法華經義記 1.15

1.15

Now, the three meanings of cause clarified here all belong to the phrase 'revealing the One', not to the phrase 'opening the three'. The three meanings of fruition clarified here all belong to the phrase 'revealing the distant', not to the phrase 'opening the near'. 'Dharma' is named dharma not because it is a rule or model: 'dharma' names the intrinsic substance, clarifying that each of the dharmas designated as sublime has its substance. Yet the word 'dharma' is generic and pervasive, not specific to cause or fruition, clearly showing that cause is dharma and fruition is also dharma; hence we know that this dharma is the dharma of sublime cause and sublime fruition. Since this state takes cause and fruition as its substance, it borrows the lotus as a metaphor.