The Origin Gate and the Lotus Flower

Second, as for near benefit: rising from the very place of quiescent extinction, first accomplishing correct enlightenment, immediately turning the wheel of the Dharma, sounding both the poison drum and the heaven drum, benefiting sentient beings up until, but not yet including, the Lotus Sūtra itself — this benefit, too, carries both shallow and deep degrees, and this death, too, carries both the drawn-out and the swift. Why is this? The teaching is fundamentally suited to the condition it meets, and these conditions are, in broad outline, four; the teachings, too, are four; and the masters of these teachings, too, are four — each alike named the Dharma-king, each complete with the king of samādhis, each breaking through the twenty-five states of existence of himself, benefiting sentient beings through the seven benefits — this follows the same pattern as already explained before.

Again, both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna sūtras clarify that the Buddha, entering the king of samādhis, emits light and teaches the Dharma, and every good or evil destiny's own fruit of suffering thereby obtains benefit — as the Āgamas say, seeing the Buddha's own light and being touched by the Buddha's own hand, the suffering and affliction of the six destinies are, every one, thereby removed and healed. Again, the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says: emitting light, illuminating the sentient beings of hell, their suffering and affliction are removed at once, and they are reborn all the way up to the sixth heaven. Suffering removed is the benefit of the fruit; being reborn in heaven is the benefit of the cause. The Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra names this the benefit of the flower and leaf. Again, when the Buddha emits light, every dark and hidden place becomes greatly bright, and each being there thinks to itself: how could sentient beings suddenly appear here of themselves? This, too, is the benefit of the fruit. This benefit of cause and fruit is a benefit that the masters of all Four Teachings' own buddhas are alike able to bestow.

As for discussing benefit in the particular sense, this differs in its own shallow and deep degrees: the śrāvaka severs the correct affliction, and the pratyekabuddha further encroaches upon its habituated residue — both alike named the middling grass. The bodhisattva subdues confusion, together with delivering sentient beings — hence the sūtra says: "Seeking the World-Honored One's own stage, I too shall become a buddha — practicing diligence and concentration" — this is named the benefit of the superior grass. This, then, is the mark of benefit belonging to the Tripiṭaka teaching's own master, the power of his loving-kindness's own wholesome root. The sūtra says: "If the bodhisattvas' own wisdom is firm and unshakable, fully penetrating through the three realms, seeking the supreme vehicle" — this refers to the three kinds of person alike contemplating no-generation, not merely possessing the previous benefit of analytical wisdom, but, further, possessing a skillful crossing-over, precisely embodying the real — this is the benefit of the small tree's own growth. This, then, is the mark of benefit belonging to the shared teaching's own master. The sūtra says: "There are, further, those who, abiding in dhyāna, attain the power of spiritual transformation, and, hearing that every dharma is empty, their minds are greatly delighted" — abiding in dhyāna means abiding in the nine kinds of great dhyāna; the mind greatly delighted means ascending to the ground of joy, delivering countless koṭis of hundreds of thousands of sentient beings — this is named the great tree's own growth. Not merely possessing the previous benefit of analyzing and embodying cause and fruit, but, further, possessing the distinctly discerned wisdom of the paths, down through the benefit of the wisdom knowing all modes. This, then, is the mark of benefit belonging to the distinct teaching's own master. The sūtra says: "I shall now speak to you of the most real matter" — this is not merely the same as the benefit given before, but, further, possesses the benefit of directly breaking through ignorance and revealing buddha-nature, the ultimate real benefit. This, then, is the mark of benefit belonging to the perfect teaching's own master.

Again, the previous three teachings' own benefit — the lesser does not include the greater, while the greater does include the lesser — this may be understood directly, and so on.

Again, discussed across the Five Flavors: the milk teaching possesses only the four benefits of cause, fruit, the great tree, and the most real matter, without clarifying the three grasses or the single tree, since the Mahāyāna sūtra does not fall into the two vehicles' own hands, as if they were deaf or mute. The cream teaching possesses only the three grasses and the rest, four benefits. The curdled-butter teaching is fully complete with all seven benefits. The clarified-butter teaching lacks the analytical dharma's own three grasses, yet possesses the embodying dharma's own seven benefits and the rest. The ghee possesses only the benefit of the most real matter.

Every benefit given before is coarse; the present benefit alone is wondrous. Near benefit, from quiescent extinction all the way up to, but not including, the Lotus Sūtra, applies to the bodhisattva still within the birth-body, who obtains only the first eight rounds' own benefit, and does not yet obtain the ninth or tenth benefit. There is, further, a sense in which it may be obtained: this is precisely the bodhisattva who, coming from the body of the dharma-nature, enters segmented birth-and-death, forming the retinue born through vow, spiritual power, response, and the rest, advancing to break through ignorance, severing and removing the residual grades — this alone is able to clarify the ninth and tenth rounds' own benefit. Beginning from quiescent extinction and ending at the Lotus Sūtra, this is, in brief, spoken of as the ten benefits.

Question: When a bodhisattva of the Dharma-body hears the response-body buddha teach the Dharma, does the benefit received within the response-body also cause the Dharma-body to obtain benefit?

Answer: It is comparable to polishing a mirror — as the mirror grows clearer, the image reflected within it grows clearer too.

Further question: If, when the response-body hears the Dharma and receives benefit, the Dharma-body, too, receives benefit — then, when the response-body manifests sickness, does the Dharma-body, too, become sick?

Answer: Were this sickness genuinely real, then, when the response-body is sick, the Dharma would be sick too. It is simply that the response-body's own sickness is not real, and, being unreal, the response-body itself has no sickness, and the Dharma-body, too, has no sickness. Again, if the response-body manifests only a slight sickness, one should know that the Dharma-body's own benefit, too, is slight; if the response-body is able to manifest a broad sickness, the Dharma-body's own benefit, too, is broad.

Here, this is resolved through a series of propositions: there is benefit of the fruit without benefit of the cause; benefit of the cause without benefit of the fruit; benefit of both together; and benefit of neither — this may be understood directly from present phenomena.

There is benefit as breaking, benefit as accomplishing, benefit as both breaking and accomplishing, and benefit as neither breaking nor accomplishing. Benefit as neither breaking nor accomplishing is the benefit of coolness; the cause of the four evil destinies is benefit as breaking; the cause of the heaven of neither-perception-nor-non-perception is benefit as accomplishing; the intervening cases are benefit as both accomplishing and breaking, and so on.

There is benefit of the cause that is itself already benefit of the fruit, and benefit of the fruit that is itself already benefit of the cause — this is the sense of transformational birth-and-death, where cause shifts and fruit changes. There is benefit of the cause that does not increase the path, and benefit of the fruit that does not diminish birth — obtaining this benefit of cause and fruit, or not obtaining this benefit of cause and fruit, is the cause and fruit of segmented retribution.

There is benefit of the cause that does increase the path, and benefit of the fruit that does diminish birth — not obtaining this benefit of cause and fruit, or obtaining this benefit of cause and fruit, is the habituated cause and habituated fruit.

There is benefit of the real that is not benefit of the conventional — this is the two vehicles. Benefit of the conventional that is not benefit of the real — this is the bodhisattva of the six pāramitās. There is benefit of the conventional first and benefit of the real afterward — this is the bodhisattva of the six pāramitās. There is benefit of the real first and benefit of the conventional afterward — this is the shared teaching's own bodhisattva. There is benefit of the real and the conventional that is not benefit of the middle, and benefit of the middle that is not benefit of the real and the conventional — this is the distinct teaching. There is benefit of the real that is itself already benefit of the conventional, and is itself already benefit of the middle way as well — this is the perfect teaching.

Third, benefit within the present text: within the present sūtra, all seven benefits are fully present, and yet, though thus differentiated, they are without any difference at all. It is comparable to the sprout, the stem, the branch, and the leaf, each growing differently, and yet all alike growing from this same single ground. The seven benefits are indeed shallow or deep, yet none of them is anything other than the real mark — hence, it is said, differentiated, and yet without difference.

Every other sūtra's own differentiated, coarse benefit alike enters into this present sūtra's own undifferentiated, wondrous benefit — sometimes advancing into a further wondrous benefit, sometimes remaining fixed at its own stage while still becoming wondrous.

As for the benefit of advancing further: what was originally coolness upon the ground now advances and gives rise to the Mahāyāna, understanding of mind made clear and pure — sometimes advancing into the wondrous of contemplative practice, into resemblance, or into a portion of the truth. What was originally the benefit of the cause belonging to humans and devas now advances into resemblance or a portion of the truth. What was originally the benefit of the Hīnayāna's own learner or one beyond learning now advances into breaking through ignorance, the wondrous benefit of a portion of the truth — comparable to an echo entering a horn, turning the small into the great. The shared and distinct teachings' own benefit of advancing follows this same pattern, understood accordingly.

As for the benefit of remaining fixed at its own stage: what was originally a coarse fruit, coolness upon the ground, is itself already the wondrous benefit of principle. Fixed at the coarse benefit of cause, this is itself already the wondrous benefit of contemplative practice. Fixed at the coarse benefit of the learner or one beyond learning, this is itself already the wondrous benefit of resemblance. Opening the coarse, it is itself already the wondrous — there is no need to advance any further at all. The shared and distinct teachings follow this same pattern, understood accordingly.

The benefit of advancing further is precisely clarifying the wondrous benefit set against the coarse, in the relative sense; the benefit of remaining fixed at its own stage is precisely the wondrous benefit in the absolute sense, and so on.

As for judging the retinue through every coarse benefit: the two benefits of fruit and cause are fit to become the retinue born through karma. The middling and superior grasses, and the small tree and the rest, are fit to become the retinue of vow and spiritual power. The great tree onward, once one's own nature is seen, is, every one, subsumed within the retinue born through response, and so on.

As for advancing further or remaining fixed at one's own stage: the wondrous of principle, of the provisional name, and of contemplative practice are fit to become the retinue born through karma. The wondrous of resemblance is fit to become the retinue of vow and spiritual power. A portion of the truth is fit to become the retinue born through response. This is named the mark of benefit belonging to the present sūtra, and so on.

Third, clarifying benefit within the propagation section: this is treated under three headings — first, bringing forth the teacher; second, bringing forth the method; third, bringing forth the benefit.

Those who propagate the sūtra span, in general, both ordinary being and sage alike. If a bodhisattva of the Dharma-body, adorned with the vow, causes this land, other lands, the lower land, and the higher land to obtain the seven, nine, or ten benefits of both the provisional and the real, the merit of this transformation returns to himself, in turn nourishing the Dharma-body, increasing the path and diminishing birth. A bodhisattva still within the birth-body, too, is able to propagate the sūtra in this land and in other lands, causing others to obtain the seven benefits of both the provisional and the real, the merit of this transformation returning to himself, increasing the path and diminishing birth, yet unable to bring benefit to the higher land. Even an ordinary being's own teacher is able to propagate the sūtra in this land, causing others to obtain the seven benefits of both the provisional and the real, the merit of this transformation returning to himself, increasing his own rank. Hence the Sūtra of Innumerable Meanings says: "A guiding teacher who is himself sick, standing upon this shore, nonetheless builds a boat or a raft, and ferries others across to the further shore" — this is precisely this same sense.

Question: An ordinary being is able only to propagate the sūtra for the sake of other ordinary beings, causing them to obtain benefit — is he also able to cause a sage to obtain benefit?

Answer: The sage is of two kinds — first, the Hīnayāna sage; second, the Mahāyāna sage. As the sūtra says: "If there is one who has genuinely attained arhatship, giving rise to the notion that he has already reached extinction — should he encounter a further buddha, he shall thereupon come to full resolution." Nanyue says: the first stage of reliance is named "a further buddha," since ignorance, not yet broken through, is why he is named "further"; being able to know the Tathāgata's own secret treasury, deeply awakening to the perfect principle, is why he is named "buddha." One who, after the Buddha's own extinction, has genuinely attained arhatship, has not yet fully resolved the provisional and the real. Should he encounter the first stage of reliance, he is thereby able to come to full resolution, accomplishing the benefit of resemblance, accomplishing the benefit of advancing into a portion of the truth. This text serves to prove, in turn, that an ordinary being's own teacher is able to propagate the sūtra for the sake of a Hīnayāna sage and obtain this same benefit. The sūtra says: "A person of purified six faculties who teaches the Dharma — every buddha throughout the ten directions delights to behold him, and each turns toward that very place to teach the Dharma there; every deva and nāga, hearing what he teaches, is greatly delighted" — this, too, is explicit textual proof of an ordinary being's own teacher teaching the Dharma for the sake of a great sage.

Second, bringing forth the method: the method for propagating the sūtra is clarified by bringing forth the sage's own words. The text says: "If sentient beings do not believe and accept it, one ought to instruct, teach, benefit, and delight them within some further, deeper dharma." "Further" here bears the sense of expedient means; "deeper" here clarifies the middle way. Bearing expedient means while clarifying the middle way is precisely the distinct teaching. If it is merely expedient means, without clarifying the middle way, this is precisely the shared or Tripiṭaka teaching and the rest.

The sūtra's own text permits using the distinct teaching to assist the perfect; by this same reasoning, the shared teaching, too, ought to be used to assist the perfect. Again, the text says: "Further, by means of a different expedient means, assisting to reveal the truth of ultimate meaning" — how, then, could this exclude the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings? It is simply that the bodhisattva, having already attained real wisdom, likewise attains the sense of the provisional as well, neither confusing the real with the provisional, nor supposing the provisional to be the real; it is simply that, propagating the real, and sentient beings not believing it, one must set forth the provisional for the sake of the real, using the shallow to assist the deep, without any falsehood involved. This, then, is using both the provisional and the real together to propagate the sūtra. The "Peaceful Practices" chapter says: "Should there be a difficult question, do not answer with the Hīnayāna's own dharma, but explain it only through the Mahāyāna, causing them to attain the wisdom knowing all modes" — this, then, causes the real alone to be used in propagating the sūtra. And it is also said: "Teach according to what is fitting" — this, too, does not exclude the provisional at all. People today, propagating the Dharma, either use the great exclusively, or use the small exclusively — both alike fail to grasp the Buddha's own intent. One who propagates the sūtra well uses each according to what the moment calls for — though his mouth may speak the provisional, his inner mind never departs from the real dharma. So long as sentient beings are caused to obtain the seven benefits of both the provisional and the real, this alone brings propagation of the sūtra to its fullest expression.

Third, bringing forth the benefit: yet the benefit of propagation does not wait for the third, propagation section, before benefit can be clarified — already, within the correct-teaching section itself, the future benefit of propagating the sūtra has been pointed to. After the "Parable" chapter, at the end of the "Prediction" chapter, and within the "Teacher of the Dharma" chapter, the merit and benefit of propagating the sūtra is, in every case, clarified: whoever, after the Tathāgata's own extinction, hears even a single verse is given, in turn, the prediction of the threefold bodhi — how much more, then, one who propagates and proclaims it! One who quietly teaches it to a single person alone already possesses abundant merit — how much more, then, one who broadly teaches it before an assembly! Passing it along, turn by turn, until the fiftieth person's own sympathetic joy is already beyond the very domain of the two vehicles — how much more, then, one who hears it with joy at the very first assembly! Never-Disparaging, propagating a single phrase, already attained the purification of the six faculties — how much more, then, one who propagates it in full! The merit of a disciple of the first rank propagating the sūtra cannot be illustrated even by immeasurable koṭis of eons spent practicing the five pāramitās. How much more, then, the fifth rank — could the empty space of the ten directions possibly have any edge or limit? The five ranks' own propagation of the sūtra is already beyond exhaustion, each of them said to "enter the Tathāgata's own room, don the Tathāgata's own robe, and sit upon the Tathāgata's own seat." The Tathāgata's own dharma is, in every case, beyond number and measure — how much more, then, the eighty thousand great beings, the bodhisattvas numerous as motes of dust across a thousand worlds — could this possibly be spoken of in full? Could this possibly be known in full? Only the Tathāgata himself, and none other, is able to know it entirely.

