The Great White-Ox Cart

Commentary on the Words of the Sūtra of the Lotus Blossom of the Wondrous Dharma, Fascicle Five, Upper Part

Expounded by the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai

From "when I first sat at the place of enlightenment" onward, twenty-seven-and-a-half lines versify the bestowing of the transforming teaching by skillful means. This falls into two: first, six-and-a-half lines make clear that he reflected on using the Great Vehicle but could not obtain success with it; next, from "reflecting" onward, twenty-one lines make clear that he reflected on transforming beings in common with the other buddhas by means of the three vehicles, and thereby found fitness and could obtain success. Within the first — reflecting on the use of the great transformation — this again falls into three: first, one-and-a-half lines make clear the fitness he sought in using the Great Vehicle; next, from "sentient beings" onward, second, three lines make clear that sentient beings lacked the capacity for it; and next, from "I then" onward, third, two lines make clear his reflection that brought the great transformation to rest.

As for "first sat at the place of enlightenment": the ultimate principle knows no time, but he borrowed time in order to transform beings, and, this being the beginning of that transformation, it is called "first." According to the explanation by events: he first cultivated and attained the path in this very place, and hence it is called "the place of enlightenment"; sitting beneath this tree he attained the three kinds of awakening, and hence it is called "the tree of enlightenment"; being moved by his debt of gratitude to the tree he contemplated it, and, mindful of the virtue of the ground, he walked back and forth upon it — and at the moment his path reached its consummation, its fruits ripe and its blessings spread abroad, he wished to bring the Great Dharma to fitness for sentient beings.

According to the explanation by the contemplation of mind: the tree is precisely the great tree of the twelve links of dependent origination; contemplating deeply the arising of conditions, he himself accomplished bodhi, and, wishing to shelter and benefit sentient beings with the forest of the undefiled dharma, this is called "contemplating the tree." As for "walking back and forth": the thirty-seven factors of the Great Vehicle are the dharmas of practicing the path — treading every ground by means of these factors of the path, he himself accomplished the buddha-path, and, wishing to transform and liberate sentient beings by means of this dharma, he therefore rose and walked. Tree and ground make no distinction between themselves — how, then, could gratitude need to be repaid?

The Sūtra of Unprecedented Wonders says: "It is only by means of universally transforming beings and transmitting the Dharma that this is called repaying gratitude." The Sūtra of Past Causes and Effects says: "In the first week after the Buddha accomplished the path, he reflected that his Dharma was subtle and profound, with none able to receive it; in the second week he reflected upon the superior, middling, and inferior faculties of sentient beings; and in the third week he reflected upon who ought to hear the Dharma first. He then went to Vārāṇasī and taught the four truths to the five men. Kauṇḍinya attained the pure dharma-eye, while Aśvajit, Bhadrika, Daśabala-Kāśyapa, and Mahānāma-Kulika had not yet attained the path; the Buddha taught the four truths once more, and the four men attained the pure dharma-eye. The Buddha then further taught that the five aggregates are impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self, and the five men attained arhatship. The Buddha is the jewel of the Buddha, the four truths are the jewel of the Dharma, and the five men together with the Buddha, being six arhats, are precisely the jewel of the Saṅgha."

The Xiaoyun commentary says: "Already, in the course of these first three weeks, the Lotus was being taught. The text below tells how the Buddha King of the Constellation-Flower Wisdom, beneath the seven-jeweled tree of enlightenment, taught the Lotus Sūtra — one should understand from this that the present Buddha, too, beneath the tree of enlightenment, was likewise teaching the Lotus, but that beings of dull faculties could not bear it, and so, in keeping with the other buddhas, he opened the transforming teaching of the three, only afterward, in the royal city, teaching the one vehicle." If one traces out the Great Master's own intent, however, it is rather that he first, beneath the tree of enlightenment, taught the buddha's wisdom, and only afterward, elsewhere, taught the buddha's wisdom again — just as the present Buddha first taught the Avataṃsaka and only afterward taught the Lotus. Hence the text says: "From the moment they first saw my body and heard what I taught, they all entered into the wisdom of the Tathāgata" — excepting only those who had formerly cultivated and studied the Lesser Vehicle, who are now likewise caused to enter the wisdom of the Tathāgata; the meaning is the same as this.

As for the five bhikṣus: certain women were listening to a seer teach the Dharma, and King Evil-Born, in his fury, cut off the seer's two arms, ears, and nose, whereupon the blood was transformed into milk. King Evil-Born is none other than Kauṇḍinya in a former life, and the seer is none other than the Buddha in a former life; the Buddha vowed to cause him to attain the nectar of immortality, and this brought about his first hearing the sound of the Dharma.

Question: Why did he first turn the wheel of the Dharma for the five men?

Answer: Because it is human beings who first behold the truths; because human beings are directly present to be seen; because human beings serve as witnesses; because the undertakings the Buddha carries out are the same as those of human beings; because the gods obtain their good benefit by way of human beings; and because it is among human beings that the fourfold assembly exists.

When a wheel-turning king comes into the world, the sound of it reaches as far as the Paranirmita-vaśavartin heaven; when Kauṇḍinya attained the path, the sound of it reached as far as the Brahmā heaven; and when the Buddha attained the path, the sound of it reached as far as the Śuddhāvāsa heavens — why is this so?

Answer: This is because wholesome karma, karma that brings renown, and karma that draws praise from parents and teachers each come in superior, middling, and inferior grades. If there were an ear-consciousness present even at the summit of existence, the sound of the Buddha would reach there too. The wheel-turning king practices the ten wholesome deeds, and wholesome deeds give rise to birth in the heavens of desire, the gods of desire rejoicing that their following has thereby increased; Kauṇḍinya, having left desire behind, reached through to the Brahmā heaven; and the Buddha, being most supreme of all, reached as far as Akaniṣṭha, and so on. According to the Great Vehicle, the sound of the Buddha's attainment of the path reaches pervasively to a hundred koṭis of Akaniṣṭha heavens, and further pervades the Akaniṣṭha heavens of the immeasurable, boundless worlds of the ten directions, and so on.

The place of the first turning of the Dharma wheel, the place of the tree of enlightenment, the place of the first descent to Trāyastriṃśa, and the place of the great supernatural transformation — these four places are fixed alike for every buddha, while all other places are not fixed. And, setting aside the one place of the turning of the Dharma wheel, the other three places are determined.

As for "the three [periods of] seven days": the old interpretation says this refers to "reflecting upon principle, upon the teaching," and so forth, or again to "urging and admonishing," and so forth. Master Yao says: "A matter of the utmost profundity is one which even the utmost sage must reflect upon before acting. In the first week he reflected upon the Buddha's wisdom, subtle and wondrous; in the second week he reflected upon the differing faculties and natures of sentient beings; and in the third week he reflected upon the ten thousand kinds of dharma-medicine" — and he cites a verse in proof of this: "The wisdom I have attained is subtle and supreme; the faculties of sentient beings are all dull — how, then, may they be brought across?"

The present explanation makes clear that the Buddha, dwelling in the ground of the dharma-body, is ever still and yet ever illuminating, constantly surveying all things without omission by means of the buddha-eye — how, then, could it be that only upon first arriving at the place of enlightenment did he linger for three weeks before reflecting upon this matter? The mention of "three sevens" makes clear that something is being represented thereby: it represents the Buddha's original intention to teach in three rounds, and hence the expression "three sevens" is only a provisional manner of speaking.

In the first seven days he reflected on the direct-teaching exposition; in the next seven days he reflected on the parable teaching; and in the last seven days he reflected on the causal-condition teaching — in each case finding no capacity to receive it and being unable to teach it, and hence the Great Vehicle was set to rest and the Lesser bestowed instead; this, however, is an explanation made specifically in terms of the perfect teaching of the Great Vehicle. If one explains it in the general manner, with reference to the Great Vehicle as a whole, then in the first seven days he reflected on his wish to teach the perfect teaching of the Great Vehicle, in the next seven days he reflected on his wish to teach the distinct teaching, and in the last seven days he reflected on his wish to teach the shared teaching of the Great Vehicle — in each case finding no capacity to receive it and being unable to teach it, and hence the Great Vehicle was set to rest and the three vehicles of the Tripiṭaka teaching were taught instead, as a transformation by skillful means.

According to the explanation by the contemplation of mind: at first he wished to contemplate the middle way, but the middle way is subtle and difficult to contemplate, and he could not do so; next he wished to contemplate the provisional as such, but the discerning wisdom of the contemplation of the provisional as such is difficult to bring forth, and he could not do so; and last he wished to contemplate the empty as such, but the skillful crossing-over of the contemplation of the empty as such likewise could not be attained — and only then did he contemplate the lesser contemplation that analyzes dharmas by skillful means.

From "the faculties of sentient beings are all dull" onward is, second, three lines making clear the absence of capacity. This again falls into three: first, half a line makes clear the heaviness of their obstruction; next, from "such as this" onward, second, half a line makes clear their inability to bear hearing it; and next, from "at that time the Brahmā kings" onward, third, two lines make clear that, though the various Brahmā kings requested that he teach, the great Buddha, knowing there was no capacity for it, therefore did not teach.

From "I then reflected within myself" onward is, second, two lines making clear his reflection and his wish to set the transformation to rest; this again falls into two: first, one-and-a-half lines make clear that, were he to force himself to teach in the absence of capacity, hearing it would only cause harm; and second, half a line directly makes clear the setting of the transformation to rest.

From "reflecting upon the past buddhas" onward is, second, eleven lines versifying the earlier statement, "within the one buddha-vehicle, by skillful means, he taught it as three." This falls into two: first, ten lines directly make clear the transformation attained; and second, one line resolves a doubt. Within the former ten lines there are four parts: first, one line makes clear the seeking of fitness by means of the three vehicles; next, from "making this reflection" onward, second, six-and-a-half lines make clear that capacity was present; next, from "reflecting on this" onward, third, one-and-a-half lines make clear the bestowal of the transformation; and next, from "this is called" onward, fourth, one line makes clear the accepting and practicing of it.

As for "reflecting upon": though he reflected that they lacked the capacity for the Great Vehicle, he could not bear to abandon them forever, and needed to entice and deliver them by skillful means; it is not that he was wholly unaware of the opening of the three, but that, wishing to draw them into accord with the other buddhas, this is called "reflecting upon."

From "making this reflection" onward is, second, six-and-a-half lines making clear that a lesser capacity was present. This again falls into two: first, four-and-a-half lines make clear the praise of the other buddhas; and second, two lines make clear Śākyamuni's response in accord with them. Above, when he wished to transform beings by the Great Vehicle, they had no capacity for it, and hence the other buddhas offered no praise; but now, wishing to teach the Lesser in a way that bends to meet their roots and conditions, they will in the end and from the beginning be delivered, and this is why the buddhas praise him.

Within the first, the praise of the buddhas, there are five parts: first, three phrases in which Śākyamuni himself relates the appearing of the other buddhas. As for "the buddhas appeared": they appeared by the power of his skillful reflecting upon the buddhas, and this appearing came about for two reasons — seeking fitness for the Dharma, and bringing it into accord with capacity. From "excellent" onward, second, one line and one phrase make clear the other buddhas' direct praise of Śākyamuni, who is able to conceal the real and set forth the provisional, and hence they say "excellent." Bestowing the one as three in order to draw beings into the buddha's wisdom is precisely what is meant by "the foremost guide."

"Having attained this unsurpassed Dharma" means precisely having attained the real wisdom, subtle and supreme. "And yet employing the power of skillful means" means that, in accordance with each and every buddha, he conceals the real and makes use of the provisional. From "we too have all attained" onward, third, one line makes clear that the other buddhas likewise conceal the real and make use of the provisional, as the text states.

From "those of little wisdom, delighting in the lesser dharmas" onward, fourth, one line explains both meanings at once: it is because sentient beings of little wisdom cannot bear to hear the Great that the real is concealed, and because they delight in the lesser that the provisional is bestowed. From "though he has also taught the three" onward, fifth, half a line concludes both meanings at once: though he taught the three, this was in the end for the sake of revealing the real.

From "Śāriputra, you should know" onward is, second, two lines making clear Śākyamuni's response in accord with them. Having heard the other buddhas' praise, he responds by saying "Namo" — "Namo" here meaning "reverently to submit"; this again falls into two: first, one line in which he utters the words of his response in accord; and second, one line in which he reflects on according with the capacity of beings.

From "reflecting on this matter" onward is, third, one-and-a-half lines directly making clear the bestowal of the teaching. From "the mark of the quiescent extinction of all dharmas cannot be proclaimed in words" onward is precisely the principle, spoken of earlier, of the buddha-seed of the middle way that is without fixed nature: this principle, being beyond number and beyond speech, is now, by skillful means, made into a teaching of three vehicles; being also neither arisen nor extinguished, it is by skillful means made into a teaching of arising and extinction; and the principle of the one-sided real likewise admits of no direct showing, and so, by skillful means, it is made into a teaching of the four approaches. His first teaching of impermanence, for the five men, is the approach of being.

From "this is called turning the wheel of the Dharma" onward is, fourth, one line making clear the accepting, practicing, and awakened entering into it. Turning the dharma of transforming others that is within the Buddha's own mind, and causing it to enter and cross over into the minds of others, is called "turning the wheel of the Dharma." When Kauṇḍinya first beheld the truths, he thereby cut off the afflictions of views and partially realized the truth of cessation, which is likewise a partial attainment of nirvāṇa-with-remainder — the very sound of the word "nirvāṇa" arises from this moment — and by this he came to accomplish the state beyond further training, and thus there came to be the name "arhat." One who is able to teach the dharma of the three vehicles is called "buddha"; the three vehicles that are taught are precisely "dharma"; and those who beheld the truths and became arhats and the like are called "saṅgha" — and it is at this point that the three jewels first appeared in the world.

From "since far distant kalpas" onward, second, one line resolves a doubt. Some, doubting the teacher, say: "If the Buddha, at first, was unable to discern their capacity, was it only by reflecting upon the other buddhas that he first came to know their natures?" To this it is explained: "It is not that I did not know how to make use of skillful means; it is only that, wishing especially to draw them into accord, I therefore reflected on the other buddhas — it is not that I only then, for the first time, came to know it. From far distant kalpas I have seen their delight in the lesser, and have already, for their sake, praised and shown it in order to bring their manifold sufferings to an end, and this is why, upon hearing the lesser, they at once attain liberation."

Some, doubting the disciples, say: "How is it that sentient beings, having heard the teaching for but a single lifetime, at once realize arhatship?" To this it is explained: "From far distant kalpas he has, for their sake, praised and shown it, and it is because this accords with their original habituation that they swiftly attain the path."

The old interpretation says: "This verse points ahead, at a distance, to the meaning of the Buddha's lifespan; the present explanation, in speaking of the hidden, secret intent, may perhaps be taken this way, in place of the plain, evident intent." This, however, is not so. Why? When the meaning of the lifespan is about to be made clear, even Maitreya himself does not yet know it — how, then, could a single verse here point ahead to it at a distance?

The present explanation resolves the doubt and parses the text accordingly. From "I saw the buddha's disciples" onward is, third, six lines versifying the earlier revealing of the real, the text containing the fourfold oneness in full: first, from "I saw the buddha's disciples" onward, two lines versify the oneness of persons, in that practitioners of all three vehicles are alike the Buddha's disciples — the text above already carries this meaning within it as well;

from "I then made this reflection" onward, second, one line versifies the oneness of principle, in that the teaching of the buddha's wisdom is precisely the knowledge and vision of the buddha, the wisdom of all modes, spoken of above; from "Śāriputra, you should know" onward, third, two lines versify the oneness of the teaching, in that "he taught only the unsurpassed path" is precisely the oneness of the teaching; and from "the bodhisattvas, having heard this Dharma" onward, fourth, one line versifies the oneness of practice, in that "they too shall all become buddhas" is precisely the oneness of practice.

This passage may further be taken to carry four points of meaning: first, two lines make clear the stirring of the capacity for the Great Vehicle, also called "seeking the fruit"; next, two lines and one phrase make clear the Buddha's joy, since sentient beings had obtained the benefit of the Great Vehicle; next, three phrases directly make clear the revealing of the real; and next, one line makes clear the accepting, practicing, and awakened entering into it.

It is made clear that the fruit is sought because the capacity has been stirred, and that the seeking of the fruit arises from the stirring of the capacity — and here there ought to be four possible combinations. There are cases in which the obstruction is removed but the capacity not yet stirred, as with the various arhats at the time of the Tripiṭaka teaching: on account of their delight in the lesser, the turbid obstruction, though removed, left the wondrous capacity for the Great Vehicle not yet stirred. There are cases in which the great capacity is stirred but the obstruction not yet removed, as with the various ordinary persons within the Lotus assembly, who, though not yet having cut off the fetters, have their capacity stirred on account of the sharpness of their great root. There are cases in which the obstruction is removed and the capacity stirred at once and together, as when, at the teaching of the Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings, they realized the fruits of the two vehicles, and in that very assembly the great capacity was stirred at once. And there are cases in which the obstruction is not yet removed and the great capacity not yet stirred, as with the five thousand and the like.

"Those whose aspiration seeks the buddha-path" means precisely the seeking of the Great, not the seeking of the lesser fruit. This seeking carries three points of meaning: first, the great capacity carries within it the meaning of sensing after the fruit — this is the seeking spoken of within the capacity itself; second, there is the secret seeking within the feelings, whether or not it will be attained — this is that same meaning; and third, there is the seeking voiced aloud, which is precisely the earnest, threefold request. Within the earlier teaching, the first two kinds of seeking were already present, but had not yet been voiced aloud; only on this present day are all three kinds of seeking complete.

