妙法蓮華經玄義 白話全本 · 冊1

Guanding's Account of How the Record Came to Be

This piece is the monk Guanding's account of the origins of his private record of the Lotus Sutra teachings.

Since the great Dharma of Buddhism gradually spread eastward, how many people recorded in the histories of the saṅgha have truly been able to understand the Buddha Vehicle by themselves, without first hearing another person explain it?

Even granting that someone could develop awakening and understanding through study and practice, could he also enter meditative concentration and, within that concentration, attain dhāraṇī?

Even granting that someone possessed both meditative concentration and wisdom, could he also propagate these two dharmas of concentration and wisdom in the imperial capital?

Even granting that someone's Dharma assemblies were grand and drew crowds of listeners, could he also take leave of and dismiss his disciples, then withdraw alone into the mountain valleys?

Even granting that someone could avoid worldly fame and profit and preserve the profound path, would he also be summoned by two courts and honored as teacher of two realms?

Even granting that someone received an emperor's esteem, could he also expound the Prajñā of the Benevolent Kings before the sovereign in the Taiji Hall?

Even granting that someone could proclaim the Buddha-Dharma in the main palace hall, could he also cause the sovereign personally to bow to him three times in reverence?

Even granting that the lord of ten thousand chariots could bend his knees before him, would a hundred eminent Dharma masters and the entire court of officials also voice their praise together, filling the hall with the sound of fingers snapped in rejoicing?

Even granting that the monastic and lay assemblies all looked up to him in solemn reverence, could they thereby deeply awaken to the complete meaning of the Lotus Sutra?

Even granting that someone had truly grasped the sutra's meaning, could he also dispense with a previously written text and, through unobstructed eloquence and delight in teaching alone, pour forth the Dharma's meaning without cease by day or night?

Only my teacher, Master Zhiyi, possessed all the virtues described above.

From Jianye and Jiangling to the Tiantai Mountains

Guanding reflected: How fortunate I am. Formerly, in Jianye, I first began to hear lectures on the words of the Lotus Sutra. Later, at Jiangling, I was graced with the master's transmission of the Fahua Xuanyi. Still later, when I returned to the Tiantai Mountains, I encountered the time of his passing into extinction, figured as the Crane Grove.

I traveled back and forth between Jingzhou and Yangzhou, covering nearly ten thousand li. The fragments I received at different times supplemented one another, yet altogether I heard the teaching only once. Not only would I never hear the portions that had not yet been spoken and now could no longer be heard; even what I had heard I still did not fully understand.

Opening and closing the fascicles again and again, studying them repeatedly and looking upward in quest, the more I read, the more I found their principles firm and profound. I regretted only that my affinity with the Dharma was so shallow that I could not hear the teaching a second or third time. The master had passed away; nowhere could I put my questions and resolve my doubts, just as a young calf longs for its mother's milk.

So That What Was Heard Would Not Be Lost

I further reflected: if these teachings were now to fall away and disappear, it would be truly lamentable for people of the future. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that one should write what one has heard upon trees and stones. This Lotus Sutra says in turn that one should teach others in fields and villages, according to what one has heard and to the extent of one's ability. I therefore followed the manner of transmission shown in these two sacred scriptures, wrote down what I had heard, and passed it on to later generations, compiling the Fahua Xuanyi and the Fahua Wenju, ten fascicles each.

In addition to the master's words that I recorded, I sometimes drew on genuine and trustworthy lines from scriptures and treatises to show that they accord with these profound and wondrous principles. At other times I set out the differing explanations of earlier masters to make clear why those explanations had not reached completeness. In this way, practitioners of later generations would know that the gate of ambrosia is here.

Opening the Meaning of the Whole Sutra through Its Title

“Wondrous” means that the principle indicated by this name is inconceivable. “Dharma” means the dharmas of the ten realms, the ten suchnesses, the provisional, and the real. “Lotus blossom” uses the lotus and its flower to illustrate the dharmas of the provisional and the real.

Precisely because the Wondrous Dharma is profound and difficult to understand, it becomes easier to reveal through similes. The lotus blossom can illustrate many meanings; here only the two great divisions before and after in the sutra are taken in brief, forming six similes.

The First Three Similes: The Provisional and the Real

First, the flower opens for the sake of the lotus fruit. This illustrates how the Buddha establishes provisional skillful means for the sake of the real Dharma. The sutra means that the Buddha knows the principle of the foremost quiescence and extinction, yet through the power of skillful means displays various paths. Although he manifests various different paths, their actual purpose remains the sole Buddha Vehicle. The flower opens for the sake of the lotus fruit; skillful means are likewise established for the sake of the real.

Second, the flower's unfolding illustrates opening the provisional; the lotus fruit's appearance illustrates revealing the real. The sutra means: open the gate of skillful means and show the mark of the real. Once the gate originally taught through skillful means has been opened, one can see within the provisional the real that it was meant to reveal.

Third, the flower's falling illustrates abandoning attachment to the provisional; the lotus fruit's ripening illustrates establishing the real. The sutra means: straightforwardly set aside skillful means and teach only the unsurpassed path. This does not deny that skillful means performed a guiding function. It means that when the real has been fully revealed, skillful means are no longer taken as ultimate.

The Final Three Similes: Origin and Trace

The lotus fruit can further illustrate the Origin, and the flower can illustrate the Trace. The Trace is manifested downward from the Origin, and the Trace that is shown is also established in dependence on the Origin.

First, the flower's opening for the sake of the lotus fruit also illustrates manifesting the Trace downward from the Origin. The sutra means: it has in fact been an immensely long time since I attained buddhahood; only to teach and transform sentient beings did I make this statement: “When young, I left home and attained complete awakening.” Buddhahood attained in the remote past is the Origin; manifesting departure from home while young and attainment of the path in the present is the Trace. The Trace descends from the Origin; it is not some separate event apart from it.

Second, the flower's unfolding illustrates opening the Trace; the lotus fruit's appearance illustrates revealing the Origin. The sutra means: all beings in the world think that I have only now begun to attain the path; in fact, since I attained buddhahood, immeasurable and boundless nayuta kalpas have passed. Sentient beings originally saw only the Trace of recent attainment; by opening the Trace, they now see the Origin in the remote past.

Third, the flower's falling illustrates abandoning the Trace as ultimate; the lotus fruit's ripening illustrates establishing the Origin. The sutra means: the Dharma of all buddha-tathāgatas is entirely like this; all manifestations made to liberate sentient beings are real and not false. When the proximate Trace no longer obscures the original ground, everything revealed is a real event.

The Sutra's Entire Work of Teaching Gathered into the Six Similes

Therefore, the sutra's title first sets forth the Wondrous Dharma and then uses the lotus blossom as a simile. It sweeps away sentient beings' attachment to the provisional teaching of the conjured city and discards the stagnant feeling of the poor son, who stays in the grass hut and refuses to advance. It opens the provisional gate of skillful means and reveals the wondrous principle of the real. It gathers the lesser practices among the various wholesome deeds into the vast One Vehicle. Those of superior, middling, and inferior faculties all ultimately receive the Buddha's prediction.

The sutra also discloses the provisional skillful means established by the noble ones to liberate sentient beings and reveals the originally hidden and subtle reality of the remote original ground. Sentient beings thereby increase the path and diminish birth and death, reaching a stage close to great awakening. Throughout this period of teaching and guidance, both phenomena and principle come to completion. Here lies the purport of the six lotus-blossom similes.

“Sutra” and the Sovereign Preface

“Sutra” is called sūtra in the foreign land and is the general name for all sacred teachings. Questions of whether this name is translated or left untranslated will be explained later.

The recorder Guanding explains: “Sovereign Preface” means a preface that narrates this sutra's profound and wondrous purport. That purport appears at the core of the sutra, and the sutra's core does not go beyond Trace and Origin. When one looks up and contemplates this purport, its many meanings become lucid and distinct, each recognizable in its place.

“Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma” narrates the sutra's name; revealing the wondrous principle of the real narrates the sutra's substance; gathering all into the vast One Vehicle narrates its purport; sweeping away attachment to the teaching of the conjured city narrates its function; the completion of this period of teaching and guidance narrates the characteristics of the teaching; and the six similes of the lotus blossom narrate Trace and Origin. Though the preface is brief, its meaning is comprehensive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Wondrous” first praises and extols the inconceivable Dharma.

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

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

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

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

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

This is the first part of Fascicle One of the Fahua Xuanyi (Profound Meaning of the Lotus), whose title states that it was taught by Master Zhiyi of Tiantai.

The Five Chapters, Shared Explanation, and Separate Explanation

To explain the Lotus Sutra, five chapters are first established: first, explaining the name; second, discerning the substance; third, clarifying the purport; fourth, discussing the function; and fifth, classifying the teaching.

The explanation of these five chapters has a shared treatment and a separate treatment. “Shared” means held in common; “separate” means individually distinct. All five chapters can be applied broadly to explain the scriptures, and thus they have a shared dimension. Yet each scripture has a different title, and even the characteristics of its teaching differ from those of every other scripture, and thus they also have a separate dimension.

For example, many Buddhist scriptures establish five matters at their opening. This is what they share. Yet the teaching indicated by “thus” differs, the person who heard the Dharma in “I have heard” differs, the responsive occasion meant by “at one time” differs, the place where the Buddha dwelt differs, and the various members of the assembly also differ. This is what is separate.

Within a single scripture, shared means explaining it in common, while separate means treating each chapter individually. The shared explanation of this work has seven passes: first, setting out the chapters; second, citing evidence; third, showing how the chapters arise in sequence; fourth, opening and combining; fifth, resolving questions; sixth, contemplating the mind; and seventh, integrating differences. The separate explanation extensively treats each of the five chapters in turn later in the work. It is like meeting people of sharp and dull faculties: both concise and extensive approaches must be prepared. The shared and separate dimensions among the many scriptures will be set aside for now; what is discerned here is the shared and the separate within a single scripture.

Setting out the chapters makes the outline clear and easy to remember and retain, thereby giving rise to the mind of recollection. Citing evidence relies on the Buddha’s words, thereby giving rise to the mind of faith. Showing how the chapters arise keeps their sequence from becoming confused, thereby giving rise to the settled mind. Opening and combining, resolving questions, and integrating differences enable one to discern the meanings, thereby giving rise to the mind of wisdom. Contemplating the mind enables one to put the teaching into practice in the very act of hearing it, thereby giving rise to the mind of diligence. Once these five minds are established, they become the five faculties, remove the five obstructions, accomplish the five powers, and lead as far as entry into the three gates of liberation. Such, in brief, is the overall meaning of the seven passes of shared explanation.

When the five chapters are extensively explained later, each chapter will more fully give rise to these five minds and five faculties, enabling sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing.

The First Chapter, Explaining the Name: Establishing the Name

The five chapters are first set out. The first, explaining the name, is further divided into four steps: establishing the name; distinguishing coarse from wondrous; concluding; and using the lotus blossom as a simile.

First comes establishing the name. When the original intent for which a sage establishes a scripture’s title is traced, it is to open a profound principle and advance beginners, so that all who can see and hear may have vision and hearing; it is also to enable people to follow a road toward the distant goal until they reach the ultimate place. The Buddha therefore uses names to indicate the Dharmas he teaches and uses those names to establish means for transforming sentient beings.

Distinguishing Coarse Dharma from Wondrous Dharma

Dharmas differ as coarse and wondrous. When the three truths are separated from one another and traversed one by one without interpenetration, this is coarse Dharma. When the three truths perfectly interpenetrate, this is Wondrous Dharma. This wondrous truth is originally ever-present. The general sense of the scripture is that dharmas abide in their Dharma-position and the marks of the world constantly abide; only the Buddha knows this mark, and the buddhas of the ten directions know it in the same way. Even non-retrogressing bodhisattvas and those of the two vehicles who have entered realization cannot know it completely, much less ordinary humans, gods, and other sentient beings.

Although the Buddha knows this Wondrous Dharma, he does not hasten to teach it immediately. The general sense of the scripture is that if the Buddha were directly to praise the Buddha-Vehicle, sentient beings, unable to believe, would sink into suffering; by slandering the true Dharma, they would instead fall into evil paths. Thus, when the first teaching separately established what is integrated and what is not integrated, people of lesser faculties could not even hear the integrated meaning. The next teaching established only what is not integrated, and people of great faculties did not regard it at all as ultimate. The next teaching after that established both the integrated and the non-integrated, using the integrated Dharma to rebuke the non-integrated so that people of lesser faculties would be ashamed of the non-integrated and look up to the integrated Dharma. Still another teaching placed both side by side, allowing people of lesser faculties to rely on their admiration for the integrated Dharma while learning within what was non-integrated, and allowing people of great faculties to turn from the non-integrated toward the integrated.

Although many different establishments were made, all were devised for sentient beings and taught in accord with the intentions of others. They were not yet the Buddha’s original intent in appearing in the world, and thus it is said that the Buddha did not hasten to teach. With this scripture, the non-integrated is directly cast aside and only perfect integration is taught, so that the sentient beings in the same assembly all receive one flavor of Dharma and the Tathāgata’s original intent in appearing in the world is fully expressed. This scripture is therefore established and called wondrous.

