妙法蓮華經玄義 判教·大意

The Buddha already knows when you will be able to understand. The same Dharma may sound like a wall today and become a doorway ten years from now. What has changed is not necessarily the Dharma, but the person capable of receiving it.

The Fahua Xuanyi says that the Buddha did not wait until he sat beneath the tree of awakening to begin deciding who was suited to the great Dharma and who needed skillful means. The causes and conditions of the great matter, the praise of skillful means, and the teaching of the real after a long time all issue from Buddha-wisdom on the Dharma-body ground, quiescent yet constantly illuminating. He had long seen your faculties and the season in which they would mature.

Thus some can enter the Tathāgata’s wisdom from the outset. Others must begin like the impoverished son, with skillful means drawing near and urging them to work diligently. Some have already gained a lesser benefit but must still be rebuked and shown the jewel tied to their robe. Others must pass through cleansing before they can take charge of the goods and receive the family estate.

These are not mutually conflicting teachings, but one father’s unchanging recognition of the same child. When the child does not recognize his father, the father does not force the entire inheritance upon him. When their minds come to trust one another, the doorway opens another measure.

The calculator first sets down the figures one by one and finally gathers them into the great number. The Buddha first teaches distinctively according to faculties, giving each kind of faculty a corresponding teaching; finally, he gathers the three into the great, enabling people to know that every distinction unfolds from the One Buddha-Vehicle. Each distinction brings real benefit, while convergence reveals their common destination.

This also explains why the Buddha stopped three times and the assembly requested four times. Buddha-wisdom is too profound to be received through curiosity alone; a request for the Dharma must mature into a genuine readiness to hear. The stops reveal its difficulty, the requests reveal their resolve, and only the words “we wish and rejoice to hear” after permission is granted truly open the doorway.

The heart of the characteristics of the teaching is not to draw up a ranking of scriptures, but to see how the Buddha abandons no kind of faculty. The high mountains receiving light first does not mean that the valleys will never see the sun; skillful means coming first does not mean that anyone must remain within skillful means.

When you do not understand for a time, do not imagine that the Buddha has forgotten you. That doorway may not yet be fully open, but the light that sees you has never been interrupted.

This is the first half of fascicle ten of the Fahua Xuanyi, whose title line attributes the teaching to Master Zhiyi of Tiantai.

Why One Must Understand the Characteristics of the Teaching to Propagate the Lotus

The fifth great chapter of the entire work explains the characteristics of the teaching. If one propagates other scriptures without explaining the characteristics of the teaching, their meaning suffers no harm. But if one propagates the Lotus Sutra without understanding the characteristics of the teaching, the scripture’s text and meaning will be incomplete.

Yet the sages’ original intent is profound and subtle, and the teachings are exceedingly difficult to classify. Earlier masters either inherited the explanations of renowned teachers or proposed interpretations through their own deep reflection. Although their accounts crisscross like paths between fields, it is unclear which truly accords with the truth. Two mutually contrary claims cannot both be established as meaningful, nor can truth allow conflicting judgments to stand together. If an interpretation has deep grounds and accords with the scriptures, it is recorded and adopted. If it has neither scriptural warrant nor doctrinal basis, it cannot be trusted or accepted.

Master Nanyue realized inwardly and also checked his realization against scriptures and treatises, following the Buddha’s words in every respect. Master Zhiyi of Tiantai restated and adopted his teaching. Classifying the teaching is now divided in brief into five parts: first, the general purport; second, setting forth divergent interpretations; third, clarifying difficulties; fourth, discerning what to accept and reject; and fifth, formally classifying the teaching.

The Other Scriptures Each Go Forth to Their Respective Conditions

The “general purport” means that, within what originally admits of no name or form, the Buddha provisionally employs names and forms to teach the Dharma. He taught the other scriptures, each in accord with the appropriate conditions, so that sentient beings might gain benefit.

For example, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra first receives faculties suited to the Perfect and Distinct, as high mountains are first illuminated by the sun. It directly explains the virtues of the stages from the abodes upward and the grounds upward within sequential and nonsequential practice, but it does not discern the Tathāgata’s intent in suddenly teaching this way.

When the four Āgamas were taught, the Ekottarika Āgama explained causes and fruits among humans and devas, the Madhyama Āgama explained the profound meaning of true quiescence, the Saṃyukta Āgama explained the various meditative concentrations, and the Dīrgha Āgama refuted non-Buddhist teachings. The four collections also taught impermanence in common, instructing people to know suffering, sever accumulation, realize cessation, and cultivate the path, but they did not explicitly reveal why the Tathāgata skillfully and circuitously established lesser Dharmas.

