淨名經關中釋抄 1.2

1.2

Tiantai says: The principles of this sūtra are profound and far-reaching, and the import of its words is abstruse and mysterious. If one merely explains it by parsing the text sentence by sentence, one will likely do no more than indicate matters and count items. The ultimate purport of this single teaching remains inherently difficult to fathom. It is still necessary to briefly ponder its subtleties and bring to light its inconceivable purport. Now I shall venture to set forth the fivefold profound meaning before the main text: first, explaining the title; second, discerning the substance; third, clarifying the main purport; fourth, discerning the functional efficacy; fifth, categorizing the doctrinal characteristics.