In conclusion, the Avataṃsaka includes different faculties together; the Tripiṭaka addresses only one kind of faculty; the Vaipulya teachings set the great and small in contrast; and the Prajñā teachings carry the small within the great Dharma. This scripture no longer includes, addresses only, sets in contrast, or carries along. It exclusively teaches the direct and unsurpassed path and is therefore called the Wondrous Dharma.

The Lotus-Blossom Simile for the Coarse and the Wondrous

When the lotus blossom is used as a simile, coarse and wondrous must also be distinguished. There are six coarse relationships between blossom and fruit.

First, a wild blossom has a flower but no fruit. This represents non-Buddhist practitioners who cultivate brahmā conduct in vain and ultimately attain nothing at all.

Second, one blossom produces many fruits. This represents ordinary people who perform the single wholesome deed of making offerings to their parents but expect many kinds of reward in the Brahmā heaven.

Third, many blossoms produce only one fruit. This represents śrāvakas who cultivate many kinds of ascetic practice but ultimately seek only the single fruit of nirvāṇa.

Fourth, one blossom produces one fruit. This represents pratyekabuddhas who cultivate only the one practice of seclusion and likewise attain only nirvāṇa.

Fifth, the fruit comes first and the blossom opens afterward. This represents a stream-enterer who has already attained the first fruit but must continue cultivating the path thereafter.

Sixth, the blossom opens first and the fruit follows. This represents a bodhisattva who first cultivates by relying on supporting conditions, from which preliminary practice then gives rise to the later true practice.

All six are merely coarse blossoms and cannot represent Wondrous Dharma. The lotus blossom, however, has many extraordinary features that skillfully disclose meaning. First, the blossom opens for the sake of the lotus fruit, and blossom and fruit are present together; this can represent establishing the provisional in the very midst of the real. Second, the blossom opens and the lotus fruit appears; this can represent how the provisional itself is the real thereby revealed. Third, the blossom falls and the lotus fruit ripens, and once the fruit is ripe even the fruit is no longer clung to; this can represent what is neither provisional nor real. Because the lotus blossom possesses all these features suited to disclosing meaning, it is used as a simile for Wondrous Dharma.

The Second Chapter, Discerning the Substance

Discerning the substance has four steps: explaining the graph “substance”; citing the same meaning as evidence; excluding what does not accord; and concluding by returning to the correct substance.

Here the graph for “substance” can be explained through the graph for “ritual propriety.” Ritual propriety means conforming to standards: drawing close to those one should draw close to, children each keeping to the place of a child, and ruler and minister mutually observing restraint. Without ritual propriety, conduct does not accord with the norm. The substance of supramundane Dharma is likewise so: wholesome and unwholesome, ordinary person and sage, bodhisattva and buddha—all without exception do not go beyond Dharma-nature. Here the true mark is directly indicated as the correct substance of this scripture.

The general meaning of “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata” chapter is that the Tathāgata does not see the three realms as sentient beings within them do. He sees the three realms as they truly are, neither thus nor different. Ordinary beings in the three realms see the three realms as different; people of the two vehicles see the three realms only as thus; bodhisattvas see the three realms as both thus and different; the Buddha does not fix the three realms as either thus or different, yet simultaneously illuminates both thus and different. The true mark as seen by the Buddha is here taken as the correct substance.

The Buddha’s wisdom taught by Vajragarbha is extremely subtle. Although his wording differs, its purport is the same. He teaches it through four meanings: emptiness-and-existence, nonduality, nondifference, and inexhaustibility. Emptiness is not annihilating nonexistence, and so it is called emptiness-and-existence. Existence itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is existence, and so it is called nonduality. There is no Middle Way apart from emptiness and existence, and so it is called nondifference. It pervades every place, and so it is called inexhaustibility.

This also accords with Nāgārjuna’s purport. The Treatise on the Middle is cited as saying that a Dharma arisen through causes and conditions is itself empty, itself provisional, and itself the Middle. To say that a Dharma arisen through causes and conditions is empty does not mean annihilating nonexistence. To say that it is provisional is nonduality. To say that it is the Middle is nondifference. To speak of a Dharma arisen through causes and conditions precisely indicates that it pervades every place.

Thus, in the true-mark substance now being taught, the provisional itself is the real, enabling one to leave the slander of annihilating nonexistence; the real itself can give rise to the provisional, enabling one to leave the slander that establishes Dharma as a fixed entity; the provisional and the real are themselves not a provisional and real that can be grasped, enabling one to leave the slander that judges the two to be eternally different; and it can simultaneously illuminate both provisional and real, pervading every place, enabling one to leave the slander that the true Dharma can be exhausted. This brings together the excellent meanings of the two scriptural passages, elucidates the common purport of the two treatises, shows that the meanings of the two traditions correspond across the distance, and also reveals the correct substance of this scripture.

Zhang’an’s Supplementary Analysis of the Meaning of Substance

The recorder Zhang’an Guanding adds the following explanation here. The Dharma of the true mark can horizontally break the four attachments of ordinary people and vertically break the three kinds of sages’ attachment to the realms they have attained as ultimate. Breaking the attachments of ordinary people is relatively easy to understand; the three kinds of sages are analyzed in detail below.

First, those of the two vehicles within the Tripiṭaka Teaching take emptiness alone as ultimate. This is like a glass bead: at first glance it seems a genuine jewel, but further examination reveals that it is false. Śāriputra and the others lament that although all had entered Dharma-nature together, they had lost the Tathāgata’s immeasurable knowledge and vision. The meaning of emptiness-and-existence is precisely what breaks this attachment to attainment.

Second, practitioners of the Shared Teaching combine mere emptiness and emptiness that is not merely empty and take the combination as ultimate. This is like wrapping a jewel in various colors so that its radiance changes with the color of its covering. People pursue only the colored light seen through causes and conditions and instead forget the jewel itself; as the covering shifts among dark and yellow colors, they fall back into the two vehicles. The meaning of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is that śrāvakas see only emptiness and do not see non-emptiness, while bodhisattvas see not only emptiness but also non-emptiness. Because what is seen divides into two extremes, the meaning of nonduality is precisely what breaks this attachment to attainment.

Third, practitioners of the Distinct Teaching take only emptiness that is not merely empty as ultimate. They leave the extremes of emptiness and existence, like the moon rising high above the clouds. Yet if they abandon the two extremes and select a separate Middle, it is still like abandoning space in order to seek space elsewhere. The meaning of nondifference is precisely what breaks this attachment to attainment. If one believes that the true Dharma exists over there but not here, it cannot pervade everywhere; the meaning of inexhaustibility also breaks this attachment to attainment.

None of these views is the Buddha’s extremely subtle wisdom or accords with Vajragarbha’s intent. They are not the originally present and constantly abiding Dharma realized by the Buddha and do not accord with the “Skillful Means” chapter. They cannot pervade every place and do not accord with “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata” chapter. Since they do not meet the correct substance, to what Dharma should they be assigned? Mere emptiness is the real taught for transforming others. Teaching mere emptiness together with emptiness that is not merely empty is the real taught for one’s own practice and the transformation of others. Going beyond the two extremes and selecting a separate Middle is the provisional used in one’s own practice. All these are taught in other scriptures and teachings; they are not the correct substance of the present scripture.

The substance of the present scripture is to embody that the provisional and real used to transform others are themselves the provisional and real of one’s own practice, just as the person in filthy clothes is in truth the elder’s son. It is also to embody that the provisional and real of one’s own practice and of transforming others never depart from the provisional and real of one’s own practice, just as the jewel sewn inside the clothing is originally a priceless treasure. The provisional in one’s own practice is itself the real in one’s own practice. Thus, all worldly occupations and means of livelihood do not contradict the true mark; not even one color or fragrance fails to reveal the Middle Way. Since the provisional in one’s own practice is already so, how much more its real—how could it not be the true mark?

The Third Chapter, Clarifying the Purport

Clarifying the purport has three steps: revealing it, distinguishing it, and concluding.

“Purport” means the governing aim of a scripture. Here the cause and fruit of the Buddha’s own practice are taken as the purport. Why are they called the governing aim? Immeasurable wholesome practices can all be gathered by the word “cause”; immeasurable realizations can all be gathered by the word “fruit.” It is like lifting the headrope of a net, so that not a single mesh fails to move with it; it is also like pulling up the corner of a garment, so that not a single thread fails to follow. It is therefore called the governing aim.

Yet the various causes and fruits must be clearly distinguished. Even the causes and fruits of the Distinct Teaching are not adopted, much less other causes and fruits. Among these other causes and fruits, in some the three causes differ greatly while the three fruits are only somewhat alike; in some the three causes are generally alike while the three fruits differ slightly; in still another, one cause far surpasses the other causes while the fruit attained remains non-integrated. These causes cannot gather every wholesome quality, and these fruits cannot gather every virtue. They therefore are not the cause of the Buddha’s own practice or the fruit realized by the Buddha at the place of awakening.

Also to be excluded are the many causes and fruits of the Buddha’s past practices taught in other scriptures. In the present scripture, all are swept away and judged to be skillful means rather than its governing aim. To state the essential meaning, the cause must reach to the end of true practice throughout the distant past, and the fruit must reach to the end of true realization throughout the distant past. Such a cause vertically surpasses the seven kinds of skillful means and horizontally embraces all dharmas in the ten Dharma realms. The initial cultivation of the practice of the true mark is called the Buddha-cause; what is realized at the place of awakening is called the Buddha-fruit. This can only be known through wisdom and cannot be fully expressed in words. Such cause and fruit are briefly set forth here as the governing aim of the scripture.

The Fourth Chapter, Discussing the Function

Discussing the function also has three steps: revealing it, distinguishing it, and explaining the benefit. “Function” means effective power. The two kinds of wisdom produced by the three kinds of provisional and real are both the effective power of this scripture.

A further distinction is made within this effective power. The two kinds of wisdom in one’s own practice illuminate principle without failing to pervade it and are called “power.” The two kinds of wisdom used to transform others discern sentient beings’ faculties without failing to pervade them and are called “function.” In truth, the wisdom of one’s own practice is the wisdom for transforming others, and the wisdom for transforming others is also the wisdom of one’s own practice. Illuminating principle is discerning faculties, and discerning faculties is illuminating principle.

It is like Prince Siddhārtha drawing to its fullest the bow handed down by his royal grandfather. This is called power. The arrow struck seven iron drums, passed through one ring of iron mountains, and plunged through the ground to the water-wheel. This is called function. The power and function of the other skillful teachings are weak, like the bows and arrows of ordinary people.

Why are they called weak? In the past, sentient beings received the two kinds of wisdom used to transform others. Their illumination of principle could not be pervasive, the faith they produced was not deep, and their doubts could not be ended. Now sentient beings receive the two kinds of wisdom of one’s own practice all the way to the Buddha’s realm, giving rise to faith that pervades the Dharma realm, increasing the perfect and wondrous path, severing fundamental delusion, and also diminishing transformational birth-and-death.

Those who benefit are not only bodhisattvas who still have bodies delimited by birth and death and bodhisattvas who attain acceptance while in such bodies. Bodhisattvas who have realized the Dharma body and bodhisattvas at the final mind of the Dharma body all also receive benefit. This scripture’s work of transformation is vast and its nourishing benefit profound: this is precisely its effective power.

The Fifth Chapter, Classifying the Teaching: Integrated and Non-integrated Faculties

The characteristics of the teaching have three aspects: first, the characteristics of whether sentient beings’ faculties are integrated or non-integrated; second, the characteristics of whether the Buddha’s transformation and guidance are complete from beginning to end; and third, the characteristics of how distant or recent are the provisional and real realized by teacher and disciples. “Teaching” is the verbal teaching that a sage addresses downward to sentient beings of different faculties; “characteristics” distinguish sameness and difference.

First come integrated and non-integrated faculties. It is like the sun at its first rising, which first illuminates the high mountains. Those who have deeply cultivated wholesome roots are moved to receive a great teaching all at once. This teaching was originally not intended for people of lesser faculties. Although people of lesser faculties also sit in the assembly, they are like the deaf and mute, because lesser faculties cannot bear the great Dharma and the great Dharma is separated from lesser faculties. This is like the Avataṃsaka. From the perspective of Dharma fitting faculties, people of great faculties receive vast benefit, and this is called the characteristic of sudden teaching. From the perspective of the sequence of teaching, it is like milk first coming from the cow, and this is the characteristic of the flavor of milk.

The sun next shines into secluded valleys. People whose practice is shallower gradually understand only the portion to which they correspond. This is like the Tripiṭaka Teaching. This teaching was originally not intended for people of great faculties. Although those of great faculties also sit in the assembly, they display the forms of training called duo-tuo and the accents of habitual speech called po-he, concealing themselves within the practices characteristic of beginners in the lesser Dharma. Actual practitioners of lesser faculties cannot recognize their profound intent. The lesser Dharma thus obstructs the great faculties, while the great faculties are concealed within the lesser Dharma. From the perspective of Dharma fitting faculties, this is called the characteristic of gradual teaching. From the perspective of the sequence of teaching, it is like milk changing into curds, and this is the characteristic of the flavor of curds.

