法華遊意 1.75

1.75

The Path has never been one-sided or middle; it is only to counter the former illness of one-sidedness that the middle is preached. Why is this so? In the past the Tathāgata preached the five vehicles in order to reveal that there are not five; since there are no five, there is also no non-five, and being inherently quiescent without reliance is called the Middle Way. The Middle Way is precisely the Wonderful Dharma. But when disciples receiving the teaching heard the past preaching of the five vehicles, they then formed divergent understandings of the five vehicles and thus fell into various extremes. Those who received the human and heavenly vehicle fell into the extreme of saṃsāra; those who sought the vehicle of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas fell into the extreme of nirvāṇa; those who studied the teaching of the Tripiṭaka fell into the small extreme; those who studied the Mahāyāna fell into the great extreme; and even, having received the differences of the five vehicles in the past, they fell into the extreme of difference; now hearing the ekayāna and forming an understanding of the ekayāna, they fall into the extreme of oneness. Now, shattering these various extremes so that the mind has no attachment is precisely the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra; therefore it is called the Middle Way.