妙法蓮華經玄義 釋名·位妙②圓最實位

If suchness has no ladder, why does practice still have a beginning and an end? Because although the water of the ocean is one, there are still those who have just entered it, those who have reached its middle, and those who have arrived at the farther shore. Dharma-nature has no higher or lower, yet a practitioner’s ignorance may be subdued or unsubdued, wisdom may be bright or unbright, and the power to benefit others may be broad or narrow. Stages are not ranks carved into suchness; they are the depths disclosed by the actuality of cultivation and realization.

The perfect stages begin by protecting and nurturing the initial mind through the five grades. Rejoicing lets perfect faith take root; reading and recitation use the light of the teaching to aid the eye of contemplation; teaching the Dharma purifies oneself and others together; additionally practicing the six perfections lets merit in concrete affairs support principle; directly practicing the six perfections brings principle and affairs into mutual integration. At the ten faiths, understanding may already be exceedingly bright, yet it remains only analogous. Only when the first abode directly breaks one part of ignorance does analogous understanding turn into partial realization. This boundary prevents ardent faith from posing as realization, while also preventing those who have not yet entered realization from belittling the initial mind.

The moon simile is especially precise. The moon’s nature is always full, yet because of the mountain’s shadow it appears to wax and wane. The Dharma body neither increases nor decreases, yet because of ignorance prajñā is said to grow brighter and liberation to draw progressively free. It increases without increasing and decreases without decreasing: equality does not obstruct cultivation, and cultivation does not damage equality.

Stages arise for the sake of sentient beings and are also retired when conditions mature. Retirement does not mean that an earlier teaching was wholly wrong, still less that scripture is erased from the world. It means only that this person has benefited from the skillful means and need no longer take that skillful means as the endpoint. It may be retired for an earlier capacity while remaining for a later one. What truly must be relinquished is attachment to remaining at the former stage.

Opening the coarse to reveal the wondrous likewise does not mean abandoning what is before us to seek a higher world elsewhere. When the blossom opens, the lotus appears; apart from the blossom there is no other lotus. The minds of ordinary beings, practices of the six perfections, stages of the two vehicles, and even provisional bodhisattva stages can all be opened here and now to reveal the true mark, and they can also advance by increasing the path and diminishing birth-and-death. Opening decisively at one’s present stage and entering a higher stage are both indispensable.

Finally, the five grades proceed by the vehicle of teaching, the ten faiths advance by the vehicle of practice, and those at the first abode and above deepen by the vehicle of realization. At wondrous awakening, “abiding” does not mean possessing the highest position; it means that there is no higher dharma left to seek and no fixed abode left to guard.

The heart of the perfect stages is not to ask, “What is my rank?” It is to look back into every thought-moment: Is this mind brighter? Is attachment thinner? Is compassion broader? The ladder is only a skillful means. The true direction is continually to increase the path and diminish birth-and-death within the one Dharma realm, until one abides without abiding.

Here the most real stages are explained—that is, the stages of the Perfect Teaching. The whole passage has ten topics: first, distinguishing names and meanings; second, explaining the number of stages; third, explaining the severing and subduing of delusions; fourth, explaining the meritorious power of one’s own practice and the function of benefiting others; fifth, explaining which stages are coarse and which wondrous; sixth, explaining why stages are established; seventh, explaining why stages are retired; eighth, opening and revealing that coarse stages are themselves wondrous stages; ninth, citing scriptures as proof; and tenth, explaining the beginning and end of wondrous stages.

1. Distinguishing Names and Meanings

The differences between the Perfect and Distinct Teachings could themselves be explained from ten perspectives, as will be done later in discerning the substance. Here only three cases—shared, distinct, and perfect—are used for analysis: first, the name is shared with another context but its meaning is perfect; second, the name is the same as in the Distinct Teaching but its meaning is perfect; third, both name and meaning are perfect.

In the first case, where a name is shared but its meaning is perfect, a later passage says, “Only today are we true arhats, universally worthy of receiving offerings among all sentient beings.” It also says, “Only today are we true śrāvakas, causing all to hear the sound of the Buddha-path.” Although the names arhat and śrāvaka are the same as in the Shared and Tripiṭaka Teachings, their meanings differ. Why? The arhats of the two vehicles have slain only the thieves of the delusions of the four abodes; ignorance remains. Their meaning of no further birth is partial rather than perfect. Thus the goddess says, “Because residual habits have not yet been exhausted, the blossoms adhere to your bodies.” Here, by contrast, both shared and distinct delusions are slain and the Tathāgata’s cessation is attained, so the meaning of slaying thieves is perfect.

Those of the two vehicles no longer undergo delimited birth-and-death, yet transformational birth-and-death beyond the three realms remains. The Ratnagotravibhāga says, “In the uncontaminated realm the two vehicles give rise to three kinds of mind-produced aggregates.” Here both delimited and transformational birth-and-death no longer arise, so the meaning of non-arising is perfect. Those of the two vehicles are worthy of offerings only within the three realms, not beyond them. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “Those who make offerings to you are not said to give in a field of merit.” Thus their worthiness of offerings is partial. Here one is universally worthy of receiving offerings among all sentient beings, so the meaning is perfect. Those of the two vehicles belong only to the Small Vehicle and hear the sound of the four truths from others; both the sound heard and the one who hears are limited. Here the entire Dharma realm is caused to hear the four truths of the one real and the sound of the Buddha-path, so the meaning of śrāvaka is perfect. One must therefore rely on meaning, not merely on words, and judge the stage from its perfect meaning.

In the second case, the names of the fifty-two stages are the same as those of the Distinct Teaching, but the beginning, middle, and final stages are perfectly integrated, wondrous, and real. They are spoken according to the speaker’s own intent and are not skillful means of the teaching-path. One must again rely on meaning rather than merely on words and judge them as perfect stages.

In the third case, both name and meaning are perfect. The scripture says, “Opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering are all the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing.” The Buddha knows this through the knowledge of all modes and sees it with the Buddha-eye, without any deficiency. Entering the Tathāgata’s room, sitting on the Tathāgata’s seat, and adorning oneself with the Tathāgata’s adornments likewise have names and meanings that are both perfect. They are therefore judged stages of the Perfect Teaching.

2. Explaining the Number of Stages

This topic has three parts: first, directly explaining the number; second, citing scriptures to establish the various enumerations; and third, analytical questions and answers.

If the Dharma Realm Is Equal, Why Can Stages Still Be Discussed?

There have been different understandings of the number of stages. Some say that sudden awakening is itself buddhahood and that no distinctions of stage remain, citing the Scripture of Questions Asked by Brahmā Viśeṣacintin: “One who studies in this way does not proceed from one ground to another.” Another master says that the first sudden awakening is already ultimate and perfectly complete; the forty-two stages are only skillful names of shallower and deeper established for those of dull faculties. He cites the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra: “The first ground is the second ground, the second the third; in quiescent suchness, what stages are there?” Another master says that the first sudden awakening through the ten abodes is already the ten grounds, and that the ten practices, ten dedications, and ten grounds merely state the same thing again.

From the present perspective, all these understandings take only one side. In the equal Dharma realm, even awakening and non-awakening cannot ultimately be distinguished—how much less shallow and deep? Yet if awakening and non-awakening can be discussed in relation to sentient beings, why can shallow and deep not be discussed in relation to the brightness of what they awaken to? The ultimate Great Vehicle is nowhere more complete than in the Avataṃsaka, Mahāsaṃnipāta, Large Prajñāpāramitā, Lotus, and Mahāparinirvāṇa scriptures. Although these texts teach the equality of the Dharma realm, beyond speech and demonstration, the stages of bodhisattva practice remain distinct.

Others categorically say that the equal Dharma realm has no stages. The response is: does ultimate truth contain distinctions, or not? Ultimate truth itself has none, yet those who see it may still be classified as seven worthy ones, seven noble ones, or twenty-seven worthy and noble persons. The true mark is equal and has no stages in itself, but what fault is there in distinguishing stages among those who see it? The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom says, “It is like entering the ocean: some have just entered, some have reached the middle, and some have arrived at the farther shore.” Judging stages according to seeing truth is like the shallows and depths of rivers. Judging them according to the true mark is like different depths of entry into the same ocean. The Sūtra on the Practice of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva says, “The cause of the Great Vehicle is the true mark of all dharmas.” Its fruit is likewise the true mark of all dharmas. Thus discussion of stages is not mere conjecture. Following the scriptures, stages may be explained through the four siddhāntas without contradiction. Seven classes are used: the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, ten grounds, equal awakening, and wondrous awakening.

Before the ten faiths, the five grades must also be explained.

The Five Grades

If someone has planted deep roots of good in past lives, meets a good spiritual friend, or encounters a scripture and perfectly hears the wondrous principle—that one dharma is all dharmas, all dharmas are one dharma, and this is neither fixed as one nor fixed as all, but inconceivable as explained above—perfect faith and understanding arise. The person believes that one mind contains the ten Dharma realms, just as a tiny mote of dust contains scrolls filling a great trichiliocosm, and wishes to open this mind and cultivate perfect practice.

Perfect practice means that one practice contains all practices. Briefly, there are ten aspects. First, one recognizes that the present thought-moment is equally and inconceivably complete. Second, one grieves at one’s own torpor and extends kindness to all sentient beings. Third, one knows this mind to be constantly still and constantly illuminating. Fourth, one uses the still and illuminating mind to break through all dharmas, which are immediately empty, provisional, and middle. Fifth, one recognizes openness and obstruction in one’s own mind and all minds. Sixth, within this mind one fulfills the factors of the path and advances toward awakening. Seventh, one understands the primary and supporting practices needed by this mind. Eighth, one recognizes one’s own mind and the minds of ordinary and noble beings. Ninth, one settles this mind so that it does not move, fall, regress, or scatter. Tenth, though recognizing the immeasurable virtues of one mind, one does not become attached to them. When these ten minds are fulfilled and every thought accords with all the perfections, this is the initial grade of rejoicing in the Perfect Teaching.

The practitioner’s perfect faith has just arisen and must be carefully nurtured. Entering immediately into turbulent and complicated affairs may destroy the shoot of the path. Inwardly, the practitioner therefore cultivates contemplation of principle; outwardly, the practitioner upholds, reads, and recites Great Vehicle scriptures, for hearing has the power to assist contemplation. Inward and outward supports aid each other, perfect faith grows brighter, and the ten minds become firm. The Diamond Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says, “Giving bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges three times in one day does not equal the virtue of upholding a single sentence.” Contemplative wisdom in the first grade is like the eye, and reading and recitation in the second like sunlight. Because the sun has light, the eye sees different forms. A treatise says, “In relation to the real it is called a revealing cause; in relation to other good it is called a generating cause. Merit alone does not tend toward awakening; the two together tend toward awakening.” The immense benefit of hearing lies here. This is the second grade.

As inward contemplation grows stronger, outward support becomes more evident. Perfect understanding remains in the heart and vast vows perfume and impel it, so the practitioner adds teaching the Dharma, expounding and spreading it in accord with reality. The “Peaceful Practices” chapter says, “Answer only with the Great Vehicle Dharma; even when speaking through skillful means according to what is fitting, ultimately cause them to awaken to the Great.” The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “When teaching the Dharma is pure, wisdom is pure.” The Abhidharma says, “Teaching the Dharma brings liberation; hearing the Dharma brings liberation.” Teaching and guiding are a complete condition for another person to attain the path; the merit of transformation returns to oneself, and the ten minds grow three times brighter. This is the third grade.

Previously the practitioner concentrated on maturing contemplation of mind and had no leisure to engage in affairs. Now that right contemplation has become somewhat clear, one additionally benefits others. Even a small gift may be made equal in scope to empty space and the Dharma realm, causing all dharmas to tend toward giving and giving to become the Dharma realm. The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says, “A bodhisattva who gives only a little surpasses śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and should train in prajñā.” The other five perfections are the same. Although the external act is small, the mind that directs it is vast. Contemplation of principle remains primary and practice in affairs auxiliary; thus this is called additionally practicing giving. Merit in affairs supports contemplation of principle, and the ten minds grow still more abundant. This is the fourth grade.

As the practitioner’s perfect contemplation matures and principle and affairs approach integration, engaging in affairs does not obstruct principle and abiding in principle does not separate one from affairs. The practitioner therefore fully practices the six perfections. In giving, one does not grasp either extreme. Within the dependent recompense and proper recompense of the ten Dharma realms, to relinquish one is to relinquish all; wealth, body, life, and fearlessness are all given. In upholding discipline, grave offenses by nature and rules preventing reproach are not separated within perfect contemplation, while none of the grave or light rules in the five vinayas is violated. In practicing forbearance, sentient beings and dharmas are originally quiescent, yet burdens are borne and patiently endured. In practicing vigor, body and mind are pure, without interruption or regression. In practicing dhyāna, one ranges through the concentrations without conflict between stillness and activity. In cultivating wisdom, provisional and real wisdom are comprehensively understood; even worldly knowledge and livelihood do not contradict the true mark. The practitioner fully explains the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing, and right contemplation grows like fire fed with fuel. This is the fifth grade.

No analogy from east, west, south, north, or the intermediate directions can match the virtue of perfect faith in these five grades. Though still the initial mind, it surpasses the virtues of śrāvaka adepts beyond training, as the scripture explains in full. If one insists on an approximate comparison for the sake of understanding, it resembles the separate and general stations of mindfulness in the Tripiṭaka tradition. By inferential meaning it also resembles the dry-wisdom ground of the Shared Teaching, the stage of the forbearance of subduing, or the ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching.

Zhang’an adds this private comment: the five grades are skillful means of the perfect tradition. To make the initial stages easy to understand, the lesser may be used as a standard from which to look toward the great, as with the five meditations for settling the mind in the Tripiṭaka Teaching. In the first grade, perfect faith in the Dharma realm trusts the buddhas above and sentient beings below and rejoices in all. This is the perfect tradition’s meditation on kindness, treating jealousy throughout the Dharma realm. In the second grade one reads and recites Great Vehicle writing. Writing is the vital breath of the Dharma body; lucid and fluent reading and recitation are the perfect tradition’s breath-counting meditation, treating scattered conceptual activity throughout the Dharma realm. The grade of teaching the Dharma purifies one’s own mind and others’ minds. It is the perfect tradition’s contemplation of dependent arising, treating one’s own and others’ delusion throughout the Dharma realm. When delusion is removed, formations through aging-and-death are likewise removed.

The grade of additionally practicing the six perfections is the perfect tradition’s meditation on impurity. The six coverings begin with desire. If desire is relinquished, both its cause and its recompense are relinquished. Once relinquished, no recompense body remains; it can be called neither pure nor impure. The grade of directly practicing the six perfections is the perfect tradition’s recollection of the Buddha. While directly practicing them, affairs themselves are principle. Principle does not obstruct the path; attachment to affairs does. When affairs themselves are seen as principle, there is no obstruction to discuss. This is the general meaning.

