妙法蓮華經玄義 判教相·引三文證

If the Lotus and Nirvāṇa are both clarified essence, why are some gathered earlier and others later? Because what the Buddha intends to give is not twofold, while sentient beings do not mature at the same time.

When the Buddha first sat at the place of the path, the wisdom he had attained was subtle, wondrous, and foremost, and he originally intended to enable sentient beings to enter the Tathāgata’s wisdom directly. Only after seeing that their faculties were dull did he recall the skillful means of past buddhas and distinctly teach the Three Vehicles within the path of the One Vehicle. The sudden teaching does not attend only to the high mountains, and the gradual does not abandon the great Dharma. The sun first illuminating the high mountains does not mean that the great earth will forever lack light; milk first becoming curds does not mean that milk itself is at fault.

The same initial sudden teaching can therefore be called both milk and clarified essence. Viewed from its being the beginning of the teaching and the practitioner’s first steps, it is like milk. Viewed from those of great faculties immediately breaking ignorance and attaining the forbearance of non-arising, it is like clarified essence. The question is not only “What teaching is this?” but also “Who is receiving it, and how far have they gone?”

The “Faith and Understanding” chapter presents this path as father and son recognizing one another. At first the poor son sees his father and flees; later he is hired to clear away dung. Afterward he can freely enter and leave and manage the storehouses. Only at the end, before the relatives, does he learn that he has always been the son and that the whole family estate properly belongs to him. The father has not changed and the estate has not changed; what changes is the son’s capacity to bear the estate.

A farming family is the same. What is sown first ripens and is harvested first; what is sown later ripens and is harvested later. Some receive predictions and see the Tathāgata-nature in the Lotus. Others are not yet mature then and still must be tempered through Prajñā before being gathered in through the Nirvāṇa. The Lotus and Nirvāṇa both being clarified essence does not mean that everyone must mature at the same moment.

This is the heart-essence of using the three passages as evidence: skillful means does not leave reality to create another road. It gives those unable to walk onward now a road they can still travel. The Buddha does not cease transforming because an earlier batch has already matured, nor does he lower the destination because a later batch is not yet mature. He preserves a continuing road of transformation for faculties not yet mature, so that milk can become curds, refined ghee can become clarified essence, and the poor son has a road home.

How Do Three Scriptural Passages Serve as Evidence?

The second topic cites three scriptural passages as evidence: the “Skillful Means” chapter, the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, and the “Faith and Understanding” chapter.

The “Skillful Means” chapter says that when the Buddha first sat at the place of the path, he contemplated the bodhi tree and also walked back and forth in meditation. During three periods of seven days, he considered this matter: the wisdom he had attained was subtle, wondrous, and foremost, but sentient beings’ faculties were dull—how could he bring them across? He would rather not teach the Dharma and quickly enter nirvāṇa. He then recalled the power of skillful means practiced by past buddhas and thought that, concerning the path he had now attained, he too should distinctly teach the Three Vehicles.

“First sat at the place of the path” clarifies the sudden teaching. Why? When the Buddha descended from Tuṣita Heaven, his Dharma-body retinue accompanied him like dark clouds enveloping the moon and descended together into his mother’s womb. The womb was like empty space, and within it the Buddha constantly taught the wondrous Dharma. He continued until he first accomplished complete awakening at the quiescent place of the path and taught the Great Vehicle purely for the bodhisattvas, like the newly risen sun first illuminating the high mountains. This clarifies Śākyamuni Buddha’s initial sudden teaching.

The “Introduction” chapter further says that the Buddha emitted light from between his brows and universally illuminated eighteen thousand lands in the east. The assembly saw the lions among sacred lords expounding the scriptural Dharma, subtle, wondrous, and foremost, and teaching the bodhisattvas. The following passage then says that if people encounter suffering, nirvāṇa is taught for them so that the limits of all suffering are exhausted. This shows present buddhas teaching the sudden first and the gradual afterward.

When Mañjuśrī explained the assembly’s doubts, he cited past buddhas as doing the same. The scripture says that they further saw the tathāgatas naturally accomplishing the Buddha-path and the World-Honored Ones, amid the great assembly, extensively expounding profound and wondrous meanings of the Dharma; immediately afterward, every buddha land contained innumerable assemblies of śrāvakas. This shows past buddhas teaching the sudden first and the gradual afterward.

When the bodhisattvas emerging from the earth offered their greetings, the Buddha answered that it was so, it was so: sentient beings were easy to bring across; when they first saw the Buddha’s body and heard what he taught, they all accepted it in faith and entered the Tathāgata’s wisdom. Excepted were those who had previously cultivated the Lesser Vehicle; the Buddha now also enabled these people to hear this scripture and enter the Buddha’s wisdom. This shows Śākyamuni Buddha teaching the initial sudden and the later gradual.

Why Is the Initial Sudden Teaching Both Milk and Clarified Essence?

Initial sudden teachings such as these do not necessarily teach only Dharma-body bodhisattvas; ordinary beings of great faculties are also included. There are two meanings here. Those who awaken upon directly hearing the perfect and sudden teaching are like clarified essence. Beginners, though they hear the great teaching, have only just entered the ten faiths and still belong to the initial flavor. Since what is first can produce what follows, it is also like milk.