Question: In the earlier parable of leaving the burning house and seeking the three, if this refers to the seeking that lies within the capacity and within the feelings, then the text there says "as I formerly promised" — but this is a seeking of the three; how does it bear upon the seeking of the one?

Answer: Once outside, they no longer see the burning house, and there must needs be a different path beyond — and so the former promise of the three is taken up in order to seek this different meaning; it may equally be understood, then, as a seeking of the one.

As for "all, with reverent minds, came to where I was": one interpretation says, "ashamed of the lesser and longing for the Great, the great capacity was moved and drawn toward the Buddha, and hence it says they came to where the Buddha was." The present explanation makes clear that it was not only their capacity that came to where the Buddha was, but their very bodies as well, just as, within the Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings, the fourfold assembly encircled him, palms joined and minds reverent, wishing to hear the complete and perfect path.

As for "they had once, from the buddhas, heard the dharmas taught by skillful means": this refers to their first taste of taming and subduing, in which they accepted and practiced the Tripiṭaka teaching, the six perfections, and the skillful means of the shared and distinct teachings and the rest of the three teachings — and it was by this process of being tamed and ripened that their obstruction came to be removed and their capacity came to be stirred, so that they sought the Great.

From "I then made this reflection" onward, two lines and one phrase make clear that, the obstruction being removed, the Buddha rejoiced. The Buddha comes forth into the world for the sake of the buddha's wisdom; formerly, when the obstruction was heavy and there was no capacity for it, he could not immediately teach the buddha's wisdom; in the intervening time, though the obstruction was removed, it was still not yet the time to teach it; but now that the capacity has been stirred, this is precisely the time to teach it. Formerly, sentient beings' faculties were dull and their wisdom slight, and, fearing that they would slander the Dharma and fall into evil destinies, it was therefore not yet the time to teach it; but now their faculties are sharp and their aspiration great, and, hearing it, they will surely believe and understand, and hence the Buddha rejoices.

As for "without fear": he no longer fears that they will cling to the lesser, slander the Great, give rise to transgression, and fall into evil destinies, and hence it says "without fear." From "among the bodhisattvas" onward, three phrases directly make clear the revealing of the real. The five vehicles are bent and roundabout rather than direct, and the shared and distinct teachings are one-sided and oblique rather than upright; now he sets aside all that is one-sided and bent, and teaches only the single, upright, and direct path.

From "the bodhisattvas, having heard this Dharma" onward, one line makes clear the accepting, practicing, and awakened entering into it — the six perfections being shared by both kinds of bodhisattva. Upon first hearing the brief teaching, their former attachments were stirred and new doubts arose, but these are now entirely removed — and this is true not of the bodhisattvas alone, but of the two vehicles as well. And as for the statement that "the śrāvakas shall all become buddhas": the earlier teaching did not say that the two vehicles would become buddhas, but now they are granted the prediction of it — and how could the granting of prediction belong to the two vehicles alone?

And how could the removal of doubt belong to the bodhisattvas alone? Taking each to imply the other, both are thereby provided for.

Question: What doubt did the bodhisattvas have?

Answer: The Tripiṭaka teaching says that, throughout the three incalculable kalpas, the bodhisattva has not yet cut off the afflictions, and that, once cut off, he immediately enters the truth; the shared teaching says that the bodhisattva cuts off the correct affliction while retaining its residual habituation, and that, once the habituation is exhausted, he becomes a buddha. Upon first hearing the brief teaching that all of this is called "skillful means," where, then, do the truth and the accomplishment formerly spoken of actually stand? And further, if the three vehicles study one and the same path together, for what reason should there be any difference among them? Now, hearing the Lotus, all such doubts are swept away, with not the slightest fragment left remaining.

From "just as the buddhas of the three times" onward is, fourth, five-and-a-half lines versifying the earlier praise of the rarity of the Dharma, and are not directly meant to form the basis of the later parable of the absence of falsehood. This falls into two: first, one line versifies the earlier phrase "such a wondrous Dharma" — the wondrous Dharma being precisely the provisional and the real.

As for "like the buddhas of the three times": this draws upon the other buddhas' shared use of the provisional, the provisional being the mode by which beings are drawn along. "Teaching the dharma without differentiation" draws upon the other buddhas' shared revealing of the real, since, where the real is concerned, the path of words is cut off — how, then, could any mode remain? And further, the provisional and the real are, at root, without differentiation; it is only for the sake of those of dull faculties and slight wisdom that the provisional and the real are differentiated — but now, awakening and entering into the non-duality of the one and the three, one thereby knows that the Buddha's teaching of the three and the one is likewise without differentiation. Every buddha is thus alike — why should it be I alone?

From "when buddhas arise in the world" onward, four-and-a-half lines versify the earlier statement that it is only at the right time that this is taught. Above, the parable of the udumbara flower was likewise cited, and within the verse, too, the two lines "when buddhas arise in the world" are again spoken — that, only after long ages of remote distance, does a buddha ever arise, this being the citing of the difficulty of encountering the person; and the two lines "even when he does appear in the world," this being the citing of the difficulty of encountering the Dharma, just as the present Buddha, forty-some years after arising in the world, only now reveals the truth, and so on.

The two lines "through immeasurable, countless kalpas" cite the difficulty of hearing the Dharma, just as with those such as the five thousand, for whom the Brahmā-voice filled their ears and yet they rose from their seats and departed — is the hearing of it not difficult indeed? The two lines "those able to listen to this Dharma" cite the difficulty of those who believe and accept it, since, among the whole assembly, only Śāriputra alone had penetrated it beforehand, while those of middling and lesser capacity, though they listened, were still unable to comprehend it. The parable of the udumbara flower illustrates the four difficulties spoken of above, but is directly matched only to the difficulty of the hearer; the rest may be understood by analogy.

From "you should have no doubt" onward is, fifth, two-and-a-half lines versifying the earlier statement of the absence of falsehood; this again falls into two: first, one-and-a-half lines urging that no doubt be raised toward a person worthy of trust; and second, from "you, Śāriputra" onward, one line urging that no doubt be raised toward a dharma worthy of trust.

As for "the king of the Dharma": when it comes to being the king over men, his word admits of no double meaning — how, then, could the Buddha, being the king of the Dharma, ever allow of false speech? And if skillful means may be the provisional and the borrowed, how could the truth and the real ever be false? On hearing the king of the Dharma teach the Dharma, one should raise no doubt.

The old interpretation takes the seven lines from "you, Śāriputra" onward as not versifying the pressing home of faith at all, but only as expressing the intent, within Śākyamuni's own section, of urging faith and the wide propagation of the sūtra. This text is taken as two parts: first, five-and-a-half lines cause the propagation of the sūtra, that they may thereby carry out its causes; and second, one-and-a-half lines briefly grant a prediction. The first line causes them to long for the fruit and carry out its causes, which must be done through the wide propagation of the sūtra — kept for over forty years within the Buddha's own mind, unknown to any other, it is called "secret"; and the direct path of the one vehicle, wholly gathering in the ten thousand paths, is therefore called "essential." From "in the evil world of the five turbidities" onward, one line explains the secret and essential, making clear that persons whose obstruction is heavy can never understand it, and hence the Tathāgata keeps it secret and does not proclaim it heedlessly. From "in ages to come" onward, two lines make clear the substance of the sūtra's wide propagation: the first line makes clear that it should not be taught to unwholesome persons, and what follows makes clear that it should be taught to wholesome persons.

From "Śāriputra" onward, one-and-a-half lines conclude both meanings together: the first line concludes the secret and essential, making clear that this Dharma is such that it is first taught by ten thousand koṭis of skillful means, and only afterward is the real shown forth; and the latter half-line concludes the substance of the sūtra's wide propagation, in that those without prior study and learning are unable to comprehend it — this directly concludes the point that it should not be taught to the unwholesome, while, taken together with those of prior study and learning, who are able to comprehend it, this shows that it may indeed be taught to them.

From "now that you already know" onward, one-and-a-half lines briefly grant a prediction: the first three phrases, above, discuss their having attained understanding; the middle phrase makes clear that they are without confusion; and the latter half-verse makes clear their receiving the prediction — having attained understanding and being without confusion, it is only fitting that they should rejoice at becoming buddhas. The granting of prediction here opens up, and forms the basis for, Śāriputra and the others' receiving prediction below; and the propagation of the sūtra here opens up, and forms the basis for, the later charge to Śāriputra to disseminate it. This is the sense of the old interpretation.

The present explanation takes "from the five turbidities" onward, sixth, as six lines versifying the earlier discriminating of the assembly and pressing home of faith — for is it not the case that, this text being fortunately already at hand, close by, it should nonetheless not go unversified? This again falls into two: first, three lines versify the discriminating of the assembly; and second, three lines versify the pressing home of faith. The one line on "the five turbidities" versifies the earlier discriminating out of those who are not the Buddha's disciples. Why? Because delighting in the various desires is to carry out Māra's own karma, and this must therefore be discriminated out. The text above discriminated out those attached to nirvāṇa, who are likewise not the Buddha's disciples; and this text discriminates out those attached to birth-and-death — how, then, could they be the Buddha's disciples? Each discriminates out something that is not a true disciple, in mutual complement.

"They will never seek the buddha-path" versifies the earlier discriminating out of those of overweening pride. As for the overweeningly proud: not yet having attained the superior Dharma, they claim to have attained the superior Dharma, and this is why such persons do not seek the buddha-path. The one line on "evil persons in ages to come" versifies the earlier statement that, after the Tathāgata's extinction, persons able to understand the meaning will be hard to find. The one line on "those possessed of shame and purity" versifies the earlier statement that, should they encounter another buddha, they will then attain certain understanding.

The following three lines versify the earlier statement that, should one fail to believe this Dharma, there could be no such thing. The first one-and-a-half lines press home faith in the provisional; and the second one-and-a-half lines press home faith in the real. Being without doubt as to either the real or the provisional, one thereby knows of oneself that one shall become a buddha, and so on.

Explaining the Parable Chapter. First, the general explanation: "parable" means comparison and analogy, and "illustration" means instruction and clarification — relying on this to compare with that, borrowing the shallow to instruct in the deep. Earlier, the prose and its verses concerning the five buddhas in general were fully set forth; those of superior faculties and sharp wisdom attained awakening on hearing it in its fullness, but those of the middling and lesser sort remained caught in confusion, not yet released from it — and so, his great compassion never resting, his skillful wisdom without bound, he moved the tree to teach of the wind and raised the fan to illustrate the moon, causing them thereby to awaken and understand, and hence it is called "parable and illustration."

As for the specific explanation: worldly dharmas are compared with world-transcending dharmas, so that, by way of what they have already experienced, they hear of what they have never before experienced, and leap up in joyful delight — as in the sūtra's comparing a worldly father and son with the world-transcending teacher and disciple. Further, worldly arising-dharmas are compared with world-transcending arising-dharmas, so that, receiving the Buddha's voice and teaching, they do not lose the Great Vehicle — as in the sūtra's telling how the father knows that each of his sons, from the first, has had his own fondness for particular playthings and treasures. Further, worldly extinction is compared with world-transcending extinction, so that, though they have already attained the undefiled, hearing it further removes their grief and vexation — as in the sūtra's telling how, "being their father, I should draw them out from their calamity of suffering and cause them to escape the burning."

Further, worldly non-arising and non-extinction are compared with world-transcending non-arising and non-extinction, so that they may abide securely within real wisdom, knowing "I shall surely become a buddha" — as in the sūtra's telling how they "ride upon this jeweled vehicle straight to the place of enlightenment." One should understand that the Buddha, with a single voice, taught by way of parable and illustration, skillfully causing those of middling and lesser capacity to obtain the benefit of the four siddhāntas — and hence it is called "the Parable Chapter."

As for the explanation in terms of the teachings: the Buddha's intent was originally to praise the buddha-vehicle, but, beings being unable to bear it, he reflected on the great compassion and skillful means of the earlier buddhas and went to the Deer Park to extol the three carts — the two lesser vehicles saving only themselves, their kindness not extending to others, while the bodhisattva drives the ox-cart and carries others out of the fire, and is therefore called mahāsattva. This is the parable within the Tripiṭaka teaching.

Again, though all three kinds of persons alike dread the burning, the śrāvaka is like the doe that goes straight ahead without turning back, the pratyekabuddha is like the mother deer that runs on while still glancing back, and the bodhisattva is like the great elephant, whose body wards off knife and arrow so that the entire herd escapes together. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra speaks of "the rabbit and the horse" crossing the river — this is the parable within the shared teaching.

Again, the three vehicles set forth their aspiration but recently, their conditioned principle is shallow, and their wisdom is weak; cutting off the shared afflictions, they are unable to exhaust every last trace of them and reach the very bottom, and this therefore falls short of a perfection (pāramitā); whereas the bodhisattva sets forth his aspiration in the far distant past, his principle is deep and his wisdom strong, and he cuts off the distinct afflictions, exhausting their very source and nature. The Larger Sūtra says: "The two vehicles are like the light of the firefly; the bodhisattva is like the light of the sun." This is the parable within the distinct teaching.

Again, there are those who, from the moment they first see my body and hear what I teach, at once believe, accept, and enter into the wisdom of the Tathāgata — persons such as these are easily transformed and delivered, and do not cause the Tathāgata to grow weary and pained, as in the Avataṃsaka, where the very phenomena themselves are already the truth, and no parable is needed.

But for those who have not yet entered in, for more than forty years he has further made use of differing skillful means to help reveal the first principle, and today, in the royal city, he resolves to teach the Great Vehicle, universally causing all to open, show, awaken to, and enter into the buddha's wisdom, so that not a single one attains parinirvāṇa alone — as it is now, so it was at the beginning; as it was at the beginning, so it is now, without duality and without difference. Those of superior faculties and sharp wisdom, on hearing it, are at once able to understand, and do not cause the Tathāgata to grow weary and pained, and likewise need no parable; but it is only for the sake of the middling and lesser, whose grasping is stirred and doubt arises, hesitating at the forking paths, that today's parable of the great cart is needed, that they may obtain benefit thereby — and this is called the parable within the perfect teaching.

The trace-and-origin and contemplation-of-mind interpretations may be understood by analogy, and are not recorded again here, and so on.

The direct-teaching exposition contains five sections of sūtra text: the first of these has begun but the remaining four are not yet complete, and this present chapter ought properly to stand after the devas' verses of praise and before the parable of the burning house — it is only that whoever arranged the sūtra into fascicles placed it at the start of the section on receiving understanding. Some, again, say: "To bring forth the middling capacities, it is placed at the start of the second fascicle, just as the questions and answers concerning the six auspicious signs form a preface to the direct-teaching exposition, and the receiving of understanding and the granting of prediction form a preface to the parable teaching." This, however, is merely a matter of human sentiment — if it is placed after the direct-teaching exposition, could the middling capacities really not have understood? This section on receiving understanding receives what has been heard and relates what has been understood by it: in the prose, the receiving and the understanding are stated together, while within the verses, the receiving and the understanding are set forth each in turn, and hence it is called the section on receiving understanding.

The text falls into two: first, the sūtra compiler's own narration; and second, Śāriputra's own account. The narration falls into two — inward understanding, and outward bearing. Inward understanding, present in the mind, is called joy; joy stirring in outward form is called leaping up — hearing the wondrous Dharma from a wondrous person and attaining wondrous understanding, even meeting with a single piece of good fortune would still bring delight, how much more so when all three joys are complete — how could he fail to leap up?

The text says, "now, hearing from the World-Honored One this sound of the Dharma, my mind is filled with a leaping joy" — the inward and outward brought into concord, bringing about this joy: this is the explanation by the mundane siddhānta. Again, changing from the study of the Lesser to that of the Great, abandoning the poor man's grass hut and taking up the enterprise of the wealthy household, the text says, "today I truly know that I am the Buddha's own son," and it is for this reason that he rejoices: this is the explanation by the individual siddhānta.

Again, grief and regret are both dispelled, doubt and difficulty alike removed, inward and outward hindrances and obstructions wholly cleared and made bright — the text says, "I have already exhausted the outflows, and, having heard this, my grief and vexation too are removed," and it is for this reason that he rejoices: this is the explanation by the therapeutic siddhānta. Again, all that a child of the Buddha ought to attain, he has now attained in full — the text says, "abiding securely within real wisdom, I shall surely become a buddha": this is the explanation by the siddhānta of ultimate meaning.

As for the explanation in terms of the teachings: joy, properly speaking, is the joy of entering upon a stage — yet the arhat has already emerged from the cage of the threefold world and broken the fruit-child of the four abiding afflictions, meeting harm without sorrow and meeting gain without delight; the joy spoken of here, then, is decisively not any worldly joy.

If it refers to the illumined arising of forbearance regarding suffering, or to the ultimate state beyond further training, these had already been attained before, and there ought to be no cause for renewed joy now; and if all three kinds of persons alike attain the wordless path, then, though their analysis of substance differs, their realization of emptiness is one and the same — and this joy of oneness, too, was long ago attained, and so, again, there ought to be no cause for renewed joy.

If, taking the twofold contemplation of emptiness as the path of skillful means, the contemplation of the provisional sweeps away the narrow confinement of the two vehicles while the contemplation of emptiness sweeps away the clamorous turbidity of the ordinary person, then, passing beyond both extremes, one might indeed attain great joy — and, according to the perfect teaching, the awakening of the first stage of the arousal of the aspiration is called the abode of joy, the first practice is likewise called the practice of joy, and the first ground is likewise called the ground of joy. Śāriputra, being of superior faculties and sharp wisdom, must surely have attained the joy of a leap directly into this stage; but even supposing he did not leap directly into it, this too would be called joy. All of this is an explanation made in terms of the teachings.