The Ten Faiths

Perfect hearing initially gives rise to perfect faith and perfect practice. Through skillful increase, the practitioner makes this perfect practice fivefold deeper and brighter than at the five grades, and through it enters the perfect stages. Cultivating the equal Dharma realm enters the mind of faith; cultivating kindness enters the mind of mindfulness; cultivating stillness and illumination enters the mind of vigor; cultivating the breaking of dharmas enters the mind of wisdom; cultivating openness and obstruction enters the mind of concentration; cultivating the factors of the path enters the mind of nonretrogression; cultivating primary and supporting practices enters the mind of dedication; cultivating the stages of ordinary and noble beings enters the mind that protects the Dharma; cultivating stable nonmovement enters the mind of discipline; and cultivating nonattachment enters the mind of vows. These are the ten faiths.

The Sūtra of the Garland of the Bodhisattva’s Primary Activities says, “One mind of faith has ten; the ten faiths have a hundred; the hundred dharmas are the root of all dharmas.” This is called the iron-wheel stage of the ten faiths in the Perfect Teaching. It is purification of the six faculties and analogous understanding in the Perfect Teaching, corresponding to warmth, summit, forbearance, and the foremost-in-the-world dharma. The Sūtra on the Practice of Contemplating Samantabhadra Bodhisattva describes ten objects before the forbearance of non-arising; they are this stage.

Entering this mind of faith completely breaks views and thought within the three realms, breaks dust-and-sand ignorance beyond them, and subdues the delusion of the abode of ignorance. The Scripture on Benevolent Kings and Prajñāpāramitā says, “A bodhisattva who practices the ten good deeds arouses the great mind and leaves the ocean of the turning wheel of suffering in the three realms far behind.” This too is the present stage. Different scriptures describe it in different ways.

In the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the bodhisattva Dharma Wisdom answers the deity Right Mindfulness by saying that a bodhisattva contemplates the emptiness of the ten brahmā practices and studies the ten powers of wisdom before entering the first abode. The emptiness of the ten brahmā practices is the one real truth and also the truth of cessation that is non-constructed. Studying the ten powers is contemplating the truth of the path that is non-constructed; this is the stage of the ten faiths. The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says, “It is like entering the ocean and first seeing a level expanse.” This also indicates that the vehicle leaves the three realms. The Scripture on Benevolent Kings and Prajñāpāramitā and the Samantabhadra Contemplation Sūtra have been cited above. Entering the Tathāgata’s room, sitting on the Tathāgata’s seat, and wearing the Tathāgata’s robe in a later passage are the practice range and sphere of association of the four Practices of Ease. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says, “There is another single practice, the Tathāgata’s practice, namely the Great Vehicle.” The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom says, “From the initial arousal of the mind, a bodhisattva contemplates nirvāṇa and practices the path.” When contemplation of nirvāṇa and practice of the path give rise to analogous understanding, this is the one Tathāgata-practice.

The Ten Abodes

From the analogous ten faiths one enters the real wisdom of the middle at the ten abodes. When the first abode of arousing the mind arises, three minds arise together: first, the wholesome mind of the conditioning cause; second, the wisdom mind of the revealing cause; third, the principle mind of the direct cause. These are the simultaneous opening forth of the preceding subtleties of objects, wisdom, and practice.

“Abiding” means abiding in the nirvāṇa of the three virtues. The arising of the mind of the conditioning cause means abiding in inconceivable liberation and the Śūraṃgama Samādhi. The arising of the wisdom mind means abiding in mahāprajñā and ultimate emptiness. The arising of the principle mind means abiding in the Dharma body of the true mark and the ultimate meaning of the middle way. In brief, it is abiding in the three virtues and all buddha-dharmas.

One further abides in a pure and complete mind of awakening, objectless compassion, and non-constructed vows that cover the Dharma realm. One abides in accomplishing all myriad practices and perfections within a single thought. One abides in the knowledge of all modes and perfectly severs views, thought, and ignorance throughout the Dharma realm. One abides in the Buddha-eye and perfectly sees the dharmas of the three truths in the ten Dharma realms. One abides in perfectly entering all Dharma gates—the twenty-five samādhis—and invisibly benefits sentient beings. One accomplishes the bodhisattva’s perfect activity and reveals all supernormal powers, filling the Dharma realm with the inconceivable transformations of body, speech, and mind and visibly benefiting sentient beings. One accomplishes opening the provisional to reveal the real and enters the path of the One Vehicle. One purifies and adorns all buddha lands, makes offerings to all buddhas of the ten directions through the three kinds of action, gains perfect dhāraṇī, and upholds all buddha-dharmas as clouds hold rain. From one ground one fulfills the virtues of all grounds; every mind is quiescent and naturally flows into the ocean of the knowledge of all modes. These are the ten virtues of the first abode.

The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, “Even the buddhas of the three times cannot exhaust their praise of the virtues possessed by a bodhisattva at the first abode; if these virtues were explained in full, ordinary beings who heard them would become confused and mad.” Zhang’an adds a second private comment: these ten virtues accomplished at the first abode should be the ten dharmas within the ten faiths turning from the analogous into the real, with one abode containing all ten. Examined carefully, the two correspond. Since the hundred dharmas of the ten faiths are the root of all dharmas, they can certainly be explained in this way.

At the first abode the three contemplations are present, and with a mind free of deliberate effort one severs immeasurable grades of ignorance throughout the Dharma realm; their number cannot be calculated. As a broad division, they may be spoken of as ten grades of wisdom and severance, corresponding to the ten abodes. The Scripture on Benevolent Kings says, “Prajñā that enters principle is called abiding.” This means ten advances into the uncontaminated, all seeing the ultimate principle of middle-way buddha-nature. Abiding without attachment to dharmas, one moves from shallow to deep and abides in the Buddha’s three virtues and all buddha-dharmas; hence these are called the ten abodes.

Different scriptures describe this stage differently. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, “At the first arousal of the mind, one immediately accomplishes right awakening.” Such a bodhisattva comprehends the real nature of all dharmas, does not depend on another for awakening to what is heard, accomplishes the ten powers of wisdom, ultimately leaves falsity, and is unstained like empty space; the pure and wondrous Dharma body is quiescent yet responds to all. This should be understood as giving rise to the real uncontaminated and severing the first grade of ignorance. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “Knowing all dharmas in one thought is sitting at the place of the path, because all wisdom is accomplished.” This is also entering the Dharma gate of nonduality and gaining the forbearance of non-arising. The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says that from the first arousal of the mind one sits at the place of the path, turns the Dharma wheel, and liberates sentient beings; such a bodhisattva is like a buddha. This is also the gate of the graph 阿 (a), meaning that all dharmas are unborn from the outset.

This is also the present scripture’s causing sentient beings to open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing; the dragon girl’s arousing the mind of awakening and attaining complete right awakening in an instant; and the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra saying that the mind at first arousal and the ultimate mind are not different, though the first is harder. All these Great Vehicle scriptures speak of the first abode of arousing the mind in the Perfect Teaching. The same applies through the tenth abode.

The Ten Practices, Ten Dedications, Ten Grounds, Equal Awakening, and Wondrous Awakening

At the ten practices, after the ten abodes, the true illumination of the true mark is inconceivable. Ten further rounds of wisdom and severance break ten grades of ignorance. One practice contains all practices; every thought advances and flows into the ocean of the equal Dharma realm. The perfections grow spontaneously, and the virtues of one’s own practice and transformation of others equal empty space. These are called the ten practices.

At the ten dedications, after the ten practices, one has entered the path without deliberate effort. Inconceivable true illumination opens the entire Dharma realm thought by thought. Vows and practices, affairs and principle, naturally integrate and return into the ocean of the equal Dharma realm. Ten further rounds of wisdom and severance break ten grades of ignorance. These are called the ten dedications.

At the ten grounds, uncontaminated true illumination enters the path without deliberate effort. Like the great earth, it produces all buddha-dharmas, bears the sentient beings of the Dharma realm, and universally enters the buddha-grounds of the past, present, and future. Ten further rounds of wisdom and severance break ten grades of ignorance. These are called the ten grounds.

Equal awakening penetrates to the source-bottom of beginningless ignorance. Wisdom at the boundary is complete and ultimately pure. It severs the last, most subtle ignorance at the source and ascends the summit of the mountain of the middle way, parting from the parents of ignorance. Because something remains to be severed, this is called a person with someone above.

Seventh is wondrous awakening. It is ultimate liberation and unsurpassed Buddha-wisdom. Nothing remains to be severed, so it is called one with no one above. This is the three virtues, neither vertical nor horizontal, the great nirvāṇa of the ultimate final mind. Everything is great: principle, vows, adornment, wisdom and severance, universal knowledge, path, function, provisional and real, benefit, and nonabiding. The preceding ten contemplations accomplish the Buddha-Vehicle, which becomes perfectly ultimate only at buddhahood. Beyond the graph 茶 (cha), no graph can be spoken. Thus Vairocana Buddha is called Pure and Full: all is complete.

Citing the Scriptures on the Various Numbers of Stages

The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says, “In the moon-love samādhi, from the first through the fifteenth day, form and light gradually increase; from the sixteenth through the thirtieth, form and light gradually decrease.” Increasing light represents fifteen virtues of wisdom, mahāprajñā. Decreasing light represents fifteen virtues of severance, liberation without bonds. The thirty minds are combined into three wisdoms and severances, the ten grounds are ten, and equal and wondrous awakening are one each, making fifteen. The moon’s body represents the Dharma body.

The Great Sūtra says that the moon’s nature is always full and in reality neither increases nor decreases; only because Mount Sumeru obscures it does it appear to wax and wane. It increases without increasing as the bright fortnight becomes progressively visible, and decreases without decreasing as the dark fortnight gradually disappears. The same applies to the Dharma body. In reality there is no wisdom to increase and no delusion to decrease. Because of ignorance, wisdom and severance are provisionally discussed; according to suchness there is no wisdom and no severance. Yet wisdom appears without anything acquired, and prajñā grows brighter; severance appears without anything severed, and liberation progressively draws free. The moon simile thus teaches the stages of wisdom and severance in the Perfect Teaching. The Great Sūtra also says, “First I establish my children in the secret treasury of the nirvāṇa of the three virtues; only then do I enter parinirvāṇa within this secret treasury.” This is the final wisdom and severance.

Someone asks: How do we know that the moon simile represents stages?

The answer is that the Scripture on Benevolent Kings teaches fourteen forbearances: the thirty minds are combined into three prajñās, the ten grounds are ten, and equal awakening is one. These fourteen prajñās are called forbearances while in a bodhisattva’s mind and wisdom when transferred to a buddha’s mind. This corresponds to the fifteenth day’s bright moon as a stage of wisdom. The Scripture on the Victorious Heavenly King’s Prajñāpāramitā teaches fourteen prajñā stages and directly uses the fourteen-day moon as a simile. Hence this explanation.

The Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra teaches forty-two letter gates and the equality of speech and graphs. Master Nanyue says, “These are the secret words of the buddhas; why must they not represent forty-two stages?” Some students cling to the Explanatory Treatise and say it has no such interpretation, so they doubt and reject it. Yet the original treatise had a thousand fascicles and Kumārajīva condensed it to one ninth. How can anyone conclude that the original certainly lacked this interpretation? The present explanation accords profoundly with the hidden meaning.

The scripture says that the graph 阿 (a) comes first and the graph 茶 (cha) last, with forty between them. The first letter gate contains the other forty-one, and so does the last. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that from the first ground one fulfills the virtues of all grounds; the meaning is the same. The scripture says, “If one hears the letter gate 阿, one understands every meaning, for all dharmas are unborn from the outset.” Is this not the Perfect Teaching’s first abode, where the forbearance of non-arising is first attained? Beyond 茶 no graph can be spoken: is this not unsurpassed wondrous awakening, beyond which no dharma remains? After the chapter on the Great Vehicle teaches that all dharmas are mahāyāna, it sets out the forty-two letter gates. This shows that a bodhisattva of the Perfect Teaching gains the true mark of all dharmas and contains all buddha-dharmas from the initial arousal of the mind, hence the graph 阿, and at wondrous awakening reaches the source-bottom of all dharmas, hence the graph 茶. Both meaning and number clearly accord with the perfect stages.

After the forty-two letters, the scripture next explains the ten bodhisattva grounds, revealing the skillful sequential stages of the Distinct Teaching. After those ten grounds, it sets out the ten grounds shared by the three vehicles, revealing the skillful stages of the Shared Teaching. The sequence of the text makes the three meanings evident. The forty-two letters are therefore taken here as proof of the perfect stages.

In the present scripture, the “Distinguishing Qualities” chapter clearly teaches the five grades of disciples at the initial mind; “The Qualities of the Dharma Teacher” chapter explains purification of the six faculties; and the “Skillful Means” chapter says that the buddhas appear in the world because of one great matter: to cause sentient beings to open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing. Master Nanyue explains the four clauses as follows: opening the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing is the ten abodes; revealing the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing is the ten practices; awakening to the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing is the ten dedications; entering the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing is the ten grounds and equal awakening. Each says “Buddha’s knowing” because the knowledge of all modes is attained, and “Buddha’s seeing” because the Buddha-eye is attained.

The scripture further says that this is the one great matter of the buddhas, indicating shared entry into the One Vehicle and the true mark of all dharmas. It also says that only a buddha together with a buddha can exhaustively understand the true mark of all dharmas; this is wondrous awakening. In “The Parable” chapter, the children seek carts outside the gate and the elder gives each an equally great cart. They ride the jeweled vehicle through the four directions, playing joyfully, free and unhindered, until they reach the place of the path. The four directions represent the forty stages of opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering. Going straight to the place of the path is wondrous awakening, the exhaustive realization of the true mark. In the “Introduction,” the rain of four kinds of blossoms likewise represents these forty causal stages.

The scriptures cited above and the present scripture clearly establish the forty-two stages. These are stages within no fixed stages. Practitioners penetrate the true mark, increase the path, and diminish birth-and-death; stages are discussed only on that basis.

Analytical Questions and Answers on the Number of Stages

Someone asks: When ignorance covers buddha-nature and the middle way, is it divided into only forty-two grades to be severed?

The answer is that although ignorance has no real substance, it appears to exist without truly existing, and its gradations are not entirely absent. As one broad division, forty-two grades may be spoken of; in reality their number is immeasurable and boundless. The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom says, “The types of ignorance are extremely numerous, so samādhis that break ignorance are taught repeatedly.” It also says, “Attachment to dharmas is difficult to exhaust, so prajñā is repeatedly taught.”