An ordinary being's own teacher, propagating the sūtra, causes an ordinary benefit of the seven kinds. The sūtra says: "This sūtra is the excellent medicine for the sickness of the people of Jambudvīpa; whoever hears this sūtra shall neither age nor die" — within old age and death, one recognizes the real mark of old age and death itself. Old age and death are the very dharma of fruit and retribution; recognizing their real mark is itself obtaining the wondrous benefit of coolness in principle, and is likewise the benefit of the fruit. Being able to uphold this sūtra, one is thereby born within the land of peace and bliss, dwelling within a lotus flower, no longer troubled by craving and desire — this, too, is being free of the ten disturbances, this being the bodhisattva path skillfully practiced; this, too, is named the benefit in name, and is likewise the wondrous of contemplative practice, and is likewise the wondrous of cultivating the cause. Attaining the dhāraṇī, able to turn the provisional and enter emptiness, this is precisely the benefit of the inferior, middling, and superior medicinal herbs and the rest, and is likewise the benefit of the small tree; attaining the dhāraṇī of a hundred thousand revolutions, this is the benefit of the great tree; attaining the dhāraṇī of the sound of the Dharma's own skillful means, this is the real benefit of resemblance; if one hears it for even a single instant, one thereby attains the ultimate threefold bodhi at once — this is precisely the real benefit itself. Again, it is like a person digging into a high plateau: seeing dry earth is the benefit of the inferior, middling, and superior medicinal herbs. Seeing mud is the benefit of the small tree and the great tree. Reaching water is the benefit of the most real matter. Even in the final five hundred years, this same benefit is still obtained — how much more, then, in the present age, propagating the sūtra to benefit others — how could the seven benefits possibly be absent?

Fourth, the contemplation of mind: the Hīnayāna clarifies that, when a mind arises but has not yet set body or speech into motion, this is not yet named karma. The Mahāyāna clarifies that, in a single instant, an offense is committed, and its calamity plunges one into the uninterrupted hell. The uninterrupted hell is the place of the greatest suffering's own retribution, and a single instant is the swiftest place at which karma may arise. A hasty mind, stirring only briefly, already accomplishes grave karma — how much more, then, the nine dharma-realms, none of which is left incomplete? If one is able to purify the mind, every karma is thereby purified at once.

As for the contemplation of the pure mind: this means contemplating every mind as, in every case, a dharma born through causes and conditions, at once empty, at once provisional, at once the middle — the single mind's own threefold contemplation. Through this contemplation, one knows the mind to be no mind at all, the mind possessing only a name; one knows the dharma to be no dharma at all, the dharma possessing no self; one knows the name to be without any name, and this itself is the very meaning of "self" and the rest; one knows the dharma to be without any dharma, and this itself is the very meaning of "nirvāṇa" and the rest. When this understanding arises, with respect to the self and what belongs to the self, it is like a cloud, like an illusion — this is precisely the benefit of coolness upon the ground. Faith, reverence, shame, and conscience, every wholesome mind arising, and, with respect to emptiness, the provisional, and the middle, the mind possessing courage — this is precisely the benefit of the cause. The mind, moment after moment, corresponding to emptiness-as-such, is the benefit of the middling and superior grasses, the small tree, and the rest. The mind, moment after moment, corresponding to the provisional-as-such, is the benefit of the great tree. The mind, moment after moment, corresponding to the middle-as-such, is the benefit of the most real matter.

Within a single thought-moment's own beneficial mind, these seven distinctions are present, and so on.

Now, a person who contemplates no-generation exclusively, believing only in the mind's own benefit and not believing in the external buddha's own majestic assistance, falls into the delusion of self-nature alone. Again, a person who believes exclusively in the external buddha's own assistance, without seeking benefit within his own mind, falls into the delusion of other-nature alone. The delusion of both together, and the delusion of neither cause at all, may likewise be understood accordingly.

As for the person deluded by self-nature alone: one's own eyes see, in the world, that whoever is burdened too heavily to advance receives assistance from some external force to help them onward — how, then, could one fail to believe that the one whose own offenses and defilements are heavy likewise receives the Buddha's own majestic power, established to cause the contemplative wisdom to obtain benefit? Again, from where, precisely, did you yourself obtain this very inner contemplation of no-generation? From a teacher? From a sūtra? From your own awakening alone? A teacher and a sūtra are both, precisely, your own external condition. If it came from your own awakening alone, you must nonetheless have been assisted in a hidden way, and you simply fail to recognize this debt of gratitude — like a tree that does not recognize its own debt to the sun, the moon, the wind, and the rain. Again, there are three matters through which you fail to recognize this external assistance: first, not believing the teaching; second, not personally seeking this external assistance through one's own practice; third, not teaching others. This is simply your own failure to believe — it is not that this external benefit is absent. The sūtra says: neither internal nor external, and yet both internal and external. Being internal, every buddha's own liberation is to be sought within the mind itself.

Being external, every buddha's own mindful protection is present. How, then, could one fail to believe in this external benefit! And so on. The delusion of other-nature, of both together, and of neither cause at all, may likewise be understood by this same pattern. Being provisional-as-such, there is no self-nature; being empty-as-such, there is no other-nature; being the middle-as-such, there is no shared nature; illuminating both at once, there is no natureless-cause nature either, and so on.

Fifth, closing by resolving into the provisional and the real: Guangzhai says: "Illuminating the object of the threefold-threefold is the provisional; illuminating the object of the fourfold-one is the real." Here, this explanation is not adopted. Since the Mahāyāna's own fruit is taken as the great principle, why should the Hīnayāna's own fruit not likewise be taken as a lesser principle? That position defends itself by saying: the lesser fruit is not real, and hence its fruit is not taken as principle. If this is so, then the provisional teaching and its provisional practitioners — how could they ever be the real at all? Since a provisional teaching and its practitioners are already established, why should a provisional principle not likewise be established? Again, if the provisional possessed no principle at all, the conventional ought not to be named a truth — yet, since it is already spoken of as the conventional truth, the provisional ought not to be confined to three alone. As for the real possessing four: cause and fruit are two distinct dharmas — how, then, could these two dharmas be taken as a single principle? The sūtra says: "Contemplating every dharma as the real mark, neither acting nor discriminating" — how, then, could cause and fruit be discriminated as a single principle? If this is so, there would then be no real mark at all, and this would be what Māra himself teaches — hence, that same explanation is not adopted.

Here, it is clarified that illuminating the object of the ten coarse aspects is the provisional, and illuminating the object of the ten wondrous aspects is the real. The ten coarse aspects are precisely the previous nine dharma-realms, the three causal conditions, and every other coarse truth and wisdom, down through coarse benefit — all of these, alike, are named the provisional. Illuminating the ten wondrous aspects — namely, the wondrous of principle, down through the wondrous of benefit — being wondrous, these are named the real. Again, it is for the sake of the ten wondrous aspects that the ten coarse aspects are opened forth in the first place — comparable to the flower existing for the sake of the lotus seed-pod, the true intent lying in the seed-pod, though the seed-pod itself remains hidden, not yet manifest. Within some further, deeper dharma, instructing, teaching, benefiting, and delighting — this further dharma possesses the real, though the real itself remains unrevealed. The text says: "The Tathāgata's own skillful intent is difficult to fathom." Again, once the flower opens, the seed-pod is revealed — this illustrates opening the ten coarse aspects to reveal the ten wondrous aspects: there is then no further coarse remaining at all, only the one great matter, the inconceivable state, down through benefit itself. Sengzhao says: "From the very buddha-land at the start through to the offering of the Dharma at the end, every one of these clarifies the inconceivable." Here, too, this same pattern applies: once the coarse has already been opened, beginning to end, all is wondrous.

Again, discussed in terms of the Five Flavors: within the milk flavor, the ten wondrous aspects, taken as conditioned, clarify the ten coarse aspects; opening the ten coarse aspects to reveal the ten wondrous aspects thereby makes one provisional and one real. If discussed in terms of the four siddhāntas, this makes six provisional and two real. If discussed in terms of the four gates, this makes twelve provisional and four real.

As for the Tripiṭaka teaching, taken as entirely provisional — the phantom city, the willow leaf — returning to the Tripiṭaka teaching itself: discussed in terms of transforming others, this is the provisional; discussed in terms of one's own practice, this is the real. Discussed in terms of the four siddhāntas, this makes three provisional and one real. Discussed in terms of the four gates, this makes twelve provisional and four real.

As for the vaipulya teachings, since they are already complete with all Four Teachings, this makes thirty kinds of provisional and ten kinds of real. Discussed in terms of the four siddhāntas, this makes fourteen provisional and two real. Matched against the four gates, this makes fifty-six provisional and eight real.

As for the Mahāprajñāpāramitā, since the Tripiṭaka teaching is already set aside, only the remaining three teachings are used — the shared and distinct teachings, twenty kinds, are the provisional; the perfect teaching, ten kinds, is the real. Discussed in terms of the siddhāntas, this makes ten provisional and two real. Passing through the four gates, this makes forty provisional and eight real.

As for arriving at the Lotus Sūtra: everything that came before is now, without exception, set aside, and only the one real is taught. Within this real, expedient means are not entirely absent, but this is precisely the real mark's own expedient means, alike named the real. Here, discussed in terms of the siddhāntas: before awakening, there are three provisional; once awakened, this is the one real. Discussed across the four gates, this makes twelve provisional and four real — the very name and number, at a first glance, the same as the Tripiṭaka teaching's own, and yet the sense involved differs as widely as heaven from earth. That teaching's own twelve provisional and four real are, throughout, entirely provisional; the Lotus Sūtra's own are, throughout, entirely real. This distinction differs from the vaipulya and perfection-of-wisdom teachings, and so on. Hence it is said: "Only teaching the unsurpassed path, revealing the real mark itself" — this is precisely what is meant here.

As for the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, too, is fully complete with an explanation of all Four Teachings, and is likewise thirty kinds of provisional and ten kinds of real — at a first glance, seemingly the same as the vaipulya teachings, and yet the sense involved is entirely different. There, two enter the real and two do not enter the real; here, in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, all four alike enter the real — within the cause, there are three provisional and one real; within the fruit, there are four real and no provisional at all. Discussed in terms of the four siddhāntas, this makes fourteen provisional and two real; passing through the four gates, this makes fifty-six provisional and eight real; if, further, discussed in terms of the threefold cause-gate, this makes fifty-six provisional; and, as for the fruit-gate, its four real are simply real, following their own original cause, and hence spoken of as four. This, then, is the four gates entering the real; discussed in terms of the fruit, four real and twelve provisional — the Lotus Sūtra's own sense is equal to this.

One should therefore know that, though every teaching alike possesses the provisional and the real, the provisional and the real are not the same across them — some are entirely real, some are entirely provisional, some combine the provisional and the real together — all of this according with the capacity and disposition met at that moment, the condition and principle not yet fused together. Here, discussed altogether in terms of the teachings, judging the provisional and the real: discussed in terms of the Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct teachings, these are the provisional; the perfect teaching is the real. Again, every teaching's own provisional and real, not yet fused together, are the provisional; once fused, opening the provisional to reveal the real is the real. The Lotus Sūtra, being the one perfect teaching itself, is hence the real; and, further, since it opens the provisional, it is hence the real. Discussed in terms of the perfect teaching's own standpoint: illuminating the previous three teachings' own thirty coarse aspects is the provisional; illuminating the ten wondrous aspects is the real. Discussed in terms of opening the provisional and perfect fusion: once the thirty coarse aspects are all resolved as having become wondrous, they are simply named the real — hence, they are named wondrous. If one takes up the awakening to principle itself: principle is neither provisional nor real, and sees not even a single dharma — an empty fist deceiving a small child. Speaking of the provisional, speaking of the real — this, then, remains coarse; principle itself is neither provisional nor real — hence, this alone is the wondrous.

Second, clarifying the ten wondrous aspects in terms of the origin: this is treated under two headings — first, explaining trace and origin; second, clarifying the ten wondrous aspects themselves.

Explaining trace and origin is treated under six senses. The origin is principle as origin — precisely the one ultimate path of the real mark itself; the trace is whatever, apart from the real mark of every dharma, is otherwise of every kind — all of this is named the trace. Again, principle together with phenomena are both alike named the origin; speaking of principle, speaking of phenomena, are both alike named the teaching's own trace. Again, the teaching of principle and phenomena is alike named the origin; receiving the teaching and cultivating practice is named the trace — as when a person, depending on some place, thereby leaves footprints of their own passage, and, tracing these footprints, one arrives at that same place. Again, practice is able to realize the essence — the essence is the origin; depending on the essence, function arises — function is the trace. Again, genuinely attaining essence and function is named the origin; provisionally bestowing essence and function is named the trace. Again, what is revealed today is the origin; what has already been spoken of before is the trace. In terms of these same six senses, trace and origin are thereby clarified.

First, clarifying trace and origin in terms of principle and phenomena: from the rootless root, every dharma is established — the principle of non-abiding is precisely the original real mark, the real truth; every dharma is precisely the original manifold array, the conventional truth. Through the real mark's own true origin descending into the conventional trace, tracing this same conventional trace, the true origin is thereby revealed. Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. Hence the text says: "Contemplating that every dharma is empty, just as the real mark itself, existing only through causes and conditions, arising from inverted views, and so on."

Second, clarifying trace and origin in terms of principle and teaching: this refers precisely to the two truths as illuminated in the original moment — both alike beyond all speech, and hence both alike named the origin.

Formerly, the Buddha, through skillful means, spoke of them — this is precisely the teaching of the two truths, and this teaching is named the trace. Without the origin of the two truths, there would be no teaching of these two kinds at all; and, without the teaching's own trace, how could the truth's own origin possibly be revealed? Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. The text says: "This dharma cannot be pointed to directly, the mark of every word and phrase itself quiescent cessation — yet, through the power of skillful means, it was taught for the sake of the five bhikṣus."

Third, clarifying trace and origin in terms of teaching and practice: at the very outset, receiving a former buddha's own teaching as the origin, there is thereby the practice of cultivating the cause and bringing about the fruit. Through the teaching expressing principle, practice is thereby brought forth; through practice according with the teaching, principle is thereby revealed. Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. The text says: "All dharmas, from their very origin, are forever, of themselves, marked by quiescent cessation; once the buddha's own children have finished walking the path, in a future age they shall attain buddhahood, and so on."

Fourth, clarifying trace and origin in terms of essence and function: through cultivating practice in former times, according with principle, realizing the Dharma-body as the origin — having first attained this original Dharma-body, the very function of the response-body arises from this same essence; through the response-body, the Dharma-body comes to be revealed. Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. The text says: "Since my own attainment of buddhahood, an extremely vast span of time such as this has already passed; yet, through the power of skillful means, I teach and transform sentient beings, and speak in this way."

Fifth, clarifying trace and origin in terms of the real and the provisional: the real refers to the two bodies, Dharma-body and response-body, genuinely attained at the very outset, in the vast distant past — these are both alike named the origin; the provisional refers to the two bodies, Dharma-body and response-body, provisionally bestowed again and again in the interval, repeatedly proclaiming birth and proclaiming extinction, in every kind of way — hence, these are named the trace. Without the origin of the Dharma-body and response-body first attained, there would be no trace of the Dharma-body and response-body in the interval. Through the trace, the origin is revealed. Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. The text says: "This is my own skillful means, and every buddha does likewise."

Sixth, clarifying trace and origin in terms of the present and what came before: every prior teaching's own already-spoken principle and phenomena, down through the provisional and the real, are, without exception, the trace; the present sūtra's own teaching of the vast, distant principle and phenomena, down through the provisional and the real, is, without exception, named the origin. Without the vast, distant origin clarified in the present, there would be nothing to descend into the already-spoken trace; without the already-spoken trace, how could the present origin possibly be revealed? Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same. The text says: "The buddhas' own dharma, after a long span of time, must at last speak the truth."

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of the present and what came before: pointing to what came before as the trace gathers in everything from Śākyamuni's own place of quiescent extinction onward — the ten coarse and ten wondrous aspects already treated — all of this, without exception, named the trace. Pointing to the present as the origin gathers together, at the greatest distance, every coarse and every wondrous aspect belonging to the very original moment itself — all of this, without exception, named the origin.

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of the provisional and the real: pointing to the provisional as the trace, in the particular sense, gathers in the various differently named buddhas' own ten coarse and ten wondrous aspects present in the interval — all of this, without exception, named the provisional. Pointing to the real as the origin gathers in the ten coarse and ten wondrous aspects of the very original moment itself — all of this, without exception, named the real.

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of essence and function: pointing to function as the trace gathers in the original moment's own five wondrous aspects — sympathetic response, spiritual powers, teaching the Dharma, the retinue, and merit and benefit. Pointing to essence as the origin gathers in the original moment's own wondrous of the three tracks.

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of teaching and practice: pointing to practice as the trace gathers in the original moment's own wondrous of practice and wondrous of stage; pointing to teaching as the origin gathers in the original moment's own wondrous of wisdom.

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of principle and teaching: pointing to principle as the origin gathers in the original moment's own wondrous of the object; pointing to teaching as the trace gathers in the original moment's own wondrous of the teacher's teaching, and, together with it, the original teacher's own ten wondrous aspects.

