妙法蓮華經玄義 論用〔明用〕

Can a scorched and ruined seed sprout again? If judged only by its present appearance, no. A scorched sprout and ruined seed fallen upon high, dry ground have no moisture and seem to possess no life. Those of the two vehicles regard themselves as already secure and already delivered, as though they had entered an endpoint from which no further step need be taken.

The function of the Lotus Sutra occurs precisely where renewed growth has been judged impossible.

The Buddha takes provisional and real wisdoms as his wondrous capacity, while the sutra takes severing doubt and giving rise to faith as its supreme function. Real wisdom enables one to see the one toward which all returns; provisional wisdom knows whether, at this moment, to teach one or three, whether to open or cover, whether to let a skillful means recede or bring it forth again for later faculties. They are not two separate systems of wisdom, but the orientation and responsive skill of one teaching.

Thus breaking the three first loosens attachment; abolishing the three keeps skillful means from being mistaken for an endpoint; opening the three reveals the reality originally present within the provisional; and gathering the three brings both the Dharma practiced and the practitioner into the Buddha-path. The Buddha abides in the one yet can teach the three; bodhisattvas appear to abide in the three yet can employ the one. When faculties subside, the provisional is covered; when faculties arise, it is used again. Skillful means is not discarded, but attachment no longer seals the road ahead.

The near Trace and the distant Origin are the same in this respect. The jeweled stūpa emerges, the emanation bodies gather, the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth appear, and Maitreya gives voice to his doubt: how could teaching of such vast scope have begun only a short time ago before their eyes? The question breaks open the shell of recent awakening and reveals buddhahood attained in the distant past. Yet the distant does not stand somewhere apart from the present. The Buddha still abides in a physical body and teaches; the power of the Origin benefits beings precisely through each manifestation of birth and cessation.

The rain of one flavor falls equally in the four directions, and beings are moistened according to their faculties; one voice teaches, and beings understand according to their kinds. That the twenty functions are finally gathered into the four siddhāntas means this: when the same Buddha-wisdom meets different desires, roots of goodness, afflictive attachments, and conditions for seeing principle, it becomes different entrances, yet every entrance moves toward severing doubt and giving rise to faith.

A hundred people surround a thief. All contribute the power of attack and encirclement, but the one who actually captures the thief receives the merit. Earlier teachings trained and matured the faculties; the present sutra completes the opening and revealing. The earlier work is not erased, and the point of completion is made equally clear.

The power of the Lotus, then, does not lie in handing someone a larger answer. It lies in enabling one who believes the journey has ended to hear, trust, and practice again. The lowly hired laborer inherits the family estate; high, dry ground receives the Buddha’s lotus; the scorched and ruined seed reveals the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing beneath the rain of the Wondrous Dharma. The true supreme function is that no being is forever sealed by an endpoint of their own making.

What Is the Function of This Sutra?

The fourth great chapter begins by discussing the function and clarifies “function.” Function is the Tathāgata’s wondrous capacity and this sutra’s supreme function. The Tathāgata takes provisional and real wisdoms as his wondrous capacity; this sutra takes severing doubt and giving rise to faith as its supreme function. In fact, it is precisely the two wisdoms of the provisional and real that sever doubt and give rise to faith, while sentient beings give rise to faith and sever doubt precisely because of these two wisdoms. The former is discussed from the person and the latter from the Dharma; they are simply left and right ways of explaining the same event.

The preceding chapter discussed the purport, distinguishing purport from substance so that the two would not be confused. The present chapter discusses function, distinguishing purport from function so that they too will not be confused. Why must they be distinguished? Because the purport also carries a function, and the function also carries a purport. The function within the purport is not the function within the function, and the function within the function is not the function within the purport. The purport upon which the function relies is not the purport established within the purport, and the purport established within the purport is not the purport upon which the function relies.

The function within the purport takes cause and fruit as the purport, while cause and fruit each have the function of severing and subduing delusion. The purport within the function takes compassion as the purport upon which function relies and severing doubt and giving rise to faith as the function itself. When directly discussing the purport, one temporarily sets aside severing and subduing delusion and considers only cause and fruit. Now, in directly discussing function, one considers only severing doubt and giving rise to faith and temporarily sets aside compassion. Once this boundary is understood, it becomes clear that the provisional and real wisdoms’ ability to sever doubt and give rise to faith is the great function of the present sutra.

The discussion of function has five divisions: first, clarifying effective power; second, clarifying sameness and difference; third, explaining the successive particulars; fourth, correlating them with the four siddhāntas; fifth, discerning how the four siddhāntas in the present sutra are the same as or different from those in other scriptures.

First Division: The Effective Power Unique to the Present Sutra

First, the present sutra’s function is directly clarified. Other scriptures do not purely reveal Buddha-wisdom, so Buddha-wisdom is not fully opened. They say only that the responsive transformation outwardly manifested by the Buddha is Trace; they do not directly break or abolish the fruit of the two vehicles, sever the doubt that physically embodied bodhisattvas produce through attachment to the near Trace, and give rise in them to faith in the distant Origin. Nor do they reveal the Origin so that Dharma-body bodhisattvas increase the great path of recollecting the Buddha and diminish birth beyond the realm. Other scriptures lack this effective power, while the present sutra possesses it; it therefore establishes the title of this chapter.

The present sutra does not center the wisdom of those in the two vehicles or of bodhisattvas, but reveals only the Buddha’s wondrous wisdom. It does not open the knowing-and-seeing of the nine Dharma realms in sentient beings, but opens the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing in them. Other scriptures say only that what the Buddha transforms is Trace, not that the Buddha-body itself is Trace. The present sutra itself says that the Buddha-body is Trace; how, then, could all the other transformations not be Trace? It directly breaks and abolishes the fruit of the two vehicles, which resembles a conjured city—how much more their causal practices. It also breaks the attachment of bodhisattvas taught through skillful means who take the near Trace as ultimate. These are now all disclosed and abolished as provisional Traces. Every intervening doubt is severed, and faith arises in the profound, distant, and inconceivable Origin.

The present sutra further reveals the true merit of the Origin and brings great benefit to Dharma-body bodhisattvas. The stages of benefit begin with the initial graph a and extend to the place near the final graph cha. Even if lands throughout the ten directions, in number like nayutas, were ground into dust, and that dust were used to count the bodhisattvas advancing along the path, their number could not be exhausted. All of this occurs because the Tathāgata sends down the rain of the one flavor of provisional and real wisdoms, falling equally in all four directions, so that all four gateways are simultaneously broken. It fully satisfies those who seek the complete path, severs deep doubt, gives rise to great faith, and enables entry into the One Perfect cause. Sentient beings guide the Great Vehicle cart through the four directions and proceed directly to the bodhimaṇḍa. Even so, its great function and great power, wondrous capacity and wondrous benefit, have not been fully expressed.

Why Is the Fruit of the Two Vehicles More Difficult to Break?

This power can also break the fruit of the two vehicles. Those of the two vehicles fear birth-and-death, enter the principle of emptiness, and take realization. They believe themselves already secure and already delivered, and so fall into the three pits of the unconditioned. They undergo the suffering of “death or death-equivalent suffering”—that is, death or the various sufferings equivalent to death. At this point they resemble ruined seeds that will no longer grow; the physician of wisdom can only fold his hands, and the Dharma-medicine loses its effect.

The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra can heal icchantikas, and this is comparatively easy. Their mental awareness has not yet been severed; everyone who possesses mind should become a buddha. An icchantika is not someone whose death has been definitively determined, and treatment is therefore not difficult. Those of the two vehicles, however, reduce the body to ashes and extinguish cognition: once the body has become ashes, the physical body no longer continues; once cognition has been extinguished, mental reflection is exhausted. They are like scorched sprouts and ruined seeds fallen upon high, dry ground, deaf and mute, never to recover. The lords of the teachings abandon them, and the Dharma-medicines of the scriptures cannot take effect.

