法華遊意 1.35

1.35

Sixth, desiring to preach the three kinds of wheels of Dharma, he therefore preached this sūtra. Speaking of the three kinds: first, the fundamental wheel of Dharma; second, the branch-and-leaf teaching; third, gathering the branches to return to the root. As for the fundamental wheel of Dharma: when the Buddha first attained the Way, at the assembly of the *Avataṃsaka*, he opened the Dharma gate of the single cause and single fruit purely for the sake of the bodhisattvas; this is called the fundamental teaching. But those of meager merit and dull faculties were incapable of hearing the single cause and single fruit; therefore, within the one Buddha vehicle, he made distinctions and preached three; this is called the branch-and-leaf teaching. For over forty years he preached the teaching of the triyāna to train and refine their minds; arriving at the Lotus Sūtra now, he was finally able to unite those three vehicles and return them to the single Way: this is the teaching that gathers the branches to return to the root.