妙法蓮華經文句 白話全本 · 冊5

Volume seven, first part, of the Fahua Wenju (Words and Phrases of the Lotus), taught by the Tiantai Master Zhizhe. What follows explains the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” chapter.

I. Why Does the Chapter Title Name Only Medicinal Herbs?

This chapter contains the images of mountains, rivers, clouds, and rain together, so why does its title single out “medicinal herbs”? The earth can produce plants and trees, clouds and rain can moisten them, and plants and trees are what the earth produces and cloud and rain moisten. All plants that are produced and moistened have uses, but medicinal herbs have the strongest function. All kinds of contaminated wholesome practice can remove evil, but uncontaminated goodness is supreme. Among the uncontaminated noble assembly, the four great disciples use a parable to understand the parable taught by the Buddha and deeply accord with the Buddha’s mind. The Buddha praises them as “excellent,” calls this extremely rare, and confirms that they have attained understanding. Because medicinal herbs illustrate those who understand, the chapter is called “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”

Medicinal herbs have grown in abundance and been nurtured over a long time. As soon as they receive the moisture of cloud and rain, their tender sprouts and stems become open-branched, radiant, and luxuriant outwardly, while their power and function are replenished and nourished inwardly. This illustrates uncontaminated noble ones abiding in their final bodies and in nirvāṇa with remainder, who formerly no longer wished to seek the unsurpassed Buddha Way. Now, hearing this scripture, they not only ride the Buddha Vehicle themselves but also carry others upon the Buddha Vehicle. The scripture says that only today are they true śrāvakas: through the voice of the Buddha Way, they cause all living beings to hear. Inwardly and outwardly, for themselves and others, they possess supreme power and function; hence it is called “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”

Medicinal herbs can also dispel wind and cold among the four elements, nourish the five organs, restore one’s youth, and preserve one’s complexion. Now, after receiving cloud and rain, the medicinal herbs suddenly become a king of medicines. Once ingested, they can cure all illnesses and even transform the body so that one becomes an immortal. This illustrates uncontaminated noble ones who, upon hearing this scripture, break the delusion of ignorance and open the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. The scripture says that only today are they true buddha-sons: the unsurpassed mass of jewels comes naturally without being sought; everything buddha-sons should receive has now been received, and they further obtain predictions in the Buddha’s presence. Thus the beginning and end are both excellent and what is heard accords with the subtle meaning; hence it is called “The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”

The first explanation of the title concerns understanding and confirmation between teacher and disciples and expresses the world siddhānta. The second concerns the arising of wholesome dharmas and expresses the siddhānta for the individual. The third contains the meanings of both the therapeutic siddhānta and the siddhānta of ultimate truth. Together, these three are called interpretation of the chapter title through causes and conditions. Interpretations in terms of the teaching, origin and trace, contemplating the mind, and the rest can be understood by analogy with the preceding examples and are not recorded further here. [The following is abbreviated.]

II. The Third Passage of Confirmation in the Teaching through Parable: Old Explanation, Teacher’s Explanation, and the Present Explanation

This chapter is the third passage, confirmation, within the cycle of teaching through parable.

The old explanation holds that the Buddha confirms two things: first, the profundity of the Buddha’s kindness praised in the thirteen verses; and second, the intricate and skillful wording in the parable’s passage on teaching the worker.

The teacher’s explanation holds that only these two should not be selected. The scripture expressly praises the disciples for skillfully expressing the Tathāgata’s real qualities and thus already gives a complete confirmation of their understanding of both provisional and real. The thirteen verses speak only of practitioners of the two vehicles jointly receiving the Buddha’s kindness in accordance with the teaching they themselves attained; the parable of teaching the worker reveals only the Buddha’s provisional qualities. Selecting only these two places therefore cannot encompass all the understanding explicitly stated by the scripture.

The present explanation is that the Buddha here collectively confirms the disciples’ pervasive understanding. From the natural relation that first formed the connection, through pursuit and inducement in the middle, to the final entrustment of the family possessions; from hidden and subtle to manifest—throughout, the Buddha confirms the immeasurable and boundless kindness together.

III. The Brief Confirmation Has Two Passages

The confirmation is divided into two main parts: first the brief confirmation and second the extensive confirmation. The brief confirmation is further divided into two passages: first, the twofold confirmation through “excellent”; and second, confirmation of what the disciples’ understanding does not reach.

In the twofold confirmation, one “excellent” confirms the disciples’ understanding of the real in two places, while the other “excellent” confirms their understanding of the provisional in two places. In the scriptural phrase “skillfully express the Tathāgata’s real qualities,” the word “real” confirms their understanding of the real, while “qualities” confirms their understanding of the provisional.

This can also be distinguished through the preceding and following five passages. The initial formulation of what is appropriate for living beings in the Avataṃsaka period is an understanding of the real. Inducing living beings through the Tripiṭaka Teaching is an understanding of the provisional. Coming to understand and trust during the Vaipulya period and receiving the teaching in the Prajñā assembly both understand provisional and real together. Entrusting the family possessions in the Lotus assembly treats the real exclusively. Because the disciples’ account is intricate and skillful, the Buddha praises them for “speaking well.” Because everything they understand is Buddha Dharma, it is called “real.” The scripture further says, “It is truly as you have said,” which is the Buddha’s act of sealing and determining their words.

IV. Why Does the Buddha Then Say That Their Understanding Still Does Not Reach Everything?

Beginning with the scriptural words “the Tathāgata further possesses,” the Buddha starts to confirm what the disciples’ understanding does not reach. In what respects has it not reached? There are six: receding, advancing, horizontal, vertical, both horizontal and vertical, and neither horizontal nor vertical. Their understanding falls short in all six.

Why is this so? The vast cloud covers all, causing every living being to receive coolness; the great rain moistens all alike, so no one fails to receive its benefit. The Buddha enables living beings throughout the world to attain knowledge and vision of a Dharma never possessed before. How could the disciples, relying only on the teaching they themselves attained, understand only the benefit gained by practitioners of the two vehicles?

First, the disciples do not speak of humans and gods, just as they do not speak of lesser plants. Speaking only of the two vehicles without reaching humans and gods is something their understanding still does not reach when receding a step downward.

Second, bodhisattvas are called superior plants and also small and great trees. Luxuriant and densely growing in branches and leaves, they both fulfill themselves and benefit others, yet the disciples’ understanding does not mention them. This is what remains unreached when advancing a step upward.

Third, the ten Dharma realms together become the buddha Dharma realm, but the disciples speak only of the two vehicles and do not touch the other eight realms at all. This is what remains unreached when viewing all classes of living beings horizontally and pervasively.

Fourth, the seven kinds of skillful means, from shallow to profound, all enter the real, but the disciples understand only two and do not mention the remaining five. This is what remains unreached when viewing vertically the sequence of entering the profound from the shallow.

Fifth, the Buddha benefits living beings throughout past, present, and future without ever pausing even for a moment, but the disciples’ understanding does not extend throughout the three times. This is what remains unreached when horizontal and vertical are viewed together.

V. The Same Earth, Cloud, and Rain Are Not a Single Line That Can Be Confined

Mountains, rivers, streams, and valleys [the following is abbreviated] are, taken together, the same earth. The earth produces the myriad things without distinguishing one kind as to be rejected and another as to be accepted. The seeds of all plants and trees arise in dependence on the earth and have no other support. A single cloud spreads densely in layers, leaving no place uncovered. One rain has only one flavor and does not divide the withered from the flourishing. Because the same moisture reaches all universally, every plant and tree universally obtains growth.

The Tathāgata’s equality is inconceivable. In reality, it is not that the sudden Dharma comes first and the gradual Dharma afterward, or that there are initially three vehicles and only at the end one vehicle. It is like a dragon raising an auspicious cloud and sending rain everywhere upon all. Although body and mind do not themselves send down rain, heat and distress are removed and coolness attained. The five vehicles, seven kinds of skillful means, ten directions, and three times all lie within this equal, vast, extremely profound, far-reaching, inconceivable, and undifferentiated moisture. This is what the disciples’ understanding still does not reach when it can be confined neither horizontally nor vertically.

VI. Saying “Not Reaching” Does Not Strip Away the Initial Understanding

The Buddha’s intent in pointing out what their understanding does not reach is not abruptly to negate the understanding the disciples already possess. It is only that, when the initial mind is compared with the later mind, the initial mind has not yet exhausted the final state and therefore their understanding is said to be incomplete.

Likewise, when one first awakens to the first syllable a, one already possesses the qualities of the final syllable ḍha. Yet at the time the disciples’ understanding was only equal to the teaching they themselves had attained; they had not yet had leisure to understand further the horizontal, vertical, and universally inexhaustible benefit. Alternatively, a great being practicing provisionally should naturally be so.

I. Confirmation First through Direct Teaching

The extensive confirmation of the principle understood by the four great disciples is divided into prose and verse. The prose again divides in two: first, confirmation of opening the three to reveal the one; second, beginning with the scripture’s address to Kāśyapa and the others, conclusion and praise. The first part has three levels: direct teaching, simile, and application of the simile. Direct teaching again has two levels. First, the Tathāgata is presented as the Dharma King, indicating that His speech is not false and thereby encouraging belief. Second, beginning with “concerning all dharmas,” opening the three to reveal the one is directly confirmed.

A human king in the world has nothing to fear outwardly and does not reverse his speech inwardly. The Dharma King is the same: He has exhausted all evil, and whatever He says is true and not false.

An old explanation holds that the Tathāgata here confirms the truth and reliability of the medium-faculty disciples’ understanding while encouraging those of lesser faculties to believe and receive. The present explanation instead says this: although the Buddha Dharma is manifold, it never goes beyond the provisional and the real, and outside provisional and real there is no other kind of dharma. Yet the scripture says that the Tathāgata’s qualities are immeasurable, a meaning difficult to believe. It therefore first presents the Dharma King to encourage faith and also to establish the basis for the great-cloud simile that follows.

Beginning with “concerning all dharmas,” the text explains opening the provisional to reveal the real from the side of teaching. Beginning with the Tathāgata’s observing and knowing, it explains opening the provisional to reveal the real from the side of wisdom. The two teachings of the provisional and real reveal the two wisdoms of the provisional and real; the two wisdoms of the provisional and real in turn proclaim the two teachings of the provisional and real. Wisdom and teaching mutually accomplish one another.

“All dharmas” means the seven kinds of skillful means, which are horizontally arrayed. Setting the seven kinds of skillful means against the one reality produces a vertical contrast. Were it otherwise, why would someone first arouse the great mind in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas, attain a lesser fruit midway, and then circulate through the five destinies? Even one person fully contains the ten Dharma realms, much more the seven kinds of skillful means. Although the Dharma gates are many, the perfection of skillful means illuminates all of them, exhausting them without omission; the Buddha also teaches through the speech of every class of living being and never fails to accord. He teaches precepts and goodness to humans and gods; the four truths and dependent origination to the two vehicles; the six perfections in terms of concrete activities to bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka Teaching; non-arising in the Shared Teaching; and the sequential revelation of the tathāgata-garbha in the Distinct Teaching. This confirms Kāśyapa and the others’ understanding of opening the three.

Beginning with “the dharmas He teaches,” the text confirms the revelation of the real from the side of teaching. “Ground” means the real mark. Because there are ultimately not two, it is called “one”; because its substance is vast, it is called “all”; because it is quiescent yet constantly illuminates, it is called “wisdom”; because it is the basis of nonabiding and can establish every dharma, it is called “ground.” This is the real teaching of the Perfect Teaching.

Everything the Tathāgata teaches brings living beings to this ground of wisdom. The wording that reveals the real shines as brightly as the sun; how could one speak dream-words in the dark and offer some other explanation? The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, for example, extensively enumerates dharmas and calls them all Mahāyāna. “Yāna” means the Great Vehicle, the vehicle is the real mark, and the real mark is the ground of all-knowledge. When the preceding text says, “Only this one matter is real,” it refers to this ground; when it says, “The other two are not real,” it refers to the seven kinds of skillful means. In terms of the gradual and sudden teachings, this confirms opening the provisional to reveal the real.

Beginning with “the Tathāgata observes and knows all dharmas,” the text confirms opening the provisional to reveal the real from the side of wisdom. Observing the destinations of all dharmas is the capacity to illuminate provisional dharmas; ultimate comprehension of all dharmas is the capacity to illuminate real dharmas. The Buddha freely penetrates the partial and perfect objects illuminated by provisional and real wisdom and can therefore teach the provisional and the real. This presents wisdom to explain teaching.

Knowing the destinations of all dharmas is recognizing the medicine; knowing the practices deep within living beings’ minds is knowing the illness. Illnesses and medicines both belong to provisional dharmas, while each provisional dharma has its own destination. Precepts and goodness proximately lead to rebirth among humans and gods; viewed as conditions for the future, even bowing one’s head or raising one’s hand can lead distantly to buddhahood. The applications of mindfulness and factors of the path proximately lead to nirvāṇa; viewed as the adornment of merit, “what you practice is the bodhisattva path,” and they lead distantly to the place of jewels. The Dharma gates of the six perfections in the Shared and Distinct Teachings likewise each have proximate and distant destinations; the roads and tracks they follow are not the same. The meaning may be understood accordingly.

Again, precepts and goodness are medicine for humans and gods; truths, conditions, and perfections are medicines for persons of the three vehicles; the medicines of the Shared and Distinct Teachings may be understood by analogy.

Practices deep within the mind are of two kinds. One is deep attachment to the body and mind upon which one depends and to the environment one inhabits; the other is deep attachment to the dharma one has grasped. Those attached to body, mind, and environment produce grave ten evils that obstruct the human and deva vehicles. Those attached to the dharma they grasp produce the four inversions, three paths, six coverings, four abiding afflictions, five abiding afflictions, and so forth, obstructing the vehicles of the noble ones. The forms of illness in the deep mind are thus not the same, and provisional wisdom sees them all with unhindered penetration.

“Furthermore, ultimately comprehending all dharmas” describes what real wisdom illuminates. Every provisional dharma enters the real, without exception, so it is called ultimate; because real wisdom knows it, it is called comprehending; because the Buddha-eye sees it, it is called clear.

If one wisdom illuminates only one medicine and one illness but cannot illuminate another medicine and illness, while a different wisdom illuminates only the other side and not this side, each class remaining different from the others, this is what provisional wisdom illuminates. If one wisdom universally illuminates every medicine and every illness, this is what real wisdom illuminates. Because the Buddha can reveal such a perfect object and wisdom to living beings, the scripture calls it all wisdom.

“All dharmas” can also be interpreted as the ten Dharma realms. The nature, marks, and desires of each of the ten differ, as do the recompenses they obtain and the destinations toward which they go. Knowing all dharmas to exhaustion is called knowing the illness; knowing the deep attachments in the minds of all living beings is called knowing the medicine. Medicines may be profound or shallow. The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says that wisdom in accord with reality knows the mind of greed, the mind of hatred, and the mind of delusion. Knowing through wisdom in accord with reality is called knowing the deep mind: one penetrates in accord with principle and without obstruction. As for all Dharma medicines such as precepts, goodness, truths, conditions, and perfections, knowing them all through wisdom in accord with reality is called unhindered penetration.

The “unhindered penetration” in the passage on provisional wisdom treats the real within provisional dharmas. When the passage on real wisdom again speaks “concerning all dharmas,” it treats provisional dharmas within the real. The two passages mutually reveal that the real contains the provisional and the provisional contains the real. Ultimately, it is neither the provisional alone nor the real alone; neither differentiated nor entirely undifferentiated. Through wisdom’s skillful means, the provisional differs; because all arrives at the ground of wisdom, there is no difference. The earth itself, for example, is undifferentiated, yet the plants it produces are many: the many are precisely not many, and the not-many are precisely many.

It is also like discussing dharmas in terms of mind and mind in terms of dharmas: there are various numbers within mind, while within dharmas there are no various numbers; mind does not depart from dharmas, nor do dharmas depart from mind. What is unnumbered appears numbered, and what is numbered is originally unnumbered. The provisional and real are the same. [The remainder is omitted.]

II. Opening the Similes of Earth, Plants, Clouds, and Rain

Beginning with “it is like,” the second part is teaching through simile. The passage divides in two: first the simile, then a return to the main subject in praise. The simile again consists of opening the simile and applying it. Opening the simile has two levels: first, the simile of difference, representing the preceding provisional teaching and provisional wisdom; second, the simile of non-difference, representing the preceding real teaching and real wisdom.

The three herbs and two trees differ as delicate and robust and are therefore called differentiated; one earth universally bears and one rain universally moistens and are therefore called undifferentiated. Looking only at the branch streams, one sees each as different; tracing them to their root and flourishing, one finds none that is not borne by the earth and moistened by rain. The skillful wisdom inwardly applied sees the seven kinds and five kinds as each different; real wisdom sees that they ultimately return to one reality. The one reality does not depart from the seven and five, nor do the seven and five depart from the one reality: difference is precisely non-difference, and non-difference appears as difference. [The remainder is omitted.]

The simile of difference has six items: first, earth; second, plants and trees; third, dense cloud; fourth, falling rain; fifth, receiving moisture; and sixth, growth.

1. The Simile of Earth

First is the simile of earth. An old explanation takes the earth of the trichiliocosm as the general presentation and then distinguishes mountains, rivers, streams, and valleys, correlating them with habituation-causes of the five vehicles: a valley receives much water and represents bodhisattvas; a stream represents pratyekabuddhas; a river represents śrāvakas; and a high mountain, receiving little moisture, represents the human and deva vehicles.

The present explanation holds that a habituation-cause should be represented by a seed receiving moisture and gradually growing. Although earth, mountains, and rivers also receive moisture, they lack the two meanings of seed and growth. Moreover, the later application speaks of sound reaching universally throughout the world among gods, humans, and asuras, and the verse says that within every assembly of gods and humans there is none who does not receive it; nowhere are earth and the rest used to represent habituation-causes. The old explanation is therefore not adopted.

The great-thousand world now represents the world of living beings, while mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, and earth represent the world of the five aggregates. A world is not something that exists apart from mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, and earth but is constituted by them; neither is a living being something that exists apart from the five aggregates but is constituted by them. Earth in general represents the aggregate of consciousness, while mountains, rivers, streams, and valleys represent the other four aggregates.

Although the dependent plants and trees rely upon earth and the rest, earth and the rest are not themselves the plants. The forms, branches, and trunks of plants are simply called plants. A plant’s seed does not have another object-name either: it is called “seed” only in reference to its function of producing, while the produced form, branches, and trunk are called the plant. Every plant fixes its roots in the earth, so earth is the basis.

Inwardly applied, these are habituation-cause and habituation-fruit. Although they depend upon the five aggregates, the five aggregates themselves are not identical with cause and fruit. Habituation-cause can exist only in dependence upon the five aggregates; only when the habituation-cause grows and is accomplished is it called habituation-fruit. Fruit and cause arise in dependence upon the aggregates. In this way the simile of mountains, rivers, and earth is established, and every aspect represented by the plant’s seed receiving moisture and growing is also established.

A further level of the particular simile may also be revealed. Although a mountain is lofty, it still has five kinds of form, such as depressions and elevations; even level earth has five kinds of form, such as hills and ponds. This represents the five aggregates possessed by each of the five vehicles: the high mountain represents the bodhisattvas’ five aggregates, the river the pratyekabuddhas’ five aggregates, the stream the śrāvakas’ five aggregates, the earth the devas’ five aggregates, and the low valley humans’ five aggregates. Each class of five aggregates supports habituation-causes and habituation-fruits, just as mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, and earth can all support seeds and the forms, branches, and trunks.

The trichiliocosm may further represent the principle as direct cause, the common basis of all things; mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, and earth may represent the recompense body and mind formed from living beings’ aggregates, elements, and sense fields; and plants, groves, and forests may represent living beings’ habituation-causes. These three dharmas do not depart from one another: habituation-causes depend on the aggregates and sense fields, while the aggregates and sense fields do not go beyond Dharma-nature, just as plants depend upon mountains and rivers and mountains and rivers depend upon the world. [The remainder is omitted.]

The scripture’s six levels are plainly visible. Why fabricate a different sequence? The scriptural order is already thus; why jumble and mix it, copying the later text to the front and moving the earlier text to the back?

2. The Simile of Plants and Trees

Beginning with “the plants and trees it produces,” this is the second, the simile of produced plants and trees. “Plants” is the general name for grasses, and “trees” the general name for woody plants; grasses gathered together form a grove, and trees gathered together form a forest. Those that treat illnesses and possess especially strong functions are called medicines. In the same way, every wholesome dharma can treat evil, but uncontaminated goodness has a stronger function in removing afflictions and is therefore specially called medicine.

Among the plants and trees below, tree groves possess extensive branches and trunks that give broad shade and have great functions, so they represent the two classes of bodhisattvas. “Various kinds” means that the cause-and-fruit seeds of the five vehicles and seven kinds of goodness each differ. Each class has its own designation, which is its name; each has its own embodied appearance, which is its form.

3. The Simile of Dense Cloud

Beginning with “dense cloud,” this is the third, the simile of dense cloud. Clouds possess visible form and provide shade, while the later verse also speaks of thunder resounding far away. Shade represents the Buddha’s compassion, visible form represents the Buddha’s responsive manifestation in the world, and thunder represents the Buddha’s verbal teaching. The dense cloud is therefore the three esoteric treasuries: compassion is the esoteric treasury of mind, visible form the esoteric treasury of body, and thunder the esoteric treasury of speech.

“Spreading” means pervading. Because it is both dense and universally covering, the text says it spreads. Perfumed and impelled by compassion, the Buddha manifests a responsive body and teaches throughout the ten Dharma realms; this is why it is said to spread.

The Scripture and Vinaya in Assorted Selections records that clouds have five colors: blue clouds contain much wind, red clouds much fire, yellow and white clouds much earth, and black clouds much water. There are four masters of lightning: the eastern is named Shenwei, the southern Baizhu, the western Ajieluo, and the northern Azhulan. Thunder occurs because the four masters of lightning contend with one another; it also occurs when water, fire, wind, and earth contend. Five things prevent rain from falling: first, wind arises and scatters the clouds; second, fire arises and scorches the clouds; third, asuras take the clouds in their hands and carry them into the ocean; fourth, the rain master engages in sexual misconduct; fifth, the king governs without the Way, angering the rain master so that no rain falls. [The remainder is omitted.]

4. The Simile of Falling Rain

Beginning with “pouring down equally at one time,” this is the fourth, the simile of falling rain. It represents the Buddha proclaiming the Dharma rain through the eight tones and four eloquences of the esoteric treasury of speech, giving living beings benefit and moisture.

5. The Simile of Saturating Moisture

Beginning with “its moisture universally reaches,” this is the fifth, the simile of saturating moisture. The Dharma treasure rains universally and moistens the seeds of habituation-causes already present in the mind-ground of the seven classes of living beings, causing wisdom born of hearing to arise. This is called saturation.

The scripture speaks of branches, leaves, roots, and stems. The root treatise interprets them by function: faith is the root, discipline the stem, concentration the branch, and wisdom the leaf. Because the four progressively support one another, they are used as the simile. Small roots and stems are the faith and discipline of humans and gods; medium roots and stems are the faith and discipline of the two vehicles; great roots and stems are the faith and discipline of bodhisattvas.

6. The Simile of Growth

Beginning with “the trees, great and small,” this is the sixth, the simile of growth. Here the text again briefly presents the plants, each receiving moisture according to its own measure. Once the wholesome dharmas of the two kinds of cause—habituation and recompense—receive the Dharma rain, the two kinds of fruit, habituation and recompense, each grow.

“According to their kinds and natures” means that the Buddha establishes provisional dharmas in precise accord with capacities: what the small receive does not exceed their measure, nor is what the great receive diminished. These are the habituation-causes and recompense-causes of the seven classes of living beings. Flowers blooming and fruits ripening are habituation-fruits and recompense-fruits.

Growth may also be divided into three meanings. “According to their kinds and natures” is the basis of growth, because the Buddha establishes the teachings according to capacities; “each obtains growth” directly states growth; flowers blooming and fruits ripening are the appearance in which growth becomes manifest.

7. The Undifferentiated Simile of One Earth and One Rain

Beginning with “although produced by one earth,” this is the second major section, the undifferentiated simile of one earth and one rain, which reveals the one reality. It has three levels.

First, produced by one earth: living beings arise from the mind-ground before the path and finally take the wisdom-ground after the path as their destination. Second, rained upon by one cloud: the Dharma gate of the One Vehicle is proclaimed in one voice, developing the five kinds of wholesome roots along the path, and ultimately it remains the equal teaching in one voice. Third, the three herbs and two trees receive benefit without knowing it themselves: the five kinds of wholesome roots receive the Buddha’s Dharma rain and grow according to their respective measures, yet do not know it themselves; they do not know that the five kinds of causes all depend upon one Buddha-nature; they do not know that the teachings of the five vehicles are all the Great Vehicle; and they still do not know that they return together to Buddha-wisdom. Only the Tathāgata knows.

III. Applying the Six Similes One by One to the Buddha’s Teaching

Beginning with “Kāśyapa, you should know, the Tathāgata,” this is the application of the simile. Applying the differentiated simile has two levels: first the direct application, then a renewed presentation of the simile fitted to the scriptural wording. The opening simile has six items, but the application does not follow the original sequence. The opening simile begins from the side of capacities and speaks of living beings; the application begins from the side of stimulus and response and speaks of the Tathāgata, because the Tathāgata is the lord of transformation.

The first passage directly applies the third opening simile, the dense cloud, while also applying the first, the world. The second applies the fourth, falling rain. The third applies the first, the world and the mountains, rivers, streams, and valleys. The fourth applies the second, plants and trees. The fifth applies the fifth, saturating moisture. The sixth applies the sixth, growth.

The application is arranged this way because when the Tathāgata responsively manifests in the world, there is teaching through the eight tones; when there is teaching, there are living beings to be transformed; when living beings hear the Dharma, each receives the moisture of the path; and although the moisture received is the same, their growth remains different. [The remainder is omitted.]

1. Applying the Dense Cloud

First is the application of the dense cloud. It first presents the Buddha’s esoteric treasury of body, applying the cloud’s visible form, and then presents the Buddha’s esoteric treasury of speech, applying the cloud’s sound.

“The Tathāgata likewise appears in the world” directly applies the responsive body’s appearance in the world. “Like the arising of a great cloud” presents the simile and fits it to the text, saying that the Tathāgata manifests His body through great loving-kindness, sheltering and nurturing all. “With a great sound” presents the Buddha’s esoteric treasury of speech and applies the cloud’s sound.

Gods, humans, and asuras are the three good destinies enumerated separately as recipients of benefit from the esoteric treasury of speech. That is, the thirty ranks of buddha-sons who possess the capacities of the three vehicles each receive the benefit of the voiced teaching. “Like that great cloud” again presents the simile and fits it to the cloud’s sound. “Universally covering the great-thousand world” presents all living beings together as buddha-sons, all receiving the benefit of the esoteric treasury of speech.

Sometimes only five similes are applied, taking the passage beginning with “universally throughout the world” also to apply the world and earth. “World” is the world as land; gods, humans, and asuras are the world of provisional designation and the five aggregates. Provisional designation applies the preceding world, while the five aggregates apply the preceding mountains, rivers, streams, and valleys.

2. Applying the Falling Rain

Beginning with “proclaiming in the great assembly,” this is the second, applying the fourth opening simile, falling rain. It first marks out six gateways and then exhorts living beings to hear and receive.

The six gateways are these: first, the ten epithets, including Tathāgata and Worthy of Offerings; second, the four universal vows, including causing those not yet delivered to be delivered; third, the three penetrations, including this life and later lives; fourth, the three wisdoms in one mind, meaning complete knowledge; fifth, the five eyes, meaning seeing; sixth, the wisdom-conduct shared by the three karmas. “Knowing” means that the karma of mind needs no guarding; “opening the path” means that the karma of body needs no guarding; and “teaching the path” means that the karma of speech needs no guarding. Together these may also be called the guide: the one who knows the path, opens the path, teaches the path, and so forth.

Beginning with “you gods and humans,” the text exhorts living beings to hear and receive. The Buddha proclaims the six Dharma gates through the eight tones; speaking in terms of the majority, He particularly exhorts living beings in the three good destinies to come hear the Dharma.

3. Applying Mountains and Rivers

Beginning with “at that time immeasurable koṭis of kinds of living beings” and extending through “came to hear the Dharma,” this is the third, applying the first opening simile, mountains and rivers. Living beings exist only through the aggregation of recompense, just as a world is constituted only in dependence upon mountains, rivers, and the rest. “Hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis” means the living beings of the ten Dharma realms. What is directly described here is the differentiation among living beings of the seven kinds of skillful means; the correlations are as above. Another division takes the entire passage beginning with “you gods and humans” as applying the simile of mountains and rivers.

4. Applying Plants and Trees

Beginning with “the Tathāgata at that time” and extending through “diligent or lax,” this is the fourth, applying the second opening simile, plants and trees.

An old explanation holds that this passage adds something not present in the preceding simile and therefore has nothing to apply. The present explanation instead says that the preceding simile explicitly described plants as differing in greatness and smallness, while the present passage says that living beings’ faculties are sharp or dull and their conduct diligent or lax. These are precisely differing depths of habituation-causes and have the same meaning as the plants. How could this be only an addition without a corresponding simile?

“At that time,” if stated from the beginning of the gradual teaching, means the first teaching of the three vehicles in the Deer Park; if stated in terms of the various intermediate occasions, each occasion may likewise be called “at that time.”

Sharp and dull may first be judged generally. Because those in the three evil destinies have evil causes and painful fruits and cannot receive the path, they are called dull; because living beings of the seven kinds of skillful means hear the teaching and benefit, they are called sharp. A particular judgment can then be made: because humans and gods accept only recompense and refuse the Dharma of the path, they are called dull; because the capacities of the three vehicles can sever afflictions and leave the three realms, they are called sharp. Again, because śrāvakas contemplate arising and extinction, they are called dull, while because bodhisattvas contemplate neither arising nor extinction, they are called sharp. Distinctions can likewise be made within the Shared, Distinct, and Perfect Teachings. [The remainder is omitted.]

Diligence and laxity are also judged according to living beings’ conduct. Those in the three evil destinies are heedless and are called lax; humans and gods uphold the five precepts and ten good deeds and are called diligent. Humans and gods do not weary of suffering and are called lax; the two vehicles fear impermanence and are called diligent. The two vehicles cling to realizing attainment and do not seek buddhahood and are called lax; bodhisattvas resolve to seek the Buddha Way and are called diligent. [The remainder is omitted.]

5. Applying the Reception of Moisture

Beginning with “according to what they can bear” and extending through “quickly obtain wholesome benefit,” this is the fifth, applying the fifth opening simile, receiving moisture. “According to what they can bear” means that the Buddha’s teaching precisely accords with capacities, without the faults of increase or decrease. Rejoicing and obtaining wholesome benefit means that each receives the moisture of the Dharma rain and benefits.

6. Applying Growth

Beginning with “after these living beings hear the Dharma,” this is the sixth, applying the sixth opening simile, growth. Peace in the present life and birth in a good place afterward are the recompense-fruit brought forth by the recompense-cause and apply the growth of flowers. Beginning with “they are also able to hear the Dharma” and extending through “gradually enter the path,” the habituation-cause draws forth the habituation-fruit and applies the growth of fruit. “After hearing the Dharma” applies the basis of growth; “peace in the present life” directly applies growth; and “birth in a good place afterward” applies the appearance of growth.

The Buddha, like a great cloud, universally covers and protects all. Even those in the three evil destinies receive moisture and grow, as the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras and Vaipulya scriptures explain when they say that beings in the hells can also benefit. Other scriptures likewise say that dragons, birds, ghosts, spirits, and others hear the Dharma and attain the path.

For example, the extinguishing of hellfire and cooling of boiling water are peace in the present life; birth among gods or humans is birth in a good place afterward; and cultivating the path after birth among gods or humans is enjoyment through the path.

If humans and gods hear the Dharma and uphold precepts, using merit to support this body so that ghosts, spirits, and dragons cannot invade it, that is peace in the present life. If devas are again born among devas after death, humans are again born among humans, or devas and humans are born among one another, that is birth in a good place afterward. If they awaken after birth, that is enjoyment through the path.

When persons of the two vehicles hear the Dharma and realize nirvāṇa with remainder, that is peace in the present life. As the later text says, someone may form the thought that the qualities they have attained are extinction; the Buddha then says that He becomes a buddha in another land under another name. That person may hear this scripture in that land. The land of skillful means with remainder is the good place; hearing the scripture there is attaining the path and enjoying bliss.

If bodhisattvas with birth-bodies hear Vairocana Buddha teach and attain patient acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, that is peace in the present life. Later birth in the World of Pure Fullness as members of the Dharma-body retinue is birth in a good place afterward and enjoyment through the path. Leaving every obstacle is peace in the present life; gradually entering the path according to the power one can bear is enjoyment through the path in later lives.