Now the wisdom of the Buddha of the Origin is vast and the medicine of the Wondrous Dharma is good. It keeps the physical body from being burned to ash, making it like pure beryl within which every form inside and outside appears. It also keeps cognition from being extinguished, enabling one to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing. It enables one who had regarded himself only as a “lowly hired laborer” to inherit the family estate of awakening. Upon high, dry ground it bestows the Buddha’s lotus. The ear can hear all the sounds of the ten Dharma realms at the same time. The tongue can give voice to the Buddha’s sound in accordance with every kind of being, enabling all sentient beings to hear. Even one faculty can universally perform the functions of all the others. This is the effective power of the present sutra.

From Worldly Wisdom to the Buddha’s Two Wisdoms

The power of Buddha-wisdom has been explained above; it will now be described through successive comparison. When the realm was divided into three at the end of the Han, Cao Cao’s strategy and intelligence were foremost in his time, yet he still fell thirty-five li short of Yang Xiu. The wisdom of those in the Central Lands does not equal the wisdom of non-Buddhists in foreign lands, just as a mustard seed cannot compare with a mountain. The wisdom of all worldly people and non-Buddhists does not equal even one sixteenth of Śāriputra’s wisdom. The wisdom of the two vehicles is like a firefly, while bodhisattva wisdom is like sunlight. The wisdom of a bodhisattva of the Shared Teaching is like a wild goose whose power still cannot carry it very far. The wisdom of a bodhisattva of the Distinct Teaching is like a garuḍa able to travel from one Mount Sumeru to another. The latter wisdom is also like soil upon a fingernail, while Buddha-wisdom is like soil throughout the ten directions.

One should therefore know that Buddha-wisdom is consummately integrated, immediate, sudden, and real. It is inconceivable, neither vertical nor horizontal, perfectly interfused and wondrous beyond comparison. Neither simile nor question and answer can exhaust it. Other scriptures do not teach it purely; the present sutra alone does. Such is the vast power of the Buddha’s real wisdom.

There is also a successive scale of power: the strength of ten calves, then one dragon, ten dragons, one strongman, and ten strongmen still does not equal that of one person possessing the five supernormal powers. An outsider with the five powers does not equal an arhat; all arhats do not equal one Maudgalyāyana; Maudgalyāyana does not equal Śāriputra; Śāriputra does not equal a bodhisattva; a bodhisattva does not equal a Distinct bodhisattva; a Distinct bodhisattva does not equal a Perfect bodhisattva; and a Perfect bodhisattva does not equal the Buddha. The Trace shown by the Buddha is already immeasurably vast, yet from one transformation he can produce another, and within a transformation produce further transformations without end. Without prior contrivance he precisely fits the faculties, like an asura’s lute sounding of itself; no sage or noble one can measure him. Since the power of the Buddha’s provisional wisdom is like this, the remaining implications can be understood accordingly and need not be recorded one by one.

Second Division: The Same Names but Different Effective Power

Someone asks: Since the substance of the true mark and the purport of cause and fruit extend through the various scriptures, how should the two wisdoms of the provisional and real be distinguished?

The answer is that although the names extend generally, their power differs greatly. The Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings use the two wisdoms to sever doubt concerning the four abiding delusions and give rise to faith in partial truth. Although the Vimalakīrti Sūtra rebukes the two vehicles and bodhisattvas practicing partial ways, it still only enables them to sever doubt and give rise to faith within the realm. It cannot enable those of the Lesser Vehicle or bodhisattvas under skillful means to sever great doubt and give rise to great faith. The general intention of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra likewise concerns doubt severed and faith arising within the realm. Although its distinct intention reaches beyond the realm, it still cannot sever doubt concerning the near Trace and give rise to faith in the distant Origin. The principal intention of the Avataṃsaka can sever doubt beyond the realm and give rise to Perfect faith, but still cannot sever near doubt and give rise to distant faith.

Thus the names provisional wisdom and real wisdom extend through the various scriptures, but their powers differ greatly. The present sutra employs the Buddha’s two wisdoms of awakening to sever the greatest ignorance possessed by the seven expedients and enable them to enter the Perfect cause together. It further breaks the views produced by attachment to the near Trace and gives rise to deep faith in the Origin. Even bodhisattvas at equal awakening thereby sever doubt and give rise to faith. How could such a supreme function be the same as that of the various scriptures?

Third Division, Part One: Ten Functions within the Trace

The third division, explaining the particulars, has two parts: first, individually explaining the Trace; second, individually explaining the Origin.

Ten functions are established within the Trace: first, breaking the three to reveal the one; second, abolishing the three to reveal the one; third, opening the three to reveal the one; fourth, gathering the three to reveal the one; fifth, abiding in the one to reveal the one; sixth, abiding in the three to reveal the one; seventh, abiding in neither three nor one to reveal the one; eighth, covering the three to reveal the one; ninth, abiding in the three and using the one; tenth, abiding in the one and using the three. These ten meanings can extend through all ten subtleties; within each subtlety all ten meanings are present and can be understood by pursuing their implications.

1. Breaking the Three to Reveal the One

The individual meanings will now be clarified. Breaking the three to reveal the one directly breaks attachment to the three vehicles and reveals the wisdom of the One Buddha. Why? In the past, had the Buddha praised the Buddha-Vehicle at the outset, sentient beings would have sunk into suffering. Because they could not bear the Great Dharma, he recalled the skillful power practiced by buddhas of the past and likewise taught the three vehicles. Once the three vehicles had been taught, beings made the teaching their boundary, enclosed themselves within attachment to the three vehicles, and no longer sought a better Dharma. Now this attachment is broken and Buddha-wisdom revealed; hence it is said that after the buddhas teach the Dharma for a long time, they necessarily teach the real.

2. Abolishing the Three to Reveal the One

Abolishing the three to reveal the one directly abolishes the teaching of the three vehicles. Even when attachment has been broken, if the teaching grasped is not abolished, the conception that it has fixed reality will grow again like a tree, and attachment to the teaching will again produce delusion. The teaching must therefore be abolished. This means directly relinquishing skillful means and teaching only the unsurpassed path: in buddha lands throughout the ten directions there is only the Dharma of One Vehicle, neither two nor three.

3. Opening the Three to Reveal the One

Opening the three to reveal the one is principally discussed from principle and secondarily from teaching. From teaching, the former teaching says that three kinds of people enter truth, while today’s teaching says that all three kinds can become buddhas. From principle, the true emptiness realized by the two vehicles intrinsically possesses the true mark. Skillful means in the past did not explain this deeply, and so it could not be seen wondrously; now it is opened and revealed that this very emptiness is the true mark. Hence the statements: definitively understanding the Dharma of the śrāvakas, it is the king of the scriptures; opening the gateway of skillful means and revealing the true mark. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra likewise speaks of opening the wisdom-eye for the śrāvakas.

4. Gathering the Three to Reveal the One

Gathering the three to reveal the one is principally discussed from practice. The gathering of the purport in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra says that the four establishments of mindfulness, the four dhyānas, and so forth are all Mahāyāna. There it gathers only the Dharma practiced, not yet the person who practices it. The present sutra gathers person, Dharma, and practice together. It therefore says that what you practice is the bodhisattva-path; by cultivating gradually, all will become buddhas. Even bowing the head or raising a hand accomplishes the Buddha-path.

5. Abiding in the One to Reveal the One

Abiding in the one to reveal the one is discussed from the Buddha’s original intent. From the beginning the Buddha transforms sentient beings through real wisdom, teaching the Dharma equally like rain of one flavor. The Buddha himself abides in the Great Vehicle and, in accordance with the Dharma he has attained, adorns it with the powers of concentration and wisdom and uses it to liberate sentient beings. If he were to transform them through the Lesser Vehicle, he would fall into stinginess; that is impossible. One therefore knows that from the night he attained the path he has constantly taught the Middle Way and the Great Vehicle.