These perfect stages are inconceivable. If one rigidly matches each stage to one exclusive Dharma gate, those who investigate will lose the intent, generate many separated interpretations and attachments, and contradict the way of perfect integration. Such stages cannot be confined by ordinary affective views or fully expressed by an ordinary mind. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says, “The grounds cannot be spoken; how much less shown to another!” Set aside the more profound stages. Even one who practices Great Vehicle repentance, arouses the initial perfect faith of rejoicing, and gains a single revolving dhāraṇī cannot fully explain it to others; however many distinctions are made, one without realization still cannot understand. How much less the later stages, whose names the two vehicles have not even heard? How could an ordinary being explain them? This statement has deep intent: the Great Master spoke of his own realization, and Zhang’an especially recorded it.

Set even this aside. A śrāvaka who practices the four stations of mindfulness and gains the stage of warmth cannot fully explain it to an outer ordinary being; however many explanations are offered, the latter still cannot know it. Set even this aside. When a meditator first gives rise to the five factors of dhyāna, these cannot be explained to one who has not realized them; even a skillful explanation will not be understood. Set even this aside. A wheelwright cannot completely transmit the skill in his hands even to his son. How much less can profound dharmas be exhaustively explained?

Students in the latter age often cling to provisional statements in scriptures and treatises about severing and subduing, and then contend with one another. Water is by nature cold, but how could one know this without drinking it oneself? These are all inconceivable words spoken by the buddhas in response to conditions; the numbers of stages differ as faculties require expansion or contraction. What purpose is served by empty contention when one has not realized them oneself? May all beings throughout the Dharma realm take refuge in the Saṅgha jewel, cease their disputes, and enter the ocean of great harmony.

The perfect stages may also be distinguished through four alternatives: expand the earlier portion and combine the later; combine the earlier portion and expand the later; expand both the earlier and later portions; or combine both.

The Great Sūtra says that the Heaven of the Thirty-three has deathless nectar, which ruler and ministers drink together. This is a simile for the stages: the earlier thirty minds are expanded, while the ten grounds are combined as one stage; equal awakening is then counted as another, making thirty-two ministerial stages that represent the causal stages. Wondrous awakening is the ruler and represents the fruit stage. Ruler and ministers drink the nectar together, showing that causal and fruit stages alike realize permanence and bliss. Unless this passage is explained by the perfect stages, it is difficult to integrate. This is the perfect-stage teaching that expands the earlier and combines the later.

The fourteen prajñās, by contrast, combine the thirty minds into three prajñās, expand the ten grounds into ten prajñās, and add equal awakening to make fourteen prajñās, all within the causal stages; passage into the knowledge of all modes is the fruit stage. This is the perfect-stage teaching that combines the earlier and expands the later. The forty-two letter gates expand both earlier and later. The rain of four kinds of blossoms represents opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering, while the jeweled cart’s journey through the four directions combines both earlier and later. The scriptures differ in how they expand and combine, but all such arrangements are siddhānta expedients; the perfect stages themselves remain clear.

III. Severance and Subdual in the Perfect Stages

At the stage of the five grades, one already understands perfectly the four truths of the one reality. Every thought accords with all pāramitās throughout the Dharma realm; as a whole, the mind is free of distortion, bias, and the various inversions. One can perfectly subdue peripheral delusions, adventitious delusions, and fundamental delusion, and so this is called the forbearance of subdual. Beginners in the other teachings have none of this tenor. The Great Sūtra says, “Although a student of the Great Vehicle has only fleshly eyes, they are nevertheless called buddha-eyes.” This resembles a fledgling still within the egg: before it has emerged, its cry already surpasses those of other birds. It is also like the subdual at the stage of warmth in the Lesser Vehicle, which exists in the Buddha-Dharma but not among non-Buddhists. This forbearance of subdual exists only in the Perfect Teaching, not in the other three teachings.

At the stage of the ten faiths, the path of subdual is stronger. One gives rise to similar understanding and removes views and thoughts within the three realms, together with dust-and-sand ignorance both within and beyond the three realms. Although the scripture says that one gains three dhāraṇīs, this is still called only the similar path, not the true path. The revolving dhāraṇī turns from the provisional into the real; the hundred-thousand-revolution dhāraṇī turns from the real into the conventional; skillful means of the sound of Dharma are precisely the path of subdual and have not yet entered the middle way. As the Scripture of the Jeweled Necklace explains, contemplation that enters emptiness from the provisional severs views and thoughts, yet this is liberation only in the sense of leaving the false; in actuality, one has not yet attained every liberation. Thus, even with the six faculties purified, one is still at the Perfect Teaching’s stages of warmth and summit among the four wholesome roots, the path of subdual called the forbearance of pliancy.

On entering the first abode, one gains the true dhāraṇī of the sound of Dharma and formally breaks ignorance; only this is called the path of severance. Seeing buddha-nature, permanent abiding, and the truth of the ultimate meaning is called the Perfect Teaching’s forbearance of non-arising. The ten practices, ten dedications, ten grounds, and equal awakening all break ignorance and therefore also belong to the stages of the forbearance of non-arising. At wondrous awakening, the path of severance is all-pervasive and its accomplishment final; this is called the forbearance of quiescent extinction.

When these are distinguished by their different stages, the forbearances of subdual and pliancy only subdue and do not sever, like the uninterrupted path; the forbearance of quiescent extinction at wondrous awakening only severs and need not subdue again, like the path of liberation; and the forbearance of non-arising both subdues and severs, being both the uninterrupted path and the path of liberation. In the shared sense, however, the forbearance of quiescent extinction at wondrous awakening may also be called the forbearance of non-arising. The Great Sūtra says, “Nir means non-arising; vāṇa means non-ceasing. Non-arising and non-ceasing are called great nirvāṇa.” It may also be called the forbearance of subdual in the shared sense. The Scripture on Benevolent Kings says, “From the initial arousal of the mind through the summit of adamantine wisdom, all are called the forbearance of subdual.” Subdual also carries the meaning of being worthy, and the bodhisattva Universally Worthy (Samantabhadra) dwells at the summit of all forbearance of subdual. Since the forbearance of subdual can extend upward, the forbearance of pliancy may be understood analogously. Since the forbearances of subdual and pliancy can extend upward, the forbearances of quiescent extinction and non-arising should also be able to extend downward. The Scripture of Questions Asked by Brahmā Viśeṣacintin says, “All sentient beings are precisely the samādhi of cessation.” The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “All sentient beings are suchness.” Suchness is precisely the forbearance of non-arising. Again, non-arising may be named in terms of phenomena and quiescent extinction in terms of principle; or partial realization may be called quiescent extinction, reserving the name “non-arising” for the ultimate fruit stage.

When discussed in terms of cause and fruit, there are also shared and distinct senses. In the shared sense, all sentient beings are precisely great nirvāṇa—speaking of the fruit on the basis of the cause—while buddha-nature is called a cause—speaking of the cause on the basis of the fruit. The Great Sūtra says, “What is fruit and not cause is called great nirvāṇa; what is cause and not fruit is called buddha-nature.” True and lucid seeing of buddha-nature occurs only at the buddha stage, so buddha-nature can also be called cause from the standpoint of the fruit stage. Equal awakening is cause in relation to wondrous awakening and fruit in relation to bodhisattvas below it. From there downward, every stage is both cause and cause of a cause, both fruit and fruit of a fruit.

In the strict sense of distinction, however, the forbearances of subdual and pliancy are not true causes, and the forbearance of non-arising is not yet the true fruit. Only the ten abodes and above are called true causes, and only wondrous awakening is called the true fruit. Why are the forbearances of subdual and pliancy not called true causes? In the Lesser Vehicle, for example, the expedient stages are not called the path of cultivation; only after seeing the truths is one called a cultivator of the path in the true sense. The principle here may be understood accordingly. The views and thoughts severed at the stage of the forbearance of pliancy resemble oil floating on water: they are false, floating delusions, easily blown away. Ignorance, however, is a delusion identical in substance with Dharma-nature, like milk mixed into water. Only the bodhisattva goose-kings who have ascended to the first abode or above can sip out the milk of ignorance and leave behind the pure water of Dharma-nature. From this point upward, the stages are therefore judged to be true causes.

Furthermore, the Distinct Teaching says that views are completely severed at the third or fourth ground and thoughts at the sixth or seventh ground. This should not be understood in the true sense. Why? Views and thoughts within ignorance are delusions identical in substance with it; how could they be completely severed at different times? This must be a statement in which the Distinct Teaching incidentally follows a Lesser Vehicle expedient. If views had already been completely severed, so that the real principle was no longer obstructed, why would the seeing of the ten grounds still not be ultimately clear? The Treatise on the Bodhisattva Grounds says, “The ninth is the pure-purifying dhyāna free from all views.” “Ninth” means the ground of equal awakening; only by entering the dhyāna free from views does one attain the fruit of great bodhi. If views were severed earlier, what views would equal awakening still have to leave?

If thoughts had already been completely severed, the later grounds should no longer have recompense or the various dhyānas. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra describes inconceivable clouds of incense and flowers in asaṃkhyeyas filling the Dharma realm. These are the five objects—forms, sounds, scents, flavors, and tangibles—produced through a bodhisattva’s supremely wondrous recompense, and they are here called thought-delusions of the desire realm. All bodhisattvas enter and leave immeasurable hundreds of thousands of samādhis and dhyānas; these mental-object dharmas are called thought-delusions of the form and formless realms. If thoughts were completely severed at the seventh ground, the higher grounds should be utterly free of the six objects. Why, then, is it said that the three worthy stages and ten noble stages dwell within recompense? Since they dwell within recompense, thoughts cannot already have been exhausted. The present teaching says that these views and thoughts extend through the higher grounds and are exhausted only at the buddha stage. Hence it says, “Only the Buddha dwells in the pure land; only the Buddha can exhaust their source.” Severance and subdual should therefore be distinguished as above.

Someone asks: Within the three realms, views are necessarily severed first, thoughts next, and ignorance last. Why does the sequence beyond the three realms differ?

The answer is that the suffering of the three evil destinies within the three realms is severe. Thus one first severs the views that lead to evil destinies, then thoughts, and finally addresses ignorance. Suffering beyond the three realms is lighter, so one first severs the peripheral and later the fundamental. Moreover, thoughts and ignorance do not obstruct partial reality; to see the real first, one therefore removes views first. Beyond the three realms, dust-and-sand is a delusion upon the substance; though comparatively remote, it obstructs the real principle. One therefore removes the remote obstruction before the near one.

Again, for a bodhisattva in the last body and for those of the two vehicles who leap through the sequence of fruits in the Tripiṭaka Teaching, views and thoughts may be severed simultaneously, and there is also an explanation in which thoughts are severed first. Only those who do not leap through the fruits sever them in sequence. The Shared Teaching likewise has both leaping and nonleaping meanings. The Distinct Teaching severs them sequentially, whereas the Perfect Teaching severs them simultaneously. The original question saw only a single route, and that is why it became a doubt.

IV. Virtues and Functions

When the two graphs are explained separately, “virtue” means advancing one’s own cultivation, while “function” means benefiting others. When explained together, the phrase primarily concerns transforming others.

Although true principle has not yet manifestly opened at the five grades, contemplative wisdom is already perfect and complete. Such a person still possesses the nature of the afflictions, yet knows the Tathāgata’s secret treasury and can serve as the world’s first reliance. To rely on this person is like relying on the Tathāgata. One should know that before long this person will reach the tree of the path and draw near to bodhi. The entire world should venerate this person, and all worthies and sages delight in seeing them.

At the similar understanding of the purification of the six faculties, perfect contemplation is clearer and one has long since bid farewell to the ocean of suffering. With one wondrous sound one can fill a trichiliocosm; wherever one’s mind intends it to reach, all devas and nāgas go there to hear the Dharma. Whatever Dharma one teaches can cause the assembly to rejoice. This still belongs to the first reliance.

The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra marks out four reliances, whose meaning applies to both the Perfect and Distinct Teachings. Most Dharma masters classify them according to the Distinct Teaching: everything before ascent to the grounds is generally called the first reliance; from ascent to the grounds through the third ground, where views are completely severed, one is called a stream-enterer, the second reliance; at the fifth ground, where thoughts are gradually encroached upon, one is called a once-returner and remains within the second reliance; at the seventh ground, where thoughts are exhausted, one is called a non-returner, the third reliance; and from the eighth through the tenth ground, when the three kinds of residual tendencies belonging to the desire, form, and formless realms are exhausted, one is called an arhat, the fourth reliance. If the perfect stages are aligned with the distinct stages, the last three reliances should be discussed within the ten abodes, which together with the pre-abode stages make four reliances. If they are classified directly across the perfect stages from beginning to end, the five grades and six faculties are the first reliance, the ten abodes the second, the ten practices and ten dedications the third, and the ten grounds and equal awakening the fourth.

From the first abode upward, virtue and function may be discussed together. If vertical virtue is not profound, horizontal function cannot be broad; when vertical virtue is profound, horizontal function is necessarily broad. This resembles a tree whose roots reach deep: its branches extend, and its blossoms and leaves are abundant. At the first abode, one vertically breaks one portion of ignorance, gains one portion of the twenty-five samādhis, and reveals one portion of true-self buddha-nature. Considered at the site of true realization, this is inconceivable. Explained through the teaching gates, however, one can horizontally divide one’s body and scatter one’s reflections throughout one hundred buddha-worlds, manifest forms of the ten Dharma realms, and benefit and protect sentient beings.

At each succeeding abode, vertical depth doubles and deepens: ignorance is progressively exhausted, samādhis increase level by level, true-self buddha-nature is disclosed portion by portion, and horizontal function gradually broadens. From a thousand buddha-worlds, to ten thousand buddha-worlds, to buddha-worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges, up to ineffable-ineffable buddha-worlds, one pervades them all, manifests the eight marks of buddhahood, and transforms sentient beings—to say nothing of bodies in the other nine Dharma realms. The ten practices, ten dedications, and ten grounds proceed in the same way. As for complete fulfillment, only a buddha together with a buddha can exhaust the source of ignorance. Thus the scripture’s intent is that no ignorance remains in the Buddha’s mind; only the Buddha, king of the Dharma, ultimately abides in the kingly samādhi. Vairocana’s Dharma body horizontally pervades the Dharma realm and vertically exhausts bodhi: great virtue is fulfilled and supreme function complete.

V. Judging the Stages as Coarse or Wondrous

The small herbs escape only the four evil destinies; they can neither stir nor emerge. Although the medium herbs can stir and emerge, their wisdom still cannot exhaust the source and their beneficence cannot extend universally to sentient beings. Although the superior herbs can benefit others as well, they extinguish form to apprehend emptiness, so their method is clumsy. Although the small tree uses skillful means, its virtue reaches only within the three realms. All these stages are therefore coarse. What the great tree cultivates is a real matter: all its practices condition the middle way, all break ignorance, and all function beyond the three realms. Thus its stages are wondrous. Yet the Distinct Teaching enters through an expedient gate; its path twists and circles, its method is clumsy, and its stages remain coarse. The Perfect Teaching enters directly and is therefore wondrous.