The sun next shines upon level ground. Its reflection falls in ten thousand bodies of water: a square vessel produces a square reflection, a round vessel a round reflection, and as the water’s waves move or become still, the image moves or becomes still along with them. The Buddha manifests one buddha-land, yet sentient beings see it according to their faculties as pure or defiled. The Buddha manifests one body, yet sentient beings see it as large or small. The Buddha teaches the Dharma in one voice, yet each kind of sentient being obtains its own understanding. Some are afraid, some rejoice, some grow weary and detached, and some cut off their doubts; manifestations of supernormal power also differ. Thus some see a pure land and some a defiled land; some hear praise and some hear rebuke; some smell the fragrance of the campaka flower and some do not; heavenly blossoms fall on the bodies of some but do not touch others; and there are also many differences in wisdom. This is like the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra and other Vaipulya scriptures. From the perspective of Dharma fitting faculties, it is still gradual teaching. From the perspective of the sequence of teaching, it is like curds maturing into raw ghee, and this is the characteristic of the flavor of raw ghee.

The sun shining on level ground has another meaning. Adults obtain the light’s function, while infants’ eyes lose clear vision under its intensity; night travelers hide, while workers begin accomplishing their tasks. Thus the general meaning of the scripture is that its true matter is taught only to bodhisattvas and this true essential is not taught to people of the two vehicles. Although the three kinds of people study together, people of the two vehicles each take their own realization, as explained in detail in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra. From the perspective of Dharma fitting faculties, it is still gradual teaching. From the perspective of the sequence of teaching, it is like raw ghee ripening further, and this is the characteristic of the flavor of refined ghee.

Finally, sunlight shines everywhere, equally illuminating high mountains and low ground. When its shadow is measured with a gnomon, it is neither diminished nor excessive. Whether sentient beings merely bow their heads to the Buddha, utter his name in a tiny voice, have distracted thoughts, or cultivate only some small wholesome deed, all eventually accomplish the Buddha path. The Buddha does not let anyone take the extinction of the Lesser Vehicle alone as ultimate but causes all sentient beings to attain extinction through the Tathāgata’s extinction, as explained in detail in the present scripture. From the perspective of Dharma fitting faculties, this is called the teaching of gradual entry into perfection. From the perspective of the sequence of teaching, it is the characteristic of the flavor of clarified essence.

The sun-illumination simile in the Avataṃsaka has the same meaning as that in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. The latter’s similes of three sons, three fields, three horses, and so forth all speak first of bodhisattvas, then extend to the two vehicles, and finally enable ordinary people and sages to receive equal benefit.

Why All Five Flavors Can Be Called Gradual

Someone asks: Since the five flavors are used to make distinctions, why are they all also called gradual? The answer is that it is precisely in relation to gradual transformation and guidance that the five flavors are revealed.

To distinguish them further: when people of lesser faculties hear none of the great Dharma, the great Dharma alone is sudden. When people of great faculties make no use at all of the lesser Dharma, the lesser Dharma alone is gradual. When the great Dharma breaks the lesser Dharma, gradual and sudden are taught side by side. When the lesser Dharma is carried along while the great Dharma is revealed, gradual and sudden mutually assist one another. When the lesser Dharma is integrated and returned to the great Dharma, gradual and sudden erase their boundary and unite. The general meaning of the Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings is that the three paths and four fruits attained previously through the gradual and sudden Dharmas had not yet been united; now, in this scripture, they are united. This is precisely the point.

Someone further asks: How do gradual and sudden mutually assist one another? The answer is that when people of lesser faculties hear the great Dharma, they become ashamed of the lesser Dharma and aspire to the great. This is the sudden Dharma assisting lesser faculties. When the Buddha commands Subhūti to turn and instruct the bodhisattvas, enabling bodhisattvas of great faculties to receive benefit, this is the gradual Dharma assisting the sudden Dharma.

Manifest Indeterminacy and Secret Indeterminacy

The distinctions above were made only in relation to public and manifest teaching, explaining the characteristics of the gradual and sudden five flavors. When indeterminacy is discussed, the situation differs.

Although the great Dharma is suddenly taught first upon the high mountains, without leaving the place of quiescent extinction the Buddha can also manifest going to Deer Park to transform beings. Although he teaches the Four Truths of arising and ceasing, they can simultaneously contain non-arising and non-ceasing. Although he teaches the Buddha’s realm to bodhisattvas, people of the two vehicles can at the same time possess wisdom, severance, and realization. Although the five monks realize the fruit, eighty thousand gods can at the same time attain acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. One should therefore know that the gradual is present within the sudden and the sudden within the gradual. The meaning of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is that the Buddha sometimes teaches the profound and sometimes the shallow; when a question should be asked, he may also stop it, and when a question should be stopped, he may also permit it. Within the same time, the same teaching, and even the same thought, indeterminacy can be fully present. Unlike older classifications that assign one entire scripture exclusively to one type, it can be present within every flavor. This is called manifest indeterminacy.

Secret indeterminacy is different. The Tathāgata is supremely free with respect to all dharmas. In wisdom, faculties, time, and place, his three mysteries of body, speech, and mind and his four gates for entering principle are all without obstruction. While the sudden is being taught in this assembly, the gradual or the indeterminate may be taught elsewhere throughout the ten directions. Those in the sudden-teaching assembly do not hear what is taught throughout the ten directions, and sentient beings throughout the ten directions do not hear the sudden teaching in this assembly. Or the sudden and the indeterminate may be taught throughout the ten directions while the gradual is taught in this assembly, each side unaware of what the other hears. What is manifest here is secret there.

The Buddha may also teach the sudden to one person and the gradual or the indeterminate to many; or teach the gradual to one and the sudden to many, with neither knowing what the other hears and each thus secret and manifest in relation to the other. One assembly may be silent while the ten directions receive teaching; the ten directions may be silent while one assembly receives teaching; both sides may be silent or both may receive teaching, yet they remain mutually unaware and are secret and manifest in relation to one another.

Even these examples do not exhaust the Tathāgata’s power of mastery over the Dharma. This can only be known through wisdom and cannot be fully distinguished in words. Although there are many situations, none go beyond the four types gradual, sudden, indeterminate, and secret.

How the Present Scripture Differs from Other Teachings

The present Lotus Sutra is public and manifest, not secret. It gathers the gradual into the perfect and sudden, rather than making what is gradual more gradual. It unites, rather than leaving things ununited. It is clarified essence, rather than any of the first four flavors. It is determinate, rather than indeterminate. Distinguished in this way, the present scripture differs from the other scriptures and teachings.

There is another difference. Other teachings speak only of how the faculties present at the time receive benefit; they do not explain in detail the Tathāgata’s intent in establishing transformation from beginning to end. This scripture, however, reveals how, when the Buddha first established the teachings, he skillfully planted in sentient beings the seeds of sudden, gradual, indeterminate, manifest, and secret teachings. During the intervening period, he used the sudden and gradual five flavors to regulate and nurture them until the seeds matured. Once mature, he again used the sudden and gradual five flavors to bring sentient beings to liberation. Liberating, maturing, and planting can proceed at the same time, round after round without ever stopping. With mighty force, the Buddha benefits sentient beings throughout past, present, and future, as explained in detail in the “Faith and Understanding” chapter. This is one way in which the present scripture differs from the others.

There is yet another difference. The scriptures generally say that the Buddha perfected his own real wisdom only beneath the bodhi tree and began exercising skillful wisdom only after leaving the place of awakening. The present scripture, however, says that the Buddha’s real wisdom and skillful wisdom were perfected long before his manifestation beneath the bodhi tree. Other scriptures say that disciples of the two vehicles cannot enter real wisdom and cannot exercise skillful wisdom. The present scripture, however, says that the disciples entered the real long ago and long ago understood and practiced the provisional.

Other scriptures do not even discuss how recent were the provisional and real of teacher and disciples before the time beneath the bodhi tree, much less their provisional and real in the distant past. The present scripture teaches that their provisional and real before the place of awakening are exceedingly remote: even a bodhisattva bound to one more birth cannot know how far away they are by calculating the number of worlds, much less by calculating a span as distant as the number of dust motes. The general meaning of the scripture is that what had never been taught in the past will now be heard by the entire assembly. The Buddha praises this so earnestly because there is indeed a profound reason. One should therefore know that this scripture truly differs from the other teachings.

Mañjuśrī’s Answering Verse as Shared Evidence for the Five Chapters

The second pass cites scriptural passages as evidence. In his answering verse, Mañjuśrī says that he once saw the Buddha Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiance and that the auspicious sign of light then was just as it is now. He therefore knows that the present Buddha is about to teach the Lotus Sutra. This was so not only with the twenty thousand koṭis of past buddhas all named Sun-Moon-Lamp Radiance. The Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence and the buddhas of past, present, and future discussed in the chapter on the five buddhas also all called what they taught the Lotus. These passages prove the scripture’s name.

The verse also says that the present Buddha emits light to help arouse the meaning of the true mark. It further says that the meaning of the true mark of all dharmas has already been taught to the assembly, and that a buddha revered by immeasurable assemblies teaches sentient beings the seal of the true mark. The first statement belongs to the present Buddha, and the latter two concern a past buddha. Buddhas past and present alike take the true mark as substance, and these passages therefore prove the scripture’s substance.

The verse further says that the Buddha will rain down the rain of Dharma and fully satisfy all those who seek the path. If this is explained as gathering the three vehicles into the One Vehicle, the Dharma rain satisfies those who seek the cause of the Buddha path, extending to all practitioners whom it enables to be gathered and returned to fulfillment. If it is explained as opening the recent manifestation to reveal buddhahood in the distant past, the Dharma rain also satisfies those who seek the fruit of the Buddha path. Because it includes both cause and fruit, these passages prove the chapter clarifying the purport.

The verse further says that those who seek the three vehicles and harbor doubt and regret will have their doubts cut off by the Buddha until none remain. It also says that after buddhas have taught the Dharma for a long time, they are certain finally to teach the real. This cuts off the doubts that sentient beings form concerning the three vehicles, five vehicles, seven kinds of skillful means, nine Dharma realms, and so forth, allowing faith to arise. It therefore proves the effective power of this scripture.

Entrustment through Supernormal Power and the Dharma Teacher’s Profound Cause and Fruit

The general meaning of “The Supernormal Powers of the Tathāgata” chapter is this: stated briefly, all the Dharmas possessed by the Tathāgata, all the Tathāgata’s sovereign supernormal powers, all the Tathāgata’s treasuries of secrets and essentials, and all the Tathāgata’s exceedingly profound matters are proclaimed and revealed in this scripture.

“All the Dharmas possessed” embraces every provisional and real Dharma and therefore proves the scripture’s name. Within “all sovereign supernormal powers,” inward operation is called sovereignty and outwardly projected operation is called supernormal power; it therefore proves function. Within “all treasuries of secrets and essentials,” what is not imparted to an unsuitable vessel is called secret; the correct substance as the crucial point is called essential; and what contains many Dharma meanings without an accumulation of physical objects is called treasury. This proves substance. Within “all exceedingly profound matters,” the true mark itself is profound; practice directed toward the true mark is the profound cause; and ultimate accord with the true mark is the profound fruit. This proves the purport.

“The Dharma Teacher” chapter further says that only one who can hear this scripture is able to practice the bodhisattva path well. This is the profound cause. The scripture also says that if one who seeks the Buddha path hears before the Buddha one line of the Sutra of the Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma and rejoices in accord for even one thought, the Buddha bestows a prediction on that person. It also says that merely hearing the scripture for a very short time enables one to attain the profound fruit of ultimate awakening. Together these two passages prove the purport’s profound cause and profound fruit.

These two ends of the scripture are cited because the transformation of the ancient buddha is already past and its events settled. Mañjuśrī can therefore set forth its essentials in the introductory division to resolve Maitreya’s doubt. The present Buddha has completed the main teaching and thus again sets forth its essentials in the dissemination division as he entrusts it. The main teaching between them unfolds extensively for the faculties present and therefore is not cited passage by passage as evidence.

If its essential meaning is to be drawn from the main teaching in between, opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering are the corresponding scriptural passages. “For the causes and conditions of one great matter” proves the name. “The Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing” proves the substance. Causing sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter proves the purport. “In order to cause sentient beings” proves function. That this scripture differs from the other scriptures and teachings proves the characteristics of the teaching.

Medicine King’s Six Similes as Separate Evidence for the Characteristics of the Teaching

“The Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King” (Bhaiṣajyarāja) chapter originally gives ten similes in praise of the teaching. Six are taken here: vast as the ocean, high as a mountain, full as the moon, illuminating as the sun, sovereign as the Great Brahmā King, and ultimately foremost as a buddha.