The five vehicles are, in sequence: the vehicle of the five precepts leaves the suffering of the three evil destinies; the vehicle of the ten good deeds leaves the eight sufferings of the human destiny; the śrāvaka vehicle leaves the impermanent suffering of the three realms; the pratyekabuddha vehicle leaves the suffering of needing to hear the Dharma from another; and the bodhisattva vehicle leaves the suffering of inwardly lacking sharp wisdom and outwardly lacking marks and excellences. These are called the five vehicles.

Eight successive lines of questioning follow.

First, should only humans and gods be called mundane vehicles, and the others supramundane vehicles? Second, is Buddha the real vehicle and all others provisional vehicles? Third, is Buddha the fruit vehicle and all others cause vehicles? Fourth, should only three vehicles be established: humans and gods as lower, the two vehicles as middle, and Buddha as higher? Fifth, should humans and gods be called vehicles that do not sever afflictions, the two vehicles vehicles that sever afflictions, and Buddha the vehicle neither severing nor not severing? Sixth, should humans and gods be called non-severing, Buddha severing, and the two vehicles both severing and not severing? Seventh, can they be divided into ordinary beings, the worthy and noble, and neither ordinary nor noble? Eighth, can they be divided into vehicles of existence, emptiness, neither existence nor emptiness, and so forth? [The remainder is omitted.]

The Great Treatise speaks of five wholesome roots, while the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra distinguishes four treasuries. How do these correspond to the three herbs and two trees? In the five wholesome roots, humans and gods are opened into two kinds of goodness, the two vehicles are combined into one, and Buddha and bodhisattvas are added, making five kinds of goodness. This opens the great and combines the small. The five vehicles instead open the small and combine the great. The four treasuries combine ordinary beings and open the noble ones, while the five vehicles open both ordinary beings and noble ones. The various ways of opening and combining simply differ according to conditions.

7. Raising the Simile Again and Fitting It to the Text

Beginning with “like that great cloud,” this is the second part, again presenting the simile and fitting it to the six levels of meaning. “Great cloud” fits the first two benefits, form and sound; “raining upon all” fits the second, the six gateways of Dharma; “plants, groves, and forests” fits the fourth, in which the transformed living beings have sharp and dull faculties, lax and diligent conduct, and deep and shallow habituation-causes; “according to their kinds and natures, fully receiving moisture” fits the fifth, receiving moisture and obtaining the benefit of Dharma; and “each obtains growth” fits the sixth, peace in the present life and the attainment of growth.

IV. Applying One Earth and One Rain While Clarifying Differences among Plants

Beginning with “the Tathāgata’s teaching has one mark,” this is the second, applying the undifferentiated simile. The preceding opening simile had three levels; the present application likewise has three, though the order differs.

Beginning with “one mark and one flavor,” the text applies one earth and one rain together; beginning with “that is to say,” it explains one earth and one rain together; beginning with “those living beings,” it applies the preceding differences among plants; and beginning with “why is this,” it explains the differences and states that the Tathāgata can know both difference and non-difference.

One mark means that the minds of all living beings together possess the one mark of true suchness; this resembles one earth. One flavor means that the Dharma of the One Vehicle equally expresses one principle; this resembles one rain. In the past, seven marks were skillfully opened from within the one real mark, and seven teachings were distinctly taught within the Dharma of the One Vehicle. The Buddha knows ultimately that they finally return to one mark and one flavor.

Beginning with “that is to say,” the text explains one mark and one flavor together. Living beings’ mind-nature is the intrinsic virtue and possesses three marks: liberation, separation, and quiescent extinction. The Tathāgata proclaims these three dharmas in one voice, making three flavors. Taking these three marks as objects, one gives rise to the practice of the middle way and finally accomplishes the fruit of all-knowledge. Thus the scripture says that one ultimately arrives at knowledge of all modes.

The application of the differentiated simile of plants is explained separately below and is not recorded again here.

Sometimes the application is also divided into three meanings. First is the meaning of non-difference, applying the preceding one earth and one rain; second is the meaning of difference, applying the preceding differences among plants; third is the Tathāgata’s capacity to know, which explains and accomplishes the preceding two meanings.

Non-difference is one mark and one flavor. One mark applies the preceding one earth. The mark of liberation is the absence of any mark of birth and death; the mark of separation is the absence of any mark of nirvāṇa; the mark of extinction means that even the markless is without a mark, leaving only the real mark, and is therefore called one mark. The one mark is the basis of nonabiding and can establish every dharma. Nonabiding and marklessness are non-difference; establishing every dharma produces difference.

Difference resembles plants and non-difference one earth. Although the earth itself is undifferentiated, it can produce the differences of peaches, plums, and various plants. Although peaches, plums, and plants differ, they share the mark of solidity. Knowing that the earth fully contains peaches and plums, one can recognize the provisional within the real and understand that non-difference is precisely difference. Knowing that peaches and plums share the solid mark, one can recognize the real within the provisional and understand that difference is precisely non-difference. In this sense, one mark applies the preceding simile of one earth. One flavor is the real teaching, pure and unmixed; it may be understood in the same manner as one mark.

Next are the three marks of liberation, separation, and extinction. Liberation means that there are no karmic bonds of the two sides, segmentary birth and death and transformational birth and death, and is therefore called the mark of liberation. Separation means obtaining the wisdom of the middle way, which can leave both sides without attachment, and is therefore called the mark of separation. Extinction means that when the causes on both sides are extinguished one attains nirvāṇa with remainder, and when the fruits on both sides are extinguished one attains nirvāṇa without remainder, and is therefore called the mark of extinction. Each sentence may follow the example of one mark and be understood through both difference and non-difference.

“Ultimately arriving at knowledge of all modes” means that when the delusions of both sides are extinguished and the delusions of the Shared and Distinct Teachings are exhausted, one enters the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and practices prajñā with the mind of knowledge of all modes. The initial arousal of mind and final culmination do not differ, and it is therefore called ultimate; because this is the Buddha’s wisdom, it is called knowledge of all modes.

1. Living Beings Do Not Know

Beginning with “there are living beings who hear the Tathāgata’s Dharma yet do not themselves perceive or know,” the text clarifies difference. Here, living beings are the differences of provisional designation and real dharmas represented by mountains and rivers and also differences among seeds. The Tathāgata is the cloud, hearing the Dharma is the rain, reading, reciting, and practicing are receiving moisture, and qualities are growth. Living beings cannot know these differences themselves.

This passage has five levels: first, living beings do not know; second, the Tathāgata can know; third, the simile is presented and fitted to living beings’ not knowing; fourth, the preceding text is recapitulated to conclude and explain the Tathāgata’s knowing; fifth, a doubt is answered.

“There are living beings” presents the persons who do not know. “Dharma” is the Dharma they hear the Buddha teach in one voice. Receiving, upholding, and proclaiming directly reveal that living beings do not know. Because their receiving, upholding, and proclaiming differ, their practices also differ: humans and gods understand what they hear as precepts and goodness, while the three vehicles understand what they hear as truths, conditions, and perfections. Their understandings differ, and this is difference.

“The qualities they obtain, without themselves perceiving or knowing,” means that the five classes of persons each receive the teaching but do not know that the Buddha originally taught a one-flavored, undifferentiated teaching. Nor do they know that the seven kinds of skillful means each form their own understanding and each cling to that understanding as real. They therefore neither know the provisional nor recognize the real: amid difference, they do not themselves perceive or know.

2. The Tathāgata Can Know: Four, Three, Two, and One

Second, the Tathāgata can know. The scripture omits some numbers and presents ten objects, gathered into four levels of meaning: first, knowing according to four dharmas; second, knowing according to three dharmas; third, knowing according to two dharmas; fourth, knowing according to one dharma.

Knowing according to four dharmas means kind, mark, substance, and nature.

First is kind. The three paths are the seeds of the three virtues. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says that every class of affliction is the seed of the Tathāgata, meaning that prajñā is present precisely through the path of afflictions. It further says that even the five heinous acts can produce the mark of liberation, meaning that the wholesome Dharma of liberation is present precisely through the unwholesome. All living beings are originally the mark of nirvāṇa and cannot be extinguished again: this means that birth and death are the Dharma body. This discusses kinds in terms of mutual contrast.

If kinds are discussed in terms of their own classes, every bowing of the head and raising of the hand is a seed of liberation; all worldly wisdom and every mind of understanding in the three vehicles are seeds of prajñā; and all who possess mind will become buddhas, making them seeds of the Dharma body. The various seeds differ, and the Tathāgata can know this; all kinds are only one kind, which is non-difference, and the Tathāgata can also know this; difference is precisely non-difference and non-difference precisely difference, and the Tathāgata can also know this.

Mark, substance, and nature may be explained through the ten Dharma realms and ten suchnesses. In terms of difference, there are the marks of the ten Dharma realms; in terms of non-difference, there is the mark of the single Buddha realm. The Tathāgata can know difference and non-difference; He can also know that difference is precisely non-difference and non-difference precisely difference. Substance and nature may be understood in the same way.

Beginning with “of what is one mindful,” the text says that the Tathāgata can know according to three dharmas. The three dharmas are the three wisdoms of mindfulness, reflection, and cultivation, and these three wisdoms in turn have three levels: first, the objects of the three wisdoms; second, the substances of the three wisdoms themselves; third, the conditions through which the three wisdoms arise.

“Of what is one mindful, upon what does one reflect, and what does one cultivate?” describes the functions of the three wisdoms. Mindfulness takes up that of which one is mindful, which is the object of the three wisdoms. Beginning with “how is one mindful, how does one reflect, and how does one cultivate,” mindfulness records the Dharma one has heard and is precisely the substance of the wisdom of mindfulness; reflection and cultivation likewise each have their own substance. Beginning with “through what dharma is one mindful, through what dharma does one reflect, and through what dharma does one cultivate,” the three wisdoms take their objects, while hearing the Dharma is their condition. Again, only through the union of object and wisdom as cause and condition do the dharmas of the three wisdoms exist, so the three wisdoms may also themselves be called causes and conditions.

Concerning the three wisdoms in the three vehicles, earlier explanations hold that object, substance, and conditions each differ, which is difference. If one enters the perfect and subtle three wisdoms, there is non-difference. The Tathāgata can know this difference and non-difference; He can also know that difference is precisely non-difference and non-difference precisely difference.

Beginning with “through what dharma,” the text says that the Tathāgata can know according to two dharmas. “Through what dharma” is cause; “what dharma is attained” is fruit. Each of the five vehicles has its own cause and obtains its own fruit, which is difference. The suchness of living beings and the suchness of Buddha are together one suchness; because there are not two suchnesses, there is only one cause and one fruit, which is non-difference. The Tathāgata can know difference and non-difference; He can also know that difference is precisely non-difference and non-difference precisely difference.

Beginning with “living beings abide in various grounds,” the text says that the Tathāgata can know according to one dharma. The seven kinds of skillful means each abide in one of seven positions, so they are called various grounds, which is difference. The Tathāgata sees them through the Buddha-eye in accord with reality; like many streams entering the ocean and losing their former individual flavors, this is non-difference.

When the Buddha accords with others’ intentions and teaches through wisdom’s skillful means, the Tathāgata can know difference. When every dharma He teaches arrives at the ground of all-knowledge, the Tathāgata can know non-difference. [The remainder is omitted.]

3. Plants Do Not Know, and the Tathāgata Knows All

Beginning with “like those plants and trees,” this is the third, presenting the simile and fitting it to living beings’ not knowing.

Beginning with “the Tathāgata knows all of this,” this is the fourth, recapitulating the preceding text and concluding the Tathāgata’s capacity to know. The meanings of one mark, one flavor, and the rest remain as explained above. One mark, one flavor, liberation, separation, extinction, and the rest are differentiated and opened in accord with conditions, making the immeasurable within the one; ultimate nirvāṇa and final return to emptiness are the return of the immeasurable to the one. This recapitulates the preceding text and again explains non-difference.

Why is this so? If one mark, one flavor, liberation, separation, and extinction were merely the substance of the Dharma of the two vehicles, they would still be differentiated discourse. The text now speaks of the Great Vehicle’s ultimate nirvāṇa and final return to emptiness, thereby reaching non-difference. “Ultimate nirvāṇa” concludes that none of the preceding phrases means the nirvāṇa with remainder or without remainder of the two vehicles but rather ultimate nirvāṇa.

“The mark of constant quiescent extinction” concludes that the preceding phrases do not describe the quiescent extinction of the Lesser Vehicle but constant, abiding quiescent extinction. The earlier text says that all dharmas have from the beginning been constantly quiescent and extinct; this is precisely the present meaning.

“Finally returning to emptiness” does not mean the emptiness of extinguished ashes but the emptiness of the ultimate truth of the middle way. The root treatise here solemnly distinguishes the real from provisional dharmas.

An old explanation holds that “finally returning to emptiness” means that even if one extends the lifespan through supernormal power to an immeasurable length and then manifests twice the preceding number, when the lifespan is exhausted one ultimately returns to extinguished ashes, and this is called finally returning to emptiness. The root treatise rebukes this: such an explanation imposes this great hardship upon the Buddha and the scripture—how could one speak this way?

Guangzhai says that “finally returning to emptiness” means ultimately entering nirvāṇa with remainder and relinquishing the impermanent body and wisdom. Someone objects to this explanation: if so, how would it differ from the two vehicles?

The root treatise’s direct explanation is that the scripture presents two ultimates. First, ultimately arriving at knowledge of all modes presents the fruit of wisdom in contrast to the nonultimate wisdom of the two vehicles. Second, ultimate nirvāṇa, the mark of constant quiescent extinction, and final return to emptiness present the virtue of severance in contrast to the nonultimate severance of the two vehicles. Since the scripture explicitly says “ultimate,” one can know that this is not the emptiness of the Lesser Vehicle.

Longyin says that the emptiness of great nirvāṇa is called emptiness because it has no marks of dharmas and no afflictions and finally returns to the constantly abiding emptiness of ultimate truth. Master Zhong says that it finally returns to the wisdom of emptiness in ultimate truth. Another says that the Buddha’s fruit has no faults or burdens and is therefore called empty. The annotator says that only when both emptiness and existence are thoroughly relinquished is it called emptiness.

Masters from ancient times did not interpret this through the Lesser Vehicle. Why does only Guangzhai do so?

4. Why Know the One Yet Not Immediately Teach the One?

Beginning with “after the Buddha knew, He again observed living beings,” this is the fifth, resolving living beings’ doubt. The doubt is this: if the Buddha formerly knew that beginning and end are both one, why did He not teach the real Dharma at the very beginning in the Deer Park?

The explanation is that the Buddha observes living beings’ minds and desires and protects them according to their capacities through the three siddhāntas. Concerned that living beings who cannot bear the teaching would slander it, He does not immediately proclaim knowledge of all modes.

V. Returning to Kāśyapa’s Understanding in Praise

Beginning with “you, Kāśyapa, and the others,” this is the second major section, returning to the main subject in confirmation and explaining the doubt. Someone who hears that the Buddha has immeasurable qualities may wonder why the understanding of the four disciples should be called real when they have understood only the level of teaching. The Buddha therefore commends them: although they have not yet arrived at the ground of Buddha, they are not false within the range of teaching they understand. This also prompts those of lesser faculties and enables them likewise to awaken and enter.

This passage has two parts: first praise, then explanation. First, they are praised as rare. Ordinary beings are changeable, so it is already precious when they hear the Dharma and benefit; bodhisattvas originally understand these principles, so it is not especially rare; but the two vehicles abide in the fixed unconditioned position and can now leave their former realization and enter the real, making them exceedingly rare.

The scripture says that they can know the Tathāgata’s teaching according to what is fitting, confirming their ability to understand opening the three. It next says that they can believe and receive, confirming their ability to understand revealing the one. The scripture then asks why this is so, explaining the meaning of the praise: the Buddha teaches three within one path, and the principle is profound and difficult to understand, yet Kāśyapa and the others can believe it.

Zhiyi gives another explanation of his own. The preceding text says that the Tathāgata further possesses immeasurable qualities that Kāśyapa and the others could not exhaust even if they spoke of them; the later text then says that they are exceedingly rare. The Buddha’s kindness universally shelters, like clouds and rain that fail to cover and moisten nothing; the Buddha’s kindness universally bears, like the great earth that fails to produce nothing. How could it be only for one kind of capacity or one place? Hence Kāśyapa and the others cannot speak it exhaustively.

Although the Buddha’s kindness is universal, living beings use it every day without being able to know it themselves, just as the three herbs and two trees root in the earth and receive the rain’s moisture without knowing it. Kāśyapa and the others can know the ten kinds of kindness from beginning to end and are therefore exceedingly rare.

The four sentences beginning with causing those not yet delivered to be delivered confirm that they know the kindness of the Buddha’s four universal vows and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Living beings’ peace in the present life, birth in a good place afterward, and enjoyment through the path confirm that they know the kindness of the Buddha’s great loving-kindness in giving happiness and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Living beings’ leaving every obstacle after hearing the Dharma and gradually entering the path according to the power they can bear confirm that they know the kindness of the Buddha’s great compassion in removing suffering and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Wheel-turning kings, Śakra, and Brahmā are lesser medicinal herbs, confirming that they know the kindness through which the Buddha exhorts goodness and removes afflicting heat and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Knowing uncontaminated dharmas and being able to attain nirvāṇa, together with realizing pratyekabuddhahood, are medium medicinal herbs, confirming that they know the kindness through which the Buddha removes the afflicting heat of all delusions of view and attachment and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Superior medicinal herbs and small trees, through feeling shame for the Lesser Vehicle and aspiring to the Great Vehicle, confirm that they know the kindness through which the Buddha covers and removes ugliness and are therefore exceedingly rare.

Great trees confirm that they know the kindness through which the Buddha adorns people and are therefore exceedingly rare.

The most real matter, one earth, and one rain confirm that they know the kindness through which the Buddha entrusts the Dharma wealth and causes people to sit upon the Dharma seat, enabling body and mind, wealth and Dharma, to be sovereign and joyful; they are therefore exceedingly rare.

If the Buddha praises according to difference, the wording of the ten kindnesses is exhausted here. If He praises according to non-difference, all of this is one great kindness.

I. Fifty-Four and a Half Lines First Restate the Direct Teaching, Then the Teaching through Simile

This verse passage comprises fifty-four and a half lines and restates the meaning of the preceding opening and revelation. The preceding text opened and revealed through both direct teaching and teaching by simile; both are now proclaimed again in verse: the first four lines restate the direct teaching, and the following fifty and a half lines restate the teaching through simile.

The direct teaching again has two levels: first presenting the Dharma King, then opening and revealing. The first half-verse, “the Dharma King who destroys existence appears in the world,” restates that what the Dharma King teaches is true and not false; the following three and a half lines restate opening and revelation. The preceding text discussed two teachings and two wisdoms, and the verse includes both. The first one and a half lines restate the two teachings, and the next two lines restate the two wisdoms. The half-line “according to living beings’ desires, He teaches various dharmas” restates the provisional teaching; the one line beginning with “the Tathāgata is honored and weighty” restates the real teaching. The one line beginning with “if a wise person hears” explains provisional wisdom; the one line beginning with “therefore, Kāśyapa” explains real wisdom.

The Buddha teaches various dharmas according to various causes and conditions, but their common purpose is entirely to enable living beings to obtain the right view of the Great Vehicle; before they obtain this right view, all are called wrong views.

This passage also restates the Tathāgata’s intent through the four siddhāntas. “The Dharma King who destroys existence” expresses the counteractive siddhānta; “according to living beings’ desires” expresses the worldly siddhānta; wise persons who hear can believe and understand, while those without wisdom doubt, regret, and lose the teaching forever—this expresses the siddhānta for each person; “causing them to obtain right view” expresses the siddhānta of ultimate truth. The first three siddhāntas restate the preceding account of the Buddha’s teaching living beings through wisdom and skillful means; causing them to obtain right view restates the preceding account of bringing living beings to the ground of all-knowledge.

The fifty and a half lines beginning with “Kāśyapa, you should know: it is like a great cloud” restate the preceding teaching through simile. The first ten and a half lines restate the opening of the simile, and the following forty lines restate its application. The opening simile originally had aspects of difference and non-difference; here nine and a half verses first restate the differentiated simile, then one line restates the undifferentiated simile.

II. The Six Items of the Opening Simile Are Restated in the Order of Their Application

The preceding differentiated simile had six items, and the verse restates all six. It does not follow the original order of the prose opening, however, but arranges them according to the order of the application.

First, the opening three lines beginning with “Kāśyapa, you should know: it is like a great cloud” first restate the third original item, the cloud simile. The cloud represents the responsive body; because the responsive body acts in accordance with wisdom, the scripture calls it a “wisdom-cloud.” The responsive body can possess the Dharma of the twelve divisions, and so the cloud is said to “contain moisture.” If the responsive body does not teach the Dharma, as in the examples of Buddha Xushanduo and Many Jewels Buddha cited by the root treatise, this cloud contains no Dharma rain. The Buddha’s body emits great light like flashing lightning; the Buddha’s mouth produces the four eloquences like resounding thunder. The light of the ninety-five kinds of wrong views cannot appear, and so sunlight is said to be hidden; the ninety-eight kinds of afflicting heat are removed, and so the earth is said to become cool. When the cloud hangs low it seems that one might reach out to receive and grasp it. This represents the responsive body descending into the world: it seems to dwell together with beings within the three kinds of existence, yet when the mind goes to grasp it, it is in fact unobtainable.

Second, the one line beginning with “its rain falls universally and equally” restates the fourth original item, the simile of falling rain. The eight tones and four eloquences proclaim the Dharma rain; rain falls simultaneously in the four directions and living beings hear simultaneously, while another explanation calls these the “four equalities.” Every living being with consciousness receives benefit and moisture, and so the whole earth is said to be filled with rain. This passage both continues the cloud and rain above and opens the simile below of mountains and rivers receiving moisture.

Third, the phrase “mountains, rivers, and perilous valleys” restates the first original item, the simile of earth, mountains, and rivers. These lands represent the bodily and mental aggregates of living beings belonging to the seven kinds of skillful means; now that they receive the Dharma rain, body and speech become gentle, as earth becomes moist with water.

Fourth, the two phrases beginning with “born in secluded depths” restate the second original item, the simile of plants and trees. Habituation-causes planted by living beings in the distant past are deeply concealed within the aggregates, elements, and sense fields and are therefore called “secluded and deep”; now that they receive the Dharma rain, these habituation-causes are all developed and are therefore called “what is born.”

Fifth, the two lines and three phrases beginning with “trees great and small” restate the fifth original item, the simile of receiving moisture. “Hundred grains” is a general expression for the five grains and represents the five vehicles’ capacity to produce one hundred wholesome acts; sugarcane and grapes together represent concentration and wisdom; dry earth becoming universally moist represents causing those who have not yet believed to give rise to faith. The remaining correspondences may be understood from the scripture.

Sixth, the two lines beginning with “all the trees” restate the sixth original item, the simile of growth. All trees—superior, medium, and inferior—grow according to their respective sizes. Their roots, stems, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, radiance, and color all become fresh through the same rain.

The one line beginning with “according to their embodied marks, their natures are apportioned as great or small” restates the undifferentiated simile. The prose originally had three items: one earth, what is produced, and what is moistened. The verse does not separately restate one earth, but “what is produced” also includes the earth. The first two phrases restate what is produced and what is moistened; the next phrase restates what moistens, revealing the non-difference of receiving the rain of one flavor together; “yet each flourishes” restates the difference in the plants’ respective growth and the fact that those benefited do not themselves know it completely.

III. Forty Lines Apply the Simile: First Difference, Then Non-Difference

The forty lines beginning with “the Buddha is also like this, appearing in the world” are the second major section, the application of the simile. The first thirty-five verses apply the differentiated simile; the five lines beginning with “in this way, Kāśyapa” apply the undifferentiated simile. When the preceding prose applied the differentiated simile, it first made the direct doctrinal correspondence and then raised the simile again to fit the text. The verse now likewise first makes the doctrinal correspondence and immediately raises the simile to fit it.

The opening line applies the cloud simile: the first two phrases correlate the Buddha’s appearance in the world with the great cloud, and the last two phrases again raise the great cloud universally covering all to fit the Buddha’s body.

The eight and a half lines beginning with “having appeared in the world” apply the rain simile. The prose first listed the main headings and then exhorted living beings to hear and receive; the verse also restates these two parts. The three lines beginning with “having appeared in the world” briefly restate the Tathāgata’s ten epithets; the next one and a half lines restate the four universal vows. Of the prose’s six gateways, the verse clearly restates only the gateways of the ten epithets and four universal vows. The one and a half lines beginning with “moistening all” say that withered living beings leave suffering and obtain both the peaceful happiness of the world and the happiness of nirvāṇa, precisely restating the four universal vows.

The four lines beginning with “assemblies of gods and humans” restate the exhortation to hear and receive. The Buddha exhorts gods and humans to listen well with one mind and all to come behold the Unsurpassed Honored One. He also declares that He appears in the world to bring living beings peace, teaching the assembly the one-flavored, pure, nectar-like Dharma, fully expressing its meaning through one subtle voice and always serving as a cause and condition for the Great Vehicle.

IV. Equal Dharma Rain Does Not Select among Mountains and Rivers, Nor Does It Erase Their Differences

The four lines beginning with “I observe all equally and universally” apply the preceding simile of mountains and rivers. Mountains and rivers represent the aggregates of the seven classes of living beings; just as pouring rain does not select among streams and valleys, the Buddha teaches equally and therefore makes no distinction between this and that.

The root treatise maps each paired expression in the scripture back to living beings: those with the capacity to receive the Dharma are “this,” and those without it are “that”; planting wholesome roots is “love,” and opposition is “hate”; buddha-work is “self,” and māra-work is “other”; the beginning of stimulus and response is “coming,” and their completion is “going”; entering the real is “sitting,” and opening the provisional from within the real is “standing.” The Buddha’s equal observation of living beings in this way is the meaning of Dharma rain falling equally upon mountains and rivers. It also restates the preceding account of immeasurable koṭis of kinds of living beings coming before the Buddha to hear the Dharma.

The two lines beginning with “noble and lowly, higher and lower” apply the plants, groves, and forests produced in the second preceding item. The scripture successively lists noble and lowly, higher and lower, those who keep and break precepts, those complete and incomplete in deportment, those with right and wrong views, and those with sharp and dull faculties. The root treatise says that everything from noble and lowly through sharp and dull can be successively correlated, level by level, according to the seven kinds of skillful means.

The eleven lines beginning with “all living beings who hear My Dharma” apply the simile of receiving moisture and divide into three passages: the first line generally states reception of moisture; the seven lines beginning with “whether dwelling among humans and gods” explain it separately; and the final three lines conclude both the living beings moistened and the Buddha-wisdom that moistens them.

V. After Three Masters’ Different Explanations, the Scripture Explicitly Sets Out the Three Herbs and Two Trees

Before explaining the differentiated reception of moisture, the root treatise records three masters’ different explanations.

The first assigns humans and gods to lesser herbs, the two vehicles to medium herbs, external ordinary persons to superior herbs, internal ordinary persons to small trees, and the first through seventh grounds to great trees. The second assigns internal ordinary persons to superior herbs, the first through seventh grounds to small trees, and the eighth ground to great trees. The third assigns the thirty minds to superior herbs, the first through sixth grounds to small trees, and the seventh ground and above to great trees.

The root treatise immediately criticizes them: the Buddha Himself applies the simile of the three herbs and two trees in the scripture, and its wording is clear; how could one rely only on one’s own intent and thereby oppose the Buddha’s teaching and the scriptural text? It therefore returns to the scripture and explicitly sets out five classes of differentiated moisture.

First, the one line beginning with “whether dwelling among humans and gods” says that humans and gods alike have not yet severed delusions and together correspond to lesser herbs. Second, the two lines beginning with “knowing the uncontaminated Dharma” say that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas alike possess severance and realization and together correspond to medium herbs. Third, the one line beginning with “seeking the place of the World-Honored One” says that bodhisattvas practicing the six perfections resolve to become buddhas and also transform others; because they surpass the two vehicles, which seek only their own deliverance, they are superior herbs. Fourth, the one and a half lines beginning with “again, buddha-children” say that bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching have severed the delusions shared by all, vow to sustain residual habituations, and enter conditioned existence to transform others; superior in comparison with those below but inferior in comparison with those above, they are called small trees. Fifth, the one and a half lines beginning with “abiding securely in superknowledges” say that the bodhisattvas of the Distinct Teaching possess lofty and excellent self-practice and transformation of others and are therefore called great trees.

In addition, each of the three kinds of bodhisattva—those of the six perfections, the Shared Teaching, and the Distinct Teaching—can itself be divided into three trees: the six-perfection bodhisattvas are divided according to the three asaṃkhyeyas, the Shared Teaching bodhisattvas according to the seventh, eighth, and ninth grounds, and the Distinct Teaching bodhisattvas according to the thirty minds. This is the root treatise’s further division of each of the three kinds of bodhisattva into three trees after the scripture explicitly sets out five classes.

The three lines beginning with “the Buddha teaches equally” conclude what is moistened and what moistens, again in two levels. The first one and a half lines raise the simile and fit it to the text: although seven kinds of recipients are enumerated, they remain few in relation to Buddha-wisdom, like one drop in the ocean. The one and a half lines beginning with “the Buddha uses this simile” say that the Buddha-wisdom which moistens is as vast as the ocean.

VI. The Dharma Rain Enables Four Classes of Living Beings Each to Grow

The eight and a half lines beginning with “I rain the Dharma rain” apply the preceding simile of living beings rejoicing and growing after hearing the Dharma. The first two lines generally state growth: the first directly says that living beings practice according to their powers, and the second raises the simile of plants gradually growing according to their size to fit the text. The six and a half lines beginning with “the Dharma of the buddhas” explain growth in four classes.

First, the opening one and a half lines explain the growth of humans and gods. “All attain fulfillment” restates peace in the present life; “gradually practicing” restates their later enjoyment of happiness through cultivating the path.

Second, the one and a half lines beginning with “śrāvakas” explain the growth of the two vehicles. The root treatise gives two explanations of “abiding in the final body.” The first says that if the two vehicles had not encountered the Buddha, this body might not have been without a later body; precisely because they see the Buddha, it becomes the final body, and this is growth. The second says that persons of the two vehicles attain nirvāṇa with remainder and abide in the final body; the Buddha ripens them through the five flavors so that they can enter the Lotus, and after hearing the Great Vehicle they gain understanding. This is growth.

Third, the one and a half lines beginning with “if bodhisattvas possess firm wisdom” explain the growth of Shared Teaching bodhisattvas. “Firm wisdom” is the wisdom that comprehends all dharmas; “fully comprehending the three realms” means that their delusions have been completely severed.

Fourth, the two lines beginning with “there are also those abiding in meditation” explain the growth of Distinct Teaching bodhisattvas: they abide in concentration, attain superknowledges, hear that all dharmas are empty and experience great joy, emit immeasurable rays of light, and deliver living beings.

VII. One Cloud and One Rain Precisely Represent the One Voice Understood According to Each Class

Question: Are one cloud and the same rain identical with or different from the Buddha’s one voice?

Answer: A person on a lower ground uses one voice and can cause another person to hear only one dharma; the Buddha teaches in one voice yet causes each class of living beings to gain understanding according to its kind. The one cloud and one rain now under discussion precisely represent this one voice that allows living beings to understand according to their classes.

The root treatise also records three masters’ explanations of “one voice.” The first says that because the Dharma body is nondual it is called one, and because sound issues from the Dharma body it is called one voice. The second says that many sounds issue simultaneously and are therefore called one voice. The third says that one of the five tones is used as circumstances require and is therefore called one voice.

The root treatise next distinguishes the matter. The Great Treatise says that one voice answers many voices; it does not say that many voices issue simultaneously, nor that sound issues from the Dharma body. The Vibhāṣā says that the Buddha teaches the four truths in one voice: the five people hear human speech, eighty thousand gods and humans hear the language of the gods, and beings in the hells and yakṣas each hear language identical to their own. The sound is passed onward in succession until it reaches Brahmā Heaven and is therefore called the Brahmā voice. The Brahmā voice is also the pure sound obtained as the Buddha’s recompense and is supremely subtle; if it were merely a Brahmā voice obtained as recompense, humans could not hear it, and even if they heard it, they could not understand it.

VIII. Difference Returns to Non-Difference, and Both Path and Fruit Become Causes of Buddhahood

The five lines beginning with “in this way, Kāśyapa” apply the preceding undifferentiated simile and again divide into two levels: the first one and a half lines restate difference within non-difference, and the final three and a half lines restate non-difference within difference.