Compared with the five grades of the Perfect Teaching, a Tripiṭaka bodhisattva who has not severed delusion at all is in one respect equal and in another inferior. Both have not severed delusion, so they are equal; but the five grades perfectly understand permanent abiding, whereas the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva has never heard of permanent abiding at all, and so is inferior. Compared with the stage of purification of the six faculties, the Tripiṭaka buddha stage, where views and thoughts are exhausted, is likewise equal in one respect and inferior in another. Both remove the delusions of the four abodes, so they are equal; but in subduing ignorance even the Tripiṭaka buddha remains inferior. If this is true even of the buddha, the two vehicles need not be discussed. The three herbs grow thickly but remain low; their generative function is shallow and brief, so all their stages are coarse.

The dry-wisdom and nature grounds of the Shared Teaching may be compared with the five grades in the same pattern of equality and inferiority. From the ground of the eight persons through the sixth ground, the Shared Teaching exhausts views and thoughts; at the seventh ground it cultivates expedients, and only at the buddha stage does it exhaust residual tendencies. Compared with the similar understanding of the Perfect Teaching, this too is equal in one respect and inferior in another, as the preceding meaning shows. The small tree still lacks a trunk towering into the clouds and branches and leaves swaying as they spread their broad cover, so all its stages are coarse.

The ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching and the five grades of the Perfect Teaching are equal in not yet severing delusion. Yet the ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching cultivate through sequential distinctions, while the five grades of the Perfect Teaching possess perfect understanding, and so the five grades are superior. The ten abodes of the Distinct Teaching sever the views and thoughts discussed in the Shared Teaching; its ten practices break dust-and-sand; and its ten dedications subdue ignorance. Taken together, these are equal only to the ten faiths of the Perfect lineage; relative superiority and inferiority can be distinguished according to the preceding meaning.

The first ground of the Distinct Teaching breaks ignorance and is equal only to the first abode of the Perfect lineage. If one says that the ten grounds of the Distinct Teaching sever ten grades of ignorance, the ten abodes of the Perfect lineage likewise sever ten grades. Even if the ten grounds of the Distinct Teaching are expanded into thirty grades, they are equal only to the thirty grades of the ten abodes of the Perfect lineage. If one assesses the Distinct Teaching generously, the Perfect lineage does not expand the ten abodes into thirty; instead, its thirty minds are aligned with the thirty grades of the ten grounds of the Distinct Teaching, so that the Distinct Teaching’s ten grounds equal the Perfect lineage’s ten dedications. If one strictly takes away the high position claimed for it, the Distinct Teaching’s buddha ground equals only the first practice of the Perfect lineage; if assessed generously, the Distinct Teaching’s buddha ground equals the first ground of the Perfect lineage.

Thus it is known that provisional discourse in the Distinct Teaching places the buddha stage high; compared with the real stages, however, its buddha stage remains low. It is like a frontier region not yet pacified, where temporary official appointments are high; once the situation is settled and offices are formally assigned according to rank and merit, their positions become low. The Distinct Teaching’s provisional discourse is high yet coarse, while the Perfect Teaching’s real discourse appears low yet is wondrous. The simile is easy to understand. When my causal stage is taken as your fruit stage, the distinct stages are coarse.

Although a great tree has an immense girth, it must grow from the earth and gradually mature. From this we know that the perfect stages from beginning to end are all real discourse, with real subdual and real severance, and all are called wondrous. The Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom says, “Suppose there is a tree called Good-Firm. It spends one hundred years below the earth; once it emerges, it immediately rises one hundred zhang and covers the crowns of every other tree.” This is a simile for the perfect stages.

VI. Why Stages Are Established

Someone asks: Since all provisional expedient stages are coarse, why did the Buddha teach them?

The answer is that sentient beings differ in what they delight in, in the conditions through which they can give rise to good, in the ways they recognize faults and reform evil, and in the routes by which they awaken and enter in dependence on the teachings. Thus the Tathāgata’s various teachings all bring benefit.

To accord with preferences within the three realms, he teaches the stages of the first two teachings; to accord with preferences beyond the three realms, he teaches the stages of the latter two. To produce phenomenal good within the three realms, he teaches the Tripiṭaka stages; to produce principial good within the three realms, the Shared stages; to produce phenomenal good beyond the three realms, the Distinct stages; and to produce principial good beyond the three realms, the Perfect stages. To break phenomenal evil within the three realms, he teaches the Tripiṭaka stages; to break principial evil within the three realms, the Shared stages; to break the phenomenal evil of dust-and-sand, the Distinct stages; and to break the principial evil of ignorance, the Perfect stages. To enter the real by conditioning phenomena, he teaches the Tripiṭaka stages; to enter the real by conditioning principle, the Shared stages; to enter the middle from phenomena, the Distinct stages; and to see the middle by conditioning principle, the Perfect stages. For these reasons the various stages are established, producing immeasurable distinctions of higher and lower ranks.

VII. Why Stages Are Retired

True principle originally has no stages. Stages are established only because of sentient beings’ conditions; as conditions arise in succession, stages also recede in succession. The retirement of stages did not begin for the first time with the Lotus Sūtra. One must understand the intent behind the various refutations and establishments and not refute or establish them recklessly.

The Tathāgata initially established the Tripiṭaka stages as an expedient to cause sentient beings to produce phenomenal good. Once phenomenal good has arisen and its salvific function is complete, they should be retired. The same applies to the stages of the Shared and Distinct Teachings. This is the Tathāgata’s intent in refuting and establishing.

When the Abhidharma and Mahāvibhāṣā discuss the bodhisattva, Nāgārjuna repeatedly refutes them, considering them to have lost the expedient intent of the Buddha’s teaching; thus they had to be refuted. At the same time, he elucidates the Buddha’s expedients, so they also had to be established. This is Nāgārjuna’s intent in refuting and establishing.

If ordinary Great Vehicle Dharma masters make no arrangement of the Tripiṭaka Teaching at all, they bury the Buddha’s expedients. If ordinary Lesser Vehicle Dharma masters extract meanings from Great Vehicle scriptures to explain the bodhisattva doctrine in the treatises they transmit, then although the Mahāvibhāṣā itself already teaches a bodhisattva doctrine, they leave it unused and instead draw on Great Vehicle scriptures to explain the Tripiṭaka Teaching’s gates of emptiness and existence. How could the two fit together? This has two faults: first, it buries the Buddha’s expedients; second, it makes the treatise master appear not to understand the bodhisattva doctrine. It must therefore be refuted.

Even when scriptures are cited to explain a Great Vehicle teaching, one must ask which kind of Great Vehicle is meant. If it is explained as the Great Vehicle of the Shared Teaching, the three vehicles enter the real truth together and remain alike even at the buddha stage. How, then, could the eighth ground contemplate the middle way and break ignorance? The meaning of the Shared Teaching cannot be established and must therefore be refuted. If it is explained as the Great Vehicle of the Distinct Teaching, beginners differ from the two vehicles from the outset. How, then, could the sixth ground be equal to an arhat? The meaning of the Distinct Teaching also cannot be established and must therefore be refuted. The Distinct Teaching is itself expedient; clinging to the provisional Dharma and slandering the real Dharma must also be refuted. People of the past have long departed, but their doctrinal explanations became fixed. Their faults are now visible and must therefore be refuted. Yet because the Buddha’s expedients must still be elucidated, they should also be established. This is the present master’s intent in refuting and establishing.

The Perfect Teaching was established by a single master. It surpasses the three provisional teachings and is immediately the one reality; its objects, wisdom, practices, and stages all differ from the preceding three. If the wording and meaning accord, we can proceed together along the level great road. If one loses the purport and departs from the true track, please follow a good guide. Having first explained the threefold refutation and establishment, we now formally explain the retirement of stages.

The Buddha establishes or retires teachings and stages for the faculties, as the Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings says: “Immeasurable dharmas arise from one dharma—that is, the two paths, three dharmas, and four fruits.” The two paths are sudden and gradual; the three dharmas are the three vehicles; the four fruits are the four kinds of stages. These immeasurable dharmas arise from one dharma. The sudden path resembles the sun first shining on the high mountains; it is the great path and is provisionally set aside here. We begin with the Tripiṭaka Teaching, the first of the gradual path.

This teaching says that one who seeks buddhahood must cultivate the six perfections through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas and then cultivate the marks and excellences through one hundred kalpas before buddhahood can be attained. It is taught in this way to cause sentient beings to produce phenomenal good. Those who seek buddhahood thereby reform evil and follow good; once good is established, the work of this teaching is complete. It is then refuted: how could a bodhisattva who has not severed the afflictive bonds attain bodhi? A poisoned vessel cannot hold food. The teaching is therefore retired, as are the practices and stages it teaches. One originally cultivated the causes while looking up to the fruit of buddhahood; now that there is no corresponding fruit to seek, buddha-wisdom and the buddha stage are retired as well.

From the standpoint of the two vehicles, phenomenal practices originally disciplined their minds and they used the comparatively clumsy method of analytic emptiness to see the real. Once they have seen the real, the teaching’s intent is fulfilled, so the analytic teaching is retired. This is called retiring the Tripiṭaka and establishing the Shared. One who originally received the Shared Teaching directly and never studied the Tripiṭaka is not told that the Tripiṭaka is retired.

The Shared Teaching is established to cause sentient beings to produce principial good. By directly comprehending dharmas, they sever delusion and enter the real through a comparatively skillful method; once they have entered the real, the teaching’s intent is fulfilled. Having seen emptiness, a wise person should also see nonemptiness; how could one remain forever in emptiness? The Shared Teaching is therefore retired, as are the bodhisattva’s practice and wisdom; buddha-wisdom and the buddha stage are also retired. For the two vehicles, only the teaching is retired; the remaining cases are separately distinguished. The Shared Teaching can lead both to itself and to the Distinct Teaching. The meaning of shared prajñā is as explained above, while unshared prajñā has an aspect that is not retired. Thus the masters of the Satyasiddhi Treatise and Treatise on the Grounds see only the shared meaning of prajñā and not its unshared meaning, while masters of the Treatise on the Middle grasp the unshared meaning but lose the shared.

Because the Shared Teaching has these two meanings, retirement applies to its bodhisattvas and to śrāvakas still within expedient means. For śrāvakas already abiding in the fruit, it is not yet retired completely; for unshared bodhisattvas, there is a meaning of non-retirement.

The Distinct Teaching was established to produce phenomenal good beyond the three realms. Once dust-and-sand ignorance has been broken and phenomenal good accomplished, the teaching’s intent is fulfilled and it must still be refuted. Since this was taught according to others’ intentions, the Distinct Teaching itself is retired; all practices and stages before ascent to the grounds are retired, while the high names assigned to the stages from the grounds upward and to the buddha stage are also retired from the high and returned to the low. In this way, the Distinct is retired and the Perfect established.

The eightfold stages of the Perfect Teaching are all real stages and therefore need not be retired. The Great Sūtra says, “All rivers have bends; every grove necessarily has trees.” The other teachings accord with sentient beings’ affective views and therefore have bends. The three herbs and two trees are the Buddha’s expedients, not the real, so their stages should be retired. The great river with golden sand flows straight into the western sea; trees of gold and silver make an entirely jeweled grove, direct rather than bending, and therefore are not retired.

In the past, the gradual was opened from the sudden, but the gradual had not yet been integrated with the sudden. Now the gradual is led into the sudden, so it must be retired at every point. Once it has been integrated into the sudden, why would the sudden need to be retired? The scripture says that on first seeing the Buddha’s body, one enters the Tathāgata’s wisdom; therefore this one teaching is not retired. It also says that only the unsurpassed path is taught; this path is not retired. In the past, the three were taught distinctly within the One Buddha Vehicle; because the three vehicles had not yet been integrated, they had to be retired at every point so that the three could be united in the one. Now the three have been integrated and returned to the one, all share the One Vehicle, and therefore the one practice is not retired.

In the past, the four fruits were separate: the fruit of arhatship, the fruit of pratyekabuddhahood, the bodhisattva’s fruit of cultivation, and the expedient fruit of buddhahood; alternatively, four kinds of buddhas were taken as the four fruits. To integrate these fruits, they had to be retired at every point. Now the thatched hut has been dismantled and the conjured city erased; everyone arrives together at the jeweled place. Thus the one fruit is not retired. In this sense, three kinds must be retired and one kind need not be retired.

Yet each of the three teachings also has retirement and non-retirement. From the night the Buddha attained the path until the night he entered nirvāṇa, the four divisions of the Āgamas that he taught were compiled as the śrāvaka treasury. How could the initial teaching ever have disappeared completely? It accomplishes phenomenal good for earlier people and also suits the phenomenal good of later people, so it is both retired and not retired. The Shared Teaching similarly accomplishes earlier people and draws in later people; the Distinct Teaching does the same.

The Perfect Teaching is established and also not established. When the sun first shone on the high mountains, it was already established; for those who received only the Tripiṭaka Teaching, it had not yet been established. The scripture’s statement “When they first saw my body, they entered the Tathāgata’s wisdom” shows its earlier establishment; when students of the Lesser Vehicle now enter buddha-wisdom, it is established again later. Intermediate cases may be understood accordingly. The various practices and wisdoms are both retired and not retired, and the various fruit stages are likewise both retired and not retired.

When the five flavors are surveyed, the milk flavor has two teachings: the practices and stages of one teaching are both retired and not retired, while those of the other teaching are not retired. The curds flavor has one teaching, whose practices and stages are both retired and not retired. The raw-ghee flavor has four teachings: the practices and stages of three are both retired and not retired, while those of one are not retired. The refined-ghee flavor has three teachings: the practices and stages of two are both retired and not retired, while those of one are not retired. In the Lotus Sūtra, the practices and stages of three teachings are all retired, while those of one teaching are not. Because only the unsurpassed path is taught and all share the one jeweled vehicle, proceeding directly to the place of the path, the teaching, practice, and fruit are all not retired.

The two paths, three dharmas, and four fruits in the Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings had not yet been integrated. In the Lotus Sūtra they are all integrated, so retirement is no longer discussed. For more than forty years after the Buddha attained the path, the real had not yet been revealed; only in the Lotus Sūtra was the real revealed. The tradition transmits that the Buddha taught the Lotus Sūtra at the age of seventy-two.