First, the ocean has the virtue of receiving all streams. Ten thousand rivers enter the ocean and, once there, all become the single salty flavor. The Lotus is likewise so. The Dharma realized by the Buddha is the common destination of ten thousand wholesome deeds and enables sentient beings all to ride the Buddha-Vehicle. Rivers, lakes, and streams do not possess the ocean’s vast virtue, and the other scriptures and teachings cannot compare with it. The Lotus is therefore called greatest.

Second, Mount Sumeru, king of mountains, is highest among all mountains. It is made of four jewels and is the dwelling place of pure gods. The Lotus likewise rises above all the teachings that preceded it, leaves the four kinds of slander, and opens, reveals, awakens to, and enters the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing. It has a single pure faculty, a single pure condition, and the same one flavor of the path; it consists purely of bodhisattvas and no longer treats the attainment of śrāvaka disciples as ultimate. It is therefore likened to the king of mountains as highest.

Third, the moon wanes and waxes, passing gradually from a crescent to fullness. The Lotus is likewise so: provisional and real abide within the same substance, and gradual practitioners are also gathered into sudden perfection. It is therefore likened to the moon’s gradual fullness.

Fourth, lamps, torches, stars, and the moon can emit light but still coexist with darkness. This represents other scriptures and teachings that still preserve the paths and fruits of the two vehicles, placing the Lesser and Great Vehicles side by side. When the sun rises, it can break the darkness. The Lotus therefore breaks attachment to the conjured city as ultimate and removes the mind that remains in the grass hut. Sunlight also makes the light of stars and moon disappear. This represents the scripture sweeping away the recent manifestation so that skillful means no longer conceal the real.

Fifth, a wheel-turning king is sovereign over the four continents, Śakra over the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, and the Great Brahmā King over the three realms. Other scriptures and teachings may be sovereign only with respect to the conventional truth, the true truth, or the meaning of the Middle Way. Their sovereignty is still attained by traversing each separately and is not vast sovereignty. The present scripture makes the three truths perfectly interpenetrate and is supremely sovereign. It is therefore likened to the Great Brahmā King.

Sixth, other scriptures and teachings draw sentient beings out of birth and death, like the five Buddha-sons who are foremost among ordinary people; or draw sentient beings out of the nirvāṇa in which they dwell, like bodhisattvas who stand above those beyond training. The present scripture further draws sentient beings out of the stages of bodhisattvas in the skillful teachings and enables them to become Dharma kings. It is therefore likened to the Buddha as foremost among all sentient beings.

These six similes are cited first to reveal that the characteristics of the teaching are greatest. By extension, the scripture’s function, purport, substance, and name, as well as its objects, wisdom, and benefits, can all be described as vast as the ocean, high as a mountain, full as the moon, darkness-breaking as the sun, sovereign as Brahmā, and ultimate as a buddha. The characteristics of the teaching rise above all teachings, and the other meanings are accomplished through them in the same way. Thus, although this pass cites passages especially as evidence for the teaching, the remaining meanings are established along with it.

Why the Five Chapters Arise in Sequence

The third pass explains how the chapters arise in sequence. What can produce the following meaning is called “arising”; what is produced from the preceding meaning is called “coming forth.” The five chapters have a fixed sequence before and after. Although they proceed step by step from what is easier to understand to what is more refined, they do not contradict one another.

Sengzhao once posed a question through the relationship between name and reality: a name itself has no power to summon a thing, and a thing itself has no reality that responds to a name. If neither name nor thing can be fixed, where ultimately can name and thing be grasped? This is spoken from the ultimate truth, in which no mark can be grasped. Yet viewed according to conventional speech, without names there is no way to reveal the Dharma being taught. The five chapters therefore begin with explaining the name.

Names are used to designate Dharmas, and the designated Dharma is the substance; people follow the name to recognize its substance. If the substance has no purport, it cannot be realized; only by realizing its substance can practitioners fulfill the cause of their own practice and its realized fruit. After their own fulfillment, effective power further arises from the substance to guide and benefit all sentient beings. Since there are many ways of benefiting them, the characteristics of the different teachings must finally be distinguished. Explaining the name, discerning the substance, clarifying the purport, discussing the function, and classifying the teaching arise in this sequence.

The Sequence Viewed in Terms of Teaching

Viewed according to “The Supernormal Powers of the Tathāgata” chapter, this is the sequence established in terms of teaching. First, no Dharma ever originally departs from Buddha-Dharma. The meaning of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra is that every conventional truth is the ultimate truth within the Tathāgata’s knowledge and vision of things as they truly are. Because sentient beings are inverted, they see some Dharmas as not Buddha-Dharma. The Buddha now indicates them clearly, and thus “all the Dharmas possessed” comes first.

When the Buddha is about to teach this Dharma, he first uses sovereign supernormal powers to shake the assembly and awaken people. When sentient beings see the different transformations, they wake, give rise to thirsting aspiration, and become ready to receive the teaching. What the teaching expresses is the true mark and is therefore called the treasury of secrets and essentials. When sentient beings receive the teaching and practice, there are a cause of practice and a fruit of realization; the text therefore next speaks of exceedingly profound matters. Once these four meanings have been taught, their sameness and difference from the other scriptures and teachings must still be distinguished. The characteristics of the teaching therefore come last.

The Sequence Viewed in Terms of Practice

Viewed according to the “Introduction” chapter, this is instead the sequence established in terms of practice. Practitioners first hear or see something in scripture scrolls or from a good spiritual friend. This is hearing the name. From hearing, they investigate the meaning, and the substance indicated gradually becomes clear. To make the substance clear, they must actually practice. Practice has a cause and a fruit, and this is the purport. Practice can remove one’s own delusions and also benefit other sentient beings, and this is function. Finally, distinguishing this Dharma’s sameness and difference from other teachings is the characteristics of the teaching.

Opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering can also be understood according to this same sequence. Dharma originally has no real door that can be called open or closed. Skillful means are provisionally called a door and opened so that people first hear the name. Revealing the mark of the real makes its substance manifest. Turning oneself from delusion to awakening is the cause of practice; realizing the fruit through that cause is the purport. After awakening, entering more deeply and also enabling others to enter is function. Distinguishing the sameness and difference of these meanings from other teachings is the characteristics of the teaching. The five meanings taught here are established precisely according to the sequence in which the “Introduction” chapter supports practice.

The fourth pass explains opening and combining. The five chapters combine to explain one scripture in common. Their relationships are also distinguished in various ways to make them easy to understand. Opening and combining has three routes: first, five modes of opening and combining; second, ten modes; and third, opening and combining through a simile.

Five Modes of Opening and Combining

First, viewed through phenomena and principle: explaining the name treats both phenomena and principle; discerning the substance treats principle alone; clarifying the purport and discussing the function treat only phenomena; and the characteristics of the teaching distinguish phenomena and principle.

Second, viewed through teaching and practice: explaining the name treats both teaching and practice; the substance is neither only teaching nor only practice; purport and function emphasize practice; and the characteristics of the teaching emphasize teaching.

Third, viewed through cause and fruit: explaining the name treats both cause and fruit; the substance is neither cause nor fruit; the purport is the cause and fruit of practitioners’ own practice; function is the cause and fruit through which transformation benefits others; and the characteristics of the teaching distinguish all the preceding Dharmas.

Fourth, viewed through one’s own practice and transforming others: explaining the name treats both one’s own practice and the transformation of others; the substance cannot be fixed as belonging to self or other; the purport belongs to one’s own practice; function belongs to transforming others; and the characteristics of the teaching distinguish self and other.

Fifth, viewed through speaking and silence: explaining the name treats both speech and silence; the substance is neither speech nor silence; the purport takes silent realization; function takes teaching through speech; and the characteristics of the teaching distinguish when to speak, when to remain silent, and the sameness and difference of the two.

Ten Modes of Opening and Combining

The ten, in sequence, are path, consciousness, nature, prajñā, awakening, Great Vehicle, body, nirvāṇa, Three Jewels, and virtues. Every one unfolds in the same way, and no item may be omitted or combined with another.

“Path” opens and combines through the three paths; “consciousness” through the three consciousnesses; “nature” through the three buddha-natures; “prajñā” through the three prajñās; “awakening” through the three awakenings; “Great Vehicle” through the three Great Vehicles; “body” through the three bodies; “nirvāṇa” through the three nirvāṇas; “Three Jewels” through the three jewels; and “virtues” through the three virtues. All ten correspond by analogy to the general template of the three tracks described above: explaining the name states them generally; substance, purport, and function correspond separately; and the characteristics of the teaching then make distinctions.

Opening and Combining through a Simile

For example, “human body” is a general name. When the human body is opened up, there are consciousness, life, and warmth. When the many different social identities are further distinguished, there are different ranks such as noble and lowly, worthy and foolish.

Within this simile, the general name “human body” represents explaining the name; consciousness represents substance; life represents the purport; warmth represents function; and distinguishing the noble, lowly, worthy, foolish, and other ranks among people represents the characteristics of the teaching. The general name can combine and embrace the parts, and the parts can be opened from the general name. This is the third kind of opening and combining.

The fifth pass uses a succession of questions and answers to clarify the boundaries among the five chapters.

Someone asks: If the flower opens for the sake of the lotus fruit and flower and fruit are necessarily present together, does this not fall into the view that “the fruit already exists within the cause”? The answer is that the fruit’s original presence within the cause is the false Dharma represented by the old physician and was already broken by the initial teaching. It does not even reach the comparatively coarse meaning of provisional and real, much less the wondrous cause, wondrous fruit, and true milk of the new physician.

Another asks: The flower represents the provisional, and the provisional is a Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle that ought to be broken like the grass hut. Since the grass hut is broken, why is the flower still used to represent the provisional? The answer is that the Lesser Vehicle is a provisional means established for transforming others, and attachment to it must therefore be broken. What is discussed here is the provisional practiced in the practitioner’s own practice, and so the flower can still represent it.

Another asks: The scripture has seven similes from the burning house through the physician and his children, none of which explicitly speaks of the lotus. Why then is the lotus alone selected for the scripture’s title? The answer is that the seven similes each separately reveal a meaning and are therefore particular; the lotus generally embraces provisional and real and is therefore general. Raising the general simile embraces the seven particular similes, and the lotus is therefore placed at the head of the title.

Another asks: If all Dharmas are Buddha-Dharma, why exclude the provisional and take the real as the scripture’s substance? The answer is that viewed from opening the provisional to reveal the real, all Dharmas can become the substance. Viewed from relinquishing the provisional to reveal the real, the true mark adopted in the preceding passage is taken as the substance.

Another asks: Why take both cause and fruit as the purport? The answer is that only through cause can fruit be reached, while fruit is what the cause accomplishes. Viewed from what is able to accomplish, the cause is taken as the purport. Viewed from what is accomplished, the fruit is taken as the purport. The two meanings originally accomplish one another and one side cannot be taken alone. Moreover, the Trace and Origin sections of the scripture both teach cause and fruit, and both must therefore be taken as the purport.

Another asks: In discussing the purport, the cause and fruit used to transform others are excluded. Why, when discussing function, are the provisional and real of both one’s own practice and transforming others included? The answer is that the purport discusses the practitioner’s own practice and therefore excludes the other; function discusses benefiting others and therefore takes both self and other.

The question continues: Since function concerns transforming others, why does it also take the provisional and real of one’s own practice? The answer is that these are first used to benefit oneself and are also used to benefit others.

The interlocutor then turns the argument around: On this account, the purport should likewise include the cause and fruit of both one’s own practice and transforming others, and should therefore take the transformation of others. The answer is that the cause and fruit used to transform others cannot bring the practitioner to the Buddha’s awakening, and so they are not taken as the purport.

The interlocutor again turns the argument around: The provisional and real used to transform others likewise cannot directly bring others to the ultimate, so it would seem that they should not be taken as function either. The answer is that the other person’s faculties at that time require precisely this benefit, and it must therefore still be taken as function. Effective power is judged by whether it accords with the person and enables that person to benefit, not only by whether it reaches the ultimate in one step.

Another asks: The purport and function both speak of the virtue of wisdom and virtue of severance. How are they to be distinguished? The answer is that if one speaks only in terms of one’s own practice, the virtue of wisdom is the purport and the virtue of severance is function. If one also considers transforming others, both wisdom and severance in one’s own practice belong to the purport, while both wisdom and severance in transforming others belong to function. The same terms retain clear boundaries because their assignments differ.

Another asks: Why establish exactly five chapters rather than four or six? The answer is that even if four or six were established instead, people could continue asking why some other number was not used. This would fall into questioning without end, and such a question cannot reach the real meaning revealed by the five chapters.

Finally someone asks: Every scripture has a different intent. How can the same five meanings be used to explain all the scriptures in common? The answer is that if each scripture received only a separate explanation, one could obtain only differences and would not see their shared relationships. By discussing the five meanings explaining the name, discerning the substance, clarifying the purport, discussing the function, and classifying the teaching in common, one obtains a shared way of reading without losing the individual differences of each scripture.

Restating the Five Chapters through the One Mind

The sixth pass explains contemplating the mind. Everything taught in the preceding five passes—from setting out the chapters, citing evidence, showing how they arise in sequence, and opening and combining through resolving questions—can be brought into contemplation of the mind.

