妙法蓮華經玄義 私序王

Why do people remain lost when the jewel is in their clothing and the road is not far? Because having does not mean knowing, and nearness does not mean recognizing the direction.

The drunken person already has a precious jewel fastened inside his clothing but is wholly unaware of it in the wine of ignorance. The lost traveler is not far from the treasure place but describes the nearby road as long. The private preface states the difficulty of sentient beings precisely: we not only seek outside for what we already have; by mistaking the direction, we also imagine an attainable place to be forever beyond reach.

The Buddha's compassion therefore does not stuff another jewel from outside into sentient beings, but awakens them. Nor does he move the treasure place closer; he enables them to see the road clearly. The four flowers and six quakings, transformation of the lands, emergence from the earth, opening the gate of skillful means, and showing the ground of the real all serve one purpose: universally enabling everyone to see and hear.

Nor is the sutra title a signboard hanging beside the road. “Wondrous” is the opening of the secret and profound treasury; “Dharma” is the showing of the correct tracks of the provisional and the real; “lotus” is the original fruit in the remote past; “flower” is gathering into nonduality; and “sutra” is accomplishing the Buddha's work through sound. Every graph of the name presents one aspect of how the Buddha awakens the deluded and points out the place of return.

In the end, the sutra is called the gate of ambrosia. The gate is not the principle to which one arrives, but it lets those who have not arrived enter. The jewel is not a possession to display, but it keeps one who has awakened from belittling oneself. The treasure place is not a fantasy in the distance, but it keeps the traveler from taking the conjured city as the destination. Awakening, discerning the road, and entering the gate are three mutually illuminating images.

Guanding's Private Preface: The Jewel, the Treasure Place, and Present Disclosure

Ultimate principle originally transcends such relative names as partial and perfect; for now, the simile of the perfect jewel is provisionally used to discuss that ultimate principle. The ultimate originally cannot be fixed as distant or near; for now, the simile of the treasure place is provisionally used to clarify that ultimate.

When a person accords with the ultimate, that person merges with perfect principle, and both the work of teaching and the principle revealed return together to quiescence. Yet sentient beings remain unquiet precisely because they are intoxicated by the wine of ignorance: although the jewel has long been fastened inside their clothing, they remain wholly unaware of it; although the road to nirvāṇa is not distant, those who have lost their way say that the journey is long.

The sacred sovereign, the World-Honored One, has compassion for these inverted and deluded sentient beings. At the beginning of the sutra, four kinds of wondrous flowers rain from the heavens and the earth quakes in six ways, opening the gate of skillful means for sentient beings. Later in the sutra, the lands are purified through three transformations, and bodhisattvas equal to the dust motes of a thousand worlds emerge from the earth, manifesting the ground of the real. All these establishments serve one purpose: to enable all sentient beings universally to see and hear.

Explaining Each Graph of the Title through the Conditions of the Whole Sutra

Because the previously secret and profound treasury is opened, it is called “wondrous.” Because the correct tracks of the provisional and the real are shown, it is called “Dharma.” Because the original fruit of buddhahood attained in the remote past is indicated, “lotus” is used as a simile. Because the nondual perfect path is gathered, “flower” is used as a simile. Because the Buddha's work is accomplished by teaching through sound, it is called “sutra.” The beginning of the perfect teaching is called “preface.” Content of the same class following like content is called a “chapter.” Because it stands first in the sequence of all the chapters, it is called “first.”

Guanding then explains: the preceding discourse and record concerning the beginning and end narrate the sutra's name; accordance and merging narrate the sutra's substance; the perfect jewel narrates its purport; the shared quiescence of phenomena and principle narrates its function; the four heavenly flowers and six kinds of quaking narrate the characteristics of the teaching; and the relation between Origin and Trace within it can be known from the preceding text.

Preface to the Profound Meaning: The Deep and Profound Treasury of the Original Ground

This Sutra of the Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma is the extremely deep and profound secret treasury of the remote original ground. The sutra means: this Dharma cannot be directly shown, and the marks of the world abide permanently. This is the Dharma realized by the tathāgatas of past, present, and future.

The sutra further says: this is the principle of the foremost quiescence and extinction, which the Buddha already knew at the place of awakening; he appeared in the world because of the causes and conditions of one great matter. Sentient beings who first saw the Buddha's body were caused to enter buddha-wisdom. For those who had not yet entered, throughout more than forty years the Buddha used different skillful means to assist in revealing the ultimate meaning. Now he straightforwardly sets aside skillful means and teaches only the unsurpassed path.