Only because sentient beings have karmic obstructions does the Tathāgata smear milk with poison and put on tattered, filthy clothing, harmonizing and enticing through skillful means to lead them toward the Great Vehicle. Thus although he teaches many paths, in reality they are all for the One Vehicle.

6. Abiding in the Three to Reveal the One

Abiding in the three to reveal the one is discussed from the Buddha’s provisional wisdom and skillful transformation. The Buddha recalls the skillful power practiced by buddhas of the past and now acts in the same way. He goes to Vārāṇasī and teaches the five bhikṣus through skillful power. Buddhas of the past likewise abided in the three vehicles while revealing the one, and the present Buddha does the same. Thus he uses different skillful means to help reveal the ultimate meaning. In the past he also reproached the śrāvakas before bodhisattvas, while in reality liberating them through the Great Vehicle.

7. Abiding in Neither Three nor One to Reveal the One

Abiding in neither three nor one to reveal the one can be discussed from both principle and phenomena. From principle, Dharma abides in its Dharma-position and the characteristics of the world constantly abide; this Dharma cannot be revealed. It is also known that Dharmas constantly lack intrinsic nature and that the buddha-seed arises through conditions. Lacking intrinsic nature is neither three nor one; arising through conditions means using three kinds of conditions to reveal the one and enable beings to gather into neither three nor one.

From phenomena, it means the human and heavenly vehicles. These two are not included within the three vehicles and are not the One Buddha-Vehicle, yet the Buddha constantly uses them to lead sentient beings into the Great Vehicle. Bowing the head and raising a hand both accomplish the Buddha-path. Whenever the Buddha encounters sentient beings, he teaches them all through the Buddha-path.

8. Covering the Three to Reveal the One

Covering the three to reveal the one is discussed from the many operations of provisional wisdom’s skillful means. The provisional Dharma previously used to liberate sentient beings removed only their illness, not the Dharma itself. The Dharma is not removed because it must remain available to transform later faculties. If that Dharma were destroyed, what could be used for later transformation? When faculties subside, the three are covered; when faculties arise, they are employed again. This is true not only of the Buddha but also of bodhisattvas who have already entered reality. If someone does not trust this Dharma, they reveal, teach, benefit, and gladden that person within other profound Dharmas.

9. Abiding in the Three and Using the One

Abiding in the three and using the one is discussed from the retinues who are wondrous responsive manifestations of Dharma-body. The preceding abiding in the three to reveal the one belongs to the teacher’s gate; abiding in the three and using the one here belongs to the disciples’ gate. Those such as Pūrṇa are in reality Dharma-body bodhisattvas, yet appear as śrāvakas. They seem to abide in the three vehicles while constantly revealing the one, benefiting fellow practitioners of the pure life and bringing benefit to both self and others.

10. Abiding in the One and Using the Three

Abiding in the one and using the three is discussed from original vows. When Flower-Light became a buddha, he vowed to teach the three vehicles even though his land was not an evil world. The present Buddha likewise vowed before Treasure-Treasury Buddha to teach these three vehicles in an evil world. The great function of the provisional and real wisdoms encompasses the entire Dharma realm; how could it be limited to ten? Ten are stated briefly only to reveal the function of the ten subtleties.

The ten functions correspond to the ten subtleties as follows: breaking the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of wisdom; abolishing the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of teaching the Dharma; opening the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of objects; gathering the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of practice; abiding in the one to reveal the one employs the subtlety of the vehicle; abiding in the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of stimulus-and-response; abiding in neither three nor one to reveal the one employs the subtlety of supernormal power; covering the three to reveal the one employs the subtlety of stages; abiding in the three and using the one employs the subtlety of retinues; abiding in the one and using the three employs the subtlety of benefit. When these ten functions are correlated with the ten subtleties, their wording and meaning are distinguished from one another and their general intent can be understood.

Third Division, Part Two: Ten Functions within the Origin

The effective power of the Origin is likewise divided into ten meanings. Following the wording of the sutra, one should call this opening the near to reveal the distant; following the meaning, one should call it Origin and Trace. The near is simply called Trace and the distant Origin. The names differ, but the meaning is the same.

The ten functions are: first, breaking the Trace to reveal the Origin; second, abolishing the Trace to reveal the Origin; third, opening the Trace to reveal the Origin; fourth, gathering the Trace to reveal the Origin; fifth, abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin; sixth, abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin; seventh, abiding in neither Trace nor Origin to reveal the Origin; eighth, covering the Trace to reveal the Origin; ninth, abiding in the Trace and using the Origin; tenth, abiding in the Origin and using the Trace. In the general meaning, every subtlety within the Origin possesses all ten meanings; they will now be individually explained.

1. Breaking the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Breaking the Trace to reveal the Origin likewise breaks attachment to the near Trace. Passages in the chapters “Introduction,” “Skillful Means,” and “Beholding the Jeweled Stūpa” have already shaken attachment to the near Trace and produced questions. When Mañjuśrī answered Maitreya, he said that eight princes formerly studied under Miaoguang. Miaoguang first occupied the stage of one remaining birth, and a prince later became a buddha named Dīpaṃkara. A disciple of Dīpaṃkara later became the Buddha Śākyamuni, while Miaoguang instead appeared as the disciple Mañjuśrī. This exchange of the positions of teacher and disciple shakes attachment to the near Trace and produces the question: how could this be possible?

The answer now given is that one awaiting one remaining birth did not linger without progress, and a disciple did not leap ahead out of sequence. The reality is that Śākyamuni attained the path long ago, appeared as a disciple in the past, and appears as the teacher today. Brushing away this doubt concerning the near Trace reveals the wisdom of the Origin; this is called breaking the Trace to reveal the Origin.

“Skillful Means” says that from distant kalpas onward he has praised and revealed the path to nirvāṇa, that the suffering of birth-and-death is forever exhausted, and that he has constantly taught in this way. One should therefore know that his birth-and-death was exhausted long ago; he did not begin to enter nirvāṇa only at some intermediate time. The jeweled stūpa emerges, proving that the manifested cessation is in fact noncessation and thus constant precisely within Trace. All the emanation buddhas gather, countless throughout the eight directions. Since the emanation bodies are so numerous, one knows that buddhahood was attained long ago, like lotus leaves gradually accumulating until they cover a pond. When the passages in these three chapters are investigated, they have already produced a gradually building power to break the Trace.

Next the bodhisattvas emerge from beneath the earth. They were neither taught at the bodhimaṇḍa of quiescent cessation nor transformed by emanation buddhas in other directions. Maitreya knows the people of both those places, yet does not recognize the assembly that now appears and is therefore astonished and doubtful. The present sutra breaks this attachment to the near and reveals the distant Origin. Thus it says that the whole world believes Śākyamuni left the Śākya palace and attained perfect awakening not far from Gayā, yet in reality immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of kalpas have passed since he became a buddha.

The Buddha directly raises a number of worlds and questions Maitreya. Maitreya does not know even that number, much less the number of dust motes within those worlds. This breaks attachment to recent awakening and produces wisdom concerning the distant past.

2. Abolishing the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Abolishing the Trace to reveal the Origin is also discussed from teaching the Dharma. In the past, because the obstructions of the five turbidities were heavy, the distant Origin could not be taught directly and only a manifestation of recent awakening could be shown. Now that the obstructions have been removed and the faculties stirred, the Trace of recent awakening taught beneath the bodhi tree near the royal city must be abolished and revealed as entirely skillful means. Once the mind attached to recent awakening has been severed, the view that seals the teaching of recent awakening as ultimate also ceases.

The sutra says that since attaining buddhahood in the distant past, he has constantly taught and transformed beings in this Sahā world and has likewise guided and benefited sentient beings in hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of asaṃkhyeyas of other lands. This abolishes the teaching of a single period of near Trace and reveals the teaching of the distant Origin.

