妙法蓮華經玄義 3.24

3.24

As for the four sets of four truths: in the 'Chapter on the Parable', 'the cause of all sufferings has craving as its root' is the four truths of arising and ceasing. In the 'Chapter on the Parable of the Medicinal Herbs', 'thoroughly comprehending empty dharmas' is the four truths of non-arising. Furthermore, it speaks of the 'unsurpassed path', and the 'Chapter on Expedient Means' says 'only preaching the unsurpassed path', 'the Tathāgata's extinction', and so forth, which are the two kinds of four truths beyond the realms: the limitless and the unconstructed. The distinctions among the ten suchnesses are the conventional truth. That 'only buddha and buddha can exhaustively fathom the real mark of all dharmas' is the truth of the real. The 'Chapter on Comfortable Practices' says: 'Neither discriminating conditioned nor unconditioned, real nor unreal dharmas.' 'Existing' is the conventional truth; 'non-existing' is the truth of the real; 'neither discriminating' negates the two extremes and reveals the middle way. The 'Chapter on the Lifespan' says: 'Neither such nor different'—'not different' is not conventional, 'not such' is not real: this is the meaning of the three truths. The 'Chapter on Expedient Means' says: 'Furthermore, by different expedient means, assisting in revealing the supreme truth'—this is the single real truth. It also says: 'Only this one thing is real.' When it says 'preaching the dharma of non-discrimination', and 'the tranquil and extinct mark of all dharmas cannot be declared in words'—this is the meaning of the non-truth.