There are also four alternatives: the teaching is retired but practices and stages are not; practices and stages are retired but the teaching is not; both the teaching and practices and stages are retired; neither the teaching nor practices and stages are retired. What does it mean for the teaching to be retired while practices and stages are not? Śrāvakas abiding in the fruit remain in the thatched hut; their practices and stages are not retired, but their original teaching has been. What does it mean for practices and stages to be retired while the teaching is not? Those of sharp faculties receive hidden benefit: without waiting for the teaching to be retired, they have already ceased their original practices and stages. What does it mean for both to be retired? This is the case of Tripiṭaka bodhisattvas. What does it mean for neither to be retired? The original dispensation is retained to draw in those with later conditions. The Shared and Distinct Teachings may be understood analogously.

From the standpoint of setting up provisional teachings, the practices and stages of the three teachings are established while those of the one teaching are not separately established. From the standpoint of retiring the provisional, the practices and stages of the three are retired while those of the one are not. For those of sharp faculties, the one teaching is established and the three are not; for those of dull faculties, the three are established and the one is not separately established. In transforming the dull into the sharp, the one is established and the three are not. When sharp and dull faculties are considered together, there is both establishment and non-establishment, both retirement and non-retirement. From the standpoint of the equal Dharma realm, there is neither establishment nor non-establishment, neither retirement nor non-retirement.

There are another four alternatives: retire the original teaching and then hear a new teaching; retire the original teaching and hear no further teaching; do not retire the original teaching and then hear a new teaching; neither retire the original teaching nor hear any further teaching. Retiring the teaching and then hearing anew means retiring the phenomenal good of the six perfections and turning to hear the principial good in which the distinctions of the three vehicles have disappeared. Retiring the teaching and hearing no more means that after the teaching is retired, those of the two vehicles who abide in the fruit enter cessation. Not retiring the teaching and hearing anew means drawing in those who study sequentially, so that in the Vaipulya period they hear the names of the Great and Lesser Vehicles together. Neither retiring nor hearing anew means that before the original teaching has been publicly retired, practitioners have already awakened in secret.

There are another four alternatives: retire the original wisdom and cultivate a new wisdom; do not retire the original wisdom but cultivate further; retire the original wisdom and do not cultivate further; neither retire the original wisdom nor cultivate further. A Tripiṭaka bodhisattva retires their own wisdom and turns to cultivate the wisdom of non-arising: this is retirement followed by further cultivation. A śrāvaka abiding in the fruit does not retire their own wisdom but travels far to observe and learn the wisdom of non-arising. In actuality this person does not use skillful wisdom to sever the bonds; those who study sequentially also belong here. This is non-retirement followed by further cultivation.

A śrāvaka abiding in the fruit gives rise to the idea of extinction and refuses to cultivate the Great Vehicle: this is neither retirement nor cultivation. When the four great disciples declared their understanding, they said, “In the past, our bodies were weary and indolent, and we thought only of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness; toward the bodhisattva-dharmas, we had no aspiration or delight at all.” Cases in which the original Dharma is retained to draw in those with later conditions also belong here. If a Tripiṭaka bodhisattva retires their original wisdom and then falls back into various evils, this is retirement without further cultivation. If one retires the original wisdom, secretly enters the sudden, and no longer cultivates expedient wisdom, that also belongs here.

There are another four alternatives: retire the original stage and then enter a new stage; retire the original stage and do not enter a new stage; neither retire the original stage nor enter again; do not retire the original stage but enter again. A Tripiṭaka bodhisattva retires the stage that does not sever delusion and enters a stage that does: this is retirement followed by entry. One who secretly and suddenly awakens after the original stage is retired and does not enter sequential stages is retirement without further entry. Those of the two vehicles who abide in the fruit neither retire their original stages nor enter again. Those who draw in beings with later conditions, and those who secretly awaken to a higher stage before their original stage is retired, do not retire but enter again. The wisdoms and stages of the Shared and Distinct Teachings should be analyzed in the same way.

Someone asks: Further cultivation after retirement may provide benefit. What benefit is there in retiring something without further cultivation?

The answer is that some receive benefit directly because the original mode of cultivation is retired. Others are rebuked and hear of its retirement; although they do not immediately cultivate further, they become ashamed of the baseness of the Lesser Vehicle and subdue their haste to seize realization, which remains beneficial. If one considers only whether their severance of the bonds is equal, one will think there is no benefit. In fact, the benefit lies in turning them from the lesser toward the great.

VIII. Opening and Revealing the Coarse Stages as the Wondrous Stages

Breaking the three teachings to reveal the one perfect teaching is relational wondrousness, whose meaning is as explained above. Understanding that the three are immediately the one is absolute wondrousness, whose meaning differs. Why? In the past, the real Dharma was already contained within the provisional Dharma, like the lotus seedpod contained in the blossom. Opening the provisional to reveal the real is like the blossom opening and the seedpod appearing. Apart from this blossom there is no other seedpod; apart from this coarse there is no other wondrous. Why first break the coarse stages and then go elsewhere to seek the wondrous? One need only open and determine the provisional stages for the wondrous stages to appear.

To open the coarse mind of an ordinary being in birth-and-death is to say that an ordinary being’s mind can transform again and again and therefore readily arouse the mind of bodhi. Birth-and-death is immediately nirvāṇa, with no difference between them; the coarse mind is immediately wondrous. If an ordinary being first gives rise in distinction to four kinds of mind—analytic emptiness, embodied emptiness, sequential entry into the middle, and perfectly integrated entry into the middle—these are also the initial minds of the four kinds of stages. All are minds arising through conditions. This conditioned mind is immediately empty, provisional, and middle, no different from the beginner’s mind in the Perfect Teaching. The various initial minds are like milk; opening and revealing their wondrousness resembles placing poison in milk so that it can kill. The poison may take effect slowly or quickly. When wondrousness is determined within the original stage, it becomes nominal wondrousness; when one enters expedient means, it becomes similar wondrousness; when one enters true principle, it becomes partial-true wondrousness.

The same applies to opening and determining the provisional practices of the six perfections. Giving is a conditioned dharma that is immediately empty, provisional, and middle. Opening and determining giving enables one to see buddha-nature; the same applies to ethical discipline, patience, vigor, dhyāna, and prajñā. This too is called placing poison in milk so that it can kill. When wondrousness is determined within the original stage, it is nominal wondrousness; upon entering expedient means, similar wondrousness; upon entering true principle, partial-true wondrousness. The same applies to opening the provisional to reveal the real for śrāvakas in expedient means who have not yet entered a stage.

If stages that have severed the bonds in the Tripiṭaka Teaching have not yet had the provisional opened, they resemble scorched seeds that cannot sprout and can never grow again. Now analytic emptiness is opened and determined as immediately provisional and middle, like placing poison in curds so that it can kill. When wondrousness is determined within the coarse stage, this is the similar stage; if one advances and enters, wondrousness is judged according to the stage entered.

The same applies to opening the two vehicles and bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching. For a Shared-Teaching bodhisattva who emerges into the provisional, determining that this provisional is immediately the middle resembles placing poison in raw ghee so that it can kill. When wondrousness is determined within the coarse stage, this is the similar stage; if one advances and enters, wondrousness is judged according to the stage entered.

Opening the ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching follows the preceding pattern; opening its ten abodes follows the pattern of the two vehicles; opening its ten practices follows that of the Shared-Teaching bodhisattva who emerges into the provisional. For the ten dedications, which subdue ignorance, determining the middle within that very stage is called placing poison in refined ghee so that it can kill. When wondrousness is determined within the coarse stage, this is the similar stage; if one advances and enters, wondrousness is judged according to the stage entered.

If those who have ascended to the grounds in the Distinct Teaching have still not been determined, theirs are merely stages of deliverance by clumsy means. Now this provisional is determined and opened so that the real is disclosed; this is placing poison in clarified essence so that it kills. When wondrousness is determined within the coarse stage, it is the stage of the ten abodes in the Perfect Teaching; if one advances and enters, wondrousness is judged according to the stage entered.

In sum, when the various provisional stages are determined and opened, some are wondrous within their original stage and some advance to enter the wondrous. Once they have been opened and determined, no coarse remains in relation to the wondrous; all become one wondrousness. The meaning is now clear.

Another simile explains this. When a great minister from a small kingdom comes to court in a great kingdom, he loses his rank in his original kingdom. Although he may be included among the court officials, his is only a nominal office beyond the fixed complement. Although a minor minister of the great kingdom has no high rank, the ruler depends on him as an intimate confidant, and other kingdoms therefore hold him in esteem. When the coarse is determined and opened into the wondrous across the stages of each teaching, all enter the same Dharma current; yet compared with the eight kinds of wondrous stages in the Perfect Teaching, they remain converts from dull faculties. As soon as a practitioner of the Perfect Teaching arouses the mind, though not yet formally entered into a stage, they already know the Tathāgata’s secret treasury and are therefore called a buddha. If this is so of the initial mind, how much more so of later stages?

IX. Establishing the Stages of the Four Teachings through Five Similes

We now cite five similes from the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra to establish the stages of the four teachings. Unless the four teachings are used to explain these similes, the similes cannot be understood; unless the five similes are used to judge the stages of the four teachings, the meaning of the stages is also difficult to accept in faith. When the scriptural text is accepted, the meaning of the stages becomes easy to understand; when the intent of the stages is understood, the scriptural similes become clear. Each side requires the other, and both may be said to reach fulfillment.

First Milk Simile

The scripture says, “An ordinary being is like milk; a stream-enterer is like curds; a once-returner is like raw ghee; a non-returner is like refined ghee; an arhat, pratyekabuddha, and buddha are like clarified essence.” This is a simile for the five stages of the Tripiṭaka Teaching.

An ordinary being is entirely raw and has not yet removed delusion; a Tripiṭaka bodhisattva likewise has not severed delusion, so both are only like milk. A stream-enterer breaks views and turns from ordinary to noble, like milk transforming into curds. A once-returner gradually encroaches upon six grades of thoughts and is therefore like raw ghee. A non-returner has completely severed the thoughts of the desire realm and is therefore like refined ghee. Arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and Tripiṭaka buddhas have all exhausted views and thoughts in the three realms and are therefore alike called clarified essence. Thus the Explanatory Treatise says that in the śrāvaka scriptures the ground of the arhat is called the ground of the buddha, and hence both are of one flavor.

Someone asks: In the present scripture, the Tripiṭaka bodhisattva is compared to a superior herb. Why is the bodhisattva here compared to the milk flavor?

The answer is that the present scripture takes the bodhisattva’s comparatively strong power to transform sentient beings, and so compares the bodhisattva to a superior herb. Here it takes the comparatively weak power of personal realization, and so places the bodhisattva together with ordinary beings in the milk flavor.

Second Milk Simile

The thirty-second fascicle of the Great Sūtra says, “An ordinary being is like milk mixed with blood; a stream-enterer and once-returner are like pure milk; a non-returner is like curds; an arhat is like raw ghee; a pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva are like refined ghee; a buddha is like clarified essence.” This is a simile for the five stages of the Shared Teaching.

An ordinary being has not yet severed delusion, so the milk is still mixed with blood. The first and second fruits have made only limited encroachments on thoughts, and so the second fruit is compared together with the first to pure milk. The third fruit has completely severed the thoughts of the desire realm and is therefore like curds. The fourth fruit has exhausted both views and thoughts and is therefore like raw ghee. A pratyekabuddha has sharper wisdom and also encroaches upon residual tendencies, slightly surpassing the śrāvaka, and so is compared together with the bodhisattva to refined ghee. The tenth ground of the Shared Teaching is called the buddha ground and is clarified essence.

The preceding simile placed the bodhisattva in the same flavor as an ordinary being, showing that it concerns the Tripiṭaka Teaching. This simile places the bodhisattva in the same flavor as a pratyekabuddha, showing that it concerns the Shared Teaching. Without the Shared Teaching as an explanation, how could the meaning of the simile become clear?

Third Milk Simile

The upper half of fascicle five ends here, and the lower half begins below. The treatise next cites the ninth fascicle of the Great Sūtra: “The buddha-nature of an ordinary being is like a newborn calf whose blood and milk have not yet separated; that of a śrāvaka is like pure milk; that of a pratyekabuddha is like curds; that of a bodhisattva is like raw ghee and refined ghee; that of a buddha is like clarified essence.” This is a simile for the five stages of the Distinct Teaching.

Milk represents ignorance, while blood represents the delusions of the four abodes. Ordinary beings possess both completely and are therefore called mixed with blood. The ten abodes of the Distinct Teaching have severed the blood of the four abodes and are equal to the two vehicles, so the śrāvaka is said to be like pure milk. At the last mind of the ten abodes, true principle grows clearer and wisdom sharper, resembling a pratyekabuddha’s encroachment on residual tendencies, and so it is like curds. The ten practices break dust-and-sand and are like raw ghee; the ten dedications break dust-and-sand beyond the three realms and are like refined ghee, and so the bodhisattva is said to be like raw and refined ghee. On ascending to the grounds, one breaks ignorance and reveals buddha-nature; one can manifest immeasurable bodies from a single body and display the eight marks of buddhahood throughout one hundred buddha-worlds, so the buddha is said to be like clarified essence.

Simile of the Forbearance Herb

The twenty-fifth fascicle of the Great Sūtra says, “On Snow Mountain there is an herb called Forbearance. If a cow eats it, the cow directly produces clarified essence.” The cow represents an ordinary being and the herb the noble eightfold path. To cultivate the noble eightfold path and immediately see buddha-nature is called obtaining clarified essence. This is a simile for the Perfect Teaching.

A practitioner of the Perfect Teaching travels the broad, direct path and contemplates all sentient beings as immediately the mark of nirvāṇa, never again to be extinguished. Perfect faith and perfect practice need not pass through distinct sequential stages; within a single life one enters the first abode and sees buddha-nature. This is like a cow that eats the forbearance herb and, without passing through the four flavors of milk, curds, raw ghee, and refined ghee, directly produces clarified essence. Thus we know that this is the intent of the Perfect Teaching. The forbearance herb represents the wondrous object, the cow wondrous wisdom, eating the herb wondrous practice, and producing clarified essence the wondrous stage: this is the perfect meaning. If a cow eats other grasses, blood and milk transform step by step, passing through four flavors before becoming clarified essence; this represents the coarse meaning in the objects, wisdoms, practices, and stages of the other expedient teachings.

The first four similes all speak of clarified essence in four different places. The buddha-wisdoms taught in the four teachings differ, yet all are called buddhas, so all take buddha-wisdom as clarified essence. The buddhas of the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings do not elucidate the middle way; they take only the fruit-stage buddha’s wisdom of the two truths as clarified essence. In the Distinct Teaching, ascent to the grounds breaks ignorance and enables one to act as a buddha; it takes the wisdom of the middle-way principle as clarified essence. In the Perfect Teaching, the first abode gains the wisdom of the middle way, which is likewise called clarified essence. The suddenly awakened World-Honored One described in the Scripture of the Jeweled Necklace is used here to show that the wisdom of the first abode is clarified essence. The first two kinds of clarified essence are provisional and not real, so they exist only in doctrinal discourse without persons who actually correspond. The Distinct Teaching’s clarified essence is provisional in name but real in the principle realized. The Perfect Teaching’s clarified essence is real in both name and meaning. Thus the stages and five flavors of the first three teachings are coarse, while the single flavor of the Perfect Teaching is entirely wondrous.