As for the trace-and-origin explanation: Śāriputra long ago already became a buddha, under the name Golden-Dragon Buddha, and, as a trace, assists Śākyamuni as his disciple of wisdom on the right; from the very beginning, drawing him out from wrong views among the non-Buddhists and back to the correct, he showed the joy of the taste of milk, benefiting ordinary beings; next he showed the joy of the taste of curdled milk, benefiting the worthy and the holy; next he showed the joy of the taste of fresh butter and refined butter, benefiting the bodhisattvas; and now he enters into the buddha's knowledge and vision through the taste of ghee, his joy benefiting those who study the buddha-path — joys such as these are all the doing of the trace. The explanation by the contemplation of mind is not recorded again here, and so on.

As for the narration of his outward bearing: "thereupon he rose and joined his palms" is called the bodily receiving of the understanding — formerly, the provisional and the real were two, like two palms not joined together, but now, understanding that the provisional is precisely the real, it is like the two palms joined as one. As for "turned toward the Buddha": formerly, the provisional was not the buddha-cause and the real was not the buddha-fruit, but now, understanding that the provisional is precisely the real, this forms the great, perfect cause, and a cause must necessarily proceed toward its fruit — and hence it says, "with palms joined, he turned toward the Buddha."

As for "gazing up in reverence at the honored countenance": this signifies his understanding of the real, the real being precisely the buddha's own domain and not a dharma of skillful means — gazing up in reverence at the honored countenance, with no other thought remaining, signifies the opening of the buddha's knowledge and vision. Understanding, in mind, the real is likewise to understand the provisional; and receiving, in body, the provisional is likewise to understand the real — each raises up one side, the other being implied along with it.

From "he addressed the Buddha" onward is the verbal receiving of the understanding — this is precisely Śāriputra's own account. The text falls into two: first, the prose; and second, the verses. The prose falls into three: first, the setting forth of the section on the three joys; second, the explanation of it; and third, the concluding summation of it. "Now, from the World-Honored One" sets forth that, my body having seen the Buddha's body, this is called bodily joy; "having heard this sound of the Dharma" sets forth that, relying upon the Buddha's own mouth to hear it, there is joy, and hence it is called verbal joy; and "having attained what I have never before had" is that my mind has understood the Buddha's mind, and hence it is called mental joy — this is the setting-forth of the section.

Next, from "why is this?" onward is, second, the explanation, which raises up the failings of the past in order to reveal the attainment of the present. From "why is this?" to "the knowledge and vision that are without measure" makes clear that, formerly, not seeing the Buddha was a failing — formerly, when the Buddha granted predictions to the bodhisattvas, I had no part in this affair, and the meaning of seeing the Buddha was remote from me; and, not having seen the Buddha, there was therefore no bodily joy.

As for "hearing a Dharma such as this": just as, when the sun illuminates the high mountains, there is, hidden within it, a certain meaning of hearing, yet it remains as plain as if one were deaf and mute, unable to attain the way of hearing a Dharma such as this — this refers simply to the hearing, within the Vaipulya teachings, of the real wisdom of the Great Vehicle, no different from what is heard now, and hence it says "hearing a Dharma such as this." As for "receiving prediction": this likewise refers to the granting of prediction to the bodhisattvas within the Vaipulya teachings, an affair in which the two vehicles had no part.

As for "deeply grieved and pained within myself": within the Viśeṣacintā Brahma Sūtra and the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, on hearing the Great extolled and the Lesser disparaged, there arose an inward doubt and an outward sense of self-contempt, and this is called grief and pain. As for "losing all knowledge and vision": this is losing the seeing of the buddha-eye, and losing the knowing of the buddha-wisdom.

From "World-Honored One" to "this is not the World-Honored One's fault" makes clear that, formerly, not hearing the Dharma was a failing — this being truly because his body dwelt among the mountains and forests while his mind clung to the lesser path, and so he did not hear the Dharma, and hence there was no verbal joy.

As for "I once dwelt alone": this is the place of his reflecting on his transgression. "Equally entering into the dharma-nature" directly brings forth his transgression — clinging to the one principle that he had entered into, he doubted the capable gateway of the three teachings; the one principle being the same for all, and yet I lost the knowledge and vision of it, while the three teachings being different from one another, and yet the bodhisattvas received prediction — and this receiving of prediction would mean that the Tathāgata was partial, and this is how the transgression came about; and now, relating this failing, it is called "repenting the transgression."

As for "this is our own fault": it was through my own confusion about the provisional — what does this have to do with principle or with the teaching? It was through my own delusion about the real — what does this have to do with any partiality in the Buddha? Tracing back and relating his past error, he looks up and offers thanks to the Tathāgata — this is drawing the transgression to himself and returning it upon himself.

From "why is this?" to "I have constantly reproached myself" makes clear the failing of having no understanding in mind — this being truly because, not having awaited the explanation of the cause, there was no real understanding, and because, further, not recognizing skillful means, there was no provisional understanding. Understanding being absent, there was therefore no mental joy; and the failing of the past having now been made plain, the attainment of the present is thereby shown forth of itself. "Not having awaited the explanation of the cause" is his self-reproach for failing to understand the real; "not understanding skillful means" is his self-reproach for failing to understand the provisional.

As for the cause, there are two meanings: first, not accepting and awaiting what came before; and second, not remaining and awaiting what would come after. The illumination of the high mountains at first makes clear the wisdom of the three truths, which is the cause of attaining buddhahood — awaiting this in expectation, I failed to accept it, and this was my failing with regard to what came before; and the buddhas' Dharma, that after a long time it must in the end proclaim the truth — I did not remain in expectation of this, and, in the interval between these two pillars, hastily took up the lesser without ever understanding the real and the provisional, exactly as the text says.

From "but now, from the Buddha" onward concludes and completes the three joys, first concluding them and then completing them. "From the Buddha" concludes the bodily joy; "having heard the Dharma" concludes the verbal joy; "having cut off all doubt and regret" concludes the mental joy; and "I now know that I am truly the Buddha's own son" completes the meaning of nearness to the Buddha. "Born from the Buddha's own mouth" completes the verbal joy; and "born from the transformation of the Dharma" completes the mental joy.

Parsed in this way, the text is exhausted in full, and, its principle explained, the principle is made manifest. If one further parses the text by way of the four siddhāntas: from "now, from the World-Honored One" onward is the joy of the mundane siddhānta; from "why is this?" onward, raising the failing of the past to reveal the attainment of the present, is the joy of the individual siddhānta; from "World-Honored One, from long ago" onward is the joy of the therapeutic siddhānta; and from "today I know" onward is the joy of the siddhānta of ultimate meaning.

And if one further explains the four siddhāntas in terms of the joyful mind itself: the mind's joy stirs and delights, being constantly what has never before occurred; this joy stirs both awareness and reflection, and further stirs the outward form, and so on.

The verse section contains twenty-five-and-a-half lines, falling into three: first, one line versifies the setting-forth of the three joys, raising up both "I have heard" and "having also attained the Buddha."

From "in the past" onward is, second, twenty-two lines versifying and explaining the three joys, which again falls into three: the first, one-and-a-half lines, versifies the joy of seeing the Buddha — the prose made clear the losing of knowledge and vision, while the verse here makes clear the not-losing of the Great Vehicle; the earlier discussion spoke of loss, and spoke of distance, while the verse discussion speaks of nearness, and speaks of attainment — each brought forth in relation to the other.

From "I dwelt within the mountain valleys" onward is, second, eleven lines versifying the earlier not-hearing of the Dharma; this again falls into two: first, nine lines versify the earlier statement that, his body being far away, he did not hear it; and next, from "I formerly clung to wrong views" onward, second, two lines versify the earlier statement that, having entered into the dharma-nature, he did not hear it. Wrong views are what the ordinary person clings to, while entering into the dharma-nature is what the two vehicles cling to, and in both cases the Dharma goes unheard.

As for "I would constantly, day and night": birth-and-death is night, and nirvāṇa is day — is there nirvāṇa within birth-and-death, or is it to be found outside of birth-and-death? When awakening is attained, both doubts are alike dispelled. Or again, birth-and-death and nirvāṇa are both alike night, and when this doubt is removed, that is called day — at the moment the sun rises, both doubts are alike dispelled.

Furthermore, there are two kinds of people in the world: first, those who freshly take up study of the Great from the outset; and second, those who, having practiced the Lesser, enter into the Great. Weighing their actual circumstances, those who enter directly are the lesser — just as, by analogy, one who enters by way of the Abhidharma is the superior — and the bodhisattva ought likewise to be so: one who enters by way of the Avataṃsaka has a correspondingly weaker capacity for transformation, while one who enters after being winnowed and refined through the five flavors is the superior.

From "but now I have myself awakened" onward is, third, nine-and-a-half lines versifying the earlier joy of the mind's attainment of wondrous understanding — the earlier passage made clear his not having awaited the explanation of the cause and not having understood the skillful means, while the verse here makes clear his having obtained the cause and further having come to understand the skillful means: hearing that he shall become a buddha is the cause explained, and hearing that the paths of the five buddhas are the same, and understanding what is Māra and what is not Māra, is the understanding of skillful means — each brought forth in relation to the other, the section on the five buddhas being precisely the passage received.

From "hearing the Buddha's gentle and soft voice" onward is, third, two-and-a-half lines versifying the earlier concluding summation, exactly as the text states.

From "at that time, the Buddha told Śāriputra: I now" onward is, third, the section of confirming what he has related. Above, Śāriputra himself related his attainment of awakening; now the Tathāgata confirms that his understanding is not false. The text falls into three: first, that he had in the past taught the Great; second, that in between he forgot this and took up the Lesser; and third, that he now returns to teach the Great. The citing of his past teaching relates the circumstance of his seeing the Buddha; his forgetting in between and taking up the Lesser relates the circumstance of his grief, regret, and hearing of the Dharma; and his now returning to teach the Great relates that his awakened understanding is not false — thus confirming the three points of meaning related above.

The Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā says: "Unsurpassed in body means the marks and excellent features; unsurpassed in reception and upholding means benefiting oneself and benefiting others; unsurpassed in completeness means life, view, and precept; unsurpassed in wisdom means the four unobstructed knowledges; unsurpassed in the inconceivable means the six perfections; unsurpassed in liberation means the ability to destroy the two hindrances; and unsurpassed in practice means the holy practices and the pure practices. Further, unsurpassed in body is called the great hero; unsurpassed in reception and upholding is called great compassion; unsurpassed in completeness is called reaching the other shore; unsurpassed in wisdom is called omniscience; unsurpassed in the inconceivable is called the Arhat; unsurpassed in liberation is called the great nirvāṇa; and unsurpassed in practice is called samyaksaṃbuddha."

The Bodhisattva's Jeweled Necklace Sūtra, fascicle thirteen, says: "The path must be pure — defilement and turbidity are not the path. The path must be single-minded — many discursive thoughts are not the path. The path must know contentment — many desires are not the path. The path must be reverent — arrogance and pride are not the path. The path must restrain the mind — indulgent laxity is not the path. The path must be manifest and shining — hiding oneself is not the path. The path must be connected and continuous — dharma-less conduct is not the path. The path must be awakened and understanding — foolish confusion is not the path. The path must teach and transform — pride and stinginess are not the path. The path draws near to good companions — practicing evil is not the path."

Passages such as these variously make clear the unsurpassed path; the present sūtra takes the perfect and comprehensive as the unsurpassed path, while whatever is one-sided or sequential is what other sūtras discuss. As for "throughout the long night, following me, you received instruction": formerly, though he had been transformed by the Great, he had not yet broken through ignorance, and, amid the darkened confusion of his mind, he followed the Buddha and received instruction — the revealing cause, though distant, was still not extinguished, and how much less could his true awakening now be false? Hence the citing of his past instruction relates that his seeing the Buddha was no mistake.

As for "by skillful means, I caused you to be born within my Dharma": this meaning is drawn in two directions. If it refers to formerly transforming him by the Great, and now giving rise to great understanding, this belongs to the first sense; and if it refers to enabling him to escape the evil destinies by drawing him along, as a skillful means, with the Lesser, this is the second sense. From "formerly I taught you to aspire to the buddha-path, but you have now entirely forgotten it" — there is a case of abandoning the Great midway and taking up the study of the Lesser, called forgetting it midway; and as for "and now you claim of yourself that you have already attained parinirvāṇa," this is precisely the present, total forgetting. It was because you forgot the Great, and your aspiration then took up the study of the Lesser, that grief and regret came about — and it was this that made his hearing of the Dharma no falsehood.

"I now wish to cause you again to recollect your original vow" — this is precisely a confirming that his attainment of understanding is no falsehood. First bestowing the provisional teaching, he brought to completion the small good of the intervening stage; and afterward revealing the truth, he fulfilled the great mind of his original vow.

From "you, in the future" onward is the fourth great section, the section of prediction. Since, above, Śāriputra's own account has already received the Buddha's confirming seal, prediction is therefore granted — yet if, having attained great understanding, he already knows for himself that he will attain buddhahood, what need is there to await a prediction? Prediction carries four points of meaning: first, that formerly the two vehicles had never received prediction, and now it must be granted; second, that those of middling and lesser capacity, not yet awakened, are encouraged and exhorted by means of it; third, that it causes those who hear it to form a karmic connection; and fourth, that it fulfills his original vow — and it is for these reasons that prediction is granted.

There is both a prose section and a verse section. The prose falls into ten parts: first, the time; second, the causal practice; third, the attaining of the fruit — the explanation of the ten epithets being very extensive, only one such explanation is here recorded: being without falsehood is called Tathāgata; being a fine field of merit is called Arhat, worthy of offerings; knowing the dharma-realm is called the Correctly and Fully Awakened; being complete in the three kinds of knowledge is called Perfect in Wisdom and Conduct; not returning again is called the Well-Gone; knowing the lands of sentient beings is called Knower of the World; being without equal is called the Unsurpassed; taming the minds of others is called the Tamer of Persons; being the eye of sentient beings is called Teacher of Gods and Humans; knowing the three groupings of beings is called the Buddha; and vanquishing Māra Pāpīyas is called the Bhagavān. Fourth, the land; fifth, the teaching of the Dharma; sixth, the name of the kalpa; seventh, the number of the assembly; eighth, the lifespan; ninth, the successor; and tenth, the length of time the Dharma remains — all exactly as the text states.

The Great Treatise (the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra), fascicle forty-eight, says: "Śāriputra, as for the true Dharma lasting thirty-two lesser kalpas: a lesser kalpa is that in which the three calamities of famine, plague, and the sword destroy sentient beings." Elsewhere, "lesser kalpa" simply refers to a span of time, as when the Lotus Sūtra speaks of sixty lesser kalpas — this too refers merely to a reckoning of time, and does not mean a lesser kalpa in which the three calamities destroy external things.

The verse section contains eleven-and-a-half lines, falling into two: the first ten lines versify the nine points of meaning above, though briefly, without versifying the successor, while the prose additionally has the offering made to the relics; and the last one-and-a-half lines conclude with praise.

The first line, leaping ahead, versifies the attaining of the fruit; next, from "offerings" onward, second, one line versifies back to the causal practice; next, from "having passed immeasurable" onward, third, half a line, leaping ahead, versifies the name of the kalpa; next, from "the world named" onward, fourth, one-and-a-half lines versify the purity of the land; and next, from "that land" onward, fifth, one-and-a-half lines versify the number of the bodhisattva assembly;

next, from "such as these" onward, sixth, half a line versifies the teaching of the Dharma; next, from "the Buddha, as a prince" onward, seventh, two lines versify the lifespan; next, from "after the Buddha's extinction" onward, eighth, one-and-a-half lines versify the length of time the Dharma remains; and next, from "the relics, widely" onward, ninth, half a line versifies the offering made to the relics;

and last, from "the Buddha Padmaprabha" onward, second, one-and-a-half lines conclude with praise. As for "you ought fittingly to rejoice and celebrate of yourself": this brings to completion the understanding of one who has entered upon the first stage of the abode of joy — one at the first abode is able, throughout a hundred buddha-worlds, to act as a buddha, and at each successive ground of practice this capacity doubles again.

Fifth, the fourfold assembly's receiving of understanding, containing both a prose section and a verse section. First, the sūtra compiler narrates the assembly's joy; next, their presenting of offerings is set forth; and from "they spoke these words" onward is the direct receiving of understanding — the first part receives the opening of the provisional, and, from "now, moreover, turning" onward, the second receives the revealing of the real. The verse section contains six-and-a-half lines, falling into two: the first two lines versify the earlier opening of the provisional and revealing of the real; and the last four-and-a-half lines relate of themselves their attainment of understanding, their sympathetic joy, and their dedication of merit. As for "we too are like this": just as Śāriputra received understanding, just as Śāriputra had his understanding confirmed, and just as Śāriputra received prediction.

Question: If Mahākāśyapa, Subhūti, and the other great śrāvakas had not yet attained understanding, how could the fourfold assembly have any among them who obtained awakening first?

Answer: The fourfold assembly of gods and humans likewise possesses the three grades of capacity — those of superior faculties being the same as Śāriputra, and those of middling and lesser capacity may be understood accordingly. There is also another explanation: Śāriputra and Mahākāśyapa are both bodhisattvas manifesting a provisional form of practice, and, since those of middling and lesser capacity had not yet been opened to it, Mahākāśyapa and Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra likewise show themselves as not yet understanding — the Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, "while sentient beings are not yet healed, the bodhisattva too is not yet healed," and so on.