“Like a great cloud, like rain of one flavor” applies the non-difference of the same rain of one flavor; the rain moistening the flowers of humans and causing each to produce its fruit is the difference within it. Beginning with “Kāśyapa, you should know: through various causes and conditions,” the text says that the Buddha employs various causes and conditions, similes, and expressions. This is the provisional, and the provisional reveals difference; it also applies the various kinds produced. “Now I shall teach you the most real matter” reveals the real; the real is undifferentiated and applies the common one earth.

The Buddha tells persons of the two vehicles that they do not possess ultimate extinction, because they have not yet crossed transformational birth and death. The two vehicles alone are singled out here because they cling firmly to the fruits they have attained. Humans and gods do not reckon their recompenses to be nirvāṇa, and bodhisattvas do not realize an intermediate attainment and cling to it as ultimate.

The scripture says, “what you practice is the bodhisattva path.” Bodhisattvas cultivating the path must also sever the delusions shared by all; because the two vehicles have already severed these delusions, what they practice is also the bodhisattva path. The Lotus Treatise says that when persons who aroused the aspiration and later retreated arouse it again in the future, the goodness they cultivated before is not lost but joins their later practice in accomplishing the fruit. The wisdom and severance of the two vehicles are called the bodhisattva path because the two vehicles cling to them as the ultimate fruit; the Buddha therefore rejects this attachment and points out that they are actually the path to buddhahood. The path here means the cause.

Question: Bodhisattvas also have fruit. The “Faith and Understanding” chapter says “attaining the path and attaining the fruit,” and the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra also says, “existent dharmas are the bodhisattva path; nonexistent dharmas are the bodhisattva fruit.” Why does this passage not say that what the two vehicles practice is the bodhisattva fruit?

Answer: According to this meaning, it can of course also be called fruit. Here, however, the discussion is from the standpoint of buddhahood: whether presently called path or called fruit, whatever has not yet reached the fruit of buddhahood belongs to the cause of buddhahood; cause is therefore collectively called path.

I. If Three Scriptures All Criticize Prediction, Why Does the Lotus Sutra Still Bestow Predictions?

The Sanskrit term is transliterated heqieluo in Chinese and translated as “bestowal of prediction.”

Some scriptures criticize receiving predictions. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says: “If one obtains a prediction through the arising of true suchness, one would also obtain it through the extinction of true suchness; but true suchness has neither arising nor extinction, so one should know that in reality there is no prediction.” The Questions of Brahmā Sūtra says: “I vow not to hear even the name ‘prediction.’” The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra further says: “Receiving a prediction is conceptual proliferation.” If so, why does the present Lotus Sutra still bestow predictions?

The answer is this: if someone holds that a prediction truly exists and that a person receiving prediction truly exists, this view should be broken. If a bodhisattva makes a vow, that bodhisattva should be given a prediction, and this prediction should be bestowed. According to conventional truth, prediction can therefore be said to exist; according to ultimate truth, in reality there is no prediction. How a prediction is bestowed at an appropriate time according to the four siddhāntas will be distinguished below.

II. How Many Kinds of Prediction Are There?

A universally applicable prediction is exemplified by the prediction at the beginning of the “Dharma Teacher” chapter; a prediction individually bestowed upon particular people is exemplified by the predictions after the three cycles of teaching. Prediction concerning direct cause is exemplified by the “Never Disparaging” chapter; prediction concerning conditioning cause by the ten kinds of offering in the “Dharma Teacher” chapter; prediction concerning revealing cause by the predictions for persons of superior, middling, and lesser capacities.

Prediction concerning direct cause is broad in scope, while prediction concerning conditioning and revealing causes is narrow. There are also delayed and swift predictions; predictions bestowed by a buddha, as in this chapter, and predictions bestowed by a bodhisattva, as in the case of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging. Even though the latter does not definitely state the eon and land, it can still be called a prediction. There are also predictions made far in advance, such as those for śrāvaka disciples in future lives in the “Parable of the Conjured City” chapter.

Other scriptures give predictions only to bodhisattvas, not to the two vehicles; only to good people, not to evil people; only to men, not to women; only to humans and gods, not to animals. The present scripture gives predictions to every one of these classes.

The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sūtra has four kinds of prediction, and the present scripture contains all four. Prediction before one has aroused the aspiration appears in the “Never Disparaging” chapter; predictions after arousing the aspiration, in the immediate presence, and through realization of non-arising are those bestowed after the three cycles of teaching.

Fascicle Nine of the Jeweled Necklace Sūtra further enumerates eight kinds of prediction: first, one knows but others do not; second, the entire assembly knows but one does not; third, both oneself and the assembly know; fourth, neither oneself nor the assembly knows; fifth, there is awareness nearby but not far away; sixth, there is awareness far away but not nearby; seventh, there is awareness both nearby and far away; eighth, there is awareness neither nearby nor far away.

When oneself knows but others do not, the bodhisattva has aroused the aspiration and made a personal vow, but the vow has not yet circulated widely among others, and the bodhisattva has not yet attained the four fearlessnesses or skillful means. When the entire assembly knows but oneself does not, the bodhisattva has aroused a vast aspiration and attained fearlessness and skillful means. When both oneself and the assembly know, one is at the seventh ground and has attained fearlessness, skillful means, and contemplation of emptiness. When neither oneself nor the assembly knows, one has not yet entered the seventh ground and has not yet attained the practice of nonattachment. [The remainder is omitted.]

Maitreya is the one said to lack awareness far away, because His faculties are complete and He does not abandon the Tathāgata’s practice of nonattachment. Bodhisattvas still unable to expound the practice of the worthy and noble are said to lack awareness nearby; Bodhisattva Siṃha-uraḥ is the example. Pliant bodhisattvas whose faculties are complete and who do not abandon the practice of nonattachment possess awareness both nearby and far away. Bodhisattvas of equal practice who have not yet attained skillful means and cannot fully comprehend the tathāgata-garbha possess awareness neither nearby nor far away.

Another scripture gives a further explanation. Knowing nearby means receiving a prediction from the present buddha, as Maitreya and others do. Knowing far away means receiving a prediction not from the present buddha but from a future buddha, as when the Buddha tells the evil Māra that Maitreya will give him a prediction in the future. Knowing both nearby and far away means that both the present and future buddhas give one a prediction. Knowing neither nearby nor far away means that neither the present nor future buddhas give one a prediction.

III. Why Should Predictions Be Bestowed Precisely Now?

The buddhas originally appear in the world for the causes and conditions of one great matter: to cause living beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Now this great matter has been made manifest, the Buddha has finished teaching the Dharma, and living beings have awakened and entered. The Buddha’s original intent has been freely expressed and living beings’ wishes fulfilled; according to the Dharma, predictions should therefore be bestowed. It is like a father encountering his own child—how could he not entrust the family wealth?

Furthermore, the practices and vows undertaken by practitioners throughout immeasurable lives all include the wish to receive predictions beneath the seat of the present Buddha. The scripture says, “Because this was their original vow, they obtain this prediction.” These two causes and conditions both belong to the worldly siddhānta, and predictions are therefore bestowed.

Again, after persons of the two vehicles hear this scripture, they transform the lesser-vehicle mind and enter the Great Vehicle. The perfect cause is complete; because a cause necessarily calls forth its corresponding fruit, the Tathāgata bestows predictions upon them. When members of the great assembly learn this, they all make vows. Some vow to become the inner or outer retinue of the predicted one’s birth-body or Dharma-body; others wish only to be born in that person’s land and benefit living beings. Both belong to the siddhānta for each person, and predictions are therefore bestowed.

Again, bestowing predictions upon persons of the two vehicles can break the minds of bodhisattvas who wish to retreat from the Great Vehicle and enter the lesser. Why? If a fixed fruit of the two vehicles existed into which one could retreat, yet there are now no such two vehicles, where could one retreat? This is the first counteraction.

Prediction can also break the minds of those wishing to arouse the aspiration for the two vehicles. Those who have already realized the fruits of the two vehicles relinquish them themselves; why should I instead take them up? This is the second counteraction.

Prediction can further cause those who have not yet transformed the lesser-vehicle mind to transform it immediately. This is the third counteraction.

Prediction can further cause those about to realize a lesser-vehicle fruit no longer to realize it. This is the fourth counteraction. These four all belong to the counteractive siddhānta, and predictions are therefore bestowed.

Furthermore, when the principle of non-arising becomes present, one necessarily opens the Buddha’s knowledge and vision through true understanding and without error and clearly comprehends buddha-nature; a prediction is therefore bestowed. When persons of the Lesser Vehicle enter the real principle, they are certain to become buddhas.

If so, all living beings also possess buddha-nature; why are predictions not bestowed upon all of them? Living beings possess only the direct cause, not the conditioning cause. Now, through hearing this scripture, they give rise to faith and understanding, and both conditioning and direct causes are complete. They open the Buddha’s knowledge and vision and know buddha-nature; they also see the Buddha-Dharma and thereby see buddha-nature. These two both belong to the siddhānta of ultimate truth, and predictions are therefore bestowed.

The four kinds of prediction according to the worldly siddhānta, the siddhānta for each person, the counteractive siddhānta, and the siddhānta of ultimate truth include all the various predictions described above. [The remainder is omitted.]

IV. What Is the Difference among Bestowal of Prediction, Reception of Prediction, Reception of Decision, and Reception of Differentiation?

Bestowal of prediction is also called reception of prediction, reception of decision, and reception of differentiation. “Bestowal” means giving; “reception” means obtaining; “prediction” records the matter; “decision” fixes it without change; “differentiation” makes it clearly distinct. From the Buddha’s giving it is called bestowal; from what the disciples obtain it is called reception.

Those of middling capacity have heard the two cycles of direct teaching and teaching through simile, heard the teaching of opening the three to reveal the one, understood completely, and received the Tathāgata’s confirmation. Although they know for themselves that they can become buddhas in the future, they have not yet ascertained the time and circumstances of buddhahood. If they can receive the Buddha’s truthful word, bestowing upon them the fruit they will attain in the future, fixing their eon and land, and clearly distinguishing whether their buddhahood is near or far, they will experience great joy.

This chapter takes its name from the Buddha’s bestowal of predictions and is therefore called “Bestowal of Predictions.”

V. Where Is This Chapter Located within the Teaching through Simile?

This scriptural passage is the fourth passage of the teaching through simile. The three preceding passages all teach through simile, and prediction here likewise uses simile to discuss prediction.

Why is there no fifth passage? One explanation says that the preceding text already has its referent and the following text will likewise have its referent, so the matter is omitted and not separately discussed. Another explanation says that the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” has already said that all living beings receive the moisture of the Dharma rain and each obtains growth. From this one can certainly know that all four assemblies have received benefit; the compilers of the scripture simply omitted the matter without stating it explicitly.

VI. How Is the Entire Chapter Divided?

The scripture of the whole chapter divides into two major passages: first, formally bestowing predictions upon those of middling capacity; second, promising to explain past-life causes and conditions for those of lesser capacity.

The first major passage again divides in two: first bestowing a prediction upon Kāśyapa, then upon three disciples. Both passages have prose and verse.

Kāśyapa’s prose prediction has six items: first, causal practice; second, the buddha-fruit obtained; third, the names of the eon and land and the land’s adornments; fourth, the buddha’s lifespan; fifth, the duration of the true and semblance Dharma, as stated in the scripture; sixth, the purity of the land.

The passage concerning the three disciples again divides in two: first, the request for predictions; second, the Buddha’s bestowal of predictions upon them.

The scriptural request for predictions contains seven verses: the first line is the direct request; the next two and a half lines open the simile; the following two and a half lines apply the simile to the matter discussed; the final line concludes.

The predictions of the three each have six items: first, causal practice; second, the buddha-fruit obtained; third, eon and land; fourth, the buddha’s lifespan; fifth, the duration of the Buddha-Dharma; sixth, number. The content of each is as stated in the scripture.

The two and a half lines beginning with “My disciples” promise to explain further the past-life causes and conditions for those of lesser capacity. These people have heard the direct teaching and teaching through simile and personally seen those of superior and middling capacities receive predictions, yet doubts remain and they cannot understand. Deeply ashamed, they wish to advance their path. To enable their path to advance, the Buddha first gives a general prediction and then explains the causes and conditions of past lives. [The remainder is omitted.]

Fahua Wenju, second half of fascicle seven, spoken by the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai.

I. Why It Is Called the Conjured City

First, “conjured” is explained. Conjuration is something produced through supernormal power. Through supernormal power, what originally did not exist suddenly appears, and it is therefore called conjured.

Next, “city” is explained. A city can prevent transgression and resist enemies and is therefore called a city. Inwardly correlating this with the sūtra’s meaning, the city refers to the nirvāṇa of the two vehicles, established by provisional wisdom. Through the power of provisional wisdom, existence is asserted where there originally was none. Verbal teaching creates a conjured city that defends against conceptual delusion and resists view-delusion, calling it nirvāṇa. Here the assembly recovers and rests before being led toward the real. Although they have not actually reached the ultimate, this is provisionally called extinction. Precisely because it is a provisional establishment, it is called the conjured city. The content of the simile has already been explained above. This is the interpretation through causes and conditions.

II. Viewing This City through the Four Teachings

Next comes distinction according to the teachings. According to the Tripiṭaka Teaching, people of the two vehicles form thoughts of peace and thoughts that they have attained extinction within nirvāṇa.

The two vehicles under the Shared Teaching are the same as in the Tripiṭaka Teaching, but bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching are not. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom says that it is like a father crossing a perilous road: one foot has entered the city while the other remains outside its gate. Because he remembers his wife and children, he returns from the city to the perilous road, vowing to support the remaining habituations and enter birth and death without taking emptiness as the endpoint of realization.

The Distinct Teaching does not say that the city exists like an illusion. It uses the city to defend against dangers and passes straight through its gate, treating the city as an expedient for severing view-delusion and conceptual delusion without saying that this is the ultimate.

The Perfect Teaching knows that there is no danger from brigands and no need for a city, and therefore calls it a conjured city. The present chapter follows this meaning of the Perfect Teaching and is accordingly titled “The Parable of the Conjured City.” Interpretations in terms of Origin and Trace and through contemplating the mind are not recorded here.

III. Since the Chapter Explains Causes and Conditions from the Distant Past, Why Is It Not Called “Past Lives”?

Someone asks: this chapter concerns causes and conditions from the past, through which those of lesser capacity awaken. Logically, it should be called the “Past Lives” chapter.

The answer says: the beginning of the chapter extensively explains past causes and conditions, while its end concludes with the simile of the conjured city. If the title were established from the beginning, it indeed should be called “Past Lives”; the scripture instead names it from the final passage and therefore calls it “The Parable of the Conjured City.”

The matter can also be considered through the three capacities. Those of superior capacity have slighter doubt; their connection with the Buddha is clarified using only His reflection for three weeks beneath the bodhi tree. Those of middling capacity have heavier doubt, so a simile is added and the unsurpassed path taught by the Buddha in the presence of two myriads of koṭis of buddhas is drawn forward to serve as their mutual connection. Those of lesser capacity have still denser doubt and delusion, so the causes and conditions from distant past lives must be explained.

According to the movement of the whole chapter, distant past causes and conditions are explained at the beginning through past lives; the conjured city appears in the middle; and the place of jewels appears as the ultimate. The compilers of the scripture took the conjured city in the middle as the chapter title, yet thereby gathered both beginning and end. According to this meaning, it is most fittingly called “The Parable of the Conjured City.”

IV. Does Marking the Provisional Cause the Real to Be Lost?

Someone further asks: the conjured city is provisional and the place of jewels real. Why set aside the real place of jewels and instead follow the provisional conjured city in establishing the title?

The answer says: precisely by knowing that this city is conjured, one knows that the place of jewels is real. Marking the conjured city therefore does not lose the reality indicated by the place of jewels.

V. Why Three Scriptural Chapters Contain Four Kinds of Content

This passage comprises three scriptural chapters. According to the earlier pattern, its content should have four kinds, but understanding and confirmation are both included within the prediction passage. Why? Without understanding, how could one receive a prediction, and how could there be confirmation? Thus the prediction passage simultaneously contains the additional meanings of understanding and confirmation.

Moreover, the sequence of understanding, confirmation, and receiving a prediction is not fixed. Understanding sometimes remains a silent thought and sometimes issues as speech, so its modes of expression differ. The relevant passages are also too brief to form separate chapters and are therefore gathered into other sections. The present chapter directly explains causes and conditions; the following two chapters bestow predictions.

VI. First Clarifying Knowledge and Vision of the Distant Past, Then Explaining the Formation of Connections in Past Lives

The beginning of this chapter again divides into two parts: first, clarifying the Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision of the distant past; second, explaining the formation of connections in past lives.

The Tathāgata possesses the three penetrations and sees events of the exceedingly distant past as though they were present before Him today. This establishes that the events He cites are certainly not false; only then does He recount past lives. Both knowledge and vision of the distant past and the formation of connections in past lives have prose and verse sections.

The prose that first clarifies knowledge and vision of the distant past has three levels. First, it states what the Tathāgata sees: Good Formation, Great Mark, and the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence. Second, it gives a simile revealing how distant the time is. Third, it concludes that the Tathāgata sees past events just as He sees events today〔and so forth; the remainder is omitted〕.

The verse comprises seven lines and restates the preceding three meanings; they can be understood directly from the scripture.

I. The Causes of the Connection Are First Divided into Distant and Recent

From the scriptural words “that buddha’s lifespan was five hundred forty myriads of koṭis of nayutas of eons” onward, the formation of living beings’ connection with the Lotus Sutra is directly explained. The whole passage first divides into two: first, the causes for establishing the connection; second, the direct account of how the sixteen princes explained the teaching again and thereby established the connection. The causes are themselves divided into distant and recent.

The distant cause has two parts: first, the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence realizes the Way; second, the Brahmā kings of the ten directions request Him to teach the Dharma. The account of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence’s realization then opens successively into five items: the great length of His lifespan; from “that buddha originally sat at the place of practice” onward, events before realization; from “Bhikṣus, after the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence had passed ten minor eons” onward, His actual realization; from “before that buddha left home” onward, His retinue coming to make offerings after His realization; and from “at that time the sixteen princes praised the Buddha in verse” onward, the princes requesting Him to turn the Dharma wheel. The first item is readily understood from the scripture.

Events before realization have two further parts: first, the time the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence spent sitting at the place of practice; second, the gods’ offerings.

The Way realized by all buddhas is the same, but the events they manifest to transform living beings differ according to conditions. Śākyamuni Buddha manifested six years of ascetic practice. Grass grew up from between His thighs, twined around them, and reached His elbows without His noticing; the gods wept, called out, and shook the earth without His hearing. Only after moving His seat did He realize the Way. Maitreya realized it on the very day he left home. Yet the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence sat for ten eons while the Buddha Way still did not appear before Him. This does not mean that the three buddhas’ faculties were sharp or dull, or that the Way they realized was difficult or easy. It means only that the conditions suited to living beings may unfold slowly or swiftly, so the buddhas correspondingly manifest longer or shorter times before realization.

II. The Buddha’s Radiance Shines and Stirs; the Brahmā Kings of the Ten Directions Come to Request the Dharma

From the scriptural words “the Buddha told the bhikṣus” through “when He attained unsurpassed complete awakening” is the second part of the distant cause: the Brahmā kings request the Buddha to teach. It first describes the Buddha’s majestic radiance universally illuminating and the worlds trembling, then the Brahmā kings of the ten directions coming to request the Dharma.

Concerning the initial majestic radiance, the Sūtra of Past Causes and Effects says that while Bodhisattva Sapoxida was in the womb, three thousand lands suddenly became bright and a great light appeared. Even places ordinarily unreached by the sun and moon became illuminated, and the beings there could see one another. The same occurred when He first realized the Way. In the morning He taught the gods of the form realm, at midday the gods of the desire realm, in the late afternoon ghosts and spirits, and at night He likewise taught at the appropriate times.

Interpreted through contemplating the mind, the scripture’s “living beings suddenly appearing” means this: mind-nature is originally pure, but appears dark because it is covered by the five aggregates, twelve entrances, and eighteen realms. When contemplative wisdom is cultivated, the inherently present principle becomes manifest. The two mountains may be viewed as the truths of the real and conventional, and the space between them as the Middle Way. Sunlight and moonlight may be viewed as the two wisdoms, and buddha-light as the light of the Middle Way. This radiance of nondiscriminating wisdom illuminates the three truths inherently present, penetrating them without darkness.

From “at that time in the east” onward comes the request of the Brahmā kings of the ten directions. First come the nine directions—east, southeast, south, and so forth—and then above. The nine directions divide into four passages: the east, the southeast, the south, and a combined account of the remaining six. In the scripture, the Brahmā kings of each of the first three directions pass through seven stages: seeing the portent; being startled by it; questioning one another and determining the source of the light; following the light and seeing the Buddha; making offerings through body, speech, and mind; requesting the Dharma; and finally receiving the Buddha’s silent assent. Each is as the scripture records. The Brahmā kings above have only six items because the World-Honored One teaches immediately after accepting their request, so silent assent is not listed separately.

An older explanation holds that the east and southeast request a lesser teaching, the remaining seven directions request a great teaching, and above requests both lesser and great teachings. According to the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, the Brahmā king originally requested a great teaching. Although the Buddha first taught a lesser teaching, He had not yet fully answered that request; only when He taught Prajñāpāramitā did He do so. According to the “Skillful Means” chapter, the Brahmā king likewise requested the great teaching. Yet the buddhas’ path of teaching is the same, so a great teaching should not have been requested only in one direction and a lesser teaching in another. Scriptures and treatises preserve different degrees of detail, and various masters each relied partially on one passage.

Consider again Śākyamuni Buddha’s lifetime of teaching. From beginning to end He fully turned the Dharma wheels of the five flavors, and each flavor can be said to answer the Brahmā king’s request; the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence should be understood likewise. First, the sixteen princes requested the full-word teaching, corresponding to Śākyamuni Buddha’s teaching of the Flower Ornament Sutra. The east and southeast requested the half-word teaching, corresponding to the Tripiṭaka Teaching. The remaining seven directions requested that the full word be clarified in contrast to the half word, corresponding to the Vaipulya teaching. The Brahmā kings above requested that the full word be clarified while carrying the half word, corresponding to the Prajñāpāramitā Sutra. Later the sixteen princes requested that the half word be abolished and the full word disclosed, corresponding to the ghee teaching of the Lotus Sutra. The stages of the ancient and present buddhas’ teaching correspond in wording and meaning.

III. The Recent Cause: First Teaching the Dharma Wheel of the Half Word

From “at that time the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence accepted the request of the Brahmā kings of the ten directions” onward begins the recent cause of the connection. Because the Buddha accepts their request and teaches, the sixteen princes later have the opportunity to explain the teaching again and formally establish living beings’ Dharma connection.

The recent cause has two parts: first, the Dharma wheel of the half word is turned; second, the princes again request a Dharma wheel that abolishes the half word and clarifies the full word. The first part has three items: acceptance of the request, the actual turning of the wheel, and the hearers’ attainment of the Way.

All three vehicles should be stated here as in the “Introduction” chapter. They are not expressly listed because this passage is about to explain connection and later disclosure for those of lesser capacity, so the six perfections are omitted.

The Dharma wheel has three turnings: demonstration, exhortation, and confirmation. They may also be correlated with demonstration, instruction, benefit, and joy: “demonstration” is the demonstrative turning, “instruction” the exhortative turning, and “benefit and joy” the confirmatory turning. They may further be correlated respectively with the path of seeing the truths, the path of reflection, and the path of no-more-learning.

In a provisional distinction, the wheel is turned three times for śrāvakas, twice for pratyekabuddhas, and once for bodhisattvas. Why do the counts differ? Because the faculties of these three kinds of persons are sharp or dull. Yet this is only a temporary distinction. According to the general rule, all three kinds possess all three turnings.

Why is the wheel turned three times? When the buddhas teach, the Dharma becomes complete when stated three times; living beings also have three grades of faculties—superior, middling, and lesser—so there are three turnings. The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom and the Vibhāṣā Treatise both explain it in this way.

Someone asks: only five people first heard the Dharma, so how can all three kinds of faculties be present? There were also eighty thousand gods; why not distinguish the three faculties among them?

The answer is that the three turnings can cause living beings to produce the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation; they can also produce the three faculties and lead into the three paths. Thus there are three turnings.

IV. Twelve Teaching-Aspects, Twelve Practice-Aspects, and Forty-Eight Dharmas

The scripture’s “twelve aspects” may be explained through the teaching of the four truths or through the sixteen practice-aspects.

First consider the teaching of the four truths. Each of suffering, origination, cessation, and the path passes through the three turnings of demonstration, exhortation, and confirmation. Four times three makes twelve, hence twelve teaching-aspects. Consider next the practice-aspects produced. In each of the three turnings, eye, knowledge, clarity, and awakening arise. Three times four also makes twelve, hence twelve practice-aspects.

The twelve teaching-aspects may also be called what turns and the twelve practice-aspects what is turned. The twelve practice-aspects themselves are the wheel; the twelve teaching-aspects are not the wheel. If both teaching and practice are established as Dharma wheels, there are two: the teaching wheel and the practice wheel.

Eye, knowledge, clarity, and awakening may further be explained through forty-eight dharmas. First these four mental states open into sixteen: receptivity to the Dharma of suffering is eye, knowledge of the Dharma of suffering is knowledge, comparative receptivity is clarity, and comparative knowledge is awakening. Each of the remaining truths of origination, cessation, and the path likewise has these four, together making sixteen. Persons of superior, middling, and lesser faculties each obtain sixteen; three times sixteen makes forty-eight practice-aspects.

The two Dharma wheels can then be distinguished clearly. The twelve truth-statements are the teaching Dharma wheel, and the twelve practice-aspects are the practice Dharma wheel. For the teaching wheel, the wisdom that turns is only one kind of provisional wisdom, while the teaching-aspects turned are twelve. For the practice wheel, the teachings that cause practice to arise number twelve, and the practice-aspects produced also number twelve.

The scripture’s twelve practice-aspects may be applied generally to three kinds of persons or to one person alone. Here they are explained through three persons on the path of seeing the truths. A person of sharp faculties hears the demonstrative turning and at once produces eye, knowledge, clarity, and awakening. The three persons are stated together, so four times three is called twelve practice-aspects.

The scripture also says that śramaṇas, brahmans, Māra, Brahmā, and others cannot turn it. A śramaṇa who has not heard it cannot even know this Dharma, much less turn it. A pratyekabuddha may awaken alone but cannot proclaim it for others in words. Even if a brahman has heard the name “Dharma wheel,” he does not understand its principle. Māra and Brahmā are the same.

What is truly called “turning”? It means conveying this Dharma into another person’s mind, causing that person to awaken through it and destroy the sixty-two wrong views. Only this is called turning the Dharma wheel. Māra, Brahmā, and the others do not have this function, and so they cannot turn it.

V. How the Four Truths Contract and Expand, and How the Three Vehicles Contemplate in Common

One explanation first states the Great Vehicle’s four truths, then contracts them into two truths, then one truth, and finally no truth. These are all ways of expanding and gathering the same meaning. The Lesser Vehicle’s four truths take arising and cessation as their essence; the Great Vehicle’s four truths take nonarising as their essence.

The twelve links of causes and conditions are still a differentiated and detailed contemplation of the four truths. Under suffering and origination come ignorance through aging and death; under the path and cessation come the cessation of ignorance through the cessation of aging and death.

Śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas can all contemplate the twelve links. For the two vehicles they are taught as arising and ceasing; for bodhisattvas, as nonarising. The twelve links of nonarising never originally arose, and now there is no real Dharma that ceases. If arising is spoken of relationally, phenomena arise through mutual conditioning, continue successively, and successively come to cessation.

All three vehicles may likewise be discussed through the four truths. The two vehicles are taught measurable four truths; bodhisattvas are taught immeasurable four truths. The six perfections also extend to all three kinds of persons. The “Departure” chapter of the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sutra says that arhats and pratyekabuddhas reach the farther shore through the six perfections. The Summary of the Great Vehicle says that ordinary persons and the two vehicles also possess six perfections, but their modes of practice differ.

If the two vehicles also practice the six, should all of them be called perfections? Since the practices of the two vehicles can reach the farther shore of nirvāṇa, they too may be called perfections. They differ from bodhisattvas only in being unable to reach the farther shore of the Buddha Way. The Abhidharma has six feet, which are correlated with the six perfections; the Jeweled Cloud Sutra says that the three vehicles each have their corresponding discipline.

VI. What Is Attained through Hearing the Dharma Has Shallow and Deep Forms

The third item explains the understanding attained after hearing the Dharma: few awaken at first and many later.

The scripture’s “not accepting” means no longer taking up the four views and realizing the first fruit. “Attaining liberation” means release from the two fetters of the seed and the fruit, and attainment of the fruit of no-more-learning. “Profound and subtle meditation” means liberation through both.

VII. The Sixteen Princes Again Request the Dharma Wheel of the Full Word

From “at that time the sixteen princes all left home” onward is the second part of the recent cause: the sixteen princes again request the Buddha to teach the Dharma wheel of the full word. The entire passage has seven items in sequence: the princes leave home; they request the Dharma from the Buddha; the people they lead also leave home; the Buddha accepts their request; some in the assembly understand while others do not; the period of time is explained; and the Buddha enters samādhi after completing the teaching.

The scripture says that the sixteen princes’ “faculties were penetrating and keen.” “Faculties” means the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Because the six faculties are pure, they are said to penetrate; because they can function interchangeably, they are called “penetrating”; because they can enter the Buddha’s domain, they are called “keen.”

The scripture further says that “their wisdom was clear.” This is explained through opening, showing, awakening, and entering. The Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence first taught the perfect and sudden Dharma, and the sixteen princes’ Great Vehicle virtues were already complete. Taking pity on living beings who still remained within provisional teachings, they again requested the Buddha to open the provisional and reveal the real.

“The śrāvaka assembly had all reached accomplishment” means that its obstructions had been removed and its capacity to receive further teaching had stirred; the princes therefore requested the Dharma on its behalf. When the princes say, “We aspire to the Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision,” they mean that this Lotus Sutra discloses only the Buddha’s knowledge and vision. Their single-minded aspiration for this is precisely a request that the Buddha teach the full word and abolish the half word. The scripture’s meaning is unmistakable.

VIII. One Cannot Say That Nothing Was Taught during the Twenty Thousand Eons

The scripture says that after accepting the request, the Buddha waited twenty thousand eons before teaching the Lotus Sutra. The teaching of the three vehicles had already been open for a long time; one cannot say that nothing was taught during these twenty thousand eons. Judging from the later passage, Vaipulya and Prajñāpāramitā must have been taught during this interval.

The scripture says that the Buddha “taught the six perfections and various matters of supernormal powers.” Prajñāpāramitā emphasizes practice, while supernormal powers emphasize events; the Vaipulya scriptures also often explain inconceivable events and practices. The verse further says “differentiating the real Dharma,” which directly reveals the meaning of the prajñā of the true mark taught in the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sutra.

The sixteen novices accepted the Buddha’s teaching in faith; among the two vehicles there were also those who accepted it and understood. The remaining myriads of koṭis of living beings, however, all gave rise to doubt and belonged to the assembly unable to understand. Precisely this assembly later formed a connection with the Lotus Sutra through the sixteen princes.

IX. The Buddha Enters Samādhi, Leaving the Conditions for a Renewed Explanation

The seventh item says that the Buddha enters samādhi after completing His teaching; this is precisely the recent cause for establishing the connection.

The Buddha enters samādhi and does not emerge for a long time, so the assembly whose minds still hold doubt has nowhere to ask. The sixteen princes therefore later explain this scripture again to those unable to understand, enabling them to form the connection.

The scripture makes three aspects of the samādhi clear: its place is a quiet room; actually entering it means abiding in meditative concentration; and its duration is eighty-four thousand eons.

Looking back from here, the distant cause begins with the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence’s realization and the request of the Brahmā kings of the ten directions. The recent cause proceeds from the Buddha’s acceptance of the request and successive teachings to His entering the quiet room and the doubtful assembly’s loss of anyone to question. Only because these conditions become complete level by level can the sixteen princes later explain the scripture again and formally establish living beings’ Dharma connection from the distant past.

Fahua Wenju, latter half of Fascicle Seven, taught by the Tiantai Master Zhiyi.

I. The Direct Establishment of the Connection Is First Divided into Prose and Parable

From the scriptural words “at that time the sixteen bodhisattvas knew that the Buddha had entered the quiet chamber” onward comes the second major division, which directly explains the establishment of the connection. It has two parts: first establishing the connection through prose, and next establishing it through parable.

Establishing the connection through prose has three passages: first, forming the connection together in the past; second, the princes and the living beings they transformed repeatedly encountering one another in the intervening period from the past until today; and third, teaching the Lotus Sutra again today.