As for discussing trace and origin in terms of principle and phenomena: pointing to phenomena as the trace gathers in the original moment's own every coarse object; pointing to principle as the origin gathers in the original moment's own every wondrous object. The very original moment's own origin is origin alone, never trace; what was already spoken of at the very end is trace alone, never origin; what lies in the interval is both trace and origin at once. Without the origin belonging to the original moment, there would be nothing to descend into the trace of the interval and the very end; without the already-spoken trace, the origin spoken of in the present could never be revealed. Trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same.

Second, clarifying the origin's own ten wondrous aspects: first, the wondrous of the original cause; second, the wondrous of the original fruit; third, the wondrous of the original land; fourth, the wondrous of the original sympathetic response; fifth, the wondrous of the original spiritual powers; sixth, the wondrous of the original teaching of the Dharma; seventh, the wondrous of the original retinue; eighth, the wondrous of the original nirvāṇa; ninth, the wondrous of the original lifespan; tenth, the wondrous of the original merit and benefit.

Explaining these ten wondrous aspects is, again, treated under ten further headings: first, briefly explaining the ten senses; second, their arising in sequence; third, clarifying the opening and combining of trace and origin; fourth, citing texts as proof; fifth, broad explanation; sixth, resolving doubts across the three time periods; seventh, discussing the coarse and the wondrous; eighth, closing by resolving into the provisional and the real; ninth, benefit; tenth, the contemplation of mind.

First, briefly explaining: as for the wondrous of the original cause, this is the cause cultivated at the very original arousing of the bodhi-mind, practicing the bodhisattva path. As for the sixteen princes, at the time of Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū Buddha, propagating the sūtra and forming bonds — all of this was accomplished within the interval, and is not the original cause. As for taking the sahā world's own worlds as ink, traveling a thousand worlds eastward before setting down a single dot; whether dotted or undotted, all ground down into dust, a single mote of dust for a single eon, and passing beyond even this number, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of eons — Maitreya himself, the very buddha-to-be, using the wisdom of the paths that emerges into the provisional, could not directly enumerate even the worlds themselves, let alone enumerate the motes of dust — how, then, could this possibly be exhausted? This is simply the Tathāgata's own skillful simile, revealing the mark of this vast, distant span — how much less could worldly wisdom, however skillfully calculating, ever reckon it! The text says: "I, with the buddha-eye, behold that vast, distant time as though it were the present moment itself." Only the Buddha is able to know a span so vast and distant as this — every one of these, however, remains the trace cause, not the original cause. If the cause belonging to the interval were left as it stands, it would, afterward, be difficult to believe — hence, the Lotus Sūtra wipes away the trace and removes this doubt: it is provisional, not real. "When I myself, in the past, practiced the bodhisattva path" — this does not refer to the interval, but to what was practiced even prior to it — this alone is named the origin, and this is precisely the wondrous of the original cause.

Second, clarifying the wondrous of the original fruit: the original, perfect, wondrous cause first practiced, according with and attaining the ultimate eternity, bliss, self, and purity — this alone is the original fruit. This does not take the place of quiescent extinction, where Locana attains buddhahood, as the original fruit. If even the fruit belonging to the interval is not taken as the original fruit, how much less could Locana's own newly attained buddhahood possibly be the origin? Only the fruit first realized, since the vastly distant attainment of buddhahood, is taken here and named the wondrous of the original fruit.

Third, as for the original land: since the origin has already accomplished its fruit, there must necessarily be some land depended upon. Now, since the trace lies within the realm of common dwelling, or within one of the three lands, and the interval likewise possesses four lands, the original buddha, too, ought to possess his own land — but where, then, does he dwell? The text says: "From that time onward, I have constantly abided within this very sahā world, teaching the Dharma and transforming beings." Examining this text: this is, in truth, neither the present-day sahā world of the trace, nor any place belonging to the provisional trace of the interval, but is precisely the sahā world of the origin itself — this is precisely the wondrous of the original land.

Fourth, as for the original sympathetic response: since the fruit has already been accomplished, there is accordingly the twenty-five samādhis realized in the original moment, and the vow of loving-kindness and compassion — capacity and response hinging upon one another, quiescent and yet illuminating at once — hence, this is spoken of as the original sympathetic response.

Fifth, as for the original spiritual powers: this, too, refers to the dhyāna of unrecorded transformation upon transformation attained in former times, joined with every form of loving-kindness and compassion present at the time of the original cause, the spiritual power thereby exercised in transforming beings, stirring and moving the very first sentient beings able to be delivered — hence, this is spoken of as the original spiritual powers.

Sixth, as for the original teaching of the Dharma: this refers precisely to the dharma taught, through the four unimpeded eloquences, at the very outset, first sitting at the place of enlightenment, first accomplishing correct enlightenment, first turning the wheel of the Dharma — this is named the original teaching of the Dharma.

Seventh, as for the original retinue: this refers to the persons covered by the teaching given in the original moment. As with those dwelling below, whom even Maitreya himself does not recognize — these are precisely the original retinue.

Eighth, as for the original nirvāṇa: this refers to the nirvāṇa of the virtue of severance realized in the original moment — and, likewise, in the original moment, responding within the realm of common dwelling and the expedient-means land, those with whom a bond existed having already been delivered, proclaiming entry into extinction — this is precisely the original nirvāṇa.

Ninth, as for the original lifespan: since entry into extinction is proclaimed, there is accordingly a lifespan, long or short, distant or near.

Tenth, as for the original benefit: this refers to the original retinue born through karma, vow, spiritual power, response, and the rest, richly benefited across the eight and ten rounds — this is precisely what is meant.

Second, as for their arising in sequence: these ten senses, taught directly according to the condition met, are scattered throughout the sūtra's own text — here, wishing to arrange them in order, their arising in sequence must therefore be explained. The reason the original cause comes first is that the fruit must necessarily come about through the cause. Once the fruit is accomplished, there is accordingly a land. The ultimate fruit dwelling within this land, there is accordingly the illumination of capacity. Once capacity stirs, transformation is thereupon set forth; transformation set forth, there is accordingly spiritual power. Once spiritual power is complete, teaching the Dharma comes next.

What teaching the Dharma covers accordingly forms the retinue. The retinue already delivered, the bond exhausted, nirvāṇa follows. Because of nirvāṇa, the lifespan's own length, whether long or short, is accordingly discussed, together with the benefit accomplished through this same lifespan, long or short, down through the benefit belonging to the correct and semblance ages after the Buddha's own extinction. The sense involved is without measure, yet only ten items are given here, gathering it all in from beginning to end, thereby forming this same sequence once more.

Third, as for the sameness and difference between trace and origin: within the trace, the cause is opened out while the fruit is combined, combining the habituated fruit and the retributive fruit into the wondrous of the three tracks.

Within the origin, the cause is combined while the fruit is opened out, opening the habituated fruit and bringing forth the retributive fruit, clarifying the wondrous of the original land. This same sameness and difference is arranged according to whichever sense proves more convenient, taken up or set aside as fits the case. Within the trace, the object, wisdom, practice, and stage are clarified in full detail; the origin's own text is given more briefly, generally gathered together as the wondrous of the cause — grasping this same sense, one knows this to be a matter of opening and combining. The wondrous of the fruit is precisely the trace's own wondrous of the three tracks. Sympathetic response, spiritual powers, teaching the Dharma, and the retinue are named the same as above. As for the origin opening out the wondrous of nirvāṇa and lifespan: buddhas of the vastly distant past, such as Candrasūryapradīpa and Kāśyapa Buddha and the rest, every one of them, within the Lotus Sūtra itself, enters nirvāṇa. Reasoning from this to the original buddha, this must likewise be a pure land, a pure capacity.

Again, since the past matter has already been accomplished, the wondrous of nirvāṇa and the rest are accordingly opened forth. As for why the trace lacks these two senses: though Śākyamuni, within the Lotus Sūtra, proclaims nirvāṇa, he has not yet actually entered final extinction — this matter still lies within the realm of nirvāṇa itself, and hence is not distinguished within the trace. Benefit is the same as above.

Fourth, as for citing texts as proof: this does not reach out to draw upon some other sūtra, nor does it generally draw upon anything beyond this same division — it simply proves these same ten senses directly from within the origin gate itself. Yet, as for the former buddhas' own Lotus Sūtra, with its verses as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and the present buddha's own eight years of teaching at Vulture Peak — how could the matters within the Sanskrit source text possibly be exhausted? In this remote, outlying land of China, only the broad outline has been heard; people, seeing these seven fascicles, suppose this to be a minor sūtra — yet the Sanskrit text is vast and expansive, and what does it not distinguish? Here, within the space of only a few pages, the ten proof-texts stand plainly before us.

The text says: "The lifespan I accomplished at the time I myself, in the past, practiced the bodhisattva path, remains, even now, not yet exhausted" — this is precisely the origin's own wondrous of the cause of practice. The text says: "Since my own genuine attainment of buddhahood, immeasurable, boundless koṭis of nayutas of eons have passed." And again: "Since my own genuine attainment of buddhahood, an extremely vast span such as this has already passed; yet, through the power of skillful means, I teach and transform sentient beings, and speak in this way" — this is precisely the wondrous of the original fruit. The text says: "Since I myself attained the threefold bodhi within the sahā world, I have taught, transformed, shown, and guided these very bodhisattvas." And again: "From that time onward, I have constantly abided within this very sahā world, teaching the Dharma and transforming beings, and, in other places besides, guiding and benefiting sentient beings as well" — this same land is no longer the present-day sahā world at all — this is precisely the wondrous of the original land.

The text says: "If there are sentient beings who come to where I am, I, with the buddha-eye, observe whether their faculties of faith and the rest are sharp or dull" — this is precisely the original moment's own wisdom illuminating capacity, the wondrous of sympathetic response. The text says: "The Tathāgata's own secret power of spiritual transformation." And, further, within the interval, the text says: "Sometimes showing his own body, sometimes showing another's body; sometimes showing his own affairs, sometimes showing another's affairs" — this is precisely manifesting a form within each of the ten dharma-realms, taking on every kind of image; testing this same pattern against the origin, it, too, is exactly the same — this is the wondrous of the original spiritual powers. The text says: "Every one of these bodhisattvas has been transformed by me, causing them to give rise to the mind of the great path; every one of them now abides in non-retrogression, cultivating and studying my own path and dharma." And, further, within the interval, sometimes speaking of his own affairs, sometimes speaking of another's affairs; testing this same pattern against the origin, it, too, is exactly the same — this is precisely the wondrous of the original teaching of the Dharma.

The text says: "These bodhisattvas, their bodies every one golden in color, dwelling in the empty sky below — these are my own children; I, since a vastly distant time, have taught and transformed this same assembly" — this is precisely the wondrous of the original retinue. The text says: "And, further, speaking of his entry into nirvāṇa — every one of these is spoken through skillful means, distinguished accordingly." And again: "Now, this is not truly extinction, and yet he thereupon proclaims that he shall attain extinction." The past bond already concluded, entry into extinction is proclaimed; since the interval, too, proclaims nirvāṇa, by this same pattern, the origin, too, must possess its own nirvāṇa — this is precisely the wondrous of the original nirvāṇa.

The text says: "Everywhere, speaking of himself under differing names, his own age either great or small" — age here is precisely the lifespan; great or small is precisely long or short, eternal or impermanent. Since the interval is exactly this way, the original lifespan, too, is exactly this way — this is precisely the wondrous of the original lifespan. The text says: "And, further, through skillful means, teaching the subtle and wondrous dharma, able to cause sentient beings to give rise to a joyful mind" — this is precisely the benefit within the interval. And again: "Hearing the Buddha teach that the number of eons of his own lifespan is vast and distant such as this, sentient beings immeasurable and boundless, incalculable in number, obtained great and abundant benefit" — this is precisely the benefit within the trace. Since the trace and the interval are already exactly this way, by this same pattern, the origin, too, must be exactly this way — this is precisely the wondrous of the original benefit. These ten proofs rest within the sūtra's own text itself, and are not any person's own fabrication.

Fifth, the broad explanation: were there no origin, there would be nothing for the trace to descend from; if one is able to understand the trace, one thereby also knows the origin — for those who have not yet understood it, this is distinguished once more, in greater detail. Yet the origin, the very ultimate Dharma-body, is subtle, wondrous, profound, and far-reaching — had the Buddha himself not spoken of it, even Maitreya would remain in the dark, let alone those of the lower stages, let alone ordinary beings! And yet, though the very age of one's own parents cannot go unknown, how could the Tathāgata's own merit possibly be left unrecognized? Here, following the sūtra's own intent in broad outline, this is traced out as best as can be approximated.

As for the wondrous of the original cause: the sūtra says, "The lifespan I accomplished at the time I myself, in the past, practiced the bodhisattva path" — the wisdom-life here is precisely the original moment's own wondrous of wisdom. "I myself, in the past, practiced" — practice is advancing forward, and this is precisely the original wondrous of practice. "At the time of the bodhisattva path" — the bodhisattva is a person of the cause, and this, again, reveals the wondrous of stage. This single phrase of text thus proves all three wondrous aspects at once — these three wondrous aspects are precisely the original moment's own wondrous of the cause, not the trace cause. The trace cause is of many kinds: some say that, in a former life, he was a potter, and, encountering an earlier Śākyamuni Buddha, made three kinds of offering — a bed of grass, a burning lamp, and stone-honey syrup — and, opening his mouth, received the prediction; his parents' own names, and his disciples and attendants, were all exactly the same as the earlier buddha's own — this is precisely the very first arousing of the mind at the start of the first incalculable eon. Since this account does not clarify any severing of affliction, one knows this to be the mark of the Tripiṭaka teaching's own cause of practice. Some say that, in a former life, he was a young brahmin student, and, encountering Dīpaṃkara Buddha, scattered five flowers in offering, spread his own hair over the mud, and leapt into the empty sky, attaining the forbearance of no-generation, and the Buddha bestowed upon him the prediction, naming him Śākyamuni. The Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra likewise says: "Received the prediction within the city of the Avataṃsaka" — the sense is the same as this. Both accounts speak of severing affliction — hence, one knows this to be the mark of the shared teaching's own cause of practice. Some say that, in a former life, he was the brahmin Samudrareṇu, in the land of Saṃdilya, at the place of the buddha Ratnagarbha, practicing with great diligence, and buddhas throughout the ten directions sent flowers as an offering to him. He was already the father of the buddha Ratnagarbha, and, moreover, was the teacher of Amitābha — his merit is spoken of as inconceivable — hence, one knows this to be the mark of the distinct and perfect teachings' own cause of practice.

For three reasons, one knows that every one of these causes is entirely the trace cause: first, because they are near at hand; second, because they differ in shallowness and depth; third, because they are wiped away. Everything before the present age, and everything after the original moment itself, every practice carried out in the interval, is, without exception, an expedient means — hence, one knows this to be the trace cause. If one clings to the trace cause as though it were the original cause, this is failing to know the trace, and likewise failing to recognize the origin. It is like failing to recognize the moon in the sky itself, and looking only at the moon reflected in a pond — whether its light, its cassia tree, or its disk — inferring the moon above from what is seen below. The light is a simile for the wondrous of wisdom; the cassia tree is a simile for the wondrous of practice; the disk is a simile for the wondrous of stage. If one recognizes the trace's own three wondrous aspects, wiping away the trace to reveal the origin, one thereby knows the original ground's own wondrous of the cause — like brushing aside a reflection to point toward the sky itself — how, then, could one gaze down into a basin of water and fail to look up at the Milky Way above? Alas — how could the deaf and the dull-witted possibly discuss the path in this way? If one grasps this same sense, the trace-as-origin is not the origin, and the origin-as-trace is not the trace; trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same.

Question: The sūtra speaks of "the time I myself, in the past, practiced the bodhisattva path" — this ought to be the very moment of attaining the real path at the initial abiding. The interval ought to be the various grounds' own advancing of the path and diminishing of birth. The present place of quiescent extinction ought to be wondrous enlightenment. Wondrous enlightenment revealing the origin ought, then, to point back to that same former initial abiding. Is this one single account correct?

Answer: Neither the text nor its sense permits this. The text says: "Fully practicing every path and dharma possessed by every buddha," and again: "Practicing every path in its entirety" — being entirely complete with the cause in every respect is precisely the original cause. The initial abiding cannot be called "entirely complete" — hence, it is not what is pointed to as the original cause. Again, the fruit belonging to the interval is, every bit of it, wiped away as provisional — how much more, then, could the present place of quiescent extinction's own fruit possibly be the real? And if even the fruit belonging to the interval is thus wiped away, how could the cause belonging to the interval possibly be the real cause? Hence, this question, as posed, is mistaken.