When the various Vaipulya scriptures were taught, they subdued attachment to the small, rebuked partial views, praised the great Dharma, and extolled the perfect meaning, revealing compassion, practice, and vows; both their phenomenal forms and doctrinal principles were exceedingly excellent. But they did not explicitly reveal why great and small faculties were brought together in the same assembly, or why rebuke and praise were employed at the same time.

From the shared meaning of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, three kinds of practitioners enter together; from its distinct meaning, bodhisattvas advance alone. The scripture extensively surveys the five aggregates and twelve sense fields so that all become pure, open through emptiness, and dissolved, but it does not explicitly reveal the intent behind what is shared and what is not shared.

The Nirvāṇa Sūtra, taught at the end, briefly rejects the three kinds of practice and roughly indicates the sequence of the five flavors, yet it still does not fully explain the Tathāgata’s intent in arranging the several teachings, tracing their beginning, and gathering their end. These scriptures all accord with the inclinations of sentient beings and enable them to gain benefit; they do not specifically discuss the Buddha’s intent in arranging the teachings of his whole lifetime. To ask where that intent ultimately leads, one must still turn to the present scripture for its disclosure.

The Present Scripture Discusses Only the Great Outline of Establishing the Teaching

The present scripture has a different focus. The categories of the various Dharma gates, Great and Lesser Vehicle contemplations, the ten powers, fearlessnesses, and the many regulations are no longer discussed in detail here, because earlier scriptures have already taught them. The present scripture exclusively discusses the Tathāgata’s original starting point in arranging the teaching, how he observed and selected faculties midway and bestowed teachings upon them, how gradual and sudden teachings were each made timely, and how the causes and conditions of the great matter reached their ultimate conclusion. It teaches the overall framework of the teaching, the comprehensive instrument by which the great work of transformation gathers sentient beings.

Those who had planted deeply in past lives and possessed mature faculties were suddenly given the great Dharma from the outset. Their bodhisattva stages, practices, and virtues were directly explained, without words concerning lesser Dharmas. The scripture says: “When they first saw my body and heard my teaching, they all believed, accepted, and entered the Tathāgata’s wisdom.”

For those unable to bear the great Dharma, the Tathāgata concealed his immeasurable wondrous virtues and, by skillful means, drew gradually near through a Dharma pleasing to the impoverished son, telling him to work diligently. The scripture says: “If I were to praise the Buddha Vehicle, sentient beings would sink into suffering.” Such people should enter the Buddha’s wisdom gradually by this method.

Once they had attained the path, they should be rebuked, just as the Vaipulya teaching uses the great Dharma to break attachment to lesser Dharmas. The scripture says: “After sternly rebuking him, he showed him the jewel tied to his robe.” If their faculties were suited to the concurrent treatment of the great and the small, the half and full teachings would cleanse their attachments; as in the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, grasping at all characteristics was dispelled so that different paths could converge on one purport. The scripture says: “He was about to lead the assembly across a perilous road.”

After they had passed beyond this difficulty, the relation of child and father was established, and the family estate was entrusted to them. The provisional Trace manifested nearby was brushed aside, and the real Origin in the distant past was revealed.

First Setting Down the Calculation, Then Eliminating It

One should know that this scripture discusses only the great outline of the Tathāgata’s establishment of the teaching; it does not explain the fine subdivisions in detail. It is like a person making a calculation, who first sets each number down and later eliminates the separate figures by gathering them into the total. Only the total is fixed and recorded; minute quantities such as pecks and bushels are no longer retained.

Thus the Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings says: “Immeasurable meanings arise from one Dharma.” Distinguishingly teaching the three vehicles from the One Buddha-Vehicle is like first setting down the figures. Drawing immeasurable meanings back into one Dharma and gathering the three vehicles into the Great Vehicle is like eliminating the fractions and recording only the total.

All these intentions of the teaching issue from wisdom on the Dharma-body ground, quiescent yet constantly illuminating. It is not that only upon arriving beneath the bodhi tree did the Buddha begin to observe which sentient beings should receive the great Dharma and which should receive lesser Dharmas. Buddha-wisdom had illuminated their faculties since the distant past.