From "at that time, Śāriputra addressed the Buddha" onward is the second great division, the parable teaching for the middling capacities. The text contains four chapters: this present chapter is precisely the parable of opening the three to reveal the one; "Faith and Understanding" makes clear the middling capacities' attainment of understanding; "Medicinal Herbs" is the Tathāgata's confirming of it; and "Prediction" grants them the decisive prediction — these four in turn all proceed by way of the parable teaching. The four sections below all proceed by way of the causal-condition teaching: Kauṇḍinya makes clear the causal condition of the strung jewel and receives understanding by it, while Ānanda cites the causal condition of the King of Emptiness and thereby obtains prediction, and so on. Further, following the pattern of the direct-teaching exposition, there ought also to be a joy among the fourfold assembly of the middling capacities — yet, this being absent here, one may say either that the sūtra compiler has left it out for brevity, or, following the pattern of what precedes and follows, that it may be understood accordingly, this text appearing later, within the chapter "The Teacher of the Dharma," and so on.

The text of the parable teaching falls into two: first, the request; and second, the answer. The request falls into three: first, relating that he himself is without doubt; second, relating that his fellows still harbor confusion; and third, making the request generally on behalf of the fourfold assembly. His own account is exactly as the text states. His fellows are those of shared practice, and, cherishing their old ways, they must have the request made on their behalf. The fourfold assembly is the field of transformation, and now, newly setting in motion great compassion, the request is made on their behalf generally as well. From "the Buddha has constantly taught and transformed beings" onward is his clinging to the former three teachings.

From "but now, before the World-Honored One" onward is his clinging to the former single principle. Formerly he taught the three as the ultimate, and now he further teaches the one as the truth — this contradiction gives rise to confusion, and hence it says, "all have fallen into doubt and confusion." Some say: "Śāriputra held both the new and the old doubt, while the twelve hundred held only the new doubt." The present explanation holds, rather, that those of superior faculties have little doubt while those of middling and lesser capacity have much doubt — how, then, could the reverse be understood? From "excellent, World-Honored One" onward is the request made generally on behalf of the fourfold assembly. As for the causal condition: this is the causal condition of the former three and the latter one.

From "at that time, the Buddha told Śāriputra" onward is, second, the Buddha's answer. The text falls into three: first, the setting in motion; second, the parable; and third, the urging of faith.

The setting in motion falls into two: first, holding back; and second, drawing forward — the holding back to rouse resolve and courage, and the drawing forward to urge them toward swift progress. From "did I not say before" onward, this points back to what was earlier made clear, that the provisional is entirely for the sake of bodhi, and points back to what was earlier revealed as the real, that it is entirely for the transforming of the bodhisattvas — whether provisional or real, all enter into the buddha-path of non-abiding nirvāṇa, as has already been plainly stated above — how, then, could they still cling to the teaching, remain confused and benighted, and fail to understand? A reproach such as this is called the passage of holding back.

From "yet, Śāriputra, you should now" onward is the drawing forward and consoling. The earlier rebuke having already been severe, and fearing lest they grow self-contemptuous and resentful and sink further, he now promises them a parable to further clarify this meaning — should they be able to understand it, they may still be called wise.

Second, the parable teaching, containing both a prose section and a verse section. The prose opens the parable and then joins it back together; the manner of opening the parable differs from what was described above, and here falls into two: general, and particular. The general parable corresponds to the two lines of verse, "I too am now like this," within Śākyamuni's own section, briefly versifying the opening of the provisional and revealing of the real; and the particular parable corresponds to the forty-one-and-a-half lines of verse, "I, with the buddha-eye, observe and see," within Śākyamuni's own section, extensively versifying the six points of meaning in the opening of the provisional and revealing of the real.

The general parable contains six elements: first, the elder; second, the house; third, the single door; fourth, the five hundred people; fifth, the outbreak of fire; and sixth, the thirty sons. The elder is a parable for myself — I, that is, being Śākyamuni, the lord of this one transforming teaching; the burning house is a parable for the place spoken of above, its peace and security corresponding to the earlier lack of peace and security within the threefold world; the single door is a parable for the door of the buddha-path proclaimed and shown above; the five hundred people are a parable for the sentient beings spoken of above; the outbreak of fire is a parable for the dharmas of the lack of peace and security spoken of above, the five turbidities and the eight sufferings; and the thirty sons are a parable for the practitioners of the three vehicles, whose natures and desires are known, as spoken of above.

The parable of the elder falls into three: first, name and conduct; second, rank and title; and third, virtue and accomplishment. Name is like the guest, and conduct is like the host; conduct may be near or distant, and name may be close or remote — and hence the places named in the text are cited in order to display his name and conduct.

The bordered territory forming the kingdom is the most distant; the governed district forming the city lies in the middle; and the neighborhood forming the village is the nearest — and the elder's name and conduct pervade all three of these places. Those nearby do not perceive any pettiness or crudeness in him, while those far away can still catch the breath of his lofty manner; his mouth utters no ill-chosen word, his body performs no ill-chosen deed, and his mind entertains no ill-chosen thought — his name and his conduct in perfect accord, he is a truly great man, inwardly conjoined to the three modes of action of the Tathāgata, according with wisdom in his conduct and bestowing transformation to match capacity, his renown heard everywhere, his virtue pervading the entire dharma-realm.

The old interpretation takes the place reached by compassion throughout the empty space of the ten directions to be called the kingdom, the trichiliocosm to be the city, and a single four-continent world to be the village; or again, it takes the great-thousand world to be the kingdom, the middle-thousand world to be the city, and the small-thousand world to be the village.

None of this is adopted here. The Great Treatise, fascicle sixty, says: "The forbearance of pliancy and accord is the village, and the forbearance of non-arising and the unsurpassed awakening are the city" — cause and fruit are together made into the parable. The present sūtra employs directly the virtue of the fruit as the parable: the land of true recompense is the kingdom, the land with residue is the city, and the land of common dwelling is the village — proceeding from the origin and manifesting the trace, and gathering the trace back into the origin, name and conduct are in perfect accord, with no distinction between guest and host, resplendent and overflowing, pervading all three lands alike.

Second, the setting-forth of rank and title, which falls into three: first, the worldly elder; second, the world-transcending elder; and third, the elder of the contemplation of mind.

The worldly elder possesses ten virtues: first, noble lineage; second, high rank; third, great wealth; fourth, majesty and might; fifth, deep wisdom; sixth, advanced age; seventh, purity of conduct; eighth, completeness of etiquette; ninth, being praised by superiors; and tenth, being turned to by inferiors. His lineage is that of the descendants of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, a household adorned with sable and hairpin; his rank is that of chief counselor and chancellor, seasoning the broth of state as its trusted regent; his wealth is that of the copper hills and the golden valley, abundant and extravagant; his majesty is like the stern frost, weighty and grave, achieving order without severity; his wisdom is a breast like an armory, resourceful and singular, rising far above the ordinary; his age is silver-gray and dignified, an object of universal deference; his conduct is like white jade without blemish, his deeds matching his every word; his etiquette follows due measure and proper order, admired as a model by the age; from above, he is honored by the one man, the sovereign; and from below, he is turned to by all within the four seas — with these ten virtues complete, he is called a great elder.

As for the world-transcending elder: the Buddha is born from out of the true suchness and true reality-limit of the three times; his merit accomplished and his path made manifest, his ten epithets are without limit; the wealth of the Dharma and its myriad virtues are all complete and full within him; the ten powers, mighty and valiant, subdue Māra and vanquish outsiders; the single mind and the three kinds of wisdom leave nothing unpenetrated; he accomplished true awakening long, long ago, distant as this; his three modes of action, following his wisdom, move without any fault; his buddha-dignity is complete, his mind vast as the ocean; he is praised in unison by the awakened ones of every kind throughout the ten directions; and the seven kinds of skillful means come and take refuge in him — this is called the world-transcending buddha, the great elder.

Third, as for the elder of the contemplation of mind: the wisdom of the contemplation of mind emerges from reality-as-such, being born within the buddha's own household, its lineage and nature true and correct; the three delusions do not arise, and, though the truth has not yet been made manifest, he already wears the robe of the Tathāgata and is called one who has attained the forbearance of quiescent extinction; the three truths contain within them every merit and virtue, and the wisdom of correct contemplation subdues love and views, the middle way illuminating both at once, the provisional and the real equally manifest; having long accumulated wholesome roots, one is able to cultivate this contemplation, and this contemplation surpasses the seven expedient stages — this contemplation, contemplating the nature of mind, is called the supreme concentration, whereby the three modes of action are without fault, and, through every circumstance and in the face of every object, one's dignified bearing suffers no loss; one able to contemplate in this way bears the mark of deep faith and understanding, and all the buddhas rejoice at it.

Those who praise and extol the one who upholds the Dharma include the devas, nāgas, and the fourfold assembly, who reverently make offerings to him; the text below says, "the buddha's own son, abiding upon this ground, thereby receives and makes use of it in his walking, sitting, and lying down, just as the Buddha does" — and, this person already being called a buddha, how could he not be called the elder of the contemplation of mind?

If we now match the ten virtues against the text, the sense is complete, though one passage is lacking. "In a kingdom, a city, or a village there was a great elder" — being praised throughout all three places as "great," is this not precisely noble lineage? "Elder" — is this not high rank? "Aged and infirm" — is this not advanced age? "Wealth beyond measure" — is this not abundance and sufficiency? "Possessed of many fields and dwellings," this being a partial account of his ample provision — is this not deep wisdom? "Possessed of many young servants" — is this not great power?

"His household was vast" — is this not that his virtuous conduct made him a model to others? "It had but a single door" — is this not that his etiquette showed people a single path? "Many people" refers to those turned to by his inferiors. Only the one passage on being praised by superiors is lacking; the present text now supplies this by means of the character "great," since it is by great men that he is recognized, and hence he is called "great."

From "advanced in years and infirm" onward is, third, the praise of his virtue and accomplishment. Virtue has both an inward and an outward aspect: inwardly, wisdom and capability; outwardly, wealth and resources. His advanced years and broad learning in matters past and present are a parable for the Buddha's virtue of wisdom; and his aged infirmity, his roots and aspiration ripened to purity, is a parable for the Buddha's virtue of severance.

"Wealth" is a parable for outward virtue, and "beyond measure" is a general parable for his myriad virtues. "Fields and dwellings" is a particular parable: the field, able to nourish life, is a parable for meditative concentration nourishing wisdom (prajñā); and the dwelling, able to shelter the body, is a parable for true reality as the support relied upon by wisdom — narrowly speaking, the eighteen gates of emptiness, and broadly speaking, the immeasurable gates of emptiness. Where merit and virtue are concerned, there is no practice he has not cultivated; and where wisdom is concerned, there is no object he does not illuminate — and hence it says, "possessed of many fields and dwellings."

As for "young servants": these are those who wait upon and are made use of by him, a parable for the fact that skillful means and knowledge-and-vision are both already complete within him — blending his light with the six destinies and bending to accord with the multitude of concerns, they are precisely the young servants of his real wisdom.

Second, as for "his household was vast": the house corresponds to what was spoken of above, peace and security set against the lack of peace and security. The lack of peace and security is a parable for the threefold world; sentient beings, hole upon hole, all make their dwelling within the threefold world, and the Tathāgata, in his responsive transformation, gathers them all together and makes a household of them — hence it says, "vast."

Third, as for "it had but a single door": this is a parable for the various dharma-gates, spoken of above, that proclaim and show the buddha-path. The Contemplation of the Place of Enlightenment says: "The principle of true reality admits of no difference, and wisdom, too, ought to be single — there being no differing path by which to emerge, it is therefore called the single door." Guangzhai Fayun says: "Though the threefold world is vast, and the ninety-some wrong views are many, when it comes to the essential path of emergence, this is the buddha's teaching alone, and hence it is called the single door."

The present explanation makes clear that, if principle alone were the door, then, principle admitting of no obstruction or passage, what door could there be to speak of? And if the teaching alone were the door, then, since those who obtain the sūtra are many, why would they not all emerge by it? The present position takes principle as what is expounded by the teaching, exactly as the text says: "by the door of the buddha's teaching, they emerge from the sufferings of the threefold world and attain the realization of nirvāṇa."

The door is, moreover, of two kinds: the door of the house, and the door of the cart. The house is birth-and-death, and its door is the essential road of emergence — this is what the teaching of skillful means expounds. The cart is the dharma of the Great Vehicle, and its door is what the perfect teaching expounds. If the door of the house were the same as the door of the cart, then the initial rescue of the children by the three carts ought likewise to be identical with the later equal bestowal of the great cart; but the door by which they emerge is not the same as the door by which they enter, and this shows that the cart and the house are indeed distinct.

Fourth, as for "five hundred people": this is a parable for the sentient beings spoken of above, namely the five destinies. Fifth, from "hall and upper chamber" onward is a parable for the lack of peace and security set against peace and security, spoken of above, namely the five turbidities. First, the appearance of the house that is to be burned is set forth, a parable for the retribution of the six destinies; and next, the fire that does the burning is made clear, a parable for the eight sufferings and the five turbidities.

"Hall" is a parable for the desire realm, and "upper chamber" is a parable for the form and formless realms; "walls" are a parable for the four elements; "crumbling" is a parable for diminishment and loss; "tottering and unsafe" is a parable for change and alteration; "the base of the pillars" is a parable for the life-force; "the beams and ridgepole" are a parable for consciousness; and "decayed and rotten" is a parable for its precarious state, soon to fail. To make this easier to understand, it may be explained by way of contemplative interpretation as well: the hall is a parable for the lower portion of the body, and the upper chamber a parable for the head and the upper portion; the walls are a parable for skin and flesh; the crumbling is a parable for aging and decrepitude; the base of the pillars is a parable for the two feet; the decay is a parable for impermanence; the beams and ridgepole are a parable for the spine; the tottering is a parable for the great span of life, drawing to its close; and the encircling, winding partitions are a parable for the large and small intestines — or, it is also said, a parable for the mind, and so on.

From "on every side" onward makes clear the fire that does the burning: the eight sufferings pervade the four elements and the four modes of birth, and hence it says "on every side"; and, being all alike impermanent, it says "all at the same time." "Blazing" is a parable for what was formerly absent now coming to be — formerly this suffering was absent, but, on account of ignorance, it came to be.

Sixth, from "the elder's various sons" onward, the thirty sons are a parable for the natures and desires of sentient beings, spoken of above, which are already known — having in the past practiced the Buddha's Dharma, their heavenly nature being mutually bound to it constitutes the meaning of "sons." Their natures and desires differing, if ten are the sons of the bodhisattva, then the twenty and the thirty are the sons of the two vehicles — these, their capacity being alike able to escape from the house, are therefore called "sons," while those without this capacity are the five hundred people. According to another view, the pratyekabuddhas' appearing and disappearing is not uniform, being counted sometimes among the Lesser Vehicle and sometimes among the middling vehicle, and yet all are alike spoken of as "ten," since all alike possess the nature of the ten kinds of knowledge — hence it is said that, inwardly, they possess the nature of knowledge, though they lack the nature of the wisdom that knows reality as it truly is.

In the three verses above, the real was versified first and the provisional afterward; and now, within the general parable, likewise the real comes first and the provisional afterward, and so on.

From "the elder sees this great fire" onward is the second of the four parts of the parable — the specific parable. This too falls into four: first, the parable of the elder seeing the fire, which parallels the Buddha seeing the five turbidities above, taking the four lines of verse as its basis; second, the parable of setting aside the bench to use the cart, which parallels Śākyamuni, on account of the five turbidities, holding back the great vehicle and bestowing the lesser upon first taking his seat at the site of enlightenment, taking the seventeen and a half lines of verse as its basis; third, the parable of equally bestowing the great cart upon every child, which parallels Śākyamuni showing the mark of true reality — "I see the buddha's children, those whose resolve seeks the buddha-path" — taking the six lines of verse as its basis; fourth, the parable of the elder's freedom from falsehood, which parallels "I am the king of all dharmas" above, taking the two and a half lines of verse as its basis. As for the first, seeing the fire: the text falls into four parts, though its sense comes to only three — first, making clear the ability to see; second, making clear what is seen; third, making clear the terror that arises; fourth, extending what was seen before. But these amount, in sense, to only three points: "the elder sees" marks out the ability to see, paralleling "I, with the buddha-eye, observe and see" above; "this great fire arising on every side" marks out what is seen, paralleling the sentient beings of the six destinies seen above; and "and so he was greatly terrified" parallels "and so he gave rise to a mind of great compassion for the sake of these sentient beings" above. From "and yet his children remained within the burning house" onward extends the second point, what is seen of the fire, and this in turn explains and completes the sense of the terror. Body, sensation, mind, and dharmas are the four sides of the house; from these four sides arise the four inversions — of purity, of pleasure, and the rest — and the fire of the eight forms of suffering, in which every kind of suffering gathers; but if one knows that the body is impure, is suffering, and is impermanent, then the fire of affliction is extinguished. There have been three older explanations: one says that the four great elements are the four sides, with the six consciousnesses lodged within them; a second says they are the four modes of birth; a third says they are the four inversions. Following the text below, birth, old age, sickness, and death are taken as the four sides. As for "and so he was greatly terrified": he is startled at the thought that they are retrogressing from the great good, and is fearful with the worry that grave evil is about to arise in them — the startlement corresponds to loving-kindness, being mindful that they have no joy, while the fear corresponds to compassion, worrying that they have suffering. "Though I am able to come safely out through this burning gate" is what explains and completes the meaning of this terror and this compassion; though the phrase does not yet exhaust the sense, it makes clear that the Buddha, by the power of wisdom, is able to seek out the correct teaching and see the truth it expresses — because he is not endangered by the five turbidities or the eight forms of suffering, he is called "safe"; because he cannot be shaken by the fierce winds of the four inversions, he is called "secure"; and because he stands serenely free of all entanglement, he is called "coming out."