Simile of Placing Poison in Milk

The twenty-seventh fascicle of the Great Sūtra says, “Suppose someone places poison in milk so that it can kill; down through clarified essence, it can likewise kill.” This simile has two applications.

First, it discusses indeterminacy across the gradual and sudden and shows that buddha-nature may be seen anywhere. Second, it discusses indeterminacy in a practitioner’s progress. A practitioner’s mental practice is like milk, while the wisdom of the true mark is like poison. Poison has the power to take life; wisdom of the true mark has the power to break ignorance. Since distant kalpas in the past, the poison of the true mark has already been spoken into the mind-milk of ordinary beings. When this poisonous wisdom will develop cannot be determined in advance: it may take effect in the first flavor or in a later flavor, and cannot be judged by a fixed sequence. Hence it is said that poison placed in milk continues down through clarified essence; every one of the five flavors has the meaning of killing.

If sentient beings first hear the Avataṃsaka Sūtra from the ground of ordinary beings and thereby see the real and enter buddha-wisdom, this is killing in blood-milk. If they had previously reached the ten abodes and now awaken on hearing the Avataṃsaka, this is killing in curds. Awakening in the ten practices is killing in raw ghee; awakening in the ten dedications is killing in refined ghee; and further awakening in the grounds is killing in clarified essence.

If one previously occupied the nominal or similar stage of the Perfect Teaching and now awakens on hearing the Avataṃsaka, the killing can likewise be distinguished according to one’s original stage as killing in milk, curds, raw ghee, or refined ghee. If one was previously in the abodes or practices and now hears the Avataṃsaka, increasing the path and diminishing birth-and-death, this is killing in clarified essence.

In the Tripiṭaka Teaching, if an ordinary being, someone in an expedient stage, or a bodhisattva hears the Tripiṭaka Teaching and secretly sees the middle way, this is killing in milk; if one in any of the four fruit stages secretly sees the middle way, this is killing in curds. Nothing like this exists in the publicly revealed Tripiṭaka Teaching.

In the Shared Teaching, if an ordinary being or someone in an expedient stage of any of the three vehicles hears the Shared Teaching and secretly sees buddha-nature, this is killing in milk; if one who has entered a stage secretly awakens, this is killing in curds; if a bodhisattva awakens within the wisdom of varieties of the path, this is killing in raw ghee; if one awakens at the ninth ground, this is killing in refined ghee; if at the tenth ground, this is killing in clarified essence. For a Shared-Teaching śrāvaka, killing occurs only secretly; there is no publicly revealed indeterminate meaning of killing.

In the Distinct Teaching, if someone in the ten faiths hears the teaching and awakens, this is killing in milk. Awakening within the thirty minds can be called killing in curds, raw ghee, and refined ghee in sequence. Awakening upon ascent to the grounds is killing in clarified essence.

In the Perfect Teaching, breaking ignorance and seeing buddha-nature upon first hearing the scripture is killing in milk; from purification of the six faculties onward, killing occurs in the flavors of curds, raw ghee, and refined ghee; from the first abode upward, killing occurs in clarified essence.

If a practitioner passes through the five flavors of the first four similes in the various teachings and enters the Perfect Teaching only at the final killing in clarified essence, this is breaking the three and revealing the one, or relational wondrousness. If poison placed in milk can kill at every flavor, this is opening the provisional to reveal the real: one sees the middle way immediately in all dharmas. Thus the scripture says, “What you practice is the bodhisattva path.” There is no need to change to another road or switch to another track in search of the real. One sees the wondrous immediately within the coarse, and so placing poison is used as the simile.

All scriptures possess the wondrousness of secretly placing poison, but they have not yet publicly revealed entry into the wondrous through the sequence of flavors, nor have they publicly determined and opened the coarse stages as immediately wondrous. Only in the Lotus Sūtra are both meanings complete: all share the jeweled vehicle and together open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing; the revealed matter shines forth clearly. It alone is therefore called wondrous, and this is its intent.

Sequential entry into the wondrous and opening the coarse as immediately wondrous each have two levels: opening and entering within the original stage, or opening and entering through advancement. When it is said, “This scripture determines the śrāvaka Dharma and is the king of scriptures,” hearing it, reflecting in accordance with reality, and drawing near to the unsurpassed path reveal the wondrous within the original stage. When one thereby increases the path and diminishes birth-and-death, this is ascending and entering the wondrous. Hence the Lotus Sūtra alone is called wondrous.

X. The Beginning and End of the Wondrous Stages

Within the Dharma of suchness, no words can determine a sequence, and there is neither first ground nor second ground. Dharma-nature is equal and constantly quiescent; how should earlier and later, beginning and end, be distinguished? Yet the great wisdom of equality contemplates that the Dharma realm has no several distinctions, while still being able to break so many grades of ignorance and reveal so many grades of wisdom. Based on this wisdom, one speaks of a beginning where there is no beginning: the initial graph 阿. One speaks of an end where there is no end: the final graph 茶. One speaks of a middle where there is no middle: the forty minds between them. Although there are distinctions, they are immediately without distinction, and so these are called inconceivable stages.

As the intent of a later passage in the scripture explains, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas numerous as a bamboo grove, newly resolved bodhisattvas, and nonretrogressing bodhisattvas cannot know these stages; only assemblies of bodhisattvas whose power of faith is firm can know them. That śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot know excludes the two vehicles of the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings. A Tripiṭaka bodhisattva’s wisdom that conditions the real does not even equal that of a śrāvaka; if a śrāvaka cannot know, how could this bodhisattva know? A Shared-Teaching bodhisattva’s wisdom that enters the real is the same as that of the two vehicles; if the two vehicles cannot know, that bodhisattva cannot know either.

By merely stating that the two vehicles cannot know, the scripture already includes the bodhisattvas in those two contexts among those unable to fathom the stages. “Newly resolved ones cannot know” refers to the ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching; “nonretrogressing ones cannot know” refers to its thirty minds. The ten abodes are nonretrogression of stage, the ten practices nonretrogression of practice, and the ten dedications nonretrogression of mindfulness; none of these three kinds of nonretrogression can know. Nonretrogression in the Tripiṭaka Teaching does not even equal the two vehicles, while nonretrogression in the Shared Teaching merely equals them. Since the two vehicles have already been said not to know, there is no need to mention the bodhisattvas of these two teachings again. The newly resolved and nonretrogressing ones marked here are therefore persons of the Distinct Teaching.

“Power of faith” means the nominal stage; “firm” means the iron-wheel stage of the ten faiths. Those at these stages can understand on hearing the scripture and therefore may be called wondrous: this is the beginning of the similar stage. First opening the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing and riding the jeweled cart through the eastern direction is the beginning of the true stage. The southern, western, and northern directions are the intermediate stages. Continuing straight to the place of the path, beyond the graph 茶 no graph can be spoken: this is the end of the wondrous stages.

What vehicle do those at these stages ride as they advance? There are three vehicles: the vehicle of teaching, the vehicle of practice, and the vehicle of realization. The scripture says that this vehicle leaves the three realms and abides in the knowledge of all modes. “Abiding” has two meanings: first, one obtains and abides in a fruit of realization, which is the meaning of the Shared Teaching; second, the vehicle reaches its culmination and abides, which is the meaning of the Distinct and Perfect Teachings.

A beginner relies upon the true principle expressed by the teaching, trusts the teaching and establishes practice, and thereby leaves the three realms. Because ignorance has not yet been broken, there is not yet true realization and one does not see the principle; one has merely ridden the vehicle of teaching to arrive here. Who is this in the Perfect Teaching? A disciple in the five grades. Such a person can skillfully arouse the great mind and forever bid farewell to the sea of the suffering-wheel of the three realms.

Once the vehicle of teaching has come to rest but the vehicle of realization has not yet arrived, a practitioner cultivates the various practices with the wisdom of similar understanding. Taking practice as the vehicle, one leaves the expedient three realms and comes to abide in the knowledge of all modes of the first abode. Who is this in the Perfect Teaching? One in the ten faiths, with the six faculties purified.

From the first abode through equal awakening, one continues to increase the path and diminish transformational birth-and-death. Taking realization as the vehicle, one leaves the three realms of conditions, through to the final three realms after which there are no more, and arrives at wondrous awakening. Beyond the graph 茶 no graph can be spoken; one is therefore said to have come to abide in the knowledge of all modes. Above the preceding vehicles there is still a higher Dharma, so they cannot be called ultimate abiding. Above the graph 茶 there is no higher Dharma, and so this is called abiding. Abiding without any fixed abiding place is the end of the wondrous stages.

Again, in the Distinct Teaching, the ten abodes break views and thoughts and travel three hundred yojanas; the ten practices break dust-and-sand and travel four hundred yojanas; the ten dedications subdue ignorance and travel five hundred yojanas; the ten grounds sever ignorance and see the middle way portion by portion, and only this is called the jeweled place.

In the Perfect Teaching, purification of the six faculties travels four hundred yojanas; breaking ignorance and entering the first abode travels five hundred yojanas. When those of the two vehicles hear the scripture, break the delusion of ignorance, open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing, and receive a prediction of buddhahood, the various coarse stages have been determined and opened; they have traveled five hundred yojanas and entered the first abode. This is the beginning of the wondrous stages: they gain the vehicle of realization and journey through the eastern direction.

If in the Origin Gate they further increase the path and diminish transformational birth-and-death, they still ride the vehicle of realization and journey through the southern direction, entering the ten practices; journeying through the western direction, they enter the ten dedications; journeying through the northern direction, they enter the ten grounds.

The scripture also says that when the Tathāgata’s distant lifespan was explained, six hundred and eighty myriads of koṭis of nayutas of persons, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, gained the forbearance of non-arising; this corresponds to the ten abodes. A thousand times as many bodhisattvas gained the dhāraṇī of hearing and retaining, corresponding to the ten practices. Bodhisattvas numerous as the dust motes of one world gained joyful eloquence, corresponding to the ten dedications. Bodhisattvas numerous as the dust motes of one world gained the revolving dhāraṇī, corresponding to the first ground. Those numerous as the dust motes of a trichiliocosm gained nonretrogression, corresponding to the second ground. Those numerous as the dust motes of two thousand lands could turn the pure Dharma wheel, corresponding to the third ground. Those numerous as the dust motes of a small chiliocosm would attain bodhi after eight births, corresponding to the fourth ground; after seven births, the fifth; after six, the sixth; after five, the seventh; after four, the eighth; after three, the ninth; after two, the tenth; after one, equal awakening. Beyond this one birth, beyond the graph 茶 no graph can be spoken: this is the ground of wondrous awakening, the end of the wondrous stages.

The preceding presentation of the stages has already cited these passages from the Lotus Sūtra. If those citations were moved here and combined into a single section, there would be no need to repeat them.

If Dharma-nature is equal, stages seem superfluous. If stages truly have higher and lower levels, Dharma-nature no longer seems equal. This section chooses neither side. It answers from the actual depth at which practitioners see principle: the water of the ocean is one, yet there are those who have just entered, those who have reached the middle, and those who have arrived at the farther shore. The true mark has no grades, but the subduing and severing of ignorance, the brightness and darkness of wisdom, and the breadth and narrowness of benefiting others still have a course of development.

Thus the perfect stages do not carve a ladder into Dharma-nature. They speak of “stages within no fixed stages” according to the actuality of cultivation and realization. The ten topics unfold from here: how names and meanings are judged perfect, how the number of stages is established, how delusions are subdued and severed, how meritorious power and function expand, why provisional stages may arise and be retired, and finally how the same wondrous stage is opened within every coarse stage.

First Question: How Can the Same Name Have an Entirely Different Meaning?

Arhat, śrāvaka, and the fifty-two stages are not names exclusive to perfect stages. If one looks only at words, different depths become confused. One must therefore rely on meaning and not merely on names.

For the two vehicles, the meaning of arhat as “slayer of thieves” refers only to exhausting the delusions of the four abodes; ignorance remains. “No further arising” refers only to no longer undergoing delimited birth-and-death; transformational birth-and-death remains. “Worthy of offerings” applies only within the three realms; the meaning of being a field of merit beyond them is not complete. The perfect stages also use the name arhat, but include both shared and distinct delusions among the thieves slain, both delimited and transformational birth-and-death within non-arising, and the entire Dharma realm within worthiness of offerings. Thus one name may carry either a partial or a perfect meaning.

The same applies to śrāvaka. If one merely hears the four truths from another, the sound has limits and the hearer has limits. If the sound of the Buddha-path causes the entire Dharma realm to hear the four truths of the one real, the meaning of śrāvaka is perfect. The name has not changed, but its referent has turned from a limited domain to the Dharma realm.

The fifty-two stages share their names with the stages of the Distinct Teaching, yet their beginning, middle, and end are all perfectly integrated and real. Borrowing names of higher and lower does not turn perfect practice into separated earlier and later stages. As for opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing, and entering the Tathāgata’s room, sitting on the Tathāgata’s seat, and being adorned with the Tathāgata’s adornments, both name and meaning belong directly to the perfect. Together these three cases establish a rule for reading stages: names may be borrowed and skillful means employed, but a stage must still be judged by the meaning it reveals.

Second Question: In the Equal Dharma Realm, Are There Stages or Not?

Some say that sudden awakening is itself buddhahood and there are no further stages. Some say that the initial mind is already ultimate and that the forty-two stages are merely provisionally established for dull faculties. Others directly equate the ten abodes with the ten grounds and regard the remaining stages as repetition. Each view catches one aspect of the “equality of the Dharma realm” but flattens the differing depths of those who see it.

Ultimate truth has no distinctions, yet those who see ultimate truth may still be distinguished by what they have severed and realized. The true mark likewise has no fixed depths, yet among those who see it there are those who have just entered, those in the middle, and those who have reached the farther shore. A river itself has shallows and depths; the ocean has one taste, yet entry into it still has different depths. The latter simile properly fits the perfect stages. Because the cause is the true mark and the fruit never departs from the true mark, stages are not a separate hierarchy constructed outside it.

This section therefore lists seven classes—the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, ten grounds, equal awakening, and wondrous awakening—and places the five grades before the ten faiths. It does not move someone step by step into the Dharma realm from outside it. It explains how perfect faith arises within the Dharma realm, how analogous understanding becomes firm, how real wisdom opens forth, and how ignorance diminishes part by part.

The Five Grades: How Can a Newly Sprouted Shoot of the Path Avoid Being Broken by the Winds of Affairs?