3. Opening the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Opening the Trace to reveal the Origin can be discussed from both Dharma and principle. Dīpaṃkara Buddha in Mañjuśrī’s account, the praise and revelation of the path to nirvāṇa from the distant past, and the emanation buddhas of every direction are teachings within Trace that originally carried the meaning of revealing the Origin; deluded people simply did not comprehend their profound intent. To reveal the Origin now, one need not leave the near Trace and search for another road. One need only open the near Trace and point out the essential meaning of the Origin within it.

From principle, when the Trace of skillful means is deeply contemplated, the principle of the Origin naturally appears. The sutra says that in reality it has been such a long time since he became a buddha, and that he merely uses skillful means to transform sentient beings and lead them into the Buddha-path. Since they enter the Buddha-path, they obtain the Origin within the Trace.

4. Gathering the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Gathering the Trace to reveal the Origin is discussed from practice. Examining the various practices within Trace, some practiced beneath this buddha and received a prediction, while others practiced beneath another buddha and received a prediction. At times one’s own body was manifested, and at times another’s body; one responded to faculties through manifestations long or short, great or small. All practices within Trace descend from the Origin. Gathering past and present therefore means gathering the various Traces to reveal the Origin. Although Origin and Trace differ, at the inconceivable point they are one.

The sutra says: Good sons, in the interval he spoke of Dīpaṃkara Buddha and the others, and also said that those buddhas entered nirvāṇa; all of these were distinctions made through skillful means. This is the meaning of gathering the Trace to reveal the Origin.

5. Abiding in the Origin to Reveal the Origin

Abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin is discussed from the Buddha’s original intent. Bodhisattvas from beneath the earth abide in space, the Dharma-body Buddha teaches Dharma-body bodhisattvas, Dharma-body bodhisattvas cultivate the path, and only the One Vehicle is taught. The sutra says that the Sahā world is made entirely of gold and filled with humans and devas. It also says that although the people see the world burn away, his pure land is not destroyed. To perform such profound contemplation is the mark of deep faith and understanding. Constantly abiding in the Origin constantly reveals the Origin. The sutra further says that it has been immensely long since he became a buddha, that his lifespan is immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas of kalpas, and that he constantly abides without cessation. This is abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin.

6. Abiding in the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin is discussed from the meaning of Trace: Śākyamuni abides in a physical body and reveals the one. Because he reveals the one, the jeweled stūpa of an ancient buddha emerges. Because the stūpa emerges, the emanation buddhas are summoned. Because the emanation buddhas gather, someone to propagate the sutra is sought. Because someone to propagate it is sought, the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth appear. Because they appear, Maitreya becomes doubtful and asks. Because he asks, the Buddha teaches the distant lifespan, shaking attachment to the near and dispelling doubt. This is abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin.

The sutra says that through the Buddha-eye he observes such faculties as faith and, through various skillful means, teaches the wondrous Dharma and enables sentient beings to produce joyful minds.

7. Abiding in Neither Trace nor Origin to Reveal the Origin

Abiding in neither Trace nor Origin to reveal the Origin is a dark correspondence reached where language ceases. Precisely because it is neither Origin nor Trace, it can be Origin and can be Trace. Formerly what was not Trace sent down Trace; today what is not Origin reveals Origin. The sutra says: neither real nor false, neither such nor different. The Tathāgata clearly sees all such matters.

8. Covering the Trace to Reveal the Origin

Covering the Trace to reveal the Origin likewise has many forms according to the responses of faculties. If attachment to Trace obscures the Origin, Trace is temporarily covered so that attachment ceases. Later, for different faculties, Trace must still be used again; the lion’s vigorous power is therefore present. The sutra says that he uses various words, causes and conditions, similes, and kinds of teaching; the buddha-work he performs has never ceased even for a moment.

9. Abiding in the Trace and Using the Origin

The preceding abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin merely accords with faculties within Trace and uses skillful means to reveal the principle of the Origin. Abiding in the Trace and using the Origin, as discussed now, proceeds through the many intervening Traces down to recent awakening beneath the bodhi tree, manifesting birth and cessation again and again. In other bodies and other affairs as well, the Buddha uses the Origin’s real cause, real fruit, and various Dharmas of the Origin to perform buddha-work for sentient beings. This explains abiding in the Trace and using the Origin from the teacher’s side.

From the disciples’ side, wondrous responsive retinues from the time of the Origin abide in provisional Trace, send down forms into the nine paths, and use the Dharma of the Origin to benefit sentient beings. The sutra says that he is not now truly entering cessation, yet proclaims that he will enter cessation; the Tathāgata uses this skillful means to transform sentient beings. This is abiding in Trace while using the cessation realized at the time of the Origin to manifest cessation.

10. Abiding in the Origin and Using the Trace

Abiding in the Origin and using the Trace means that while the Origin remains unmoved, Trace pervades the Dharma realm. What is originally unborn manifests birth, and what is originally unceasing manifests cessation, constantly employing these Traces to benefit and moisten sentient beings. This is the explanation from the teacher’s side.

From the disciples’ side, Dharma-body bodhisattvas abide in the Origin through the Dharma of nonabiding and employ provisional wisdom without contrivance, making functions within Trace inexhaustible. The sutra says: Good sons, the Dharma of the buddhas, the tathāgatas, is entirely like this; everything done to liberate sentient beings is real and not false. The Buddha disperses himself to respond to various conditions. Because the scriptural passages are brief and their sequence does not correspond completely, ten headings are now used to establish the meaning. The citations from “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata” are complete at this point.

The root treatise next correlates the ten functions within the Origin with the subtleties. Breaking the Trace to reveal the Origin and gathering the Trace to reveal the Origin respectively employ the subtlety of the original cause. Opening the Trace to reveal the Origin respectively employs the subtlety of the original fruit. Abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin respectively employs the subtlety of the original land. Abolishing the Trace to reveal the Origin respectively employs the subtlety of teaching the Dharma in the Origin. Abiding in neither Trace nor Origin respectively employs the subtlety of stimulus-and-response in the Origin. Covering the Trace to reveal the Origin respectively employs the subtlety of supernormal power in the Origin. Abiding in the Trace and using the Origin respectively employs the subtlety of the original lifespan and also the subtlety of the original retinues. Abiding in the Origin and using the Trace respectively employs the subtlety of original nirvāṇa and also the subtlety of original benefit.

Fourth Division: Gathering the Twenty Functions into the Four Siddhāntas

The provisional and real wisdoms unfold as ten different kinds of function, like teaching with one voice while sentient beings each understand according to their kind. Breaking and abolishing within the Trace open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing for the seven expedients; breaking and abolishing within the Origin enable bodhisattvas numerous as the sands of the Ganges to sever doubt and advance along the path. These are all meanings of the four siddhāntas and all serve to mature sentient beings. The two groups of ten functions will therefore each be gathered into the four siddhāntas: first the ten functions within the Trace, then the ten functions within the Origin.

Separate Binding of the Ten Functions within the Trace

The Trace has two forms of binding: first separate binding, then general binding.

In separate binding, opening the three to reveal the one, abiding in the three and using the one, and gathering the three into the one belong to the individually adapted siddhānta. Why? Sentient beings are already habituated to these three Dharmas; they now continue to cultivate the one through the three. They need not change roads but only deeply contemplate these three, and the one principle naturally appears. The one is originally present within the three, and no separate choosing between three and one is needed; opening the three to reveal the one therefore belongs to the individually adapted siddhānta. Abiding in the three and using the one is the same: one cultivates the One Buddha-path precisely through these three. Pūrṇa, for example, abides in the identity of a śrāvaka yet benefits both himself and fellow practitioners of the pure life. Giving rise to understanding of the one without changing the three Dharmas belongs in every case to the individually adapted siddhānta.

Breaking, abolishing, and covering the three belong to the counteractive siddhānta. Sentient beings are enclosed within the three and doubt the one, so their attachment is refuted, the provisional teaching abolished, and the provisional Dharma covertly covered. The illness of attachment is thereby removed, and they enter the path of one reality and abide in real wisdom.