Although this is called sudden, the faculties involved include those for whom both vehicle and discipline are urgent and those for whom discipline is relaxed while the vehicle is urgent. Such karma-born beings cannot arrive by themselves. They must accompany the Buddha as response-born beings and be led into the seven places and eight assemblies. Great faculties stimulating the Buddha are like the forbearance grass; the Buddha’s perfect response and sudden teaching are like clarified essence issuing from that grass.

Because the sudden teaching comes first and one has only just entered the inner ordinary stages, it can still be called milk. Calling it milk does not mean its flavor is thin; it means that it is initial and fundamental. When a cow has newly given birth, blood changes into milk and remains pure within her body; once the calf makes the sound 『𡂡』, the mother cow lets down milk. The Buddha is likewise. When he first sat at the place of the path and newly accomplished complete awakening, the blood of ignorance and the other delusions had transformed into illumination, while the eighty thousand Dharma treasuries and twelve divisions of scripture were all fully present in the Dharma-body. The great faculties were like the calf and received the milk first. Milk is the first of all flavors and represents the sudden teaching standing at the beginning of all teachings; this is why the Avataṃsaka is called milk.

When distinguished through the three teachings of sudden, gradual, and indeterminate, it is called the sudden teaching and is itself clarified essence. When distinguished through the sequence of the five flavors, it is called the milk teaching.

Consider practitioners as well. Those of great faculties who receive the sudden teaching immediately break ignorance and attain the forbearance of non-arising; their practice is like clarified essence. Others receive this sudden teaching but cannot yet awaken and enter; they have only just established practice, so their practice is like milk. Viewed in relation to people of lesser faculties, their practice too is like milk. The great teaching was intended for them, but they were like the deaf and mute. It was not within the share of their wisdom, and their practice remained at the stage of ordinary beings, entirely unprocessed like milk.

For these reasons, although the sudden teaching comes first, it may be called clarified essence and may also be called milk. The angles upon which the two names depend can be understood from the preceding discussion.

Opening the Gradual from the Sudden Takes Only Successive Arising

Next comes opening the gradual. The Buddha originally intended to bring sentient beings across through the Great Vehicle. When they could not bear it, he considered skillful means and traveled to Vārāṇasī, distinctly teaching the Three Vehicles within the path of the One Vehicle. This is the opening of the Tripiṭaka Teaching.

It was not only Śākyamuni Buddha who concealed his immeasurable spiritual virtues and undertook such gradual transformation. Buddhas of past and present likewise did so. From the passages cited above, one knows that the initial sudden teaching was followed by the opening of the gradual.

The Nirvāṇa Sūtra therefore says that from the Buddha are born the twelve divisions of scripture and from the twelve divisions of scripture is born sūtra. This directly accords with the present meaning. It is like milk coming from a cow and curds coming from milk; the simile is not inconsistent. Those of gradual faculties had not yet changed within the sudden teaching and remained wholly raw like milk. Only within the Tripiṭaka Teaching did they change, shedding the ordinary and accomplishing the noble, like milk becoming curds. This is successive arising and is called the teaching of the second period. The simile does not take thickness or thinness of flavor, nor superiority or inferiority among teachings. The evidentiary passage from “Skillful Means” ends here.

At this point Part One of Fascicle Ten of the Fahua Xuanyi ends. Part Two of Fascicle Ten follows and continues to bear the attribution “taught by Tiantai Master Zhiyi.”

The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings First Lists the Teaching Sequence as a Whole

The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings is next cited as evidence. Its meaning is that the Buddha, with the Buddha-eye, contemplates all dharmas, which cannot be expressed in words. Why? Because sentient beings differ in their dispositions and desires.

Because dispositions and desires differ, the Buddha teaches Dharma in various ways. The wording employed is one, but the meanings expressed differ; because the meanings differ, sentient beings understand differently; because their understanding differs, the Dharma, fruit, and path they attain also differ.

At first the Buddha taught the Four Truths for those seeking to become śrāvakas, while eight hundred million gods descended to hear the Dharma and aroused the mind of awakening. In the middle, he taught the profound twelve links of dependent origination in various places for those seeking pratyekabuddhahood. Next, he taught the twelve divisions of Vaipulya scripture, Mahāprajñā, and the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka, explaining the bodhisattvas’ practice over successive kalpas. Hundreds of thousands of bhikṣus and immeasurable sentient beings aroused the mind of awakening, some remained as śrāvakas, myriads of koṭis of humans and gods attained stream-entry through arhatship, and some remained as pratyekabuddhas.

“The Buddha-eye contemplates all dharmas” indicates that the sudden Dharma came first; the Four Truths and twelve links of dependent origination are the gradual teaching that opened next.

According to this passage, after the Tripiṭaka Teaching had been completed, the twelve divisions of Vaipulya scripture were taught next. The Buddha taught the great after the small because he had originally intended to bestow the great, but sentient beings could not bear it. He therefore provisionally drew the small out of the great, enabling them to sever their bonds and accomplish the noble. Although this was a genuine benefit, it was still not the Buddha’s original intent.