How “Wondrous” Runs through Dharma, Lotus Blossom, and Sutra

“Wondrous” first praises and extols the inconceivable Dharma.

At another level, wondrousness is itself the Dharma of the ten Dharma realms and ten suchnesses. This Dharma is itself wondrous, and this wondrousness is itself Dharma. Wondrousness and Dharma are not two things separate from one another; there are neither two marks nor any difference, and therefore it is called wondrous.

At another level, the provisional and real dharmas practiced in one's own conduct are wondrous; the lotus blossom is therefore presented to illustrate them.

At another level, the Origin is seen in the Trace right here, and the Trace is seen in the Origin right here. It cannot be fixed as Origin, nor can it be fixed as Trace; it may also be explained through relations such as opening and relinquishment〔and so forth〕.

At another level, this is the supremely excellent sūtra and the gate of ambrosia; therefore it is called wondrous.

The final passage explains: wondrousness has no separate independent substance; it is praise and extolment applied to the Dharma's substance, narrating the wondrous name. Wondrousness is the Dharma realm, and the Dharma realm is wondrousness, narrating the sutra's substance. The provisional and real in one's own practice narrate the purport. The six similes of Origin and Trace narrate the function. The gate of ambrosia narrates the characteristics of the teaching.

Why does a person remain on the road when the jewel has already been fastened and the treasure place is not far? The Private Sovereign Preface first states two apparent contradictions: principle transcends the partial and the perfect, yet it must be discussed through the perfect jewel; the ultimate belongs neither to distance nor nearness, yet it must be explained through the treasure place. If principle cannot be enclosed by names, why use similes? If the jewel is already in one's clothing and the treasure place is nearby, why do sentient beings still neither know nor arrive?

Guanding does not answer with an abstract definition. He brings forward a drunken person and a lost traveler. The drunk has a jewel fastened inside his clothing but does not know it; the traveler is not far from the treasure place but says the road is long. These two scenes divide the difficulty of sentient beings into two sides. They are not entirely without the treasure, but already have it and do not know; the destination is not absolutely unreachable, but they have lost the direction and mistake it for a distant place. Everything that follows—the auspicious signs, opening the gate, revealing the ground, and explaining the title—answers how a person may know the jewel and recognize the road.

If Principle Transcends Words, Why Are the Perfect Jewel and Treasure Place Still Needed?

That principle transcends partial and perfect does not establish another partial view opposed to the perfect. It first loosens fixed attachment to the names partial and perfect, then immediately uses the perfect jewel to discuss principle. Words therefore cannot confine principle, yet they can remain skillful means that point to it. The same holds for the ultimate being neither distant nor near. It is not defined by spatial distance, yet the nearness or distance of the treasure place can let a lost traveler see where the mistake lies.

The perfect jewel emphasizes possession. The jewel has already been fastened, yet the drunk forgets it because of the wine of ignorance. The problem is not that a jewel is missing outside, but that the person cannot recognize what has been received. The treasure place emphasizes direction. The road is not far, yet the traveler calls what is near a long journey. The problem is not that the destination has receded into infinity, but that the traveler mistakes a temporary resting place or a wrong direction for the actual course.

Placed together, the two similes illuminate possession and destination. Knowing that one is not wholly without anything and discerning where one is going illuminate one another. To speak only of having the jewel without correcting the road may leave one motionless. To speak only of the road without knowing what one possesses may make one too self-abasing to advance.

If Phenomena and Principle Are Already Quiescent, Why Speak of What Is Not Quiescent?

When the ultimate is met, one merges with perfect principle, and phenomena and principle become quiescent together. The preface immediately turns: sentient beings remain unquiet because they are intoxicated by the wine of ignorance, unaware of the jewel fastened within their clothing, and lost on the path while calling it long. The second statement does not contradict the first; the subject has shifted from those who accord with principle to those still deluded. Principle and the work of teaching may both be quiescent, yet sentient beings have not necessarily known, practiced, or arrived.

Quiescence therefore cannot be taken as a declaration alone. If one hears only that principle is quiescent and overlooks the disquiet of sentient beings, people still drunk and still traveling will be described in advance as already arrived. If one sees only sentient beings in cyclic wandering and forgets that principle can be met, the road will forever lack a direction. The preface places the two sides closely together precisely so that ultimate principle and the work of rescuing the deluded do not become separated.

