法華文句記 1.40

1.40

In the answer, a single passage contains two points: first, it generally clarifies the rationale for the four meanings; second, it clarifies the rationale for each of the four. Both points can be considered hitting the middle: the first is that there are only four, neither too many nor too few. Next, from “causes and conditions” onwards, it clarifies that each one is neither lost nor errant. Hence, although one is in the middle, it must still reach four; since the four subsume all meanings sufficiently, there is no need to exceed them. Even if one were to exceed them, they are subsumed within the four meanings; therefore both four and one are named “hitting the middle.” As with the ten subtleties and the like, each subtlety also possesses the four perspectives, and ten also enters four while still being called hitting the middle. Now only these four are required, hence it is termed the middle. Therefore the first point says that if extensive, it would be [immeasurable], and so on. If the first meaning were absent, one would not even be distinct from non-Buddhist views, to say nothing of the fact that the term “causes and conditions” applies generally to the whole of [the Buddha’s] teaching career, beginning from the hells and ending with the buddha realm, and in between covering the sudden and gradual, whether teachings or flavors. Therefore, one must know that the four siddhāntas of the present great matter are not other stimuli and responses: the opening and revealing of the four siddhāntas is the single path without exterior; the four siddhāntas of the remote past are not present in other sūtras; the four siddhāntas of contemplating the mind are all-encompassing within a single contemplation; and the four of person, principle, and so forth can be seen by analogy with the teaching. Because these four siddhāntas run through beginning to end, the three such as according to the teachings must also be comprehensively recounted, the meaning of which can be understood. If the second meaning were absent, one could not distinguish the one-sided from the lesser; therefore, using the four and eight [teachings] to select, open, and discard, in comparison with the previous collections and teachings, only now is it the real, and all expressive teachings no longer bear divergent designations; thus it must be clarified in order to manifest the wondrous scripture. Without the third meaning, who would know its transcendent eminence? The bodies and lands discussed throughout the period of the teaching, intermediate and present, were all provisional acts of the traces; pointing back to that [awakening under] Mahābhijñā-jñānābhibhū is like two nights ago. Having previously been ignorant of the esoteric teaching and bewildered by the trace body, only upon reaching this point are [such doubts] dispelled, yet those who stubbornly stick to old ways remain benighted. Without the fourth meaning, by what means would one discern the efficacy of the expressive teaching? What would serve as the basis of the practice long since accomplished? Therefore, line by line and phrase by phrase enters the mind to become contemplation. Hence it says: “Contemplation harmonizes with the sūtra and is not counting another’s treasure.” Only then does one know that the single work of Great Concentration and Insight is the fish trap and hare snare for the Lotus Samādhi. Only if one grasps this meaning will one accord with the sūtra’s purport; only by combining these four meanings can one briefly manifest the ultimate destination of the whole work. Hence it says, “If brief, the meaning is incomplete”; one should know that two or three are still too brief, so how could one suffice? Reaching four hits the middle and makes the meaning easy to understand; thus when every single line and phrase obtains these four meanings, it causes each phrase to be distinct from other teachings, and then the meaning of the Lotus is truly not difficult; hence it says “easy to understand.”