Abiding in the three to reveal the one and abiding in the one and using the three belong to the worldly siddhānta. The worldly siddhānta takes the desires of sentient beings as its basis. If they seek only the paths of the three vehicles and do not wish to hear the teaching of one reality, the Buddha himself abides in the one while according with them and teaching the three. The conditions of the three vehicles differ from one another, like worlds separated from one another, and this is therefore called the worldly siddhānta. Abiding in the three to reveal the one likewise belongs to the worldly siddhānta, because the Buddha accords with persons and Dharmas, abides in skillful means, matures the faculties, and reveals the one.

Abiding in the one to reveal the one and abiding in neither three nor one to reveal the one belong to the siddhānta of ultimate meaning.

General Binding of Each Function within the Trace

When the four siddhāntas are discussed generally, even breaking the three to reveal the one alone can produce four kinds of benefit. How? A noble person delights in hearing of his faults, while a petty person hates to hear of his errors. Someone who wishes to know his faults will certainly correct them, thereby breaking attachment, removing illness, and joyfully practicing; this is the worldly siddhānta. If someone attached to the three cannot advance along the path, hearing the three broken and the one followed produces awakening and increases wholesome Dharma; this is the individually adapted siddhānta. Attachment to the three is an illness, while teaching the one enables one to attain ease; this is the counteractive siddhānta. Hearing the three broken and thereby seeing principle is the siddhānta of ultimate meaning. The other nine functions can all be inferred accordingly. One thus knows that the Buddha’s skillful means perfectly fit the faculties and enable sentient beings each to receive benefit. This is the power of the four siddhāntas.

Separate and General Binding of the Ten Functions within the Origin

The ten functions within the Origin are likewise gathered into the four siddhāntas at both separate and general levels.

In separate binding, abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin and abiding in the Origin and using the Trace belong to the worldly siddhānta, meaning that they accord with the desires of sentient beings as explained above. Opening the Trace to reveal the Origin, gathering the Trace to reveal the Origin, and abiding in the Trace and using the Origin belong to the individually adapted siddhānta. No change of road or separate practice is needed; one still practices through the Dharma of the Origin and reveals the Origin, as explained above. Breaking, abolishing, and covering the Trace belong to the counteractive siddhānta. Abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin and abiding in neither Origin nor Trace to reveal the Origin belong to the siddhānta of ultimate meaning, likewise as explained above.

Next, when any one division is gathered generally into the four siddhāntas, it accords with the foregoing. The remaining nine divisions can all be understood accordingly as fully possessing them.

Fifth Division: The Four Siddhāntas Share Their Names but Differ in Function

Other scriptures also employ the four siddhāntas and speak of breaking the three to reveal the one, breaking the Trace to reveal the Origin, and similar formulations, yet they differ from the present sutra. This too has two parts: first, clarifying the difference through the Trace; second, clarifying the difference through the Origin.

From the Trace, the Tripiṭaka Teaching also employs the four siddhāntas and contains meanings of breaking, abolishing, and the rest, but only for nirvāṇa with remainder and nirvāṇa without remainder. The shared prajñā of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra likewise employs the four siddhāntas and contains meanings of breaking, establishing, abolishing, and the rest, but only for awakening to truth and not yet for distant fulfillment. The vaipulya teachings likewise break the three to reveal the one and are partly the same for bodhisattvas, but those of the two vehicles cannot enter reality. Thus the ten disciples were rebuked by Vimalakīrti as falling into the eight wrongs and not entering the assembly. These are all words of refutation. Although the scripture praises the inconceivable path of the Great Vehicle and in every case employs the four siddhāntas, those of the two vehicles still do not understand.

The present sutra employs the four siddhāntas in a way that enables those of the two vehicles to sever doubt, remove attachment, enter the Buddha’s true path, and receive predictions of buddhahood. One therefore knows that its use of the four siddhāntas is supremely skillful and wondrous. The sutra speaks of gentle words that delight the minds of the assembly. When Śāriputra expresses his understanding, he also says that the Buddha teaches skillfully through various causes, conditions, and similes; the Buddha’s mind is calm as the sea, and after hearing, Śāriputra’s net of doubt is severed until he abides in real wisdom. This precisely clarifies the present sutra’s function.

Someone further asks: the Lotus reveals the one today only by relying upon earlier refutations. Without that prior training and maturation, understanding could not occur today. Why, then, is the merit attributed only to the present sutra?

The answer is that understanding today indeed depends upon rebuke and reproach in the past, but the merit of accomplishment belongs to the present sutra and cannot be named as an attainment of those former teachings. It is like a hundred people surrounding a thief together. The power of attack and encirclement truly relies upon them all, yet the one who actually captures the thief receives the merit; the merit does not belong to the hundred.

Through opening the provisional to reveal the real, the present sutra’s great function of the four siddhāntas is supremely strong and forceful. In disclosing the Trace to reveal the Origin, the four siddhāntas differ forever more from those in the various scriptures. Why? The effective power within the Trace already exceeds the various teachings. Other scriptures possess not even one of the ten functions within the Origin, much less all ten. The siddhāntas within the Trace already exceed those in the various scriptures. Other scriptures possess not even one siddhānta within the Origin, much less all four. Their intent can be pursued accordingly and need not be recorded at greater length.

In Guanding’s record of Zhiyi’s teaching, the fourth chapter turns from name, substance, and purport toward function. The first three chapters have already shown what the sutra’s name summons, where its true substance lies, and how cause and fruit are established. Clarifying the function brings the question to bear upon sentient beings: if what is taught is real but cannot sever doubt, and if the cause and fruit clarified cannot give rise to faith, reality remains only a principle that has been understood and has not yet become an active power.

This chapter therefore does not add another system of doctrine. It asks how everything already clarified actually takes effect.

Why Are Provisional and Real Wisdoms the Wondrous Capacity, and Severing Doubt and Giving Rise to Faith the Supreme Function?

Who is functioning? The Tathāgata responds to faculties through provisional and real wisdoms; discussed from the side of the person, these are the wondrous capacity. What takes place? The doubts of sentient beings are severed and faith in reality arises; discussed from the side of the Dharma, this is the supreme function. Person and Dharma are not two causal sequences but two sides of the same event: the two wisdoms sever doubt and give rise to faith, while severing doubt and giving rise to faith precisely reveal the capacity of the two wisdoms.

Will purport and function then become confused? Purport discusses cause and fruit, while function discusses severing doubt and giving rise to faith. Cause and fruit have their own effects of severing and subduing delusion; severing doubt and giving rise to faith also rely upon compassion. Zhiyi therefore uses the four compounds “the function within the purport,” “the function within the function,” “the purport upon which the function relies,” and “the purport established within the purport.” They clarify where the two interpenetrate while preserving the principal place of each. When discussing the purport, attention rests upon cause and fruit; when discussing the function, it rests upon how sentient beings turn from doubt to faith. They complete one another without displacing one another’s topic.

The whole chapter therefore unfolds as five questions. Where does the present sutra’s power lie? It shares the names provisional and real with other scriptures, so where does its difference lie? How does this power unfold as ten functions each within the Trace and the Origin? How do these twenty functions correspond to the four siddhāntas? Other scriptures also speak of breaking, abolishing, opening, gathering, and the four siddhāntas, so why is the present sutra’s function still supreme? From beginning to end, all five divisions circle one event: how Buddha-wisdom precisely turns the doubts and faith of sentient beings.

If the Rain Has One Flavor, Why Must It Fall Equally in the Four Directions?

The present sutra’s power first appears in the fact that it says not only that what the Buddha transforms is Trace, but also that the Buddha-body now before the assembly is itself Trace. Once attention turns from external transformations to the Buddha’s own body, awakening in the recent past is no longer the final boundary. The conjured-city fruit attained by the two vehicles can be broken, and the attachment of bodhisattvas under skillful means who take the near Trace as ultimate can be opened. Near doubt is severed and distant faith arises; Dharma-body bodhisattvas further advance along the path because the merit of the Origin is disclosed. This is why the chapter is named for function.

