法華文句記 2.3

2.3

Next, in [explaining] in terms of the teachings, first it treats the objective realm of phenomena, and next, from "taking provisionally" downward, it distinguishes the differences among the teachings in terms of the contemplation of the truths. In the objective realm of phenomena, "free from the five fears" refers to the king, robbers, water, fire, and bad sons. "Two are clothing" and so on correlates them with numbers in order from the beginning, except that in the text begging in succession is missing. The lower three teachings all take the initial phenomena as their objective realm, which the expositor must explain in detail. One should understand that the twelve dhūtas each constitute the eighty-eight proclivities, the thirty-seven limbs of awakening, and so forth. If the dhūtas are already like this, how much more so the remaining inferior practices! Having received the honor of joining the ranks of the path, hearing such supreme dharma, shall one not examine one's own mind and practice? "Similar continuity" means that [phenomena] arise and perish thought-moment by thought-moment, but due to delusion this is thought to be continuous; ordinary persons do not understand and mistakenly think it is permanent. The three feelings are all suffering; feeling that accords with one's wishes is in truth suffering. Movement is not autonomous; because there is movement, there is no self. For the shared teaching, the objective realm of phenomena points to what came before; it should also be apparent that the contemplation of the truths is distinguished solely according to the aspects of practice. For the distinct teaching, taking the dharmakāya as what is relied upon is because the mind aspires to the dharmakāya and cultivates the [other] two virtues. The "and so forth" at the end of the text is because it does not elaborate in detail on the horizontal and vertical aspects of each stage of dhūta practice, for the horizontal and vertical aspects, as well as the portals of self and other across the distinct stages, cannot be set forth at once. Since the perfect teaching states that the dwelling place is identical to the [other] two, we can verify that this is the three virtues intrinsically possessed, and the same holds for those obtained through cultivation. "One is all" and so forth does not depart from the three virtues: "one is all" is practice—clothing; "all is one" is wisdom—food; "neither one nor all" is the body—dwelling place. "And so forth" means that while the aspects of practice are not yet fully explained, they are provisionally correlated with the dhūtas.