妙法蓮華經玄義 5.36

5.36

Furthermore, we distinguish the stages of the perfect teaching through four propositions: either opening the initial and combining the subsequent, opening the subsequent and combining the initial, both opening the initial and the subsequent, or both combining the initial and the subsequent. For example, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra explains the deathless nectar of the thirty-three heavens, taken together by the general and his ministers. This illustrates the stages: opening the former into the thirty minds, combining the ten grounds into one, and equal enlightenment into one, illustrates the thirty-two ministers, representing the causal stages; marvelous enlightenment is the ruler, illustrating the fruition stage. Ruler and ministers partake of the nectar together; cause and fruition both realize the permanent and blissful. If one does not explain it through the stages of the perfect teaching, this text is difficult to understand. This is opening the initial and combining the subsequent to clarify the stages of the perfect teaching.