What does it mean for rain of one flavor to fall equally in the four directions? The four directions are not four mutually isolated kinds of water; the rain always has one flavor. Yet it must fall everywhere for attachment at all four gateways to loosen at once. Those seeking the complete path are thereby fulfilled, turn from deep doubt to great faith, and enter the One Perfect cause. The Great Vehicle cart then travels through the four directions and finally reaches the bodhimaṇḍa. Rain and cart, one still and one moving, reveal two sides of the same movement: rain shows universal moistening, while the cart shows unobstructed passage. Together they show that the one in which real wisdom abides does not obstruct the many to which provisional wisdom responds.

This field of benefit extends from the initial graph a to the place near the final graph cha, and further to bodhisattvas advancing along the path too numerous to count even if lands throughout the ten directions, in number like nayutas, were ground into dust. Although its scope is so vast, its point is not abstract grandeur. It is that the deep doubt of every recipient of the Dharma can truly be severed and great faith can truly arise.

Why Does What Most Resembles a Dead Seed Best Reveal the Power of the Dharma-Medicine?

Those of the two vehicles fear birth-and-death, enter emptiness, and take realization, regarding themselves as secure and delivered. Why is this security portrayed as a pit? Once what has been realized is sealed as the endpoint, it is like falling into the three pits of the unconditioned, where the road no longer continues. The suffering of death or death-equivalent suffering, the scorched sprout, ruined seed, high and dry ground, deafness, and muteness form a sequence of images that presses the same predicament ever deeper: life seems to have lost all possibility of renewed growth; the ear cannot hear, the tongue cannot speak, and the Dharma-medicine finds no place to enter.

Icchantikas still possess mind, so where there is mind there remains the possibility of buddhahood. Yet in those who have reduced the body to ashes and extinguished cognition, even the place that could receive treatment seems to have disappeared. Precisely because the difficulty has reached this point, the power of the present sutra appears at its deepest. Buddha-wisdom is like a great physician and the Wondrous Dharma like good medicine: the physical body is not reduced to ashes but becomes like pure beryl, within which all forms inside and outside appear; cognition is not extinguished, but can open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing.

The lowly hired laborer receives the family estate of awakening, and high, dry ground receives the Buddha’s lotus. Both enact the same reversal: what had previously been judged unable to receive the Dharma now becomes the ground of prediction and disclosure. The ear hears the sounds of the ten Dharma realms at once, the tongue gives voice to the Buddha’s sound according to every kind of being, and one faculty can even perform the functions of all the others. This brings the reversal into the body itself. The function of the Lotus not only changes how practitioners understand the fruit; it also reveals anew, within the life judged barren, a body and mind able to hear, speak, and receive the family estate of the Buddha-Dharma.

Why Does One Chain of Comparison Concern Wisdom and the Other Power?

Zhiyi first says that even Cao Cao’s strategic intelligence fell thirty-five li short of Yang Xiu’s. He then proceeds from worldly intelligence in the Central Lands to that of non-Buddhists in foreign lands and onward to Śāriputra. Firefly and sunlight compare the wisdom of the two vehicles and bodhisattvas; a wild goose represents a bodhisattva of the Shared Teaching; a garuḍa able to travel from one Mount Sumeru to another represents a bodhisattva of the Distinct Teaching; finally, soil upon a fingernail and soil throughout the ten directions compare the wisdom of Distinct bodhisattvas with Buddha-wisdom. At each higher level, the range visible to the preceding level is shown to be limited. The chain ends in Buddha-wisdom as consummately integrated, immediate, sudden, and real—neither vertical nor horizontal, perfectly interfused and wondrous beyond comparison. It reveals real wisdom: the principle illuminated is impartial, and the wisdom that illuminates is unobstructed.

He next speaks of ten calves, then one dragon, ten dragons, one strongman, and ten strongmen, who still do not equal a person possessing the five supernormal powers. An outsider with the five powers does not equal one arhat; all arhats do not equal one Maudgalyāyana; Maudgalyāyana does not equal Śāriputra; Śāriputra does not equal a bodhisattva; a bodhisattva does not equal a Distinct bodhisattva; a Distinct bodhisattva does not equal a Perfect bodhisattva; and a Perfect bodhisattva does not equal the Buddha. This chain reveals provisional power: the Buddha’s Trace is immensely broad, one transformation can produce another, and transformations within transformations are inexhaustible. The asura’s lute sounds responsively without anyone planning it, perfectly gathering the meaning of “without contrivance yet fitting.” Real wisdom makes what is seen perfectly clear; provisional wisdom makes every manifestation precisely fit the faculties before it. Only together do the two chains show the complete wondrous capacity able to sever doubt and give rise to faith.

If They Are All Called Provisional and Real Wisdoms, Where Does the Difference Actually Lie?

Someone asks: the substance of the true mark and the purport of cause and fruit extend through the various scriptures, and provisional and real wisdoms are not unique to this sutra. Why, then, can the present sutra alone be said to possess the supreme function?

The answer lies in what doubt is severed and what faith arises. The Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings sever doubt concerning the four abiding delusions and produce faith in partial truth. Although the Vimalakīrti Sūtra rebukes the two vehicles and bodhisattvas practicing partial ways, its function remains within the realm. The general intention of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra also remains within the realm; although its distinct intention reaches beyond the realm, it still does not sever doubt in the near or give rise to faith in the distant. The principal intention of the Avataṃsaka severs doubt beyond the realm and gives rise to Perfect faith, yet it still does not push aside attachment to recent awakening and disclose the distant Origin.

Identical names therefore show only that all these scriptures employ Buddha-wisdom; they do not show that their functions reach the same place. The present sutra uses the Buddha’s two wisdoms of awakening to enable the seven expedients to sever their greatest ignorance and enter the Perfect cause together. It further breaks attachment to the near Trace and enables deep faith in the Origin to arise; even bodhisattvas at equal awakening thereby sever doubt and advance along the path. The sameness lies in the names of the two wisdoms; the difference lies in the depth of the transformation of doubt and faith and in where that transformation reaches.

Why Must Breaking, Abolishing, Opening, and Gathering Be Four Different Actions?

The ten functions within the Trace begin by unfolding through breaking the three, abolishing the three, opening the three, and gathering the three. All four actions move toward the one, but each performs different work.

Breaking the three breaks attachment. In the past, sentient beings could not bear the Buddha-Vehicle, so the Buddha followed the skillful power practiced by buddhas of the past and taught the three vehicles. After long habituation, their minds became enclosed within the three vehicles and no longer sought Buddha-wisdom. To say now that after teaching the Dharma for a long time the real must be taught breaks open that enclosing attachment.

Abolishing the three abolishes the teaching insofar as it is grasped as ultimate. Even when attachment has been broken, if that teaching is still fixed as final reality, the conception of the teaching will grow again like a tree. Directly relinquishing skillful means and teaching only the unsurpassed path keeps a once-effective teaching from being mistaken for the endpoint.

Opening the three is discussed from principle. The true emptiness realized by the two vehicles itself possesses the true mark. Opening and revealing does not carry in another one from beyond the three, but sees within true emptiness the reality that had not previously been perceived wondrously. Thus definitively understanding the Dharma of the śrāvakas, opening the gateway of skillful means, and opening the wisdom-eye for śrāvakas all point to the real within the provisional being disclosed.

Gathering the three is discussed from practice. Such practices as the four establishments of mindfulness and the four dhyānas are all gathered into the Great Vehicle, yet the practitioner must also be gathered. Thus “what you practice is the bodhisattva-path” does not merely rename the Dharma being practiced; it also brings the practitioner to prediction and buddhahood. Only when person, Dharma, and practice are all gathered is gathering the three to reveal the one complete.