Sentient beings, however, are not so — they are burned by the fire, and the Tathāgata's compassion, correspondingly, is inflamed by the fire of his own concern for them; hence the text says "though."

As to the sūtra's speaking of "the burning gate": one may ask, "if the teaching itself is the gate, is this teaching burned, or is it not burned?" The response is: "the gate of the teaching is not burned. The Buddha's teaching serves as the gate, able to convey through it the person who is burned; the person conveyed through it is burned, and so the gate that conveys is spoken of as burned — just as, when a person inside a gate dies, the gate itself is spoken of as inauspicious, though the gate has not actually declined." One may ask further: "if that is so, then the teaching is permanent, not a conditioned dharma — but if it is not so, then why is it not burned?" The explanation here is: "it is not so. A gate has both substance and empty space; without substance there would be nothing to mark out the gate, and without the empty space there would be nothing through which to pass and arrive — the substance can be reduced to ash, but the empty space cannot be burned. The teaching, too, has both what expresses and what is expressed: without the power to express and expound, there would be nothing to serve as the teaching, and without what is expressed, how could one ever come out? The power to express and expound may indeed be impermanent, but what is expressed is not, in turn, impermanent — because one attains, beneath the teaching, what is expressed, this is called coming out safely and securely, and because the power to express is subject to dissolution, this is called the burning gate. Were it not for this burning gate, how could one ever come out safely and securely?

It is by relying on the spoken teaching that one comes into accord with what it expresses; the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says, 'because the cause is impermanent, the fruit is permanent' — an explanation of this kind is exactly what the sūtra means by 'the burning gate.' If it is the impermanent gate of the teaching of the lesser vehicle, one comes out through this burning gate; if it is the permanent, abiding gate of the teaching of the great vehicle, in which the very words are themselves liberation, then this teaching is itself identical with principle, and, embodying the truth that burning is itself no burning, one comes out safely and securely. In terms of the Tathāgata's provisional wisdom, one comes out through the burning gate; in terms of his real wisdom, one embodies the very burning itself and comes out safely and securely — and this is exactly the sense in which the father first tries to bring the children out with the flower-basket and the low bench and fails, and only afterward brings them out by means of impermanence."

"Delighting in and absorbed in play": attachment to views is called "delighting," and attachment to craving is called "play"; or again, indulgence in the four wrong views is called "delighting," while squandering one's efforts in vain is called "play," and it is the same with attachment to craving; indulgence in the five sense-objects is called "delighting," while gaining nothing at all from emptiness is called "play" — being born into emptiness and dying pointlessly, with never any weariness or wish to leave it, exactly like the play of a child. As for "neither perceiving nor knowing": not so much as speaking of there being a fire at all is called "not perceiving"; not understanding that fire is by nature something hot is called "not knowing." Since they do not know the fire is hot, they do not fear being harmed by it, and this is called "not startled"; since they give no thought to their lives being cut short, they are "not afraid." Sentient beings entirely fail to perceive the five aggregates and the eight forms of suffering, and do not know the four inversions and the three poisons — not even recognizing delusion itself, how could they be troubled by it? Delusion invades the dharma-body and injures the life of wisdom, and in just this way they neither perceive suffering nor know its origin, are neither startled at harm to the path nor afraid of the loss of cessation. Because they have not heard the teaching of the four noble truths, they lack the wisdom born of hearing, and this is called "not perceiving"; because they have not attained the wisdom born of reflection, this is called "not knowing"; because they have not attained the understanding born of insight, this is called "not perceiving"; and because they have not attained the understanding born of contemplation, this is called "not knowing." Seeing the truths brings startled awakening; contemplating them brings weariness and fear. Moreover, they neither perceive the suffering of the present nor know the suffering of the future — hence the text below says, "now undergoing every kind of suffering, and afterward undergoing the sufferings of hell and the rest" — this is exactly that meaning.

"Pressing upon the body" refers to the five sense-consciousnesses; "mind" refers to the mental consciousness, the sovereign mind. The body is pressed upon by the eight forms of suffering, and yet the mind feels no weariness or distress at this. It is also said that, having formerly planted the merit of the great vehicle, one's very essence is the wisdom of the dharma-body, and this essence, pressed upon by the four inversions, remains without knowing or perceiving. "The mind feels no weariness or distress" means that one is not wearied by the suffering of impermanence, nor distressed by the arising of affliction.

"Having no intention of seeking to come out" means not cultivating the path in search of cessation. Here, then, the burning house fundamentally corresponds to the five turbidities: "delighting" corresponds to the turbidity of views; "play" corresponds to the turbidity of affliction; "neither perceiving nor knowing, neither startled nor afraid" corresponds to the turbidity of sentient beings; the fire coming to press upon the body, its pain already pressing close, corresponds to the turbidity of lifespan; and the mind's feeling no weariness or distress, and having no intention of seeking to come out, corresponds to the turbidity of the eon — and this matches the five turbidities point for point, and so on.

From "at that time the elder had this thought" onward is the second, the parable of setting aside the low bench and using the cart, which parallels the holding back of the great vehicle and the bestowal of the lesser above: the first six and a half lines concern the great vehicle, contemplated but not attained; the following eleven lines concern the lesser vehicle, contemplated and attained. The "not attained" above falls into three — first, contemplating whether the great vehicle is fitting; second, the absence of the capacity for it; third, the ceasing of the transforming activity. The parable here likewise falls into two: first, employing the gate of persuasion to gauge its fitness; second, employing the gate of admonition to gauge its fitness. Within persuasion and admonition, each in turn falls into three — contemplating its fitness, its not being accepted, and its being set aside. As for the three points of the persuasion gate: first, from "the elder had this thought: my body and hands have strength" onward parallels the earlier contemplation, over three sets of seven days, of using the great vehicle in just this way; second, from "and thought further still" onward makes clear that the children do not accept it, paralleling how sentient beings lacking the capacity, their faculties dull, could ever be brought across; third, from "or they may fall and be burned by the fire" onward is precisely the setting-aside of this well-intentioned enticement, paralleling how, the beings lacking the capacity, the transforming activity ceases, and I might as well not teach the Dharma at all, but swiftly enter nirvāṇa. "The elder had this thought" corresponds to the earlier contemplation over the three sets of seven days. As for "body and hands" and the like: citing what follows in the matching correlation, which says "by spiritual power and the power of wisdom alone," this explains the present parable — the body corresponds to spiritual powers that can bear a burden, and the hands correspond to wisdom that can lift one up; by the virtue of severance through samādhi there is spiritual power, and by the virtue of wisdom there is the teaching of the Dharma, and the power of wisdom and severance is able to accomplish the dharma-body. This wisdom and severance in turn enters by way of the two gates of persuasion and admonition: persuasion is the individual siddhānta, and admonition is the therapeutic siddhānta, and these two siddhāntas serve as the skillful means for the siddhānta of ultimate meaning. When the Tathāgata first wished, through the gate of persuasion, to gauge whether sentient beings were fit to undertake every good deed and accomplish the ten powers, the fearlessnesses, and the wisdom of all modes, sentient beings were unable to bear it; when he next wished, through the gate of admonition, to gauge whether they were fit to refrain from every evil deed and realize great nirvāṇa, sentient beings were likewise unable to bear it, lacking the capacity, and so the transforming activity ceased — hence it is to be understood that the contemplated use of the great vehicle was simply these two siddhāntas of persuasion and admonition, spiritual power and the power of wisdom and severance, and this is exactly the meaning of the earlier text, "adorned with the power of concentration and wisdom, by this he brings sentient beings across."

The earlier praise of the elder, that his years were advanced and his strength in decline, corresponds precisely to wisdom and severance, and wisdom and severance are exactly the strength of his body and hands. As for "the flower-basket, the low bench, and the table": the Master of the Tripiṭaka says that the flower-basket is a vessel used in foreign lands to hold flowers, presented as tribute to persons of rank, who use it to store things.

The older explanation says: "the garment-flap — the flower-basket — corresponds to the cause of the great vehicle, and the table corresponds to its fruit; contemplating first the cause and fruit of the great vehicle is precisely what has no capacity for it." The older explanation also says: "these objects correspond to the great vehicle's precepts, concentration, and wisdom — the dharma attained by contemplation through the first seven days is like the use of the flower-basket; contemplating the root-conditions of sentient beings through the second seven days is like the use of the bench; and contemplating the debt owed the tree and the earth through the third seven days is like the use of the table," and this sense, it is said, derives from an Āgama sūtra. Taking now the text of the matching correlation: "if I were to praise the Tathāgata's knowledge and vision, power, and fearlessness by spiritual power and the power of wisdom alone, sentient beings could not be brought across by this" — spiritual power is exactly the body, and the power of wisdom is exactly the hands, as explained before; knowledge and vision correspond to the flower-basket, fearlessness corresponds to the bench, and the ten powers correspond to the table. The Tathāgata, by his spiritual powers, sets these three dharmas in motion, and by his wisdom proclaims these three dharmas; but, there being no capacity for them, the transforming activity ceases. The flower-basket, the bench, and the table differ only as the brief, the middling, and the extensive statement of the same thing. The brief statement is called the Tathāgata's knowledge and vision — "knowledge" is the wisdom of all modes, and "vision" is the buddha-eye — called brief because its meaning is compressed and profound, like the flower-basket, a single vessel that yet contains a great deal. The middling statement is called the four fearlessnesses, matching the four noble truths as the bench does, somewhat broader in its teaching and somewhat more settled in its object. Or, made into the extensive statement, it is called the ten powers, comprehending everything both crosswise and lengthwise, like the table with its many legs, which cannot be overturned — broader still in its teaching, and greater still in the settledness of its object. Through the contemplation of the three sets of seven days, he wished to make of the Buddha-dharma something at once this extensive and this brief, and yet sentient beings could not bear it — hence the text speaks of the flower-basket, the bench, and the table.

From "and thought further still" onward is, second, making clear that the children do not accept it, paralleling the absence of capacity above. As for "there is only the one gate, and it, moreover, is narrow and small": the sense of "gate" has been explained above, and here it is further clarified in general and specific terms. Taken specifically: "one" means the one principle, the one path of purity; "gate" means the correct teaching, which conveys through to what it conveys; and "small" means that it cannot accommodate the seven expedient stages that hold to eternalism or annihilationism, and the like. The teaching and its principle are, in themselves, vast and expansive, and are not narrow and small — it is only that sentient beings are unable to make their own way through by means of this principle and this teaching, and, about to speak of the absence of capacity, the text therefore calls it narrow and small.

Taken generally: since principle is pure and without admixture, it is called "one"; since it is principle that is able to convey through, it is called a "gate"; and since it is subtle and wondrous, hard to know, it is called "narrow and small." As teaching: sought throughout the ten directions, there is truly no other vehicle — only the one buddha-vehicle — hence it is called "one"; because this teaching is able to convey through, it is called a "gate"; and because this teaching is subtle and wondrous, ordinary people do not know its point of departure — this is not knowing the provisional — nor do they know its point of entry — this is not knowing the real. The two vehicles, on hearing but a little of it, know only the essential point of departure, but never know the point of entry; bodhisattvas, though they know for themselves the point of departure, likewise do not know the point of entry; and stripped of the seven expedient stages, none of them knows either entry or departure — hence the text above says, "were I to praise the buddha-vehicle, sentient beings would sink into suffering." Because they cannot make their own way through by means of the teaching, and the text is about to speak of the absence of capacity, it therefore says "narrow and small." As practice: because the perfect cause is a self-cultivated practice, practicing the great, direct path without any hindrance, it is called "one"; because one skillfully practices the bodhisattva path, going straight to the site of enlightenment, it is called a "gate"; and because this wondrous practice is difficult to practice, and there is no capacity for this skillful means, it is called "narrow and small." The older explanation says: because of the lesser good of humans and gods, the children are called "young and unformed," and because they lack the good of the great vehicle, they are called "not yet possessed of any understanding." Here it is made clear instead that, in the presence of twenty thousand buddhas, they were taught the unsurpassed path, and, their roots of goodness in the great vehicle being weak, they are called "young and unformed"; and that, on hearing the great vehicle, they are capable of slandering and reviling it, and are therefore called "not yet possessed of any understanding."

"Longing for and attached to their place of play": what came before made clear the weakness of their good, and this makes clear the strength of their evil — that is, at the time of cause they are deeply attached to views and craving, and at the time of fruit they are deeply attached to their bodies and their surroundings; in the desire realm they are attached to the six sense-objects, in the form realm they are attached to the flavor of meditative absorption, and in the formless realm they are attached to concentration itself — hence the text above says, "the faculties of sentient beings are dull, and, attached to pleasure, they are blinded by folly," unable to bear hearing the great vehicle. "Or they may fall and be burned by the fire" — these two phrases are what is meant by the setting-aside of this well-intentioned enticement. Falling is of two kinds: the first is that of the young and unformed, who fall because they recall their former place of play; the second is that of those altogether without understanding, who fall because their grasp on things is not firm — this corresponds to falling into the three lower destinies through attachment to the five desires. The second kind is that of those whose good is weak and who lack understanding, who fall into the three lower destinies by slandering and reviling the great vehicle.

From "and so he spoke of the fearsome danger" onward, the second, the gate of admonition, likewise falls into three: first, contemplating its fitness as admonition. Admonishing them with fear so as to bring them out — the mark of this admonition is as explained in the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra: the four mindfulnesses are themselves the Mahāyāna, because what they take as their object cannot be apprehended, and in this they differ from the lesser vehicle. Since the children are attached to their place of play, the elder speaks of the fearsome danger, so that they might be spared the burning of the five turbidities. The dwelling of the five aggregates ought properly to be relinquished; if one dwells within it too long, attached, one is bound to cut off the root of goodness — hence it says, "do not let yourselves be harmed and burned by the fire." From "though their father felt pity and concern for them" onward is precisely the children's failure to accept the admonition. "Neither startled nor afraid" means that they give rise to no wisdom born of hearing or of reflection, as explained above; they do not recognize that the eight forms of suffering and the five turbidities are able to burn away the root of goodness, just as they do not know the fire; they do not recognize that the dharmas of the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements are all vessels of suffering, just as they do not recognize the house; and they do not know the cause by which the dharma-body is lost, just as they do not know what is meant by "loss." From "but only ran this way and that in play, glancing at their father and no more" — these two phrases are what is meant by the setting-aside of these painful words. Turning their backs on brightness to face the darkness is what is meant by "this way and that"; the swift coming and going of birth-and-death is what is meant by "running about"; and the arising, in the midst of this, of views and craving is what is meant by "play." Though the father tries the great vehicle upon them, they do not follow the great teaching — hence it says, "glancing at their father and no more."

From "the elder then had this thought: this house is already being consumed by the great fire" onward is precisely the second, the parable of using the cart, which parallels the eleven lines of verse above, "recollecting the skillful means practiced by the buddhas of the past." The text above falls into four parts, and the parable here likewise falls into four: first, the parable of contemplating the fitness of the three carts, which parallels "recollecting that the buddhas of the past likewise carried out the transformation by the three vehicles" above; second, the parable of the father's knowledge of what his children had formerly delighted in, which parallels "while contemplating in this way, the buddhas of the ten directions all appeared before him"; third, the parable of praising the three carts, which parallels "directly bestowing the three vehicles, and, having reflected on this matter, at once proceeding to Vārāṇasī"; fourth, the parable of the children attaining what they wished for, which parallels "their acceptance, practice, awakening, and entry are what is called the turning of the Dharma-wheel." The merit of the great vehicle's transforming activity is the father's own life; the great good of sentient beings is the children's own life. If their great good is exhausted, the children's life is cut off, and if the children's life is cut off, the transforming activity too comes to an end, and the father's own life is thereby cut off. The earlier phrase, "their pain and suffering already pressing close," still refers to a state not yet death; the present phrase, "they will surely be burned," now carries the sense of death itself.

The text above spoke of coming safely and securely out through the burning gate; here it speaks of "if they do not come out in time, they will surely be burned" — what is the meaning of this? The earlier "coming out" refers precisely to the coming out of the dharma-body; the present "if they do not come out in time" refers precisely to the response-body sharing in their affliction — when sentient beings possess good, the response-body grants them coming out in time, but when sentient beings' good is exhausted, it does not grant them coming out in time, and father and children are then together consumed by the fire. Here the response-body wishes to gauge the fitness of the moment, so as to bring them out in time. From "I must now devise some skillful means" onward, he wishes to set up the provisional.

From "knowing what his children had formerly delighted in" onward is, second, making clear that the capacity for being brought across is present. That they had formerly practiced the lesser vehicle is what is meant by "knowing what they had formerly delighted in, their natures and desires differing one from another," which is to say, knowing that each has his own particular delight. It is also known that sentient beings had formerly practiced the great vehicle, but that this practice of the great had not yet grown strong, and this is the weakness of the great; and that, wearied by old age, sickness, and death, they were drawn in by the lesser vehicle, and this is the strength of the lesser — just as, among Śāriputra's six mental states of retrogression, his former practice of the great is what is meant by "knowing what they had formerly delighted in," and his intervening weariness with old age and death is what is meant by "each having his own particular delight."

