the children's horizon; the great cart is the true wealth of the father's house. If the children will not rise for the promise of three carts, they never take even the first step out of the burning house. Skillful means are not a lie. They are the words that first lead someone through the door. The complete parable is in the annotated Chapter 3.

3 · Zhizhe's Term

Zhizhe cast this reading into a name—but in fascicle one, the Fahua Wenju first settles the account with precision. The Wenju surveys the divisions made by earlier masters, including this one:

「One master divided the sutra into four sections. The opening chapter is the introductory section. From “Skillful Means” through “Peaceful Practices” is the section opening the three to reveal the one. From “Emerging from the Earth” through “Distinctions in Merits” is the section opening the near to reveal the distant. What follows is the remaining momentum, the circulation section.」 〔智者《妙法蓮華經文句》·T34n1718 0001c27–29·待譯；「有師」＝文句所錄前人之科，非智者自科〕 『In today's words: One master divided the sutra into four sections. The opening chapter is the introductory section. From “Skillful Means” through “Peaceful Practices” is the section opening the three to reveal the one. From “Emerging from the Earth” through “Distinctions in Merits” is the section opening the near to reveal the distant. What follows is the remaining momentum, the circulation section.』

Zhizhe comments on the divisions of the various masters: 「Dividing a sutra into sections is entirely a human matter; orchids and chrysanthemums each display their own beauty」 〔0002a04〕. Division belongs to people; each arrangement has its beauty. He then divides the text himself—first into three, introduction, main teaching, and circulation 〔0002a07 帶〕—and then says:

「Again, it may be divided at once into two. The fourteen chapters from the introduction through “Peaceful Practices” open the provisional to reveal the real with respect to the Trace. The fourteen chapters from “Emerging from the Earth” through the end of the sutra open the provisional to reveal the real with respect to the Origin.」 〔同書·0002a09–11〕 『In today's words: Again, it may be divided at once into two. The fourteen chapters from the introduction through “Peaceful Practices” open the provisional to reveal the real with respect to the Trace Gate. The fourteen chapters from “Emerging from the Earth” through the end of the sutra open the provisional to reveal the real with respect to the Origin Gate.』

With respect to Trace and with respect to Origin: the Trace-and-Origin division is Zhizhe's own. The conventions of this edition's annotated Lotus record it as an ancient master's reading, not as a replacement for the chapter spine. Whether with respect to Trace or Origin, Zhizhe marks both halves with the same term: opening the provisional to reveal the real. To open is to open up; the provisional is what was established to suit a capacity; to reveal is to bring into view; the real is what was so from the beginning. Open what was provisionally established, and what was originally so appears. The first half opens the Trace Gate—the relation between three and one. The second opens the Origin Gate—the relation between near and distant. One term covers the entire sutra. The Fahua Xuanyi says likewise:

「If the provisional is opened to reveal the real, all dharmas are substance.」 〔智者《妙法蓮華經玄義》·T33n1716 0685b17·待譯〕 『In today's words: If the provisional is opened to reveal the real, all dharmas are substance.』

One point deserves recording. The preceding chapter explained that 『three thousand in one thought-moment』 is a later summary expression absent from Zhizhe's Three Great Works. 「Opening the provisional to reveal the real」 and 「gathering the three into the one,」 by contrast, are Zhizhe's own words. The former occurs twenty-three times in the Profound Meaning and thirty-three in the Words and Phrases; the latter occurs ten times in the Profound Meaning and seven in the Words and Phrases. All are four-character names, but one is a later summary and the others were cast by Zhizhe himself. This book has counted them mechanically and returns each to its place.

4 · Buddhahood Accomplished in the Distant Past

The first half, with respect to the Trace, speaks of three and one. The second, with respect to the Origin, speaks of near and distant. In the “Lifespan of the Tathāgata” chapter, the Buddha tells the bodhisattvas:

「Since I actually attained buddhahood, immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas of aeons have passed.」 〔同經·如來壽量品·0042b12–13·本版譯注品十六〕 『since I actually attained buddhahood, immeasurable and boundless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas of aeons have passed. A nayuta is an exceedingly vast number, and an aeon is an unimaginably long span of time.』〔本版譯注品十六·白話層〕

People in the world think that the Buddha attained awakening not far from the city of Gayā—that is 「near.」 In reality, an exceedingly distant time has passed since he attained buddhahood—that is 「distant.」 The near is manifested for sentient beings; the distant is real. Do the words about the near, then, count as false? The sutra again answers itself:

「Everything he says is true and not false.」 〔同品·0042c12〕 『Everything he says is true and not false.』〔本版譯注品十六·白話層〕

It then concludes:

「Thus, since I attained buddhahood in the exceedingly distant past, my lifespan has extended through immeasurable asaṃkhyas of aeons. I constantly abide and never enter extinction.」 〔同品·0042c19–21〕 『Thus, since I attained buddhahood in the exceedingly distant past, my lifespan has extended through immeasurable asaṃkhyas of aeons. I constantly abide and never enter extinction.』〔本版譯注品十六·白話層〕

Even nirvāṇa itself follows the same structure:

「For the sake of delivering sentient beings, through skillful means I manifest nirvāṇa」 〔同品·0043b16·偈〕 『For the sake of delivering sentient beings, through skillful means I manifest nirvāṇa; yet in truth I do not enter extinction, but constantly abide here and teach the Dharma.』〔本版譯注品十六·白話層〕

The framework is the same as the burning house. Words of recently attained awakening and the appearance of nirvāṇa are the three carts; distant buddhahood and permanent abiding are the great cart. Ancient masters read the “Lifespan” chapter through the three bodies. The textual study in this edition's Chapter 16 records the details: 「All three schools read the Lifespan through the three bodies, each with a different emphasis; they are recorded side by side without adjudication.」 Follow the annotated Chapter 16 for the doctrinal unfolding.

5 · Which Is Real?

Return to the opening question. The sutra's answer is consistent from beginning to end: the three are skillful means and the one is real; the near is skillful means and the distant is real. Yet skillful means incur no fault of falsehood, and everything taught is true and not false. The three carts lead people from the house; only outside can they mount the great cart. The account of recent awakening leads people to arouse the mind; only after arousing it can they hear the distant past. Opening is not exposure of a deception. Only when the provisional is opened does the real appear. It is so with respect to the Trace and so with respect to the Origin. Zhizhe's term takes its decisive character from opening.

The complete scriptural account of three and one lies in annotated Chapters 2 and 3; near and distant are in annotated Chapter 16. The whole diagram of the teaching—the sequence of doctrinal classification and the study of a sutra title—has been traversed in Chapters 5 and 6. The gates of practice wait in the next part.

Author · Shi Huijing CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · 二〇二六 · 夏