The mind is like an illusory flame and exists only by way of a name, so it is provisionally called “mind.” Just as one says that it exists, no visible form or substance can be seen and grasped; just as one says that it does not exist, thoughts and ideas distinctly arise. It cannot be fathomed in terms of a fixed existence or nonexistence, and therefore the mind is called “wondrous.” This subtle mind can serve as the rule for practice and is therefore called “Dharma.” The Dharma of mind is itself neither cause nor fruit, yet through contemplation in accord with principle it can accomplish cause and fruit; this is called “lotus blossom.” One forms contemplation from one’s own single mind and can then turn to teach other minds; it is therefore called “sutra.” This is explaining the name through contemplation of the mind.

The mind originally has no name that can be grasped, nor is there some separate “namelessness” that can be grasped. The mind’s name neither arises nor ceases. When the mind is contemplated in this way, the mind is the true mark; this is substance. Initially arousing contemplation is cause, and the accomplishment of contemplative practice is fruit; this is purport. Because the mind is contemplated, the various unwholesome thoughts no longer arise. The afflictive mental factors corresponding to the mind—whether they arise together with the mind-king or differ from it—are all taught and transformed; this is function. Distinguishing how the mind-king and mental factors arise, cease, and are transformed is the characteristics of the teaching. This restates the five chapters through contemplation of the mind.

Citing Evidence, Arising in Sequence, and Opening and Combining

The evidence cited for contemplating the mind is as follows. The meaning of the Dazhidu Lun is that one aggregate belongs to form and four aggregates belong to name; the mind belongs only to name. This establishes the mind’s name. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that being able to contemplate the nature of mind is called superior concentration, and that superior concentration is concentration in the ultimate meaning. This establishes mind as the substance. It also says that all sentient beings who have a mind should accomplish awakening. This establishes mind as the purport. The Sutra of Admonitions Briefly Spoken by the Buddha at His Final Nirvāṇa says that when the mind is restrained in one place, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. This establishes mind as function. The Dazhidu Lun also says that in the three realms there is no separate Dharma established apart from the mind; all are made by the one mind. The mind can make hell, and the mind can make heaven; the mind can make ordinary people, and the mind can make worthies and sages. Discursive thought is the root of language, and mind is in turn distinguished by means of mind. This establishes mind as the characteristics of the teaching.

The arising in sequence of contemplating the mind is as follows. The contemplating mind contemplates the mind, and there is therefore an object of contemplation. When contemplation accords with its object, liberation is gained from the mind. If the one mind gains liberation, it can also enable all corresponding mental factors to gain liberation. One then distinguishes whether the mind-king and mental factors arise together, arise predominantly on one side, or have other differences; this is the characteristics of the teaching.

The opening and combining of contemplating the mind is as follows. Mind is the root of all dharmas, so the one mind is the general, which is combining. When opened and explained, there are three kinds of mind: the mind of affliction corresponds to three links of the twelvefold chain of dependent origination, the mind of painful fruit corresponds to seven links, and the mind of karma corresponds to two links. The mind of painful fruit is the Dharma body and belongs to the mind’s substance. The mind of affliction is prajñā and belongs to the mind’s purport. The mind of karma is liberation and belongs to the mind’s function. This opens the one mind into three. Distinguishing the arising of the mind of the twelvefold chain of dependent origination gives the higher and lower differences of the six paths; distinguishing its cessation gives the higher and lower differences of the four kinds of sages. Here the characteristics of the teaching simultaneously include both opening and combining.

Neither Learning nor Contemplative Practice Can Be Omitted

Resolving questions begins by asking: the explanation of concrete matters is already sufficient, so why trouble ourselves further with contemplating the mind? The answer is that the Dazhidu Lun uses a tree as a simile for those who incline toward trusting and receiving words, and the body as a simile for those who incline toward actual practice. It is the same here: for those who enter through written words, concrete matters are explained; for practitioners of seated meditation, contemplation of the mind is explained. The two kinds of faculties each have their entrance; neither side can be left out.

The treatise further evaluates learning and wisdom through four cases. First, one who has wisdom but lacks extensive learning cannot know the true mark as it really is. It is like having eyes in great darkness yet being unable to see. Second, one who has extensive learning but lacks wisdom likewise cannot know the true mark. It is like having a lamp in great brightness yet being unable to illuminate. Third, what a person who has both extensive learning and acute wisdom teaches should be accepted. Fourth, one who has neither learning nor wisdom is merely a cow wearing a human body. The present intent is to cultivate learning and wisdom together and advance understanding and contemplative practice side by side.

The simile in the Śataśāstra of a blind person and a lame person supporting each other likewise shows that the two sides need one another. The Mouzi Lihuolun distinguishes ability to teach from ability to practice and has the same meaning. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that a poor person may count another’s treasures day and night while not possessing even half a coin himself. This is the fault of overemphasizing learning. The warning in the Lotus Sutra against claiming to have attained what one has not attained and claiming to have realized what one has not realized is the fault of overemphasizing inner contemplation while lacking correct learning.

Why is this so? If there is learning alone, the eyes and ears chase external objects and become scattered, like a lamp in the wind that cannot illuminate things clearly. One merely considers how much enters through the ears and how much exits through the mouth, without ever putting one’s own mind in order; one then becomes self-righteous and looks down on others, increasing wrong views and faults, like gripping a knife and wounding oneself. Understanding instead draws a person into the evil paths, and the reason lies in failing to cultivate contemplation.

If one only contemplates the mind and furthermore assumes that the present one mind is itself ultimate, believes oneself already equal to the Buddha, and never seeks confirmation in scriptures and treatises, one falls into overweening pride, like holding a torch in one’s arms and burning oneself. Contemplative practice instead draws a person into the evil paths, and the reason lies in failing to study correct teachings.

The Six Identities Correct Exalting the Goal and Self-Satisfaction

Those who wish to escape poverty in the wealth of Dharma should diligently cultivate the three contemplations. Those who wish to escape overweening pride should learn the six identities. The six stages must be understood one by one: that the marks of the world constantly abide is identity in principle; having heard a single line in the presence of buddhas of the past is identity in name; profound faith and rejoicing is identity in contemplative practice; purity of the six faculties is approximate identity; abiding in real wisdom is partial identity in realization; and only buddha together with buddha ultimately exhausts the true mark—this is ultimate identity.

All six rest upon the same principle, yet a later stage cannot be confused with an earlier one. Cultivating the mind and contemplating inwardly gives one one’s own wealth of Dharma; listening outwardly with correct faith prevents overweening pride from arising. Only when contemplation makes the eyes clear and correct learning gives rise to wisdom, so that both aspects mutually become complete, can the full benefit be obtained. How could one not practice both contemplating the mind and understanding the meaning?

This is the second part of Fascicle One of the Fahua Xuanyi (Profound Meaning of the Lotus), whose title attributes it to Master Zhiyi of Tiantai.

First Integrating the Five Chapters through the Four Siddhāntas

The seventh pass explains integrating differences. Someone asks: everything the Buddha teaches is taught according to the four siddhāntas. Can the five meanings now used to explain this scripture be integrated with the four siddhāntas?

The answer is that this question will now be clarified. First correlate the four siddhāntas with the five chapters, and then explain the four siddhāntas in detail.

First, the worldly siddhānta corresponds to explaining the name. A scripture’s title encompasses the whole scripture, and the worldly siddhānta likewise stands first among the four and comprehends the other three. They therefore correspond.

Second, the ultimate-meaning siddhānta corresponds to discerning the substance. Ultimate meaning most clearly indicates the real and therefore corresponds to the scripture’s substance.

Third, the individually adapted siddhānta corresponds to clarifying the purport. The purport concerns the cause and fruit of one’s own practice, while the individually adapted siddhānta makes each person’s wholesome roots grow. Both point toward the accomplishment of cause and fruit, and their meanings are therefore the same.

Fourth, the counteractive siddhānta corresponds to discussing the function. Function can break doubt and obstruction, while counteraction can cure the illnesses of sentient beings’ minds. Their work is the same.

Fifth, distinguishing the four siddhāntas corresponds to classifying the teaching. The work of the characteristics of teaching is precisely to distinguish different similarities and differences; the specific content will be explained below.

Another question is asked: if the four siddhāntas and the five chapters can be correlated, why are they arranged in a different order? The answer is that the four siddhāntas are the Buddha’s wisdom, which becomes fourfold in response to conditions of sharp and dull faculties. A person of sharp faculties need hear only the worldly siddhānta and can awaken to ultimate meaning through differentiated teaching; corresponding it only with explaining the name and discerning the substance is already sufficient. A person of dull faculties has not yet awakened and must first produce goodness through the individually adapted siddhānta, then break evil through the counteractive siddhānta, and only afterward enter ultimate meaning. All four must therefore be used. The original intent of the five chapters accounts for both sharp and dull faculties, while the four siddhāntas here are explained specifically from the side of the gradual guidance required by dull faculties. The meaning of their correlation is the same, but their sequence is therefore different.

Another question is asked: the Dazhidu Lun specifically explains the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra and does not directly explain the Lotus Sutra. How can its four siddhāntas be used to explain the five meanings of the present scripture? The Treatise on the Middle can penetrate all the scriptures; why is it not used instead?

The answer is that the Dazhidu Lun says the four siddhāntas encompass the eighty thousand Dharma treasuries and the twelve divisions of scripture. How could the Lotus Sutra not be among them? Since the Treatise on the Middle can penetrate all scriptures, it should likewise be applicable. If the contents of the entire treatise were cited extensively, the treatment would be broad but the method not necessarily skillful. The present explanation takes only the three words “Middle,” “Contemplation,” and “Treatise” to elucidate the five chapters.

The word “Middle” elucidates substance, “Contemplation” elucidates purport, and “Treatise” elucidates function. The skillful means of breaking Dharmas, establishing Dharmas, and benefiting sentient beings taught in the Yingluo can all be understood through the work of a treatise. A treatise can investigate principles, break attachments, establish the Three Jewels and Four Truths, and enable people to realize the four fruits of a śramaṇa; hence “Treatise” elucidates function. The principle of Middle Contemplation is inconceivable and elucidates “wondrous.” The objects of contemplation include provisional and real and elucidate “Dharma.” Contemplative wisdom has cause and fruit and elucidates “lotus blossom.” Contemplative wisdom is expressed through verbal teaching and elucidates “sutra.” The three words of the treatise’s title also accord with the four siddhāntas. They can therefore be correlated with the five meanings and reveal the intent of universal penetration.

If the Treatise on the Middle is further used to elucidate other scriptures and teachings, the first line of its verse can elucidate the Tripiṭaka Teaching, the second the Shared Teaching, the third the Distinct Teaching, and the fourth the Perfect Teaching; the Lotus is likewise elucidated by the fourth line. It is clear that not only can the two treatises elucidate these five chapters, but the five chapters themselves can penetrate all scriptures and treatises.

Outline of the Tenfold Explanation of the Four Siddhāntas

The four siddhāntas are explained below in ten parts: first, explaining the name; second, distinguishing characteristics; third, establishing the explanation; fourth, correlating them with the truths; fifth, giving rise to contemplation and teaching; sixth, sage speech and sage silence; seventh, attainment and use or their absence; eighth, provisional and real; ninth, opening the provisional to reveal the real; and tenth, penetrating the scripture.

First: Explaining the Name

“Siddhānta” is an Indic term. Some say it has no corresponding translation in Chinese and, like the word sūtra, contains many meanings, so it is retained as a transliteration. Others translate it as purport, completion, ink, seal, reality, accomplishment, ultimate, and so forth, but cannot determine which explanation is correct.

The Bodhisattvabhūmi Sūtra says that all conditioned activities are impermanent, all conditioned activities are suffering, all dharmas are without self, and nirvāṇa is quiescent extinction; these four are called the four udānas. Udāna can be translated as “seal” or as “purport.” “Seal” indicates a standard that is fixed and cannot be changed. Buddhas and bodhisattvas possess this Dharma and also use it to transmit teaching; this explains seal from the perspective of teaching. The existence, nonexistence, neither existence nor nonexistence, and other Dharmas taught by worldly wisdom in the scripture have fixed standards and have been transmitted in succession from the silent munis of the past; this explains seal from the perspective of practice. The scripture further speaks of ascending higher, courageously emerging, and even going beyond the highest existence atop the three realms: it is supreme, the common refuge of the assembly, and absent from the world. This explains the meaning of purport.

That scriptural passage, however, plainly explains udāna. Why have various masters used “purport” and “seal” to translate the four siddhāntas? Since this point does not accord, the remaining translations are also difficult to trust.

Master Nanyue followed the pattern of the combined Sanskrit and Chinese designation “great nirvāṇa” and held that “xi” is Chinese while “tan” is Sanskrit. Xi means universally, while tan is translated as giving. The Buddha universally gives four kinds of Dharma to all sentient beings, and they are therefore called siddhāntas.