Second, clarifying the wondrous of the original fruit: the sūtra says, "Since my own attainment of buddhahood, an extremely vast span of time has already passed." "I" here is precisely the track of real nature. "Buddha" carries the sense of awakening, precisely the track of contemplative illumination. "Since" refers to riding the very path of suchness itself, arriving at correct enlightenment — this is precisely the track of resource-and-accomplishment giving rise to response. These same three tracks, accomplished for so very long a time, are precisely the wondrous of the original fruit. The original fruit, perfect and complete, present already in the distant past, is not accomplished now, within the trace; and this accomplishment within the trace, too, is not of a single kind. Some say: seated upon a grass mat beneath the bodhi tree, in thirty-four mental moments, views and thought both severed at once, awakening brilliantly, knowing every dharma of the mundane and the world-transcending alike — this is named buddhahood. There is only this one buddha, and no buddhas throughout the ten directions; the buddhas of the three time periods are, every one, some other buddha, not my own divided body — this is precisely the Tripiṭaka teaching's own mark of the fruit of buddhahood. Some say: seated upon a heavenly robe beneath the bodhi tree, through the wisdom corresponding to a single thought-moment, severing every remaining habituated residue, thereby attaining buddhahood. The Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, within its own "shared" portion, says: "At the very moment of the shared prajñā-teaching, a thousand buddhas appear throughout the ten directions, and every one of those who raise questions and objections is named Subhūti, Śakra, and the rest" — these, too, are some other buddha, not my own divided body — this is precisely the shared teaching's own mark of the fruit of buddhahood accomplished.

Some say: at the very place of quiescent extinction, seated upon a lotus made of the seven treasures, his own body itself named the lotus platform, upon each and every one of its thousand petals a bodhisattva, and, further, a hundred koṭis of bodhisattvas upon each — thus, a thousand hundred koṭis of bodhisattvas altogether — the ten directions emitting light from the white curl and from every divided body, the white curl's own light entering the crown of the bodhisattva upon the lotus platform, and the divided bodies' own light entering the crown of the bodhisattva upon each petal — this is named receiving the very office of the Dharma-king, exhausting and attaining the very depths of every buddha's own dharma, and thereby attaining buddhahood. The lotus platform is named the reward-body buddha; what stands upon the petals is named the response-body buddha — reward and response are simply mutually related, and cannot be identified as one and the same — this is precisely the distinct teaching's own mark of the fruit of buddhahood accomplished. Some say: at the place of enlightenment, taking empty space itself as the seat, one accomplishment is every accomplishment at once. Vairocana pervades every place; Locana and Śākyamuni, too, in their own accomplishment, likewise pervade every place; the three buddhas are complete, with nothing lacking or diminished, the three buddhas mutually identical, with neither oneness nor difference between them. Throughout the Lotus Sūtra's own eight directions, each and every direction possessing four hundred myriad koṭis of nayutas of lands, Śākyamuni is placed within every one of them, and every one of these is entirely Vairocana himself. The Samantabhadra Meditation Sūtra says: "Śākyamuni is named Vairocana" — this is precisely the perfect teaching's own mark of the fruit of buddhahood accomplished.

For three reasons, one knows that every one of these fruits is the trace fruit: first, because it is only newly accomplished within the present age; second, because these differ in shallowness and depth; third, because the interval is wiped away. If this were the original fruit, how could it possibly be only newly accomplished today? The original fruit is one fruit that is every fruit at once — how, then, could there be any difference of before and after, not all the same? From before the present age, and after the original accomplishment itself, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of causes practiced and fruits attained, proclaiming birth and proclaiming extinction — all of this, without exception, lies within the interval, wiped away as an expedient means — how, then, could the very king of trees beneath which quiescent extinction was attained possibly fail to be a trace as well? If one clings to the trace fruit as though it were the original fruit, this is failing to know the trace, and likewise failing to recognize the origin. From the origin descending into the trace is like the moon appearing within the water; wiping away the trace to reveal the origin is like brushing aside a reflection to point toward the sky itself. One ought to brush aside every newly accomplished fruit as, every one, the trace fruit, and point instead to the fruit accomplished so very long ago as the original fruit. Understood in this way, every doubt concerning the fruit belonging to the interval is swept away entirely, and the very sense of this vastly distant faith becomes clear. The trace-as-origin is not the origin, and the origin-as-trace is not the trace; trace and origin, though differing, are inconceivably one and the same.

Third, as for the wondrous of the original land: the sūtra says, "From that time onward, I have constantly abided within this very sahā world, teaching the Dharma and transforming beings, and, in other places besides, guiding and benefiting sentient beings as well." The sahā world here is precisely the original moment's own realm of common dwelling. The other places here are precisely the original moment's own three lands. This refers to the very land dwelt in by the real and response bodies at the original moment, not the land within the trace. Within the trace, land is likewise clarified in more than one way: some say that, taken together, these three thousand hundred koṭis of suns and moons make up the impure realm of common dwelling. Some say that, in the west, there is a land named Unsurpassed, whose every adornment resembles that of Sukhāvatī itself — the pure realm of common dwelling. Some say that the World of the Flower King, the ocean of the lotus-treasury, is precisely the realm of real reward. Some say that the buddha's own dwelling-place, named eternal quiescent light, is precisely the ultimate land. The realm of quiescent light, its principle penetrating through everywhere, is comparable to a mirror, or to a vessel; the various lands, each distinct, are comparable to an image, or to food served — separated by the power of one's own karma, what is perceived differs accordingly. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says: "My own buddha-land is pure, and yet you fail to see it" — this is precisely the difference in what sentient beings themselves perceive, and has nothing to do with the buddha-land itself.

As for saying that these very three realms are all, in fact, my own possession, and that every land, pure or impure, subduing or gathering in, is entirely the Buddha's own doing — it is comparable to the common people dwelling upon the land, though the land itself is not their own possession; it is like a father building a house — the father departs, and the house remains standing nonetheless.

The Tathāgata is exactly the same: for the sake of sentient beings, he takes up a buddha-land, and, once the transformation is complete, enters extinction — the buddha departs, and the land remains, this land belonging to the buddha alone, having nothing to do with sentient beings themselves. Again, as for the threefold transformation of the land: this is sometimes transforming the impurity of the realm of common dwelling, causing it to be seen as the purity of the realm of common dwelling.

Sometimes it is seeing the purity of the expedient-means land with residue remaining — comparable to the "Life Span" chapter's own saying, "If there is one who believes and understands with a deeply sincere mind, he shall behold the Buddha constantly present upon Vulture Peak, together with great bodhisattvas and the assembly of śrāvakas" — this is precisely this same sense. Sometimes it is seeing the purity of the realm of real reward — comparable to seeing the sahā world's own land entirely made of dark blue beryl, filled purely with bodhisattvas — this is precisely this same sense. Sometimes it is seeing quiescent light itself, and the rest. It is the very power of the Lotus samādhi that causes what is seen to differ accordingly.

For three reasons, one is able to know that every one of these lands is entirely the trace land: first, because it is the land the present buddha himself dwells within; second, because it is cultivated and established before and after; third, because the interval is wiped away. If this were the original land, it would not be a land the present buddha himself dwells within — the land the present buddha himself dwells within is precisely the trace land. If this were the original land, one land would be every land at once, and there ought to be no cultivation and establishment before and after, no difference in depth and shallowness; everything before the present land, and everything after the original land itself, is named the interval, and the interval, entirely, is spoken of as an expedient means — how much more, then, could the present land possibly fail to be a trace? From the origin descending into the trace, clinging to the trace as though it were the origin — this is failing to know the trace, and likewise failing to recognize the origin. Here, wiping away the trace and pointing to the origin, the four lands dwelt within at the original moment are precisely the wondrous of the original land. The trace-as-origin is not the origin, and the origin-as-trace is not the trace; being neither trace nor origin, this is precisely inconceivably one and the same.

Fourth, as for the wondrous of the original sympathetic response: the sūtra says, "If there are sentient beings who come to where I am, I, with the buddha-eye, observe whether their faculties of faith and the rest are sharp or dull." Sentient beings coming to him is capacity hinging upon the Dharma-body. His own observing with the buddha-eye is loving-kindness and compassion going forth to respond. Faculties sharp or dull refers to the ten dharma-realms' own differing degrees of hidden or manifest, delight or aversion. This refers to the twenty-five samādhis of sympathetic response realized at the original moment, not the sympathetic response within the trace. The trace's own response is of many kinds: some say that, three times each day, he enters concentration and contemplates whichever capacity is ripe for delivery — this is the Tripiṭaka buddha illuminating the nine dharma-realms' own capacity within an impure land of segmented birth-and-death, the sympathetic response of analytical emptiness. Some say that, being real precisely within the conventional itself, needing neither to enter nor to emerge, he is spontaneously able to know — this is the shared teaching's buddha illuminating the nine dharma-realms' own capacity within a pure land of segmented birth-and-death, the sympathetic response of emptiness-as-such. Some say that, using the king of samādhis, he illuminates the ten dharma-realms' own capacity sequentially, one at a time — this is the distinct teaching's buddha illuminating the expedient-means land with residue remaining, the sympathetic response taken sequentially.

Some say that the king of samādhis illuminates the ten dharma-realms' own capacity all at once, in a single moment — this is the perfect teaching's buddha illuminating the capacity within the ten dharma-realms' own land of quiescent light, the perfect sympathetic response.

For three reasons, one knows that every one of these sympathetic responses is trace, not origin: because it is only newly accomplished, because these differ from one another, and because they are wiped away. At the place of quiescent extinction, beneath the tree, this fullness first begins, one-sidedly — hence, one knows this to be the trace. Some cultivate it earlier, some study it later, differing in depth and shallowness — hence, one knows this to be the provisional.

Since the interval onward, all of this is wiped away as expedient means — how, then, could this fail to be the trace? Issuing from the origin into the trace, how could one possibly cling to the trace as though it were the origin? Wiping away the trace to reveal the origin, one ought to set the trace aside and point to the origin instead — origin and trace, trace and origin, are inconceivably one and the same, and so on.

Again, sometimes the original response is coarse while the trace response is wondrous; sometimes the original response is wondrous while the trace response is coarse; both wondrous, both coarse — this, too, ought to be understood in the same way. Again, the original response is sometimes broad while the trace response is narrow; or the trace response is broad while the original response is narrow; both narrow, both broad — this, too, ought to be understood in the same way. This distinguishes trace from origin only in terms of the present versus what came before, not in terms of coarse versus wondrous, or broad versus narrow, and so on.

Fifth, as for the wondrous of the original spiritual powers: the sūtra says, "The Tathāgata's own secret power of spiritual transformation," and again: "Sometimes showing his own body or another's body, showing his own affairs or another's affairs." Showing his own body and his own affairs is the perfect teaching's own spiritual power; showing another's body and another's affairs is the one-sided spiritual power. "Secret" means wondrous — whether one-sided or perfect, both alike are wondrous. This refers to the spiritual power of the original moment, not the trace spiritual power. The trace's own spiritual power is of many kinds: some say that, relying on the liberations, the bases of mastery, and the totalities, and the fourteen kinds of transformation, one attains the six spiritual powers, surpassing the non-Buddhist outsiders and excelling the two vehicles — this is precisely the Tripiṭaka buddha's own spiritual power. Some say that, relying on the taintless wisdom that directly embodies dharmas, one attains the six spiritual powers, surpassing those who rely on the liberations — this is the shared teaching's buddha's own spiritual power. Some say that the previous six spiritual powers, gathered together, are made five, and, relying on the middle way, the taintless spiritual power is brought forth — this sixth is the distinct teaching's buddha's own spiritual power. Some say that the middle way's own dhyāna of unrecorded transformation upon transformation, complete with the six spiritual powers and every kind of transformation, never rising from the concentration of cessation, manifesting every deportment, speech and silence never obstructing one another, movement and quiescence sharing a single, non-dual principle — and, further, as in the present sūtra, the six auspicious signs, the transformation of the land, and the rest — every one of these is the perfect teaching's buddha's own spiritual power.

For three reasons, every one of these spiritual powers is reasoned to be trace, not origin: newly attained, cultivated near at hand, wiped away to remove doubt, and the rest, exactly as explained above. The fourfold set of propositions, too, is resolved exactly as above. Yet, from the origin descending into the trace, the trace is never the origin; wiping away the trace to reveal the origin, one ought to set the trace aside and point to the origin instead — origin and trace, trace and origin, are inconceivably one and the same.

Sixth, as for the wondrous of the original teaching of the Dharma: the sūtra says, "These, every one, have been transformed by me, causing them to give rise to the mind of the great path; every one of them now abides in non-retrogression." "Transformed by me" is precisely the teaching of the Dharma. "Causing them to give rise to the mind of the great path" distinguishes this from the teaching of the small vehicle. This refers to the teaching distinguished at the original moment, not the trace teaching. The trace's own teaching is of many kinds. Following the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the first and last flavors alone are clarified as issuing from the cow; yet, reasoning by the same sense, the three intervening flavors, too, ought likewise to issue from the cow. Why is this? An ordinary calf, grazing on ordinary grass, is able only to yield milk — not grazing on the grass of forbearance, it does not yield the further four flavors. A fine, well-trained calf, neither too coarse nor too soft, fed on distiller's grain and wheat bran, is complete with all five flavors, every one already present within the cow itself — only listen to what it feeds upon, and the flavor follows accordingly. Grazing on ordinary grass, it yields milk; grazing on the grass of lesser forbearance, it yields cream; grazing on the grass of middling forbearance, it yields curdled butter; grazing on the grass of superior forbearance, it yields clarified butter; grazing on the grass of the very highest forbearance, it yields ghee. The cow yielding all five flavors illustrates the gradual teaching; the cow yielding ghee directly illustrates the sudden teaching; the cow yielding any of the three intervening flavors illustrates the indeterminate teaching.

The Buddha is exactly the same: one-sided and perfect, fully complete, present already within the Buddha's own mind — listening for whichever capacity comes knocking, he teaches accordingly, and differently each time. The capacity for the wholesome destinies, once struck, brings forth the wheel of the Dharma for humans and devas; the capacity for the analytical dharma, once struck, brings forth the wheel of the Dharma for the two vehicles; the capacity for embodying dharmas, once struck, brings forth the wheel of the Dharma of skillful crossing-over; the capacity for the sequentially distinct, once struck, brings forth the wheel of the Dharma taken step by step; the capacity for the perfect and sudden, once struck, brings forth the wheel of the unconditioned Dharma. Again, two capacities struck together bring forth the fourth and fifth flavors; a single capacity struck brings forth the second flavor; four capacities struck bring forth four flavors, excluding the first; three capacities struck bring forth three flavors, excluding the first and second; and a single capacity struck brings forth the fifth flavor alone, excluding the other four. Again, the dharma attained at the Tripiṭaka teaching's own place of enlightenment is like milk already present within the cow — rising from the place of enlightenment, the wheel of the Dharma of milk is thereupon taught; the dharma attained at the shared teaching's buddha's own place of enlightenment is like cream already present within the cow — rising from the place of enlightenment, the wheel of the Dharma of cream is thereupon taught; the dharma attained at the distinct teaching's buddha's own place of enlightenment is like all five flavors together present within the cow — rising from the place of enlightenment, the wheel of the Dharma of the five flavors, taken in sequence, is thereupon taught; the dharma attained at the perfect teaching's buddha's own place of enlightenment is like ghee already present within the cow — rising from the place of enlightenment, the wheel of the Dharma of ghee is thereupon taught directly.

Question: The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Like eating a gruel of milk, with nothing further needed" — ought this, then, to be the wheel of the Dharma of milk?

Answer: Milk is of many kinds. The milk of a coarse cow, when yielded, is itself harmful; the milk of a fine, well-trained calf is the very best milk of all.

Question: Since milk is thus of many kinds, is ghee, too, then not a single kind?

Answer: The sūtra takes the arhat and the pratyekabuddha as ghee — one should therefore know that this, too, admits of superior and inferior grades. There is a great deal of sense contained within this, and it is fitting to reflect upon it carefully.

Following this same threefold reasoning: every teaching of the Dharma given above is trace, not origin — first fulfilled and first taught, wiped away within the interval; fulfilled within the interval and taught within the interval, this, too, remains, throughout, an expedient means. How much more, then, could what is fulfilled now and taught now possibly fail to be a trace as well? Clinging to the trace, both are lost; wiping away the trace, both are understood. Being neither trace nor origin, this is inconceivably one and the same.

Again, what has already been taught is the trace; what is taught now is the origin; what was already the origin is now the trace — trace and origin both at once, and so on. Or, taking up the fourfold propositions of real-origin and provisional-trace, and so on, and the fourfold propositions of essence-and-function down through principle-and-phenomena, and so on.

