法華玄義釋籤 3.48

3.48

Ninth, "Opening and Revealing" has two parts: first, posing the heading; next, explaining it. The explanation has two parts: first, the proper opening; next, the critical examination. In the first part, the proper opening has two parts: first, clarifying the intention behind applying and opening; next, directly discussing the opening based on the preceding four periods in order to converge them into the Lotus Sūtra. The first text also has three parts: first, generally clarifying that all phenomena are originally real; next, from "great compassion" downward, applying the provisional; third, from "now opening" downward, revealing the real. Regarding the first text: since phenomena are originally subtle and coarseness arises only from the sentiments of living beings, one knows that merely by opening their sentiments, principle naturally returns to its origin. In applying the provisional there are two parts: first, the proper application; next, from "The Immeasurable Meanings" downward, citing proof; third, from "now opening" downward, the proper opening. In the opening there are also two parts: first, generally opening based on phenomena to clarify the original intention of applying the transformation; next, from "eliminating and extinguishing" downward, drawing upon the two vehicles' difficulty in opening to clarify the characteristics of opening—since coarseness is itself subtlety, the conjured city is itself the treasure site. Next, from "if milk" downward, directly clarifying the opening based on the four periods also has two parts: first, the proper opening; next, from "Correct and Equal" downward, clarifying the scope of opening. Although the four siddhāntas of the Separate Teaching within the milk and the two clarified-butter [periods] have the ultimate truth, they are all framed according to the teaching path; hence it says: "only resolving the four provisional of [milk], the twelve provisional of raw clarified butter, and the eight provisional of cooked clarified butter—all can enter subtlety." In resolving the provisional within raw and cooked clarified butter, the citation of proof only says: "the twelve hundred arhats and completely resolving the voice-hearer Dharma"—this is because the preceding proof for the milk teaching had already cited bodhisattvas, and the meaning of bodhisattvas being identical, it is not cited again to avoid redundant text. Since it says that bodhisattvas also remove the net of doubts, it is verified that bodhisattvas must also converge the three [vehicles]. From "Correct and Equal and Wisdom" to "is present here": within the scope of opening, the Avataṃsaka should also be mentioned, but its absence in the text is an abbreviation. This verifies that the perfect teaching of those three collections is no different from the perfection of the Lotus Sūtra; to classify suddenness as uniquely residing in the Avataṃsaka is surely a falsely spawned extraneous growth! Furthermore, phenomena are originally subtle, separated only within the sentiments of living beings; if, when the Lotus Sūtra has already opened [them], one instead demotes it to gradual, turns the subtlety of the real realm of the ten suchnesses back into coarseness, debases the knowledge and vision of the Buddha into belonging to bodhisattvas, renders the noble explanation of the ten similes of the Medicine King praising the teaching entirely hollow, reduces the evaluations across the three periods in the "Teacher of the Dharma" chapter to sheer unreality, and treats the assembly of emanated Buddhas and the treasure stūpa springing up into the empty sky as vainly troubling their coming attendance—all to prove this gradual teaching—the marks of identity and difference cannot be fully discussed! Our lineage's doctrinal approach is entirely sufficient to be investigated and scrutinized; how could one uniquely and eccentrically dismiss this subtle sūtra?