Second: Distinguishing Characteristics—Zhiyi’s Direct Explanation

First is the worldly siddhānta. A cart, for example, has the name “cart” only through the combination of wheels, spokes, axle, rims, and other parts; no cart exists independently apart from those parts. A person has the name “person” only through the combination of the five aggregates; no person exists independently apart from them. If there were absolutely no persons, why would the Buddha, who speaks truthfully, say that he sees sentient beings in the six paths? From the perspective of worldly provisional names, persons therefore do exist.

Someone objects: a person exists only in the worldly siddhānta and not in ultimate meaning. Ultimate meaning can be real, but the other three siddhāntas should therefore not be real. The answer is that each of the four is real on its own level. Thusness, Dharma-nature, and so forth cannot be grasped when viewed through worldly differences but are real when viewed through ultimate meaning. Persons and so forth lack self-nature when viewed through ultimate meaning but can be established when viewed through the worldly.

All names and characteristics—the five aggregates, twelve sense fields, eighteen elements, and so forth—are separated from one another and are called the world. Non-Buddhists are deluded about these differences and do not penetrate the characteristics of Dharma. Some maintain that the world exists without cause or condition; others hold that it exists through false causes and conditions. The Great Sage accords with what sentient beings desire to hear and explains to them separately the worldly Dharmas of correct causes and conditions, enabling them to gain a correct worldly view. This is the characteristic of the worldly siddhānta.

Second is the individually adapted siddhānta. The Great Sage observes the mind of each person and teaches Dharma. People’s minds differ, and the same matter can be permitted for one but not permitted for another. Sentient beings, for example, are born into a mixed world through mixed karma and experience mixed contact and mixed feeling. The Poqunna Sūtra further says that no fixed person receives contact and no fixed person receives feeling. This is taught for two kinds of people who doubt future lives and disbelieve transgression and merit, falling into either annihilationism or eternalism. Although attachment is incidentally broken, the primary purpose is still to produce faith and increase wholesome roots by giving people the wholesome Dharma suited to them. It is therefore called the individually adapted siddhānta.

Third is the counteractive siddhānta. A particular Dharma can be established when it serves as a counteraction, but if one asks whether it has a fixed reality, none can be found. A person with heavy desire is taught to contemplate impurity; one with heavy anger is taught to cultivate loving-kindness; one with heavy delusion is taught to contemplate causes and conditions. Different Dharma-medicines are taught for different unwholesome illnesses and are universally given to sentient beings. This is the characteristic of the counteractive siddhānta.

Fourth is the ultimate-meaning siddhānta. It has an inexpressible side and an expressible side. The inexpressible is the real Dharma realized by buddhas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats. Language reaches its end, the activities of mind cease, there is neither arising nor cessation, and Dharma is like nirvāṇa. Whatever is described as a place reached by conditioned activities belongs to the worldly; what is described as a place they cannot reach belongs to ultimate meaning.

From the expressible side, the four statements—everything is real, everything is unreal, everything is both real and unreal, and everything is neither real nor unreal—can all be used to indicate the true mark of all dharmas. Throughout the scriptures the Buddha teaches the ultimate-meaning siddhānta according to faculties. This is also the meaning in this tradition of entering the real through four gates. The Treatise on the Middle uses the simile of a swift horse that enters the right road upon seeing the shadow of the whip. But if one hears the four statements and then grasps them, all become conceptual proliferation rather than ultimate meaning.

Zhang’an’s Private Explanation in Fifteen Passes

Here the recorder Zhang’an separately explains the four characteristics in fifteen passes so they will be easier to understand. This passage is Zhang’an’s supplement, not Zhiyi’s direct teaching in the preceding section.

First, whether phenomena or principle are taught, immediate delight in the listener is worldly; the arising of an existing wholesome mind is individually adapted; the removal of a newly arisen unwholesome thought is counteractive; and awakening thereby to the noble path is ultimate meaning.

Second, teaching provisional and real together is worldly. The treatise gives as examples the existence of a cart through the combination of wheels, spokes, axle, and rims and the existence of a person through the combination of the five aggregates. Teaching only the provisional person is individually adapted; the treatise sometimes says there is a person and sometimes that there is none. Teaching only real Dharmas is counteractive; something can be established as a counteraction, but its real nature cannot be found. Simultaneously transcending provisional and real is ultimate meaning, where the path of language is severed and the activities of mind cease.

Third, the distinction between wholesome and unwholesome persons after causes and conditions combine is worldly. A wholesome person existing through the combination of wholesome conditions is individually adapted. An unwholesome person existing through the combination of unwholesome conditions, whose evil is treated with Dharma, is counteractive. Simultaneously transcending wholesome and unwholesome is ultimate meaning.

Fourth, the real Dharmas of the five aggregates separated from one another are worldly. Wholesome five aggregates continuing into wholesome five aggregates is individually adapted. Using wholesome five aggregates to break unwholesome five aggregates is counteractive. Undefiled five aggregates are ultimate meaning.

Fifth, the difference between wholesome and unwholesome Dharmas is worldly. Teaching that present wholesome Dharmas can produce future wholesome Dharmas is individually adapted. Using present wholesome Dharmas to break present unwholesome Dharmas is counteractive. Transcending wholesome and unwholesome is ultimate meaning.

Someone asks: persons in general include both wholesome and unwholesome people, so why is producing goodness alone described as individually adapted? The answer is that wholesome karma is the vehicle upon which a person rides and enables that person to produce goodness, so it is called “for a person.” Another question follows: if the individually adapted primarily produces goodness, why can it also sever evil? The answer is that producing an existing wholesome root is the primary and original function of the individually adapted siddhānta, while severing newly arisen evil is incidental. Treating an existing unwholesome illness is the primary and original function of the counteractive siddhānta, while producing new goodness is incidental.

Sixth, the separation of past, present, and future is worldly. Attention to a wholesome fruit in a future life is individually adapted. Addressing present unwholesome Dharmas is counteractive. Transcending the three times is ultimate meaning.

Seventh, the separation of the inner and outer ordinary stages among the four wholesome roots is worldly. The growth of wholesome roots at the warmth and summit stages is individually adapted. The general and specific stations of mindfulness used to treat delusion are counteractive. The highest worldly Dharma approaching the real is ultimate meaning.

Eighth, the difference between the path of seeing and the path of cultivation is worldly. The path of seeing producing real goodness is individually adapted. The path of cultivation treating remaining delusion is counteractive. The path of no-more-learning is ultimate meaning.

Ninth, the differences among named stages such as neither learning nor no-more-learning are worldly. Beginning to see learning is individually adapted. Continuing to cultivate learning is counteractive. Reaching no-more-learning is ultimate meaning.

Tenth, the worldly siddhānta contains the function of the individually adapted, the individually adapted contains the function of the counteractive, and the counteractive contains the function of ultimate meaning. Within ultimate meaning, the other three siddhāntas are no longer taken as ultimate.

Eleventh, a single siddhānta can also possess all four. Teaching the correct world through the separation of aggregates, sense fields, and elements is worldly. Establishing a person through the combination of causes and conditions is individually adapted. Using the correct world to break a false world is counteractive. Hearing the correct world and awakening is ultimate meaning.

Twelfth, the individually adapted siddhānta also possesses all four. Receiving mixed contact and mixed feeling through the causes and conditions of mixed karma is worldly. Permitting a particular person in the same matter is individually adapted. Not permitting another person is counteractive. Saying that no fixed person receives contact or feeling is ultimate meaning.

Thirteenth, the counteractive siddhānta also possesses all four. The Buddha uses three kinds of Dharma to treat the illnesses of people’s minds; the difference between medicine and illness is worldly. Treating a particular person with Dharma is individually adapted. Medicine precisely fitting the illness is counteractive. The fixed realities of medicine and illness being unobtainable is ultimate meaning.

Fourteenth, the ultimate-meaning siddhānta also possesses all four. The differences from “everything is real” through the four statements are worldly. The Dharma attained in the minds of buddhas and pratyekabuddhas is pure and wholesome and is individually adapted. All verbal theories, views, and attachments can be broken while ultimate meaning penetrates them; this is counteractive. The path of language being severed and Dharma being like nirvāṇa is ultimate meaning.

Fifteenth, the explanation is again made comprehensively from both general and specific perspectives. Viewed generally, the different names of the four siddhāntas form a distinction and are worldly. The four siddhāntas universally teaching and transforming sentient beings is individually adapted. All four breaking falsehood is counteractive. Awakening to the path through hearing any one of them is ultimate meaning. Viewed specifically, the truths of suffering and origination clarify the worldly; the treating aspect of the truth of the path clarifies the individually adapted; what is treated by the truth of the path clarifies the counteractive; and the truth of cessation clarifies ultimate meaning.

Someone asks: explaining the four characteristics according to the Dazhidu Lun is already sufficient. Why make so many further distinctions? Zhang’an answers: the treatise says that the four siddhāntas encompass the eighty-four thousand Dharma treasuries. What fault is there in privately distinguishing them according to fifteen classes of Dharma?

Third: Establishing the Four Siddhāntas through the Four Accommodations

The four siddhāntas were taught by Nāgārjuna, while the four accommodations are regarded by this treatise as the Buddha’s teaching in a meditation scripture. The meaning becomes clearer when a scriptural passage is now used to establish a treatise teaching. The four accommodations are: first, accordance with desire; second, accordance with what is fitting; third, accordance with counteraction; and fourth, accordance with ultimate meaning.

“Desire” is named from cultivating the cause, while “worldly” is named from the result attained. The meaning of the Dazhidu Lun is that all wholesome and unwholesome actions have desire as their root. The meaning of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra is that people are first drawn by the hook of their desires and later led into the Buddha path. The Buddhist scripture presents the form of the cause cultivated by a practitioner, while the treatise explains the resulting correct worldly view. Accordance with desire therefore establishes the worldly siddhānta.

“Accordance with what is fitting” follows the Dharma suited to a practitioner. “Individually adapted” is named from the teacher’s discernment of faculties and knowledge of whether something is permissible. The treatise says that in a single matter something may be permitted or not permitted: what should be permitted is permitted, and what should not be permitted is not. For example, counting the breath suits a goldsmith’s son, while contemplation of impurity suits a washerman’s son; if exchanged, they yield no benefit. The scripture presents what the practitioner is capable of receiving, while the treatise clarifies the teacher’s discernment of faculties. The two establish each other. For the remaining two—accordance with counteraction and accordance with ultimate meaning—the scripture and treatise have the same names and purports.

Fourth: Correlating the Four Siddhāntas with the Four Truths

The briefest method directly correlates the four siddhāntas with one set of Four Truths, as stated above. Explained extensively, each kind of Four Truths is correlated with all four siddhāntas; one must not distribute the four siddhāntas across the Four Truths only once.

In a further general correlation, the arising-and-ceasing Four Truths correspond to the worldly siddhānta, the non-arising Four Truths to the individually adapted siddhānta, the immeasurable Four Truths to the counteractive siddhānta, and the unconstructed Four Truths to the ultimate-meaning siddhānta.

Fifth, First Part: The Four Siddhāntas Give Rise to Contemplative Practice

Subtle principle cannot be understood without contemplative practice, and contemplative practice that accords with principle cannot arise apart from the four siddhāntas.

When cultivating contemplation that enters emptiness from the provisional, one first contemplates the Dharma of correct causes and conditions. Internal causes and external conditions, close and remote, each differ. Without diligent desire, cultivation cannot be accomplished, so one must be diligent day and night, joyful at heart and never lax. This is the first contemplation arising through the worldly siddhānta.

To enter emptiness through contemplation of the provisional, one must also know what suits each person. If contemplation is suitable, the three factors of awakening—discernment of Dharma, diligence, and joy—are used to make contemplation arise. If calming is suitable, the three factors tranquility, equanimity, and concentration are used to make calming arise. Mindfulness applies to both calming and contemplation. When Dharma is applied according to what suits the person, the wholesome mind can arise. This is the individually adapted siddhānta.

If the mind suffers from sinking or floating, the counteractive siddhānta must be used. When the mind sinks, mindfulness, discernment of Dharma, diligence, and joy raise it. When the mind floats, mindfulness, equanimity, tranquility, and concentration settle it. Skillful use of the individually adapted siddhānta gradually deepens wholesome roots; skillful use of the counteractive siddhānta gradually thins afflictions.

When one deeply cultivates whichever of the seven factors of awakening one relies upon, suddenly releases one’s previous grasping, and then finely cultivates through that factor, real clear vision can arise and ultimate meaning be seen. This is using the four siddhāntas to give rise to contemplation that enters emptiness from the provisional, accomplishing all-wisdom and giving rise to the wisdom-eye.

When cultivating contemplation that enters the provisional from emptiness, skillful use of the four siddhāntas attains path-variety wisdom and gives rise to the Dharma-eye; the situation is the same. When cultivating contemplation of the Middle Way’s ultimate meaning, skillful use of the four siddhāntas attains the knowledge of all modes and gives rise to the Buddha-eye; this too is the same. The three contemplations cultivated within one mind likewise require skillful use of the four siddhāntas.