The first passage, forming the connection together in the past, has four events: the sixteen princes know that the Buddha has entered samādhi; the princes explain again the Dharma previously taught by the Buddha; the assembly gains benefit from hearing the Dharma; and the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence emerges from samādhi and praises the sixteen bodhisattvas.

The princes can teach at this time because the Buddha has entered samādhi. The Buddha knows that this period of His transformation is nearing its end and that He will not personally bring this group to maturity within this passage, so He causes the princes to form a Dharma connection with them. He also knows that these people must ultimately be delivered through their connection with the princes, and therefore remains in samādhi for a long time without emerging. 〔And so forth: the remainder is abbreviated.〕

II. Four Events in the Shared Formation of the Connection in the Past

From the scriptural words “these sixteen novices” onward comes the first event: they know that the Buddha has entered samādhi.

From “each ascended a Dharma seat” onward comes the second event: the sixteen princes again teach the Lotus Sutra.

From “each delivered” onward comes the third event: the teaching brings the assembly benefit. Because all these living beings arouse the aspiration for awakening, they are called delivered. When first arousing aspiration, they vow to become buddhas in the future and thereby pass beyond the world; this is the meaning of crossing beyond the seven kinds of skillful means and reaching the farther shore.

From “after eighty-four thousand eons, the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence” onward comes the fourth event: the Buddha emerges from samādhi, praises the bodhisattvas, and exhorts living beings to accept their teaching in faith. This has two passages: first, He directly praises the sixteen bodhisattvas; second, from “all of you should” onward, He exhorts living beings to draw near to them.

The exhortation to draw near has two further levels: first, the assembly is exhorted to draw near to the sixteen bodhisattvas; next, from “Why is this?” onward, the purpose of that exhortation is explained.

III. Three Kinds of Encounter in the Intervening Period

From the scriptural words “the Buddha told the bhikṣus, these sixteen” onward comes the second major passage, explaining how the princes and the living beings they transformed repeatedly encountered one another in the intervening period from the past until today.

These encounters are of three kinds.

First, when living beings always receive the Great Vehicle teaching whenever they meet the princes, this group reaches complete accomplishment during the intervening period and need not wait until today.

Second, when some have retreated from the Great Vehicle, the princes nevertheless guide them through Lesser-Vehicle teachings. This group is not fully accomplished during the intervening period and is therefore able to hear the Great Vehicle teaching again today.

Third, the text says only that they encounter Lesser-Vehicle teachings in the intervening period and does not say that they encounter the Great Vehicle. This group is not delivered during that period and is still not fully accomplished today. They begin to receive the Great Vehicle only today, and some among them do not attain the Way until after the Buddha’s extinction.

IV. Why Do They Attain Arhatship Only Today after Such a Distant Span?

Someone asks: as stated above, these people pass through a span as long as dust-mote eons and attain the fruit of arhatship only today. How, then, could patience regarding the nonarising of dharmas be an easy stage to ascend?

One explanation says that the Great Sage skillfully teaches in this manner through the four siddhāntas. Sometimes He says that the Buddha Way is long and distant, and sometimes that it is readily attained. To those wearied by the path’s long duration He teaches shortness; to those who conceive the Buddha Way lightly and as easy He teaches length. Sometimes He causes wholesome roots from their past lives to arise; sometimes He accords with what living beings in the world desire; and sometimes, as soon as they hear of long and short, He enables them to enter ultimate meaning.

One should therefore understand that passing through so many eons and attaining arhatship only today is a provisional practice of the four siddhāntas used to guide those who practice the real into the Buddha Way.

V. First Identifying the Teachers in Past and Present, Then the Disciples

From the scriptural words “Bhikṣus, I now tell you, that buddha” onward comes the third major passage, teaching the Lotus Sutra again today. It has two parts: first identifying who the persons of the past are today, and then explaining the renewed teaching of the Lotus Sutra today.

Identifying past and present has two levels: first identifying the teachers in past and present, and second identifying the disciples. Being sixteen novices was their identity in the past; becoming buddhas in eight directions is their identity today.

From the scriptural words “Bhikṣus, when we were novices, each of us” onward comes the identification of the disciples in past and present. This has two passages: first identifying the present disciples, and second identifying the future disciples.

Identifying the present disciples has four items.

First, those who have not retreated abide in unsurpassed complete awakening.

Second, those among these living beings who have retreated now abide at the stage of śrāvakas.

Third, from “Why is this?” onward, the reason they retreated and remain at the stage of śrāvakas is explained.

Fourth, from “the immeasurable living beings transformed at that time” onward, the disciples’ past and present identities are directly joined.

From “as well as those in the future after my extinction” onward comes the second passage, identifying future disciples. It has two items: first the direct identification; and second, from “after my extinction there will also be disciples” onward, the explanation of a doubt.

VI. How Can Future Disciples Who Have Not Heard the Lotus Enter the One Vehicle?

The questioner says: present disciples can hear the Buddha teach the Lotus Sutra and enter the single Buddha Way, and therefore may be called part of the stream of those who formed the connection. Future disciples enter extinction without hearing the Lotus Sutra. How can they abandon the Lesser Vehicle and enter the One Vehicle?

The explanation says: although they are caused to enter extinction, they will ultimately hear this scripture. I will become a buddha in another land, and there they will hear it.

“Another land” means that in the Shared Teaching common to the three vehicles, there is an other land.

The scripture says “apart from the teachings through skillful means of the tathāgatas” in order to eliminate this doubt. The three vehicles are teachings through skillful means; in reality there are not three ultimate vehicles.

VII. Three Events in Teaching the Lotus Again Today

From the scriptural words “Bhikṣus, if the Tathāgata” onward comes the second part, directly explaining the renewed teaching of the Lotus Sutra today. It has three items: the assembly at that time is pure; the Lotus Sutra is directly taught; and the reason the three vehicles were previously opened is explained.

“The time of nirvāṇa has arrived” means the time when buddhas appear in the world and their Way of transformation is nearing its end; at that time the Lotus Sutra is taught. Kāśyapa Buddha, Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiance Buddha, and others entered nirvāṇa after teaching this scripture. After Śākyamuni Buddha teaches the Lotus Sutra, He likewise announces that He will soon enter extinction.

VIII. The First Explanation of the Assembly’s Purity

The scripture says that “the assembly is also pure”; this is the virtue of severance.

It says that “their faith and understanding are firm.” Faith here is the four kinds of unbreakable faith, while understanding is correct uncontaminated understanding.

The assembly thoroughly comprehends the true truth and possesses the various meditative concentrations; at this point wisdom and severance can be established. They are now capable of receiving the great Way and will certainly accept it in faith upon hearing it.

IX. The Second Explanation of the Assembly’s Purity

According to another explanation, the scripture’s statement that “the assembly is also pure” means that they have gained benefit from the Tripiṭaka Teaching and escaped danger.

Its statement that “their faith and understanding are firm” means that through the Vaipulya teaching their minds have come to mutual understanding and trust.

Its statement that they “comprehend the Dharma of emptiness” means that by hearing the Dharma taught in the Prajñāpāramitā teaching, they attain comprehension in mind of the Dharma of emptiness. This is the meaning of transmitting the teaching.

Each explanation has its own sequence. The first establishes wisdom and severance through purity, faith and understanding, comprehension, and meditative concentration. The second explains the benefits attained through the three stages of the Tripiṭaka, Vaipulya, and Prajñāpāramitā teachings.

X. Gathering Bodhisattvas and Śrāvakas and Directly Teaching the Lotus

From the scriptural words “He then gathers the bodhisattvas” onward comes the direct teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

Gathering the bodhisattvas means assembling the relatives and others, and on that basis teaching this scripture. The preceding passage explains the relatives as an influential assembly created by great beings of the Dharma-body. The present scriptural passage makes that level of meaning especially clear.

The scriptural words “gathers the bodhisattvas” mean assembling the relatives, while “and the śrāvaka assembly” means summoning His child.

XI. If the Two Vehicles Cannot Attain Ultimate Extinction, Why Teach Three Vehicles First?

From the scriptural words “Bhikṣus, you should understand that the Tathāgata is skilled in means” onward comes the explanation of the intention behind previously opening the three vehicles.

Someone asks: if the two vehicles cannot attain ultimate extinction in the world, why did the Tathāgata previously teach provisional teachings?

The explanation says: Bhikṣus, you should understand that the Tathāgata is skilled in means. He deeply knows that living beings have dispositions and desires inclined toward lesser teachings, are attached to the five sense objects, and are obscured by the five turbidities. The Buddha therefore first teaches the three vehicles, enabling them to break through the obscuration and escape danger, and then teaches the One Vehicle.

I. For Whom Is This Parable Taught?

From the scriptural words “it is like a road five hundred yojanas long” onward comes the second passage, establishing the connection by parable. This parable has two parts: first opening out the parable, and then applying each part of the parable to the Dharma taught by the Buddha.

Opening out the parable itself has two passages. The first is the parable of the guide, which illustrates how the sixteen princes later taught once more those whom they had transformed in the past, so that all formed a Great-Vehicle connection together. It corresponds to the general parable in the “Parable of the Burning House” chapter and the brief verse in the “Skillful Means” chapter. The second is the parable of leading the travelers, which illustrates how those who had formed a connection in the past met the princes again in intervening lives and now once more hear the Lotus Sutra. It corresponds to the specific parable in the “Parable of the Burning House” chapter and the expanded verse in the “Skillful Means” chapter.

Those encountered again in the intervening period are of two kinds. If, after hearing the Dharma from a buddha, they all proceed toward awakening, there is no need to establish the second parable especially for them. If, despite having encountered the teaching, they still abide today at the stage of śrāvakas, the second parable is established precisely for this class.

II. Five Parts of the Guide Parable

The first passage, the parable of the guide, has five items. They correspond to the six levels of meaning in the general parable of the “Parable of the Burning House” chapter and the brief verse of the “Skillful Means” chapter.

First are the five hundred yojanas. They illustrate how people not yet delivered are attached to various states of existence and wander through the places upon which cyclic existence depends. This corresponds to the vast house and the insecurity of the three realms in the “Parable of the Burning House” chapter, and also to how the “Skillful Means” chapter uses peace and security to disclose by contrast a place without peace and security.

Second is the dangerous, difficult, evil road. It illustrates how people not yet delivered are heavily defiled by afflictions and find the Tathāgata’s wisdom difficult to believe and understand. This corresponds to the fire suddenly starting in the burning house, and also to how the “Skillful Means” chapter uses peace and security to disclose by contrast a Dharma without peace and security.

Third are the many traveling companions. They directly illustrate the hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of kinds of living beings who all give rise to doubt and cannot understand. This corresponds to the thirty children and five hundred people in the burning house, and also to the “Skillful Means” chapter’s statement that the Buddha knows living beings’ natures, dispositions, and desires.

Fourth is the wish to cross this road and reach the place of precious jewels. Old explanations did not establish this item, but Zhiyi now takes up the parable to illustrate the Buddha’s renewed teaching of the Lotus Sutra. It corresponds to the one-flavored rain in the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” chapter, the single exit from the burning house, and the “Skillful Means” chapter’s proclamation of the Buddha Way.

Fifth is the sole guide. He illustrates the sixteenth prince and corresponds to the dense cloud in the “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” chapter, the elder in the burning house, and the “Skillful Means” chapter’s statement that the Buddha now does likewise.

Someone asks: since a parable is established here, why are no names established corresponding to the separation of father and sons, the elder’s alarmed entry into the burning house, or freedom from falsehood?

The answer is that the names of parables are established according to whichever aspect most readily reveals the meaning at that point. When attention is given to whether living beings’ capacities and the Buddha’s response encounter one another, one speaks of father and sons losing one another and father and sons meeting. When attention is given to the Buddha’s responsive transformation first going forth to meet capacities, one speaks of His alarmed entry into the burning house. Here, however, the guide and the travelers meet life after life, so how could one say that they are separated? They formed a connection in the distant past, so how could one say that the responsive transformation begins only today? Separate names for separation and alarmed entry are therefore not established, although those meanings remain mutually accessible.

Another question asks why no parable of freedom from falsehood is established.

The answer is that before this point, opening the provisional to reveal the real has already been taught in twenty-two instances, and the meaning of freedom from falsehood is already very clear. The parable of freedom from falsehood was established to encourage faith, and faith among people of lower faculties will soon arise. It therefore need not be established again here.

III. Explanations of the Five Hundred Yojanas and What the Root Treatise Follows

Regarding the five hundred yojanas, Master Ji maintains that the fetters and afflictions of the three realms make three hundred, the habitual tendencies severed on the seventh ground make four hundred, and the ignorance severed on the eighth ground and above makes five hundred. Zhiyi holds that this is neither a correct meaning of the Distinct Teaching nor a meaning shared by the three vehicles.

Another school lists four kinds of birth and death: flowing-arrival birth and death, intermediate birth and death, transformational birth and death, and fragmentary birth and death. It takes three of these and opens them into five hundred, excluding flowing-arrival birth and death because that is the beginning of consciousness and also the starting point for returning to the source. An objector replies that according to the Śrīmālā Sutra, there are five kinds of cause and two kinds of result. The two results are fragmentary and transformational birth and death, while the five causes are the afflictions of the five abodes. If flowing arrival and the intermediate may be separately opened when discussing results, then further categories beyond the five abodes should likewise be established when discussing causes; there is no basis for doing so, and this position therefore cannot be adopted. The Great Treatise says that bodhisattvas in bodies of flesh undergo fragmentary birth and death while bodhisattvas with Dharma bodies undergo transformational birth and death; it also says that arhats relinquish recompense bodies in the three realms and receive bodies of Dharma-nature. This shows that birth and death are of only two kinds: fragmentary and transformational.

Another position holds that three hundred illustrates the three realms, four hundred the seventh ground—which is difficult to cross like the space between two countries—and five hundred the eighth ground and above. An objector says that if four hundred illustrates the seventh ground, then three hundred should illustrate the sixth. The merits of the sixth ground equal those of the two vehicles, yet practitioners of the two vehicles train for no more than sixty or one hundred eons, while bodhisattvas have already passed through twenty-two great incalculable eons upon reaching the sixth ground. Since the two vehicles take a circuitous route on the Buddha Way, they should not be equated with bodhisattvas on the sixth ground. Zhiyi holds that this is neither a meaning of the Distinct Teaching nor a meaning of the Shared Teaching.

Another position says that the three realms make three hundred, the seven abodes together with the two vehicles make four hundred, and the stages above the seven abodes make five hundred. As the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra says, a stream-enterer reaches the place of the mind of awakening after eighty thousand eons. When the people of the three capacities in the Lotus gain understanding here and the five kinds of person arrive here, this is called crossing five hundred yojanas. Eighty thousand eons are stated by taking people of the dullest faculties; those of keen faculties do not necessarily require this. In the Buddha’s lifetime, people who had already realized the four fruits aroused aspiration as soon as they heard the Lotus Sutra. Why would all have to wait eighty thousand eons?

Three further objections are raised against this position. First, the scripture plainly says that two grounds are established after three hundred yojanas have been crossed, so how could this mean crossing beyond three kinds of person? Second, to say that the five kinds of person together arouse the aspiration for awakening and thereby cross five hundred is only one meaning in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra: the five kinds of person arouse aspiration and leave their former five positions. That is not the meaning here. Third, the three hundred here is a provisional crossing and remains within the conjured city; only at five hundred does one reach the place of jewels, the real crossing. The scripture intends to abolish the conjured city and advance again toward the place of jewels. If all five kinds of person have already crossed and advanced, the basic meaning of the conjured-city parable is instead lost.

Another position says that the three realms make three hundred, the śrāvaka ground makes four hundred, and the pratyekabuddha ground makes five hundred. Ordinary beings are obstructed by the three realms, while the two vehicles are obstructed by nirvāṇa; these may also be called the two obstructions of viewing existence and viewing emptiness. The Avataṃsaka Sutra says that the medicine tree does not grow in deep water or a fire pit: the fire pit illustrates the three realms and deep water the two vehicles. The three realms are a prison for the two vehicles, while the two vehicles are in turn a prison for bodhisattvas. These may also be called the two sides of merit and wisdom: on one side one cannot practice for oneself, and on the other one cannot transform others. The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra speaks only of four hundred yojanas, combining the two vehicles into one hundred; the Lotus Sutra opens them into five hundred. The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra says that bodhisattvas cross beyond the grounds of ordinary and noble beings, but it has not yet revealed that the two vehicles are provisional and therefore lacks the meaning of the conjured city. Since it does not discuss the conjured city, neither does it reveal the place of jewels.

The root treatise answers that the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra has in fact revealed the real and therefore distinguishes the place of jewels; it simply has not yet opened the provisional and therefore does not speak of the conjured city. Later in this chapter, two kinds of nirvāṇa are taught to give people rest midway, which means that they have crossed three hundred yojanas; it also says that the grounds where they abide are already near the Buddha’s wisdom, which means that they must go onward through another two hundred yojanas. Since the scriptural text is already clear, there is no need to remain confused.

Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas have six similarities and ten differences. The six similarities are that both leave the three realms, both attain the knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of nonarising, both sever the direct agents of affliction, both attain nirvāṇa with and without remainder, both attain knowledge of all, and both are called the Lesser Vehicle. The two vehicles are therefore combined into one conjured city.

The ten differences are these: first, the time spent cultivating causes is longer or shorter, being either sixty or one hundred eons; second, faculties are keen or dull; third, hearing the Dharma from a teacher differs from awakening alone, together with the contrast between lack of compassion and deer and sheep; fourth, objects of cognition have marks or are without marks; fifth, methods of contemplation are brief or extensive; sixth, one can teach the Dharma of the four fruits while the other cannot teach the Dharma but can enable people to attain the stage of warmth; seventh, one appears during a buddha’s lifetime while the other does not; eighth, one realizes suddenly while the other realizes gradually; ninth, frequently manifesting supernormal powers differs from seldom teaching the Dharma; and tenth, the situation of śrāvakas is not fixed. The omissions and paired expressions in the original are not completely regular; these ten items follow the original pauses and are not split into eleven.

The burning-house parable speaks of three carriages, yet here they are combined into two hundred yojanas. This is because the three kinds of capacity are alike burned by the house and alike seek to leave it, and therefore three carriages are taught. Viewed against the long distance of the Buddha Way, however, the two vehicles themselves become an evil road that must be left behind, and therefore another two hundred remains to be crossed. Someone presses the question: the Buddha Vehicle is not an obstruction, so why are only two hundred mentioned? Why are ordinary beings assigned three hundred but noble ones only two hundred? The answer is that this is merely speech that leads people onward. If one says that little has been crossed and much remains, that is still not an ultimate and fully explicit statement. Although the Buddha Way is as long as a road of ten thousand miles, these five hundred are what is truly difficult to cross; the remainder is comparatively easy.

Another question asks: two hundred are difficulties for people of the two vehicles, and the three realms are difficulties for ordinary beings; do bodhisattvas have any difficulties? If bodhisattvas did not regard the burning house as difficult, they should not seek carriages to leave it. Since they too seek carriages to leave the house, why are they not obstructed by the two hundred yojanas? 〔And so forth.〕

Fascicle Sixty-Six of the Great Treatise first explains in forward order: the dangerous road is the world; one hundred yojanas are the desire realm, two hundred the form realm, three hundred the formless realm, and four hundred the two vehicles. It then counts in reverse: one hundred are the paths of the two vehicles, two hundred the formless realm, three hundred the form realm, and four hundred the desire realm. The present scripture says that the five hundred yojanas are the bodhisattva path; after crossing the five hundred, one enters the Buddha Way. 〔And so forth.〕 The explanations produced by individual masters and by scriptures and treatises thus differ from one another, as the preceding discussion has already shown.

Zhiyi now makes three groups of interpretations based on the present scripture.

The first group is explained in terms of places: the place of recompense in the three realms makes three hundred, a land with remainder makes four hundred, and the land of true recompense makes five hundred. The subsequent application says that the Buddha knows the various kinds of birth and death, and birth and death is the place upon which recompense depends. Yet the Buddha’s intent is difficult to know, and the subject must be discussed more broadly from other perspectives.

The second group is explained in terms of afflictions: the delusions of views make one hundred, the five lower fetters two hundred, the five higher fetters three hundred, dust-and-sand delusions four hundred, and the delusion of ignorance five hundred. The application says that afflictions are the dangerous, difficult, evil road, which directly supports this group.

The third group is explained in terms of contemplative methods: entering contemplation of emptiness crosses three hundred, entering contemplation of the provisional crosses four hundred, and entering contemplation of the Middle crosses five hundred. The application says that the guide thoroughly knows where the dangerous road is open or obstructed. This means knowing at once both the five hundred of cause and the five hundred of result, and the two passages likewise support one another.

The five elements of the parable are then explained one by one. The dangerous, difficult, evil road illustrates the causes and effects of birth and death. Fragmentary birth and death and transformational birth and death are dangers on the side of effect; the delusions of views and thought and the afflictions of the five abodes are dangers on the side of cause. These causes and effects are why it is called an evil road.

Being without people involves two kinds of road. One is vast, remote, and cut off, yet still has people upon whom one may rely; the other has no one upon whom one may rely. If nirvāṇa is said to exist within birth and death and awakening within afflictions, then although the road is vast and cut off, people upon whom one may rely still remain. If birth and death and afflictions are said to contain no nirvāṇa or awakening at all, it is like medicine containing no illness and illness containing no medicine; only this is vast isolation without anyone upon whom to rely.

The many traveling companions illustrate the people transformed by the sixteen princes who have not yet been delivered. They wish to cross the dangerous road in order to seek knowledge of all modes, and it is therefore said that they travel to the place of jewels. The sole guide is the sixteenth prince. Purity of the eye and ear faculties is called intelligence; purity of the mental faculty is called keen discernment; together these mean purity of the six faculties. Wisdom is the threefold wisdom in a single mind. Clarity means possessing the five eyes, and may also designate the three knowledges. Thorough comprehension means the ten powers.

IV. Parable of Leading: Those Led, Retreat from the Great, and Reception through the Lesser

From the scriptural words “leading the assembly” onward comes the second passage, the parable of leading the travelers. Its meaning is the same as the specific parable and expanded verse in the “Parable of the Burning House” and “Skillful Means” chapters. The complete passage has three divisions.

First is the parable of the people being led. It illustrates those who originally formed a connection but have not yet been delivered. Because the original connection has not been lost, they continue to be led by the guide. This corresponds to the elder of the burning house seeing the fire and becoming alarmed and afraid, and also to the Buddha seeing the five turbidities and arousing great compassion.

Second is the parable of weariness and retreat midway. It illustrates how those who formed a connection in the past lose the Great-Vehicle aspiration when they meet again in intervening lives, whereupon the Buddha receives them through the Lesser Vehicle. This corresponds to the elder not rescuing the children with his own body and arms, but instead praising the rarity of the three carriages; it also corresponds to the “Skillful Means” chapter’s ceasing Great-Vehicle transformation and considering the use of skillful means.

Third, beginning with the guide’s knowledge that the travelers have rested, is the parable of extinguishing the conjured city and leading them toward the place of jewels. It illustrates the Buddha’s teaching the Lotus Sutra again today, gathering the assemblies of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas and teaching them the Dharma. This corresponds to equally bestowing the single great carriage in the burning-house parable and to the “Skillful Means” chapter’s teaching only the unsurpassed Way.

This completes the outline; the text itself is explained below.

Those being led are, in general, the whole assembly that formed a connection in the past. More specifically, those who gained the great benefit in the past have already been led to completion, while those who did not gain the great benefit are those now being led. In terms of the five hundred people and thirty children in the burning house, these are the ones among them who have not yet awakened.

The division on weariness and retreat midway has two passages: retreat from the Great and reception through the Lesser. Retreat from the Great corresponds to ceasing transformation through the One Vehicle, while reception through the Lesser corresponds to establishing the three vehicles. Retreat from the Great has three items. First, weariness and retreat midway corresponds to the absence of Great-Vehicle capacity. Second, reporting to the guide corresponds to not accepting exhortation or admonition: being utterly exhausted means not accepting exhortation to advance, while fear in the mind means not accepting admonition against stopping. Third, being unable to proceed farther corresponds to ceasing transformation through teaching.

“Midway” here does not mean that half the distance has been traveled. If arousing aspiration is the beginning and attaining buddhahood the endpoint, then any thought of retreat arising between these two ends is called weariness and retreat midway.

The guide to whom the travelers report has four names. One who guides living beings through compassion in a general way is called the universal guide. One who once formed a connection with this group is called the guide who forms connections. One who employs provisional wisdom to establish skillful means is called the guide of provisional wisdom. One who knows that the travelers have rested and will lead them once more toward the place of jewels is called the guide of real wisdom. Here the travelers report specifically to the guide who formed the connection.

Once the travelers lose the Great-Vehicle aspiration, their Great-Vehicle capacity disappears; when the Buddha receives them through a lesser teaching, their Lesser-Vehicle capacity arises. This cessation and arising affect the Dharma body and are therefore called reporting. The prince’s knowledge that they have retreated from the Great is His hearing what they report. Because their wholesome roots are weak and obscured by ignorance, they are called utterly exhausted; because they dread birth and death, they are called afraid. Being unable to continue while the road ahead remains distant means that the delusions of views and thought, dust-and-sand delusions, and ignorance are difficult to sever all at once. Yet the Buddha receives them through the Lesser Vehicle and does not let them fall all the way back to their original place; this still has the meaning of advance.

From the guide’s possession of many skillful means onward comes the second passage, reception through a lesser teaching. The opening of the three vehicles in the “Parable of the Burning House” and “Skillful Means” chapters each has four levels of meaning, and all four are present here. First, the guide’s many skillful means mean assessing which Dharma is appropriate. Second, his thought that the travelers are pitiable means grieving that they will lose the great jewels. Third, conjuring a city after forming this thought is the formal employment of skillful means. Fourth, the utterly exhausted assembly entering the city means that people of the three vehicles awaken and enter.

Conjuring the city itself has two passages: first manifesting the city through conjuration, and then explaining the conjured city to the travelers. Conjuring it through the power of skillful means is the formal act of conjuration; speaking to the assembly is the formal explanation of the conjuration. In the burning-house parable, the elder constructs carriages for the children. Here the city exists before the travelers’ eyes, so it must first be conjured and then explained to them.

The explanation of the conjured city in turn corresponds to the three turnings of exhortation, demonstration, and confirmation. Telling everyone not to be afraid and not to turn back exhorts them to continue forward and enter the city. Saying that a great city lies before them, where they may stop and do as they wish, demonstrates the place where they may rest. Saying that they can attain peace and happiness upon entering the city confirms this by means of the security within it.

V. Going Onward to the Place of Jewels, Entering the City, and Three Kinds of Arrival

The scripture further says that if they wish to go onward to the place of jewels, they may do so. Because the Tripiṭaka Teaching originally contains no statement about advancing again, the root treatise records two explanations.

One explanation holds that when the teaching of the three vehicles is proclaimed, living beings may be told: if you can arouse the Great-Vehicle aspiration and seek the fruit of buddhahood, that is certainly good; if you cannot do so for the present, first becoming a person of the two vehicles is also good. As the Śrīmālā Sutra says, beginners in the three vehicles are not ignorant of the Dharma and know for themselves that they ultimately should become buddhas; only because they fear the difficulty and cannot bear it do they take up permanent extinction. Under this explanation, the meaning becomes that of the Distinct Teaching.

Another explanation holds that the travelers are first enabled to enter the conjured city and are then made to advance again after entering it. The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra and the Vimalakīrti Sutra both contain this meaning. This uses the meaning of the Distinct Teaching to receive that of the Shared Teaching.

Before Śākyamuni Buddha’s lifetime of teaching had opened and revealed the provisional, however, this could not be stated clearly and explicitly. In the past, when the connection was formed, words like these could presumably have been spoken: once the princes knew that the travelers had given rise to the thought of retreat, they could teach them that if they feared birth and death, they might first take nirvāṇa as a place of rest and then walk the great road, as they wished. This is like someone today who wants to study the Great Vehicle but, fearing birth and death, thinks of retreating. Another person exhorts him, “For the time being, sever your afflictions and realize arhatship; afterward, you can still seek the great Way.” This is merely an illustrative exhortation given by the root treatise. In Śākyamuni Buddha’s present lifetime of teaching, such a statement cannot suddenly be made while the transformation is still unfinished; it may be stated openly only when the provisional is opened to reveal the real. Those who take the fruit of arhatship in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra also belong to this meaning.

When the utterly exhausted travelers hear of the conjured city, their great joy corresponds to wisdom from hearing; praising what they have never experienced corresponds to the stage of warmth; saying they have escaped the evil road corresponds to the summit stage; feeling secure corresponds to the stage of patience; going forward and entering the conjured city corresponds to the stage of seeing the truths; and giving rise to the thought that they have crossed over corresponds to the stage of no-more-learning. This is the same as the children in the burning house finding the carriages suited to their wishes and fiercely and keenly pushing one another aside as they compete to leave the house.

Giving rise to the thought of having crossed over is like attaining the knowledge of exhaustion; giving rise to the thought of security is like attaining the knowledge of nonarising. It may also be said that completeness of the virtue of wisdom is like having crossed over, while realization of the virtue of severance is like security.

Someone says that after crossing beyond the three realms and the two vehicles one reaches the Buddha Way, which is the place of jewels. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra has three formulations: arriving at the mind of awakening, arriving at awakening, and arriving at the gate of great nirvāṇa. One who has reached the mind of awakening will certainly reach awakening and nirvāṇa. The three formulations are cited because arrival at the mind of awakening describes arrival at the stage of cause, while awakening and nirvāṇa describe arrival at the stage of result. The result in turn includes the two virtues of wisdom and severance: awakening belongs to wisdom and nirvāṇa to severance. Taken together, the three formulations state both beginning and end and both wisdom and severance.

Crossing five hundred also has three meanings: first, escaping the evil road; second, attaining a road that is easy to travel; and third, reaching the place of jewels. The mind of awakening is like crossing beyond the evil road, the practice of awakening is like walking a level road, and accomplishment of the Buddha Way is like reaching the place of jewels. The verse in this chapter says that the Buddha now wishes to tell them the truth and that what they attained was not real extinction; this means crossing beyond the five hundred yojanas of the evil road. It also exhorts them to arouse great diligence for the sake of seeking the Buddha’s knowledge of all, which means practicing on the good road of awakening. It further says that they will realize knowledge of all, the ten powers, and the other Buddha-dharmas, which means attaining the Buddha Way. Why must five hundred be crossed? Because the two vehicles cross three hundred, bodhisattvas cross four hundred, and the Buddha Vehicle crosses five hundred.

VI. Extinguishing the Conjuration and Leading toward the Place of Jewels

From the guide’s knowledge that the travelers have rested onward comes the third passage, extinguishing the conjured city and leading them toward the place of jewels. It has two items: first, knowing that the travelers have rested; and second, leading them toward the place of jewels.

The travelers’ having rested and no longer being weary illustrates the Buddha’s knowledge that the time for teaching nirvāṇa has arrived, that the assembly has become pure and escaped its obstructions and difficulties, and that its Great-Vehicle capacity has arisen again. His immediately extinguishing the conjured city and leading them toward the place of jewels illustrates the Buddha’s formal teaching of the Lotus Sutra and revelation of the real mark.

The place of jewels has two meanings. In the ultimate sense, the final fruit of buddhahood is the place of jewels; hence the preceding text says that only a buddha together with a buddha can exhaustively comprehend the true mark of all dharmas. In the sense of partial realization, what is entered at the first abode of initial resolve is the place of jewels; hence the preceding text says that the unsurpassed cluster of jewels is obtained without being sought, that one portion of the Buddha-Dharma has already been attained, and that all a child of the Buddha should obtain has already been obtained. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra says that a stream-enterer arrives after eighty thousand eons, meaning arrival at the place where the mind of awakening is first aroused. This takes people of dull faculties who naturally pass through eighty thousand eons, ten thousand eons, and so forth before arriving. People who have attained the four fruits in the Tripiṭaka Teaching can all enter the Great without necessarily passing through a set period of time, so why must they invariably pass through eighty thousand or ten thousand eons? 〔And so forth.〕

The scripture says that the place of jewels is already near and that the great city seen before was conjured by the guide. This states the parable for abolishing the provisional in order to apply the parable for revealing the real. The preceding text also says that the Tathāgata’s wisdom is difficult to believe and understand and that these people should gradually enter the Buddha’s wisdom through this Dharma. This corresponds to the “Skillful Means” chapter’s statement that through the power of skillful means the Buddha uses the teaching of the three vehicles to release living beings from the bonds of suffering and enable them to attain nirvāṇa.

VII. Three Questions about the Carriages and City

An old explanation first asks: if the carriages and city both illustrate the knowledge of nonarising, why do the carriages not exist while the city does? Why are there three carriages but only one city? Why do the carriages move while the city remains still?