The initial mind begins when perfect hearing gives rise to perfect faith. A person understands that one dharma is all dharmas and that all dharmas do not depart from one dharma; knowing that one mind contains the ten Dharma realms, the person wishes to open this mind and cultivate perfect practice. This beginning is not complete merely because one has learned a general principle. Ten minds must be fulfilled in every thought.

First, one knows that one thought-moment is equally and inconceivably complete. Second, sorrow at one’s own torpor extends into kindness for all. Third, one knows the mind to be constantly still and constantly illuminating. Fourth, with stillness and illumination one breaks through dharmas and sees emptiness, the provisional, and the middle as unobstructed. Fifth, one discerns openness and obstruction in this mind and all minds. Sixth, within this mind one fulfills the factors of the path and moves toward awakening. Seventh, one understands primary and supporting practices. Eighth, one discerns one’s own mind and the minds of ordinary and noble beings. Ninth, one settles the mind so that it does not move, fall, regress, or scatter. Tenth, one knows the immeasurable virtues of one mind without becoming attached to them. Only when every thought accords with the perfections is this the first grade of rejoicing.

Perfect faith has just arisen, like a shoot of the path breaking the soil. If one immediately enters the turmoil of affairs, the shoot may be ruined. The second grade therefore takes inward contemplation as primary and adds upholding, reading, and recitation outwardly, so that the light of scripture supports the eye of contemplative wisdom. In the third grade, perfect understanding and vast vows impel one to teach the Dharma truthfully to others. Becoming a condition for others to attain the path in turn brightens one’s own ten minds.

The fourth grade begins additionally to practice the six perfections. Although its concrete acts are few, the mind ranges throughout the Dharma realm. Contemplation of principle remains primary and practice in affairs auxiliary; merit in affairs then supports contemplation of principle. In the fifth grade, principle and affairs approach integration and one directly practices the six perfections: one gives wealth, body, life, and fearlessness without attachment to either extreme; one upholds both grave offenses by nature and rules guarding against reproach without transgression; while knowing sentient beings and dharmas to be originally quiescent, one still bears burdens and patiently endures; one advances without interruption or regression; one enters dhyānas without conflict between stillness and activity; and both provisional and real wisdom, even worldly knowledge of livelihood and industry, do not contradict the true mark. Affairs are no longer merely auxiliary but become fuel for right contemplation.

The five grades move from protecting the shoot to reading and reciting, from reading and reciting to teaching, and from limited additional practice to complete direct practice. Here the recorder further explains the five grades through the five meditations for settling the mind: rejoicing treats jealousy, reading and recitation treat scattered thought, teaching treats one’s own and others’ delusion, additional practice treats desire, and direct practice recollects the Buddha. This is a skillful means of the perfect tradition devised for ease of understanding; it does not replace the five grades with another set of Small Vehicle practices. In directly practicing the six perfections, affairs themselves are principle. What obstructs the path is attachment to affairs, not affairs themselves.

From the Ten Faiths to the First Abode: When Does the Analogous Become Real?

When the ten minds of the five grades grow brighter, they become the ten faiths. Cultivating the equal Dharma realm enters the mind of faith; cultivating kindness enters the mind of mindfulness; cultivating stillness and illumination enters the mind of vigor; cultivating the breaking of dharmas enters the mind of wisdom; cultivating openness and obstruction enters the mind of concentration; cultivating the factors of the path enters the mind of nonretrogression; cultivating primary and supporting practices enters the mind of dedication; cultivating the stages of ordinary and noble beings enters the mind that protects the Dharma; cultivating stable nonmovement enters the mind of discipline; and cultivating nonattachment enters the mind of vows. Each faith can also contain ten, forming the hundred Dharma gates of illumination.

The ten faiths break views and thought within the three realms and dust-and-sand ignorance within and beyond them, while subduing the delusion of the abode of ignorance. The six faculties are purified and understanding resembles truth, but this is still not the real severing of the first abode. This boundary matters. Analogous understanding can be exceptionally bright, leave the ocean of suffering far behind, and teach the Dharma for others’ benefit; as long as ignorance has not been directly broken, it cannot be called partial realization.

When the first abode opens forth, the wholesome mind of the conditioning cause, the wisdom mind of the revealing cause, and the principle mind of the direct cause arise together. In other words, the three subtleties of objects, wisdom, and practice open forth simultaneously. Abiding in liberation, abiding in prajñā, and abiding in the Dharma body are together called abiding in the three virtues and all buddha-dharmas.

The treatise lists ten virtues of the first abode: abiding in a pure and complete mind of awakening and vows of compassion that cover the Dharma realm; accomplishing all myriad practices and perfections in one thought; abiding in the knowledge of all modes and perfectly severing the delusions of the Dharma realm; gaining the Buddha-eye and perfectly seeing the three truths of the ten Dharma realms; entering the twenty-five samādhis and invisibly benefiting sentient beings; visibly benefiting them through the inconceivable transformations of the three wheels; opening the provisional to reveal the real and entering the One Vehicle; purifying buddha lands and making offerings to the buddhas; gaining dhāraṇī and retaining all dharmas; and containing the virtues of all grounds within one ground while naturally flowing into the ocean of wisdom.

These ten virtues are not ten fixed powers locked one-to-one to the ten abodes. The treatise makes only a broad division, explaining the ten abodes through ten grades of wisdom and severance. The recorder further uses “the hundred dharmas of the ten faiths are the root of all dharmas” to explain how one abode can contain ten virtues, expressly marking this as his private comment. The central point of Zhiyi’s teaching remains that the three causes arise together and the three contemplations become present: to break one part of ignorance is to abide in one part of the three virtues, with each subsequent abode deepening many times over.

In the ten practices, true illumination undergoes ten further rounds of wisdom and severance, and one practice contains all practices. In the ten dedications, vows and practices, affairs and principle, naturally integrate and return into the equal Dharma realm. The ten grounds, like the great earth, produce buddha-dharmas and bear sentient beings. Equal awakening reaches the source-bottom of ignorance yet still has the final subtle ignorance to sever. Wondrous awakening has nothing further to sever, and the three virtues are ultimate, neither vertical nor horizontal. The path from the five grades to wondrous awakening is complete, yet never departs from the same true mark.

The Moon Is Always Full: Why Does Its Light Still Appear to Increase and Decrease?

The body of the moon represents the Dharma body. From the first to the fifteenth day, its light gradually increases; from the sixteenth to the thirtieth, it gradually decreases. These represent the gradual brightening of fifteen virtues of wisdom and the gradual completion of fifteen virtues of severance. The thirty minds are combined into three wisdoms and severances, the ten grounds count as ten, and equal and wondrous awakening count as one each, making fifteen.

Yet the moon’s nature never truly waxes or wanes; it appears to do so only because Mount Sumeru obscures it. Nor is there new wisdom added to the Dharma body or old Dharma-nature subtracted from it. Because ignorance obscures it, prajñā is said to grow brighter and liberation progressively to draw free. Increasing without increasing and decreasing without decreasing preserve equality and process at once.

The fourteen forbearances, fourteen prajñās, and forty-two letter gates are different ways of opening and combining the same perfect stages. The thirty minds may be combined into three and the ten grounds opened into ten; beginning and end may both be opened into forty-two; or beginning and end may both be combined through the four blossoms and four directions. Different numbers are skillful means of teaching, not several mutually conflicting systems of perfect stages.

The graph 阿 (a) stands at the beginning, the graph 茶 (cha) at the end, with forty between them. The first graph can contain the later graphs, and one ground can contain all grounds. The first abode gains the forbearance of non-arising, as 阿 reveals that all dharmas are unborn from the outset. Wondrous awakening reaches the source-bottom of all dharmas, as beyond 茶 no further graph can be spoken. The forty-two stages are therefore mutually inclusive rather than forty-two isolated compartments.

Someone asks whether ignorance has exactly forty-two grades. The answer is no. Forty-two is only a broad division; the actual grades of ignorance are immeasurable. To lock every profound stage to a closed Dharma gate would restrict inconceivable realization with ordinary affective views. Even a śrāvaka’s stage of warmth or the first five factors of dhyāna cannot be known through words by one who has not realized them, much less the depths of the perfect stages. Here the recorder specifically says that “the Great Master spoke of his own realization.” This does not add another stage-name. It warns that one must drink to know the coolness of water and that those without realization should not quarrel over skillful numerical schemes.

Oil Floating on Water, Milk Mixed into Water: Why Can Subduing and Severing Not Follow One Uniform Rule?

The five grades perfectly subdue branch, adventitious, and fundamental delusions and are called the forbearance of subduing. At the ten faiths, the path of subduing grows stronger and breaks views, thought, and dust-and-sand ignorance, but remains analogous. At the first abode, ignorance is directly broken for the first time; this is the path of severing and the forbearance of non-arising. The ten practices through equal awakening likewise break ignorance. At wondrous awakening, the path of severing is complete and is called the forbearance of quiescent extinction. This is the major division according to distinct stages.

In the shared sense, the names of the forbearances can extend upward and downward. The forbearance of subduing may extend as far as the vajra summit; quiescent extinction and non-arising may also be mutually named according to principle and affairs, partial realization and the ultimate. The same applies to cause and fruit: all sentient beings may be called great nirvāṇa by naming the fruit from the cause, while buddha-nature may be called cause by naming the cause from the fruit. Equal awakening is a cause in relation to wondrous awakening and a fruit in relation to lower stages. Shared meaning does not erase distinct meaning; it prevents names from becoming rigid.

The decisive point is the nature of delusion. Views and thought are like oil floating on water, false and easily blown away. Ignorance is like milk mixed into water, a delusion of the same body as Dharma-nature. Only the bodhisattva goose-king at the abodes and above can sip away the milk while leaving the water. This does not say that Dharma-nature is damaged, nor that ignorance first changes into Dharma-nature. The simile only reveals how difficult it is to separate a delusion of the same body; only at the abodes and above is one judged a true cause.

The sequence within the three realms—views first, then thought, then not-knowing—therefore cannot be transferred unchanged beyond the three realms. Because suffering in the three bad destinies is severe, the views that lead to it are removed first. Thought and not-knowing do not obstruct partial truth and are severed later. Beyond the three realms, dust-and-sand ignorance is more remote yet can obstruct the middle way, so the distant obstruction is removed before the near one. The Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings each contain paths that leap over fruits and paths that do not; Distinct stages sever in sequence, while the Perfect Teaching severs delusions of the same body. To see only one sequence is to mistake a skillful explanation for the sole real meaning.

The treatise therefore asks: if views and thought had already been completely exhausted on higher grounds, why would equal awakening still be said to leave all views? If the delusions of thought had already been exhausted, why would high bodhisattva stages still have excellent recompense, clouds of fragrances and blossoms, and immeasurable samādhis? These passages do not move the coarse delusions of ordinary beings unchanged onto higher grounds. They speak of the subtle forms of views and thought of the same body extending to buddhahood.

Deep Roots, Broad Branches: How Do Meritorious Power and Function Grow Together?

Meritorious power is one’s own progress in practice; function is benefiting others. When the two graphs are explained together, the function of transforming others is primary. At the five grades, contemplative wisdom is already perfect. Although truth has not yet been revealed, one knows the secret treasury and can serve as the world’s first reliance. When the six faculties are purified and perfect contemplation grows brighter, one can broadly benefit sentient beings with one wondrous voice while still remaining within the first reliance. Only at the ten abodes and above does partial realization unfold greater function.

When the four reliances are judged by the complete arc of the perfect stages, the five grades and purification of the six faculties are the first reliance, the ten abodes the second, the ten practices and ten dedications the third, and the ten grounds and equal awakening the fourth. This is not identical to another fourfold set judged through the Distinct stages. The treatise first states that the meaning extends to both Perfect and Distinct Teachings, then judges each separately.

At the first abode, one breaks one part of ignorance, gains one part of samādhi, and reveals one part of buddha-nature; one can then manifest divided bodies in a hundred buddha-worlds to benefit beings. At each succeeding abode, ignorance is progressively exhausted, samādhi progressively increases, and buddha-nature is revealed part by part; horizontal function likewise expands from a hundred to a thousand, ten thousand, and even inexpressibly many buddha-realms. As a tree’s roots deepen, its branches spread and its blossoms and leaves multiply.

The treatise directly uses the simile of deep roots and broad branches to explain power and function: the deeper the vertical power, the wider the horizontal function. Each later abode deepens many times over, and its power and function expand accordingly.

A High Official Title Does Not Necessarily Mean Deeper Realization

In judging coarse and wondrous stages, the small herb merely escapes the four bad destinies; the middle herb’s wisdom does not reach the source; the upper herb extinguishes form and grasps emptiness; and the small tree’s meritorious power extends only within the three realms. All are coarse stages. The great tree shares the object of the middle way, breaks ignorance, and has function beyond the three realms; only this is wondrous. Yet the Distinct stages still enter by a winding path of skillful means. Although they also speak of the middle way, their gate of approach remains coarse. The perfect stages enter through the direct gate and are therefore wondrous.

The comparison is not a single ranking; equality and inferiority must be examined case by case. The bodhisattva of the Tripiṭaka Teaching and the five grades are equal in not yet severing delusion, but the former has never heard the perfect understanding of permanence and is therefore inferior. A Tripiṭaka buddha who has severed views and thought is equal in one respect to purification of the six faculties, but is inferior in being unable to subdue ignorance. The ten faiths of the Distinct Teaching and the five grades likewise have not severed delusion, but the former cultivate through separated stages while the latter have perfect understanding; the five grades are therefore superior.

Breaking ignorance upon entering the grounds in the Distinct Teaching is only equal to the first abode in the Perfect Teaching. If generously granted or strictly reduced, the Distinct Teaching’s buddha stage may be compared with the first ground or the first practice of the perfect tradition. This is like granting high temporary offices while a frontier remains unsettled, then assigning ranks according to merit after conditions stabilize, so that those offices become lower. A lofty name does not equal deep realization. The fruit of a provisional teaching may even be only the cause of a real teaching.

The Good-Firm tree remains beneath the earth for one hundred years, then rises one hundred zhang in a single day and overtops all other trees. The treatise borrows only the aspect of suddenly rising one hundred zhang to reveal the perfect stages. It does not lock every year beneath the earth to one stage or turn every detail of the original simile into a correspondence with the perfect stages. From beginning to end, the perfect stages involve real subduing and real severing; this is the wondrousness illuminated by the borrowed simile.

Since Stages Arise for Conditions, Why Must They Also Be Retired?

The Buddha teaches provisional stages because sentient beings differ in what they prefer, in how they generate good, treat evil, and enter principle. He speaks different stages according to preferences within and beyond the three realms; distinguishes concrete and principial good; treats concrete evil, principial evil, dust-and-sand ignorance, and ignorance in different ways; and provides paths that enter truth through affairs, enter truth through principle, enter the middle through affairs, or see the middle through principle. Stages arise in response to conditions; they are not arbitrary proliferations of names.