Fifth, Second Part: The Four Siddhāntas Give Rise to Teaching

Next comes the arising of teaching. The meaning of the Dazhidu Lun is that the Buddha always delights in silence and does not enjoy teaching lightly. The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra also reveals meaning through silence. The Lotus Sutra says that reality cannot be expressed in words. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that arising-arising through not-arising-not-arising are all inexpressible, yet also says that because causes and conditions exist, they can still be expressed; the ten Dharmas of causes and conditions can serve as causes of arising.

That the ten causes and conditions can still be expressed means that the ten links from ignorance through existence jointly form sentient beings. These sentient beings each possess different faculties capable of moving the Tathāgata to teach four kinds of Dharma.

First, if sentient beings formed by the ten causes and conditions have lower-grade desires, they can produce phenomenal goodness within the three realms and are suited to breaking delusion through a relatively direct and awkward method, analyzing Dharmas to enter emptiness. The Tathāgata turns for them the Dharma wheel of the arising-and-ceasing Four Truths and gives rise to the Tripiṭaka Teaching.

Second, if they have middling-grade desires, they can produce principial goodness within the three realms and are suited to breaking delusion through a more skillful method, embodying Dharmas as immediately empty. The Tathāgata turns for them the Dharma wheel of the non-arising Four Truths and gives rise to the Shared Teaching.

Third, if they have higher-grade desires, they can produce phenomenal goodness beyond the three realms and are suited to breaking delusion separately in sequence and entering the Middle Way step by step. The Tathāgata turns for them the Dharma wheel of the immeasurable Four Truths and gives rise to the Distinct Teaching.

Fourth, if they have supreme-grade desires, they can produce principial goodness beyond the three realms. When one delusion is broken, all delusions are broken with it, and they enter the Middle Way perfectly and suddenly. The Tathāgata turns for them the Dharma wheel of the unconstructed Four Truths and gives rise to the Perfect Teaching.

Each kind of teaching in turn contains twelve divisions of scripture, and all arise through the four siddhāntas.

First are the twelve divisions in the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Sentient beings desire to hear worldly phenomena of correct causes and conditions, so the Tathāgata directly teaches the provisional and real Dharmas of the five aggregates, eighteen elements, twelve sense fields, and so forth; this is discourse. Repeating these worldly phenomena in verses of four, five, six, seven, eight, or nine syllables is repeated verse. Directly predicting sentient beings’ future affairs, even predicting that pigeons and sparrows will become buddhas, is prediction. Separately composing a verse about worldly phenomena is independent verse. Teaching worldly phenomena without being asked is unrequested teaching. Establishing prohibitions on the basis of unwholesome worldly affairs is causes and conditions. Teaching worldly phenomena through similes is simile. Teaching worldly affairs of the past is past events. Teaching the events of one’s own past births is past lives. Extensively teaching great worldly affairs is extensive discourse. Teaching unprecedented worldly events is unprecedented events. Analyzing worldly affairs through questions and challenges is discussion.

These twelve divisions can first arise through the worldly siddhānta and make sentient beings rejoice. The twelve forms of teaching can also be used to produce goodness in sentient beings, which is individually adapted; to break their evil, which is counteractive; and to enable their awakening and entry, which is ultimate meaning. The four siddhāntas thereby give rise to the twelve divisions of scripture in the Tripiṭaka Teaching.

Next are the twelve divisions in the Shared Teaching. Sentient beings desire to hear the meaning of emptiness, so the Tathāgata directly teaches that among the five aggregates, twelve sense fields, and eighteen elements there is no Dharma that is not immediately empty; this is discourse. Repeating in verses of four through nine syllables that aggregates, elements, and sense fields are immediately empty is repeated verse. Saying that a person able to penetrate aggregates, elements, and sense fields as immediately empty will become a buddha in the future is prediction. A separately composed verse that says they are immediately empty is independent verse. Teaching immediate emptiness without being asked is unrequested teaching. Teaching that penetrating aggregates, elements, and sense fields as immediately empty is itself the precepts is causes and conditions. Using such similes as illusion and transformation for the immediate emptiness of aggregates, elements, and sense fields is simile. Teaching that worlds and lands of the past are immediately empty is past events. Teaching that the aggregates, elements, and sense fields of past births are immediately empty is past lives. Extensively teaching immediate emptiness is extensive discourse. Teaching the rare event that aggregates, sense fields, and elements are immediately empty is unprecedented events. Analyzing immediate emptiness through questions and challenges is discussion.

These twelve divisions first teach immediate emptiness in accord with sentient beings’ desires and make them rejoice. The twelve forms of teaching immediate emptiness can also be used to produce goodness, break evil, and enable people to awaken to principle. The four siddhāntas thereby give rise to the twelve divisions of scripture in the Shared Teaching.

Next are the twelve divisions in the Distinct Teaching. If sentient beings desire to hear of all worlds, all aggregates, elements, and sense fields, as well as inexpressible worlds and inexpressible aggregates, elements, and sense fields, the Tathāgata directly teaches all worlds and aggregates and sense fields that face upright, turn over, face upward, or stand inverted. He teaches all defiled lands, pure lands, lands of ordinary beings, lands of sages, various inexpressible worlds, and various inexpressible aggregates, sense fields, and elements; this is discourse. Repeating these in verses of four through nine syllables is repeated verse. A separately composed verse is independent verse. Predicting buddhahood for one who knows lands, aggregates, sense fields, and elements is prediction. Possessing the precepts by knowing these differences as they really are is causes and conditions. Teaching through similes is simile. Teaching the affairs of lands in the past is past events. Teaching the events of past births is past lives. Teaching vast affairs is extensive discourse. Teaching rare events is unprecedented events. Distinguishing them through questions and answers is discussion.

The Tathāgata uses these twelve forms of teaching in accord with sentient beings’ desires and makes them rejoice. He also uses them to produce goodness, break evil, and enable entry. The four siddhāntas thereby give rise to the twelve divisions of scripture in the Distinct Teaching.

Last are the twelve divisions in the Perfect Teaching. If sentient beings desire to hear that inexpressible lands and inexpressible aggregates, elements, and sense fields are all thusness and the true mark, the Tathāgata directly teaches that the dependent and primary recompenses of all lands are themselves the Land of Constant Quiescent Light; all aggregates and sense fields are themselves awakening, and apart from them there is no other awakening; a single color or fragrance is without exception the Middle Way, and apart from color and fragrance there is no other Middle Way; and eye, ear, nose, tongue, and the other faculties are all gates of quiescence, while apart from those faculties there is no other gate of quiescence. This is discourse. Repeating the meaning in verse is repeated verse. A separately composed verse is independent verse. Teaching it without being asked is unrequested teaching. Predicting buddhahood for one who knows this meaning is prediction. Possessing the precepts through knowing this meaning is causes and conditions. Teaching through similes is simile. Indicating a past world is past events. Indicating a past birth is past lives. Extensively teaching the meaning is extensive discourse. Teaching rare events is unprecedented events. Distinguishing it through questions and answers is discussion.

These twelve forms of teaching first accord with sentient beings’ desires and make them rejoice. They also make wondrous goodness arise, break evil suddenly, and enable people suddenly to accord with principle. The four siddhāntas thereby give rise to the twelve divisions of scripture in the Perfect Teaching.

Gathering them further according to different teachings: the two kinds of four siddhāntas in the Distinct and Perfect Teachings give rise to the Avataṃsaka teaching; only one set of four siddhāntas gives rise to the Tripiṭaka Teaching; four sets of four siddhāntas give rise to the Vaipulya teaching; three sets of four siddhāntas give rise to the Prajñā teaching; and only one set of four siddhāntas again gives rise to the Lotus teaching. This is the meaning of the Dazhidu Lun’s statement that the four siddhāntas encompass the twelve divisions of scripture.

The meaning of the Bodhisattvabhūmi Sūtra is that a bodhisattva enters the mātṛkā and composes a non-inverted treatise so that the true Dharma will long abide in the world. A bodhisattva abides in corresponding meditative concentration, contemplates the differing faculties and conditions of sentient beings after the Buddha’s extinction, and therefore composes treatises that penetrate scriptures and teachings.

Vasubandhu used two sets of four siddhāntas to compose the Commentary on the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds and penetrate the Avataṃsaka. Śāriputra used the first set of four siddhāntas to compose the Abhidharma, and five hundred arhats composed the Vibhāṣā to penetrate the Tripiṭaka Teaching, emphasizing attainment of the path through existent Dharmas. Harivarman also used the first set to compose the Satyasiddhi Śāstra and penetrate the Tripiṭaka Teaching, emphasizing attainment of the path through emptiness. Kātyāyana likewise used the first set to compose the Pele Treatise and penetrate the Tripiṭaka Teaching, seeing attainment of the path through both emptiness and existence.

Nāgārjuna used four sets of four siddhāntas to compose the Treatise on the Middle: three sets directly penetrate the Great Vehicle, while one incidentally penetrates the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Maitreya used two sets to compose the Bodhisattvabhūmi and penetrate the Avataṃsaka. Asaṅga likewise used two sets to compose the Mahāyānasaṃgraha. Nāgārjuna used three sets to compose the Dazhidu Lun and penetrate the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Vasubandhu used one set to penetrate the Lotus Sutra. Tradition says that Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna each composed a Nirvāṇa Treatise, but these works had not yet reached this land and can only be inferred by analogy. The various treatises of immortals with the five powers, Śakra’s wholesome treatise, and Great Brahmā’s treatise on leaving desire likewise use only the first siddhānta and carry an intent of skillful benefit.

Chinese worldly classics can also be read according to the four siddhāntas. The classics’ teachings on letters, conduct, sincerity, and trustworthiness, their ordering of ritual and poetry and the benefit left to later generations, belong to the worldly. Selecting officials by virtue and extending rewards to future generations belong to the individually adapted. Punitive campaigns against rebels and not setting aside punishment even for minor offenses belong to the counteractive. Tranquil government, a political Way conforming to the mind of Heaven, and the human king occupying the highest position belong to the worldly ultimate-meaning siddhānta.

Sixth: Sage Speech and Sage Silence

The meaning of the Questions of Brahmā Viśeṣacintin Sūtra is that the Buddha told the monks they should perform two things: either teach Dharma as a sage or remain silent as a sage. Sage speech has already been distinguished above; the following specifically explains sage silence.

The four kinds of Four Truths are all Dharmas realized by sages of the Three Vehicles and cannot be known by ordinary people at lower stages, so they are inexpressible. Even if they are forcibly taught, it is like setting up a lamp for a blind person. How could someone without eyes benefit? They are therefore inexpressible and called sage silence.

The worlds taught in the Avataṃsaka are layer upon layer and inexhaustible in number; “inexpressible upon inexpressible” reveals that principle at its utmost is beyond speech. This can clarify inexpressibility in terms of the immeasurable and unconstructed Four Truths and the Dharmas not-arising-arising and not-arising-not-arising; it is called sage silence.

Within the Tripiṭaka Teaching, when the monk Kauṇḍinya first gained real knowledge and vision, he was quiescent, without sound or written words. Śāriputra likewise said that the liberation he heard contained no speech. This clarifies inexpressibility in terms of the arising-and-ceasing Four Truths and the Dharma arising-arising; it is called sage silence.

In the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra, Vimalakīrti closes his mouth and gives no reply. In the Mahāvaipulya Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra, the state of the Bodhisattva Wordless cannot be known through wisdom or distinguished by consciousness; the path of language is severed, the activities of mind cease, there is neither arising nor cessation, and Dharma is like nirvāṇa. This clarifies inexpressibility through the four sets of Four Truths and is called sage silence.

Throughout the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, all Dharmas are said to be unobtainable. Unobtainable means not obtainable through the body, mind, or mouth. This clarifies unobtainability through three sets of Four Truths and the Dharmas arising, not-arising, not-arising-arising, and not-arising-not-arising. Because it is unobtainable, it is inexpressible and called sage silence.

The Lotus Sutra says to stop, stop, with no need to speak further, for the Buddha-Dharma is subtle and difficult to conceive. It also says that this Dharma cannot be displayed, the marks of words are quiescent and extinct, it cannot be expressed in language, and it cannot be understood through thought and distinction. This clarifies inexpressibility through the unconstructed Four Truths and the Dharma not-arising-not-arising; it is called sage silence.

Someone asks: a sage teaches Dharma to make others rejoice and remains silent for his own peace. Since silence is only personal ease, does it not fail to benefit others? The answer is that sage silence primarily lets the sage abide and incidentally benefits others. If someone is weary of texts and dislikes language, the sage remains silent to make that person rejoice. In the Vinaya, a sage remains silent when accepting an offering so the donor will gain merit. The monk Pārśva refuted Aśvaghoṣa’s challenge through silence. When the Buddha sits cross-legged, abides in correct mindfulness, and keeps body and mind unmoving, he can likewise enable immeasurable people to awaken and attain traces of the path. All these silences arise through the four siddhāntas and can benefit everyone. How could one say they offer no benefit?

Someone further asks: the Dazhidu Lun says the four siddhāntas encompass the eighty-four thousand Dharma treasuries. How is this number established?