The scripture says: “They appear in the world solely because of the causes and conditions of one great matter.” This shows that the great faculties had long been seen. It also says: “Earnestly praising skillful means.” This shows that the lesser faculties had long been seen. It further says: “After the Dharma of the buddhas has remained for a long time, the real must be taught.” This shows that the means of gathering the small into the great had also long been seen.

The “Faith and Understanding” chapter says: “Seated on the lion throne, he saw his son and recognized him at once.” This shows that the great faculties had been discerned from the beginning and for a long time. It also says: “From within a window, he saw his son in the distance.” This shows that the lesser faculties had long been discerned. It further says: “He secretly dispatched two men, who drew gradually near by skillful means and told him to work diligently.” This shows that the time for opening out the three vehicles had long been discerned. It also says: “Their minds came to trust one another, and he entered and left without difficulty.” This shows that the time for discipline and rebuke had long been discerned. It further says: “He took charge of and understood all the goods.” This shows that the time for cleansing attachments had long been discerned. It also says: “Later he entrusted the family estate to him.” This shows that the time for bringing teaching and practice to completion had long been discerned.

Why It Is Most Difficult to Believe and Understand

The Buddha’s original intent is so profound that even the Bodhisattva Maitreya could not know the causes and conditions of what the Buddha did, much less bodhisattvas of lower stages, practitioners of the two vehicles, or ordinary people. The scripture says: “Only I know this characteristic; the buddhas of the ten directions do likewise.”

It further says that, among what has already been taught, what is being taught now, and what will be taught, the present scripture is the most difficult to believe and understand. Earlier scriptures belong to what has already been taught and were taught in accord with the inclinations of sentient beings. They did not clearly disclose this intent of the Buddha and were therefore easier to believe and understand. The Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings belongs to what is being taught now and still accords with sentient beings’ inclinations, so it too is easier to believe and understand. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra belongs to what will be taught. Because sentient beings will already have heard the intent of the teaching disclosed by the present scripture, it too is easier to believe and understand.

When the Buddha was about to teach the present teaching, the assembly’s doubts and requests arose repeatedly, as the passages in both the Trace Gate and the Origin Gate show in detail. When the Buddha accepted their request and taught, what he taught was precisely the intent of the teaching. The intent of the teaching is the Buddha’s intent, and the Buddha’s intent is Buddha-wisdom. Because Buddha-wisdom is exceedingly profound, the Buddha stopped three times and the assembly requested four times. Compared with this difficulty, the other scriptures appear easy.

Compared with the Stops and Requests in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra

When the Buddha first sat at the place of awakening, Brahmā’s first request for the Dharma simply asked the Buddha directly to teach and was not interwoven with a net of doubts. The earnest exchanges that later attended the teaching of the various Vaipulya scriptures can be seen in their texts. When the Large Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra was taught, it was still in response to Brahmā’s original request. Only the scene in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra in which the assembly requests the Bodhisattva Vajragarbha to teach the Dharma of the ten grounds can be compared with the repeated stops and requests in the present scripture.

Some treatise masters emphasize this point and judge the Avataṃsaka Sūtra superior to the Lotus Sutra, saying that a request made by a Lesser Vehicle practitioner cannot equal one made by a bodhisattva. This sees only one side. When Śāriputra expressed the assembly’s intent, he said: “Children born from the Buddha’s mouth join their palms and gaze upward in expectation. The bodhisattvas seeking the Buddha path number fully eighty thousand; all wish to hear the complete path.” How could the request have been made by only one Lesser Vehicle practitioner? The Bodhisattva Maitreya likewise gathered the assembly’s intent and asked the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī to resolve their doubts. How does this differ fundamentally from the Bodhisattva Liberation Moon asking the Bodhisattva Vajragarbha to resolve doubts?

From the Origin Gate, moreover, bodhisattvas request the Buddha to teach the Buddha-Dharma. How could this be compared only with bodhisattvas requesting another bodhisattva to teach bodhisattva-Dharma? If one looks specifically at the Dharma requested, the present scripture does indeed surpass the other in one respect.

From the perspective of the assembly, the bodhisattvas of the ten directions gathered like clouds in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and were all Vairocana Buddha’s acquaintances from past lives. In the present scripture, all the bodhisattvas emerging from the earth aroused the aspiration under Śākyamuni Buddha and were taught and transformed by him. At first glance the two sides may appear equal, but their relationships still differ in distance and intimacy.