Next he taught the Vaipulya, Vimalakīrti, Questions of Brahmā Viśeṣacintin, and Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra, reproaching the Lesser Vehicle’s partiality in protecting the fruit it had attained and criticizing the Tripiṭaka Teaching’s error of annihilationism. Śāriputra and Subhūti had practiced the small exclusively according to the preceding teaching and initially had never heard of the Great Vehicle’s majestic virtues. Some bewilderedly abandoned their bowls; some fearfully tried to reject the heavenly flowers. They did not know what the other person was saying and did not know how to answer.

Vaipulya reproach came after the Tripiṭaka Teaching, while the events in which they were reproached should have occurred before the twelfth year. How can this be known? The scriptures all recount former reproaches retrospectively, proving that these were earlier events. They had already received the teaching and attained the path, realized the stage beyond training, deeply borne the Buddha’s kindness, and come to trust and understand one another, so they no longer became angry when reproached. From that earlier time to the present, they freely submitted to Aṅgulimāla’s ridicule and Vimalakīrti’s rebukes, finally gaining the benefit of being ashamed of the small and aspiring to the great. This is like cooking curds to produce raw ghee.

According to the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, one can know that Vaipulya follows the Tripiṭaka Teaching and is the teaching of the third period.

Why Does Prajñā Follow Vaipulya?

According to the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, Mahāprajñā, the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka, and practice over successive kalpas were taught next; this means that the Large Prajñāpāramitā was taught after Vaipulya.

The Large Prajñāpāramitā sometimes teaches impermanence and no-self, sometimes emptiness, and sometimes non-arising and non-extinction. It proceeds from form and mind all the way to the knowledge of all modes, turning every sentence repeatedly to clarify the Dharma of practice. This is the meaning of practice over successive kalpas.

The scripture further says that hundreds of thousands of bhikṣus and myriads of koṭis of humans and gods attained stream-entry through arhatship or remained as pratyekabuddhas. This confirms that it is prajñā shared by the Three Vehicles.

As for “the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka,” if it were interpreted as the Avataṃsaka initially taught at the quiescent place of the path, it would not fit the sequence here. The Treatise on Dharma-nature is therefore followed in saying that bodhisattvas of dull faculties enter the Dharma realm in three places: first in Prajñā, second in the Lotus, and third in Nirvāṇa. Entering the Dharma realm through Prajñā is precisely the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka.

There is another meaning. The duration of the Avataṃsaka teaching was long; those of lesser faculties had not entered it in the past and were like the deaf and mute, but on hearing Prajñā now they could enter. This too is precisely the present meaning. The Large Prajñāpāramitā extends to people of the Three Vehicles and can therefore speak of the four fruits. The Avataṃsaka excludes those of lesser faculties, and hence does not have this meaning.

Prajñā was therefore taught after Vaipulya and is the teaching of the fourth period.

How Does the Perfect and Sudden Reappear after Refined Ghee?

It is further called the flavor of refined ghee because the śrāvakas were commanded to relay the Prajñā teaching for bodhisattvas and came to take charge of and know the various Dharma gates. Their minds gradually became open and at ease. They knew that their own firefly light could not equal sunlight, while their feeling of reverence and submission matured still further. This is like raw ghee becoming refined ghee.

“The oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka is clarified after Prajñā” can further be explained as referring to the perfect and sudden Lotus teaching. Why? When the Buddha first accomplished the path, he purely taught the perfect and sudden. Those who did not understand had not yet developed sufficiently great faculties. After being tempered through the Tripiṭaka, Vaipulya, and Prajñā teachings, their faculties matured, their obstructions were removed, and they became able to hear the perfect and sudden. The Buddha then taught the Lotus, opening the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing and enabling them to enter the Dharma realm, on a level with the Avataṃsaka. These are the people described by the Treatise on Dharma-nature as entering through the Lotus in the middle.

The following passage therefore means that those who first saw the Buddha’s body and heard the Buddha’s teaching immediately entered the Tathāgata’s wisdom, while those who now heard this scripture entered the Buddha’s wisdom. The Buddha-wisdom attained at first and later is alike in its perfect and sudden meaning. Therefore, the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka taught after Prajñā is on a level with the Lotus and is also the teaching of the fifth period.

Why Are the Lotus and Nirvāṇa Both Clarified Essence?

Clarified essence is further mentioned because it is the final flavor after all the other flavors. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra calls it clarified essence, while the present scripture calls it the great king’s feast. One therefore knows that both scriptures are clarified essence.

After the Buddha Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiance finished teaching the Lotus Sutra, he announced at midnight that he would enter nirvāṇa. In that buddha’s full course of transformation, he first taught the Avataṃsaka and last taught the Lotus. The same was true at the time of Kāśyapa Buddha: the Nirvāṇa Sūtra was not separately elucidated, and the Lotus was treated as the final teaching and final flavor.

During Śākyamuni Buddha’s course of transformation, he first matured an earlier batch of people and made the Lotus their clarified essence. To mature a later batch, he tempered them again through Prajñā before enabling them to enter Nirvāṇa, and made the Nirvāṇa their final teaching and final flavor.

This is like a farming family: what is sown first ripens and is harvested first, while what is sown later ripens and is harvested later. The eight thousand śrāvakas and immeasurable bodhisattvas who diminished birth in the Lotus assembly were fruits that had matured earlier. They were harvested in the Lotus and had nothing further to do. The five thousand who rose and left on their own and the humans and gods who were moved elsewhere matured later and were harvested in the Nirvāṇa.