Seventh, as for the wondrous of the original retinue: the sūtra says, "These bodhisattvas dwell in the space beneath." These, every one, are my own children, and I am their father. As for "the space beneath": "beneath" is named "the base." The Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra has the samādhi of the base of all dharmas; the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says, "the great path of the perfection of wisdom — the Buddha alone exhausts its base." One should know that these bodhisattvas stand close by the Buddha's own exhausting of the base of the perfection of wisdom. As for "space": this is the quiescent light of the emptiness of the dharma-nature itself. From the quiescent light and space of the original moment, they issue forth into the quiescent light and space of the present moment. Those within the quiescent light and space of the present moment do not recognize those of the original moment — hence it is said, "I have passed through many lands, and yet I do not recognize a single one of them." Those who emerged from the earth across a thousand worlds are, every one, the retinue born through response at the original moment.

As for why there is no [division into] three [vehicles among them]: since the time elapsed is already so vast, the provisional has turned into the real — there is only the one, without the three; or, perhaps, by citing this one case, one may thereby know that the three are present as well. From the origin, descending into the trace: within the trace, at the time of first attaining buddhahood, there likewise exist retinues born through karma, through vow, through spiritual power, and through response. Those transformed within the interval likewise fall into these same four kinds — Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, Devadatta, and the rest, sometimes called teachers, sometimes called disciples — a matter left unresolved for those still caught in confusion. If the interval is wiped away, there is nothing that is not trace, and trace and origin alike become intelligible; if one clings to the trace and remains in doubt about the origin, both senses are lost together, and so on.

Question: Measuring the trace against the origin, the motes of dust across a thousand worlds amount to a small number, while the tally of those who advance along the path is a large number — do the origin's own Dharma-body and the trace's own Dharma-body then differ in depth?

Answer: The Dharma-body is already complete from the very first — it neither increases nor decreases; these different counts pertain only to the breadth or narrowness of the conditions for transformation.

Question: If this is so, then for the initial abiding and the second abiding, whether the conditions for transformation are many or few, the Dharma-body, too, ought to be without any difference in depth?

Answer: For a bodhisattva, whose stage has not yet reached its limit, depth is judged in terms of real realization; for a buddha, whose stage is already complete, it pertains only to provisional transformation — there are four propositions discussing breadth and narrowness here, and so on.

Question: In clarifying cause and fruit and the rest, all of it proceeds by taking the trace buddha and pointing to the origin; yet in clarifying the retinue, the origin is instead summoned to arrive at the trace — why is this?

Answer: Dharmas such as cause and fruit are subtle and obscure, difficult to grasp — hence this, the trace, is taken to point toward that, the origin. The retinue, being persons, are readily summoned as witnesses — hence one may either take the original person to show the trace person, or take the trace dharma to reveal the original dharma; each mutually manifests the other's own sense.

Eighth, as for the wondrous of the original nirvāṇa: the sūtra further says that his entering nirvāṇa is not a real cessation and passing away, and yet he proclaims that he is about to attain cessation and passing away. "Not a real cessation and passing away" means that he abides eternally in his own original quiescence. "Proclaiming that he is about to attain cessation and passing away" is his means of subduing and taming sentient beings. All of this is the nirvāṇa of the original moment, not the trace nirvāṇa. As for the trace: the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra clarifies an assembly gathered by voice and light, beginning with his own disciples and ending with vipers and scorpions. The bodhisattva Boundless Body, though occupying the rank of a disciple, has a body whose measure is boundless — how, then, could the great teacher himself, reclining upon his side, suffer from a pain in his back? This is simply the birth-body displaying illness and displaying its own extinction; the Dharma-body itself suffers no affliction, abiding eternally and without change. Some take up analytical emptiness, where the cause is extinguished and the fruit is destroyed, to clarify nirvāṇa with residue remaining and nirvāṇa with no residue remaining. Some take up the emptiness that directly embodies dharmas, where the cause is extinguished and the fruit is destroyed, to clarify these same two kinds of nirvāṇa.

As for the trace-extinction of the birth-body: as recorded in the Āgamas, the body bound by karma, born of father and mother, forsaking his kingdom and abandoning his throne, six years of austere practice, severing the fetters and accomplishing the path at the thirty-fourth mental moment, an eighty-two-year-old body of an elder monk, going to Cunda's own dwelling, holding his bowl and begging for food, eating a broth of sandalwood-ear mushroom, and, once the meal was finished, teaching the Dharma; his own life-span, the fruit of past karmic retribution, coming to its end at midnight, entering nirvāṇa with no residue remaining, cremated by fire, and his relics gathered up — this is the mark of nirvāṇa according to the Tripiṭaka teaching. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: the bodhisattva of the sixth ground has already exhausted views and thought; from the seventh ground onward, he vows to sustain his remaining habitual tendencies, taking on a body of birth-and-death, even rising above and descending below, until, through the wisdom that corresponds in a single thought-moment, he severs every habitual tendency and accomplishes buddhahood, able to deliver sentient beings; once the conditions are exhausted, the transformative teaching ceases, and he enters nirvāṇa with no residue remaining — this is the mark of nirvāṇa according to the shared teaching's buddha. The Dilun masters say: conditioned cultivation reveals what is real; cultivating bodhi, the fruit reaches completion and becomes great nirvāṇa — this, too, is named the expedient-means pure nirvāṇa. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Through the extinction of this cause, form, the eternal form is obtained; sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness are exactly the same." This is named liberation of form, and liberation of sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness — this is precisely the exhaustion of the causes of both segmented birth-and-death and transformational birth-and-death, whereby the eternally abiding nirvāṇa with residue remaining is obtained; once the resultant body of the aggregates in both places is exhausted, the eternally abiding nirvāṇa with no residue remaining is obtained. This differs from what came before — it is the mark of nirvāṇa according to the distinct teaching's buddha. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Great final nirvāṇa abides eternally, without change." Able to establish every kind of thing, manifesting himself to subdue and tame sentient beings — as broadly explained in the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, this is named great nirvāṇa, permanence, bliss, self, and purity. This differs from what came before — it is precisely the mark of nirvāṇa according to the perfect teaching.

The sūtra says: within today's assembly, countless multitudes each behold something different — some behold the Tathāgata entering nirvāṇa; some behold the Tathāgata abiding in the world for one eon less one eon; some behold the Tathāgata abiding in the world for immeasurable eons; some behold a body sixteen feet tall; some behold a small body, some a great body; some behold the reward-body seated within the ocean of the Lotus Treasury World, expounding the Mind Ground dharma-gate for a hundred thousand myriad koṭis of Śākyamuni buddhas; some behold the Dharma-body, identical to empty space itself, without any differentiation, without mark and without obstruction, pervading the whole dharma-realm just as empty space does; some behold this very place, the grove of sāla trees, as nothing but earth and sand, grass and trees, stone and rock; some behold this very place as gold and silver and the seven treasures, pure and adorned; some behold this very place as the very ground where the buddhas of the three time-periods have passed; some behold this very place as itself inconceivable, the true dharma-substance of the buddhas' own state. This clarifies that the Buddha's own body and the objects it depends upon each carry these same four kinds of marks — precisely the four kinds of nirvāṇa already set out above. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and this present sūtra share the identical sense. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra takes eternal abiding as its cardinal doctrine — Kāśyapa's very first question concerns the Buddha's own long life-span, and, within the Buddha's own answer, eternal abiding in the future is revealed again and again in many places, while the life-span already attained in the past is clarified only sparingly, since the Lotus Sūtra has already spoken of it. Though that sūtra touches on this in only one or two places, it cannot therefore be judged that his life-span was only recently attained and is short. The present sūtra makes it its cardinal doctrine expressly to reveal the trace and disclose the origin, and to teach an immeasurable life-span, speaking only sparingly of eternal abiding in the future; though it, too, touches on this in only one or two places, it cannot therefore be judged that it is impermanent. The two sūtras raise up each other's own point: one of sharp faculties, knowing the origin to be eternal, knows the future to be eternal as well, and, understanding the future's own long life-span, likewise understands the original long life-span. Their sense is one and the same.

Again, this present sūtra's own repeated manifestation of birth and manifestation of extinction is such that birth is not a real birth, and extinction is not a real extinction — the sense of eternal abiding is thereby made manifest. Again, the twenty thousand Candrasūryapradīpa buddhas, and Kāśyapa Buddha as well, none of them speak of nirvāṇa at all — it is only within the Lotus Sūtra itself that the eternity of the origin and the eternity of the future are clarified, and this makes all the more manifest that it is the Lotus Sūtra alone that clarifies the sense of eternal abiding in this way, and so on.

For three reasons, one knows that every one of these nirvāṇas is trace, not origin: because it is only now first entered; because, having entered, he then emerges once more; and because the interval is wiped away. This trace nirvāṇa, in every case, descends from the origin — how, then, could one cling to the trace and call it the origin? This is failing to recognize both trace and origin. If the trace is wiped away to reveal the origin, then neither sense remains confused. Being neither trace nor origin, this is inconceivably one and the same.

Ninth, as for the wondrous of the original lifespan: within the wondrous of the original cause above, wisdom itself was taken as the life — this is neither long nor short. It is by means of this life of wisdom, itself neither long nor short, that one is able to become long or short; here, what is properly clarified is precisely the long or short life-span itself. The sūtra, in one place after another, speaks of itself under differing names, and of years both great and small in number. "Years" refers to the life-span; "great and small" refers to long and short. Wherever the sūtra, at various points within the interval, speaks of years great or small, it does so by taking the trace to point, from a distance, toward the origin. As for how the traces differ: the Tripiṭaka teaching's buddha, in the birth-body born of father and mother, comes to an end at eighty-two, the body reduced to ashes and wisdom extinguished, never to be born again; the shared teaching's buddha, in the body of his own vow, once the conditions for transformation are exhausted, likewise returns to ashes and is cut off, extinguished and never born again. These two buddhas match only karma to karma and condition to condition — they do not attain the life of wisdom that is neither long nor short, and are unable to fashion for themselves a life-span, long or short, great or small. The distinct teaching's buddha, ascending to the ground and breaking through ignorance, attains the Tathāgata's own single body that is also immeasurable bodies — a single body abiding in still, unmoving repose, while the immeasurable bodies become buddhas across a hundred realms, and likewise manifest bodies within the nine lower realms — of him alone can years great and small be discussed. "Great" is precisely the Mahāyāna's own eternal life-span; "small" is precisely the Hīnayāna's own impermanent life-span. At the moment the perfect teaching's bodhisattva ascends to the initial abiding, it is exactly the same. All of these are bodhisattvas still within the cause, whose life-span, neither permanent nor impermanent, is able to become either permanent or impermanent, long or short — how much more so, then, at the final mind! How much more so at wondrous enlightenment!

Every one of these three senses of life-span belongs to the life-span of cause and fruit within the trace alone; this life-span, in every case, descends as this trace from the complete fulfillment of cause and fruit at the original ground — if the trace is already such as this, how much more so, then, the origin itself! The sūtra's own words, "The life-span I accomplished when I formerly practiced the bodhisattva path has, even now, still not come to its end," point to the original cause — if the life-span of the cause itself has still not come to its end, how much more so, then, the life-span of the original fruit! If one clings to the trace, one fails to know the origin; wiping away the trace here, one comes to know the origin, and likewise comes to know that they are inconceivably one and the same.

Tenth, explaining the wondrous of the original merit and benefit: the text says, "causing every one of them to attain joy." Joy is itself the mark of benefit. Within the trace — whether the ten common grounds shared by the three vehicles, or the distinct teaching's own ten grounds, the opening of the provisional to reveal the real, the wondrous of remaining fixed at one's own stage, the wondrous of advancing into a further stage — every benefit of this kind, down even to hearing of the life-span and thereby advancing the path while diminishing birth, is entirely a benefit within the trace. Even the benefit of the provisional and the real within the interval is likewise a trace benefit. Measuring the trace against the origin, the origin, too, ought likewise to possess a one-sided and a perfect benefit. This is why the bodhisattvas who emerged from beneath all dwell within empty space — all abiding within quiescent light, this is precisely the original benefit. Hence, the origin, in every case, descends as the trace by means of the origin itself, and the trace is borrowed to know the origin — this need not be recorded in complete detail here.

Sixth, resolving doubts by taking up the three time-periods: the text says, "the Tathāgata's own power of sovereign spiritual transformation, the Tathāgata's own power of great, awe-inspiring might, the Tathāgata's own power of the lion's swift-leaping" — this is precisely the text on benefiting beings across the three time-periods. If the provisional and real dharma realized at the very first, in the past, is named the origin, then, once realization has been attained from this origin, expedient transformation of others follows afterward. Whether it is opening the three to reveal the one and revealing the trace to disclose the origin, the middle period's own manifestation revealing the trace to disclose the origin, the present day's own revealing the trace to disclose the origin, or the future's own disclosing the origin to reveal the trace — in every case, it points back to this very first moment as the origin. Though the three time-periods differ, Vairocana's single origin is no different across them, like a hundred thousand branches and leaves all converging upon a single root, and so on.

Question: What is presently seen — the immeasurable buddhas, every one an emanation body of Śākyamuni — are there, then, still further buddhas besides these, and do those further buddhas likewise have their own emanation bodies?

Answer: The Samantabhadra Contemplation Sūtra says, "In the east there is a buddha named Wholesome Virtue, and that buddha, too, has his own emanation buddhas." If this is so, then there are indeed other buddhas, and those buddhas, too, have their own emanation bodies. Again, the "Spiritual Powers" chapter says: "These two sounds — the snap of fingers and the clearing of the throat — reach throughout the buddha-worlds of the ten directions; the fourfold assembly of those buddhas, from afar, extend their own offerings, and the scattered offerings, coming from every direction, gather like a mass of snow, covering over every one of the buddhas present here." One therefore knows that there are indeed other buddhas, and that those buddhas, too, have their own emanation bodies.

Question: If the buddhas of the three time-periods all have their own emanation bodies, then why does it also say that the Tathāgata Prabhūtaratna's whole body does not disperse, as though he had entered meditative concentration? And if his whole body does not disperse, then why does it also say that he travels throughout the ten directions bearing witness to the Lotus Sūtra? How can these two senses be reconciled?

Answer: The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, explaining the recollection of the Buddha, says: since Prabhūtaratna had no one to request that he teach the Dharma, he simply entered nirvāṇa, and it was only afterward that his transformation body and his seven-jeweled stūpa bore witness to the Lotus Sūtra. Following this reading from the Treatise, this is precisely a transformed whole body, not a case of having no emanation bodies at all. The Master says: if it were said that he is unable to teach the Dharma, then why does he tell the fourfold assembly, "After my extinction, erect for me a single great stūpa"? It is not that he does not teach the Dharma at all — it must rather be that he does not teach the Lotus Sūtra specifically. Hence, having brought forth his great vow, his physical relics remain unbroken, his whole body undispersed, and he emerges to bear witness to this perfect sūtra. His entering into meditative concentration signals that he has not been extinguished; his emerging to bear witness to this eternal sūtra signals that he holds to no one-sided view; being neither one-sided nor extinguished, the sense of the perfect and the eternal is thereby made manifest. Speaking aloud the true and pure great Dharma is itself the true and eternal — these two virtues are only briefly indicated here, yet what I myself take delight in may already be known from them; a reader of dull faculties, reading this very text, may still fail to perceive it.

Question: If the buddhas of the three time-periods all disclose their own origin, then, as for the very first buddha who was really accomplished — how could his origin possibly be disclosed?

Answer: It is not necessarily the case that every buddha discloses an origin. Taking up the position that there is such a sense: the very first wondrous enlightenment points to the initial abiding as its own origin; and if the initial abiding is, in turn, elevated to become wondrous enlightenment, this, too, points to the initial abiding as its origin. Before the initial abiding, there is, vertically, nothing further to point to, yet, horizontally, there is essence and function — and does pointing to this very essence not itself amount to an origin? Again, because of the vow he made, his life-span is said to be vast and distant, exactly as the text states, and so on. Another interpretation: even the very first buddha, though he has no long-and-distant, already-and-now, or provisional-and-real sense of trace and origin capable of being disclosed, nonetheless has an essence-and-function, teaching-and-practice, principle-and-teaching, phenomena-and-principle sense of trace and origin that can indeed be disclosed, and so on. Taking up the position that there is no such sense: if the very first buddha only just attained buddhahood, then, having only just attained this origin, no descent into any trace is yet even at issue — there is no long-past trace that could be disclosed, and no long-past origin that could be revealed, and so on. If some other buddha attained buddhahood long ago, as in Śākyamuni's own case, this is illustrated by the east alone; if attained even longer ago than this, it is illustrated by all four directions; and if longer still, it is illustrated by the ten directions entire. If nearer than this, then even the east alone is diminished as the illustration; and if there is no such attainment at all, then there is nothing whatsoever to illustrate it by, and so on.