The old answer to the first question says that the elder only states that carriages exist outside the gate. Because the gate stands between them and the children cannot see the carriages, their existence outside the gate can be posited even though there are no actual carriages. The conjured city, however, stands in a distant open place and cannot be posited by speech alone; it must actually be conjured before the travelers’ eyes, and the city is therefore said to exist. In terms of principle and teaching, grasping principle through the three teachings means that all three teachings can accord with principle, which is the meaning of existence, like the city. Looking back at the three teachings from the single principle, since principle is only one, the teaching-fruits attained by the three groups lack intrinsic nature. This is the meaning that the carriages do not exist.

For the second question, the carriages are three while the city is one because all the travelers rest in a single place, so the city is one, whereas the three kinds of person delight in different things, so the carriages are three. In terms of principle and teaching, all three groups attain the knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of nonarising without difference, like the one city. Although the three kinds of person equally exhaust the direct agents of affliction, their habitual tendencies may or may not be exhausted, and they may or may not obtain incidental knowledges and views. Adorning the knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of nonarising with these differences makes them like the three distinct carriages.

For the third question, the three groups clarify through the knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of nonarising that cause has been exhausted and result has disappeared. They have reached the ultimate place, and this is like the city remaining still. Yet the knowledge of exhaustion and knowledge of nonarising can also convey people into remainderless nirvāṇa, and this is like the carriages moving. The root treatise preserves further objections to these old answers. 〔And so forth.〕

Zhiyi now explains instead in terms of living beings’ minds and the Buddha’s wisdom. From the perspective of living beings’ minds, both carriages and city exist. From the perspective of the Buddha’s wisdom, they may be said to exist and also not to exist. What provisional wisdom clarifies exists, like the city; what real wisdom clarifies does not exist, like the carriages. 〔And so forth.〕

The conjured city is established directly for those who retreat from the Great aspiration and turn to the lesser fruit, while also including those who studied the Lesser Vehicle from the beginning. The principal intention of the preceding two cycles of teaching was directed to those who studied the Lesser Vehicle from the beginning, while also including those who retreated from the Great. The three carriages apply both to teaching in the past and to its retelling today. The conjured city directly reveals the intention of guidance through the teaching; when it was first established, it was not yet explicitly stated that the city was only conjured.

Another question asks: what is the difference between conjuring three carriages and conjuring one city?

The answer is that the three carriages illustrate the wheel of teaching, while the conjured city illustrates the wheel of supernormal power. The carriages also take their parable from sound, for the children only hear of them and do not see them; the city takes its parable from visible form.

Another question asks how the conjured city compares with the two messengers. Messengers can indicate a direction, like a teaching that expresses principle; a city lets people rest from danger, so teaching has the function of motion while the city displays stillness. Teaching has the distinctions of the four truths and twelve links of dependent origination; the two kinds of wisdom represented by the city enter remainderless nirvāṇa without difference. Teaching applies to both cause and result, while city and carriage apply only to result. Teaching applies to both conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, while city and carriage apply only to the unconditioned.

According to provisional wisdom, the carriages do not exist because they are only establishments of verbal teaching; according to real wisdom, the carriages exist because liberation is taught without departing from written words. Provisional wisdom sees the city as existing because living beings must be guided; real wisdom sees the city as nonexistent because the partial truth is not real. Provisional wisdom sees the carriages as three because it accords with three kinds of conditions; real wisdom sees the carriages as one because all three converge in the One Vehicle. Provisional wisdom sees the city as one because it represents the partial truth; real wisdom sees the city as three because it contains the meaning of the tathāgata-garbha. Provisional wisdom sees the city as still because it represents the extinction of body and cognition; real wisdom sees the city as moving because this conjuration must still be extinguished. Provisional wisdom sees the carriages as having the meaning of movement because they convey people into remainderless nirvāṇa; real wisdom sees the carriages as still because they neither move nor emerge.

How could an explanation like this be the same as the old one? The old explanation establishes its meaning only within the Lesser Vehicle.

VIII. Five Passages and the Application of the Parable

Someone asks: the complete scripture has five passages of opening the three to reveal the one. How do they differ?

The answer is that they do not differ when discussed generally, but each has its emphasis when distinguished. The “Skillful Means” chapter opens the three to reveal the one in terms of teaching, saying that the Tathāgata teaches living beings only because of the One Buddha Vehicle and that there are originally neither two nor three. The “Parable of the Burning House” chapter opens the three to reveal the one in terms of practice: because carriages have the meaning of carrying, they illustrate practice, and the scripture says that everyone rides the great carriage, travels in the four directions, and plays in joy. The “Faith and Understanding” chapter opens the three to reveal the one in terms of persons, gathering hired laborers back into the elder’s own children; the assembly therefore understands that they have always truly been children of the Buddha.

The “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” chapter clarifies the provisional and real in terms of difference and nondifference. It does not directly say that one side should be removed and the other adopted; it says only that living beings do not know and the Buddha enables them to know. Knowing the seven differences means knowing the provisional; knowing that all equally depend upon the one principle without difference means knowing the real. Difference is also nondifference, and nondifference also contains difference. Living beings are to know this meaning; the chapter does not finally say that a particular one is nonexistent and another particular one existent. This is spoken in terms of the Buddha’s own practice of the two wisdoms, provisional and real, and is speech following His own intent. The Buddha can know, while living beings do not know. It may also connect both with the preceding and following passages, clarifying the provisional and real through knowing and not knowing.

The parable of the conjured city now directly opens the three to reveal the one in terms of principle. The place of jewels and the conjured city respectively represent the principles of the great and lesser teachings: the conjured principle of the two vehicles is broken through, revealing the single real principle of the place of jewels. In the next chapter, when the five hundred disciples express their understanding through the parable of the jewel sewn into a garment, they likewise speak in terms of principle.

From the Buddha’s address to the bhikṣus onward comes the second major passage, applying the parable. First comes the direct application; afterward, the parable is restated and applied. The sequence does not follow the original order in which the parable was opened.

The direct application first has five items. First, “the Tathāgata is also like this” applies the fifth item, the guide. Second, the Buddha’s statement that He is now a great guide for them applies the third item, the many traveling companions. Third, the Buddha’s knowing that the evil road of birth, death, and afflictions is dangerous and difficult applies the second item, the dangerous, evil road. Fourth, the word “long and distant” applies the first item, the five hundred yojanas. Fifth, “should leave” and “should cross beyond” apply the guide’s intelligence, keen discernment, clarity, and thorough comprehension, and also the fourth item, the wish to cross the dangerous road and reach the place of jewels.

The parable of leading the travelers is then applied. The opened parable originally has three divisions, and the application likewise applies three: living beings applies the people being led; retreat and fear upon hearing only the One Buddha Vehicle applies retreat from the Great and reception through the Lesser; and living beings’ abiding in the two grounds onward applies extinguishing the conjured city and leading them to the place of jewels.

Retreat from the Great originally has three items, and each is now applied. Merely hearing the One Buddha Vehicle applies weariness and retreat midway and the absence of Great-Vehicle capacity. Not wishing to see the Buddha or hear the Dharma applies reporting to the guide and not accepting exhortation or admonition. Thinking that the Buddha Way is long and distant applies being unable to proceed farther and the cessation of transformation through teaching.

Beginning with the Buddha’s knowledge of this thought comes the application of reception through the lesser teaching. The parable originally has four items, while the application applies only three. The Buddha’s knowledge of this thought applies the guide’s many skillful means, or assessment of what is appropriate. Living beings’ timidity and inferiority applies the guide’s compassion for them, or His knowledge that Lesser-Vehicle capacity has arisen. Establishing a means for living beings to rest midway onward applies both manifesting the conjured city and the travelers’ entry into it.

As for teaching two kinds of nirvāṇa midway, one explanation says that the afflictions of the three realms have been exhausted while dust-and-sand delusions and ignorance have not yet been broken through, and nirvāṇa with remainder and without remainder are distinguished between these two ends. It may also mean the two nirvāṇas of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. It may further mean that fragmentary birth and death has been exhausted while transformational birth and death has not yet been removed, and nirvāṇa with and without remainder are distinguished between these two kinds of birth and death. It is therefore called the middle of the road. 〔And so forth.〕

From living beings’ abiding in the two grounds onward comes the application of the third division, leading them to the place of jewels. The opened parable has two items, and the application likewise has two: living beings’ abiding in the two grounds applies the guide’s knowledge that the travelers have rested; the Tathāgata’s immediately teaching them again applies His leading them toward the place of jewels.

Finally, the parable is restated and attached to its Dharma-meaning: restating the parable of receiving those who retreat and fear applies the Buddha’s establishment of the three vehicles; restating the parable of extinguishing the conjured city applies the Buddha’s revelation of the One Vehicle. The remainder may be understood from the scriptural text. 〔And so forth.〕

The second passage is the verse, comprising forty-nine and a half lines and restating the prose above. The preceding prose has two major passages. The first twenty-two and a half lines now restate the causes for establishing the connection, and the next twenty-seven lines restate the second major passage, the direct establishment of the Dharma connection. The causes for establishing the connection in turn have distant and recent levels: first, twelve lines restate the distant causes; from “the World-Honored One of immeasurable wisdom” onward, ten and a half lines restate the recent causes.

Distant Causes: Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Attains the Way

The distant causes originally have two passages: first, six lines restate the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence attaining the Way; next, six lines restate the Brahmā kings from the ten directions coming to request that the Buddha turn the Dharma wheel.

The prose on attaining the Way originally has five events. The verse first uses three lines to restate the second event, the circumstances before attainment of the Way. From “after ten minor eons had passed” onward comes the second passage, using one line to restate the third event, the formal attainment of the Way. From “the sixteen princes of that buddha” onward comes the third passage, using two lines to restate the fifth event, the sixteen princes’ request that the Dharma wheel be turned, while also including a restatement of the fourth event, the retinue’s arrival to make offerings after attainment of the Way. The first event, the Buddha’s long lifespan, is omitted and not restated in the verse.

Distant Causes: The Brahmā Kings from the Ten Directions Request the Dharma

The six lines beginning “the World-Honored One is exceedingly difficult to encounter” restate the Brahmā kings from the ten directions requesting the Dharma. The preceding prose has two levels. One line first restates the Buddha’s majestic radiance illuminating and the worlds trembling. Next, from “worlds in the eastern direction” onward, five lines restate the Brahmā kings’ search for the light and arrival. The first three of these lines specifically restate the eastern direction, while the last two generally restate the other nine directions.

Recent Causes: First Turning the Dharma Wheel of the Two Vehicles

From “the World-Honored One of immeasurable wisdom” onward comes the second major passage, using ten and a half lines to restate the recent causes. The preceding prose on the recent causes has two passages. First, five lines restate the first passage, turning the Dharma wheel of the two vehicles. Next, from “at that time, the sixteen princes” onward, five and a half lines restate the second passage, in which the princes again request the Buddha to turn the Great-Vehicle Dharma wheel.

The preceding prose on turning the Dharma wheel of the two vehicles in turn has three levels. First, the half-line beginning “the World-Honored One of immeasurable wisdom” restates the first level, the Buddha accepting the request. Next, the one and a half lines beginning “He taught the great assembly” restate the second level, the formal turning of the Dharma wheel of the two vehicles. Next, the three lines beginning “when He proclaimed this Dharma” restate the third level, the assembly hearing the Dharma and attaining the Way at that time.

Recent Causes: The Sixteen Princes Renew Their Request

The five and a half lines beginning “at that time, the sixteen princes” form the second passage, the princes’ renewed request. The preceding prose to which they correspond has seven events, while the verse is actually divided into five passages.

The first passage, two phrases, restates the first event in the preceding prose, the princes leaving home. The second passage, beginning with “together they requested that buddha,” uses one and a half lines to restate the second event, the formal request for the turning of the Great Vehicle. The third passage, beginning “the Buddha knew the thoughts of the youths,” uses two lines to restate the Buddha’s teaching of the Vaipulya and Prajñā teachings during the intervening twenty thousand eons. The fourth passage, beginning “He taught this Lotus Sutra,” uses half a line to restate directly the fourth event above: the Buddha accepts the request and teaches the Lotus. The fifth passage, beginning “after that buddha had finished teaching the scripture,” uses one line to restate the seventh event above: entering samādhi after teaching the scripture.

The third event in the prose, the royal father leading eighty thousand people to seek departure from home; the fifth, some among the assembly who heard the scripture understanding and others not understanding; and the sixth, the scriptural teaching continuing for a long time are all omitted and not restated in the verse. The sequence of the five passages here and the numbers of the seven events above operate simultaneously and cannot be conflated by taking what the third verse passage restates to be the third prose event.

Direct Establishment of the Connection: Dharma-Teaching

The twenty-seven lines beginning “these novices” restate the direct establishment of the Dharma connection. The preceding prose has the two passages of Dharma-teaching and parable-teaching. The first eight lines now restate the Dharma-teaching, while the next nineteen lines restate the parable-teaching.

The preceding Dharma-teaching has three passages: first, three lines restate the first passage, the establishment of the connection in the past; next, one line restates the second passage, constant encounters in the intervening period; and next, four lines restate the third passage, the renewed teaching of the Lotus today.

The formation of the connection in the past originally has four events in the prose. The verse first uses half a line to restate the Buddha’s entry into samādhi. Next, the one and a half lines beginning “for immeasurable hundreds of millions in the assembly” restate the sixteen novices formally explaining the Great-Vehicle scripture again. The one line beginning “each of the novices” then restates the benefit attained by those who heard. The fourth event, the Buddha emerging from samādhi and praising the sixteen novices, is omitted and not restated in the verse.

Next, from “after that buddha had entered extinction” onward comes the second passage. The Taishō text here has three lines, restating how, after the Buddha’s extinction, those who heard the Dharma constantly met their teachers in various buddha lands. From “these sixteen novices” onward comes the third passage, using four lines to restate the teaching of the Lotus today.

The preceding teaching today has two levels. The first joins past and present and includes both present and future. The verse first uses three lines to join the sixteen novices of the past with today’s teachers, and those who heard in the past with today’s disciples. From “through this original cause and condition” onward comes the second level, using one line to restate the renewed teaching of the Lotus today.

The renewed teaching today in turn has three events in the preceding prose. The first phrase now restates the first event: the assembly at that time is pure. “Through this original cause and condition” shows that today’s assembly has escaped obstructions and difficulties and that its capacity to hear the Dharma has arisen. Next, the three phrases beginning “today He teaches the Lotus” restate the second event, teaching this scripture to the assembly. The third event, explaining the intention behind opening the three, is omitted and not restated in the verse.

Direct Establishment of the Connection: Opening the Parable of the Five Hundred Yojanas

The nineteen lines beginning “the dangerous, evil road” restate the opening and application of the parable: the first eleven and a half lines restate the opened parable, and the last seven and a half lines restate the application.

The preceding opened parable has two passages. The first three lines now restate the parable of the five hundred yojanas, and the next eight and a half restate the parable of leading. The preceding parable of the five hundred yojanas has five events, which the verse arranges as follows. One line first restates the second event, the dangerous, evil road. Next, the half-line beginning “countless thousands and myriads of people” restates the third event, the great number of travelers. Next, the half-line beginning “the road is exceedingly” restates the first event, the road extending five hundred yojanas. Next, the phrase beginning “at that time there was one guide” restates the fifth event, there being only one guide. The three phrases beginning “strong in memory and possessed of wisdom” restate the guide’s intelligence, discernment, clarity, and comprehension. The fourth event in the preceding prose is not restated.

Direct Establishment of the Connection: Opening the Parable of Leading

From “all the travelers had become weary” onward comes the second passage, comprising eight and a half lines and restating the parable of leading. The preceding prose has three levels, and the verse likewise restates all three. The first two characters restate the first level, leading the travelers. The five lines, three phrases, and three characters beginning “had all become weary” restate the second level, the travelers growing weary and retreating and the guide provisionally establishing the conjured city. The two and a half lines beginning “after the guide knew” restate the third level, extinguishing the conjured city and leading the travelers to the place of jewels.

The second level in turn has two passages: first, the travelers grow weary and retreat; next, the guide receives those who retreat. The verse first uses three phrases and three characters to restate weariness and retreat, and then five lines to restate conjuring the city walls to receive those who retreat. The preceding weariness and retreat has three events; here, the first event, that it occurs midway, is omitted and not restated.

Every level in the passage on conjuring to receive those who retreat is restated in the verse. One line first restates the second event, the guide’s sorrow that the travelers will lose the great precious jewels. Next, the two phrases beginning “he immediately considered” restate the first event, the guide forming a thought in his mind. Next, the two and a half lines beginning “he conjured a great city” restate the third event, the actual conjuring of the city walls. The third event in the preceding prose has two further levels; one and a half lines now first restate the parable of the formal act of conjuration.

The city’s “various dwellings” are explained by the root treatise as the objects of various contemplations of emptiness; its “gardens and groves” as the uncontaminated Dharma-grove of the two vehicles’ mnemonic retention; the nine successive concentrations as its “channels and streams”; the eight liberations as its “bathing pools”; its “multiple gates” as the three gates of emptiness, and also as the repeated-emptiness samādhis, knowledge of exhaustion, and knowledge of nonarising; its “towers and pavilions” as indicating elevation; and its “men and women” as concentration and wisdom.

The root treatise next turns to an explanation through contemplating the mind. The substance of wisdom is pervasive and complete, like the complete walls of a city. Wholesome dharmas are perfectly complete, like an outer wall surrounding it. Ultimate emptiness is like the dwellings within the city. The straightforward goodness that can accomplish one’s own practice is like a man able to manage household affairs; compassion that transforms others outwardly is like a woman who marries into another household. The Taishō text here reads “straightforward goodness,” while witness A reads “true goodness.” The vernacular follows the Taishō text without erasing the variant.

Next, from “after the conjured city had been made” onward comes the second passage, using one line to restate the guide explaining the conjured city to the assembly. From “after the travelers had entered the city” onward comes the fourth passage, using one line to restate the fourth event, the travelers entering the city.

From “the guide knew that the travelers had rested” onward comes the third passage, using two and a half lines to restate extinguishing the conjured city and leading to the place of jewels. The preceding prose has two levels. One phrase first restates the first level, the guide’s knowledge that the assembly has rested. Next, the two lines and one phrase beginning “he gathered the travelers” restate the second level, extinguishing the conjured city and leading the assembly toward the place of jewels.

Applying the Parable of the Five Hundred Yojanas

From “I am also like this” onward comes the second major passage, using seven and a half lines to apply the two preceding parables. The opening half-line applies the first, the parable of the five hundred yojanas, while the following seven lines apply the second, the parable of leading. The preceding application of the parable of the five hundred yojanas has four events; the verse uses only half a line to restate them generally and does not unfold them one by one.

Applying the Parable of Leading

The two lines beginning “seeing those who seek the Way” apply the parable of the travelers’ weariness and retreat. The verse opening the parable does not restate midway; here one line applies the seekers’ weariness and retreat midway, while the next line applies the guide’s reception of those who retreat by conjuring a resting place.

From “having already known that they have reached nirvāṇa” onward comes the second passage, using five lines to apply extinguishing the conjured city and reaching the place of jewels. The preceding application has two levels, and the verse likewise restates both. Half a line first restates the first level, knowing that the assembly has rested. The three and a half lines beginning “only then does He gather the assembly” restate the second level, extinguishing the conjured city and leading the assembly toward the place of jewels.

The verse applying rest and the conjured city contains the meaning of the secret store of the three virtues. “You will realize knowledge of all” is prajñā; “possess the thirty-two marks” is Dharma body; “only this is real extinction” is liberation. These three dharmas are neither vertically arrayed nor horizontally arranged; this is seeing buddha-nature. Finally, the one line beginning “the buddhas, the guides” attaches the preceding parable of the guide leading the travelers to the Dharma-meaning of the buddhas guiding living beings.

I. Explaining the Chapter Title and Its Placement

This chapter actually records predictions for twelve hundred people, so why does its title name only “five hundred”? Because the five hundred receive the same buddha-name and personally express their understanding, the chapter is named for them.

This chapter is the second section of the teaching through causes and conditions.

Those receiving predictions form two groups: twelve hundred and two thousand. The group of twelve hundred is in turn divided into two: prediction for Pūrṇa and prediction for the twelve hundred. The passage on Pūrṇa is again divided into two: the account of his silent thought and understanding, and the Tathāgata’s description and prediction.

II. Introducing Silent Understanding: The Causes of Understanding

First the text describes how he understood and rejoiced; next it describes his silent thought and understanding.

The passage on rejoicing is divided into two: first, it describes the causes from which his understanding arose; second, it describes his understanding and joy.

There are four causes of understanding. First, he heard the teaching of “opening the three to reveal the one” in the two rounds of Dharma-teaching and parable-teaching. Second, he heard predictions given to Śāriputra and the other five great disciples. Third, he again heard the matter of forming connections in former lives. Fourth, he again heard that the three penetrative knowledges of all buddhas are unobstructed—their vision of the distant past is as clear as today. This is their power of great sovereign supernormal knowledge, which refutes the knowledge of the two vehicles as reaching no farther than eighty thousand eons.

“Hearing this wisdom from the Buddha” expresses understanding of the revealing of the real in the “Skillful Means” chapter and the parable of the burning house; “skillful means, teaching appropriately according to conditions” expresses understanding of opening the provisional to reveal the real in those two places. “The great disciples” expresses understanding of opening the provisional, and “predictions of awakening” expresses understanding of revealing the real; “causes and conditions from former lives” expresses understanding of revealing the real, and “power of supernormal knowledge” expresses understanding of opening the provisional.

III. Understanding and Rejoicing

From “attaining what had never been before” onward, the text describes his understanding and joy: first it clarifies inward understanding and joy, then outward reverence.

Because he had never in the past heard the opening of the provisional and revealing of the real but hears it today, the text says “attaining what had never been before.” Because love of nirvāṇa is removed and distinct delusions are severed, it says “the mind became pure.” Because the Buddha’s knowledge and vision are opened, he “leapt for joy.” Because understanding came from the Buddha, reverence arose.

In terms of Origin and Trace, this is simply rejoicing on behalf of those who practice in actuality.

IV. Directly Clarifying Silent Thought and Understanding

From “he then thought” onward, the text directly clarifies silent thought and understanding. First it explains silent thought and understanding; next it explains the silent request to reveal the Trace and give a prediction.

Those who awakened in the preceding two rounds all expressed their understanding in speech. Why is there silent thought this time?

In the preceding two rounds, those with lower faculties had not yet awakened, so it was necessary for the speakers to voice their understanding and thereby encourage and move them. Now those with lower faculties have awakened and no one remains to be encouraged; therefore Pūrṇa thinks silently and does not speak.

Again, the preceding two rounds involved only understanding and did not request the revelation of the Trace, so speech invited no objection. Now there is both understanding and a request to reveal the Trace. Understanding gives rise to thought, while avoidance of others’ suspicion calls for silence—silent thought is appropriate.

Again, silent thought and understanding is great understanding, just as silence in the Vimalakīrti is true entry into the Dharma-gate of nonduality.

Again, provisional and real are inconceivable, beyond speech and thought yet able to speak and think. There is speech that is not speech, so the preceding two rounds orally expressed understanding; there is also thought that is not thought, so this time there is silent thought and understanding.

Why did the preceding two rounds not request revelation of the Trace? Because those of lower faculties had not yet awakened. Now they have understood, and the work of transformation through provisional skillful means is complete. Further, if those of lower faculties request revelation of the Trace, that means they know that those with middle and upper faculties are also provisional; from the standpoint of those with upper and middle faculties, however, it would not have been expedient for those of lower faculties.

V. Understanding Real Wisdom and Provisional Wisdom

“World-Honored One, what You have done is exceedingly rare and extraordinary” expresses understanding of real wisdom.

“Teaching the Dharma in accordance with the many kinds of dispositions in the world” expresses understanding of provisional wisdom—the dispositions of people within the seven skillful means. This is understanding of the meaning of opening the provisional and revealing the real in the “Skillful Means” chapter.

“Pulling living beings out from their attachments in every place” expresses understanding of the opening of the provisional and revealing of the real in the parable of the burning house.

“We cannot express in words the Buddha’s qualities” expresses understanding of what the preceding parable of the medicinal herbs says: “The Tathāgata has immeasurable qualities beyond your reach.” Since words cannot express them, thought cannot reach them either.

VI. Silently Requesting Revelation of the Trace and Prediction

From “Only the Buddha can know” onward comes the silent request to reveal the Trace and give a prediction.

“We” refers universally to the request that the Traces of all these people be revealed. The “deep mind” is the Origin; what is manifested now is the Trace. The “original vow” is the pledge and vow of great loving-kindness—because great loving-kindness transforms living beings below, I make a pledge; because I seek buddhahood above, I make a vow. Requesting the upward quest is asking for prediction; requesting that the downward transformation be explained is asking for revelation of the Trace.

Again, because of the deep mind, the text explains how he assisted buddhas in proclaiming and teaching throughout the three times; because of the original vow, the Buddha gives him a prediction.

VII. The Buddha Describes Him and Gives a Prediction: General Division

From “the Buddha told” onward comes the second part, in which the Buddha describes Pūrṇa and gives him a prediction, in prose and verse. The prose is divided into two: description of Origin and Trace, and prediction.

The description of Origin and Trace is divided into three: first, revealing the Trace through the causal practices carried out in Śākyamuni’s lifetime; second, revealing the Origin through the causal practices carried out in the times of past buddhas; third, completion of causal practices cultivated in the presence of buddhas of the three times.

VIII. Revealing the Trace through Causal Practice in Śākyamuni’s Lifetime

Revealing the Trace through causal practice in Śākyamuni Buddha’s lifetime is again divided into three: first, presenting and pointing out the person; second, generally marking the section on Origin and Trace; third, explaining Origin and Trace separately.

“Do you see him?” has two meanings: have you seen that his Trace belongs to the Lesser Vehicle? Have you seen the qualities of his Origin? The assembly sees only a śrāvaka in the Trace and cannot know the bodhisattva in the Origin; therefore the Buddha says “do you see him?”

From “I have always praised him” onward, the text marks his Trace. Within the Trace he is foremost among those who teach the Dharma—without the wondrous Origin of the Dharma body, he could not manifest this supreme Trace of being foremost. Formerly, it was said only that he was foremost in teaching the Dharma within the Trace; now it says instead that he has long been foremost in the unsurpassed Dharma. This presents the Trace to reveal the Origin.

From “I have also always praised him” onward, the text marks his Origin. Merit, wisdom, the myriad practices, and Dharma-gates are therefore called “various.” Since the Origin has various Dharma-gates, how could he be merely a member of the two vehicles in the Trace? This presents the Origin to clarify the Trace.

IX. Separate Explanation: Assisting in Proclaiming the Five Flavors

From “diligently protecting and preserving” onward comes the separate explanation.

“Assisting in the proclamation of My Dharma” means assisting the Buddha within the Trace in proclaiming the half-word and full-word teachings. Manifesting in the Trace as a śrāvaka of lower faculties is protecting, preserving, and assisting in proclamation of the curds-flavor Dharma. Manifesting in the Trace at the Vaipulya assembly as one who receives rebuke is protecting, preserving, and assisting in proclamation of the raw-cream-flavor Dharma. Receiving the relay teaching of the Prajñā within the Trace is protecting, preserving, and assisting in proclamation of the cooked-cream-flavor Dharma. Awakening at the Lotus assembly within the Trace is protecting, preserving, and assisting in proclamation of the ghee-flavor Dharma. This is the meaning of the preceding general statement concerning the Origin, “I have always praised his various qualities.”

Complete in both provisional and real qualities, he gives rise to the five flavors within the Trace and assists the Buddha in ripening beings who practice in actuality—is this not precisely the meaning of “diligently assisting in proclamation”?

Explaining the qualities of Origin and Trace separately: “able to demonstrate and teach among the four assemblies” separately explains the half-word teaching; “fully explaining” is assistance in proclaiming the full-word Prajñā teaching; “bringing great benefit” means assisting the Buddha in benefiting beings of both the half-word and full-word teachings; “companions in the pure life” are the disciples of the half-word and full-word teachings transformed within the Trace.

From “apart from the Tathāgata” onward, the text separately describes qualities of the Origin. “Apart from” means below wondrous awakening; “none can know” refers to people within the seven skillful means.

X. Revealing the Origin through the Times of Past Buddhas

From “Do not think he only assists in proclaiming My Dharma” onward comes the second part, revealing his original practices in the times of past buddhas. He assists in proclaiming the half-word and full-word teachings not only in My presence; he did the same in the presence of buddhas in distant eons. His assistance in proclamation today is used to reveal the Trace, while his assistance in the past is used to reveal the Origin.

Revealing the Origin has two aspects: distant Origin and recent Origin. The distant Origin is dim and remote, and truly difficult for people to believe, so it is omitted and not described; only the recent Origin among nine billion buddhas is presented. Those with knowledge of past lives can know the recent Origin, so the recent is presented to prove the distant.

The passage on nine billion buddhas completely explains how he assisted buddhas in proclaiming the teaching of the five flavors and thereby ripened living beings. “Protecting, preserving, and assisting in proclamation” corresponds to assistance in proclaiming the half-word, curds-flavor Dharma. “The buddhas’ true Dharma” corresponds to assistance in proclaiming the Vaipulya, raw-cream-flavor Dharma. “Clearly understanding the Dharma of emptiness” corresponds to assistance in proclaiming the cooked-cream-flavor Dharma—as with the present Buddha’s relay teaching of the Prajñā, explaining how the six pāramitās mutually include one another and turn without obstruction. He assisted in proclamation in the same way in the presence of nine billion buddhas, no differently from today. The people of those times all thought he truly was a śrāvaka. Since the Trace had not yet been revealed, they thought only that he had received the Buddha’s support and an instruction to relay the Prajñā; they did not call him a great bodhisattva. “Transforming immeasurable living beings and causing them to stand in complete awakening” is assistance in proclaiming the ghee-flavor Dharma—the meaning can be understood from the text [and so forth].

From “also in the presence of the seven buddhas” onward comes the third part, concerning the causal practices cultivated in the presence of buddhas of the three times, as stated in the scripture. As above, he assisted in proclaiming the half-word and full-word teachings of the five flavors, benefiting both the Lesser and Great Vehicles.

[Fahua Wenju, Fascicle Seven, Lower, Ends]

[Fahua Wenju, Fascicle Eight, Upper. Taught by the Great Tiantai Master Zhizhe.]

XI. The Prediction: Seven Divisions

From “gradually completing the bodhisattva” onward comes the second part, the prediction. The text is divided into seven: first, the completion of causal practice; second, from “after immeasurable” onward, the completion of the qualities of the fruit; third, the vastness and purity of the land; fourth, the names of the land and eon; fifth, the buddha’s lifespan; sixth, the long abiding of the true Dharma; seventh, offerings to the relics after the buddha’s parinirvāṇa.

The third, on the land’s vastness and purity, is again divided into five:

First, the land is vast, adorned, and pure. “The ground level as a palm”—the scripture says only “as a palm,” not “as the palm of a hand.” An ordinary palm is not flat and therefore cannot be the intended comparison. At the bottom of the sea is a kind of stone called “palm,” without so much as a speck of dust’s worth of unevenness; the comparison should be to this palm-stone in the sea. Again, the Sutra of the Auspicious Aeon specifically means the Buddha’s palm, not the palm of an ordinary person.

Second, only wholesome destinies exist there.

Third, humans and devas are complete in merit and wisdom. Fascicle Nine of the Moon Treasury mentions Dharma food, joy food, and meditation food. The scripture collectively says “Dharma joy and meditative delight”; separately distinguished, there should be these three kinds.

Fourth, the assemblies of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas are very numerous.

Fifth, the conclusion.

XII. Citing Fascicle Five of the Moon Treasury: Ten Qualities of Each of the Ten Wholesome Actions

Fascicle Five of the Moon Treasury says: “Refraining from killing brings ten qualities—first, one gains fearlessness in relation to all living beings, through to the tenth, being born in a wholesome destination at life’s end; when one later becomes a buddha, there are no weapons of killing in the land, and its people live long lives.

Refraining from stealing brings ten qualities—first, the result is complete and vast and one’s decisions in affairs meet no obstruction, through to the tenth, being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one later becomes a buddha, the land is filled with adornments of flowers and jewels.

Refraining from sexual misconduct brings ten qualities—first, disciplined faculties and decisiveness in affairs, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one later becomes a buddha, there are no women in the land.

Refraining from false speech brings ten qualities—first, living beings trust one’s words, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one later becomes a buddha, there is no foulness in the land and precious flowers are always in bloom.

Refraining from divisive speech brings ten qualities—first, one’s body cannot be destroyed, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one later becomes a buddha, Māra cannot destroy the retinues in the land.

Refraining from harsh speech brings ten qualities—first, one’s speech is gentle, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one becomes a buddha, the land is filled with the sound of Dharma.