It is therefore said that great nirvāṇa emerges from Mahāprajñā; this is the sequence for the later batch. The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings says that the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka follows Mahāprajñā; this is the sequence for the earlier batch that matured in the Lotus.

Someone asks: How do we know that those of dull faculties did not enter through the Lotus and had to be tempered through Prajñā again?

The answer is that the Great Treatise on the Perfection of Wisdom asks why Subhūti again inquired whether bodhisattvas were certain or not certain. It answers that Subhūti had heard in the Lotus that bodhisattvas received predictions of buddhahood, but now, in Prajñā, again asked whether they were certain or not certain. One should therefore know that Prajñā was taught again after the Lotus.

The First Stage of “Faith and Understanding”: The Urgent Pursuit of the Poor Son, Like Milk

The third passage cited is the “Faith and Understanding” chapter. The four great śrāvakas received and understood the teaching, using it to establish this sequence.

The scripture first says that the poor son’s father had arrived here long before and stopped in a city after failing to find his son. His family was extremely wealthy, with many servants, ministers, assistants, officials, and people. The poor son happened upon his father’s residence but ran away as soon as he saw it. The father immediately sent someone to pursue him urgently and bring him back. The poor son was startled and shouted in grievance, thinking that he was being imprisoned though innocent and would certainly die. The father therefore told the messenger that he did not need this man and should not force him to come.

What meaning does this receive and understand? It receives and understands that when the Buddha first accomplished the path, at the quiescent place of the path he was surrounded by a retinue of Dharma-body great beings of the forty-one stages and taught the perfect and sudden teaching gate. At that time the Buddha intended the great Dharma for the poor son, but the son’s faculties caused him to faint. One therefore knows that when the Buddha-sun first rose, the sudden teaching opened first, just as milk necessarily comes first from a cow.

The Second Stage: Secretly Sending Men to Clear Away Dung, Like Curds

Next, the elder wished to entice and guide his son. Through skillful means, he secretly sent two men whose appearance was haggard and who possessed no imposing virtue, telling them to go and slowly tell the poor son that he could be hired to clear away dung. The elder also removed his jeweled necklace and changed into filthy, greasy clothes. Through this skillful means, he was able to approach his son.

What meaning does this receive and understand? It receives and understands that after the sudden teaching, the Buddha concealed Vairocana’s majestic virtues and excellent marks, manifested the appearance of an old bhikṣu, and taught the Tripiṭaka Teaching. For twenty years he constantly had the poor son clear away dung and receive one day’s wage. This is sūtra emerging after the twelve divisions of scripture. At that time the delusions of views and thought were severed and the uncontaminated mind purified, like curds emerging from milk.

The Third Stage: Going Out and Entering without Difficulty, Like Raw Ghee

After more time had passed, the father and son came to trust and understand one another, and there was no difficulty in going out or entering; nevertheless, the son’s dwelling remained in its original location.

What meaning does this receive and understand? It clarifies that Vaipulya was taught next after the Tripiṭaka Teaching. People of the Two Vehicles had already attained the fruit of the path, and father and son trusted and understood one another. Hearing the great Dharma is called entering, while remaining in the small Dharma is called going out. Enduring severe verbal reproach is called being without difficulty.

The household simile gives another explanation. Advancing inward into the residence is called entering. There one sees ministers and powerful clans and great meritorious powers, hears the Jewel-Torch Dhāraṇī, and sees the supernormal transformations of inconceivable liberation, and hence it is called entering. Going out and continuing to stay in the grass hut, remaining within the sphere of the Two Vehicles, is called going out.

Their trusting and understanding one another means that after attaining arhatship they did not become angry even when reviled. Inwardly ashamed, they did not dare to transform others through the Dharma of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. Their minds gradually matured, like curds becoming raw ghee. This is called the Vaipulya scriptures emerging from sūtra and is the teaching of the third period.

The Fourth Stage: Taking Charge of and Knowing the Goods, Like Refined Ghee

At that time the elder became ill and knew that he would soon die. He told the poor son that he possessed much gold, silver, and precious treasure and that the storehouses were full; the son was to manage how much there was and what should be taken or given. The poor son accepted the command and took charge of and came to know all the goods, yet had no thought of desiring to take even one meal. His dwelling still remained in its original location.

What meaning does this receive and understand? It clarifies that Prajñā was taught after Vaipulya. Prajñā’s contemplative wisdom is the family estate; proceeding from name-and-form all the way to knowledge of modes is the collection of goods. Subhūti and the others being commanded to relay the teaching is their taking charge of and knowing it. They taught it only for the bodhisattvas and did not themselves practice and realize it, and hence had no intention of taking it for themselves. This is Mahāprajñā emerging from the Vaipulya scriptures.

Through this they came to know the Dharma gates of the great beings and removed their lack of knowledge. This is like raw ghee becoming refined ghee and is the teaching of the fourth period.