From "and said to them" onward is, third, the parable of praising the rarity of the three carts, which parallels the actual turning of the Dharma-wheel above. This in turn falls into three: persuasion, demonstration, and confirmation. From "the playthings you love are rare" onward is precisely the turning by persuasion; from "look, such things as these" onward is precisely the turning by demonstration; and "come out quickly from this burning house, and whatever you desire, I shall give to you all" is precisely the turning by confirmation.

From "at that time the children, hearing what their father had said" onward is, fourth, the parable of the children attaining what they wished for, which parallels acceptance, practice, awakening, and entry above.

The verse above was brief in its telling, but the parable here treats the matter at length, extensively clarifying the path from cultivating the cause through to reaching the fruit. This is explained according to six phrases: first, "suited to their wishes" means that capacity and teaching correspond to one another, and this is precisely the wisdom born of hearing. "Bold and eager" is precisely the wisdom born of reflection, the mind moving in reflection, the skillful means of the wisdom born of reflection. "Pushing past one another" means pushing forward the four true principles and holding down the afflictions of view, and, right and wrong not yet decided, this is called "one another" — this enters the wisdom born of cultivation, belonging to the stages of warmth and of the summit. "Competing" means competing to grasp the superior principle — this is the stage of forbearance competing to grasp the superior principle, first contemplating the thirty-two aspects of the truths while competing to advance toward the true path, and afterward, the contemplation having narrowed, advancing toward the forbearance regarding the truth of suffering. "Together" is the stage of the supreme mundane dharma, contemplating a single truth in common, no different from the fourfold contemplation of the forbearance regarding the truth of suffering. "Racing to run" means entering the fifteen mind-moments of the path of seeing, swiftly seeing the truth, paralleling "and thereupon there came the sound of nirvāṇa" above — within the path of seeing, a portion of nirvāṇa is attained. "Competing to be first out" is the path of cultivation — competing to be the first out of the three realms and accomplish the fruit beyond training, cutting off every affliction of contemplation and thereby, at last, coming out of the burning house — this is precisely what parallels the verse above, "and the various names of arhats, of the Dharma, and of the saṅgha." Explained through the contemplation of mind: the correct contemplation of the middle way directly contemplates true reality, and mind and dharma corresponding to one another is what is meant by "suited to their wishes." Because the object of contemplation is boundless, the contemplation too is boundless, and this is called "bold." The object sharpening the mind is called "eager." Mind and object sharpening each other is called "pushing past one another." The sovereign mind and its mental factors taking hold of the object with speed is called "competing," "together," and "racing to run." Passing entirely through every aggregate, sense-field, and element, finding nothing that is not true reality, is called "coming out of the burning house," and so on.

From "at that time the elder, seeing his sons all" onward is, within the specific parable, the third, the parable of equally bestowing the great cart upon every child, which parallels the revealing of the mark of true reality above. This text falls into four: first, the parable of the father's joy at seeing his children escape danger, which parallels the two lines and one phrase of verse above, from "I then had this thought: the reason I have come forth into the world" through to "now I am glad, and free of fear"; second, the parable of the children asking for carts, which parallels the arousal of the capacity for the great vehicle, taking as its basis the two lines of verse, "I see the buddha's children, those whose resolve seeks the buddha-path, all coming before me with a reverent mind"; third, the parable of equally bestowing the great cart upon every child, taking as its basis the three phrases, "among the bodhisattvas, directly setting aside skillful means, he speaks only of the unsurpassed path"; fourth, the parable of the children's joy at receiving the cart, taking as its basis the single verse, "the bodhisattvas, hearing this Dharma, have had every net of doubt entirely dispelled." In the dharma-teaching above, the arousal of the capacity was made clear first, and the removal of the obstruction, and the Buddha's joy and freedom from fear, were spoken of afterward; here in the parable, the escape from danger is made clear first, and the asking for carts is spoken of afterward. Were the account given in full, it ought to be put in four cases: there is the obstruction removed first and the capacity aroused afterward, as when the four great śrāvakas and the rest had their obstruction removed within the Tripiṭaka teaching, and the great capacity first arose at the end of the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra and the beginning of the Lotus Sūtra; second, the obstruction not yet removed and the capacity for the great vehicle already aroused, as with the various ordinary people within the Avataṃsaka Sūtra and within the Lotus Sūtra who were able to enter the Buddha's wisdom — the remaining two cases are as explained above. If the great capacity moves first and the obstruction is removed afterward, this is as explained in the "Skillful Means" chapter; if the obstruction is removed first and the capacity moves afterward, this is as explained in the present passage — the moving of the capacity and the removal of the obstruction each manifest in turn, together forming a single sense.

Moreover, the "Skillful Means" chapter makes clear the Buddha's joy and freedom from fear, while here it is the children's own joy — because the children rejoice, their father too rejoices, and this likewise manifests each in turn, together forming a single sense. Within the escape from danger there are two senses combined: escape from danger, and joy. If the children had not yet escaped the danger, the father would be filled with worry and concern; once they are freed from the fire, his mind is at once at peace — hence escape from danger and joy can together form a single parable. Because the children rejoice, the father too rejoices, and this corresponds to the Buddha's own joy. As for "in the open ground at the crossroads": the older explanation says that the removal of the obstruction of four of the turbidities corresponds to the crossroads reached by the four paths, and the further removal of one more turbidity corresponds to sitting in the open ground. This is not adopted here. The five turbidities directly clarify only the dharma of defiling obstruction, without yet discussing the path that overcomes it, and so they ought not to be made to correspond to the crossroads. The crossroads correspond exactly to the four noble truths: the differing contemplations of the four truths are called the "four roads," and the four truths converging together in the truth as seen are like the meeting-point of the roads — though the afflictions of view have been removed, the afflictions of thought still remain, and so this is not yet called "the open ground." Only when the afflictions of thought throughout the three realms are exhausted is it called "the open ground"; abiding in the fruit without further advance is what is meant by "and sat"; not being confined by the afflictions of view or of thought is what is meant by "at ease"; and the thought that arises, of extinction and cessation, and of peace and security, is what is meant by "rejoiced."

From "each said to their father" onward is, second, the parable of asking for carts. The text says, "please grant us now the three kinds of jeweled carts" — the text nowhere contains the word "ask," and its sense is drawn from this phrase of request, which makes clear the asking for carts. Someone has said: "it is the two lesser vehicles that ask for the cart; bodhisattvas do not ask. Ten objections may be raised against this. The first says: the two lesser vehicles come out beyond the three realms, and, on reaching the place where the cart was promised, ask for the cart of the fruit; but bodhisattvas have not yet reached the place of the promise — how, then, could they suddenly ask for the cart? The second says: no sūtra of the great vehicle speaks of a bodhisattva asking for the fruit of the lesser vehicle, and hence it may be known that they do not ask. The third says: the bodhisattvas being transformed, from their first arousal of the resolve all the way to the stage just short of buddhahood, remain ordinary beings who have not come out of the three realms — in principle, then, there is no asking for them; and the bodhisattva who transforms others, at the thirty-third mind-moment, still has the leaning-over of view yet to be exhausted by thought, and at the thirty-fourth mind-moment becomes a buddha outright — from whom, then, would a buddha ask? Fourth: the fruit of the two lesser vehicles lies outside the gate of the direct afflictions, while the fruit of buddhahood lies outside the gate of the residual habits and of ignorance; the two lesser vehicles, having exhausted the direct afflictions, do not yet see the cart, and hence they ask for it — but bodhisattvas have not yet cut off the residual habits and ignorance, so how could they suddenly ask? Fifth: it is made clear that the two lesser vehicles are themselves skillful means, of which one may speak of asking, since the text says, 'only this one matter is real, while the other two are not true' — reasoning from this, only the two ask, and the one does not.

Sixth: from the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra up to and including everything before the Lotus Sūtra, the cause and fruit of buddhahood are said to be entirely skillful means — but then the treasures entrusted to the destitute son ought likewise to be entirely skillful means; and if what is entrusted to him is real, then the buddha-vehicle already made clear in the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra and elsewhere is already real — how, then, could there be any further asking? Seventh: the verse of the 'Skillful Means' chapter recounts that the earlier teaching of the lesser is skillful means, but does not recount that the greater is skillful means — one should therefore know that the great vehicle of the buddha's children is not skillful means, so how could there be any asking for it? Eighth: if it is the three kinds of persons who ask, then what of it? There being no comprehension in response, and comprehension in response being absent, it may be known that they do not ask. Ninth: as for the equal bestowal of the cart, the text says, 'seeing sentient beings come out of the suffering of the three realms and attain the joy of nirvāṇa, he therefore bestows the great vehicle upon them' — but bodhisattvas do not realize nirvāṇa, so how could they suddenly ask for it?

Tenth: it is because the children are seated at ease that they go and ask their father — the fruit of the two lesser vehicles being complete, they no longer practice, and so being seated at ease, there can be asking; but bodhisattvas' practice has not yet ceased, and there is no sense in which they are 'seated at ease' — so how could there suddenly be any asking?"

For my part, I would refute this both generally and point by point. "Asking" is simply another word for seeking and requesting: in the mind it is called seeking; in speech it is called requesting; in the body it is called begging — like one in the dark seeking knowledge, one who is hungry requesting food, or one who is lost asking the way. Wherever one dwells in a state not yet reached, how could there fail to be this principle of asking? It is because of the asking that the granting follows, and because of the granting that the joy follows; and the present text is furnished throughout with request, granting, and joy alike. In the dharma-teaching, the twelve hundred, with Śāriputra at their head, made their earnest threefold request; among the bodhisattvas, with Maitreya at their head, the buddha's own children, numbering in the tens of thousands, pressed their palms together with a reverent mind, wishing to hear the complete path. At the outset of the parable-teaching, Śāriputra makes his request on behalf of persons of middling faculties, and also, in general, on behalf of the fourfold assembly, and, by extension, on behalf of persons of inferior faculties as well, the text saying, "excellent, World-Honored One — we beg you to explain this causal condition for the sake of the fourfold assembly." The granting in the dharma-teaching says, "since you have now three times earnestly requested it, how could I fail to speak?" The granting in the parable-teaching says, "I shall use a parable to make this meaning still clearer." The granting through causal conditions says, "the causal conditions of my own past lives and of yours — I shall now speak of them." When the dharma-teaching was finished, Śāriputra rejoiced; when the parable-teaching was finished, Kāśyapa and the others rejoiced; and when the teaching of past-life causal conditions was finished, Pūrṇa rejoiced. Moreover, the text of the matching correlation says, "causing the children, day and night, for kalpa after kalpa, to enjoy themselves constantly, riding, together with the bodhisattvas, upon this jeweled vehicle, straight to the site of enlightenment." Because of the joy, one knows there was a granting; because of the granting, one knows there was a request — the three rounds of teaching, in all three of their meanings, make this brilliantly plain in the text itself — so why, then, should it be said, one-sidedly, that two of the three ask, and one does not?

Point by point, then: as to the first, that only the Tripiṭaka teaching makes clear that bodhisattvas do not cut off affliction — according to the Lotus Sūtra there are four cases: the obstruction removed and the great capacity moving; the obstruction not yet removed and the great capacity moving — and wherever the capacity moves, one knows there is asking. As to the second, that no sūtra of the great vehicle speaks of a bodhisattva asking for the fruit of the lesser vehicle: the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says, "persons of the three vehicles alike, by the path beyond all verbal expression, cut off affliction and enter nirvāṇa" — if the cutting off of affliction and entering nirvāṇa are the same for all three, why should there be no asking? As to the third, that the thirty-third mind-moment is called bodhisattva, while at the thirty-fourth, thought having been exhausted, one becomes a buddha outright, so from whom would a buddha ask: this is still the sense of the Tripiṭaka teaching — if, when the obstruction is not yet removed, the great capacity is already moving, how much more so at the thirty-third mind-moment should it not be moving? And where it moves, there one knows there is asking. As to the fourth, that bodhisattvas, not yet having cut off residual habits and ignorance, ought not to ask, while once these are exhausted and buddhahood is attained, from whom would a buddha ask: this is the sense of the shared teaching held in common by the three vehicles — if, while the fetters remain entire and the obstruction still stands, the great capacity is already moving, how much more so where only residual habits and ignorance remain? As to the fifth, that "only this one matter is real" — the real being precisely the true — so how could there suddenly be any further asking: this mistakes the "one" of the absolute, beyond all relative comparison, outside of which there is no further dharma at all, for the "one" of former days set against a "two," outside of which there still remains a further dharma — the name is the same, but the substance differs; this is like grasping in the dark at rubble and fish-eyes and calling them the moon's own radiant pearls — how could the wise ever pity such folly, and so on. As to the sixth, that from the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras up through the Lotus Sūtra, the teaching is the same as the entrusting of the treasure, and there ought therefore to be no asking: have you not heard of the shared and the unshared Prajñāpāramitā — the unshared needs no asking, but the shared ought not to be without asking, and so on. As to the seventh, that at the opening of the "Skillful Means" chapter, the earlier teaching of the lesser is recounted as skillful means, but the earlier teaching of the greater is not recounted as skillful means, and the greater, therefore, not being skillful means, there is accordingly no asking for it —

Have you not heard, in the "Lifespan of the Tathāgata" chapter, that "I went forth from home in my youth and attained perfect awakening," and that all that comes between, whether lesser or greater, whether my own or another's, is entirely my own skillful means, and that it is likewise so for every buddha — how, then, could there fail to be asking? As to the eighth, that if bodhisattvas asked, they ought to comprehend in response, and comprehension in response being absent, one thereby knows they do not ask: have you not heard that, when the dharma-teaching was finished, the devas, nāgas, and the fourfold assembly all comprehended in response — and if these were not bodhisattvas, then what were they? And in the "Teacher of the Dharma" chapter, all three vehicles alike receive the prediction of buddhahood — if there were no comprehension in response, how could the prediction suddenly be bestowed? As to the ninth, that coming out of the suffering of the three realms and attaining the peace and happiness of nirvāṇa is precisely when the bestowal and the asking occur, while bodhisattvas have not yet come out and have not yet realized this, and therefore do not ask: this too is merely the sense of the Tripiṭaka teaching. As to the tenth, that it is only once the children are seated at ease that the cart is bestowed, the practice of the two lesser vehicles having ceased being what is meant by "seated at ease," while the practice of bodhisattvas has not ceased and is therefore not "seated at ease," so how could they suddenly ask for the cart: this too is merely the earlier sense. But there is asking where practice has ceased, and there is also asking where practice has not yet ceased; moreover, a bodhisattva's practice of practice is itself precisely his riding of the vehicle, and the vehicle is obtained precisely by asking — how, then, can it be said there is no asking? Seeing how this view entangles and confines itself to the Tripiṭaka teaching alone, these ten objections were accordingly set up — but this is a mere glimpse through a narrow tube, altogether missing the larger picture, and I shall now explain the matter, distinguishing it point by point. There is a bodhisattva who does not cut off affliction and does not ask for the cart — this is the bodhisattva of the Tripiṭaka teaching; there is one who cuts off affliction and does ask for the cart — this is the bodhisattva of the shared teaching; there is one who both cuts off affliction and does not, both asks and does not — this is the bodhisattva of the distinct teaching; and there is one who neither cuts off affliction nor fails to, neither asks nor fails to ask — this is the bodhisattva of the perfect teaching. And going further, across the five flavors: within the flavor of milk there are two senses — first, both cutting off and not cutting off, both asking and not asking; second, neither cutting off nor not cutting off, neither asking nor not asking. Within the flavor of curdled milk there is a single sense, not cutting off and not asking. Within the flavor of fresh butter all four senses are present. Within the flavor of clarified butter only three senses are present. Within the flavor of ghee there is a single sense. This is the broad outline and overall structure of the matter. And within each and every phrase, each and every sense, there are, moreover, four further cases: the obstruction removed and the capacity moving; the obstruction not yet removed and the capacity moving; the obstruction both removed and not yet removed, and the capacity moving; and the obstruction neither removed nor not removed, and the capacity moving. This school of thought, failing to see this, clings to the one and denies the three — a matter deeply to be pitied.