Why Does the Buddha Use Auspicious Signs, Transformed Lands, and Emergence from the Earth to Enable Seeing and Hearing?

Because sentient beings remain unquiet through unawareness and lost direction, the sacred sovereign, the World-Honored One, has compassion for their inversion and delusion. The four flowers and six quakings alert the assembly that something extraordinary is taking place, and the gate of skillful means thereby opens. The three transformations purifying the lands and the bodhisattvas emerging from the earth then disclose the relation between the visible world and the original ground in the remote past, manifesting the ground of the real.

All these great scenes point toward “seeing and hearing.” The drunk must be awakened and the lost traveler shown the road. The Buddha's teaching therefore does not offer only a definition; through sound, color, quaking, lands, and transformations in the assembly, it gives differing faculties places through which to enter. Auspicious signs are not spectacles as ends in themselves, nor are transformed lands decorations for the world. Their function is universally to enable all beings to see and hear.

Why Explain the Eight Graphs of the Sutra Title through Events in the Whole Sutra?

Guanding next explains each graph of the title without leaving the preceding disclosure. Because the secret and profound treasury is opened, it is wondrous; because the correct tracks of the provisional and the real are shown, it is Dharma; because the original fruit in the remote past is indicated, the lotus illustrates it; because the nondual perfect path is gathered, the flower illustrates it; because sound accomplishes the Buddha's work, it is a sutra. Turning then to the whole sutra's sequence, the beginning of the perfect teaching is the preface, content of the same class following together is a chapter, and its place at the head of all chapters makes it first.

This explanation keeps the title from becoming a label pasted outside the sutra. Wondrous, Dharma, lotus, and flower all arise from opening the secret, showing the provisional and the real, indicating the remote Origin, and gathering the perfect path. Sutra, preface, chapter, and first arise from teaching and textual sequence. Every graph returns to the way the Buddha enables sentient beings to see and hear; the title thereby becomes a miniature of the whole sutra's action.

The first “explains” then gathers the preceding text. Discourse and record belong to the name; meeting and merging belong to the substance; the perfect jewel belongs to the purport; the shared quiescence of phenomena and principle belongs to the function; the four flowers and six quakings belong to the teaching; and Origin and Trace can be seen throughout the passage itself. The five topics are not labels added from outside but marks placed again along the road already traveled by the preface: what was spoken, what substance was met, what purport was approached, what function arose, and how the teaching was delivered.

Why Speak First of the Deep and Profound Treasury of the Original Ground?

At this point the preface opens another layer. It first says that this Sutra of the Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma is the deep and profound treasury of the original ground. It then says that this Dharma cannot be shown, the marks of the world abide permanently, and all tathāgatas of the three times realize this same Dharma.

The Buddha knew the foremost quiescence and extinction at the place of awakening, and he appeared in the world because of one great matter. The preface moves from the Dharma realized by the tathāgatas of the three times to the Buddha's appearance in the world, and then to the way sentient beings enter buddha-wisdom.

Those who first saw the Buddha's body were caused to enter buddha-wisdom. For those who had not entered, the Buddha spent more than forty years using different skillful means to assist in revealing the ultimate meaning. Now he straightforwardly sets aside skillful means and speaks only the unsurpassed path. These sentences state, one by one, the sentient beings addressed and the content taught.

If Wondrousness Is Inconceivable, How Can It Still Be Explained in Layers?

The preface to the Profound Meaning begins with praise: “wondrous” extols the inconceivable Dharma. It then says that the Dharma of the ten Dharma realms and ten suchnesses is itself wondrous, that wondrousness itself is Dharma, and that the two are neither dual nor different. This step prevents wondrousness from remaining an external ornament. If a separate wondrousness existed outside the Dharma, it would be decoration and could not explain the Dharma itself.

At the next level, the provisional and the real in one's own practice are wondrous; the lotus blossom is therefore presented as their simile. Wondrousness descends from the Dharma's substance into practice. The provisional and the real are not only terms to distinguish; in one's own practice they must be opened, revealed, and gathered. At the next level, the Origin is seen in the Trace and the Trace in the Origin; it is neither fixed Origin nor fixed Trace, and can also be explained through relations of opening and relinquishment. Wondrousness makes Origin and Trace distinguishable without fixing them as two isolated entities.

Finally, wondrousness also qualifies the sutra: the supremely excellent sūtra is called the gate of ambrosia. From Dharma and practice through Origin and Trace to the sutra, wondrousness never establishes an independent substance, but praises each layer set out in the text.