The answer is that the Bhadrakalpika Sūtra lists 350 Dharma gates from the Buddha’s initial arousal of the mind through the distribution of his relics. Each gate possesses the six perfections, making 2,100 perfections. These gates of perfection counteract four classes of affliction—desire, anger, delusion, and an equal mixture—making 8,400. Each class is then multiplied by ten, making 84,000.

When they are called the eighty-four thousand Dharma treasuries, they are encompassed by the worldly siddhānta. When they are called the eighty-four thousand gates of defilement, they belong to the individually adapted siddhānta from the perspective of the wholesome roots that can arise in sentient beings; the eighty-four thousand samādhis and eighty-four thousand dhāraṇī gates can be understood in the same way. When they are called the eighty-four thousand counteractions or eighty-four thousand gates of emptiness, they belong to the counteractive siddhānta. When they are called the eighty-four thousand perfections or eighty-four thousand boundless crossings, they belong to the ultimate-meaning siddhānta.

There is another calculation. The buddha-stage has 350 Dharma gates; each contains the ten wholesome actions, making 3,500 wholesome actions. Applying them to treat the four divisions of affliction makes 14,000, and further applying them to the six faculties makes 84,000.

Seventh: Attainment and Use

Only the Tathāgata ultimately realizes the four siddhāntas and can ultimately employ them in the most subtle way. At all stages below the Buddha, attainment and use differ and can be arranged in four alternatives: first, neither attaining nor using; second, attaining but not using; third, not completely attaining but being able to use; and fourth, both attaining and using.

Ordinary people and non-Buddhists circulate within suffering and origination and do not even know the names of the four siddhāntas, much less realize them. Because they have not realized them, they cannot genuinely use them. This is neither attaining nor using.

People of the Two Vehicles in the Tripiṭaka Teaching diligently cultivate for themselves: they know suffering, sever origination, cultivate the path, realize cessation, and enter the real. They can therefore be said to have attained the four siddhāntas. But they do not take the liberation of sentient beings as their task and therefore cannot use them. Even when they force themselves to use them, they often act improperly because they do not fit the faculties.

Vimalakīrti, for example, rebuked Pūrṇa: one who does not know a person’s faculties should not teach Dharma, and defiled food must not be put into a precious vessel. Pūrṇa spent ninety days teaching non-Buddhists and was mocked in return; Mañjuśrī visited briefly and teacher and disciples all submitted in faith. This is not knowing sentient beings’ desires and being unable to use the worldly siddhānta.

Śāriputra taught two disciples, but instead of wholesome roots arising, false doubts arose. This is inability to use the individually adapted siddhānta. Five hundred arhats taught Kāṭhina the Four Truths without any benefit; the Buddha changed to contemplation of impurity, and Kāṭhina immediately broke his unwholesome Dharma. This is inability to use the counteractive siddhānta. Śāriputra could not liberate Fuzeng, like a lesser physician who can only fold his hands before a grave illness. Five hundred sages likewise could not liberate him, but a single teaching by the Buddha enabled Fuzeng to realize arhatship. This is inability to use the ultimate-meaning siddhānta. The same applies to pratyekabuddhas, so it is called attaining but not using.

Although bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka Teaching know suffering and origination and also cultivate the path, they only suppress their bonds and have not yet realized the truth of cessation. They therefore attain only the first three siddhāntas. Although one remains unattained, they can use all four. It is like an ill guide who prepares boats and rafts and, while still on this shore himself, first conveys others to the farther shore. He has long made transforming others his task and liberates others before he himself has been liberated. This is not attaining but using.

Although people of the Two Vehicles in the Shared Teaching skillfully enter emptiness through the gate of embodying Dharmas, they still attain but do not use, just like people of the Two Vehicles in the Tripiṭaka Teaching. Bodhisattvas of the Shared Teaching both attain and use from their initial resolve through the sixth ground, although their use is not yet skillful. When they enter provisional existence at the seventh ground to transform others, their use becomes more excellent.

The ten abodes of the Distinct Teaching can attain only the four siddhāntas belonging to analysis of Dharmas and embodiment of Dharmas and cannot yet use them well. At the ten practices they first become able to use them. The ten dedications further attain approximate four siddhāntas and can use them approximately. After entering the first ground, they realize the real portion by portion and use it in reality portion by portion.

Disciples at the five grades in the Perfect Teaching cannot yet be called attaining and using. At purity of the six faculties, they attain and use approximately. At the first abode, they realize the real portion by portion and therefore attain and use it in partial reality. Only the Buddha ultimately attains and ultimately uses.

Eighth: Provisional and Real

Distinguishing four siddhāntas within each kind of Four Truths is only a general mode of teaching. The Dazhidu Lun says that many scriptures teach only three siddhāntas and not ultimate meaning; this treatise applies the statement to the Tripiṭaka Teaching. That teaching largely explains conditioned phenomena, extinguishing form to grasp emptiness, and reveals ultimate meaning less often. In relation to its bodhisattvas, the fourth can be opened from the first three; in relation to the Buddha, all four are complete. Even so, its method remains relatively awkward and is only skillful means adapted to lesser faculties.

The four siddhāntas taught through the Four Truths of the Shared Teaching embody Dharmas as immediately real and use a more skillful entrance. The Dazhidu Lun further says that the Prajñā scriptures are taught for the sake of explaining the ultimate-meaning siddhānta. Both Buddha and bodhisattvas can possess all four, but because they are still clarified in terms of the true truth as skillful means, they remain provisional.

The four siddhāntas taught through the Four Truths of the Distinct Teaching are explained in terms of the Middle Way and have a more profound meaning. Yet their sequence remains separate, their characteristics are not yet integrated, and their path of teaching remains provisional; they still cannot be called wondrous.

The four siddhāntas taught through the Four Truths of the Perfect Teaching have characteristics that perfectly interpenetrate and constitute the most real teaching. Here the four siddhāntas are real and also wondrous.

When these provisionals and reals are placed within the teachings of the five flavors: the milk flavor has four provisionals and four reals; curds has only four provisionals; raw ghee has twelve provisionals and four reals; refined ghee has eight provisionals and four reals; Nirvāṇa has twelve provisionals and four reals; and in the Lotus all four are real.

Someone asks: although bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka Teaching themselves attain the four siddhāntas, in comparison with the Shared Teaching they count as attaining only three. What, then, of the Shared Teaching in comparison with the Distinct? The answer has two aspects: relative to the Shared Teaching itself, one can say four are attained; compared with the Distinct Teaching, they count as only three.

Another question is asked: is it the same when the Distinct Teaching is compared with the Perfect? The answer is that the analogy does not hold, because the paths of realization in the Perfect and Distinct Teachings are the same.

The question continues: the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings both realize the true truth, so they should likewise attain all four. The answer is that although the true truth they realize is the same, bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka Teaching have not severed delusion and therefore lack one; both the Perfect and Distinct Teachings sever delusion and therefore possess all four.

The question continues again: even when the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings are said to possess four, compared with higher teachings they still possess only three and remain provisional. Since the Distinct Teaching possesses four rather than three, it should not remain provisional. The answer is that the paths of teaching and realization in the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings are both skillful means, so they can only be said to possess three and cannot ultimately be said to possess four. The path of teaching in the Distinct Teaching is provisional, while its path of realization is real. Viewed through its path of realization it possesses four; viewed through its path of teaching it remains provisional.

The final question is this: if the path of realization possesses four, should the path of teaching possess only three? The answer is that if everything before entry into the grounds is taken as the path of teaching, it is indeed as the question states.

Ninth: Opening the Provisional to Reveal the Real

Among all dharmas there is not one that is not wondrous; a single color or fragrance is without exception the Middle Way. It is only sentient beings’ emotional grasping that separates them from the wondrous. Out of great compassion, the Buddha accords with sentient beings and does not dispute with the world, so he first distinguishes many provisionals and reals.

The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings is cited as saying that the three Dharmas, four fruits, and two paths taught for more than forty years had not yet been integrated. Now the gate of skillful means is opened and the mark of reality shown. Through the causes and conditions of the one great matter, only the unsurpassed path is taught, enabling sentient beings to open the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing and enter the ultimate true mark. Removing the conjured city resolves coarse Dharma; everyone reaching the place of treasure enters wondrous Dharma.

The four kinds of wondrousness in the milk flavor do not differ from the wondrous meaning of the present scripture. Only the four provisionals within it need to be resolved so they enter the present wondrousness. Thus the scripture says that bodhisattvas who hear this Dharma have had all their nets of doubt removed. The four provisionals of curds, twelve provisionals of raw ghee, and eight provisionals of refined ghee are likewise all resolved and enter the wondrous. Thus the scripture says that the twelve hundred arhats will also all become buddhas; it further says that this scripture decisively clarifies the Dharma of the śrāvakas and is king of the scriptures, and that one who hears it and reflects carefully draws near the unsurpassed Buddha path. The wondrous meanings taught in the Vaipulya and Prajñā teachings likewise do not differ from the present wondrousness. This is the intent of opening the provisional to reveal the real.

Someone asks: when the different provisional siddhāntas are resolved, do they all become only the wondrous ultimate-meaning siddhānta? The answer is that when the provisional is brought into the wondrous, it is free and unobstructed. Even when wondrous ultimate meaning is spoken of, it is not separated from the other three; the other three are likewise not separated from ultimate meaning. One and three are mutually free. For now, the explanation follows one method and resolves each of the four provisional siddhāntas into the corresponding wondrous siddhānta.

First, resolving the different provisional worldly siddhāntas into the wondrous worldly siddhānta corresponds to the wondrousness of explaining the name. All the names of the characteristics and natures of the nine Dharma realms and ten suchnesses become the characteristics and natures of the Buddha-Dharma realm and encompass every name. It is also like the poor son and the elder meeting through their natural kinship, establishing the father-son relationship and renaming him “son.” The elder says that he is truly the father and the poor son truly his son.

Second, resolving the different provisional ultimate-meaning siddhāntas into the wondrous ultimate-meaning siddhānta corresponds to the wondrousness of the scripture’s substance. This is opening the Buddha’s knowing-and-seeing, indicating the mark of reality, and guiding sentient beings to the place of treasure.

Third, resolving the different provisional individually adapted siddhāntas into the wondrous individually adapted siddhānta corresponds to the wondrousness of the purport. It is like the elder in the scripture equally giving each child one great cart, enabling the wholesome cause to accomplish the Buddha-fruit.

Fourth, resolving the different provisional counteractive siddhāntas into the wondrous counteractive siddhānta corresponds to the wondrousness of function. It is like using the precious jewel in one’s robe to exchange for what is needed, or like the father leaving good medicine and telling his children to take it without fearing that the illness will not be cured. The scripture further says to cast skillful means directly aside and teach only the unsurpassed path. Sentient beings produce doubts because of their previous attachments, so the Buddha severs and removes them until doubt is completely exhausted. Some whose afflictions are already exhausted hear this scripture and even their remaining sorrow and distress disappear.

Finally, distinguishing the similarities and differences among the different provisional four siddhāntas and then resolving them into the wondrous siddhāntas of the present scripture leaves no fixed similarity or difference to be seen. What had never been taught in the past can now be heard by the whole assembly. This wondrousness is neither an ordinary sameness nor an ordinary difference and directly corresponds to the wondrousness of the characteristics of the teaching. The scripture says that although various paths are shown, in reality they are all for the One Vehicle. Although the Buddha distinguishes different similarities and differences, his intent is precisely to reveal the undifferentiated Dharma unrestricted by similarity and difference.

Tenth: Penetrating the Present Scripture through the Four Siddhāntas

Someone asks: if the present scripture is now penetrated through the four siddhāntas, where in the scripture are the four siddhāntas explicitly taught? The answer is that this intent appears throughout the scripture and cannot all be quoted. For now, only one Trace and one Origin passage will be cited briefly.

The general meaning of the “Skillful Means” chapter is that the Buddha knows the various practices of sentient beings, what they think deep in their minds, their past habits of karma, desires, natures, powers of diligence, and whether their faculties are sharp or dull. Through various causes and conditions, similes, and words, the Buddha teaches through skillful means according to what suits them. These are precisely the words of the four siddhāntas.

Among them, “desire” is what one wishes for and belongs to the worldly siddhānta. “Nature” is the wisdom-nature in sentient beings from which goodness can arise and belongs to the individually adapted siddhānta. “Power of diligence” can break evil and belongs to the counteractive siddhānta. “Sharp and dull faculties” indicates that two kinds of people enter the real in different ways and belongs to the ultimate-meaning siddhānta.

The general meaning of “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata” chapter is that the Tathāgata clearly sees without error. Because sentient beings have various natures, desires, practices, and recollective thoughts and distinctions, the Buddha, to make them produce wholesome roots, teaches in various ways through many causes and conditions, similes, and words. The Buddha’s work is never suspended even briefly.

Among these, “various natures” is individually adapted, “various desires” is worldly, “various practices” is counteractive, and “various recollective thoughts and distinctions” means investigating principle and transforming distorted recollections so that ultimate meaning is seen. Both the Trace and Origin passages contain all four intents, and both say that the Buddha teaches for sentient beings. They are clear evidence that the four siddhāntas establish teaching and transformation.