觀音義疏 1.10

1.10

As for "baring the right shoulder," in foreign lands baring is considered respectful. Exposing the right shows convenience for carrying out service, expressing the disciple's deportment of serving the teacher and fulfilling duties; therefore, baring is used for reverence. In this land, baring is considered insolent; however, in antiquity Xu Jia bared his flesh to apologize to Zhang Yi, exposing both thighs, so in this land it is not uniformly insolent. In contemplative interpretation, covering and exposing represent the two truths of emptiness and conventionality; they also represent the provisional and the real. The real cannot be spoken, like covering the left represents having hidden benefit; the provisional is convenient for transformation, like exposing the right represents having manifest benefit.