Question: If some buddha really did only just attain buddhahood for the first time, with no long-past origin capable of being disclosed, then why does the sūtra say, "This is my own skillful means, and it is exactly the same for every buddha"?

Answer: Even lacking any long-past origin, if the use of skillful means is still required, a buddha nonetheless possesses the wisdom of extending or contracting an eon, able to expand seven days into the sense of immeasurable eons, and so on.

Question: If a buddha may either have attained buddhahood long ago or only just now, and may either disclose his trace or not disclose it, then should there not likewise be cases of opening the three to reveal the one, and cases of not opening the three and not revealing the one?

Answer: Where bodhisattvas and śrāvakas together make up the saṅgha, there is indeed the opening of the three to reveal the one; where the saṅgha consists purely of bodhisattvas, what need is there for any such opening and disclosing?

Question: If some buddhas do not open the three to reveal the one, then what of the chapter of the five buddhas?

Answer: These are alike cases where śrāvakas and bodhisattvas together make up the saṅgha, appearing amid the five turbidities of a defiled age — of this kind, it may indeed be so; but a buddha appearing within a pure land is not the same.

Question: Breaking through the ten coarse aspects to reveal the ten wondrous aspects — this is precisely fundamental ignorance and delusion exhausted, and the single, real principle made manifest. Now, breaking through the trace's own wondrous aspects yet again, taking them as coarse, and revealing the origin as wondrous — what delusion is broken through here? What principle is revealed?

Answer: The layers of fundamental ignorance are exceedingly many, and the ocean of the real mark is immeasurably deep — breaking through and revealing in this way carries no fault.

A further question: If this is so, then wondrous is here used to break through wondrous, and the wondrous thus broken through, though wondrous, becomes coarse once more — should it not, by the same logic, likewise be the case that coarse is used to break through coarse, and the coarse thus broken through becomes, by the same pattern, wondrous once more? And should the four dwelling-grounds of affliction broken through, by the same pattern, likewise become wondrous?

Answer: Speaking in terms of the sudden teaching's own sense, the four dwelling-grounds of affliction themselves are precisely wondrous already — how much more so, then, the wisdom that breaks through the four dwelling-grounds of affliction! How could this possibly fail to be wondrous?

A further question: If this is so, then there is only the sudden teaching's own sense — should there then be no sense of the gradual at all?

Answer: If the gradual and the sudden are distinguished, then, within the gradual, both what breaks through and what is broken through are coarse alike; within the sudden, both what breaks through and what is broken through are wondrous alike, and so on.

Question: Within the interval, there is the one-sided and the perfect, and the provisional and the real; and where both alike are named provisional, should both alike also be named one-sided?

Answer: In terms of the sense held in common, this is indeed so; but in terms of their particular sense, it is not. The one-sided and the perfect are determined in terms of the dharma itself, and the dharma is already fixed — hence the one-sided is not the perfect, and the perfect is not the one-sided. The provisional and the real are determined in terms of the teaching, and, within the trace, whatever is set forth is alike a mere provisional device — hence it is only in terms of this provisional device that "the provisional" here is discussed.

Question: Given that there is both wondrous accompanied by coarse and wondrous unaccompanied by coarse, should there not likewise be coarse accompanied by wondrous, and coarse unaccompanied by wondrous?

Answer: This calls for a fourfold set of propositions: wondrous accompanied by coarse is precisely the distinct teaching; wondrous unaccompanied by coarse is precisely the perfect teaching; coarse accompanied by wondrous is precisely the shared teaching; coarse unaccompanied by wondrous is precisely the Tripiṭaka teaching. Again, accompanied by coarse is like the shared teaching; unaccompanied by coarse is like the perfect teaching; both accompanied and unaccompanied at once is like the distinct teaching; neither accompanied nor unaccompanied is like the perfect teaching receiving the distinct teaching, or like the perfect-and-distinct teaching receiving the shared teaching. Again, in terms of the Five Flavors: coarse unaccompanied by wondrous is like cream; wondrous unaccompanied by coarse is like ghee; both accompanied and unaccompanied by coarse at once is like curdled and clarified butter; neither accompanied by coarse nor unaccompanied by coarse is like milk, and so on.

Question: Since the two kinds of coarse already differ from one another, how can they suddenly both be called by the same name, "coarse"?

Answer: The matter itself has both shallow and deep aspects, hence there are two; yet neither is the wondrous principle itself, hence both alike are coarse.

Question: Should there, then, likewise be a real accompanied by expedient means, and a real unaccompanied by expedient means?

Answer: The same pattern applies.

Question: Should there likewise be a one accompanied by the two, and a one unaccompanied by the two?

Answer: The same pattern applies. Discussed generally, trace and origin are simply the provisional and the real; discussed particularly, in terms of higher and lower, trace and origin is the fitting vocabulary to use; discussed crosswise, in terms of the true and the false, provisional and real is the fitting vocabulary to use. Trace and origin are determined in terms of the body and the stage; provisional and real are determined in terms of wisdom and the teaching, and so on.

Question: The original ground's own ten wondrous aspects, considered in terms of the sixfold sense of trace and origin — under which of the six does it properly belong?

Answer: It belongs to neither the already-and-now sense nor the interval sense — it is, rather, the essence-and-function, teaching-and-practice, principle-and-teaching senses, and the rest, that together discuss the ten wondrous aspects.

Seventh, judging coarse and wondrous: within the trace, what has already attained the ten coarse aspects is coarse, and the ten wondrous aspects are wondrous; what has not yet opened the ten coarse aspects is coarse, and opening the ten makes them wondrous — exactly as explained before. Within the trace, whether relative coarse-and-wondrous or opened coarse-and-wondrous, this wondrous is no different from the original wondrous, and yet it is said to be only now first attained — being only now first attained, it is coarse. Within the origin, already accomplished from before, whether coarse or wondrous, whether relative or opened coarse-and-wondrous, this too is no different from the trace's own wondrous, and yet it was already attained beforehand — having already been attained beforehand, it is called wondrous. Again, within the trace, phenomena and principle only now first attained are coarse; within the origin, phenomena and principle already attained beforehand are wondrous; within the trace, principle-and-teaching, teaching-and-practice, essence-and-function, provisional-and-real, and the rest, are all exactly the same. Again, for one who has not yet disclosed the trace to reveal the origin, one is able only to understand the coarse-and-wondrous of phenomena and principle within the trace, and is entirely unable to understand the coarse of phenomena within the origin — how much more so the wondrous of principle within the origin! Even Maitreya himself did not penetrate this — how much more so everyone else! If one discloses the phenomena and principle within the trace, this itself reveals the phenomena and principle within the origin.

One likewise thereby knows that it is by means of the phenomena and principle within the origin that the phenomena and principle within the trace are able to descend as they do. Since the trace derives from the origin, the origin is wondrous and the trace is coarse; and since there is indeed this distinction between origin and trace, coarse and wondrous are spoken of accordingly. Yet the wondrous principle itself is neither trace nor origin — it is inconceivably one and the same. Principle-and-teaching, teaching-and-practice, essence-and-function, provisional-and-real, already-and-now, and the rest, are all exactly the same.

Eighth, clarifying the provisional and the real: illuminating the ten coarse aspects' own objects within the trace is the provisional; illuminating the ten wondrous aspects' own objects within the trace is the real; and, further, the objects of the ten coarse aspects illuminated across the three time-periods within the interval are the provisional, and the objects of the ten wondrous aspects are the real. Whether provisional or real, both alike are entirely trace — hence, being trace, both are named provisional. In this way, the interval is immeasurable, and its immeasurable, inexpressible, node-by-node instances of provisional and real — other sūtras do not even possess a single such instance of the provisional within the interval, let alone a single instance of the real! They do not even possess a single such instance of provisional-and-real within the interval, let alone immeasurable instances! They do not even possess the interval's own provisional-and-real, let alone the original ground's own provisional-and-real! Every provisional-and-real of the interval is named provisional; the very first illumination of the ten coarse and ten wondrous aspects at the original ground is named real. The trace's provisional and the origin's real are both alike inconceivable, and this very inconceivability is precisely the dharma-nature. The principle of the dharma-nature is neither ancient nor present, neither origin nor trace, neither provisional nor real — it is only in terms of this same dharma-nature that origin and trace, provisional and real, coarse and wondrous, are discussed at all. It is only in terms of worldly, conventional writing that there is a past, a future, and a present — this is not to say that bodhi itself possesses any past, future, or present.

Again, distinguishing the provisional and the real, there are three kinds: namely, of one's own practice, used in teaching others, and of one's own practice set against teaching others — exactly as explained within the wondrous of the object. The two kinds of wisdom, provisional and real, realized through one's own practice at the original ground, are named the buddha's own provisional and real wisdom of his own practice; from the origin onward, even down to the Deer Park, every kind of skillful means, speech following the intention of others, expounding these same two kinds of wisdom, turning about without any fixed pattern — this is named the buddha's own provisional and real wisdom used in teaching others. Though teaching others has these same two kinds, both alike are named provisional; though one's own practice likewise has these same two kinds, both alike are named real — this is what is meant by discussing the provisional and the real jointly, in terms of one's own practice set against teaching others.

Again, within the trace, setting forth the provisional in terms of the real, the intent lies in the real, and yet this real intent is difficult to fathom. Why is this? The conjured city is the provisional, and yet, if a person takes it for the real, this is failing to recognize the provisional, and likewise failing to know the real. If, instead, the provisional is set aside to reveal the real, the intent lies in the provisional, and the provisional then becomes easy to fathom. Why is this? Once one knows that this one matter, the conjured city, is the Buddha's own provisional device, one thereby penetrates every buddha-dharma numerous as the sands of the Ganges, reaching all the way back to the skillful means of eons long past. Hence, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra's own clarification, teaching in detail the numerical categories of things for the sake of those never turning back, carries precisely this same sense. As for opening the provisional to reveal the real: once the phenomenal dharma is penetrated, the provisional intent itself comes to rest, and yet one does not depart from the provisional to seek the real somewhere far off. The provisional is itself the real, with no further, separate provisional remaining — hence this is called opening the provisional to reveal the real.

Since the trace already has these three senses in just this way, and the trace descends from the origin, the origin, too, is exactly the same; though origin and trace differ, they are inconceivably one and the same, and so on.

Ninth, discussing benefit: first, clarifying the benefit to the birth-body; next, clarifying the benefit to the Dharma-body. The birth-body attains benefit in two places — within the trace gate, where the three are gathered into the one, and the provisional is opened to reveal the real. As for the bodhisattva of the birth-body attaining benefit: among the ten wondrous aspects, five wondrous benefits are attained. Why is this? The wondrous of the object is common, possessed fully by everyone already; the wondrous of the vehicle is particular, ultimately residing in the buddha alone. Sympathetic response, spiritual powers, and teaching the Dharma are all benefits belonging to the level of the fruit — if the fruit has not yet been realized, this benefit is not yet discussed.

Considered within the six identities, four identities' worth of benefit is attained; identity in principle and identity in the ultimate follow the same pattern as before — only within identity in name are wisdom, practice, stage, retinue, and merit attained, and, further, within identity in a portion of the truth, wisdom, practice, stage, retinue, and merit are likewise attained. Just as when Śāriputra received his prediction, the fourfold assembly, the devas, and the nāgas all rejoiced, speaking a verse: "Śāriputra, of great wisdom, has now received the venerable prediction; we too, exactly the same, shall each attain buddhahood as well" — this is precisely the mark of the birth-body bodhisattva hearing the teaching within the trace gate and attaining benefit.

Disclosing the origin to reveal the trace, teaching that the Buddha's own life-span is vast and distant, the samādhi of contemplating the Buddha attains great increase — from this, there likewise exist birth-body bodhisattvas who attain five benefits among the ten wondrous aspects, and four benefits among the six identities, diminishing birth and advancing the path, and so on.

From the second abiding onward, up through the stage of one more birth remaining, all of these are cases of the Dharma-body attaining five benefits. Why is this? Those born through response, hearing of the merit of the original ground, find the samādhi of contemplating the Buddha turning ever deeper and broader, beyond all measure, incomparable to the benefit that came before within the trace. Why is this? The Buddha's own state grows ever deeper, and his merit ever greater accordingly. Hence the "Discrimination of Merits" chapter says: "The Buddha has taught a rare dharma, never heard before — the World-Honored One possesses great power, his life-span beyond all measure." Of those who are said to gain benefit from the Dharma, joy fills their entire bodies; some abide at the stage of non-retrogression, some attain dhāraṇī. This is precisely the mark of both the birth-body and the Dharma-body attaining benefit.

As for discussing the attainment of the real path, the two places do not differ; yet, in terms of the functioning of provisional wisdom's own affairs, they cannot be set side by side. It is comparable to liberation through wisdom alone and liberation in both respects: the taintless itself is not two, and yet their merit differs, superior and inferior. The attainment of the path within the trace gate, as discussed before, reaches only as far as the forbearance of the dharma of no-generation; the attainment of the path within the origin gate reaches as far as one more birth remaining, counted by motes of dust — how could their abundance or scarcity, depth or shallowness, possibly be the same as what came before? One ought to distinguish that text carefully: from the point where the aspiration is first raised, this is precisely the stage of the six purified faculties, and, going further, one more birth remaining is precisely the very last portion of the truth, and so on.

Again, as for the benefit within the propagation section: the propagation of the trace gate, discussed earlier, concerns the bodhisattvas who have made their vows and the arhats who have received their predictions, propagating the sūtra in this land and in other lands, and discusses their merit. Examining the text, only the hidden benefit is made clear there — the manifest benefit is not spoken of. Now, in speaking of the origin gate, every dharma possessed by every buddha is entrusted, together with the dharma of the trace gate as well. The secret and profound treasury is precisely the real mark within both origin and trace; every deeply profound matter is precisely the cause and fruit within both origin and trace. Dharmas of this kind are entrusted to the bodhisattvas numerous as motes of dust across a thousand worlds, propagating the sūtra from the very ground of the Dharma-body itself — how could this be limited merely to the birth-body's own propagating the sūtra in this land and in other lands? A body pervading the ten dharma-realms, traveling throughout every land, thereby possesses both the hidden and the manifest benefit. One who doubts this says: since the Dharma-body permanently possesses the Buddha, what need is there for a bodhisattva to propagate it? Yet propagation itself depends upon the person, awaiting the right time and the right companions — just as, though the Buddha was in the world, Mañjuśrī still entered the dragon-king's palace to propagate the teaching there; though the domain of the Dharma-body already possesses the Buddha, an external condition is still required. Hence the Buddha entrusts the teaching, extending his tongue and laying his hand upon the crown, in every kind of manifest form, earnestly entrusting it, so that propagating this Dharma may attain immeasurable, subtle merit. Whoever hears it attains a wondrous benefit beyond all reckoning. Hence the text says: if there are those who hear the Buddha teach the measure of his life-span, all alike rejoice, and attain the resultant fruit of immeasurable, taintless merit — this is precisely this same sense.

Tenth, the contemplation of mind: the original wondrous aspects are vast and distant — how could they possibly be found through the contemplation of mind? Though not identical with mind, they are not separate from mind either. Why is this? The suchness of the Buddha and the suchness of sentient beings are a single suchness, without a second suchness; since the Buddha himself contemplated mind and thereby attained this original wondrous, his trace's own function became vast and great, beyond all telling. My own suchness is the Buddha's own suchness — I, too, ought to contemplate mind, and bring forth this same great benefit. May my own suchness, too, swiftly become the Buddha's own suchness. Hence the text says: "One who hears of the Buddha's immeasurable life-span, and, with a deeply sincere mind, believes it even for a single instant — that person's own blessing surpasses even the offerings described before. May I, too, in the future, live long and deliver sentient beings, just as the World-Honored One does today, king among all the Śākyas, roaring the lion's roar at the place of enlightenment, teaching the Dharma without any fear. May we, too, in the future, honored and revered by all, when we ourselves sit at the place of enlightenment, teach of our own life-span in exactly this same way." This is precisely the mark of the contemplation of mind attaining the original wondrous, and, through it, the benefit of the six identities, and so on.

A further question: What, then, is meant by "great" as opposed to "wondrous"?

Answer: This calls for a threefold pairing, discussed as six propositions, and so on. The text says, "The Buddha himself abides in the Great Vehicle." Again it says, "such a great fruit of retribution." Again it says, "there is a great cart" — and yet the title itself is named "wondrous." The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says, "great final nirvāṇa, a subtle and wondrous scripture" — and yet its title is named "great." Wondrous is thus precisely great, and great is thus precisely wondrous. The Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra says, "Form is neither profound nor wondrous, and so on down to consciousness, neither profound nor wondrous" — this is great breaking through wondrous. This present text says, "All dharmas are empty and quiescent, without taint, unconditioned, without great and without small" — this is wondrous breaking through great. It is like the great arhat, whose greatness still requires the cultivation of the wondrous; and like cessation, stilling, subtlety, and freedom, whose wondrousness still requires, further, the cultivation of the great, and so on.

