法華文句記 3.193

3.193

Therefore, regarding the ten pairs below, each pair is fully endowed with the names of provisional and real, and all take being provisional while identical to the real as the Skillful Means Chapter; how much more so because the first three general explanations all crown the ten passages and eight gates! If not so, they would not be skillful means' phenomena and principle up to the siddhāntas; they would not be the names of the dharmic characteristics listed within skillful means; and furthermore they would not be the ten meanings of origin and traces of the present sūtra. The ten meanings are not dual; origin and traces appear different, but though origin and traces are different, they are an inconceivable unity; the ten meanings are distinct from one another, yet the true character is of a single suchness. For the sake of sentient beings, the progressive sequence of the listed explanations up to origin and traces is set forth; phenomena and principle up to the siddhāntas are different; grasping the meaning, one forgets the words, and words are liberation. If one perceives this meaning, one is constantly silent yet constantly speaks, words and actions never contradicting each other. Returning to this purport as the sphere of contemplation, one makes that sphere of contemplation brilliantly observable. That this is absent in all other commentaries is precisely due to this. When even such an explanation still risks having omissions, how much more so the single-sided, shallow, and solitary [views] of other masters! Even if they list many dharmic characteristics, it is difficult to distinguish great and small; although they classify the teachings, the Lotus Sūtra remains unmanifest. If one takes the Lotus Sūtra as having the same flavor as the others, where are the words that are absent from the three proclamations? However, among these eight, the first seven belong to the trace gate, and the eighth belongs to the origin gate. Although the origin has not yet been reached, the principle of provisional and real is all-pervasive; hence the text below says: "These are my skillful means, and so it is with all buddhas." Therefore, the name skillful means extends through both origin and traces. Since this is an abstruse explanation and differs from parsing the text, it is therefore unlike Guangzhai's division of the phrases. Furthermore, regarding the sequence and purpose of these eight gates: without listing the names, there would be no way to explain; without the progressive sequence, one would be confused about the order of presentation; the explanation directly demonstrates the characteristics of the ten passages; citing proofs is to guard against those who do not believe; concluding the return is to clarify the original intent of the chapter; differentiation is to make the explanation of the chapter have an ultimate destination; judging and explaining makes one know where the coarse and the wondrous lie; only in this way can the profound purport of the chapter be made manifest. Furthermore, discerning in advance origin and traces makes one recognize the provisional and real, self and other of the ground of origin, and only then is the vast trajectory of past and recent transformation revealed. In listing the names, each must be assigned the appellation of provisional and real, such as saying "the provisional and real of phenomena and principle" up to "the provisional and real of the siddhāntas," which means the provisionality of phenomena and the reality of principle, up to the three provisionals and one reality of the siddhāntas; furthermore, dividing them according to the three kinds of explanation of the chapter forms the skillful means of the present sūtra. Hence the Treatise says: "From this point onward, it demonstrates the characteristics of cause and fruit of this sūtra." Therefore, among the ten pairs, the first five proceed from cause to fruit, and the latter five are the superior functions of the fruit. Moreover, the text of the entire work can also divide cause and fruit according to origin and traces; hence we know that if in the cause there were not the first four, the meaning of cause would be shallow and narrow; if there were not the latter five, the function of the fruit would be coarse and near. Therein, teaching is the sacred transformation, provisionally named from the recipients; unlike worldly people who take teaching as cause and buddha-wisdom as fruit, it is also unlike others' three or four, etc. The rest is as in the concluding provisional and real below. As for the "and so forth" after the progressive sequence, one should describe the progressive sequence chapter by chapter, which can be seen upon close examination. Furthermore, since the text marks the active transformer, the meaning must match the object [of transformation]; hence among the latter five pairs, only a single one in "substance and function" matches the object, while the other four all take their names from matching the active. Moreover, this is also identical in meaning to the ten wonders. If not so, who would know that skillful means must be endowed with ten dharmas? Who would know that the meaning of the ten dharmas pervades the entire sūtra? Without the ten dharmas, the sūtra text would fail to express cause and fruit as well as active and passive; therefore, the ten pairs all exhaust the ultimate essentials, and only then are they the ten pairs of the present sūtra. If so, from beginning to end the entire sūtra is called skillful means, and pointing to the previous teachings as what is opened, only then can it be called the skillful means of this sūtra. Hence we know that in the preface, confirming faith and initiating are skillful means; the parables are merely analogical skillful means; the conditions of the past are merely past skillful means; the origin gate is merely primordial skillful means; the transmission is merely the skillful means of all buddhas and bodhisattvas transmitting the Dharma; because of these skillful means, it is called the real. If one grasps this meaning, it is like seeing a fruit in one's palm: the entire Lotus Sūtra is known within a square inch; the teachings of an entire lifetime are recognized in an instant; cause and fruit, self and other together form a single dharma, with no thought of seeking anything different in the ten directions and three periods of time. Observing this with the vehicle of the ten dharmas, the Lotus Samādhi has ground upon which to set foot, and the unexcelled buddha-fruit can be expected along the long path of cultivation. May all worthy ones who have eyes deign to contemplate this!