The Fifth Stage: Assembling the Relatives and Entrusting the Estate, Like Clarified Essence

After a little more time, the father knew that his son’s mind had gradually become open and at ease. As he approached death, he summoned his son, assembled the relatives, and personally announced that this truly was his son and he truly the father; everything he now possessed belonged to the son. The father entrusted the family estate to him, and the poor son rejoiced greatly, attaining what he had never had before.

What meaning does this receive and understand? It clarifies that the Lotus was taught after Prajñā. The son had previously been made to take charge of and know every item in the treasury. Nothing further needed to be explained; the estate only had to be directly entrusted to him.

This is like the preceding relaying of the teaching: the śrāvakas already knew the various Dharma gates, so now there was no need to present the contemplations again. The grass hut only had to be demolished, the one great cart bestowed, and predictions of future buddhahood given. Is this not clearly seeing buddha-nature and abiding in great nirvāṇa? It is therefore said that great nirvāṇa emerges from Mahāprajñā. At this time ignorance is broken, the principle of the Middle Way is revealed, and their minds become lucid and pure like clarified essence. This is clarified essence emerging from refined ghee and is the teaching of the fifth period.

Gathering Two Batches and the Shared Flavor of the Two Scriptures

This set of teachings through the five flavors first matures one group of sentient beings of gradual faculties, such as Śāriputra and the other great śrāvakas, enabling them to receive predictions of buddhahood in the Lotus, see the Tathāgata-nature, and accomplish the great fruit. Like the autumn harvest and winter storage, they have nothing further to do. This is what the root treatise calls “non-arising that does not arise,” named great nirvāṇa. This is the earlier batch, in which the Wondrous Dharma Lotus emerges from Mahāprajñā.

Those who have not matured enter Nirvāṇa through Prajñā and see buddha-nature. This is the later batch, in which great nirvāṇa again emerges from Prajñā.

Nevertheless, the teaching intents of the Lotus and Nirvāṇa have the same structure in the beginning and end of their main teaching. The three cycles of teaching in the Lotus settle the śrāvakas decisively and bring them all back to the one real. Later the scripture opens the nearby to reveal the distant and clarifies the affairs of bodhisattvas.

The Nirvāṇa is likewise so. It first teaches the superior three cultivations, settles the śrāvakas decisively, and brings them into the secret treasury. Afterward, the thirty-six questions clarify the affairs of bodhisattvas.

As the Buddha approached extinction, the Nirvāṇa further supported the Tripiṭaka Teaching and admonished and restrained the future, causing those of dull faculties in the latter age not to give rise to annihilationist views within buddhadharma. It broadly opened the purport of permanence, broke these inversions, and caused buddhadharma to abide for a long time. These functions make the teaching intents of the two scriptures different; but as the fifth flavor, clarified essence, their flavor of buddha-nature is the same.

As Part One of Fascicle Ten turns into Part Two, Guanding preserves both the fascicle title and the attribution “taught by Tiantai Master Zhiyi.” The continuous teaching concentrates on three questions. Since the Buddha initially intended to teach the Great Vehicle directly, why did he later distinctly teach the Three Vehicles? Why can the same initial sudden teaching be compared both to milk and to clarified essence? Since the Lotus and Nirvāṇa are both the final flavor, why must they still be divided into an earlier and a later batch?

Zhiyi takes three scriptural passages that mutually supply what the others lack. “Skillful Means” reveals the turn from the sudden to opening the gradual. The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings supplies the middle sections after that turn. “Faith and Understanding” transforms the entire process into the long simile of father and son recognizing one another and the family estate being entrusted. Read together, the sequence of the scriptures reveals a process in which sentient beings mature from being unable to bear the teaching to being able to receive, know, and attain it.

Why Was the Initial Intention to Teach the Great Turned into Distinctly Teaching Three?

“Skillful Means” first places the Buddha’s two directions within one process of reflection. The wisdom attained by the Buddha was subtle, wondrous, and foremost, and he originally intended sentient beings to enter it directly. Seeing that sentient beings’ faculties were dull and recalling the skillful means practiced by past buddhas, he decided to distinctly teach the Three Vehicles within the path of the One Vehicle.

“First sat at the place of the path” reveals the sudden teaching. When the Buddha descended from Tuṣita Heaven, his Dharma-body retinue accompanied him like dark clouds enclosing the moon. Within his mother’s womb he constantly taught the wondrous Dharma, continuing until he first accomplished complete awakening at the quiescent place of the path and first taught the Great Vehicle purely for the bodhisattvas, like the newly risen sun first illuminating the high mountains. “First illuminating” reveals the higher and lower capacities of sentient beings to receive the light and the sequence in which they do so.

The same turn is repeatedly revealed through three sets of scenes. The present Buddha emits light from between his brows: first the buddhas are seen teaching bodhisattvas, and afterward nirvāṇa is taught for those who suffer. Past buddhas first extensively expound the profound Dharma, and afterward there are innumerable assemblies of śrāvakas. Śākyamuni Buddha likewise says that those who first saw the Buddha and heard the Dharma could enter the Tathāgata’s wisdom, while those who had previously studied the Lesser Vehicle later heard this scripture and entered the Buddha’s wisdom. Teaching the sudden first and the gradual afterward thus becomes the common sequence in which the great Dharma meets different faculties.

Why Does One Initial Sudden Teaching Have the Two Names Milk and Clarified Essence?