Refraining from frivolous speech brings ten qualities—first, devas and humans love and respect one, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one becomes a buddha, the beings in the land possess powerful memory and do not forget.

Refraining from craving brings ten qualities—first, one’s bodily faculties are complete, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one becomes a buddha, the land has neither Māra nor followers of other paths.

Refraining from anger brings ten qualities—first, one is far removed from all anger, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one becomes a buddha, the people of the land attain samādhi.

Refraining from wrong views brings ten qualities—first, one’s mind and nature are gentle and wholesome, through to being born in a wholesome destination after death; when one becomes a buddha, the people of the land possess right faith.”

XIII. Verse: Restating Revelation of the Trace and Prediction

The verse has twenty-one and a half lines, restating the preceding revelation of the Trace and prediction. The first fourteen lines restate revelation of the Trace; the next seven and a half restate the prediction.

The first part is again divided into two. The first seven lines generally reveal the Traces of all the śrāvakas, restating the meaning of “we” above; the latter seven lines restate the revelation of Pūrṇa’s Trace.

The general passage has five sections. The first line generally marks the inconceivability of the Buddha-children’s conduct: they have realized the Dharma through which a Trace is manifested. Second, the one line from “knowing that the assembly delights in lesser dharmas” explains the reason for manifesting a Trace. Third, the two lines from “through immeasurable skillful means” explain the benefit of manifesting a Trace. Fourth, the two lines from “inwardly concealing” explain how they inwardly embrace the great Way while outwardly manifesting the faults of the Lesser Vehicle. Fifth, the one line from “if I were to speak fully” indicates an abbreviated account and restrains a full exposition.

“few desires” means manifesting a quest for the Lesser Vehicle; “indolent” means manifesting retreat from the Great Vehicle. They manifest not only as śrāvakas, but also as followers of other paths and ordinary beings under the three poisons—Śāriputra manifests anger, Nanda manifests craving, and Devadatta manifests delusion [and so forth].

From “now this Pūrṇa” onward comes the second part, seven lines restating the revelation of Pūrṇa’s Trace and Origin. The prose above had three sections; here two are restated in abbreviated form. The first five lines restate the revelation of the past Origin. The two lines from “in the future he will also make offerings” restate the causal practices in the presence of buddhas of the three times. The seven buddhas and the present Buddha are omitted and not restated.

The seven and a half lines from “making offerings to the tathāgatas” restate the prediction. The prose above had seven sections; here four are restated. The first half-line restates completion of causal practice. The next half-line restates completion of the qualities of the fruit. The three phrases from “his land named Pure” restate, out of sequence, the names of the land, eon, and buddha. The five lines and three phrases from “the assembly of bodhisattvas is very numerous” restate the vastness and purity of the land. Lifespan, the abiding of the Dharma, and the erection of stupas after parinirvāṇa are omitted and not restated.

XIV. Giving Predictions to the Twelve Hundred

Second comes the giving of predictions to the twelve hundred, divided into three: their thought requesting prediction, the predictions, and their understanding. Their thought and the predictions are as stated in the scripture.

The prediction appears in prose and verse. The prose is divided into three: first, the general promise of prediction for the twelve hundred; second, a separate prediction for Kauṇḍinya—Kauṇḍinya was the first to awaken to the Way and holds the foremost seat among the elders, so he receives a separate prediction; third, separate predictions for the five hundred—the five hundred have the same buddha-name and must therefore be given predictions separately.

Question: We see only five hundred receiving predictions; we do not see twelve hundred.

Answer: These five hundred are within the number twelve hundred. The final line and a half of verse collectively gives predictions to seven hundred, so the total is twelve hundred. Further, the “Encouragement to Uphold” chapter says, “I previously gave a collective prediction that all śrāvakas had received predictions.” This refers precisely to the present line and a half; it does not mean that predictions were given only to seven hundred śrāvakas.

The verse has eleven lines, divided into two. The first nine and a half restate the predictions of Kauṇḍinya and the five hundred; the final line and a half collectively gives predictions to all śrāvakas.

XV. The Five Hundred Express Their Understanding: Prose

The five hundred express their understanding in prose and verse.

In the prose, the scriptural redactor first describes their joy; next they personally express their understanding. The redactor first celebrates the joy of their understanding today, then describes their shame over their failure to understand in the past and the self-reproach that follows. Within the celebration, inward joy comes first and outward reverence next. Their repentance and self-reproach make clear their shame at not understanding in the past.

From “World-Honored One, we” onward comes the second part, their personal expression of understanding, divided into Dharma-teaching and parable-teaching.

Within the Dharma-teaching, they first regret having taken a little attainment as sufficient; next they blame their own dull faculties and difficulty in awakening. From “World-Honored One” through “extinction,” they regret and reproach their former delusion: having attained the lesser, they thought it sufficient and did not know to seek the Great. From “only now do we know” onward, they blame their dull faculties, awakening only now and having been unable to know earlier—they now know that the Lesser Vehicle is not ultimate and only the Great Vehicle is real.

The parable-teaching is divided into two: first a brief presentation, then the formal parable. “Like a person without wisdom” briefly presents the simile as a comparison. From “Why is this?” onward comes the explanation of “without wisdom.”

XVI. The Parable of Drunkenness

The parable-teaching has two parts. First is the parable of drunkenness, illustrating the regret expressed in the Dharma-teaching at taking a little attainment as sufficient and not knowing to seek the Great; it understands the intention behind establishing the provisional in the preceding Dharma-teaching, parable-teaching, and events of former lives. Second is the parable of the close friend awakening the man, illustrating the self-reproach in the Dharma-teaching for dull faculties and difficulty in awakening, and for knowing only now; it understands the revealing of the real in the preceding Dharma-teaching, parable-teaching, and events of former lives.

The first parable in turn has three levels of meaning. First, the parable of fastening the jewel understands the princes’ formation of connections above. Second, the parable of lying drunk without perception understands their encounter after retreat from the Great. Third, the parable of rising and wandering understands their reception through the Lesser Vehicle.

“Suppose there were a person” means a person of the two vehicles. The “close friend” is the sixteenth prince of the past. The “house” takes the Great Vehicle teaching as a home.

“Becoming drunk and lying down” means that at that time the Great-Vehicle capacity briefly arose and ignorance was temporarily subdued. Hearing the scripture produced a little understanding in the mind, but because ignorance was deep and heavy, the person still became lost. Drunkenness has two meanings: first, heavy drunkenness, in which there is no perception or knowledge at all; second, light drunkenness, in which one perceives slightly and immediately forgets, which is also called not perceiving. Although there are these two meanings, the jewel is ultimately fastened—as with the poisoned drum.

“Official business requires him to leave” explains that an opportunity arose for the prince elsewhere and that he went in response to those conditions; therefore the text says that he “must leave.” Proclaiming the Dharma and transforming others is not a private affair; therefore the text calls it “official business.”

The “priceless jewel” is the wisdom-jewel of suchness, the true mark of the One Vehicle. “Fastens it inside his robe”—shame and patience can cover anger and protect against external evils, and so are the outer robe; the mind of faith and delight is the inner wholesome root, and so is the inner robe. The slight faith, delight, and aspiration that arose when the Dharma was heard are the seed of the wisdom and vow that serve as the cause of realization.

Second, “lying drunk without perception or knowledge” means that the mind of ignorance was heavy and he immediately ceased to remember. This understands the intervening indolence and retreat, and the failure to receive the Great Dharma.

Third, “after rising he wandered to another country” understands the intervening reception through the Lesser Vehicle and the teaching of the three vehicles. His wholesome roots were about to stir, and he rejected suffering and sought happiness; therefore it says that “after rising he wandered.” Ignorance covered his understanding, and he did not know to return to the native country to seek the clothing and food of the Great Vehicle; therefore it says that he went to another country to seek the clothing and food of the Lesser Vehicle.

In the contrast between Māra and Buddha, the demonic realm of birth and death is another country, while both Lesser and Great within the Buddha Dharma are the native country. In the contrast between the Lesser and Great Vehicles, the Lesser Vehicle has not escaped birth and death and remains another country; the Great Vehicle forever escapes birth and death and alone is the native land—the ultimate aim is to return to the original source. Thus he leaves the country of the Great Vehicle for the land of the Lesser Vehicle, not knowing to draw provisions from the jewel; instead he hires himself out to support himself, earns only a day’s wage, and thinks a little attainment sufficient.

XVII. The Parable of the Close Friend Awakening Him: Three Meanings in All Three Rounds

From “later they happened to meet” onward comes the second part, the parable of the close friend awakening him. It expresses understanding of “through this original cause and condition I now teach the Lotus” above and the equal bestowal of the great carriage.

This passage is divided into three: first the rebuke, second showing the jewel, and third urging him to exchange it. The rebuke illustrates the preceding movement of attachment and arising of doubt; showing the jewel illustrates causes and conditions from former lives; urging him to exchange it illustrates receiving prediction and becoming a buddha—all three rounds contain these three levels of meaning.

In the Dharma-teaching, “I enable you to escape the bonds of suffering” is the rebuke; the section on the five buddhas is the disclosure; Śāriputra’s prediction is the urging to exchange.

In the parable-teaching, “Did I not previously say that all was for awakening?” is the rebuke; the three carriages and one carriage are showing the jewel; the predictions of those with middle faculties are the urging to exchange.

Within the causes and conditions from former lives for those of lower faculties, “Listen well” is the rebuke; recounting the formation of the connection and again teaching them the Great Vehicle is showing the jewel; the predictions of those with lower faculties are the urging to exchange.

The three movements of fastening the jewel are correlated with the three rounds. First, intending the Great Vehicle beneath the bodhi tree is fastening the jewel; ceasing transformation because there was no capacity is lying drunk; immediately establishing skillful means is rising and setting out. In the parable round, the time of twenty billion buddhas is fastening the jewel; sending a bystander in pursuit until the poor son faints and cannot receive the teaching is lying drunk; guiding him by the three carriages is rising and setting out. In the causes-and-conditions round, the time of Great Universal Wisdom Excellence is fastening the jewel; weariness and retreat midway is lying drunk; reception through the Lesser Vehicle is rising and setting out.

All of these are called understanding the provisional. “Such-and-such a year, month, and day” refers to the time of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence.

XVIII. Applying the Parable

From “the Buddha is the same” onward comes the second part, the application of the parable.

The subject illustrated originally had two parts, each now containing three levels of meaning. From “teaching and transforming us” onward applies the first part’s fastening of the jewel. “We immediately abandoned and forgot it” applies its second movement, lying drunk without perception. From “having attained arhatship” onward applies its third movement, rising and wandering.

From “the vow to all-knowledge” onward applies the second part, the parable of the close friend awakening the man and showing him the jewel. The opened parable had three levels, and the application likewise has three. From “the vow of wisdom was never lost” applies the first, the rebuke. From “long ago I caused you” onward applies the second, showing the jewel. From “only now do I know” onward applies the third, urging him to exchange it for what he needs.

XIX. Verse

Second, the verse has twelve and a half lines, divided into two:

The first line and a half restates inward understanding and is again divided into two: the first line restates celebration and joy; the next half-line restates regret and self-reproach.

From “in the treasure of immeasurable buddhas” onward comes the second part, eleven lines restating their personal expression of understanding. The prose above had two sections. Here the first half-line restates regret and self-reproach for taking a little attainment as sufficient; “difficult to awaken, only now do we know” is omitted and not restated. The half-line “like a foolish person without wisdom” briefly restates the parable. “He then thought this sufficient” restates the explanation of what it means to be without wisdom. The next ten lines restate the opening and application of the parable-teaching: the first six restate the opening and the latter four the application. The opening above had two sections; here the first four lines restate abandoning the treasure and not knowing it, while the latter two restate the close friend’s awakening of the man.

The remaining text is easy to see.

I. What Are Training and Beyond Training?

Investigating the true and cutting off delusion is called training; when the true has been exhausted and delusion has come to an end, this is called beyond training.

Cultivating the true and aspiring to superior vision is called training. The stage of training lies in the genuine uncontaminated wisdom of the three fruits and four approaches. At the fruit of arhatship, investigation into principle has been exhausted and superior vision has reached its limit. Because there is nothing further to learn at that stage, it is called beyond training.

The chapter title is further explained through the different teachings.

Analyzing dharmas and investigating the true is called training; when delusion and the true have both been exhausted, this is called beyond training. This is the meaning of the Tripiṭaka teaching.

Embodying dharmas and investigating the true is called training; when there is neither true nor delusion, this is called beyond training. This is the meaning of the Shared teaching.

Proceeding step by step from the shallow to the deep is called training; when shared and distinct delusions have been exhausted and provisional and real principles have been fully fathomed, this is called beyond training. This is the meaning of the Distinct teaching.

When investigating the tathāgata-garbha, one may speak of training and beyond training. At the level of Dharma-nature and true mark, it is neither training nor beyond training, yet it can also be said to be both training and beyond training. 〔And so forth〕

II. Why Do the Two Thousand Form a Separate Chapter?

Among these two thousand, some are people in training and some are people beyond training. Yet they belong to one stream, receive predictions at the same time, and receive one and the same buddha-name. A separate chapter is therefore established.

This chapter is the second section in the larger prediction text. Its scripture passage divides into two parts: first, the request for predictions; second, the bestowal of predictions.

III. The Request First Divides into the Two People and the Two Thousand

The request for predictions again divides into two parts: first, the request of Ānanda and Rāhula; second, the request of the two thousand.

The request of the two people again divides into two parts: first, silent thought; second, a spoken request for predictions. The spoken request again has two items: first, citing the preceding predictions as an example and indicating that they too should have a share; second, invoking the assembly’s expectation of them.

Ānanda and Rāhula are the two closest to the Buddha and are also those whom the assembly at that time expects to receive predictions. Rāhula is the Buddha’s son, intimate and weighty in worldly kinship; Ānanda guards the Buddha’s Dharma treasury, intimate and foremost in the Way. If these two—one intimate and weighty, the other intimate and foremost—did not receive separate predictions, the assembly’s expectation could not be fulfilled.

IV. If They Are Intimate, Weighty, and Foremost, Why Are They Listed Here?

Someone asks:

Since one is intimate and weighty and the other intimate and foremost, they should be listed with the preceding stream. Why are they placed here? Again, according to the assembly listed in the Introduction chapter, these two were among those numbered above. Why, when predictions are now bestowed, are they placed below?

The answer:

When the collective prediction was previously given to the twelve hundred, these two had already received it with the preceding stream. What they now seek is only an individual prediction for each of them. Ānanda is a person in training, and Rāhula holds the rank of disciple; they are therefore included in this section on those in training and beyond training.

When the two thousand request predictions, there are only silent thought and the cited precedent. These two intentions are the same as those of Ānanda and Rāhula, so the scripture merely says that their aspiration was like that of Ānanda and the others. The two thousand make no separate spoken request because they do not possess the two men’s circumstances of being intimate and weighty or intimate and foremost.

V. Predictions Are Bestowed First on the Two People and Then on the Two Thousand

The bestowal of predictions again divides into two parts: first, predictions are given to the two people; second, predictions are given to the two thousand.

Ānanda’s prediction again divides into five parts, in the following order:

First, the prediction in prose.

Second, its restatement in verse.

Third, doubt arises in the minds of eight thousand bodhisattvas in the assembly.

Fourth, the Tathāgata reveals past Traces and explains the doubt.

Fifth, Ānanda discloses his own Origin and expresses praise in verse.

VI. What Do the Eight Thousand Bodhisattvas Doubt?

The eight thousand bodhisattvas share one doubt: these śrāvakas seem only to have aroused the resolve today, yet they immediately receive predictions from the Buddha, and their future buddha-lands are extraordinarily pure. In the earlier Vaipulya teachings, bodhisattvas had to practice for immeasurable aeons before receiving predictions of buddhahood. Why is there such a difference here?

The Buddha therefore reveals past Traces and resolves the doubt. Long ago, Ānanda and the Buddha aroused the great resolve for awakening at the same time and were fellow students. Through vigor, the Buddha advanced first and attained buddhahood; through extensive learning, Ānanda still guards the scripture. Outwardly Ānanda manifests as the Buddha’s attendant, but such was his original ground. What is there to doubt in his now receiving this wondrous prediction?

The remaining predictions for Rāhula and the two thousand are all as stated in the scripture.

I. The Five Kinds of Dharma Teacher and Their Combination and Division in Sutra and Treatise

This chapter speaks of five kinds of Dharma teacher: first, one who receives and upholds; second, one who reads; third, one who recites; fourth, one who explains; and fifth, one who copies.

The Great Treatise explains six kinds of Dharma teacher: through the power of faith one receives; through the power of mindfulness one upholds; looking at the written text is called reading; not forgetting it is called reciting; proclaiming and transmitting it is called speaking; and because the scriptures of the sages are difficult to understand, they must be explained. Of these six, the present sutra combines receiving and upholding as one, combines explaining and speaking as one, divides reading and reciting into two, and adds copying, thereby making five.

When considered separately, the first four persons practice for themselves, while one transforms others. The Great Nirvana Sutra divides them into nine grades: the first four, who do not explain the meaning, occupy the position of disciples; the latter five, who do explain the meaning, occupy the position of teachers.

When considered comprehensively, one who uses the five dharmas to regulate oneself is a Dharma teacher in personal practice; one who uses the five dharmas to teach others is a Dharma teacher who transforms others. Because one regulates oneself through the five dharmas, all are broadly called disciples; because one transforms others through the five dharmas, all are broadly called Dharma teachers. The present title follows this comprehensive meaning and therefore is called “The Dharma Teacher.”

II. Explanation by Diminishing Number: Gathering Five into Four

If explained by diminishing the number, gathering the five into four yields the four peaceful practices, as explained later.

III. Gathering Four into Three: The Three Karmas

If the four are gathered into three, receiving and upholding are mental karma; reading, reciting, and speaking are verbal karma; and copying is bodily karma. Considered separately, verbal karma transforms others, while body and mind constitute personal practice. Considered comprehensively, using the three karmas to regulate oneself makes one a Dharma teacher in personal practice, while using the three karmas to teach and admonish makes one a Dharma teacher who transforms others—hence the chapter “The Dharma Teacher.”

IV. Gathering Four into Three: The Three Gateways

There are also three gateways. Practicing these five dharmas to cultivate oneself is the gateway of merit; propagating and explaining the five dharmas for widespread benefit is the gateway of transforming others; and both cultivating oneself and benefiting others in accordance with the Buddha’s instruction constitute the gateway of repaying kindness.

Considered separately, self-cultivation and repaying kindness are called personal practice, while benefiting others is transformation of others. Considered comprehensively, both regulating oneself and regulating others are called the work of a Dharma teacher—hence the chapter “The Dharma Teacher.”

V. Gathering Four into Three: The Three Dharmas (Room, Robe, and Seat)

Further, reading, reciting, and copying are external practice and constitute the Tathāgata’s robe; receiving and upholding are internal practice and constitute the Tathāgata’s seat; explaining for the benefit of others constitutes the Tathāgata’s room.

Considered separately, the Tathāgata’s room fashions others, while the robe and seat fashion oneself. Considered comprehensively, this is not so: compassion shelters the myriad beings, and the benefit bestowed returns to oneself—this is called being like the room; covering the evils of others and obstructing one’s own ugliness—this is called the robe; settling one’s mind in emptiness enables one to settle others, while settling others also settles oneself—this is called the seat. In this way, regulating oneself through the three dharmas also makes one a Dharma teacher.

Benefiting the myriad beings must begin with entering the room of compassion; entering the realm of marks must be grounded in patient endurance; and rescuing others must be rooted in self-forgetfulness. One who can practice these three dharmas and thereby cause the great teaching to be proclaimed and circulated becomes a reliance for the world and is therefore called a Dharma teacher.

VI. Gathering into Two

They are further gathered into two: personal practice and transformation of others. This is easy to understand and is not recorded again.

VII. Gathering into One: The Tathāgata’s Practice

They are further gathered into one: the Tathāgata’s practice, which contains every practice.

Compassion removes every suffering—the sufferings of the four destinies, the three realms, the two vehicles, bodhisattvas, and so forth. Loving-kindness gives every joy—the joys of humans and gods, nirvāṇa, permanence, and so forth. The robe of gentleness screens off every ugliness—the ugliness of the four abiding delusions, nescience, ignorance, and so forth. The seat of emptiness forgets every mark—being marked, unmarked, neither marked, nor unmarked. This is the comprehensive meaning.

The separate meaning is that compassion gives rise to every good, gentleness stops every evil, and the seat of emptiness sweeps away every mark.

Further, loving-kindness and patience establish every merit, while the seat of emptiness accomplishes every wisdom. Wisdom is the eyes, namely the five eyes; merit is the two feet, namely the six perfections.

Further, compassion surpasses all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, gentleness surpasses all ordinary beings and non-Buddhist practitioners, and the seat of emptiness surpasses bodhisattvas of analytic emptiness, embodied emptiness, partial teachings, and so forth. Thus Vimalakīrti says: “Only one who vanquishes an enemy can be called courageous.”

Further, compassion destroys the heavenly māra, gentleness destroys the māra of the aggregates, and emptiness destroys the māras of afflictions and death. The Larger Prajñāpāramitā says: “Transform all sentient beings and contemplate that all is empty; then Māra cannot gain an opening.” 〔And so forth.〕

Further, loving-kindness and patience make questioning possible, while the seat of emptiness makes answering possible; together they perfect the two adornments.

Further, contemplating emptiness makes questioning possible, while loving-kindness and patience make answering possible. Loving-kindness and patience plant, establish, and support; the wisdom of emptiness weeds, breaks through, and guides.

Further, because of compassion, what separation could there be? Because of gentleness, what obstruction could there be? Because of the seat of emptiness, what dispute could there be?

Because it transcends the three truths, it is called the banner of victory; because it contains and universally gathers, it is called the Mahāyāna; because it is the Tathāgata’s practice, it is called the king of samādhis. The sutra says that loving-kindness is the root of every wholesome dharma, patient endurance is foremost, and the path takes the absence of marks as supreme. Were one to discuss the perfect practice, speech could never exhaust it. 〔And so forth.〕

VIII. Question and Answer: Why Explain the Dharma Teacher through Three Dharmas?

Question: Why is the Dharma teacher explained through precisely these three dharmas?

Answer: On a first pass at the level of affairs, one must ascend the lecture hall, arrange one’s robe, and take one’s seat before one can expound and propagate the teaching. Therefore the explanation uses these three.

Further, when affairs and principle are explained together, delusion does not exceed three kinds: first, delusion arising in relation to the fruit of suffering; second, delusion arising in relation to binding karma; third, delusion arising in relation to the principle of the truths. Therefore three gateways are used to reveal and guide.

Further, at the level of principle, confusion about the truth leads one to fall into suffering, so the gateway of compassion is used; confusion about the conventional truth makes one stagnate in emptiness and experience pleasure, so the gateway of gentleness and patience is used; confusion about the middle way becomes a cognitive obstruction, so the gateway of emptiness is used. 〔And so forth.〕

IX. Explaining the Name and Concluding the Chapter

Dharma means a rule or standard; teacher means one who instructs and fashions. Although Dharma can serve as a standard, its substance cannot propagate itself; bringing it into circulation depends upon people. All five kinds of people who transmit the sutra can be called teachers: by raising the Dharma and accomplishing their personal practice, they all take the Wondrous Dharma as teacher. Because their personal practice is accomplished by taking the Wondrous Dharma as teacher, they are called Dharma teachers.

Further, the five kinds of person can use the Wondrous Dharma to instruct and fashion others. Thus the Dharma is raised to qualify the teacher, and the chapter is called “The Dharma Teacher.”

Whether one regulates oneself through the Dharma or uses the Dharma to fashion others, one is called a Dharma teacher. This is the interpretation through causes and conditions of the chapter.

All the many explanations above interpret the chapter title through the Dharma gateway of the Perfect Teaching.

X. Classification of the Five Chapters That Circulate the Trace Gate

The first three rounds constitute the Trace Gate: the direct teaching, reception and understanding, and predictions are all complete. The following five chapters circulate the Trace Gate. They not only shelter and benefit people of that time, but also seek to moisten generations to come; therefore five chapters perform the work of circulation.

“The Dharma Teacher” and “The Jeweled Stūpa” explain the profound work and weighty merit of propagating the sutra, circulating it among those who have not heard it for immense benefit. “Devadatta” invokes past propagation of the sutra, through which both parties gained benefit, to demonstrate the depth and weight of its merit. In “Encouragement to Uphold,” the eighty thousand great beings whose power of patience is mature propagate the sutra in this land, while those newly given predictions propagate it in other lands. According to an older explanation, “Peaceful Practices” draws in those who have fallen away so that they may circulate the sutra—perhaps this is so, but it may not be the whole account.

Ordinary beginners outside the stages aspire to such extraordinary merit, but they see śrāvakas fearful and apprehensive and hear of bodhisattvas being rejected and humiliated. Looking back upon their own weak strength, they see no benefit for themselves or others and give rise to a mind of retreat. The Buddha teaches peaceful practices for such people; by propagating the Dharma in accordance with them, they need not fear danger or hardship.

Further, in “The Dharma Teacher” Śākyamuni himself speaks of the merit and blessing of propagating the sutra, recruiting people to circulate it. In “The Jeweled Stūpa,” Many Jewels and the emanation buddhas both bear witness and lend their aid, encouraging people to circulate it.

The opening prose and verses of “The Dharma Teacher” praise the five kinds of Dharma teacher—the people capable of upholding the Dharma. The later prose and verses praise the Dharma that they uphold. They also reveal the rules for transmitting the sutra.

XI. The Disciples’ Gateway · During the Buddha’s Lifetime

The opening is again divided into two: first, through the gateway of disciples who receive the path and Dharma, it explains profound work and weighty merit; second, through the gateway of teachers who confer the path and Dharma, it explains profound work and weighty merit.

The disciples’ gateway is further divided into two: disciples during the Buddha’s lifetime and disciples after his extinction.

At the beginning, “through Medicine King he addressed the eighty thousand”—“through” means entrusting. The Buddha wishes to entrust the Wondrous Dharma to Medicine King, so that he will receive it and inform the eighty thousand great beings, and all will come to circulate it. Pointing to these people and asking whether they see them explicitly identifies those who gain merit by upholding the sutra.

The passage concerning the Buddha’s lifetime is further divided into two: first, from “he addressed Medicine King” onward, it distinguishes the classes of people; second, from “all before the Buddha” onward, it distinguishes the causes and conditions for receiving predictions.

Those who were directly addressed before the Buddha and wondrously awakened were the twenty-five hundred people of broad learning and deep understanding; they had already received both collective and individual predictions. The classes now distinguished may include the eight kinds of beings, or the four assemblies and three vehicles—all who were seated at the Lotus assembly.

“all before the Buddha” explains the time: it was when they encountered the Buddha seated before them. “a single sentence or verse” means that the Dharma heard was exceedingly little. “even for a single thought” means that the time was extremely brief. “all are given predictions that they will attain bodhi” explains that although they heard exceedingly little and for an extremely brief time, the merit of their rejoicing nevertheless brought them the fruit of buddhahood. How much more so if they hear it fully, uphold it throughout their lives, circulate it in five ways, and make offerings through the three karmas? 〔And so forth.〕

“hearing a single sentence or verse” refers to those who hear little and understand shallowly, yet all are now given predictions. If even those with little receive predictions, how much more those with much and profound understanding? Using the lesser to indicate the greater, its universality and breadth are this extensive. Since the final round is so, the middle and first rounds are likewise; the meaning can be understood from this without further explanation.

The Sutra of the Samādhi of Directly Seeing Reality separately gives predictions to the four heavenly kings, all named Fire Upholder; to the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-three, all named King Indra’s Banner; to Kauśika, named Unattached; to the Yāma gods, all named Pure Wisdom; and to the Tuṣita gods, all named King of the Dharma of Śakra. The two heavens above them are also all given predictions, though separate names are not disclosed; the Brahmā gods are named Great Wisdom-Power. These belong to the class of broad learning and deep understanding; those now given predictions belong to the class of little hearing and shallow understanding.

An older explanation says that pratyekabuddhas and bodhisattvas were not given predictions. This passage gives predictions to all three vehicles, so there is no need for doubt.

Concerning “one verse or sentence,” the Ekottara Collection says: “Take at will an essential verse from the sutra, such as one concerning the Four Truths.” The Treatise on the Ten Stages of the Bodhisattva says: “Aversion and contempt are called disenchantment; not seeking is called absence of desire; a mind without defilement is called liberation; laying down the heavy burden is called nirvāṇa. Aversion and contempt concern origination; not seeking concerns suffering; freedom from defilement is the path; laying down the heavy burden is cessation.” It further says: “The Buddha told Pūrṇa: I have four statements, namely the Four Truths and the four establishments of mindfulness,” and so forth.

Interpreted through contemplation of mind, every sentence and every verse returns to the one; there is no sentence or verse that does not. 〔And so forth.〕

If one takes the essential statements of the Trace Gate, they are opening, revealing, awakening, and entering; riding this jeweled vehicle to travel in the four directions; the four peaceful practices; the four intentions of encouragement; and so forth.

XII. Rejoicing for a Single Thought: Vertical and Horizontal Explanations

“Rejoicing for a single thought” means that although one has not yet practiced and merely rejoices in the Dharma and its people, the meritorious result is already abundant. How much more so when one’s practice reaches its proper place?

The joyful mind of rejoicing has two forms:

If, upon hearing the opening of the provisional to reveal the real, one deeply understands within a single thought the principle that is neither provisional nor real and trusts the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, while also comprehending both provisional and real together and the perfect interfusion of affairs and principle—though still fully endowed with the nature of afflictions, one knows the Tathāgata’s secret treasury. This is rejoicing discussed vertically.

Again, if upon hearing the purport of opening the provisional to reveal the real, one broadly understands within a single mind that every mind and every dharma is Buddha-Dharma without obstruction, then if one wished to distinguish and explain them, speech could not exhaust them: one month, four months, or even a year of successive explanation would not finish. Although one has not yet attained a genuine mind of rejoicing, one can understand in this way. As the Dharma is so, people are also so. This is rejoicing discussed horizontally.

The horizontal is itself vertical, and the vertical is itself horizontal. Therefore the Great Nirvana Sutra says, “Prefer to hear little and understand much of its meaning and flavor.” This is the meaning; it should be explained again below.

XIII. The Disciples’ Gateway · After the Buddha’s Extinction

From “he addressed Medicine King: again, after the Tathāgata’s extinction” onward, the text explains disciples after the Buddha’s extinction. This too has two parts: first, it identifies the class of disciples, briefly indicating the persons, who may be understood by comparison with those above; next, it says “I too give them predictions,” whose meritorious result is as explained before.

XIV. The Teachers’ Gateway · The Present Age

From “if, further, there is a person” onward begins the second division, the teachers’ gateway, which has prose and verse.

The prose has two parts: first the specific, then the general. The specific discusses people, while the time above concerns present and future. The general, from “regardless” onward, includes both present and future and comprehensively explains the offense gained by opposing it and the merit gained by following it.

The specific passage is further divided into two: first the present age, then the age to come.

The present age is further divided into two: first the lower-grade teacher, then the higher-grade teacher.

The lower-grade teacher has two parts: first the teacher’s characteristics, then the teacher’s meritorious result. The characteristics are the five kinds of Dharma teacher and the ten kinds of offering.

Next, from “Medicine King, know that these people have previously made offerings” onward, the text explains the lower grade’s meritorious result. “Previously made offerings” means that their causes in past lives are deep. “Out of pity for sentient beings they are born in this human world” explains the greatness of their present merit. From “if someone asks” onward, it explains the profundity of their future result.

From “how much more one who can fully receive and uphold it” onward, the text explains the higher-grade teacher, also in two parts: first it brings out the higher-grade teacher by comparison; next, “Medicine King, know that this person voluntarily relinquishes the recompense of pure karma,” explains the higher grade’s meritorious result.

XV. The Teachers’ Gateway · After the Buddha’s Extinction

From “if this good man, after my extinction, can privately speak for even one person” onward, the text explains that teachers after the Buddha’s extinction likewise have lower and higher grades.

The lower grade also has two parts. First it identifies the lower-grade person: one who has attained the sutra’s meaning only vertically, possesses wisdom but lacks learning, and is fit only to explain it privately, not yet before an assembly. This is therefore a lower-grade teacher.

“Privately speak a single sentence for one person” means that although one has gained an understanding of one sentence, without broad learning in the various divergent meanings one must not speak before an assembly. If one cannot penetrate every question and challenge, correct principle will fail to be proclaimed and transmitted. It is as the Explanatory Treatise says of wisdom without learning: like a small rain without thunder. If one wishes to articulate a correct explanation of this sentence, one should for the time being speak only in private.

“Know that this person is an envoy of the Tathāgata” explains the person’s meritorious result. The sutra is spoken by suchness-wisdom, and what it speaks is suchness-principle. A practitioner today who receives this teaching of suchness and proclaims the principle of suchness has been dispatched by the Tathāgata.

