法華經義記 2.59

2.59

次明眾經所明二智不同，第五眾經不同凡有五種：一者十二年前有相教所明二智，若照生老病死分段無常境者名為權智，若照剎那無常名為實智也。二者《大品經》所明二智，若照因緣假有即是權智也，照此假有即空是實智也。三者即是《維摩經》所明二智者，若知病識藥靜照物機，此則是實智；若使能應病與藥令得服行，此則是方便智。四者是《涅槃經》所明二智者，若照金剛已還生死無常苦空之法，此則是方便智也；若照涅槃常樂我淨真實之法，此即是實智也。五者就此《法華》所明二智，若照三三之境即方便，若照四一之境即實智也。是則十二年前有相二智，據親疏為論；《大品經》所明二智，橫照二諦以為二智；《涅槃》中二智，此據縱為論也；《維摩》明智，此據本末為二智，知病識藥是本，應病與藥是末；今《法華經》所明二智，此據始終為義，始則權智說三，終則實智說一也。

Next, the differences among the two knowledges explained in various sūtras are clarified. Fifth, the differences across various sūtras are fivefold in general: First, the two knowledges explained in the teaching of characteristics prior to the twelve years: if illuminating the objects of impermanence in fragmentary birth, old age, sickness, and death, it is called expedient knowledge; if illuminating moment-by-moment impermanence, it is called real knowledge. Second, the two knowledges explained in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā: if illuminating conditional provisional existence, it is expedient knowledge; illuminating that this provisional existence is itself emptiness is real knowledge. Third, the two knowledges explained in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: if knowing the illness and recognising the medicine, quietly illuminating beings' capacities, this is real knowledge; if able to dispense the medicine in response to the illness and cause them to take and practice it, this is expedient knowledge. Fourth, the two knowledges explained in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra: if illuminating the phenomena of birth-and-death, impermanence, suffering, and emptiness prior to the vajra[-mind], this is expedient knowledge; if illuminating the real phenomena of permanence, bliss, self, and purity of nirvāṇa, this is real knowledge. Fifth, as for the two knowledges explained in this Lotus Sūtra: if illuminating the objects of the three triplets, it is skilful means; if illuminating the objects of the four unities, it is real knowledge. Thus, the two knowledges of characteristics prior to the twelve years are discussed in terms of proximate and distant; the two knowledges explained in the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā take the horizontal illumination of the two truths as the two knowledges; the two knowledges in the Nirvāṇa are discussed in terms of vertical progression; the knowledges explained in the Vimalakīrti take root and branch as the two knowledges, where knowing the illness and recognising the medicine is the root, and dispensing the medicine in response to the illness is the branch; the two knowledges explained now in the Lotus Sūtra take beginning and end as their meaning, where in the beginning expedient knowledge expounds the three, and in the end real knowledge expounds the one.