The initial sudden teaching is addressed to Dharma-body bodhisattvas, while ordinary beings of great faculties can also receive it. Those who awaken immediately through the perfect and sudden teaching realize the ultimate and are like clarified essence. Those who are only beginners hear the great teaching but have just entered the ten faiths; this is the beginning of practice and is like milk. The two names respectively answer “How deep is what is attained?” and “Where has the journey reached?”

Among those receiving the teaching, some have both vehicle and discipline urgent, while others have discipline relaxed and the vehicle urgent. Great faculties such as these cannot reach the Buddha’s assembly by themselves; they must accompany the Buddha as response-born beings and enter the seven places and eight assemblies. From the standpoint of the teacher, when the Buddha newly accomplished complete awakening, the blood of ignorance and the other delusions had already transformed into illumination. The eighty thousand Dharma treasuries and twelve divisions of scripture were inherently present in the Dharma-body and flowed forth first in response to the stimulation of great faculties.

Pure milk is already present within a cow that has newly given birth; once the calf makes the sound 『𡂡』, the mother cow lets down milk. Great faculties stimulating the Buddha are like the calf, and the Buddha suddenly teaching the great Dharma is like the mother cow letting down milk. Here milk means initial and fundamental. The forbearance grass causing a cow to produce clarified essence means that what great faculties stimulate and what the perfect response teaches can directly reach the ultimate flavor. The same sudden teaching is called milk according to its being the beginning of the teaching and clarified essence according to the ultimate principle. Viewed through practice, those who break ignorance and attain the forbearance of non-arising are like clarified essence; those just establishing practice and people of lesser faculties who have not yet changed are like milk.

The two names of the initial sudden teaching are therefore not two names accidentally superimposed. “Sudden” is established according to the Dharma and “milk” according to flavor; the root treatise uses each in accordance with the meaning of its immediate context.

Milk Producing Curds Means Successive Arising, Not Thickness and Thinness

When sentient beings could not bear the great Dharma the Buddha originally intended to bestow, he traveled to Vārāṇasī and distinctly taught the Three Vehicles within the path of the One Vehicle. The great Dharma remained the Buddha’s original intent in giving, while the Three Vehicles became an entrance through which sentient beings could at that time sever their bonds and accomplish the noble.

From the Buddha are born the twelve divisions of scripture, and from the twelve divisions of scripture is born sūtra. This is like milk coming from a cow and curds from milk. Those of gradual faculties had not yet changed within the sudden teaching and remained entirely raw like milk. Within the Tripiṭaka Teaching, they shed the ordinary and accomplished the noble, like milk changing into curds. The passage expressly takes only the successive arising of earlier and later; it does not use thickness or thinness of flavor as a basis for classifying the teaching by superiority and inferiority.

This also changes how skillful means is understood. If skillful means is seen only as a lower answer, one cannot see that it begins to transform those unable to advance. If it is made a permanent destination, one cannot see that milk will in turn produce curds. Successive arising preserves both the benefit of the present moment and the road that continues afterward.

How Does the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings Supply the Three Middle Stages?

The second scriptural passage begins from sentient beings’ differing dispositions and desires. The dharmas contemplated by the Buddha-eye cannot be expressed, while sentient beings’ dispositions, desires, and understanding all differ. The same transformation therefore produces different understanding and different attainments of Dharma, fruit, and path in different people.

At first the Four Truths are taught for those seeking to become śrāvakas; in the middle the twelve links of dependent origination are taught for those seeking pratyekabuddhahood; later the twelve divisions of Vaipulya scripture, Mahāprajñā, and the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka are taught, revealing the bodhisattvas’ practice over successive kalpas. This long list also reveals faculties intermingling: when the Four Truths are taught, some gods already arouse the mind of awakening; when the later great Dharma is taught, some still remain as śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas. The teachings have a sequence, while each being’s benefit follows their faculties.

The Tripiṭaka Teaching enables people to sever their bonds and accomplish the noble, which is already a real benefit, but it is still not the Buddha’s original intent to bestow the great. Vaipulya therefore follows attainment of the fruit by reproaching partiality that clings to the fruit. When Subhūti faces Vimalakīrti’s question, he bewilderedly sets down his bowl and wishes to leave. Śāriputra tries to remove the heavenly flowers from his body but cannot. Aṅgulimāla ridicules, and Vimalakīrti subdues. These scenes cause those who attained the fruit no longer to treat their attainment as the whole. Having already received the Buddha’s kindness and come to trust one another, they can endure reproof without anger, turn from curds into raw ghee, and gain the benefit of being ashamed of the small and aspiring to the great.

Prajñā then transforms this aspiration into the ability to know the great Dharma. From form and mind all the way to the knowledge of all modes, impermanence, no-self, emptiness, and non-arising and non-extinction are turned repeatedly sentence by sentence, and all are Dharmas of practice. The śrāvakas are commanded to relay the teaching and can teach it for bodhisattvas; their minds gradually become open and at ease. They are like someone who takes charge of and knows the goods in a storehouse, knowing how much the estate contains and how goods are to be taken or given, but not yet intending to take any for themselves. This is raw ghee becoming refined ghee.

Why Does “Oceanic Emptiness of the Avataṃsaka” Appear after Prajñā?