The second “explains” therefore gathers the five topics once again. Praise applied to the substance is the name; wondrousness itself being the Dharma realm is the substance; the provisional and the real in one's own practice are the purport; the six similes of Origin and Trace are the function; and the gate of ambrosia is the teaching. The first recapitulation arose from the perfect jewel, meeting and merging, and the auspicious signs; the second arises from wondrousness, Dharma, one's own practice, Origin and Trace, and sutra. Both carry the reader to the threshold of the Five Chapters while preserving the distinct content each preface has set forth.

Looking Back over the Whole Piece from the Jewel and the Road

At the end of the piece, the opening jewel and road have not disappeared. Wondrousness itself being the Dharma realm shows that the jewel is not added from outside. The provisional and the real in one's own practice show that knowing of the jewel does not remove the need to walk the road. Seeing the Origin in the Trace and the Trace in the Origin shows that visible signs along the road do not depart from the original ground in the remote past. The gate of ambrosia makes the sutra's teaching an actual place of entry.

The Private Sovereign Preface is therefore not merely another preface. It first uses the lost jewel and mistaken road to explain why sentient beings remain unaware, then uses auspicious signs and transformed lands to show how the Buddha enables seeing and hearing. It joins its citations through the deep and profound treasury of the original ground, different skillful means, and the unsurpassed path, and finally uses “wondrous” to run through Dharma, practice, Origin and Trace, and teaching. The jewel answers “What do I possess?”; the treasure place answers “Where am I going?”; the sutra answers “How does one move from unawareness to seeing?”

Through the Eye of the Shiqian

The reading above has followed the two layers of preface. Zhanran's Fahua Xuanyi Shiqian first draws their boundary: from the Private Sovereign Preface through the end of the first “explains” is Zhang'an's private preface and private explanation; from “this Sutra of the Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma” onward is separately the preface to the Profound Meaning itself. The two recapitulations through the Five Chapters therefore each have their own source.

First, the perfect jewel expressly means the jewel sewn into the clothing and is used to discuss the absolute principle through an image. The treasure place is tied to the five hundred yojanas, the nearness of the conjured city, and the distance of the treasure isle. The completion of transformation is quiescence in phenomena, while revealing the real is quiescence in principle. Intoxication and unawareness are read through retreat from the Great Vehicle, cyclic wandering, and forgetting what was received in the past; calling the road long is read through mistaking the Great Vehicle for distant and taking the Lesser Vehicle as ultimate.

The perfect jewel is therefore not supported here by a different sutra, nor are the treasure place and the jewel in the clothing combined into one simile. One illuminates hearing in the past and forgetting; the other illuminates losing the direction and mistaking the distance.

Second, the four flowers and six quakings occur in the sutra's opening preface, while transformation of the lands and splitting of the earth occur in later chapters. Their placement together in the short preface does not mean that the root sutra contains a continuous phrase “three transformations and a thousand emergences.” Here, moreover, the lotus illustrates the Origin in the remote past and the flower the gathering of the perfect; this assignment must be preserved separately from the preceding preface's lotus as real and flower as provisional.

The commentator restricts accomplishing the Buddha's work through sound to spoken teaching during the Buddha's lifetime; preface, chapter, and first are explained through the sequence of the complete sutra. These supplements are judgments in the mirror, not words placed backward into Guanding's verbatim account.

Third, the base text has “discourse and record.” Zhanran proposes that “discourse and record” may be mistaken and that it should be “discourse and entrustment,” explaining it as entrusting the explanation to the treasure place and discussing the ultimate principle. This is a collation explicitly proposed by an ancient commentary; the main text still retains “discourse and record.” The preface to the Profound Meaning first gives the reason a sutra exists, next clarifies the present sutra, and then explains the title. Because the Buddha realized the Origin, he could teach; from inner realization, he turned to teaching others. Beginning and end aim at buddha-wisdom, while the skillful means in between bring capacities to maturity.

Finally, the graph “wondrous” comprehensively qualifies Dharma, lotus blossom, and sutra. Ambrosia is principle, and the teaching is the gate to principle. Looking back through this mirror, the jewel in the clothing speaks of the cause heard in the past; the treasure place speaks of the ultimate destination; original realization speaks of the source from which the sutra emerged; and the gate of ambrosia speaks of how the teaching provides access to principle. Only when the two preface layers and two recapitulations keep their places can the whole piece move from loss to an entrance.