Principle originally has no stages. Once conditions have fulfilled their purpose, provisional stages may withdraw. Here three levels of breaking and establishing are distinguished. The Tathāgata establishes stages to generate good and retires them when their benefit is complete. Nāgārjuna breaks the theorists’ loss of the Buddha’s skillful means and establishes those skillful means again. The present master breaks the mutual borrowing of meanings by Great and Small Vehicle masters when those meanings fit neither side, and reestablishes perfect stages whose objects, wisdom, practice, and stages differ from the preceding three. When text and principle meet, one travels together on the level road; when the intent is lost and the track diverges, one is asked to follow a good guide.

Retirement does not delete an earlier teaching from the world. If one person has generated good through it, it may be retired for that person; later people may still need it to generate good, so it is not retired for them. The preservation of the four Āgamas in the collected canon sufficiently shows that a teaching may be retired for an earlier capacity and retained for a later one. The same applies to the Shared and Distinct Teachings.

The treatise therefore repeatedly uses four alternatives: the teaching may be retired while practice and stages are not; practice and stages may be retired while the teaching is not; both may be retired; neither may be retired. It further asks whether one hears after a teaching is retired, cultivates after wisdom is retired, and enters after a stage is retired. These are not word games. They open “retirement” beyond a single cut into the actual circumstances of different capacities. Some immediately change their practice and benefit; others, merely rebuked, become ashamed of the lesser and aspire to the great, already loosening their urge to seize realization.

The perfect stages are not retired because from their beginning they speak of real subduing and real severing according to the true mark. Winding rivers and mixed forests represent skillful means adapted to affective views; the gold-sand river flowing straight to the western ocean and trees of gold and silver forming a jeweled grove represent perfect stages requiring no further turn. Yet not retiring the perfect stages does not mean clinging to the name “perfect,” for the equal Dharma realm is ultimately neither established nor unestablished, neither retired nor unretired.

The Blossom Opens and the Lotus Appears: Opening the Coarse Does Not Seek the Wondrous Apart from It

If one speaks only of breaking the three to reveal the one, this is relational wondrousness. If one sees that the three are immediately the one, one enters absolute wondrousness. The real is originally contained within the provisional, like the lotus within the blossom. When the blossom opens, the lotus appears; apart from the blossom there is no other lotus. Opening the provisional does not destroy the blossom and seek the lotus elsewhere. Opening the coarse does not abandon one’s present stage and construct another wondrous stage.

The coarse mind of an ordinary being in birth-and-death can turn back and forth and therefore can generate the mind of awakening. A mind produced through conditions is immediately empty, provisional, and middle, no different from the initial perfect mind. The same holds for provisional practice of the six perfections: each of the six, from giving through prajñā, can be opened upon conditioned dharmas to reveal buddha-nature. Stages that sever bonds in the Tripiṭaka Teaching, those of the two vehicles and bodhisattvas in the Shared Teaching, and the ten faiths through entry into the grounds in the Distinct Teaching can each be decisively opened as wondrous in their present stage, or can enter a higher stage by increasing the path and diminishing birth-and-death.

Decisively revealing the wondrous at one’s present stage and advancing into the wondrous must remain distinct. The first opens what the existing stage points to without changing its name; the second actually enters the expedient, analogous, or partially real stages. To combine them into “this place is already ultimate” erases advance. To allow only advance places the wondrous outside the coarse.

When a minister of a small country attends the court of a great country, the minister’s former office loses force and he stands only in a supplementary rank. A low minister of the great country may hold a lesser title yet be trusted as the ruler’s intimate and respected by other countries. One who is decisively opened from a provisional stage into the wondrous current and one who arises originally from the perfect initial mind still differ as someone coming from dullness and someone directly generating the mind. The simile preserves this distinction in opening and entry without erecting another wondrousness relational to the coarse.

The Five Flavors and Placing Poison: Can the Time of Seeing Buddha-Nature Be Fixed in Advance?

The first four milk similes distinguish the Four Teachings. The first assigns ordinary beings, stream-enterers, once-returners, non-returners, arhats, pratyekabuddhas, and buddhas in order to milk, curds, raw ghee, refined ghee, and clarified essence, revealing the stages of the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Although a bodhisattva’s power to transform others is strong, the bodhisattva’s own realization remains weak and is therefore classed here with ordinary beings as milk. One cannot rewrite this section merely because another simile makes the bodhisattva the upper herb.

The second simile uses blood-mixed milk, pure milk, curds, raw ghee, refined ghee, and clarified essence for ordinary beings, the first two fruits, the third fruit, the fourth fruit, pratyekabuddhas and bodhisattvas, and the buddha of the Shared Teaching. The third makes blood represent the four abodes and milk represent ignorance: the ten abodes remove the blood of the four abodes, like pure milk; their later mind is like curds; the ten practices are like raw ghee; the ten dedications are like refined ghee; and entry into the grounds breaks ignorance and is like clarified essence, revealing the Distinct stages.

The fourth simile has only an ox, the grass called forbearance, and clarified essence. The ox eats the grass and directly produces clarified essence without passing through the other four flavors. The ox represents an ordinary being, the grass the object contemplated, eating the practice that contemplates, and clarified essence the stage entered. Ox, grass, eating, and clarified essence each have their own referent.

The fifth simile, placing poison, has a different purpose. A practitioner’s mental activity is like milk and wisdom of the true mark like poison; poison can take life, while wisdom can break ignorance. The poison may become active in any of the five flavors—milk, curds, raw ghee, refined ghee, or clarified essence—so the time of seeing buddha-nature cannot be judged by a fixed schedule. “Killing a person” represents wisdom breaking ignorance.

If one proceeds through the flavors and finally enters the perfect, this is breaking the three to reveal the one, or relational wondrousness. If the poison can become active in every flavor, this is opening the provisional to reveal the real and seeing the wondrous within the coarse. The former reveals sequential entry and the latter immediate opening. Each in turn has both a route at one’s present stage and a route of advance. The Lotus uniquely reveals both levels of opening and entry; its wondrousness is therefore more than the name of a highest flavor.

Teaching, Practice, and Realization: From a Beginning Without Beginning to an End Without End

Suchness has no fixed sequence and Dharma-nature is constantly quiescent. Yet because equal great wisdom can break a given measure of ignorance and reveal a given measure of wisdom, there is said to be a beginning without beginning, an end without end, and a middle without middle. The first graph 阿 (a), the forty in between, and the last graph 茶 (cha) are distinctions immediately without distinction and are therefore inconceivable stages.

Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas cannot know them; neither can newly aroused or nonretrogressing bodhisattvas. The treatise thereby distinguishes the two vehicles and bodhisattvas of the first two teachings from the ten faiths and thirty minds of the Distinct Teaching. Only “strength of faith” at the nominal stage and “firmness” at the iron-wheel stage enable one to understand upon hearing the scripture; these form the beginning of analogous stages. Opening the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing and riding the jeweled vehicle eastward form the beginning of real stages; the other three directions are their middle; going straight to the place of the path, beyond the graph 茶 where no further graph can be spoken, is their end.

There are three vehicles by which one proceeds: teaching, practice, and realization. The five grades rely on what the teaching explains, believe the teaching, and establish practice; because ignorance has not been broken, they ride the vehicle of teaching. At the ten faiths there is already analogous wisdom; the vehicle of teaching has ceased while the vehicle of realization has not yet arrived, so they ride practice to the first abode. At and above the first abode, one partially realizes true principle and rides realization, continually increasing the path and diminishing birth-and-death until wondrous awakening.

Abiding is not remaining in a fixed place. The preceding stages still have higher dharmas above them and therefore cannot be called ultimate abiding. At the graph 茶 there is no higher dharma, and only then is one said to abide in the knowledge of all modes. Yet this abiding has no abode. The endpoint of stages is therefore not acquiring a position one can possess, but “abiding nowhere.”

The scripture unfolds the first abode, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten grounds through east, south, west, and north. It further matches the stages with the forbearance of non-arising, retaining what is heard, delight in exposition, the revolving dhāraṇī, attaining nonretrogression, turning the pure Dharma wheel, and the virtues from eight births down to one. After eight births, the treatise fully lists seven, six, and five births before four, three, two, and one. This sequence reveals how the vehicle of realization increases the path and diminishes birth-and-death, ending in the one birth of equal awakening; beyond that one birth lies wondrous awakening.

Through the Eye of the Shiqian

Zhanran first fixes the perspective of the entire section through “principle has no names; affairs have stages.” Dharma-nature has no stage that can be grasped, yet stages must still be established according to advance and retreat in delusion and wisdom. This perspective keeps “no stages” from falling into annihilation and keeps “having stages” from becoming a substantial hierarchy.

In distinguishing names and meanings, the Mirror progressively narrows the three cases of shared, distinct, and perfect names. In particular, the mind-produced body received by the two vehicles in the uncontaminated realm is only one of three kinds; the treatise’s compressed expression cannot be read as saying that the two vehicles possess all three bodies. The perfect śrāvaka, meanwhile, causes the Dharma realm to hear the sound of the Buddha-path; the point is more than giving an old name a new label.

The five grades are judged expedients before the ten faiths, not the formal ten faiths themselves. In the first “I privately say,” Zhang’an matches the five meditations for settling the mind to the five grades. In the second, Zhang’an uses the hundred dharmas of the ten faiths to explain the ten virtues of the first abode. Both passages clearly distinguish Zhiyi’s lecture from Guanding’s appended explanations. This stratification prevents later pedagogical correspondences from being projected backward into the lecturer’s original list.

The Mirror also distinguishes three gates: perfect subduing at the five grades, analogous understanding at the ten faiths, and real severing at the first abode. The revolving dhāraṇī reveals turning from the provisional into the real; the hundred-thousand revolving dhāraṇī reveals turning from the real into the conventional; skillful means of Dharma sound remain the path of subduing. Only the true dhāraṇī of Dharma sound at the first abode directly breaks ignorance. The boundary between purification of the six faculties and real severing therefore remains clear.

The point of the fifteen wisdoms and severances in the moon simile is not that the Dharma body truly increases or decreases, but that it increases without increasing and decreases without decreasing. The fourteen forbearances, fourteen prajñās, and forty-two letters differ only in how they open and combine the stages. To insist on one number against the others turns siddhānta skillful means into substantial arithmetic.

When the analysis says that profound stages cannot be spoken, the Mirror confirms that “the Great Master spoke of his own realization” is Zhang’an describing his teacher. It does not supply further details of profound stages for those without realization; it bars ordinary affective views from reckless speech. The point of drinking water to know its coolness therefore lies in ending disputes, not in mystical self-aggrandizement.

Regarding subduing and severing, the Mirror judges views and thought beyond the three realms to be delusions of the same body and explains reliance on Small Vehicle categories as a temporary skillful means. The oil-and-water and milk-and-water similes each have a boundary: the former reveals falsity that is easy to dispel, the latter a delusion of the same body that is difficult to separate. They cannot be melted into a single fixed sequence of severing delusion.

Regarding power and function, the Mirror first distinguishes power as one’s own progress and function as benefiting others, then judges the four reliances through the five grades, ten faiths, and first abode and above. The eight marks of the first abode are judged functions of the path of realization. The Good-Firm tree originally represents the ultimate fruit; the treatise borrows only its rising one hundred zhang in one day to reveal the first abode. One may not transfer the entire original simile into one-to-one correspondences with the stages.

The arising of stages is illuminated as sixteen explanations based on the four siddhāntas. Their retirement distinguishes three levels of breaking and establishing: those of the Tathāgata, Nāgārjuna, and the present master. Zhang’an’s “please follow a good guide” praises his teacher’s wondrous Dharma while expressing his own humility. A teaching may be retired for an earlier capacity yet remain available to later ages after its collection; the continued existence of the Dharma does not mean the original practitioner remains in the former stage.

Opening the coarse to reveal the wondrous is divided into decisive opening at one’s present stage and entering through advance. “According to one’s stage” makes a provisional stage immediately reveal the wondrous; “entering” lets the practitioner increase the path and diminish birth-and-death. Each has its own work. If only immediacy remains, cultivation is erased; if only ascent remains, the wondrous is again established outside the coarse.

Among the five similes, the first four first judge the clarified essence of each teaching; the fifth then reveals that the time of seeing buddha-nature is indeterminate. The Mirror finally gathers the section through the three vehicles of teaching, practice, and realization: the five grades ride teaching to purification of the six faculties, the six faculties ride practice to the first abode, and the first abode rides realization to wondrous awakening. This conclusion reconnects the ten topics into one road: arousing the mind through teaching, turning the analogous through practice, and advancing through realization, while what is entered never departs from the equal Dharma realm.

The Mirror’s distinction of authorial layers has a further function. Zhiyi unfolds the stages through scriptural and treatise similes. In recording him, Guanding adds accessible explanations at the two instances of “I privately say,” marks his teacher’s own realization where profound stages cannot be spoken, and speaks humbly of a good guide in the section on breaking and establishing stages. If these voices are blended into one, the supplementary explanations of the five grades and first abode appear to be fixed charts in the original lecture, while the recorder’s praise of his teacher is reversed into self-praise.

The judgment of the four reliances must likewise preserve both Perfect and Distinct levels. The scriptural meaning can apply to both teachings, and many masters judge it through Distinct stages. The treatise then either matches the ten abodes with the three reliances above those before the abodes, or directly judges the perfect four reliances as the five grades and six faculties, the ten abodes, the ten practices and dedications, and the ten grounds and equal awakening. The Mirror preserves both grounds of interpretation and does not use the latter to erase the former.

The long discussion of retiring stages may appear repetitive, but Zhanran gathers it through the “intent of breaking and establishing.” Retiring the provisional does not deny that provisional teachings genuinely generated good, treated evil, and entered principle. Precisely because their benefit was real, the practitioner need no longer remain in the former stage once the capacity matures. It is retired for this person and retained for later people; stages of practice may turn while scriptures continue to be transmitted. This also resolves the misreading that only the Lotus first “abolished everything.”

The poison simile is further divided into indeterminacy of teaching and indeterminacy of practice. The first says that buddha-nature may be secretly seen within different teachings; the second says that the time when poison-wisdom opens forth in one practitioner cannot be scheduled. Milk is mental activity, poison is wisdom of the true mark, and killing is breaking ignorance. If these three are misplaced, the entire system of five flavors loses its referents.

The east, south, west, and north of the final section do not merely paste forty stages onto four directions. The Mirror first distinguishes the beginning and end of analogous stages, then the beginning and end of real stages, and only afterward uses the three vehicles to explain advance. The directional, letter-gate, and three-vehicle similes illuminate one another: there is a beginning that never leaves the whole, advance that never leaves equality, and an endpoint that ends in nonabiding.