People commonly hold differing counts of the number of carts, and differing accounts of the cart's essence: some say that three carts are spoken of at first, and afterward the two are merged back into the one; some say that three are spoken of at first, and afterward all three are merged back into the one; and some say that four are spoken of at first, and afterward the three are merged back into the one. In bringing forth the sense of the sūtra, then, one ought not simply to trust what people say. This passage of the text cites how the buddhas of the past taught the four noble truths for śrāvakas, the twelvefold chain of causes and conditions for pratyekabuddhas, and the six perfections for bodhisattvas; and that the present Buddha likewise speaks of three, the count being the same. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra, fascicle eight, says: "for those of inferior capacity, sunk in despair, the path of the śrāvaka is shown to them; for those of dull faculties who delight in causes and conditions, the path of the pratyekabuddha is taught to them; for those of sharp faculties who possess compassion, the path of the bodhisattva is taught to them; and for those who delight in the unsurpassed great matter, the immeasurable Dharma of the buddhas is taught." Fascicle thirty-six likewise says: "the threefold liberation issues from the śrāvaka vehicle; the dharma free of contention issues from the pratyekabuddha vehicle; the six perfections and the four means of attraction issue from the great vehicle; and the knowledge of all dharmas issues from the buddha-vehicle." And its ninth ground speaks of the mark of the śrāvaka vehicle, the mark of the pratyekabuddha vehicle, the mark of the bodhisattva vehicle, and the mark of the tathāgata vehicle. The Dilun, in its explanation of the second ground, contemplates how the accumulation of the ten unwholesome deeds causes one to fall into the three lower destinies, while the accumulation of the ten wholesome deeds brings birth among the gods. These ten wholesome deeds, joined with the contemplative wisdom of the four noble truths, together form the śrāvaka; these ten wholesome deeds, joined with the contemplative wisdom that does not depend on hearing from another, together form the pratyekabuddha; these ten wholesome deeds, joined with contemplative wisdom that is complete and pure, together form the ground of the bodhisattva; and these ten wholesome deeds carried to their utmost, joined with the wisdom of all modes and the entirety of the buddha-dharma, together form the buddha. The Yingluo Sūtra, fascicle thirteen, says: "the buddhas of the ten directions teach the three vehicles; within the one vehicle, three are further opened out and combined into nine vehicles, and all nine vehicles alike converge and enter the equal, great wisdom." Though the sages have spoken in this way, if one is unable to bring these accounts into harmony, but instead sets them against one another as right and wrong, this is to malign the Dharma and to slander persons — no fault could be graver. Here, then, the matter is distinguished in terms of the teachings. If it is said that the approaches of the three vehicles differ, while the ultimate truth is the same, this is the Tripiṭaka teaching; if it is said that the approaches of the three vehicles are the same, and the ultimate truth is entirely the same, this is the shared teaching; if it is said that the three vehicles branch into three times three, nine vehicles, or that four vehicles, differing each from the other in their shallow and deep stages, alike enter the same equal, great wisdom, this is the distinct teaching; and if it is said that the three vehicles, the nine vehicles, and the four vehicles, every one of them, correspond to the equal, great wisdom without any duality or difference whatsoever, this is the perfect teaching. And, going further, distinguishing across the five flavors: the flavor of milk makes clear only the bodhisattva vehicle and the buddha-vehicle; the flavor of curdled milk makes clear only the three vehicles as distinct from one another; the flavor of fresh butter makes fully clear the three vehicles, the four vehicles, and the nine vehicles, each in its own proper measure, without confusing one with another; the flavor of clarified butter is the same as the flavor of fresh butter, except that it excludes the three vehicles as distinct from one another; and within the flavor of ghee only the buddha-vehicle is taught purely, with no further vehicle remaining at all. If one grasps this sense, these differing accounts present no difficulty; but if one does not know it, they only add to needless dispute. As for people's accounts of the differing essence of the buddha-vehicle: the master of Guangzhai [Fayun] takes the twin wisdoms of exhaustion and of non-arising, at the very culmination of the buddha-fruit, as the essence of the cart — going far beyond five hundred yojanas, this is "high" as against the former teaching, and, containing within it the ten thousand virtues in full, this is "broad" as against the former teaching. The master of Zhuangyan takes the totality of the ten thousand practices, as cause, for its essence — seeking upward is "high," and transforming beings below is "broad." The older explanation does not take merit as the essence, since merit is shared even by ordinary people, and takes wisdom alone as the essence. Another older explanation takes both merit and wisdom together as the essence. But the text says, "riding upon these three carts," and "enjoying themselves freely with undefiled faculties, powers, factors of awakening, the path, meditative concentration, liberation, and samādhis" — how could this be wisdom alone? Yet another master takes only understanding as the essence, since the understanding of emptiness is unmoving and is therefore not adopted — but the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising is itself precisely this understanding. And a certain lesser-vehicle teacher takes the wisdom of emptiness as the essence of the cart, the text saying, "through the long night we have cultivated the dharma of emptiness," and so on; while the great vehicle likewise takes real wisdom and skillful means together as the essence of the cart, since the essence of the cart corresponds to "being," and it is only what "is" that can be set in motion. For my part, I would say that these various masters, in explaining the essence of the buddha-vehicle, compete each to point to some particular measure of it — how does this differ from a crowd of blind men groping at an elephant, disputing over its tail and its tusks?

According to the Great Master Zhiyi of Tiantai, it is the true reality of all dharmas that is precisely the essence of the cart, while all the manifold jewels and adornments are merely its ornaments — this will be pointed out again when we reach the text on the bestowal of the cart. The older explanation says: the small cart is the small fruit. The fruit has both conditioned and unconditioned merit, and it is specifically the conditioned merit that is taken to correspond to the motion of the cart, its motion carrying one into the nirvāṇa without remainder. Within the conditioned fruit are both merit and wisdom together, but wisdom is taken as primary, while merit belongs to the accompanying particulars; of the ten kinds of wisdom, eight run through both cause and fruit, while the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising belongs only to the stage of the fruit — it is these two forms of wisdom, then, that are taken to correspond to the cart of the fruit, and it is for this reason that the cart is said to be outside the gate. Yet the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says, "this vehicle comes out from the three realms, and comes to abide within sarvajña, the all-knowing wisdom" — if, before one has yet come out, one is already riding this very vehicle in competing to come out of the burning house, why should it then also be said that the cart is outside the gate? And if it were already outside from the start, by what means would one ride out of the house at all? The truth is, however, that the vehicle runs through both cause and fruit: the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment, which cut off the afflictions of view and of thought, are entirely the vehicle of the cause, while the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising is entirely called the vehicle of the fruit — it is only once the vehicle of the cause has, through its causal working, cut off and exhausted every affliction, that one attains the vehicle of the fruit, the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising, and hence it is said that the cart is outside the gate. But since the fruit is primary and the cause is secondary, it is spoken of, from the standpoint of the fruit, as the cart being outside the gate; yet if the sense of "vehicle" lies, within, in the cutting off of the fetters and being carried thereby, then how, without, could the fruit, which does not itself carry, ever be called a "vehicle"? And yet the fruit has no motion of cutting off affliction of its own — it is only by means of the wisdom of exhaustion and of non-arising entering the nirvāṇa without remainder that there is, at last, this good motion — but if one rides the cause all the way to the fruit, for what reason would one then still ask for the cart?

The older explanation speaks of "asking in capacity" and "asking in sentiment." "Asking in capacity" may readily be understood. As for "asking in sentiment": the Buddha taught the doctrine of exhaustion and non-arising, and an arhat, having realized this fruit, then used his spiritual powers and heavenly eye to try to observe the future, and yet still saw the birth-and-death of transformation stretching on vast and unbroken — and so he began to doubt his own attainment of the realization of exhaustion and non-arising, thinking: if it were truly non-arising, how could he still see it arising? Given this vast unbroken continuation, he suspected that what he had formerly taken as ultimate was not in fact so, and, in his own sentiment, sought from the Buddha what had been promised him before — this is what is meant by "asking in sentiment." But if one searches the text of the sūtra, there are no such words to be found there; and if one presses the sense of this "asking," the sense does not hold together either — the text offers nothing that can be made to fit it. As to pressing the sense: the text below says, "of his own accord, giving rise to the thought that he had attained extinction" — but if he had already seen, by his heavenly eye, that birth-and-death still continued, why would he then also give rise to the thought that he had attained extinction? This is self-contradictory. Moreover, an arhat after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, not encountering another buddha, would be unable to resolve his doubt — but if he had already, by his own heavenly eye, clearly seen birth-and-death continuing, what need would there be to see a buddha in order to resolve it? And moreover, the heavenly eye of the first dhyāna cannot even see into the second dhyāna — how much less could it see the birth-and-death of transformation? This too runs contrary to the She Dacheng [the Mahāyānasaṃgraha]. And further, if an arhat, having attained undefiled karma, used his heavenly eye to see the future birth-and-death and its retribution belonging to the transformation-body, then a person at this very moment who cultivates the five precepts and the ten wholesome deeds ought likewise to be able to see, of himself, his own future retribution — but one should understand that retribution beyond the three realms could never be seen by the heavenly eye at all. This account of "asking in sentiment," then, is not to be adopted. What is here meant by "asking in sentiment" is rather this: formerly, relying on the teaching, the arhat held that the exhaustion and non-arising he had attained could enter the nirvāṇa without remainder; but then, within the Vaipulya teachings, he saw the inconceivable powers of the bodhisattvas, and heard himself rebuked by Vimalakīrti — and he reasoned: if what I have attained is real, then the great being ought not to have humbled and rebuked me so; but if what I have attained is not real, then the Buddha ought not to have declared it true — and so he said he was lost, not knowing what to make of it. Then, reaching the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, he came to comprehend the great Dharma, and, hearing it, the wish to delight in the great vehicle arose within him, and he wished then to advance and cultivate the great vehicle, and yet could not know whether he would attain it or not — all of this is precisely what is meant by having already, in sentiment, asked for the great vehicle. Hence, when Śāriputra comprehends in response, he raises this former doubting sentiment, saying: "seeing the bodhisattvas receive the prediction of buddhahood, and finding myself no part of this, I reproached myself in sorrow, and wished to ask the World-Honored One whether I had lost this, or had not lost it" — this is precisely pointing to how, already in the Vaipulya teachings, there had been this asking in sentiment. As for the addition, now, of asking in speech: it is upon hearing the brief verse at the opening of the "Skillful Means" chapter, and hearing there in outline that the Buddha's teaching is entirely skillful means, that he then holds fast to this present "skillful means" and doubts that the former teaching was not yet ultimate, and so says, "I do not now know where this meaning tends" — his former doubting sentiment stirred, he voices his threefold request, seeking and asking for the reality of what was formerly taught: his capacity lies in the great vehicle, while his sentiment seeks the reality of what came before. And this same pattern — seeking the great vehicle in sentiment, while asking in speech after the reality of what came before — holds equally for the six perfections and for the shared teaching.

From "at that time Śāriputra" onward is, third, the equal bestowal of the great cart, which has two chapter-headings, two extensive expositions, and two explanations: first, the equality of the children; second, the equality of the cart. Because the children are equal, the mind toward them is equal — this corresponds to all sentient beings equally possessing the buddha-nature, and, the buddha-nature being the same in all, they are equally children. As to the second, the equality of the cart: because the Dharma is equal, there is nothing that is not the Buddha-dharma — this corresponds to every dharma being the Mahāyāna, and, the Mahāyāna being the same throughout, the cart bestowed is equally the great cart. And as for the phrase "gave to each": each is given according to his own former practice — the four noble truths, the six perfections, and all the immeasurable dharmas — with the truth revealed to each according to his own former practice; because their former practice differs, it says "to each," and because all alike are the Mahāyāna, it says "the great cart." From "this cart was high and broad" onward, the extensive description of the cart falls into two: first, an extensive account of the cart's substance; next, an explanation of the reason for having this cart. Within the account of the cart's substance, its height and breadth are described first, then the white ox, and afterward its attendants. That this cart, though only a provisional name, should have the mark of being high and broad corresponds to the Tathāgata's knowledge and vision being profound and far-reaching, spanning crosswise to the very limits of the dharma-realm, and penetrating lengthwise to the very source of the three truths — hence it says "high and broad." "Adorned with every kind of jewel" corresponds to being embellished by the ten thousand practices. "Encircled by railings" corresponds to the dhāraṇī that upholds the ten thousand forms of goodness and wards off every evil. "Hung with bells on every side" corresponds to the fourfold eloquence that transforms beings below. "Spread above with a canopy" corresponds to the four immeasurable states of mind, since, among the myriad virtues, compassion is the very highest, covering all things universally. "Decorated with every kind of rare and marvelous jewel" means that the ten thousand true and real forms of goodness adorn this same compassion — the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says, "when loving-kindness is furnished with the ten powers and the fearlessnesses, it is called the Tathāgata's own loving-kindness, and within this loving-kindness the practice of giving and the rest is carried out," and so on. "Strung with jeweled cords" corresponds to the four great vows, which make firm the great mind of loving-kindness. "Hung with garlands of flowers" corresponds to the four means of attraction and the spiritual powers, which delight and stir sentient beings, and also corresponds to the wondrous garland of the seven factors of awakening. "Spread thick with cushions" corresponds to the cultivation, refinement, and permeation of every form of meditative absorption, layered thick and soft. "Fitted with a crimson pillow": when a cart is driven and set in motion, wherever it arrives it requires this support to steady it — this corresponds to being in motion and yet still, being still and yet in motion. If it is the pillow within the cart, then it is for resting the body and the head — this corresponds to how the samādhi of a single practice brings to rest the wisdom of all modes and every practice. "Crimson" is a red radiance, corresponding to the dharma beyond all discrimination.

"Drawn by a white ox" corresponds to the undefiled prajñā that is able to guide the four truths, the twelvefold chain of conditions, and the perfections through every one of the ten thousand practices, all the way to sarvajña. White is the source of every color, and corresponds to what is fundamentally pure and undefiled from the outset; that its substance is furnished with the ten thousand virtues corresponds to "its skin sleek," and that it is not stained by affliction corresponds to "and clean." Again, the four foundations of mindfulness are the white ox itself; and, within the four right efforts, the fullness of goodness in both past and present corresponds to "its skin sleek," while the exhaustion of evil in both past and present corresponds to "and clean." The four bases of supernormal power match the practitioner's own mind, corresponding to "its form handsome." "Sinew" corresponds to the five faculties, which stand firm, in the sense of giving rise to further growth. "Strength" corresponds to the five powers, which overcome obstacles, in the sense of vigorous function. "Walking level and even" corresponds to concentration and wisdom held in balance, and also corresponds to the seven factors of awakening kept in equilibrium.

"Swift as the wind" corresponds to journeying along the eightfold noble path, arriving swiftly at sarvajña. "Servants for its escort" correspond to the pāramitā of skillful means, which is able to bend and adapt itself, following and attending upon people, sent to serve them — every māra, every non-Buddhist teaching, and the lesser practices of the two vehicles all follow and are put to use by the wisdom of skillful means, and hence the Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, "they are all my attendants"; and again, at the stage of the fruit, the spiritual powers that carry out one's service at will are likewise these servants for the escort.

Next, from "why is this" onward, explaining the reason for having this cart: because his wealth and treasuries overflow, this corresponds to the perfect fullness of merit and wisdom at the stage of the fruit, called "immeasurable wealth." The treasuries filled to overflowing are the treasury of practice and the treasury of principle: that every dharma tends toward giving, morality, forbearance, and the rest, without exception, is the tathāgatagarbha spoken of in terms of practice; and that every dharma tends toward the aggregates, sense-fields, elements, faculties, and objects, without exception, is the tathāgatagarbha made clear in terms of principle. Practicing this practice and this principle for oneself is called "filled"; transforming others by it is called "overflowing." The fullness of real wisdom is called "filled"; the function of provisional wisdom is called "overflowing." Entering the middle way is called "filled"; illuminating both at once is called "overflowing." Not only are the treasuries many, but every one of them overflows as well — what dharma, then, is not the Mahāyāna? Hence the great vehicle is immeasurable. From "and so he had this thought" onward is the extensive clarification of the equality of the mind; the text falls into two: first, the extensive statement of the equality of the mind; second, its explanation. As to the extensive statement of the equality of the mind: because his wealth is immeasurable and his children are treated without partiality, the mind toward them is therefore equal; if he were wealthy but they were not his children, or if they were his children but he were poor, equality could not be attained. Now, "the great cart of the seven treasures, in immeasurable number" — whether in teaching or in practice, all alike are the Mahāyāna — this is precisely his abundant wealth. "Giving to each without any difference between them" means revealing the truth without shifting anyone from his own former practice — just as Śāriputra, through wisdom, opens the Buddha's knowledge and vision and is furnished with the entire Buddha-dharma, while Mahāmaudgalyāyana, through meditative absorption, likewise opens the Buddha's knowledge and vision and is furnished with the entire Buddha-dharma, and it is the same, by this pattern, for every other disciple. And in the Vaipulya and Prajñāpāramitā teachings, the mindfulnesses, the right efforts, the faculties, the powers, and the factors of awakening — every one of these differing names alike reveals true reality, and it is the same throughout every dharma — hence it is called immeasurable.

From "why is this? because I" onward is the explanation of the two equalities. The first explains the abundance of his wealth: "it would suffice even for an entire kingdom, how much more so for my own children" corresponds to how the great, perfect cause encompasses both good and evil alike — how much more, then, does the Buddha's knowledge and vision encompass them? The next explains the equality of the children: even those who are not his children would be provided for in full, how much more so those who are his own children — this corresponds to how the Buddha brings across even those with whom he has no karmic affinity, how much more, then, those children with whom he does have this affinity. The passage may be understood by tracing through it in this way. From "at that time the children each rode in a great cart" onward is, fourth, their joy at attaining what they wished for, which parallels acceptance, practice, awakening, and entry above: they had originally sought the goat-cart, the deer-cart, and the water-buffalo cart, hoping only to come out of the cycle of segmented birth-and-death, and now they have obtained the white ox, exhausting even the birth-and-death of transformation itself, far exceeding what they had originally hoped for — how could they not rejoice?

From "what do you think of this" onward is, fourth, the parable of freedom from falsehood, which corresponds to the Dharma-king's freedom from any deception: first, the question; second, the answer; third, the recounting and praise. The question is as the text has it. From "Śāriputra said" onward is, second, the answer, which falls into two: first, freedom from falsehood in the escape from danger, also called freedom from falsehood in outweighing the light with the heavy; second, freedom from falsehood in not going against the original intention, also called freedom from falsehood in exceeding the original hope. Each of these in turn falls into three: the statement of the point, its explanation, and its confirming conclusion. The statement concerning escape from danger is as the text has it. From "why is this" onward is, second, the explanation: life is heavy and the body is light, and to preserve the whole body and escape the fire is already to have attained a great treasure, rescuing what matters most, one's very life — how, then, could there be any falsehood in this?