If these four words referred only to the Avataṃsaka initially taught at the quiescent place of the path, they would not fit the present sequence. Zhiyi first cites the Treatise on Dharma-nature, which says that bodhisattvas of dull faculties enter the Dharma realm in three places—Prajñā, the Lotus, and Nirvāṇa—to explain that entering the Dharma realm through Prajñā can also be called the oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka.

He further speaks in terms of faculties. The duration of the Avataṃsaka teaching was long, but those of lesser faculties had not entered in the past. They were formerly like the deaf and mute; now, on hearing Prajñā, they had the capacity to enter. The Large Prajñāpāramitā extends to people of the Three Vehicles and can therefore speak of the four fruits; the Avataṃsaka excludes those of lesser faculties and does not have the same scene of the four fruits. Read together, the “oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka” after Prajñā means that people who formerly could not enter now attain entry into the Dharma realm.

Viewed from the following section, the reopening of the perfect and sudden after Prajñā is the Lotus. Faculties have been tempered and matured through the Tripiṭaka, Vaipulya, and Prajñā teachings, their obstructions removed, and they are now able to hear the perfect and sudden. Entering the Tathāgata’s wisdom when the Buddha first accomplished the path and entering the Buddha’s wisdom later upon hearing the Lotus are alike in their perfect and sudden meaning. The same perfect and sudden light becomes manifest later as the faculties of those receiving it mature.

If Both Are Clarified Essence, Why Are the Lotus and Nirvāṇa Divided into Two Batches?

The Lotus is called the great king’s feast and the Nirvāṇa clarified essence; both scriptures come after all the other flavors. After the Buddha Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiance taught the Lotus, he entered nirvāṇa at midnight. At the time of Kāśyapa Buddha, the Nirvāṇa likewise was not separately elucidated and the Lotus was treated as the final teaching and final flavor. In all these conditions of transformation, the Lotus serves as the final teaching and final flavor.

The sentient beings transformed by Śākyamuni Buddha, however, include those who mature earlier and those who mature later. The earlier-maturing receive predictions and see the Tathāgata-nature in the Lotus, like a field sown first that ripens and is harvested first. The five thousand who rose and left on their own and the humans and gods moved elsewhere are like late-sown crops that have not matured. They must still be tempered again through Prajñā and gathered in through the Nirvāṇa. The two batches are like one farmer facing two sets of crops that mature at different times and harvesting each according to when it ripens.

The question and answer on certainty directly establishes the later batch. Subhūti had already heard in the Lotus that bodhisattvas received predictions of buddhahood, yet later, within Prajñā, still asked whether bodhisattvas were certain or not certain. Zhiyi sees in this that, after the Lotus, there remained space for teaching Prajñā again to those who had not entered. Transformation does not end because the earlier batch has already been harvested.

How Does One Household Reveal All Five Stages of Maturation?

The “Faith and Understanding” chapter transforms the teaching sequence in the preceding two scriptural passages into the distance between father and son.

In the first scene, the poor son happens upon his father’s residence and runs as soon as he sees its wealth. The father sends someone to pursue him urgently; startled, the son shouts, thinking that he is being imprisoned though innocent, and even faints. The father can only order his release. This is like the sudden teaching first opening at the quiescent place of the path: the Buddha intends the great Dharma for those of lesser faculties, but they are unable to bear it. The sun has risen and first illuminates the high mountains; for the poor son, this is still only the initial milk.

In the second scene, the father secretly sends two haggard men without imposing virtue to hire the son slowly to clear away dung. The father himself removes his jeweled necklace and puts on filthy clothes before he can approach. This is like the Buddha concealing Vairocana’s majestic virtues and excellent marks, manifesting the appearance of an old bhikṣu, and having people clear away dung for twenty years in return for a day’s wage. The delusions of views and thought are severed and the uncontaminated mind purified, like milk becoming curds.

In the third scene, father and son trust and understand one another and go out and enter without difficulty, yet the son still stays in his original location. Hearing the great Dharma is entering, remaining in the small Dharma going out, and undergoing severe reproach without anger being without difficulty. Entering the residence and seeing ministers and powerful clans, great meritorious powers, the Jewel-Torch Dhāraṇī, and the supernormal transformations of inconceivable liberation is also entering; returning to the grass hut and remaining in the sphere of the Two Vehicles is going out. The distance has narrowed, but the dwelling has not changed, like curds becoming raw ghee.

In the fourth scene, the father gives his son responsibility for the gold, silver, precious jewels, and full storehouses. The son can take charge of and know how much there is and what should be taken or given, yet has no intention of taking even one meal. Prajñā’s contemplative wisdom is the family estate, while name-and-form through knowledge of modes are the goods. Subhūti and the others can relay the teaching to bodhisattvas but have not yet practiced and realized it themselves. Being able to know without yet personally possessing is the mature position of refined ghee.

In the fifth scene, before the relatives the father declares their relation as father and son and transfers the entire family estate to him. Since the son previously took charge of and knew all the goods, they need not be explained again. The grass hut only has to be demolished, the one great cart bestowed, and a prediction of buddhahood given. Ignorance is broken and the Middle Way revealed; the poor son rejoices at attaining what he never had before, like pure clarified essence emerging from refined ghee.

