起信論疏筆削記 2.24

2.24

Third, "the delimitation of teaching and doctrine" has two parts: first, a general identification and specific listing. Teaching is the expresser, and doctrine is the expressed. Showing the expressing teaching by means of the expressed doctrine allows one to know the delimitation reached by this teaching. As for the thoroughness or limitedness of the expressed dharmas: "thorough" refers to the final, sudden, and perfect teachings of the Mahāyāna, because the capacities they encompass are broad and the doctrines they express are profound; "limited" refers to the Hīnayāna and the initial teaching of the Mahāyāna, because the dharmas they express are shallow and the capacities they encompass are narrow. Furthermore, the profound necessarily encompasses the shallow, hence called "thorough"; the shallow does not reach the profound, hence called "limited." Moreover, a single sūtra can contain many teachings, hence called "thorough"; a single sūtra expresses only one teaching, hence called "limited." As for dividing teachings by their doctrine: because various masters mostly divided teachings according to chronological periods, there were points of inadequacy that invited disputes, the account of which is clarified elsewhere. Now, dividing by doctrine is free from error; here, doctrine is that which divides, and teaching is that which is divided. Knowing the depth of the teaching is due to whether the expressed doctrine is immediate or far-reaching.