Question: If great and wondrous are thus equal, then every other sūtra ought equally to be called wondrous.

Answer: Considered generally, other sūtras, too, are, in terms of principle, no different in their greatness and wondrousness; yet, particularly, they still carry an accompanying element of skillful means. This sūtra carries no accompanying skillful means, and so it alone is specially called wondrous. Even the Hīnayāna is able to enter it, disclosing the trace to reveal the origin — and so, for this reason too, it alone is specially called wondrous.

Question: If both the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna alike are called wondrous, and both alike make permanence clear, then, taking this at face value, one might reject the distinction between them, and so on. Yet the Hīnayāna's own "cessation, stilling, subtlety, freedom" shares the same name but differs in principle — it cannot be permanence, and, likewise, ought it not also be said that it cannot be wondrous?

Answer: The name "wondrous" means the inconceivable. The Hīnayāna's own truth of ultimate meaning, cutting off both speech and thought, generally also attains this same inconceivability — hence it, too, is generally named wondrous.

Next, granting this position for the sake of argument: one may also, by means of the three unconditioned dharmas, name both permanence, and yet their permanence differs. And further, since both alike are named permanent, are both alike, too, "gathered together as one"?

Answer: Gathering the various views so that they alike enter the real is indeed a "gathering," and yet the gathering itself differs in each case. And further, if both alike were impermanent and both alike coarse, would both alike then also fail to be gathered? The pattern holds in general, yet the sense differs in particular — how, then, could the Mahāyāna be called impermanent? The Mahāyāna is not merely without impermanence — it is also without permanence itself; and it is precisely because it is without any fixed permanence that it is spoken of, in this sense, as "without permanence." How, then, could the Mahāyāna be coarse? Now, wherever there is verbal expression at all, that alone is named coarse — by this logic, how could the Mahāyāna's own teaching, too, then fail to be gathered together as one? All dharmas without exception are themselves the Buddha-dharma — what further "gathering into one" could there possibly be, and so on.

Next, explaining "lotus flower": this has four senses: first, settling whether it is dharma or metaphor; second, citing prior interpretations; third, presenting sūtra and treatise sources; fourth, the correct explanation.

As for settling whether it is dharma or metaphor: the provisional and the real are difficult to make manifest, and so the lotus flower is borrowed as a metaphor, likening it to the wondrous dharma. Again, the seven parables' own text is extensive, and so the title itself is set forth by way of metaphor. Another interpretation says: the lotus flower is not a metaphor at all, but a name obtained from its very own essence. This is comparable to the very beginning of the eon, when the ten thousand things had no names yet, and the sages, contemplating principle, established names by taking it as their standard: just as the spider's spinning of its web inspired the knotting of nets in imitation of it; the tumbleweed's own unaided rolling inspired the making of the cart, modeled after it; a raft floating and drifting upon the current inspired the establishing of the boat; and a bird's footprints forming a pattern inspired the writing of characters — in every case, phenomena were fashioned by taking principle as their model. So too, the name "lotus flower" here is not a borrowed metaphor at all, but is precisely the Dharma-gate of the Lotus; the Dharma-gate of the Lotus, pure, its cause and fruit subtle and wondrous, is itself named "lotus flower" — this is precisely the name obtained from the very essence of the Lotus samādhi, not a metaphor at all. Other sūtras mostly explain their own names directly, while this sūtra offers no such explanation — perhaps this portion of the text was simply never translated. Yet both of these interpretations have their own reasoning, and the two senses are here brought together as one.

Question: Is the lotus flower definitely the lotus flower of the Lotus samādhi? Or is it definitely the lotus flower of the plant-and-grass kind?

Answer: It is definitely the dharma-lotus-flower. The dharma-lotus-flower is difficult to understand, and so the plant-flower is used as its illustration. One of sharp faculties understands the principle directly from the very name itself, without needing any metaphor at all, taking it simply as the understanding of the Lotus itself. Those of middling and lesser faculties, not yet awakened, require the metaphor before they can know it — the easily understood lotus flower is thus used to illustrate the difficult-to-understand lotus flower. Hence there are the three cycles of teaching the Dharma, meeting the upper, middling, and lower faculties in turn. In terms of the upper faculty, it is a dharma-name; in terms of the middling and lower faculties, it is a metaphor-name; discussed jointly across all three faculties, both dharma and metaphor are indicated at once. Understood in this way, with whom is there any dispute left to have? Here, then, the explanation shall proceed in terms of both dharma and metaphor together.

Second, citing prior interpretations: Master Sengrui's own preface says, "Not yet opened, it is named kumuda; about to fall, it is named kamala; in the very midst of its full bloom, it is named puṇḍarīka." Master Huiyuan says: puṇḍarīka is the metaphor for the lotus flower's own opening; since its substance follows the season, its name shifts and its color changes accordingly, and hence there are these three names. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra likewise says, "The lotus flower among humans, the puṇḍarīka flower." Where both names are given together in a title, there ought to be a distinction between the common and the particular. Here, "lotus flower" is taken as the common name, and "puṇḍarīka" as the particular designation. Daolang says: a fresh white color; some render it "red color"; some render it "the most fragrant" — all such renderings carry the sense of opening into full bloom, and citing "puṇḍarīka" alone already encompasses them all.

Question: If the Sanskrit source text cites the particular name, why does this land instead use the common name?

Answer: The foreign land has these three seasonal names, while this land has none — hence only the common name is cited here, and the common name of itself already encompasses the particular.

Another interpretation gives the lotus flower sixteen senses: the lotus flower arises from conditions, illustrating buddha-nature's own arising from conditions; the lotus flower is able to give birth to Brahmā kings, illustrating a buddha's own arising from conditions; the lotus flower's own arising must occur within mud, illustrating understanding's own arising from birth-and-death; the lotus flower is an auspicious sign, delighting whoever sees it, illustrating that whoever sees it shall attain buddhahood; the lotus flower proceeds from the subtle to the manifest, illustrating that even a single bow or a single thought suffices to attain buddhahood; the lotus flower's flower and seed-pod are necessarily simultaneous, illustrating that cause and fruit, too, are simultaneous; where there is a flower there must be a seed-pod, illustrating that where there is a cause there must be buddhahood; the lotus flower illustrates being drawn into the lotus-flower world; the lotus flower is what the Buddha himself treads upon, illustrating every sage's own being born by transformation upon it. These ten illustrations are, in fact, nothing more than a partial sense already contained within this school's own wondrous of practice.

The lotus flower arises within mud, yet is not stained by the mud, illustrating the one existing within the three without the three staining the one; the lotus flower's three seasonal forms differ, illustrating that opening the three is simply the one itself; the lotus flower both opens and closes, illustrating that, meeting conditions, there is both concealment and manifestation; the lotus flower is supreme among every flower, illustrating that it is foremost among every teaching; the flower opens and the fruit is made manifest, illustrating that skillful teaching makes principle manifest; the lotus flower has these three seasonal differences, illustrating that the provisional and the real each suit their own proper season. These six illustrations, too, are nothing more than a partial sense already contained within this school's own wondrous of teaching the Dharma.

As Guangzhai says: with every other flower, the flower and the fruit are not simultaneous, illustrating that every other sūtra clarifies cause and fruit only one-sidedly; with this lotus flower, the flower and the seed-pod are necessarily simultaneous, illustrating that this sūtra discusses cause and fruit both at once; the disciples' own gate clarifies the cause, and the teacher's own gate clarifies the fruit, and hence the lotus flower is borrowed as this illustration. Here, I would say that this interpretation, though economically stated, is one-sided in its sense. Within the trace gate, both teacher and disciple each have their own cause and fruit: the text says, "I have entirely practiced every path and dharma possessed by every buddha... at the place of enlightenment, the fruit was accomplished" — this is precisely the teacher's own cause and fruit; gathering the three into the one is precisely the disciples' own cause, and receiving the prediction of buddhahood is precisely the disciples' own fruit. Within the origin gate, it says: "when I formerly practiced the bodhisattva path" is precisely the teacher's own cause; "since I attained buddhahood, an exceedingly vast time has passed" is precisely the teacher's own fruit; "I formerly taught them to first arouse the aspiration" is precisely the disciples' own cause; "now every one of them abides in non-retrogression, and shall all attain buddhahood" is precisely the disciples' own fruit. That interpretation's own sense is one-sided and incomplete, and so it is not adopted here. Yet, to help complete what it says: it is like the four subtle elements of matter, which properly belong neither to the flower alone nor to the seed-pod alone, and yet, in terms of these same subtle elements, the flower and the seed-pod are each discussed; so too, the principle of the real mark properly belongs neither to the cause and fruit of the origin alone nor of the trace alone, and yet, in terms of this same principle, the cause and fruit of both origin and trace are made clear. Again, it is like the four subtle elements, which properly belong neither to opening alone nor to closing alone, and yet, in terms of these same subtle elements, opening and closing are each discussed; the real mark properly belongs neither to the provisional alone nor to the real alone, and yet, in terms of this same real mark, opening the provisional to reveal the real, and disclosing the trace to reveal the origin, are each discussed.

Third, citing sūtra and treatise sources: the Fahua Lun lists seventeen names: first, Immeasurable Meanings; second, Most Supreme; third, Great Vaipulya; fourth, the Dharma That Teaches Bodhisattvas; fifth, What Every Buddha Guards and Is Mindful Of; sixth, the Secret Treasury of Every Buddha; seventh, the Treasury of Every Buddha; eighth, the Secret Script of Every Buddha; ninth, What Gives Birth to Every Buddha; tenth, the Place of Enlightenment of Every Buddha; eleventh, the Wheel of the Dharma Turned by Every Buddha; twelfth, the Firm and Solid Relics of Every Buddha; thirteenth, the Great and Skillful Expedient Means of Every Buddha; fourteenth, Teaching the One Vehicle; fifteenth, Abiding in the Truth of Ultimate Meaning; sixteenth, the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower; seventeenth, the Dharma-gate That Gathers In Immeasurable Names, Words, and Phrases — Bimbara, Akṣobhya, and the rest. The remaining names are none of them further explained — only the seventeen names themselves are listed.

Next, explaining the lotus flower, there are two senses: first, the sense of the lotus flower rising from the water — since one cannot fully rise up and leave behind the small vehicle's own muddy, turbid water. There is also the sense that the lotus flower rises from the mud and water, illustrating how every śrāvaka, entering and sitting among the Tathāgata's own great assembly, is like the various bodhisattvas seated upon the lotus flower, hearing the teaching of the unsurpassed wisdom's own pure state, and thereby bearing witness to the Tathāgata's own secret treasury. Second, as for the flower opening: since sentient beings, within the Mahāyāna, are timid and weak of mind, unable to give rise to faith, the Tathāgata's own pure and wondrous Dharma-body is opened and shown to them, so that faith may be given rise to.

Explaining the Fahua Lun's own intent here: if it speaks of causing sentient beings to see the pure and wondrous Dharma-body, this takes the wondrous cause's own opening and disclosing as the lotus flower. If it speaks of entering the Tathāgata's own great assembly and sitting upon the lotus flower, this takes the wondrous reward-body's own land as the lotus flower. Why is this? The buddha Vairocana dwells within the ocean of the Lotus Treasury, together with great bodhisattvas, none of whom are persons subject to birth-and-death; if a śrāvaka is able to enter into this same assembly, this is precisely the wondrous reward-body's own land taken as the lotus flower. Measured against the present treatise's own intent, that treatise's own sense amounts, in fact, to nothing more than these two wondrous aspects, of practice and of stage. The Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra says: "Compassion is its stalk, wisdom its leaves, samādhi its stamens, liberation its opening into bloom; the bodhisattva, king of bees, feeds upon its nectar — I now bow in reverence to the Buddha's own lotus flower. Further, using precepts, concentration, wisdom, and dhāraṇī as its necklace of jewels, the bodhisattva is thereby adorned." Explaining the sūtra here: this must mean that the bodhisattva, gathering together these four dharmas, forms the provisionally named person, just as the bee dwells within the flower; and, further, sustains himself by means of these same four dharmas, just as the bee feeds upon the flower.

Fourth, the correct explanation: following the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra, the cause and fruit of practice are the lotus flower — the bodhisattva dwelling atop it is precisely the causal flower, and bowing to the Buddha's own lotus flower is precisely the resultant flower. Following the Fahua Lun, the dependent-retribution land itself is the lotus flower, and it is, further, by the bodhisattva's own cultivation of the lotus-flower practice that the lotus-flower land is obtained as reward. One should know that both the dependent and the direct, both cause and fruit, are entirely the dharma of the lotus flower — what further need is there for any illustration to make it manifest? Yet, for the sake of those of dull faculties who cannot understand the lotus flower of the dharma-nature itself, the worldly flower is cited as an illustration — how could this possibly present any difficulty?

Yet, the sūtra's own text, in two places, speaks of the udumbara flower appearing only once in a great while — when this flower blooms, a wheel-turning king ought to appear; when this sūtra is taught, the prediction of buddhahood is bestowed, and the dharma-king reigns over the age. This auspicious, numinous flower resembles the lotus flower, and so is used as its illustration. Taken in this sense, it is a borrowed illustration, illustrating the wondrous dharma. Now, illustration is of two kinds, the partial illustration and the pervasive illustration — as in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, and so on — a partial illustration only, using the moon to illustrate the face, without seeking from it the eyebrows and the eyes; using snow to suggest the elephant, without searching in it for the tail and the tusks. Here, the Lotus samādhi has nothing by which it could be illustrated, and so this lotus flower is used to illustrate it. Now, flowers are of many kinds, already discussed above; only this lotus flower has both flower and seed-pod in abundance together, and so may illustrate the cause containing the ten thousand practices and the fruit perfecting the ten thousand virtues — hence it is chosen as the illustration. Again, every other flower is coarse, illustrating the cause and fruit of the ten suchnesses within the nine lower dharma-realms; this flower is wondrous, illustrating the cause and fruit of the ten suchnesses within the buddha-realm.

Again, using this flower to illustrate the buddha-realm's own two gates, trace and origin, each has its own three illustrations. As for illustrating the trace: first, wherever a flower arises there must be a seed-pod within it, and it is for the sake of the seed-pod that the flower exists, and yet the seed-pod cannot be seen — this illustrates setting forth the provisional in terms of the real, the intent lying in the real, with none able to know it. The text says, "My own intent is difficult to fathom, and there is none able to raise any question about it." And again: "Taught according to what is fitting, its own aim is difficult to understand." Second, because the flower opens, the seed-pod is thereby made visible, and yet the flower must still nourish the seed-pod — this illustrates that the real exists within the provisional, and yet cannot be known. Here, opening the provisional to reveal the real, the intent still requires the provisional: broadly knowing every buddha-dharma numerous as the sands of the Ganges serves only to bring the real to completion, causing the Buddha's own knowledge and vision to be deeply known. Third, the flower falls and the seed-pod is formed — this illustrates abolishing the three to reveal the one, the single buddha-vehicle alone leading directly to the place of enlightenment. A bodhisattva still in practice sees this not with full clarity, only as the flower opening; the buddhas, having no further practice left to do, see it with complete clarity, illustrated by the flower falling and the seed-pod being formed. These three illustrations illustrate the trace gate, leading from the very first skillful means all the way into the Mahāyāna, brought at last to full and perfect completion.

Again, these same three illustrations illustrate the origin gate: first, wherever there is a flower there must be a seed-pod — this illustrates that wherever there is a trace there must be an origin, the trace containing the origin within it. Though the intent lies in the origin, the Buddha's own purpose is difficult to know, and even Maitreya himself did not recognize it. Second, the flower opens and the seed-pod becomes visible — this illustrates opening the trace to reveal the origin, the intent lying in the trace, able to cause bodhisattvas to recognize the Buddha's own skillful means; having recognized the trace, they then, in turn, recognize the origin, diminishing birth and advancing the path. Third, the flower falls and the seed-pod is formed — this illustrates abolishing the trace to reveal the origin; having recognized the origin, one is no longer confused by the trace, but cultivates the path solely within the Dharma-body, perfecting the higher grounds. These same three illustrations illustrate the origin gate, beginning from its very first opening and ending at the original ground itself.

