佛祖統紀 3.147

3.147

Regarding the Lotus: The sunlight shines everywhere, equal on the high and the low. Whether bowing one's head, uttering a faint sound, in distraction, or with slight goodness, all attain the Buddha Path (the Qian states: 'Summarizing all instances of distraction, slight goodness, and the like, none are not opened to become causes of Buddhahood'). It does not cause anyone to attain extinction alone; all are brought to extinction through the extinction of the Tathāgata, fully as in the present sūtra (Miaoxuan, fascicle 1). Truly, because the wondrous Dharma is difficult to understand, using metaphors makes it easy to illuminate. Blossoming for the sake of the lotus illustrates employing the expedient for the sake of the real (the Qian states: 'Although expedient means are applied, their origin is for the sake of the real'). The text states: 'Although diverse paths are shown, / in truth they are for the Buddha vehicle' (the causal persons of the two teachings, the doctrinal path of the distinct teaching, and the five periods and eight teachings are therefore called "diverse"). The blossom opening and the lotus appearing illustrates opening the expedient and revealing the real. The text states: 'Opening the gate of expedient means, / revealing the mark of the real' (designating the real as expedient, and the expedient pointing to the real, is called opening the gate of expedient means; now designating the expedient as the real, seeing the real within the expedient, is called opening the gate of expedient means; "revealing" means pointing out, pointing out where they see the Path). The blossom falling and the lotus forming illustrates discarding the expedient and establishing the real. The text states: 'Honestly discarding expedient means, / I expound only the unsurpassed Path' ("discarding" is another term for casting aside; once opened, all are real, there is no expedient to speak of, which corresponds to discarding; when the expedient turns into the real, the entity that was discarded ceases; if it were retained to adapt to later capacities, it would again belong to applying [expedients], which is not the meaning here; the above are the texts on the three metaphors of the trace gate). Furthermore, the lotus illustrates the original, and the blossom illustrates the trace. Manifesting the trace from the original, the trace relies upon the original (the trace does not stand alone; the original is intended to be revealed). The text states: 'I have truly attained Buddhahood for a long time, such as this' (first explaining the original); 'merely to teach and transform sentient beings do I speak thus: "I left home young and attained sambodhi"' (properly explaining manifesting the trace). Furthermore, the blossom opening illustrates opening the trace, and the lotus appearing illustrates revealing the original. The text states: 'All the world / thinks that I have now newly attained the Path' (first stating delusion regarding the trace); 'I have truly attained Buddhahood nayutas of kalpas ago' (properly explaining opening the trace). Furthermore, the blossom falling illustrates discarding the trace, and the lotus forming illustrates establishing the original. The text states: 'The Dharma of all Buddha Tathāgatas is like this' (citing the same); 'to save sentient beings, all is real and not false' (properly explaining discarding the trace; once discarded, there is no trace, hence it says "all is real"; the real is simply the original, and the expedient is simply the trace; without the lotus flower, there is no way to illustrate the expedient and the real, the wondrous Dharma of original and trace; without this wondrous Dharma, there is no way to draw a metaphor from the lotus flower; the purport of the entire work does not go beyond the original and trace; the above are the texts on the three metaphors of the original gate). Furthermore, blossoming for the sake of the lotus, with blossom and fruit fully present, can illustrate the expedient being none other than the real (blossoming for the sake of the lotus, the blossom conceals the fruit; employing the expedient for the sake of the real, the real is within the expedient, and their essence is moreover not different). The blossom opening and the lotus appearing can illustrate the real being none other than the expedient (when the capacity matures, it must be opened; opening that which conceals: the longing for the proximate fruit is called concealing; banishing that proximate fruit is called opening; what is opened? that which conceals). The blossom falling, the lotus forming, and the formed lotus also falling can illustrate neither expedient nor real (the blossom falling illustrates neither expedient, and the lotus forming illustrates neither real; once opened, it is immediately discarded, so that at this time there are no disparate paths; because the doctrine, the practitioners, and the principle that are opened are of the same principle, therefore once the real is established, they jointly merge into the three virtues; thus we know that the three virtues do not correspond to expedient or real). Because of such various suitable meanings, the lotus flower is used to illustrate the wondrous Dharma (Miaoxuan, fascicle 1).