Breaking loosens the mind; abolishing prevents teaching from enclosing it again; opening reveals the real meaning within the provisional; gathering brings both person and practice into it. The four actions succeed one another, and none can substitute for another.

If the Buddha Abides in the One, Why Does He Still Abide in, Cover, and Employ the Three?

Abiding in the one to reveal the one expresses the Buddha’s original intent. He originally transforms beings through real wisdom, teaches equally like rain of one flavor, abides in the Great Vehicle himself, and uses the Dharma he has attained—adorned by the power of concentration and wisdom—to liberate sentient beings. Only because beings have obstructions do they see the Tathāgata smear milk with poison and put on tattered, filthy clothing. The milk remains milk and the elder remains the elder. Temporarily changing the outward flavor and appearance enables those unable to receive the Great directly to be led toward it by degrees.

Abiding in the three to reveal the one is then discussed from provisional wisdom. Like the buddhas of the past, the Buddha goes to Vārāṇasī and teaches the five bhikṣus, using different skillful means to help reveal the ultimate meaning. He abides in skillful means so that skillful means can perform its work of leading toward the one.

Abiding in neither three nor one to reveal the one opens from both principle and phenomena. In principle, Dharma abides in its Dharma-position yet lacks intrinsic nature; precisely because it arises through conditions, the one can be revealed through three kinds of conditions. In phenomena, the human and heavenly vehicles are neither the three nor the one, yet can still become paths of entry into the Great Vehicle. Neither three nor one does not stop at double negation; it enables every set of conditions to become an entrance into the Buddha-path.

Covering the three to reveal the one shows that provisional Dharmas at times become hidden and at other times appear. Only the illness is removed; the provisional Dharma is not removed. Once the illness has been cured, that Dharma can remain for later faculties. When faculties subside, it is covered; when faculties arise, it is employed again. The Buddha’s skillful means are therefore not disposable tools, but appear and disappear in response to the roots and conditions of sentient beings.

The last two functions distinguish teacher and disciples. In abiding in the three and using the one, Dharma-body retinues such as Pūrṇa appear as śrāvakas, constantly revealing the one real while inhabiting the identity of the three vehicles and benefiting their fellow practitioners of the pure life. Abiding in the one and using the three arises from original vows: Flower-Light Buddha teaches the three vehicles in a world that is not evil, while the present Buddha also vowed before Treasure-Treasury Buddha to teach the three vehicles in an evil world. The three can be used within the one, and the one can be used within the three; the function of the provisional and real unfolds through both teacher and retinues.

How Is the Distant Origin Opened from the Trace of Recent Awakening?

The ten functions within the Origin still include breaking, abolishing, opening, and gathering, but what they address has shifted from the three and one to the near and distant. Following the sutra’s language, one may speak of opening the near to reveal the distant; following the meaning, one may speak of opening the Trace to reveal the Origin. The near is Trace; the distant is Origin.

Breaking the Trace first breaks attachment to recent awakening. Eight princes once studied under Miaoguang; one prince later became a buddha named Dīpaṃkara. Dīpaṃkara’s disciple later manifested as Śākyamuni, while Miaoguang manifested as Mañjuśrī. The order of teacher and disciple appears reversed, but the real key is that Śākyamuni attained awakening long ago: in the past he could appear as a disciple, and today he can appear as a teacher. The emergence of the jeweled stūpa, gathering of emanation bodies, and appearance of bodhisattvas from beneath the earth press the question further: how could teaching of such scope have been accomplished by a Buddha who awakened only recently?

The passages in three chapters are like lotus leaves gradually accumulating until they cover a pond, building the power to break attachment to the near layer by layer. Maitreya recognizes those taught at the bodhimaṇḍa of quiescent cessation and those transformed by emanation bodies in other directions, but does not recognize the assembly emerging from beneath the earth. His astonishment makes the distant Origin a question that must be answered. When the number implied by recent awakening can no longer be held, and even the numbers of worlds and dust motes cannot be exhausted, the duration of the Origin emerges through the question.

Abolishing the Trace next abolishes the teaching of recent awakening. When the obstructions of the five turbidities were heavy, awakening beneath the bodhi tree near the royal city was all that could be taught. Once faculties matured, the Buddha could say that since the distant past he had constantly taught and transformed beings in Sahā and in immeasurable lands. The near teaching accomplished the work of training and maturing; the distant teaching prevents it from being sealed as ultimate.

Opening the Trace points out that Mañjuśrī’s account, Dīpaṃkara Buddha, the praise and revelation of the path to nirvāṇa over the distant past, and the emanation buddhas already bore the meaning of revealing the Origin. The road to the Origin lies within the near Trace: deeply contemplating the Trace of skillful means enables one to obtain the Origin within the Trace. Gathering the Trace then gathers predictions received beneath this buddha or another, appearances in one’s own body or another’s, and every manifestation—long or short, great or small—back into the Origin. All Traces descend from the Origin; although Origin and Trace differ, they are one at the inconceivable point.

If the Origin Is So Distant, Why Must the Buddha Still Abide in the Trace?

Abiding in the Origin to reveal the Origin first lets the distant Origin itself speak. Bodhisattvas from beneath the earth abide in space, and the Dharma-body Buddha teaches Dharma-body bodhisattvas. The Sahā world is made entirely of gold and filled with humans and devas; although the people see the world burn away, the Buddha’s pure land is not destroyed; and the Buddha’s lifespan is immeasurably long as he constantly abides without cessation. Deep faith and understanding take shape in this contemplation: abiding in the Origin constantly reveals the Origin.

Abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin still begins from Śākyamuni’s physical body. The stūpa of an ancient buddha emerges and summons the emanation bodies; their gathering leads to the search for one who will propagate the sutra; the appearance of bodhisattvas from beneath the earth leads Maitreya to ask; the question then leads to the disclosure of the distant lifespan. Every link abides in visible Trace while leading the reader toward an immeasurable Origin.

Abiding in neither Trace nor Origin to reveal the Origin reaches where language ceases. Neither real nor false, neither such nor different: it is fixed neither as Origin nor as Trace, and therefore can send forth Trace and reveal Origin. This active capacity does not leave conditions behind, but occurs because the Tathāgata clearly sees sentient beings.

Covering the Trace to reveal the Origin possesses the lion’s vigorous power. When attachment to Trace obstructs the Origin, Trace is temporarily covered; when later faculties need it again, Trace reappears. Many kinds of words, causes and conditions, similes, and teachings all express the lion’s sovereign freedom across earlier and later occasions; buddha-work never ceases even for a moment.

Abiding in the Trace and using the Origin, and abiding in the Origin and using the Trace, each have teacher and disciple aspects. Amid the many intervening Traces of birth and cessation, the Buddha uses the Origin’s real cause and fruit to perform buddha-work; retinues from the Origin also send down forms into the nine paths and use the Dharma of the Origin to benefit sentient beings. Conversely, while the Origin remains unmoved, Trace pervades the Dharma realm: what is not born manifests birth, and what does not cease manifests cessation. Dharma-body bodhisattvas likewise abide in the Origin through the Dharma of nonabiding, making the functions of Trace inexhaustible. Trace is where the Origin functions; Origin is the source of Trace’s power. The two disclose one another in benefiting sentient beings.

Why Are the Twenty Functions Finally Gathered into the Four Siddhāntas?

The twenty functions appear numerous, but their core remains the provisional and real wisdoms benefiting beings according to kind. One voice teaches and sentient beings understand according to their kinds; the one Buddha-wisdom takes the different forms of breaking, abolishing, opening, gathering, abiding, and covering when it meets different doubts, illnesses, and desires. The four siddhāntas gather precisely these benefits responsive to faculties.

In the separate binding of the Trace, opening the three, abiding in the three and using the one, and gathering the three enable people to remain on their familiar road and give rise to understanding of the one within the Dharma already practiced; these therefore belong to the individually adapted siddhānta. Breaking, abolishing, and covering the three remove the illness of attachment and therefore belong to the counteractive siddhānta. Abiding in the three to reveal the one and abiding in the one and using the three accord with different desires and therefore belong to the worldly siddhānta. Abiding in the one to reveal the one and abiding in neither to reveal the one directly enable the seeing of principle and therefore belong to the siddhānta of ultimate meaning.