From the perspective of the teaching lord, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that buddhas of the ten directions teach the Avataṃsaka, and that the bodhisattvas empowered by them all bear the same names, such as Dharma Wisdom and Vajragarbha, but it does not say that those buddhas are all emanations of Vairocana Buddha. The present scripture, by contrast, explicitly describes three transformations of the lands, with four hundred trillion nayutas of lands in each direction, all filled with buddhas who are emanations of Śākyamuni Buddha. In this respect it too differs from the other scripture.

Those treatise masters regarded the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as superior and cited one or two statements in support. They did not deliberately elevate one scripture and denigrate another. Yet if one insists on comparing which scripture is superior, one may instead lose the original intent of the Buddha’s teaching.

The present Lotus Sutra opens the provisional to reveal the distant Origin. Doubts are more numerous and requests are doubled across the earlier Trace and later Origin sections precisely because it deeply discusses the Buddha’s outline for establishing the teaching and subtly reveals the sage’s innermost intent. Proximately it gathers the perfect cause; remotely it extends the original fruit. The assembly’s doubts and requests therefore do not cease. If one can precisely understand the characteristics of the teaching, one can recognize the Tathāgata’s provisional and real wisdoms. The intent of the teaching is exceedingly profound; this is only a brief account.

Why does the text and meaning of the Lotus become incomplete if the characteristics of the teaching are not understood? The fifth chapter opens by drawing a sharp distinction: when one propagates other scriptures, the teaching of the individual scripture can still stand even if the overall characteristics of the teaching are not explained. But when one propagates the Lotus, the text and meaning lack a crucial dimension unless one understands how the Tathāgata taught before and after.

What the present scripture reveals is precisely why the Buddha first taught the many Dharmas and how he then caused them to converge upon the one great matter. Reading what each scripture teaches at that moment enables one to gain the benefit of that particular scripture. To understand further why the teachings open and gather in this sequence, however, one must inquire into the Buddha’s intent.

This distinction makes the sequence of the teachings a complete process of the Tathāgata’s discerning faculties, bestowing benefit, and opening and revealing. It also turns the fifth chapter’s inquiry from the teachings back toward the Buddha’s intent.

Within What Has No Name or Form, Why Still Teach through Provisional Names and Forms?

What the Buddha realizes is originally unrestricted by name and form, yet in facing sentient beings he must still teach by means of names and forms. Teaching therefore has two aspects: reality cannot be exhausted by language, while compassion does not abandon sentient beings who can benefit through language.

The Avataṃsaka first illuminates great faculties and directly explains the stages, practices, and virtues of bodhisattvas. The four Āgamas respectively explain causes and fruits among humans and devas, the profound meaning of true quiescence, the various meditative concentrations, and the refutation of non-Buddhist teachings; together they also teach impermanence and knowing suffering, severing accumulation, realizing cessation, and cultivating the path. The Vaipulya teachings subdue attachment to the small, rebuke partial views, praise the great, and extol the perfect. The Prajñāpāramitā teachings enable three kinds of people to enter together while bodhisattvas advance alone, dispelling attachment to the aggregates and sense fields. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra later rejects the three kinds of practice and indicates the five flavors. Each teaching goes forth to the appropriate faculties and bestows benefit, and each has an irreplaceable function.

Yet bestowing benefit in response to faculties is not the same as having revealed the Buddha’s entire intent in arranging the teachings of his lifetime. What each scripture teaches in its own moment brings benefit to the corresponding faculties. The characteristics of the teaching explain further why these teachings were established, how they connect before and after, and where they ultimately return.

Why Does the Present Scripture Not Explain the Fine Mesh of Dharma Gates?

The Great and Lesser Vehicle contemplations, the ten powers and fearlessnesses, and the many regulations were already explained extensively in earlier scriptures. The present scripture instead reveals the original beginning of arranging the teaching, the selecting and bestowing that occur in the middle, how gradual and sudden teachings each become timely, and how the causes and conditions of the great matter reach their ultimate conclusion. What it preserves is the framework of establishing the teaching, gathering the beginning and end of the Buddha’s lifelong dispensation.

Those whose faculties had been deeply planted and matured in past lives could suddenly receive the great Dharma from the outset and directly enter the Tathāgata’s wisdom. For those unable to bear the great, the Buddha concealed his wondrous virtues and drew near by skillful means through a Dharma pleasing to the impoverished son, telling him to work diligently. Those who had already gained the path were then rebuked through the great to break their attachment to the small and shown the jewel tied to their robe. Those suited to the concurrent treatment of the great and the small were cleansed of attachment through the Prajñāpāramitā teachings and brought to a shared purport. Once this difficulty had been passed, the relation of child and father was settled, the family estate could be entrusted, the provisional Trace was brushed aside, and the real Origin revealed.