The conclusion: to escape the fire of the eight forms of suffering and preserve whole the body of the five aspects of the dharma-body is already a great treasure — how much more so, then, the perfect cause of the great vehicle's life of wisdom cultivated in the presence of twenty thousand buddhas, and the accomplished opening of the Buddha's knowledge and vision — how could this possibly be false? Next, from "World-Honored One, if" onward is, second, freedom from falsehood in not going against the original intention. The statement of this point at the outset is that, knowing from the start there was no real three, the intention was that they should not slander the truth, and, not slandering it, they had already not gone against the original intention.

The explanation says: knowing from the start there was no real lesser vehicle, the intention was that they should not disparage it and thereby fall into evil, and, there being no cause for disparagement, they do not fall into the evil fruit — hence not giving them the small cart does not go against the original intention. The conclusion says: knowing of himself that his wealth is immeasurable, and wishing to benefit his children, he gives them the one great cart, exceeding their original hope — hence there is no falsehood in this. The conclusion of the earlier chapter, speaking of rescue by skillful means, corresponds to the power of severance and spiritual attainment; the conclusion of the latter chapter, speaking of immeasurable wealth, corresponds to the power of wisdom and eloquent explanation. The former is freedom from falsehood because the children are treated equally; the latter is freedom from falsehood because the wealth is equally bestowed.

From "the Buddha said to Śāriputra" onward is, third, the recounting and praise — the two occurrences of "excellent" recount these two aspects of freedom from falsehood.

Question: why does the Buddha not declare this freedom from falsehood himself?

Answer: the Buddha promised three and gave one — for him to declare it himself would be difficult to accept; but for Śāriputra to declare it free of falsehood makes it easy to accept as trustworthy.

From "Śāriputra, the Tathāgata is likewise so" onward is, second, the matching correlation. The master of Guangzhai [Fayun] opens out ten similes, but matches only seven of them, leaving three unmatched; and of the seven he does match, only five are correctly matched, while, taking the fifth together with the eighth, the seventh and the ninth go unmatched — from this one may know that his ten similes are elaborate but do not hold together. Here, the general and the specific parables are together matched: within the general parable there are six points, and the present text matches every one of them, though not quite in their original order. The first now matches the first above: above, the elder's name, conduct, rank, title, and virtuous deeds are matched by saying, "the Tathāgata is likewise so" — first matching rank and title, since the Tathāgata's immeasurable virtuous titles have already been outlined in ten senses as explained above. "Every world" takes the place as that which determines the name and conduct; above it spoke of the "kingdom, city, and village," matched here simply by "every world," referring in general to both the realm shared in common and the realm with residue of past karma — both being, in their own substance, realms of wondrous form and wondrous mind as their retribution; the Tathāgata responds throughout all three realms, and this is precisely "every world," matching "the kingdom, city, and village" above.

From "amid every fear" onward matches the earlier praise of his inward and outward virtues: inwardly, his advanced years and failing strength, matched by his understanding having grown all the greater, correspond to the Tathāgata's wisdom and severance; that he is forever free of every fear and of ignorance matches the earlier advanced years and failing strength that display the virtue of severance. "Having accomplished immeasurable knowledge and vision" matches his advanced years displaying the virtue of wisdom; and "power, fearlessness," and the rest match his outward virtue, the immeasurable wealth, above.

"Spiritual power" means that, deeply cultivating meditative absorption, one attains spiritual powers — this matches the earlier field. "The power of wisdom" means that wisdom necessarily illuminates its object, just as the body has its dwelling-place — this matches the earlier house. "Fully possessed of the pāramitā of skillful means" matches the earlier servants and attendants. From "great loving-kindness and great compassion" onward is, second, matching the fourth point above: loving-kindness and compassion are the root of the transforming activity carried out, and "all" refers to the five destinies, forever covered by this loving-kindness and compassion — this matches the earlier five hundred people. From "and so was born within the burning house of the three realms" onward is, third, matching the second point above, his household. From "for the sake of delivering sentient beings" onward is, fourth, matching the sixth point above, sentient beings possessing the karmic affinity — those closest are delivered first, matching the earlier thirty children. From "birth, old age, sickness, and death" and the rest onward is, fifth, matching the fifth point above, the parable of the fire suddenly breaking out. From "teaching and transforming them so that they attain awakening" onward is, sixth, matching the third point above: the teaching is able to express the principle, and, seeking out the principle, giving rise to practice, one thereupon attains awakening — hence it may be known that teaching and principle are used together, matching the earlier parable of there being only the one gate. If, in expounding this, one wishes to make what comes before and after intelligible to one another, one must, point by point, take up the original parable of the "Skillful Means" chapter and check each point against it — and this holds true for what follows as well.

From "seeing sentient beings" onward is, second, the matching of the specific parable. The specific parable has four parts, and here the first, the parable of seeing the fire, is matched.

The parable had three points of sense but four parts in its text; the correlation likewise has four parts, except that in the parable the terror comes first and the children's attachment to their place of play comes afterward, while in the correlation not perceiving and not being startled comes first and the removal of suffering and the bestowal of joy comes afterward — each manifests in turn, showing that their order is not fixed. Here, taking the single word "sees": first, this matches the first point above, the eye capable of seeing, which is precisely the Tathāgata's own quiescent, illuminating eye of wisdom, capable of seeing. From "sentient beings, on account of birth, old age" onward is, second, matching the second point above, the fire seen arising on every side: here the eight forms of suffering are made clear as the fire, four of these forms of suffering being as the text has it; "greedily seeking after and pursuing" is the suffering of not obtaining what one seeks; "and afterward undergoing rebirth in hell, or among the heavens, or among humans" is the suffering of the five aggregates; and being parted from what one loves and meeting with what one resents are as the text has it. These eight forms of suffering arise from the four inversions on every one of the four sides. From "sentient beings, sunk within it" onward is, third, matching the fourth point above, the fire that is seen: the children's not perceiving and not knowing, and the rest — because they do not contemplate suffering and its origin, they are "not wearied" by it, and because they do not contemplate the path and cessation, they "do not seek liberation." "Though they encounter great suffering, they do not regard it as any affliction" matches the earlier "the mind feels no weariness or distress, and has no intention of seeking to come out." From "the Buddha, seeing this, then had this thought" onward is, fourth, matching the third point above, the arising of terror — the sense of "though I am able to come safely out through this burning gate." "He ought to remove their suffering and hardship" is precisely the power of great compassion; "and bestow upon them immeasurable joy" is precisely the power of great loving-kindness.

From "the Tathāgata then had this further thought" onward matches the second, the parable of setting aside the low bench and using the cart. The parable above had both persuasion and admonition, but here only the persuasion is matched, not the admonition; in the dharma-teaching, too, only the persuasion toward good is spoken of, not the admonition against evil — persuasion toward practice is primary, and admonition against evil is secondary, and, moreover, persuasion toward good is itself admonition against evil, and admonition against evil is itself persuasion toward good; here, in matching the persuasion toward good, one thereby knows that the admonition against evil is matched as well. The text of persuasion above had three parts: contemplating its fitness, the absence of capacity, and the ceasing of the transforming activity; contemplating its fitness involved the body, the hands, the flower-basket, and the rest. "By spiritual power alone" matches the earlier strength of the body; "and the power of wisdom" matches the earlier strength of the hands; "praising the Tathāgata's knowledge and vision" matches the flower-basket; and "power and fearlessness" matches the bench and the table. If the Buddha, at his very first appearance in the world, had used these to gauge sentient beings, they could not have been brought across by this means. From "why is this" onward explains why they could not be brought across, matching the second point above, the parable of the children not accepting the persuasion: it is precisely because the obstruction of the five turbidities is so grave that they have not yet escaped birth-and-death and the other fires, and the subtle wonder of the great vehicle cannot gain entry — hence it says, "by what means could they ever comprehend the Buddha's wisdom," and this single phrase matches the earlier "there is only the one gate, and it, moreover, is narrow and small" — being small, they cannot comprehend this wisdom, and their failure to comprehend this wisdom is precisely the sense in which practice itself constitutes the gate. "Just as that elder, though his body and hands had strength, did not make use of them" matches the third point above, the setting-aside of this well-intentioned enticement, the ceasing of the transforming activity for want of capacity, and "or they may fall and be burned by the fire."

This text has neither the parable's words of setting-aside nor its original basis, and yet the sense of the transforming activity ceasing is entirely plain. The text on the ceasing of the transforming activity falls into two: first, citing the preceding and following three parables; next, the direct matching of the ceasing of the transforming activity itself. Citing the one preceding parable directly matches the ceasing of the transforming activity; citing the two following parables indirectly completes this same sense.

"Though he had strength in his body and hands, he did not make use of them" cites the earlier parable of the body and hands failing to save the children, in order to match the ceasing of the transforming activity — the Tathāgata, too, held back the great transformation. From "but only by earnest" onward cites the parable of teaching the three; and from "and only afterward gave" onward cites, third, the parable of equally bestowing the great cart. The sixteen characters following "the Tathāgata is likewise so" directly match, third, the ceasing of the transforming activity. From "by wisdom and skillful means alone" onward matches the parable of using the cart to save and bring across; the text above had four parts, and here there are likewise four. From "by wisdom alone" onward matches the first, contemplating the fitness of the three carts. From "taught the three vehicles" onward matches the second above, the father's knowledge of what his children had formerly delighted in. From "and spoke, saying" onward matches the third above, the praise of the rarity of the three carts; the text above had persuasion, demonstration, and confirmation, and here, too, all three are matched, though not in their original order, the first here matching the second above. From "you should not delight in dwelling within the three realms" onward shows the place of exhaustion and non-arising: "the three realms" shows the truth of suffering; from "do not be greedy for coarse and worthless things" through "craving arises" and the rest shows the truth of origination; and "come out of the three realms quickly" shows cessation and the path — cessation and the path show precisely that, beyond the three realms, there is the fruit of wisdom and severance belonging to the three vehicles, and so beings are made to come out of the three realms quickly and thereby attain the three vehicles, the three vehicles taking cessation and the path exactly as their essence. "I now guarantee this to you myself; it will never be false" is, second, matching the third point above, the certain granting, confirming the attainment of freedom from falsehood. From "and spoke further, saying: you should know" onward is, third, matching the first point above, the praise of this rarity: that these three vehicles are the skillful means of all the buddhas, drawing beings onward according to due form, is why they are praised by every sage. Attaining the wisdom of non-arising is called "freedom"; attaining the wisdom of exhaustion is called "being unbound"; that one's births are ended and one no longer receives further existence is called "depending on nothing further"; and that what was to be done is done, and the holy life is established, is called "seeking nothing further."

From "if there are beings who, within themselves, possess the nature of wisdom" onward matches, fourth, the parable of the children attaining what they wished for; above there were the four stages of true and approximate realization, and here, too, all four are matched, except that above the treatment was general and here it is given separately for each of the three vehicles, every one of the four stages being drawn from and matched to the parable above. "Possessing within themselves the nature of wisdom" means that their former practice of the three vehicles and their delight in them has become the very nature of wisdom belonging to the three vehicles, and hence the Buddha bestows upon them the teaching of the three vehicles. From "possessing within themselves this wisdom" through "hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, believe and accept it" matches the earlier "suited to their wishes" at hearing what their father spoke of, the playthings they loved — matching the earlier wisdom born of hearing. "With earnest diligence" matches the earlier "each grew bold and eager" in their mind — the wisdom born of reflection. "Diligently" matches the second point above, "pushing past one another" — "pushing" is pushing forward the principle, and "past" is pushing away evil; because evil is driven off there is diligence, and because the principle is made clear there is progress — this matches the wisdom born of cultivation, above.

"Wishing to come out quickly" matches the third point above, "competing, together, racing to run." "This is called the śrāvaka vehicle" matches the fourth point above, "competing to be first out of the burning house." The practice of all three vehicles alike possesses these same four stages. As for the pratyekabuddha's seeking the wisdom that arises of itself: the pratyekabuddha is one who practices through the Dharma, hearing the teaching from others but little, while working out its meaning for himself a great deal — hence he is likened to the deer, since the deer does not rely upon others. "Arising of itself" means entering through the gate of the twelvefold chain of conditions, this gate being present of itself from the outset, not something made by any buddha, deva, or human being — hence it is called "the wisdom that arises of itself"; and, because it does not depend on hearing from another, it is likewise called "the wisdom that arises of itself." The bodhisattva is said to seek the wisdom of all modes, which is unlike the two lesser vehicles, being precisely the Buddha's own wisdom; when the bodhisattva looks toward this in cultivating the cause, this is exactly the sense in which the great vehicle carries all the lesser vehicles together within it.

From "just as that elder, seeing his children safely come out" onward matches, third, the parable of equally bestowing the great cart. The text above had four parts: escape from danger; asking for carts; equal bestowal; and joy. Here, briefly, the second and fourth are not separately matched — instead, the sense of escape from danger is matched together with asking for carts, and the sense of equal bestowal is matched together with joy. Here, escape from danger and the bestowal of the cart are first cited together as a pair, and only then matched together as a pair. From "just as that elder" onward cites escape from danger; from "considering his own wealth" onward cites equal bestowal; and from "the Tathāgata is likewise so" onward matches escape from danger. "Gate" carries three senses: the sense of entering, the sense of coming out, and the sense of the distinct teaching. If the three realms are the house and the five aggregates are the dwelling, then it is by confusion over form and mind that one enters into form and mind — this is entering the house, the gate of birth-and-death. If it is taken as coming out, then this is the vehicle coming out from the three realms, which is precisely receiving, as one's gate, what is expressed beneath the shared teaching. If it is the distinct sense, then it is precisely receiving, as one's gate, what is expressed beneath the distinct teaching. Here, speaking of the gate of the Buddha's teaching, this is precisely the Tripiṭaka and the shared teachings together — the principle beneath these teachings together serves as the gate, by which one comes to escape the three realms and thereby escape danger. From "the Tathāgata then had this thought" onward matches the equal bestowal. The equal bestowal above first listed the two chapter-headings, then gave the two extensive expositions, and third, the explanation — here the matching is somewhat abbreviated, and the text is not quite in its original order. From "the Tathāgata then had this thought: I possess immeasurable power of wisdom" onward is, first, matching the fourth point above, the explanation of the reason for having the cart — the earlier text spoke of his wealth being immeasurable, his treasuries filled to overflowing. From "all these sentient beings are my own children" onward is, second, matching the fifth point above, the extensive statement of the equality of the mind — the earlier text spoke of his wealth being without limit, and that he should not give inferior, lesser carts. "Not allowing anyone to attain extinction alone, but bringing them all to the very extinction of the Tathāgata himself" — is this not precisely matching the sense of this equality of mind? From "these sentient beings, freed from the three realms" onward is, third, matching the first point above, the chapter-heading on the equality of mind — the earlier text spoke of giving to each of his children equally. From "the buddhas' meditative concentration, liberation, and the rest" onward is, fourth, matching the second point above, the chapter-heading that announces the cart. From "all of one single mark, one single kind" onward is, fifth, matching the third point above, the direct, extensive description of the great cart, matching throughout the earlier description of its height and breadth, down to its servants and attendants. "One single mark" is true reality itself, that is, the dharma-body; "one single kind" is the seed-wisdom. Prajñā is able to give rise to pure and wondrous joy, and this joy is free of suffering, and is therefore called liberation. The three virtues, high and broad, complete and fully adorned, gathering in every virtue, are called the Mahāyāna — this matches the earlier parable of the great cart.

From "just as that elder, with the three carts" onward matches, fourth, the parable of freedom from falsehood. The answer above had two parts: preserving the whole of life; and not going against the original intention, each of these further having three distinctions — here, however, only not going against the original intention is matched, together with preserving the whole of life. Why is this? The Buddha's intention was, from the start, to remove the five turbidities, and once the five turbidities are exhausted, the great good is thereby preserved whole of itself. Not going against the original intention, above, had three parts: the statement; then the explanation; and third, the confirmation — here, only the explanation and the confirmation are matched. First cited is the enticement of the three carts, and afterward the bestowal of the great cart is likened to it; next, the Tathāgata's first teaching of the three vehicles as guidance is matched, and, only afterward, the great vehicle alone — this matches the explanation of not going against the original intention, the earlier text saying, "he had formed this intention beforehand: I shall use skillful means to bring my children out." From "why is this" onward matches the third point above, the confirming conclusion, freedom from falsehood — namely, that the elder, knowing of himself that his wealth was immeasurable, and wishing to benefit his children, promised three and gave one, and this was no falsehood. This explanation differs slightly from the one before: there, the sense was that the children's intended coming-out did not lie in the three carts themselves, so that, once they had come out, even had nothing further been given, this too would not have been false. Here, it is made clear instead that the Tathāgata's appearance in the world was, from the start, meant to teach the great vehicle, but, because those of lesser wisdom were attached to and delighted in the three realms, he enticed them by skillful means, and, once they had come out, gave them the great vehicle after all — this exactly matches his original intention, and hence it is said that he is able to give sentient beings the Dharma of the great vehicle, only they are not all able to receive it in full.

Where beings are able to receive it, as in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, the great vehicle is given to them directly, without waiting to open the one into the three; where they are unable to receive it, then, by the power of skillful means, the one buddha-vehicle is distinguished and spoken of as three — the three arising from sentient beings themselves, and not from the Buddha's original intention. It is by this explanation, then, that not going against the original intention, and freedom from falsehood, are both established.