The six illustrations across the two gates each have their own particular reference: the first likens the buddha-realm's own ten suchnesses, taken repeatedly, setting forth from them the nine lower realms' own ten suchnesses; the second likens opening the nine realms' own ten suchnesses repeatedly, thereby revealing the buddha-realm's own ten suchnesses; the third likens abolishing the nine realms' own ten suchnesses repeatedly, thereby accomplishing the buddha-realm's own ten suchnesses. These three illustrations together encompass the trace gate from beginning to end in full. If one grasps this same sense, the twelve links of dependent origination, the Four Noble Truths, the three truths, and, equally, wisdom, practice, and stage, down even to merit and benefit, may likewise be illustrated by these same three illustrations, and so on. The fourth likens the original buddha-realm's own ten suchnesses, taken repeatedly, setting forth from them the trace's own buddha-realm ten suchnesses; the fifth likens opening the trace's own buddha-realm ten suchnesses repeatedly, thereby revealing the origin's own buddha-realm ten suchnesses; the sixth likens abolishing the trace's own buddha-realm ten suchnesses repeatedly, thereby accomplishing the origin's own buddha-realm ten suchnesses. Beginning and end perfectly complete, opening and closing both fully provided for — this is what is meant by using the lotus flower as illustration in this partial sense.

As for the extensive illustration: the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, explaining the sense of the lion's roar, illustrates it through the lion's own birth and growth deep within mountain valleys, the strength of its body, its limbs, its claws and fangs, its head and tail, its roaring and the rest — illustrating thereby the Dharma-gate of the lion's roar. So too the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra clarifies the pārijāta tree, its yellow bud and blistered fruit and the rest, illustrating the practitioner pervasively throughout. Here, too, it is exactly the same: from the very first seed all the way to the seed-pod's own completion, this illustrates the wondrous dharma. It is like the stone-hard lotus seed: its black skin without, its white flesh within, the four subtle elements as its substance, the curled lotus-leaf about to sprout, every fine and subtle part already provided for — the flower opening, the stamens spreading forth, the lotus fruit, the seed-pod formed — beginning and end alike, never differing from the lotus flower itself, the ten senses complete in full from start to finish. This illustrates sentient beings of the buddha-realm, beginning from ignorance and ending in the fruit of buddhahood, the dharma of the ten suchnesses entirely without any lack or diminishment. The general illustration is now complete.

It is like the stone-hard lotus seed: being black, it cannot be stained; being hard, it cannot be destroyed; neither square nor round, neither arising nor ceasing. At the very beginning of the eon there was no seed, and so it does not arise; now, it is no different from that very beginning, and so it does not cease — this is named the lotus seed's own mark. Every sentient being's own self-nature, the intrinsically pure mind, is exactly the same: unstained by any adventitious dust, though birth-and-death piles up upon it layer after layer, the mind's own nature does not abide, does not move, and neither arises nor ceases — this is precisely the buddha-realm's own suchness of mark. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, "Every sentient being is itself the mark of bodhi" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus seed: though it lies within black skin and mud alike, its white flesh never changes — every sentient being's own revealing-cause wisdom is exactly the same. Though sunk in the mud of the five dwelling-grounds of affliction, and in the resultant retribution of birth-and-death, the wish of all-knowing wisdom nonetheless remains present, never lost — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of nature, and hence it is said that affliction is itself bodhi. Again, "when no dharma arises, prajñā itself arises" carries precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus seed within the mud: its four subtle elements never decay — this is named the lotus seed's own essence. Every sentient being's own correct-cause buddha-nature is exactly the same: permanence, bliss, self, and purity, unmoving and indestructible — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of essence. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: "This true and correct flavor remains lodged within the mountain; the grasses, trees, and thickets are unable to cover over or destroy it" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus seed, enclosed within its husk and shell, submerged beneath the mud, and yet the curled lotus-leaf lies within its very heart, possessing the vital breath by which it grows — every sentient being's own mind is exactly the same: though bound by the fruit of suffering and sunk beneath the affliction that accumulates it, one is nonetheless able, from within this very state, to arouse the aspiration for bodhi, exceedingly great and valiant, like a lion's own milk, like the sinew-string of a lion's bow — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of power. The sūtra says, "If one arouses the aspiration for bodhi, one shakes boundless birth-and-death, and breaks through the beginningless wheel of existence" — a person of Jambudvīpa, without yet having seen the fruit, is nonetheless able to arouse this aspiration with valiant courage.

It is like the lotus seed: though minute in size, within its black skin, root, stalk, flower, leaf, stamens, and dais are all already fully present at once — this is named the lotus seed's own suchness of activity. Every sentient being's own first arousing of the aspiration for bodhi is exactly the same: clear understanding and firm resolve, compassion and vow, seeking wisdom above and transforming beings below, vowing to attain accomplishment, the will never wearied or turned back — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of activity. The Sūtra of the Head-Adornment of Flowers says, "Every merit without exception already lies within the first mind" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus seed: its root relies upon the mud, while its flower dwells within open space; stirred by wind and shone upon by the sun, it grows through day and night alike, its own splendor fully realized at once. Every sentient being is exactly the same: from the very brink of ignorance, arousing the aspiration for bodhi, cultivating the bodhisattva's own practice, departing from birth-and-death, entering into the dharma-nature, the causal practice thereby accomplished, encountering the Buddha's own sun, wrapped in the wind of spiritual power, the mind, thought after thought, entering the ocean of all-knowing wisdom — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of cause. The sūtra says, "The merit accomplished across immeasurable eons does not equal the merit gained by offering five stalks of lotus flowers to the buddha Dīpaṃkara" — this is precisely the true cause accomplished, carrying precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus flower: its stamens and pistil encircle it, lying within the flower yet outside the seed-pod — this is named the lotus flower's own suchness of condition. The bodhisattva is exactly the same: within the true cause, complete with the ten thousand practices, the six pāramitās, a single practice being every practice at once, sustaining and assisting the cause — just as the stamens lie within the flower; and, once the fruit is attained, every practice comes to rest — just as the stamens lie outside the seed-pod — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of condition. The sūtra says, "I have entirely practiced every path and dharma possessed by every buddha" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus flower: the flower is accomplished and the seed-pod is formed, while the flower's own petals wither and fall, the dais and its seeds ripening into fruit — this is named the lotus seed's own suchness of fruit. The bodhisattva is exactly the same: the true cause draws forth unsurpassed bodhi, the great fruit perfectly complete, ultimately ripened into fruit — this is named the buddha-realm's own suchness of fruit. Hence the sūtra says, "Once the buddha's child has practiced the path, in a future life he shall attain buddhahood" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the lotus seed: the seed-pod's own dais encloses and surrounds it — this is named the lotus seed's own suchness of retribution. The bodhisattva is exactly the same: the great fruit perfectly complete, the unsurpassed retribution fully provided, the fruit of habituation depending upon the fruit of retribution — just as the seed depends upon the dais. The sūtra says, "Such a great fruit of retribution is what long-cultivated karma has obtained" — this is precisely this same sense.

It is like the four subtle elements of the lotus within the mud, and the four subtle elements of the lotus within open space — beginning and end are no different — this is named the lotus seed's own equality of the fundamental and the derivative. Every sentient being is exactly the same: the four virtues already possessed from the start, hidden and named the tathāgatagarbha; the four virtues brought to completion through cultivation and manifest, named the Dharma-body — inherent virtue and cultivated virtue, permanence, bliss, self, and purity, one and not two — this is named the buddha-realm's own ten suchnesses, ultimately equal in the fundamental and the derivative. The sūtra says, "The suchness of sentient beings and the suchness of the Buddha are a single suchness, without a second suchness" — this is precisely this same sense. This completes the use of the lotus flower to illustrate the ten suchnesses of the object.

Next, using the lotus flower to illustrate the twelve links of dependent origination: the black skin, the mud, the layers of water and weeds covering it over — all as explained generally above — this is precisely the seed of the link of ignorance; the power able to bring forth growth is precisely the link of formations; the curled lotus-leaf within, with flower and stamens already fully provided, is precisely the links of consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense-fields, contact, and sensation, containing within it the moistening links of craving, grasping, and becoming; coiled round and folded in upon itself, unable to emerge, is precisely the link of old age and death. If the sprouting tip stirs and begins to move, boring through and breaking the black skin, this is precisely the extinguishing of ignorance; no longer generated within the black skin, this is precisely the extinguishing of every formation; emerging beyond the husk and shell, this is precisely the extinguishing of old age and death — this briefly illustrates the four kinds of twelve links of dependent origination.

Next, using the lotus flower to illustrate the Four Noble Truths: the black skin illustrates the suffering within the three realms; the white flesh illustrates the arising within the three realms; the mud illustrates the arising beyond the three realms; the water illustrates the suffering beyond the three realms; the path and cessation may be understood accordingly. This illustrates, in general, the four kinds of Four Noble Truths.

Next, using the lotus flower to illustrate the two truths: the lotus root, stalk, and leaves and the rest illustrate the conventional; the hollow openings within the lotus root and stalk illustrate the real — this illustrates, in general, the seven kinds of two truths.

Next, using the lotus flower to illustrate the three truths: the real and the conventional are as explained before; the four subtle elements, likened to permanence, bliss, self, and purity, illustrate the truth of the middle way, the truth of ultimate meaning — this illustrates, in general, the five kinds of three truths. The four subtle elements, neither arising nor ceasing, illustrate the one real truth. Without arising at the very beginning of the eon, without ceasing even now, this illustrates the truth without truth, spoken of without speech. This completes the use of the lotus flower to illustrate the wondrous of the object.

Next, further illustrating the remaining nine wondrous aspects: the generative nature within illustrates the wondrous of wisdom; the curled lotus-leaf's own generative nature illustrates the wondrous wisdom of emptiness; the stamens' and leaves' own generative nature illustrates the wondrous wisdom of the provisional; the lotus dais's four subtle elements' own generative nature illustrates the wondrous wisdom of the middle — these three generative natures illustrate the wondrous three kinds of wisdom within a single mind.

The lotus seed, though small, is furnished with root, stalk, flower, and leaf, illustrating the wondrous of practice: the stalk is loving-kindness and compassion; the leaf is wisdom; the stamens are samādhi; the opening into bloom is liberation. Again, the leaves illustrate the three kinds of loving-kindness: the green leaves covering the water illustrate loving-kindness taking sentient beings as its object; the yellow leaves covering the water illustrate loving-kindness taking dharmas as its object; the leaning leaf illustrates loving-kindness with no object at all. Once the leaning lotus-leaf emerges, the lotus itself will not be long in arising; once loving-kindness with no object is accomplished, the prediction of buddhahood will not be long in coming. Again, the root, flower, seed, and leaf benefiting people, and the bee, are giving; their fragrance is moral discipline; arising from the mud without shame is patience; growth is diligence; softness and moisture are dhyāna; remaining unstained is wisdom — this illustrates the wondrous of practice in full.

The lotus illustrates the stages, beginning with identity in principle: the sprout boring through the coarse skin illustrates the stage of coarse abiding; the sprout emerging through the fine skin illustrates the stage of fine abiding; boring through the mud, about to settle, illustrates the stage of the first dhyāna approaching; level with the mud but not yet arrived illustrates the stage not yet reached; emerging from the mud into the water illustrates the stage of the four dhyānas; dhyāna concentration, like water, able to wash away the dust of desire, growing while dwelling within the water, illustrates the stage of the formless attainments; up to this point illustrates the stage of the lotus flower of contemplative practice. Emerging from the water illustrates breaking through views and thought, the stage of the ten faiths, the lotus flower's own resemblance stage; dwelling within open space, folded shut yet about to open into bloom, illustrates the stage of the ten abidings; the stamens and dais becoming distinguishable illustrates the stage of the ten practices; following the sun, opening and turning, illustrates the stage of the ten dedications; blooming open into full accomplishment, bearing bees and butterflies upon it, illustrates the stage of the ten grounds; the stamens and petals having fallen away, the dais alone remaining, illustrates every practice coming to rest, wondrous enlightenment perfectly complete, nothing further to be done at the level of the fruit, the true and eternal abiding in still, unmoving clarity — all of this illustrates the wondrous of stage.

The lotus's own four subtle elements illustrate the track of real nature; the hollow interior of the seed-pod, and the hollow center of the stalk and root, illustrate the track of contemplative illumination; the dais and the seed-pod encircling it illustrate the track of resource-and-accomplishment. This illustrates the wondrous vehicle of the three tracks.

The lotus, formed within open space, casts its reflection upon clear water — this illustrates manifest capacity with manifest response; its reflection cast upon turbid water illustrates hidden capacity with hidden response; its reflection cast upon water stirred by wind and waves illustrates capacity and response both hidden and manifest at once. The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: a tree's own shadow within darkness, its shadow cast upon water by night — this illustrates capacity and response neither hidden nor manifest. All of these illustrate the wondrous of sympathetic response.

If the wind stirs the lotus flower, so that it tilts east and bends west, faces south and reflects north, closing when the wind blows from below and opening when it blows from above — this illustrates rising in the east and sinking in the west, rising in the middle and sinking at the edges, and the rest — this illustrates the auspicious sign of the earth's own trembling. The flower closing at dusk illustrates the auspicious sign of entering samādhi. The flower opening at sunrise illustrates the auspicious sign of teaching the Dharma. Seen from afar it is red, seen up close it is white; the crimson flower and the green leaf, reflecting one another's own radiant brilliance, illustrate the auspicious sign of emitting light. Its fragrance flowing forth across the whole field illustrates the auspicious sign of the sandalwood wind. Its pollen and powder drifting on the air illustrate the auspicious sign of the heavens raining down flowers. Wind and rain scattering and sprinkling, its beaded droplets tumbling and knocking together, illustrate the auspicious sign of the heavenly drum sounding of itself. All of these illustrate the wondrous of spiritual powers.

The flower closed and not yet open illustrates concealing the one vehicle, distinguishing and teaching the three; the flower's own petals fully open illustrates gathering the three into the one, teaching only the one vehicle; the flower fallen and the seed-pod remaining illustrates the teaching cut off, the principle itself hidden within — for one who knows that the Tathāgata constantly does not teach the Dharma is thereby named one of broad learning. All of these illustrate the wondrous of teaching the Dharma.

From one lotus root, a further flower arises, and, turning and turning again, immeasurable further lotus flowers arise — this illustrates the wondrous retinue born through karma. From one seed-pod, a seed falls into the mud, and a further lotus flower arises, and, turning and turning again, immeasurable further lotus flowers arise — this illustrates the wondrous retinue born through spiritual power. Digging up and transplanting that same lotus root, or gathering that same lotus seed, and planting it within this pond, so that lotus flowers flourish in abundance — this illustrates the wondrous retinue born through vow. From that other pond, flying here like a drifting gossamer thread or a thin mist, entering into this pond, so that lotus flowers flourish in abundance — this illustrates the wondrous retinue born through response.

Fish and turtles gasping for air beneath it, bees and butterflies flying and gathering above it, illustrate the wondrous benefit of sentient beings' own cooling, refreshing retribution; whoever sees it and rejoices illustrates the benefit of the cause; gathering and using its leaves illustrates the benefit of the three kinds of grasses; gathering and using its flower illustrates the wondrous benefit of the small tree; gathering and using its seed-pod illustrates the wondrous benefit of the great tree; gathering and using its root illustrates the wondrous benefit of the most real matter. All of these illustrate merit and benefit.

Illustrations of this kind, and every other immeasurable illustration besides, serve to illustrate the ten wondrous aspects within the trace, and so on.

Next, illustrating the origin: it is like a single pond's own lotus flowers first ripening; once ripened, they fall, cast into the mud and water, and grow once more, all the way to ripening again — turning and turning in this way, generation after generation, as months and years accumulate, they come at last to fill the whole pond, the flower-field spread out in full. The Buddha is exactly the same: having, at the very beginning, cultivated the cause and realized the fruit already, he further raises up skillful means for the sake of sentient beings, and, within birth-and-death, shows the first arousing of the aspiration, and shows, too, its ultimate accomplishment. Arising and ceasing again and again, countless hundreds and thousands of times, he descends in response from the original ground, bending low to match the ordinary and the worldly, and cultivates the five practices once more: the black lotus growing further stalk and leaf illustrates cultivating the holy practice once more; the lotus seed's own four subtle elements gradually increasing illustrates cultivating the heavenly practice once more; the lotus-leaf just beginning to sprout illustrates cultivating the brahma practice once more; the lotus seed falling into the mud illustrates matching every evil and cultivating the sick practice once more; the lotus sprout just beginning to bud illustrates matching every small good and cultivating the infant practice once more. Benefiting beings across the three time-periods in this way is beyond all reckoning, filling the whole dharma-realm completely, nothing that is not the benefit of emanation bodies, descending into the trace, opening the trace, and abolishing the trace, and so on. Without the lotus flower, how could every dharma discussed above possibly be illustrated so pervasively? Dharma and metaphor both made clear together — hence this sūtra is named the Wondrous Dharma Lotus Flower.