The five scenes always revolve around the same father, the same son, and the same household. The distance the son can bear and his relation to the family estate gradually change. First he sees and flees, then he is hired; later he can enter and leave and manage the estate; only at the end does he learn that he has always been the son of the household.

If the Two Scriptures Share One Flavor, Why Do Their Teaching Intents Still Differ?

Those who mature earlier enter the Lotus through Prajñā, while those who mature later enter the Nirvāṇa through Prajñā again. Both see buddha-nature and are therefore clarified essence. The main teaching of the Lotus first returns the śrāvakas to the one real, then reveals buddhahood attained in the distant past and clarifies bodhisattva matters. The Nirvāṇa likewise first uses the superior three cultivations to bring the śrāvakas into the secret treasury, then clarifies bodhisattva matters through the thirty-six questions. Viewed from the first and last parts of the main teaching, the beginning and end of the two scriptures correspond.

As the Buddha approaches extinction, however, the Nirvāṇa must also restate discipline and admonish the future, preventing those of dull faculties in the latter age from producing annihilationist views upon hearing emptiness and quiescence. It extensively clarifies permanent abiding, breaks inversions, and causes buddhadharma to abide for a long time. This is the distinct intent the Nirvāṇa bears in facing the future.

Their shared flavor therefore lies in ultimate buddha-nature, while their distinct intent lies in safeguarding the Dharma as extinction approaches. A farming family harvests at different times, and a family estate is entrusted in stages. The fruit ultimately matured is the same, while those who mature later are still cared for through a complete method.

Through the Eye of the Shiqian

In the Fahua Xuanyi Shiqian, Zhanran first says that the three passages establish the three major outlines, then distinguishes what each passage covers. “Skillful Means” takes the movement from the sudden to the Deer Park; the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings supplies the Vaipulya and Prajñā after the Deer Park; and “Faith and Understanding” gathers the first two passages. The wording and meaning of the first two illuminate one another, while the last encompasses beginning and end. Thus, although the three passages are few, they illuminate the opening and closing of an entire course of transformation.

For the three periods of seven days in “Skillful Means,” the Mirror first lists several old explanations, then marks the present master’s intent. The three periods successively represent the three cycles of Dharma exposition, exposition through simile, and exposition through causes and conditions. Applied generally to the Great Vehicle, they also represent intents to teach the Perfect, Distinct, and Shared Teachings, for which in each case there were no responsive faculties, so the Buddha ceased the great and administered the small. This judgment reads the number of days as a structure of teaching and does not combine the divergent views listed alongside it into a single chronology.

The initial sudden teaching’s two names, milk and clarified essence, are further viewed through faculties and conditions, the transforming lord, teaching flavor, and practice. Because it is great it is called sudden; because it is initial it is called milk. From the Buddha’s standpoint it is always sudden; from the ultimate principle realized by practitioners it is clarified essence; from the beginning of great practice and the lack of transformation in lesser faculties it is milk. In the Mirror’s light, the two names reveal criteria of observation rather than canceling one another.

In the section on the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings, the Mirror first distinguishes the initial great followed by the small and the initial small followed by the great, then unfolds Vaipulya, Prajñā, and the Lotus. Vaipulya has six levels: the purport of the class, those reproached, time, the intent of reproach, the benefit attained, and the conclusion on the period. Prajñā preserves both shared and unshared aspects. Concerning the “oceanic emptiness of the Avataṃsaka,” one route explains it through the Dharma realm, while another uses the Avataṃsaka’s long duration to extend it into later periods. Both routes are coherent, and so both are retained.

The Mirror likewise illuminates the five stages of “Faith and Understanding” one by one. First seeing the father’s residence and fleeing reveals the initial sudden teaching being intended for those of lesser faculties. Secretly sending two men to clear away dung reveals concealing the great and administering the small. Going out and entering without difficulty while still staying in the original location reveals entering the great and going out to the small within Vaipulya. Taking charge of and knowing the goods without intending to take them reveals being able to know without personally attaining within Prajñā. Father and son recognizing one another and the estate being transferred to the son reveals the Lotus’s opening and revelation. The five stages follow one relation between father and son, making “encompassing beginning and end” present in every step from inability to bear the estate, through the growing ability to enter, leave, and know it, to personally receiving the estate.

Concerning the Lotus and Nirvāṇa, Zhanran first distinguishes their shared flavor from the different conditions they transform, then uses the question and answer on certainty to illuminate Prajñā for the later batch. The five stages of “Faith and Understanding” continuously present the sequence of Avataṃsaka, Deer Park, Vaipulya, Prajñā, and Lotus within one simile. Finally, “beginning” is defined as the first part of the main teaching and “end” as its final part, explaining the shared flavor through correspondence between the two scriptures’ structures.

This Mirror ultimately preserves two points. Each of the three passages has an irreplaceable task, and the same clarified essence allows for different conditions of transformation. At the closing sentence, the sameness of the Lotus and Nirvāṇa no longer means that the two scriptures are without any difference. It means that the earlier- and later-maturing both see buddha-nature, while the Buddha still preserves a complete road for those who mature later. Shared flavor is spoken of from the buddha-nature seen; the earlier and later batches are spoken of from the sequence of maturation. Both levels stand together.