Yet one function can itself possess all four benefits. Take breaking the three: delighting in hearing one’s own faults and gladly correcting them is a worldly benefit; awakening through the breaking of attachment and increasing wholesome Dharma is an individually adapted benefit; obtaining ease from teaching the one as medicine for the illness of grasping the three is a counteractive benefit; and seeing principle through the breaking of the three is a benefit of ultimate meaning. The other nine functions are the same. Separate binding reveals the principal direction of each function; general binding reveals that any one function can possess all four benefits in response to faculties.

The Origin is likewise. Abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin and abiding in the Origin and using the Trace accord with desires. Opening the Trace, gathering the Trace, and abiding in the Trace and using the Origin enable goodness to arise through the Dharma of the Origin. Breaking, abolishing, and covering the Trace counteract attachment to the near. Abiding in the Origin and abiding in neither enable the seeing of the ultimate meaning. The two sets of ten functions, Trace and Origin, are therefore not merely sequences of names, but a complete journey through which the two wisdoms discern faculties and mature sentient beings by different entrances.

A Hundred People Surround a Thief—Why Does the Merit Belong to the Captor?

Other scriptures also employ the four siddhāntas and speak of breaking, abolishing, establishing, and revealing. Where does the difference lie? The Tripiṭaka Teaching’s function stops at nirvāṇa with remainder and without remainder. The shared prajñā of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra enables realization of truth but does not yet bring distant fulfillment. The vaipulya teachings rebuke the two vehicles and praise the inconceivable Great Vehicle, yet those of the two vehicles still do not enter reality. In the present sutra, they finally sever doubt and remove attachment, enter the Buddha’s true path, and receive predictions of buddhahood. Shared terms accomplish different things for different faculties and at different stages of teaching.

Someone therefore asks: today’s revelation of the one in the Lotus plainly relies upon earlier rebuke and training, so why is the merit attributed only to the present sutra? The simile of a hundred people surrounding a thief gives the answer. The force of attack and encirclement truly depends upon all hundred, but when the thief is captured, the merit belongs to the one who completes the capture. Earlier teaching matured the faculties; today’s opening and revealing completes their severing of doubt and entrance into reality. Earlier work is acknowledged, while the name of completion has its proper bearer.

The function within the Trace already exceeds the various teachings; the ten functions within the Origin further reveal distant workings unspoken in other scriptures. The chapter has now taken “function” to its furthest point. Function is neither display nor the number of doctrinal categories. It is the Buddha’s use of provisional and real wisdoms to enable sentient beings to rise from the ruined-seed ground where hearing and growth appeared impossible, pass through skillful means, sever doubt in the near, give rise to faith in the distant, and finally abide in real wisdom.

Through the Eye of the Shiqian

Zhanran first divides the chapter into two levels: explaining the name “function,” then opening the five divisions. Merit is the fulfillment of cause, attainment is realization and awakening, and power is supreme capacity. These three are first discussed from the Tathāgata’s own practice, while function is principally revealed in benefiting others. The Mirror adds another layer: capacity and function can each extend through self and other, but Zhiyi places attention in this chapter upon the benefit received by sentient beings. It therefore establishes the principal positions as the person possessing the skillful capacity to benefit others and the sutra possessing the function of severing doubt and giving rise to faith.

This judgment brings the four opening formulations into a single relation. The person requires the Dharma, and the Dharma must also be propagated by a person. The two wisdoms are the capacity, while severing doubt and giving rise to faith are what that capacity accomplishes; merit and function are mutually implicative while remaining separately expressible. What Guanding records is Zhiyi’s teaching throughout the chapter, without a separately marked interpolation by the recorder. Only in the later Fahua Xuanyi Shiqian do a commentator’s further judgments concerning the outline and difficult phrases begin.

The first division is illuminated as first directly clarifying effective power, then successively comparing and deciding. Although the passage on the two vehicles mentions the three pits of the unconditioned, the Mirror says that cessation through discernment is principally intended here. From “the physical body is not reduced to ashes” onward, the persons and Dharma able to transform are first shown to be supremely wondrous, and the transformed body then discloses the depth of the benefit. The supreme benefits of the six faculties appear to be described from the stage of resemblance, yet their meaning also reaches higher stages. The ruined seed’s renewed growth is therefore more than a word of encouragement: it has distinct levels of bodily benefit, wisdom benefit, and the transformation of body and wisdom together.

The key phrase of the second division is “the names extend generally, but the matters differ.” The two names provisional and real may pervade the various divisions of the teaching; the distinction lies in what doubt is severed and what faith arises. The third division first establishes the ten functions each of Trace and Origin, then separates their general application across the subtleties from their individual explanations. The first six functions in the Trace mostly possess three intentions: first stating the doctrinal position to which a function corresponds, then recounting the teaching of the past, and finally describing today’s opening and revealing. The last four clarify their present operation directly and need not all be supplemented into the same pattern.

Covering the three most clearly shows the work of the Mirror. The illness is attachment to the provisional as real; the Dharma is every provisional Dharma. Once the illness of attachment is removed, the provisional Dharma itself can reveal the real, and therefore removing the illness does not mean destroying the Dharma. Zhiquan later says that the ten functions of the Trace can be gathered under bestowing, opening, and abolishing, and that the two wisdoms discern faculties so that the ten functions appear and disappear. He follows this reading path, making clearer how the Dharma is covered when faculties subside and used again when they arise.

For the ten functions within the Origin, the Mirror first distinguishes the enumeration, statement of intent, and listed explanations. The first four mostly recount Trace and then brush it aside; the latter six mostly discuss Origin directly through Trace. Abiding in the Origin means abiding in the Origin and constantly revealing it; it does not mean that Origin exists only after every Trace has been left behind. The lion’s vigorous power can leap forward and backward; the backward leap becomes the mark of future benefit, so covering Trace likewise preserves a direction of function for later faculties.

Where the ten functions within the Origin are correlated with the subtleties, Zhanran points out that the original list omits abiding in the Trace to reveal the Origin. He proposes adding an item and rearranging the correlations, while finally leaving room for the possibility that a different intention is present. This is the Shiqian’s textual-critical judgment; the original order of Zhiyi’s root text remains a layer in its own right. When this chapter is read alongside the Mohe Zhiguan and Fahua Wenju, each work’s named doctrinal classifications must likewise remain in its own context. The scriptural current of this chapter is always the way the two wisdoms unfold as twenty functions.

In the Mirror, the fourth division is threaded through by “removing and retaining, appearing and disappearing at the proper time.” Removing means removing the three and removing Trace; retaining means still retaining the three and Trace. If the two wisdoms could not discern faculties, the twenty functions would remain a fixed sequence. Because they remove and retain at the proper time, the ten functions can first be assigned separately to the four siddhāntas and then possess all four benefits generally within each function. This returns to the opening of the chapter: every division ultimately serves to enable sentient beings to sever doubt and give rise to faith.

The eye of the fifth division is that the names three and one are the same while their meanings differ. The rebuke and maturing performed by earlier teachings truly contribute, while the present sutra completes entry into reality. The hundred surrounding the thief and the one capturing him distinguish supporting conditions from accomplishment. When the root text says that other scriptures possess “not one” of the functions within the Origin, the Mirror reads this only as taking any single function as an example to refute equivalence; it does not establish another gateway named “not one.” The Mirror consistently preserves the distinct historical places of root text, later commentary, and still later reception, while the axis of severing doubt and giving rise to faith never changes. The finer the Mirror’s illumination, the less the function of benefiting others departs from the present faculties of sentient beings. Seen from here, the complexity of the twenty functions always serves the compassion through which beings understand one voice according to their kinds.