佛祖統紀 3.148

3.148

Regarding 'opening the expedient and revealing the real': it opens the preceding sudden and gradual, integrating them into neither sudden nor gradual (the Jijie states: 'Opening the suddenness of the Avataṃsaka and the gradualness of the three periods, the four periods and three teachings are all what is opened. It is unlike the Avataṃsaka, where [the hearers were] deaf and mute, hence it is not sudden; it is unlike the sequential stages of the three periods, hence it is not gradual. In the opening and revealing of the present sūtra, there is none who does not become a Buddha; therefore it is said to integrate them into neither sudden nor gradual'). Regarding 'expedient and real': the terms are shared by present and past, but the meaning and intention differ (in the preceding three teachings, the expedient and real are not identical, and the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna are segregated from each other; in the Lotus, the expedient and real are non-dual, the expedient is none other than the real, and outside the real there is no expedient; this meaning differs. In past sūtras, the expedient and real merely accorded with capacities and needs, adapting through the siddhāntas; in the present sūtra, employing the expedient for the sake of the real has its intention in the real, and opening the expedient and revealing the real has its intention in the expedient; this intention differs). That is to say, prior to the Lotus, expedient and real differed, and Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna were segregated from each other (in the Avataṃsaka, the Mahāyāna segregated the Hīnayāna; in the Deer Park, the Hīnayāna segregated the Mahāyāna; in the Vaipulya, sharing the same seat, Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna heard separately; in the Prajñā, harmonization occurred, but based on the persons they remained segregated; the meaning is seen in the Miaoxuan). For example, at the time of the Avataṃsaka, there was one expedient and one real (the expedient was the distinct teaching and the real was the perfect teaching, each not being identical; discussing the Avataṃsaka for now, the three gradual [periods] can be known). Why is this? The initial sudden division has one crude and one subtle: the one subtle is then no different from the Lotus; as for the one crude, it must await the Lotus to open, integrate, and discard it before it can first be called subtle (the one subtle having no difference is because, in terms of the teaching revealing the real, it is the same; the one crude becoming subtle is because, pointing out the former segregation, it is seen as fused and identical). Next, the Deer Park had only crude and no subtle (only the single Tripiṭaka teaching). The Vaipulya had three crudes and one subtle (the Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct teachings are crude, and the perfect teaching is subtle). The Prajñā had two crudes and one subtle (the shared and distinct teachings are two crudes, and the perfect teaching is subtle; the above are the meanings and intentions of the general past periods). Coming to the Lotus assembly, it universally opens, integrates, and discards the crudes of the preceding four flavors (opening the crudes of the preceding four flavors, integrating the crudes of the preceding four flavors, and discarding the crudes of the preceding four flavors; therefore it is prefixed with the single word 'universally,' saying 'opens, integrates, and discards'), causing them to become the subtlety of the One Vehicle (the crudes of difference regarding persons, principles, teachings, and practices of the two teachings, two vehicles, and three teachings' bodhisattvas of the preceding four periods all become wondrously subtle in the present Lotus. The Biexing ji states: 'Employing the expedient for the sake of the real, opening the expedient and revealing the real, integrating the expedient to return to the real, discarding the expedient and establishing the real—such expedient and real are permanently absent in all other divisions.' This is the meaning and intention of the present period).