This sequence centers on the correspondence between Dharma and faculties. Sudden bestowal, skillful means, rebuke, concurrent treatment, and entrusting the estate are all skillful acts of the same Buddha-wisdom facing different degrees of maturity. An earlier Dharma gives sentient beings benefit; a later Dharma takes up what they have gained and enables them gradually to receive the entire family estate.

Why Does the Calculator First Set Figures Down and Later Eliminate Them?

The calculator first sets down the figures one by one, thereby establishing the total. At settlement, the scattered figures are gathered into the total; only the great number is recorded, and minute amounts measured in pecks and bushels are omitted. The Buddha’s teaching is the same: first he teaches distinctively according to faculties, unfolding the several teachings one by one; later he draws the immeasurable back into the one and gathers the three into the great, returning the earlier distinctions to the total.

“Immeasurable meanings arise from one Dharma” is like figures unfolding from one; “within the One Buddha-Vehicle, he distinctively teaches the three” is like first setting down the calculation. Drawing the immeasurable into the one and gathering the three into the great is like eliminating the figures later and recording only the great number. Only after the prior figures have each been established can they finally be gathered into the real total. Eliminating the calculation shows precisely that the distinct teachings each confer their own benefit while converging together upon the One Buddha-Vehicle.

When Did the Buddha See the Faculties of Sentient Beings?

The treatise places all these intentions of the teaching within “the Dharma-body ground, quiescent yet constantly illuminating.” The Buddha did not wait until he sat beneath the tree of awakening to decide on the spot whether to teach the great or the small. The causes and conditions of the great matter, the praise of skillful means, and the teaching of the real after a long time all show that he had long seen the great faculties, the lesser faculties, and the time for gathering the small into the great.

The “Faith and Understanding” chapter turns this long illumination into a sequence of images: seated on the lion throne, the father sees his son and recognizes him; from the window he sees his son in the distance; he secretly dispatches two men, who draw near by skillful means; their minds come to trust one another, and the son enters and leaves without difficulty; the son takes charge of and understands all the goods; finally, the father entrusts the family estate to him. The father always knows who the child is. What changes is whether the child can bear the inheritance and when he is ready for the next step.

Skillful means and opening and revealing both occur within this long-standing illumination of faculties. When men are sent to tell the son to work diligently, the Buddha’s intent receives him in accord with his faculties. When the family estate is entrusted, the same Buddha-intent brings those being transformed toward maturity. Although the teachings differ before and after, the wisdom that discerns remains continuous throughout.

Why Does the Buddha Stop Three Times and the Assembly Request Four Times?

Even Maitreya cannot recognize the causes and conditions of what the Buddha does, much less other practitioners. Among what has already been taught, what is being taught now, and what will be taught, the present scripture is the most difficult to believe and understand. Its difficulty lies in the fact that it does not merely teach one Dharma gate but reveals the intent of the teaching; the intent of the teaching is the Buddha’s intent, and the Buddha’s intent is Buddha-wisdom.

Thus, as the teaching is about to begin, doubts and requests arise layer upon layer. The Buddha stops three times, while Śāriputra repeatedly makes the request on behalf of the assembly. After the Buddha agrees to teach, Śāriputra again declares his wish and joy in hearing, completing the fourth request. The Origin Gate likewise reveals its profundity through repeated admonitions to believe and requests for the teaching. The stops show how difficult the teaching is to receive; the requests show that the assembly genuinely wishes to hear it.

Brahmā’s initial request simply asked for the Dharma directly, while the Vaipulya and Prajñāpāramitā teachings did not contain the same interwoven net of doubts. The scene in the Avataṃsaka in which Liberation Moon and the assembly request Vajragarbha to teach the ten grounds can be read alongside the present scripture from the perspective of repeated stops and requests. The identity of the Dharma requested and of the one asked to teach, however, must retain their own respective positions.

When Comparing the Two Scriptures, Why Finally Stop at the Buddha’s Purport?

