摩訶止觀 7.5

7.5

This term and meaning originally derive from the Lotus Sūtra. When the Lotus Sūtra brings up the five hundred as a metaphor, it is originally based on the treacherous path of birth and death; when the guide observes, understands, and matches them, one should explain the five hundred in three turns to accord with the sūtra: first, regarding the loci of birth and death; second, regarding afflictions; third, regarding wisdom. The explanations of the various masters, with their squares and circles, motions and rests, do not accord with the text, like holding a one-hole key to open a three-notch lock. The first school sets up the conjured city at four hundred according to the stages of the shared [teaching]; the Saṃgraha school isolates two types [of birth and death] in the wilderness based on birth and death; the Daśabhūmikā school sets up the conjured city within the realm according to the stages of the distinctive [teaching]; the next school is so straight and upright that, without waiting to open the provisional, it directly reveals the true on its own.