“Performing the Tathāgata’s work”—suchness-wisdom illuminates suchness-principle as its work. A practitioner today who practices suchness-principle in accordance with the teaching of suchness performs the Tathāgata’s work. On one side is suchness-wisdom, on the other suchness-principle, and transforming sentient beings is the work. A practitioner today who can exercise great compassion, explaining the principle of true suchness within this sutra so that sentient beings benefit, is also said to perform the Tathāgata’s work.

Interpreted through contemplation of mind, an envoy of the Tathāgata is the wisdom-mind contemplating its object, while that object is true suchness. The object comes forth and elicits wisdom, so wisdom is dispatched by suchness. “Sent by the Tathāgata” means that contemplative wisdom comes from suchness. “Performing the Tathāgata’s work” means passing through every dharma and finding none that is not true suchness; true suchness itself is the Buddha’s work.

From “how much more before a great assembly” onward, the text explains the higher-grade person. It omits comparison of the meritorious result; the meaning can be understood.

XVI. General Explanation of the Offense of Opposition and the Merit of Accord

From “if there is an evil person” onward begins the second division, which discusses all five kinds of Dharma teacher generally: those who oppose them gain offense, while those who accord with them gain merit.

Here offense and merit are not weighed according to the richness or barrenness of the field of merit, but only according to the beginner and the one at the final stage. A beginner is still fully endowed with afflictions. If obstructed, the matter being studied is abandoned, and therefore the offense is great. A buddha is impartial; evil cannot harass or coerce a buddha, so how could it obstruct one? Therefore the offense is said to be light.

The same is true of making offerings. This practitioner still depends upon support; if offerings are received, the work of cultivation succeeds, so the merit of giving to this person is excellent. A buddha depends upon nothing and has fulfilled every task; although one again presents offerings, they add nothing to the Buddha. Therefore the result is called inferior.

It is like a crown prince in adversity: providing what he needs brings immense merit, while insulting the royal line incurs no light offense. Thus both offense and merit are weighty. Giving clothing and food to a great king, by contrast, is a secondary and minor matter; even should one wish to violate him, one cannot cause harm. Thus both offense and merit are slight.

From “Medicine King” onward, the text explains that reading and reciting adorn one like the Buddha; this is the merit gained by accord, because the Buddha is adorned with concentration and wisdom, and this person can cultivate concentration and wisdom.

“Borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder”—to bear upon the back is he, and to carry upon the shoulder is dan. Cultivating the substance of the dharma-body, which is neither provisional nor real, is to be borne by the Tathāgata; exercising the functions of the two wisdoms that can plant and actualize is to be carried by the Tathāgata.

“In whatever direction that person goes, one should face that way and bow”—above, the Dharma was explained as teacher; now the person is shown capable of serving as teacher to the many. Wherever this person proceeds accords with the true mark and may be honored and followed. Following is “facing,” honoring is “bowing”; one honors and follows while also making offerings and so forth. 〔And so forth.〕

XVII. Sixteen Lines of Verse

The verse has sixteen lines, divided into three parts: the first two stanzas do not restate the prose but separately encourage and exhort personal practice and benefit to others; the next thirteen lines restate the specific and general divisions of the teachers’ gateway; the final line praises the sutra.

Within the restatement of the specific and general divisions are two further parts: the first seven lines restate the specific, and the latter six restate the general.

The specific gateway above covered present and future. Here the first four lines restate the present and the latter three restate the future. Both present and future above had higher- and lower-grade teachers.

Here, first, the one line from “if there is one who can” onward restates the lower grade: the first half presents the Dharma teacher, and the half-line from “know that from the Buddha” onward presents the meritorious result. The three lines from “all who can receive and uphold” onward restate the present higher-grade teacher: the first half-line presents the higher-grade teacher’s characteristics; from “relinquishing a pure land” onward begins the second part, two and a half lines restating the meritorious result.

The three lines from “after my extinction” onward restate the future. The first two lines reverse the sequence to restate the higher grade introduced by comparison, in two parts: the first half-line from “after my extinction” onward restates the Dharma teacher—the prose lacked the meritorious result, but the verse now includes it; second, the one and a half lines from “one should join one’s palms” onward explain the meritorious result. The one line from “if one can, in a later age” onward is the second division and returns to restate the lower-grade teacher: its first half presents the person, and its second half, from “I dispatch [someone] there” onward, states the meritorious result.

The six lines from “if for the course of a kalpa” onward form the second division and generally restate the general gateway above. That gateway also had two parts: the first two lines restate the offense gained by opposition; the four lines from “there is someone who seeks the Buddha path” onward restate the merit gained by accord.

The one line from “Medicine King, I now tell you” onward forms the third division and praises the sutra’s nobility and subtlety.

XVIII. Praising the Dharma Upheld: General Statement of Five Praises

From “at that time the Buddha again addressed” onward begins the second division, which praises the Dharma upheld and the method of propagating the sutra. The Dharma upheld is that which regulates oneself; the method of propagation is that which regulates others. It has prose and verse.

The prose first praises the sutra-Dharma and then states the guiding rules.

The praise has five parts: first, praising it in relation to the Dharma, also by comparison; second, praising it in relation to people; third, in relation to place; fourth, in relation to cause; fifth, in relation to result. Because the Dharma is wondrous, the person is noble; because the person is noble, the place is honored; because the place is honored, the cause is perfect; because the cause is perfect, the result is ultimate.

XIX. Praise in Relation to the Dharma: Already, Now, and Yet to Be Taught

First comes praise of the Dharma: among what has already been taught, is now taught, and will be taught, this sutra is foremost.

One Dharma teacher explains that “already taught” is the Prajñāpāramitā and “yet to be taught” is the Great Nirvana Sutra. Before the Lotus, great and small were separated; after the Lotus, they have been brought together. This sutra is precisely the beginning of gathering the three and the first return to the one, and therefore it is called foremost. The sutra praises the Lotus as standing beyond already, now, and yet to be taught. This Dharma teacher has omitted one interval. 〔And so forth.〕

In the present explanation, “already” refers to the gradual and sudden teachings through the Larger Prajñāpāramitā and before; “now” refers to the same assembly, namely the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings; “yet to be” refers to the Great Nirvana Sutra.

The gradual and sudden sutras through the Larger Prajñāpāramitā all carried skillful means and were comparatively easy for people to trust. The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings now generates the immeasurable from the one, but the immeasurable has not yet returned to the one; this too is easy to trust. The Lotus now discusses Dharma by interfusing all distinctions and returning them to one Dharma, and discusses people by showing that the traces and origins of teachers and disciples are both long-remote. Both gateways run contrary to the past and are difficult to trust and understand. The Lotus has already spoken the difficult matter directly beneath the arrowheads; the Great Nirvana Sutra that follows is therefore easy to trust.

“Treasury of the secret essence”—what is concealed and unspoken is called secret; what gathers everything is called essential; what contains and stores true suchness and the true mark is called a treasury.

“It must not be distributed”—the Dharma is subtle and difficult to trust. It may be conferred upon those of profound wisdom, but it will only increase the offenses of the unwise, and therefore must not be spoken casually.

“From the past until now, it has never been openly taught”—the Tripiṭaka teaching does not say that the two vehicles become buddhas, nor does it clarify the origins and traces of teachers and disciples. Although the Vaipulya and Prajñāpāramitā teachings speak of the treasury of the true mark, they do not yet say that the five vehicles become buddhas, nor have they revealed the origin by opening the traces. The sudden and gradual teachings have not been integrated, and therefore it is called secret. This sutra fully articulates the Dharma secreted in the past; it opens the secret treasury and is itself the secret treasury. Such a secret treasury has never before been openly taught.

“Even while the Tathāgata is in the world, there is much resentment and jealousy”—for more than forty years it could not be declared at once. Even now, when the Buddha wishes to teach it, five thousand immediately leave the assembly. If this occurs even while the Buddha is in the world, how much more in the future! That it is difficult to transform people follows necessarily in principle.

XX. Praise in Relation to People

From “after the Tathāgata’s extinction, those who can copy and uphold it” onward begins the second division, praise in relation to people. When this Dharma abides in a person, that person is noble.

“Covered by the Tathāgata’s robe” means cultivating and learning the great patience as one’s robe; above it was called “the Tathāgata’s adornment.”

“Kept in mind and protected by the buddhas”—the true mark is Buddha, and real wisdom is the child. Honoring the true mark gives rise to real wisdom, and therefore one is kept in mind and protected by all buddhas.

The four faiths are “the power of faith,” the four universal vows are “the power of vows,” and great wisdom is “the power of wholesome roots.” Faith means trusting principle, and principle is the dharma-body; vows establish practice, and practice is liberation; wholesome roots have a foundation so firm that it is difficult to move, and this is prajñā.

Know that these three powers are the secret treasury of the three virtues. A beginner who abides here is no different from the Buddha, and therefore it is called “lodging together with the Tathāgata.”

Further, through the power of faith one cultivates the Tathāgata’s wisdom of ultimate emptiness. The Tathāgata takes ultimate emptiness as his dwelling; because this person also learns ultimate emptiness through the power of faith, one lodges together with the Tathāgata.

“The hand strokes the head”—through the powers of vows and wholesome roots, this person’s own provisional and real wisdom functions as the responsive capacity, which is called the head. The Tathāgata’s provisional and real wisdom for transforming others is called the hand; it opens and develops the preceding person’s head of provisional and real wisdom in personal practice. Because stimulus and response intersect, the text speaks of stroking the head; stroking the head is the bestowal of a prediction.

XXI. Praise in Relation to Place

From “wherever, in every place” onward begins the third division, praise in relation to place. Wherever this Dharma is found, that place is honored.

Stūpas should be raised at the Buddha’s birthplace, place of awakening, place of turning the Dharma wheel, place of entry into nirvāṇa, and every other place visited by the Dharma King. This sutra is the birthplace of the dharma-body, the site of the path where awakening occurs, the true substance of the Dharma wheel, and the cavern-dwelling of great nirvāṇa. Wherever this sutra is found, a stūpa must be raised and offerings made.

“No relics need be placed there”—the Explanatory Treatise says, “Fragments of bone are relics of the physical body; sutra scrolls are relics of the dharma-body.” This sutra is a relic of the dharma-body, so relics of the physical body need not also be deposited. Both the physical body and the dharma-body have whole-body and fragmented forms; these can be understood. 〔And so forth.〕

XXII. Praise in Relation to Cause

From “if one leaves home” onward begins the fourth division, praise by raising the cause.

“If one has not skillfully practiced the bodhisattva path”—receiving the first three teachings is a dispersed relic of the dharma-body and does not yet constitute skillful deliverance. Entering the Perfect Teaching is the whole-body relic, and that is skillful deliverance; skillful deliverance is skillful practice.

XXIII. Praise in Relation to Result: Proximity to the Result

From “those sentient beings” onward begins the fifth division, praise by raising the result. The text has five parts: first, explaining proximity to the result; second, opening the parable; third, correlating the parable; fourth, explaining proximity—not introducing a separate fourfold interpretation; fifth, distinguishing what is not so.

The opening now explains proximity to the result. “Know that they will certainly draw near the fruit of complete awakening”—in “Peaceful Practices” this is called “the place of proximity.” The substance of this fruit of bodhi is the locus of the Buddha’s eye and the Buddha’s wisdom and knowledge. It therefore has two forms: the bodhi of the beginner’s mind and the bodhi of the final mind. Here “near” means specifically near to the bodhi of the first abode.

Further, one who cultivates the perfect cause while looking toward the perfect fruit and gains a semblance of understanding is called near. In the earlier praise in relation to cause, cultivating the causes of the Shared and Separate Teachings was called unskillful and far from the perfect fruit; cultivating the perfect cause is skillful practice and near to the perfect fruit.

Now perfect wisdom in accord with reality serves as both cause and result: true suchness before the path is the direct cause; true suchness within the path is the conditioning cause and is also called the revealing cause; true suchness after the path is the perfect fruit.

Therefore the Contemplation of Samantabhadra says: “The cause of the Great Vehicle is precisely the true mark, and the fruit of the Great Vehicle is also the true mark.” The Explanatory Treatise says: “The initial contemplation of the true mark is called the cause; the completion of contemplation is called the result.”

At the level of principle, true suchness and the true mark cannot be assigned cause or result and have no before or after. In relation to the practice of sentient beings, however, there are before and after, as well as cause and result.

XXIV. Opening the Parable: Digging a Well

From “it is like a person” onward begins the second division, opening the parable. It has two explanations: one through the gateway of contemplation and one through the gateway of teaching.

Gateway of contemplation: A sentient being’s mind, fully endowed with many afflictions, is called the “high plain”; cultivating contemplative wisdom is called “digging”; and first realizing the flavor of principle is like obtaining clear water.

In the contemplation of the Shared Teaching, the ground of dry wisdom is like “dry soil,” the ground of the nature is “moist soil and mud,” and seeing the truths is obtaining clear water.

In the contemplation of the Separate Teaching, entering emptiness from the provisional sees only emptiness and not nonemptiness. Cutting off the afflictions of the four abidings is like digging dry soil and remaining far from water. Emerging from emptiness into the provisional, one first knew that things were not provisional and now knows that they are not empty. Through these two contemplations one can enter the middle way, subdue ignorance, and in turn see moist soil, thereby drawing near the water.

In the contemplation of the Perfect Teaching, the middle way is neither empty nor provisional, yet illuminates emptiness and the provisional; this is like gradually reaching moist mud. The four abiding delusions have been exhausted and ignorance subdued. One has already gained a semblance of perfect understanding of the middle way, so the text speaks of mud. If one enters the first abode and gives rise to a genuine understanding of the middle way, one breaks through ignorance as mud settles clear and sees the middle way as one sees clear water. The Treatise on the Lotus Sutra says, “the water of buddha-nature”; know the sequence within it.

Gateway of teaching: Soil represents scriptural teaching, while water represents the middle way; a teaching explains the middle way as soil contains water. The Tripiṭaka Teaching does not explain the middle way and is like dry soil. The Vaipulya and Prajñāpāramitā teachings explain the meaning of the middle way while carrying skillful means and are like moist soil. The teaching of the Lotus directly and openly reveals the unsurpassed path and is like seeing mud. Through hearing, reflecting, and cultivating in response to the Lotus teaching, one awakens to the middle way and truly sees buddha-nature. The genuine wisdom that arises no longer depends upon written words, like obtaining clear water in which the appearance of soil is no more. Therefore the Avataṃsaka Sutra says: “The wisdom-body possessed by bodhisattvas of the ten abodes is not awakened through another.”

XXV. Five Schools’ Divergent Explanations and the Root Treatise’s Judgment

Someone says: the initial teaching is like the dry soil of a high plain; the Larger Prajñāpāramitā is like moist soil; the Lotus is like mud; buddhahood is like water.

Someone says: the Vimalakīrti Sutra and Sutra of the Questions of Brahmā are like dry soil; the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings is like moist soil; the Lotus is like mud; buddhahood is like water.

Someone says: the Larger Prajñāpāramitā is like dry soil; the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings is like moist soil; the Lotus is like mud; buddhahood is like water.

These three schools all follow the theory of the Five Periods.

Master Sheng says: “Receiving and upholding the Lotus while seeking the Buddha path is desire like thirst. The three vehicles find the One Vehicle difficult to trust, and seeking understanding of the Lotus is like being upon a high plain. Receiving, upholding, reading, and reciting are digging. Failing to understand in accordance with what one has heard is not yet hearing and is like dry soil; being able to understand is reaching mud.” The annotator agrees with him.

Someone says that one explanation places one far from the Buddha, while the other places one near the Buddha. The first three Dharma teachers explain the various teachings as far from the Buddha and the Lotus as near the Buddha; the latter two explanations discuss distance and proximity only within the Lotus.

Examining the sutra’s meaning, there should be two senses: first, comparing the other sutras with the Lotus to clarify distance and proximity; second, discussing distance and proximity within the Lotus itself. These Dharma teachers have missed the sutra’s purport.

XXVI. Two Questions and Answers

Question: Why are the other sutras far from the Buddha?

Answer: Because they have not opened the provisional, those seeking buddhahood remain uncertain. The Lotus declares only one and no three and forever leaves behind the mind of retreat; therefore it is near the Buddha. The sutra says: “It definitively resolves the śrāvaka teaching.”

Question: How can the Prajñāpāramitā be far from the Buddha?

Answer: The aspect in which it has not opened the provisional is far. A beginning bodhisattva does not recognize how the Prajñāpāramitā secretly transforms and entrusts the family estate; for that person, therefore, it is far.

The real and skillful wisdoms of the Prajñāpāramitā are the parents of the dharma-bodies of the buddhas of the three times. A person seeking buddhahood is like an old and sick person supported by two strong people, who can thereby travel far. Know that the Prajñāpāramitā is supremely excellent. The Lotus opening the provisional is no different from the Prajñāpāramitā revealing the real; there is no separate Lotus outside the Prajñāpāramitā. Lotus and Prajñāpāramitā are merely different names.

Because these are the divergent explanations of various Dharma teachers, they have simply been recorded.

XXVII. Correlating the Parable

Next, from “bodhisattvas are also like this” onward begins the third division, correlating the parable. Gaining the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation within the Lotus constitutes the three wisdoms of perfect contemplation and alone enables one to draw near the result—not hearing, reflection, and cultivation within such teachings as dry or moist soil.

XXVIII. Explaining the Meaning of Proximity and Three Schools on Opening the Gateway of Skillful Means

From “why is this?” onward begins the fourth division, explaining the meaning of proximity. “all bodhisattvas” clarifies the many provisional causes; “complete awakening” clarifies every provisional result. Provisional causes and results all belong to this sutra, just as dry and moist soils depend upon water, and therefore are said to belong to it.

“Opening the gateway of skillful means and revealing the true mark”—

Guangzhai says: “In the past, the capacities at the Deer Park were mixed. The Tripiṭaka was taught extensively, but the one principle was not clarified. At that time the provisional concealed the real, and the one principle was closed off by the provisional teaching. Now, in the royal city, the Buddha responds to great capacities and reveals the real. Once the real is revealed, the former teaching is abolished; because the former teaching is abolished, the gateway of skillful means is opened. Once the one principle is manifest, the true mark is revealed.” My private judgment is that this explanation breaks skillful means rather than opening skillful means.

Daolang of Hexi says: “Directly naming the three as skillful means is opening the gateway of skillful means. In the past it was not said that the three were skillful means, so the gateway of skillful means was closed. Now naming the three as skillful means is revealing the one as real.” My private judgment is that this explanation accords with the sutra text.

Someone explains that the two skillful means of teaching and body are opened, while the two realities of teaching and body are revealed. The buddhas of the three times possess only the provisional and real of form and voice; when these are opened and revealed, the twelve divisions and the eighty thousand treasuries shine clearly. My private judgment is that the first two Dharma teachers speak of opening and revealing in relation to teaching, while this latter person adds the body. Is this stealing the meaning of Nāgārjuna and Sengyin and making it one’s own explanation? It remains the sense of breaking skillful means rather than opening them.

XXIX. Three Questions and Answers

Question: Is skillful means itself immediately a gateway, or is it called a gateway because it leads to the true mark?

My private answer: it has both meanings. “Serving as a gateway to the true mark” can be understood. “Its own substance is itself a gateway” is like seeking spiritual friends in the Avataṃsaka Sutra and attaining various Dharma gateways—counting sands, contemplating the ocean, and so forth.

Each of these two gateways has opening and closing. In the past the three were not said to be skillful means, and thus that gateway was covered and closed; now the three are said to be skillful means, and thus that gateway is opened. In the past the one was not said to be real, and the gateway of the real was covered and closed; now the one is said to be real, and thus the gateway of the real is opened.

Second, this skillful means also leads to the true mark; therefore the skillful means of the three vehicles are the gateway to the One Vehicle.

The true mark also has two meanings. First, because its own substance is empty and open, it is called a gateway, as in the Dharma gateway of nonduality in the Vimalakīrti Sutra and the Dharma-realm gateway in the Avataṃsaka Sutra. Second, it can lead to skillful means and thereby serve as a gateway. Liu Qiu says: “The function of penetrating the myriad things proceeds from the one, so the one is the gateway of skillful means. The efficacy of drawing beings forth depends greatly upon the three, so the three are the mark of reality. Saying that there are not three opens the gateway of skillful means; saying that there is only one reveals the true mark.”

Someone says that the complete discussion has three meanings: first, the three are skillful means and the one is real; second, both three and one are skillful means, while neither three nor one is real; third, three and one are dual, neither three nor one is nondual, both duality and nonduality are provisional, while neither dual nor nondual is real. All three formulations can serve as gateways. Thus the three serve as gateway to the one, with the provisional leading to the real; the one can serve as gateway to the three, with the real giving rise to the provisional; and so on with duality and nonduality. Each can mutually serve as a gateway and mutually serve as a mark, but they cannot mutually serve as provisional and real.

My private judgment is this: according to the claim that the three are the gateway to the one, do the three vehicles lead to the true mark? If they do not, they are not a gateway; the three must be opened before they can become a gateway. Once the three have been opened, they are no longer three, so how can the three be a gateway to the true mark? Further, the three are not the Buddha-cause, so how could they be the gateway to the true mark? Once this meaning is refuted, the other two may be inferred by analogy. 〔And so forth.〕

Question: If skillful means and the true mark can mutually serve as gateways, can skillful means also serve as the gateway to skillful means and the true mark as the gateway to the true mark?

This yields four cases, two of which are as above. Third, the true mark serves as the gateway to the true mark; fourth, skillful means serves as the gateway to skillful means. It is like a name serving as the gateway to a meaning and a meaning serving as the gateway to a name: because the name “skillful means” discloses the meaning of skillful means, the name is the gateway to the meaning; because the meaning of skillful means corresponds to the name “skillful means,” the meaning is the gateway to the name. The same applies to the true mark. The “Preface to the Middle Treatise” says: “Reality cannot be awakened to without a name, and so the word ‘middle’ is provisionally entrusted to proclaim it.” This is precisely the matter.

Question: Can one use the three to reveal the three and the one to reveal the one?

This too yields four cases, two of which are as above. Using the three to reveal the three means this: the three of the past are different from the one of today, and those three stand outside the one; the one of today is different from the three of the past, and that one stands outside the three. Thus the one is not the one belonging to the school of three, and the three are not the three belonging to the school of one; both are attached views.

To break this illness, three are separately taught within the One Buddha Vehicle, and therefore the three are the three belonging to the school of one. “What you practice is the bodhisattva path,” and therefore the one is the one belonging to the school of three. Since three and one are not different, this is the meaning of causes and conditions. The circumstantially arisen three and one reveal the three and one posited as self-existent; the self-existent three and one also reveal the circumstantially arisen three and one. Therefore it is said that the three reveal the one and the one reveals the three.

XXX. Fifteen Passages Explaining “Gateway”

Someone cites fifteen passages to explain “gateway”: two in “Skillful Means,” six in “Parables,” three in “Faith and Understanding,” two in “The Conjured City,” one in “The Dharma Teacher,” and one in “Avalokiteśvara.”

The two passages in “Skillful Means” are these. First is the gateway of wisdom: provisional wisdom is the gateway to real wisdom. Master Sheng says: “Verbal teaching is the gateway. Verbal teaching explains real wisdom, and therefore verbal teaching is the gateway to real wisdom.” The Treatise on the Lotus Sutra says the same. Next, the sutra speaks of proclaiming the Buddha path through various Dharma gateways; this takes the Great Vehicle teaching as gateway.

The six passages in “Parables” are these. First, “the house was vast and had only one gateway” again takes the Great Vehicle teaching as gateway. Second, “the gateway that burned” takes the bounded domain of the three realms as gateway, just as the house itself is called the gateway. Third, “there was only one gateway, and it was narrow and small” again takes the Great Vehicle teaching as gateway. Fourth, “the three carts were outside the gateway” again takes the three realms as gateway. Fifth, “through the gateway of the Buddha’s teaching they leave the sufferings of the three realms” takes the Lesser Vehicle teaching as gateway. Sixth, “standing outside the gateway” relies upon the Great Vehicle and takes the bounded domain of the two deaths as gateway. Lesser Vehicle practitioners too have left every affliction, have exhausted both active afflictions and their habituations, and are therefore said to stand outside the gateway.

The three passages in “Faith and Understanding” are these: “standing beside the gateway” takes the Great Vehicle principle and teaching as gateway; second, “still outside the gateway” is as above; third, “within the elder’s gateway” is likewise as above.

The two passages in “The Conjured City” are these: “please open the gateway of ambrosia” again concerns the gateways of the great and small teachings; “layered gateways and lofty towers” takes the Lesser Vehicle’s three gateways of emptiness.

The gateway in “Skillful Means” is as explained above. The passage in “Avalokiteśvara” likewise takes the great teaching as gateway.

XXXI. The Present Explanation of “Opening the Gateway of Skillful Means”

The present explanation of “opening the gateway of skillful means” is this: everything not taught in the past is now taught.

In the past it was taught that every worldly livelihood and productive enterprise—how could these ever have been skillful means? Now all are opened, precisely as the true mark and without contradiction.

In the past, Lesser Vehicle skillful means and the Lesser Vehicle result were taught. Even the Lesser Vehicle result was not a gateway to the true mark, so how could the Lesser Vehicle’s skillful means be a gateway? Now all are opened as the true mark: “What you practice is the bodhisattva path”; “it definitively resolves the śrāvaka teaching”; and “it is king among the sutras.”

In the past the two were taught as the gateway of skillful means. Now they are all opened as the true mark—how could they still be a gateway? “Causing all sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha’s knowledge and vision”—not one color or fragrance is anything other than Buddha-Dharma. Whether gateway or not gateway, all are opened to reveal the true mark and disclose the water of buddha-nature. If not opened, it remains deep, firm, obscure, and remote, reached by no one. Now that it is opened, the water can be seen and dry soil is no more.

There is also an explanation through the three wisdoms. Everything belonging to this sutra is the Perfect Teaching’s wisdom of hearing; this sutra opening skillful means is the Perfect Teaching’s wisdom of reflection; revealing the true mark is the Perfect Teaching’s wisdom of cultivation. These three were obscure and remote; the Buddha now opens and reveals them, and the real can therefore be seen.

XXXII. Distinguishing What Is Not So

From “Medicine King, if a bodhisattva hears” onward begins the fifth division, distinguishing what is not so. If a bodhisattva hears this teaching and becomes startled or doubtful, or if a śrāvaka gives rise to overweening pride, all are dry soil—not even moist soil, much less seeing water.

XXXIII. The Method of Propagating the Sutra: The Three Guides Contain the Three Virtues

From “if a good man or good woman, after the Tathāgata’s extinction” onward begins the second division, a concise revelation of the method for propagating the sutra. It is further divided into two: first, revealing the method; second, explaining the benefits.

The method has three parts: first, marking the chapter gateways; second, explaining them; third, exhorting cultivation.

Cultivating the Tathāgata’s room is great loving-kindness and compassion. In relation to identity of substance, it is the dharma-body; in relation to the sentient beings it covers, it is liberation; in causing sentient beings to return to identity of substance, it is prajñā.

Cultivating the Tathāgata’s robe: in relation to what is covered, it is the dharma-body; in relation to what can cover and adorn the body, it is the patience of quiescent cessation; in relation to harmonizing one’s light and benefiting beings, it is liberation.

In relation to what can sit, it is prajñā; in relation to what is sat upon, it is the dharma-body; in the dark union and correspondence of body and seat, it is liberation.

Further, the peace and joy of great loving-kindness are supportive accomplishment; gentleness subduing anger and cutting through delusion is contemplation and illumination; sitting upon the seat is the dharma-body.

“Peaceful Practices” will again explain these three dharmas at length. Above, “the Tathāgata’s adornment” is the robe; the earlier “borne upon the Tathāgata’s shoulder” is this seat; “carrying” is bearing and transporting and constitutes entering the room.

XXXIV. Five Benefits

From “I, in other lands” onward begins the second division, raising five benefits to encourage circulation: first, dispatching conjured people; second, dispatching conjured members of the four assemblies; third, dispatching the eight kinds of beings; fourth, enabling one to see the Buddha’s body; fifth, conferring retention.

If a beginner’s mind is not yet mature, only conjured people may be dispatched; conjured members of the four assemblies and the eight kinds of beings may not yet be dispatched. If one saw gods and nāgas and relied upon that to become arrogant, it would obstruct and damage one’s practice of the path, and therefore one may not be allowed to see them. If there is no reliance or attachment within the mind, one is fit to see the Buddha—how much more gods and nāgas? How much more to gain retention and personally realize benefit?

XXXV. Eighteen and a Half Lines of Verse

The verse has eighteen and a half lines, divided into three parts: the first line is a general exhortation and does not restate the prose; the next sixteen and a half lines restate the prose above; the final line concludes with an exhortation.

The text praising the result above had five sections. Here the first one and a half lines restate the opening of the parable. Next, “Medicine King, you should know” begins the second part: two and a half lines restating the correlation of the parable. The other three sections—proximity to the result, explanation of proximity, and distinguishing what is not so—are omitted and not restated.

The guiding rules for transmitting the sutra above had two parts: the rules and the benefits. Here twelve and a half lines restate them. The first three and a half lines restate the rules, which had three parts above and are restated here with the same three meanings.

From “my countless millions” onward, the next nine lines restate the benefits. The first line generally explains why the Tathāgata confers benefit through five matters: precisely because his responsive bodies fill the ten directions, he can perform the five matters and guard practitioners. The one and a half lines from “if, after my extinction” onward restate the second benefit, dispatching the four assemblies. The one and a half lines from “guide” onward restate the first, dispatching conjured people. The two lines from “if a person who teaches the Dharma” onward restate the fifth, enabling one to gain retention. The one line from “if a person possesses this virtue” onward restates the fourth, enabling one to see the Buddha. The two lines from “if a person is in a solitary place” onward restate the third, dispatching the eight kinds of beings. 〔And so forth.〕

[Fahua Wenju, Fascicle Eight, First Part]

[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.

I. Explaining the Chapter Title

〔A transmitted annotation appears beneath the chapter title:〕 When he was born, the hearts of humans and devas burned, and the name was therefore established—this interprets the name through causes and conditions. His conduct at the causal stage was contrary, yet in principle it was accordant; this is the meaning of the Perfect Teaching, not that of the other three teachings. His original ground is cool and quiescent, while in his trace he manifests Heavenly Heat, merely sharing the illness of sentient beings.

II. The Scripture Catalogue of Baochang: Four Translations of the Lotus and the Appearance and Disappearance of This Chapter

The Scripture Catalogue of Baochang records: “The Lotus had four translations, two surviving and two lost. Dharmarakṣa, rendered in Chinese as Dharma Protector, translated one at Chang’an during the Western Jin under the title True Dharma Lotus. Dharmarakṣa also expounded and lectured upon it; this was the version transmitted by Dao’an and Zhu Fatai.

“Kumārajīva, rendered here as Youthful Longevity, was a native of Kucha. On the twenty-third day of the fourth month in the fifth year of Hongshi under the Later Qin, he completed the translation of the Larger Prajñāpāramitā at Xiaoyao Garden in Chang’an. In the summer of the eighth year of Hongshi, he translated this Wondrous Dharma Lotus Sutra at Caotang Monastery and instructed Sengrui to open its exposition. Sengrui opened it into nine tracks. At that time it comprised twenty-eight chapters, but palace women in Chang’an requested this chapter and kept it within the palace, so only twenty-seven chapters were transmitted to Jiangdong.

“In the Liang there was Dharma Master Man, who lectured on this sutra one hundred times and burned his body as an offering in Changsha Commandery. He placed this chapter before ‘Exhortation to Uphold the Sutra,’ but this was his own private placement and was not known throughout the realm. In the Chen there was Chan Master Nanyue, who placed this chapter after ‘Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa.’ When he later checked it against the True Dharma Lotus, it corresponded very closely.

“Now that the four great rivers of the realm have mingled and flowed together, the old Chang’an text has been seen, and we know that these two masters deeply grasped the sutra’s purport.”

III. Devadatta’s Story: Dadu, Heavenly Heat, and the Five Heinous Transgressions

Devadatta is also called Dadu, rendered here as Heavenly Heat.

He split the harmonious Saṅgha and led away five hundred bhikṣus, which distressed Śāriputra. When Devadatta was sound asleep, Maudgalyāyana lifted those people and brought them back. Upon waking, Devadatta vowed to avenge the grievance. He raised a boulder thirty cubits long and fifteen cubits wide and hurled it at the Buddha. A mountain spirit caught it with his hand, but a small fragment flew off and wounded the Buddha’s foot until it bled. Devadatta then incited King Ajātaśatru to release a drunken elephant to trample the Buddha; beat the Bhikṣuṇī Utpalavarṇā to death with his fist; and placed poison beneath all ten fingernails, intending to harm the Buddha while bowing at his feet. These are the five heinous transgressions.