If one looks only at the requester’s identity, it is easy to say that Śāriputra is inferior to a bodhisattva. Yet Śāriputra speaks for the entire assembly, including eighty thousand bodhisattvas seeking the Buddha path. If one looks at the Dharma requested, the Origin Gate has bodhisattvas ask the Buddha to teach the Buddha-Dharma, whereas the Avataṃsaka has bodhisattvas ask a bodhisattva to teach bodhisattva-Dharma. If one looks at the retinues, on one side are Vairocana Buddha’s acquaintances from past lives, gathering like clouds from the ten directions; on the other are bodhisattvas emerging from the earth, who aroused the aspiration under Śākyamuni and were taught and transformed by him. If one looks at the teaching lord, on one side those empowered bear the same names, such as Dharma Wisdom and Vajragarbha; on the other, the buddhas gathered from the ten directions are explicitly said to be emanations of Śākyamuni.

The point of these comparisons is to reveal the distinct teaching scene of each scripture while safeguarding the Buddha’s purport. The treatise states clearly that fixation on comparing superiority and inferiority may instead lose the Buddha’s purport. The Lotus has more doubts and doubled requests because, proximately, it gathers the perfect cause and, remotely, it extends the original fruit, deeply discussing the Buddha’s teaching and subtly revealing the sage’s heart. To understand the characteristics of the teaching is to see how the Tathāgata’s provisional and real wisdoms unfold from a single mind that discerns faculties into the teachings of a lifetime.

The earlier scriptures are easier to believe and understand because each benefits the faculties of its own moment without directly laying open the Tathāgata’s full intent in establishing the teachings before and after. The Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings is what is being taught now, and the Nirvāṇa Sūtra what will be taught; each is also easier to receive in accordance with the place it takes up. The present scripture is difficult because it asks one to look back from what is gained before one’s eyes toward the wisdom with which the teacher discerned faculties from the distant past: the provisional is what is bestowed in response to faculties, while the real is the ultimate destination. Though the teachings differ before and after, the Buddha’s intent remains consistent throughout.

The distinction between easy and difficult therefore lies in whether what is revealed is only the attainment made possible by an individual scripture or the Buddha’s intent running through the entire beginning and end. Upon reaching the characteristics of the teaching, the inquiry is precisely into the latter.

Through the Eye of the Shiqian

Zhanran’s Fahua Xuanyi Shiqian first divides the fifth chapter into the reason for its introduction and the explanation that opens the chapter. It then divides the general purport into three layers: the basis for teaching, the proper clarification of the general purport, and the concluding exhortation. The basis for teaching is that the Buddha’s own realization is originally inexpressible, yet vocal teaching is provisionally established for the faculties of this land. This allows “without name or form” and “teaching through provisional names and forms” to stand together.

The proper clarification of the general purport is illuminated through four gateways: the relative superiority of the teachings, the differences among beings’ faculties, the Tathāgata’s capacity to discern them, and comparison of what is taught. The first four kinds of scripture each benefit the faculties of their own moment and the teaching of their own section, while the present scripture preserves the great outline of establishing the teaching. Zhanran further organizes their sequence by using the later summary name “the Five Periods”; this name belongs to an ancient master’s classification and is not substituted for the root treatise’s own wording.

Within the gateway of beings’ faculties, those deeply planted in past lives, those unable to bear the great, those suited to rebuke, and those suited to concurrent treatment are gathered as four kinds of disposition. Settling the relation of father and son is explained as opening and revealing the provisional person; entrusting the family estate is explained as entrusting the provisional and real Dharmas. Brushing aside the provisional Trace and revealing the real Origin then turns into the Origin Gate. The calculator’s first setting down and later eliminating is further divided into Dharma explanation, simile, and the combined simile from the Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings, revealing the sequence of first unfolding and later gathering.

In the gateway of the Tathāgata’s capacity to discern, the Mirror first clarifies that the discernment of faculties comes from long ago and then that the Buddha’s intent is difficult to fathom. The lines from “Faith and Understanding”—seeing the son, looking through the window, secretly dispatching, mutual trust, taking charge of the goods, and entrusting the estate—are illuminated as one sequence of maturation. The gateway of comparison first compares what has already been taught, what is being taught now, and what will be taught, then compares the doubts and requests with those in the other scriptures.

The Mirror’s most important boundary is that the Avataṃsaka can be grouped with the present scripture only in the structure of stops and requests; the Dharmas taught must not therefore be conflated. The Trace Gate’s three stops and four requests and the Origin Gate’s four requests and three admonitions must likewise be understood in the sequence of their events. Zhanran finally repeats Zhiyi’s self-admonition: if one competes over superiority and inferiority, one may lose the Buddha’s purport. The eye of the characteristics of the teaching thus returns to the root treatise’s concluding exhortation: recognizing the provisional and real before and after never departs from the Tathāgata’s one mind discerning faculties.