If counted as three heinous transgressions, inciting the king and the poisoned nails are both included under harming the Buddha.

Because the conduct he was to perform was contrary, the hearts of humans and devas burned at his birth. He took his name from this and was called Heavenly Heat—this is the Trace. Interpreted in terms of his original ground, sentient beings possess afflictions, so the bodhisattva manifests burning heat, shares their illness in his practice, and thereby delivers them.

IV. The Purpose and Division of This Chapter

The purpose of this chapter is to cite ancient propagators of the sutra and verify that transmission of its benefit is not false; to show through present evidence that today’s proclamation and transformation are not false; and to raise the past to exhort the present and cause this sutra to circulate.

The text has two divisions. The first, extending through “born before a buddha through transformation from a lotus,” explains that Devadatta transmitted the sutra in the past and Śākyamuni thereby attained the path. The second, beginning with “at that time, the bodhisattva who accompanied Many Jewels from below,” explains that Mañjuśrī transmits the sutra today and the dragon girl thereby becomes a buddha. If even those who receive the teaching are like this, how much greater must be the meritorious benefit of proclaiming and circulating it! Devadatta therefore receives a prediction; the import of Mañjuśrī’s work may be understood from this [and so forth].

V. Devadatta Transmits the Sutra in the Past: (1) How Master and Disciple Upheld the Sutra

The first division has three sections: first, explaining how master and disciple upheld the sutra in the past; second, identifying past and present; and third, exhorting faith.

The first section has prose and verse. The prose has four items: first, explaining the time when the Dharma was sought; second, from “throughout many kalpas” onward, formally explaining the search for the Dharma; third, from “at that time there was an immortal” onward, explaining how the teacher who proclaimed the Dharma was found; and fourth, from “the king heard” the immortal’s words onward, explaining reception of the Dharma and practice in accord with it.

The first item is as stated in the scripture. From “throughout many kalpas” onward is the second item, which has two parts: first, explaining the generation of the vow; and second, from “wishing to fulfill” onward, explaining practice. Practice again has two parts: first, diligently giving in the wish to fulfill dāna, as stated in the scripture; and second, from “the people of that time” onward, seeking the wondrous Dharma in order to fulfill prajñā.

The verse contains seven and a half lines and restates the prose above. The initial two lines restate the first item, the time when the Dharma was sought. Next, from “although acting as” onward, one and a half lines restate the second item, formally seeking the Dharma. Next, from “at that time there was an immortal” onward, one and a half lines restate the third item, finding the teacher who proclaimed the Dharma. From “at that time the king heard the immortal’s words” onward, two and a half lines restate reception of the Dharma and practice in accord with it. From “afterward he still did not do it for himself” onward, one and a half lines conclude, verify, and exhort faith.

VI. Devadatta Transmits the Sutra in the Past: (2) Identifying Past and Present

From “he told the bhikṣus: the king” onward is the second section, identifying past and present. It has two parts: first, formally identifying past and present, as stated in the scripture; and second, from “because of Devadatta” onward, explaining that the meritorious recompenses of master and disciple were both complete.

The completion of meritorious recompense has two parts: first, explaining that the disciple’s causal practices and fruition were complete; and second, from “the Buddha told the four assemblies” onward, explaining that the wondrous fruit of the Dharma master would be accomplished.

The passage on the disciple has three parts: first, explaining completion of causal practice; second, from “the thirty-two marks” onward, explaining completion of the virtues of the fruit; and finally, from “all because of Devadatta” onward, concluding and verifying the benefit obtained through the person who transmitted the sutra.

VII. First Characteristics of the Six Perfections: The Tripiṭaka Teaching

First, consider the phrase “fully possessing the six perfections”. The meanings of “perfection” are many, as explained in the Great Treatise: relinquishing dependent and primary recompenses is called dāna; preventing the seven bodily and verbal transgressions is called precepts; not retaliating when struck or reviled is called patience; completing a task from beginning to end is called diligence; the four dhyānas and eight concentrations are called meditation; and distinguishing domains and settling disputes is called prajñā.

Further, if the ten wholesome actions are gathered into the six perfections: not killing through not speaking falsely is dāna; not engaging in divisive speech is śīla; not speaking harshly is patience; not speaking frivolously is diligence; not being greedy or angry is meditation; and not holding wrong views is prajñā.

Fascicle Ten of the Bodhisattva’s Wholesome Precepts says: “The six perfections are of three kinds. First is counteraction: counteracting stinginess, evil conduct, anger, indolence, distraction, and delusion [and so forth]. Second is successive generation: after relinquishing household affairs one keeps precepts; when insulted one must be patient; after patience one is diligent; after diligence one regulates the five faculties; when the faculties are regulated one knows the Dharma realm. Third is recompense: wealth, complete faculties, handsome appearance, strength, longevity, security, and eloquence.”

Other scriptures also say that the recompense of giving is wealth; that of precepts, a wholesome mode of existence; that of patience, handsome appearance; that of diligence, supernormal powers; that of meditation, heavenly birth; and that of wisdom, destruction of afflictions.

Examples such as these are all the characteristics of the six perfections clarified by the Tripiṭaka Teaching.

VIII. Second Characteristics of the Six Perfections: The Shared Teaching

If one says that the giver, receiver, and gift are all empty, this is called dāna; not seeing observance or violation is called precepts; the one who endures and what is endured are unobtainable, which is called patience; body and mind do not move, which is called diligence; one is neither distracted nor attached to the flavor, which is called meditation; and one is neither wise nor foolish, which is called prajñā—examples of this kind are the characteristics of the six perfections in the Shared Teaching.

IX. Third Characteristics of the Six Perfections: The Distinct Teaching

Dāna has ten benefits: subduing the affliction of stinginess; uninterrupted continuity of the mind of relinquishment; sharing possessions with sentient beings; birth into a wealthy household; the mind of giving becoming present in life after life; being loved by the four assemblies; feeling no timidity or fear amid a great assembly; widespread good reputation; soft hands and feet; and, until reaching the site of awakening, constantly encountering good spiritual friends.

Precepts have ten benefits: fulfilling omniscience as studied by the Buddha; not being disparaged by the wise; not retreating from one’s vow; abiding securely in practice; relinquishing birth and death and aspiring to nirvāṇa; attaining a mind free of bonds; attaining excellent samādhi; and not lacking the riches of faith.

Patience has ten benefits: fire, blades, poison, and water cannot harm one; nonhuman beings protect one; the bodily marks are majestic; evil modes of existence are closed and one is born in the Brahmā heaven; one is constantly secure by day and night; and the body does not depart from joy and ease.

Diligence has ten benefits: others cannot subdue one; one is gathered in by buddhas; nonhuman beings protect one; Dharma once heard is not forgotten; what one has never heard can be heard; eloquence grows; one attains the nature of samādhi; one has few illnesses and troubles; whatever food or drink one takes is digested; and one grows like an utpala flower.

Meditation has ten benefits: abiding in proper comportment and forms; practicing within the domain of loving-kindness; having no regret or burning agitation; guarding the faculties; obtaining a joy that does not depend upon food; separating from sensual desire; not cultivating meditation in vain; escaping Māra’s net; abiding in the Buddha’s domain; and maturing liberation.

Prajñā has ten benefits: not grasping the mark of giving; not relying upon precepts; not abiding in the power of patience; not separating bodily and mental diligence; meditation abiding nowhere while Māra cannot disturb it; not being moved by the arguments of others; penetrating to the bottom of birth and death and generating superior compassion; and taking no delight in the grounds of the two vehicles.

Giving should be cultivated for four matters: first, a practitioner cultivates the path to destroy stinginess and greed; second, to adorn bodhi; third, for benefit of self and others—rejoicing before giving, while giving, and after giving is benefit of self, while relieving the hunger and thirst of the hungry and thirsty is benefit of others; and fourth, to obtain the great wholesome fruit of a later life, gaining great honor and abundant wealth.

Precepts should be kept for four matters: cultivating wholesome dharmas oneself and extinguishing evil dharmas; adorning bodhi and gathering in sentient beings through precepts; resting and waking securely, having no regret, and bearing no harmful intention toward beings; and in a later life receiving the joy of humans and devas and the joy of nirvāṇa.

Patience should be cultivated for four matters: cultivating patience to eliminate impatience; adorning bodhi and gathering in sentient beings; removing mutual fear; and in a later life being free of anger, maintaining an unbroken retinue, undergoing no suffering or distress, and attaining the joy of humans and devas and the joy of nirvāṇa.

Diligence should be cultivated for four matters: destroying indolence through diligence; adorning bodhi and gathering in sentient beings; increasing wholesome dharmas as benefit of self and not troubling or harming others as benefit of others; and later obtaining great power and reaching bodhi.

Meditative concentration should be cultivated for four matters: destroying the distracted mind through concentration; adorning bodhi and gathering in sentient beings; quiescence of body and mind as benefit of self and not troubling or harming sentient beings as benefit of others; and later receiving a pure body and securely attaining nirvāṇa.

Prajñā should be cultivated for four matters: destroying ignorance through wisdom; adorning bodhi and gathering in sentient beings; the delight of wisdom as benefit of self and the capacity to teach and transform sentient beings as benefit of others; and destroying the obstruction of afflictions and the obstruction to knowledge, which is the great fruit.

Examples of this kind are the characteristics of the six perfections clarified by the Distinct Teaching.

X. Fourth Characteristics of the Six Perfections: The Perfect Teaching

Fascicle One of the Moon Treasury says: “If a sentient being seeks bodhi merely by relying on recitation, that person is attached to the conventional. Unable even to subdue their own afflictions, how could they subdue others? Such a person is attached to jealousy, reputation, gain, wealth, and rank; is haughty and self-righteous; and disparages and slanders others. They cannot obtain even the wholesome roots of the desire realm, much less those of the form and formless realms, the bodhi of the two vehicles, or unsurpassed bodhi.

“It is like a spark unable to dry the great sea, a single breath unable to move a mountain, or a lotus filament unable to weigh a peak. Why? A conventional mind cannot fulfill bodhi.

“What is ultimate meaning? It is performing every meritorious deed. If one can cultivate body, mind, and wisdom and cultivate through the perfuming of ultimate meaning, one swiftly fulfills the six perfections. Whether walking or sitting, relinquishing the thought of grasping conditions is dāna; relinquishing such grasping and not transgressing is śīla; not producing sores in relation to objects is kṣānti; not abandoning emancipation is diligence; not being negligent amid phenomenal characteristics is meditation; and seeing nonarising within the nature of dharmas is prajñā.

“Next, being able to relinquish the five aggregates is dāna; not calculating, attaching to, or recollecting the five aggregates is śīla; forming the perception of not-self regarding them is kṣānti; producing the perception that they are enemies is diligence; not blazing in relation to them is meditation; and abandoning them ultimately is prajñā.

“Being able to relinquish the eighteen elements is dāna; not disturbing or muddling the elements is śīla; relinquishing causes and conditions in relation to them is kṣānti; repeatedly relinquishing them is diligence; not generating movement in relation to them is meditation; and perceiving them as conjurations is prajñā.

“These are called the skillful means and profound Dharma essentials of the truth of ultimate meaning, which can fulfill the six perfections.”

Practicing this Dharma oneself and teaching it to others, bodhisattvas of the three times all cultivate this Dharma and accomplish bodhi; therefore it is not conventional. This Dharma can stop sentient beings’ paths of affliction and suffering and establish them upon the path of bodhi.

Only at the seventh ground does the Avataṃsaka explain that every thought possesses the ten perfections and cultivates all Buddhadharmas: giving the wholesome roots with which one seeks the Buddha-path to all sentient beings is dāna; extinguishing the heat of all afflictions is śīla; harming no sentient being is patience; seeking goodness without satisfaction is diligence; keeping the mind of cultivation undistracted and constantly directed toward omniscience is meditation; patiently accepting the gateway of the nonarising of dharmas is prajñā; generating immeasurable gateways of wisdom is skillful means; seeking ever more excellent wisdom is vow; being unobstructed by Māras and outsiders is power; and speaking the characteristics of all dharmas as they really are is knowledge. Because these ten perfections are complete, the four methods of gathering beings, the thirty-seven factors of the path, the three gateways of liberation, and every Dharma assisting bodhi are all complete in every thought. All the grounds possess them in every thought; the seventh ground is simply particularly excellent.

Examples such as these are the characteristics of the six perfections in the Perfect Teaching.

XI. Perfection of the Fruit: The Thirty-Two Marks

Next, from “the thirty-two marks” onward, the text explains perfection of the virtues of the fruit.

The “thirty-two marks” are as follows. The soles being full and flat like the bottom of a box and the insteps arched like a tortoise’s back are two marks cultivated through the single cause of steadfast giving. The thousand-spoked wheels are cultivated through comforting those who are afraid. Long heels, long fingers and toes, and a straight and rounded body are three marks cultivated through the single cause of the precept against killing. Fullness in seven places and fullness of the shoulders, neck, arms, and feet are cultivated through constantly acting as a donor. Webbing between the fingers and toes and softness of the hands and feet are two marks cultivated through the four methods of gathering beings. Straight heels, unprotruding ankles, and body hair curling to the right are three marks cultivated through constantly benefiting sentient beings with wholesome dharmas. Calves like those of an antelope are cultivated through teaching scriptures without stinginess. Skin that does not retain dust is cultivated through answering whenever asked. Golden skin is cultivated through patience and giving fine clothing. The sheathed male organ is cultivated through reconciling disputes. A full and rounded Brahmā-like body and hands that reach the knees are cultivated through teaching impartially with loving-kindness. Rounded shoulders, a circular radiance behind the neck, and a lion-like chest are three marks cultivated through constantly causing giving to increase. The svastika is cultivated through not troubling sentient beings. Dark-blue eyes and eyelashes like those of the ox king are cultivated through looking upon sentient beings without anger and with affection. The fleshy protuberance on the crown and blue hair are cultivated through placing the various virtues before others. One hair in each pore and the white curl between the brows are cultivated through not speaking falsely. Forty teeth and white, even teeth are cultivated through not speaking divisively. A broad, long tongue and Brahmā’s voice are cultivated through not speaking harshly. Lion-like cheeks are cultivated through not speaking frivolously. Four canine teeth are cultivated through abandoning wrong livelihood.

The virtues of all sentient beings equal one hair of the Buddha; the virtues of all the Buddha’s hairs equal one minor excellent characteristic; all minor characteristics equal one major mark; all major marks equal the white curl and the fleshy protuberance; and hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of the virtues of the white curl and fleshy protuberance accomplish Brahmā’s voice.

XII. The True Causes of the Thirty-Two Marks and Their Bases in the Four Teachings

Although the causes of the thirty-two marks differ individually, when their true causes are discussed, they are keeping precepts and diligence. Diligence without precepts cannot obtain even the body of a human or deva; how much less the remaining marks?

This is the basis of the marks in the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Emptiness and nonarising are their basis in the Shared Teaching; knowledge of the varieties of paths is their basis in the Distinct Teaching; and the true mark is their basis in the Perfect Teaching.

XIII. The Eighty Minor Excellent Characteristics

The “eighty minor excellent characteristics” are as follows: the surfaces and inner portions of the twenty fingers and toes; fullness in eight places; the ankles, knees, and thighs, making six excellent characteristics; the fine shoulders, elbows, and wrists, six rounded and full places; the two hipbones and groin, three places; the hips and buttocks, two places; the sheathed male organ, one place; the two upper arms, two sides of the waist, and two areas of the navel; the ribs, armpits, and breasts, six places; the abdomen, chest, back, and neck, four places; the upper and lower teeth, upper and lower lips, and palate; the two cheeks, two temples, two eyes, and two brows; the two nostrils, forehead, two cheekbones, two ears, and round head. The meanings of the four kinds of excellent characteristics may be understood by analogy with the thirty-two marks.

XIV. The Teacher’s Wondrous Fruit Will Be Accomplished

From “he told the four assemblies” onward is the second part, explaining that the teacher’s wondrous fruit will be accomplished. The passage on the teacher again has three parts. First, it explains accomplishment of the direct fruit. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra says: “Devadatta will become a buddha named Devarāja, rendered in Chinese as Heavenly King. His land will be named Devavara, rendered in Chinese as Heaven and Earth.”

From “at that time Heavenly King Buddha will abide in the world for twenty” onward is the second part, explaining teaching and deliverance. From “at that time Heavenly King Buddha entered parinirvāṇa” onward is the third, explaining benefit after his extinction.

XV. Exhorting Cultivation and Birth by Transformation from a Lotus

From “the Buddha told the bhikṣus” onward is the third section, exhorting cultivation, as stated in the scripture.

Concerning the phrase “birth by transformation from a lotus,” the Womb Sutra says: “Those born from a lotus do not undergo the transformation birth included among the four births from a womb, an egg, moisture, and transformation.” It is not transformation, yet is called transformation; in reality it is unlike transformation birth among the four modes.

The Sutra on Invoking Avalokiteśvara says: “Birth by transformation from a lotus takes the lotus as father and mother.” The Contemplation of Amitāyus says: “One who remains upon the lotus dais for a long time is called womb-born, though it is not truly a womb. By analogy, one born from a lotus may also be called moisture-born or egg-born, though it is neither moisture-born nor egg-born.” [And so forth.]

XVI. Mañjuśrī Transmits the Sutra Today

The phrase “at that time, from below” begins the second division, explaining the benefit of Mañjuśrī transmitting the sutra today. It has two parts: first, explaining Mañjuśrī’s transmission of the sutra; and second, from “Mañjuśrī said: I was in the ocean” onward, explaining its benefit.

The first part again has five sections:

First, Wisdom Accumulation asks to return. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra says: “The bodhisattva who accompanied the buddha from below was named Borejuluo, rendered in Chinese as Wisdom Accumulation.”

Second, from “Śākyamuni” onward, the World-Honored One stops him and asks him to await evidence of the benefit of transmitting the sutra. Wisdom Accumulation thinks that Many Jewels appeared to verify this sutra and that the exhortation to circulate it is now complete, and so asks to return. The World-Honored One stops him because, although the affairs of the Trace Gate are complete, the Origin Gate has not yet been disclosed. The Buddha therefore uses Mañjuśrī to keep Many Jewels present—the Buddha’s hidden intention is not known even to bodhisattvas.

Third, from “at that time Mañjuśrī” onward, Mañjuśrī arrives.

Fourth, from “Bodhisattva Wisdom Accumulation” onward, Wisdom Accumulation asks how many were delivered.

Fifth, from “Mañjuśrī said” onward, Mañjuśrī answers that their number cannot be proclaimed by speech.

The fifth section again has seven parts. First, he answers that the benefit was extremely great. From “the words were not yet” onward is the second, those who received benefit assembling to bear witness. From “these bodhisattvas” onward is the third, explaining that all were transformed by Mañjuśrī. From “originally śrāvakas” onward is the fourth: those originally belonging to the śrāvaka vehicle had previously received the provisional teaching and abided in the path of the two vehicles. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sutra says: “Lotuses emerged from the pool. For those who had originally generated the bodhisattva resolve, the flowers spoke of the Mahāyāna while in the air. For those who had originally generated the śrāvaka resolve, the flowers in the air spoke only of severing birth and death.” From “now all practice” onward is the fifth: having now heard the real teaching, they all abide in the Dharma of the Great Vehicle. From “Mañjuśrī told Wisdom Accumulation” onward is the sixth, Mañjuśrī concluding the explanation of benefit. From “at that time” onward is the seventh, Wisdom Accumulation praising him in verse.

XVII. Explaining the Benefit: Nine Sections

From “Mañjuśrī said: I was in the ocean” onward is the second part, explaining the benefit. The text has nine sections: first, Mañjuśrī’s own account; second, Wisdom Accumulation’s question; third, the answer; fourth, Wisdom Accumulation clinging to the Distinct Teaching and giving rise to doubt; fifth, the dragon girl clarifying the Perfect Teaching to resolve the doubt; sixth, Śāriputra raising a challenge based on the provisional Tripiṭaka Teaching; seventh, the dragon girl using the one real to eliminate the doubt; eighth, the assembly seeing, hearing, and attaining benefit; and ninth, Wisdom Accumulation and Śāriputra silently believing and submitting.

XVIII. The Dragon Girl Clarifies the Perfect Teaching and Resolves Doubt

The fifth section is the dragon girl clarifying the Perfect Teaching to resolve doubt. First, the scripture narrates her appearance and respectful salutation. Next come three and a half lines of verse in three divisions: the first half-line explains that she upheld the sutra and attained understanding; the next two lines explain accomplishment of the Dharma and Reward bodies; and the final line invokes the Buddha as witness.

Concerning “transgression and merit,” for people of the seven expedient means these are successively fabricated. What the verse describes, however, is deeply penetrating that there is neither transgression nor merit and entering the one true mark; hence it is called “deeply penetrating.”

“the ten directions” means the ten Dharma realms. Illuminating them all through real wisdom is therefore called “universal illumination.”

Concerning “possessing the thirty-two marks,” deeply attaining the principle of the dharma-body is itself possessing the excellent marks. As explained in the Larger Prajñāpāramitā, one who wishes to obtain all dharmas should study prajñā, as though obtaining a wish-fulfilling jewel. The two vehicles obtain only emptiness; emptiness has no excellent marks [and so forth].

XIX. Śāriputra’s Challenge and the Dragon Girl’s Offering of the Jewel

The sixth section is Śāriputra raising another challenge: first he generally challenges the claim as unbelievable, after which the five obstacles are set forth.

The seventh is the dragon girl becoming a buddha before the assembly to furnish direct evidence. It has two parts:

First, offering the jewel represents attaining perfect understanding. The round jewel represents the perfect cause she attained through cultivation. Presenting it to the Buddha directs the cause toward bringing the fruit to fruition. The Buddha’s swift acceptance represents swift attainment of the fruit—this is sitting at the site of awakening in a single thought, and her buddhahood is not false.

Second, she formally demonstrates that the cause is perfect and the fruit complete. The Womb Sutra says: “Māra kings, Brahmā kings, Śakra, and women neither relinquish this body nor receive another body; all attain buddhahood in their present bodies.” The verse says: “The Dharma-nature is like the great sea and does not speak of affirmation or negation. Ordinary people, worthies, and sages are impartial, without high or low. Once the mind’s defilements are exhausted, realization is like turning over one’s hand.”

XX. What the Assembly Saw and Heard

From “at that time in the Sahā world” onward is the eighth section, explaining what the assembly saw and heard. It has two parts: first, explaining their seeing and hearing; and second, humans and devas rejoicing and both places receiving benefit.

Conditions in the south were mature, so it was fitting to accomplish the path through the eight marks. Conditions in this land were meager, so only the dragon girl was used to teach and transform—this is the power of expedient skill. Obtaining one body is obtaining all bodies: this is the samādhi of universally manifesting physical bodies.

I. Why Does the Chapter Title Include Both Upholding and Exhortation to Uphold?

Twenty thousand bodhisattvas propagate this sutra in obedience to the Buddha’s command, so the chapter is called “Upholding.” The Buddha again exhorts eighty myriads of koṭis of nayutas of bodhisattvas to propagate the sutra, so it is also called “Exhortation to Uphold.”

Question: Why is the meaning divided into these two levels?

Answer: The twenty thousand bodhisattvas are the number that received a specific injunction at the beginning of “Dharma Teacher,” and so now receive and uphold the sutra in obedience to that command. The eighty myriads of koṭis of nayutas of bodhisattvas had not previously received a specific injunction; they had only been included in the general search for propagators. The Buddha now looks toward them, causing them to vow to propagate this sutra in this land. The verification provided by their propagation reveals the gravity of the Buddha’s intent and the solicitude of his exhortation. They propagate because they have received that exhortation, and so the chapter title has these two meanings.

II. First Receiving and Upholding, Then Exhorting to Uphold

The main text is divided into two large sections: first receiving and upholding, then exhorting to uphold.

Receiving and upholding has three parts. First, twenty thousand bodhisattvas obey the command and uphold the sutra in this land. Second, five hundred arhats and eight thousand śrāvakas in training and beyond training vow to circulate it in other lands. Third, the bhikṣuṇīs request predictions.

Question: Since these śrāvakas have already become great beings, why can they not propagate the sutra in this land?

Answer: This guides bodhisattvas who have newly generated resolve and only begun to practice; they are not yet able to undergo hardship and propagate the sutra in an evil age. At the same time, this question and answer opens the following chapter, “Peaceful Practices.”

III. Why Does the Buddha Only Look at the Bodhisattvas without Giving a Spoken Injunction?

The second large section, exhortation to uphold, has prose and verse. The prose consists of five actions occurring in sequence: first, the Buddha looks toward the bodhisattvas; second, they inwardly hope that he will give an injunction; third, the Buddha remains silent; fourth, the bodhisattvas understand his intent; fifth, they vow to propagate the sutra.

The Buddha silently exhorts them with his gaze but gives no further spoken injunction because, although he had not previously issued a specific command to this great body of bodhisattvas, he had already fully set forth the profound merit of upholding the sutra and had made its verification clear. Many Jewels Buddha and the emanation buddhas had moreover come from afar to exhort them. This solicitude in both event and meaning was sufficient. Anyone willing to accept the charge should immediately make the vow without troubling the Buddha to speak again. The Buddha also protects the śrāvakas’ vow to propagate the sutra in other lands and therefore does not praise another course in explicit words.

There are twenty lines of verse, all requesting protection in upholding this sutra. The root treatise does not further divide every sentence, and readers can understand them by following the text. The twenty lines nevertheless have four fixed divisions: the first seventeen describe propagating the sutra while clothed in the robe of forbearance; the next one describes entering the Tathāgata’s chamber to propagate it; the next describes sitting upon the Tathāgata’s seat to propagate it; and the final line concludes the vow and requests the Buddha’s aid. The numbers are exactly seventeen, one, one, and one, and their order is not interchangeable.

IV. Dwelling in an Araṇya Is Not Merely Dwelling in Seclusion

The root treatise cites Fascicle Six of the Madhyamāgama: “araṇya” is rendered in Chinese as “free from affairs,” and “dhūta” as “shaking off.”

It also cites Fascicle Six of the Ratnamegha Sutra: when a bhikṣu dwelling in an araṇya sees a king, prince, brahman, or any other person arrive, he should greet them by saying: “Welcome; please sit here.” If the visitor sits, the bhikṣu sits with them. If the visitor does not sit, neither should the bhikṣu sit first. He should teach the visitor the Dharma and cause them to rejoice.

In the latter, evil age after the Buddha’s extinction there will be bhikṣus who do not conform to the proper form of renunciation. Although they make their living by preaching the precepts, they do not delight in practicing them. Extending this through the fivefold dharma-body, the same applies to every other Dharma of the path: they speak but do not practice. This is like a person with a blocked nose discussing sandalwood fragrance while possessing no fragrance and being unable to smell it. Devas, humans, nāgas, spirits, and kumbhāṇḍas will never make offerings to a person without precepts; the same may be said of the other four factors. No one can bring the wondrous Dharma out of nowhere. It must arise from pure precepts, and so too with the remaining four factors.

V. When the Pain of Illness Arrives, Where Does the Armor Arise?

If someone encounters the gravest illness at the point of death, with pain and distress pressing closely upon them and no recovery at all, yet constantly does not abandon the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha—even if every pain presses so fiercely that it nearly seizes the mind—because that person understands this Dharma, they can know that all dharmas are empty.

In explaining “the armor of forbearance,” the root treatise first cites a passage from Fascicle Five of the Madhyamāgama. Bhikṣu Black Teeth complains to the Buddha: “Śāriputra insulted and censured me.” The Buddha immediately summons Śāriputra and asks: “Did you truly insult and censure him?”

Śāriputra answers: “A person whose mind is unstable may insult and censure others; my mind is settled, so how could I do so? I am like an ox whose horns have been broken off and that no longer gores others; or like a child with bodily impairments who, out of shame, does not trouble others. My mind is like earth, water, fire, and wind: it receives clean and unclean things, urine and feces, nasal mucus and saliva, without giving rise to abuse. My mind is also like a broom, sweeping away both purity and impurity; or like a broken vessel filled with fat and placed in sunlight, continually leaking drop by drop. Contemplating the impurities that constantly flow from the nine apertures of my own body, how could I insult and censure another? I am also like a clean child around whose neck dead snakes, dead dogs, and other such things are bound: the child feels shame and remorse but does not insult or censure another.”

The Buddha then asks: “When you encounter such an evil person, how do you contemplate them?”

Śāriputra answers: People are of five kinds, each of which must be contemplated.

The first kind has wholesome bodily conduct but unwholesome verbal and mental conduct. Recollect only the bodily good and not the verbal and mental evil. This is like a bhikṣu wearing robes made from discarded rags who sees a torn cloth in a dung heap, grasps it with the left hand, spreads it open with the right, cuts away the impure part, and takes only the clean part. Contemplate a person in the same way: take the purity of their bodily conduct to correct your own body, while setting aside their unwholesome speech and thought as an admonition to your own.

The second kind has pure verbal conduct but impure bodily and mental conduct. Recollect only the purity of speech and set aside the impurity of body and thought. This is like a person parched by heat who finds a pond thick with grass, parts the grass, scoops up water to drink, cools the body, and quenches thirst.

The third kind has pure mental conduct but impure bodily and verbal conduct. Recollect only the purity of thought and do not take the impurity of body and speech. This is like a traveler parched by heat who finds only a little water in an ox’s hoofprint. Scooping it with the hands would muddy it, and so the traveler kneels on both knees, braces both hands against the ground, and drinks directly with the mouth to dispel heat and thirst.

The fourth kind is wholly impure in bodily, verbal, and mental conduct. Although there is no goodness to take, one should still feel profound compassion. This is like seeing an ill person on the road and placing them securely. One should wish that this impure person may meet a good spiritual friend, heal the three modes of conduct, and not fall into the three evil paths.

The fifth kind is wholly pure in bodily, verbal, and mental conduct. One should continually recollect this person, use them to train oneself, and aspire to become their equal. This is like a cool pond filled with many flowers and plants: a person parched by heat enters it and body and mind revive. Continually recollecting such a pure condition can remove one’s own evil.

The root treatise says that these are the forms of armor in the Tripiṭaka Teaching, using suffering, impermanence, impurity, not-self, and emptiness as armor.

VI. How Can a Single Insult Be Taken Apart until Nothing Graspable Remains?

The root treatise next cites Fascicle Eight of the Vibhāṣā and presents seven contemplations for facing an insult.

First, what is called “insult” is only one particular linguistic meaning; the remainder is merely the sound of calling. Even if there were only calling sounds throughout the day, what would that have to do with me?

Second, the same phrase is base speech in this region but praise in another. If I cling only to the base meaning here, I will find no happiness wherever I go.

Third, contemplate the graphs that compose the insult. Reverse their order and the insult may become praise.

Fourth, an insult is only a small part of one element, a small part of one sense field, and a small part of one aggregate. Little is insulted, while much remains uninsulted.

Fifth, ask who accomplishes the insult. The insulter accomplishes it, and that accomplishment is on the other side. What does it have to do with me?

Sixth, a single graph cannot yet constitute an insult; two graphs are required, yet no one can utter both in the same instant. By the time the latter graph is spoken, the former has already ceased.

Seventh, even if the person who insults and the person insulted confront one another at the same time, both cease together within the same instant. What does this have to do with me?

Contemplating in this way is using emptiness as armor.

VII. When Ordinary People and Sages Both Suffer, Where Does the Difference Lie?

The root treatise next cites “the seventeenth”: ordinary people and sages both experience painful, pleasant, and neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. How do they differ?

When ordinary people face painful feeling, they undergo two kinds of pain: bodily suffering and grief and sorrow in the mind, as if struck by three poisoned arrows. Losing pleasure produces anger, obtaining pleasure produces delight, and encountering neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling produces delusion.

Sages have only painful bodily feeling, without grief or sorrow in the mind. They are not angry at pain, do not crave pleasure, and are not deluded by neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling. The three compulsions of anger, craving, and delusion cannot drive them; instead, they are liberated from those bonds. This is the difference between ordinary people and sages.

Contemplating the presence, absence, and differing degrees of the three feelings in ordinary people and sages is what the root treatise calls the armor of the Distinct Teaching.

VIII. Why Can One Armor Be All Armor?

The armor taught in the present sutra is recollection of the Buddha as armor. What this recollection apprehends is the dharma-buddha and ultimate meaning. The Buddha is the Dharma, so the scripture’s recollection of the Buddha’s injunction is also recollection of the Dharma. The Buddha is also the Saṅgha, and the Saṅgha is harmony in both phenomena and principle. Vairocana pervades all places.

This armor is therefore not an isolated suit of armor: one armor is all armor. The root treatise uses this to explain the armor of the Perfect Teaching.