Milk into Ghee, and the Method Behind the Five Periods

The Outline of the Teachings and Their Contemplations (originally titled A Chart of the Provisional and the Real in the Teachings of the Buddha's One Lifetime — but a long unrolled chart is awkward to read, so I have now added each of the Four Teachings' own ten modes of contemplation and recast it as a bound book) — restated by the monk Zhixu of Beitianmu.

The essential matter of buddhas and patriarchs is nothing but teaching and contemplation. Contemplation without teaching is not correct; teaching without contemplation cannot be transmitted. To have teaching without contemplation is to be lost; to have contemplation without teaching is to be in peril. Now, considering the teachings given over the Buddha's lifetime as a whole, the great outline comes to eight. The contemplations set up in dependence on these teachings likewise number, in brief, roughly the same. The eight teachings are: first, the sudden; second, the gradual; third, the secret; fourth, the indeterminate — these are called the Four Teachings of Method, like a physician's prescriptions. Fifth, the Tripiṭaka; sixth, the shared; seventh, the distinct; eighth, the perfect — these are called the Four Teachings of Content, like a physician's medicines. One should know that whatever the sudden and the rest make use of never goes beyond the four flavors of the Tripiṭaka and the rest. The Tripiṭaka teaching takes analytical emptiness as its contemplation; the shared teaching takes embodied emptiness as its contemplation; the distinct teaching takes sequential contemplation as its contemplation; the perfect teaching takes the one mind as its contemplation. Each of the four contemplations uses ten modes of contemplation to form a vehicle able to carry the practitioner onward to the ground of nirvāṇa. The teaching and contemplation of the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings carry one to the nirvāṇa of the truth of the real; the teaching and contemplation of the distinct and perfect teachings carry one to the great parinirvāṇa of the truth of the middle. The Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct — all three are called provisional; only the perfect teaching and its contemplation are called true and real. Within the perfect contemplation itself there are, moreover, three further kinds: first, the sudden; second, the gradual; third, the indeterminate.

In establishing the provisional for the sake of the real, the provisional already contains the real within it; in opening the provisional to reveal the real, the real is fused together with the provisional. It is truly because the capacities and natures of sentient beings are not uniform that the Tathāgata is led to teach with such skillful variety. Now, taking the Buddha's teaching career as a whole, let us briefly distinguish the Five Periods.

First, the Avataṃsaka period: he directly taught the perfect teaching, together with the distinct teaching; by method, this is named the sudden. Second, the Āgama period: he taught only the Tripiṭaka teaching; by method, this is named the beginning of the gradual. Third, the Vaipulya period: in contrast to the Tripiṭaka teaching's half-word gate of generation-and-extinction, he taught the shared, distinct, and perfect teachings' full-word gate of no generation and no extinction; by method, this is named the middle of the gradual. (Combined Chart of the Provisional and the Real Across the Five Periods and Eight Teachings.) Fourth, the Prajñā period: carrying along the two provisional principles of the shared and distinct teachings, he directly taught the real principle of the perfect teaching; by method, this is named the end of the gradual. Fifth, the Lotus-and-Nirvāṇa period: the Lotus Sūtra opens up the provisional teachings of the Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct teachings, and reveals only the real truth of the perfect teaching, thoroughly clarifying the beginning and end of how the Tathāgata established his teachings, and fully disclosing the vast reach of the Tathāgata's origin and traces. By method, this is named the gathering of the gradual back into the sudden; it is also called neither sudden nor gradual. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra, once more for the sake of those who had not yet entered the real, broadly expounds the eternally abiding; and again, for the sake of the dull faculties of the degenerate age, once more upholds the three provisional teachings. It is for this reason that it retrospectively teaches the Four Teachings, and retrospectively dissolves the Four Teachings. By method, this too is called neither sudden nor gradual.

As for the two methods of the secret and the indeterminate: these pervade the first four periods. Only the Lotus period is open and manifest, and is therefore not secret; it is determinate, and is therefore not indeterminate. Yet these Five Periods each have a specific sense and a general sense. One must therefore use the specific to fix the general, and gather the general into the specific, so that teaching and contemplation are both kept from becoming confused. Here we first present the chart of the Five Periods and Eight Teachings, and next set forth the discourse on the general and the specific Five Periods.

The Discourse on the General and the Specific Five Periods (most essential to know first). The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra says: "Now, when the Five Flavors and the half-word-and-full-word teachings are discussed in their specific sense, the specific sense has its own fixed limits; when discussed in their general sense, the general sense runs through from beginning to end." The Venerable Zhang'an [Guanding] says: "People say that in the second period, the three vehicles were taught separately over twelve years. But if it were so, then once past those twelve years, would there not still be those fit to hear the Four Noble Truths, the twelve links of dependent origination, and the six pāramitās? How could these not be taught? If they were taught, then the three-vehicle teaching was not confined to those twelve years alone; if they were not taught, then that whole later group of people fit to hear them — would the Buddha then simply fail to teach and transform them? There is certainly no such principle. The sūtra says: 'For the śrāvakas I taught the Four Noble Truths,' down to 'I taught the six pāramitās' — and this was not confined to twelve years. For throughout the Buddha's entire teaching career, he taught whoever was fit to hear, as the occasion arose. The four Āgamas and the five divisions of the Vinaya were taught for śrāvakas all the way up to the Buddha's own final nirvāṇa — this is exactly the point. How, then, can one say that the Hīnayāna teaching was confined entirely to those twelve years? People say that in the third period, the emptiness teachings — the Prajñā sūtras, the Vimalakīrti, and the Sī-yì Sūtra — were taught over thirty years. On what scriptural text is this thirty-year figure based? The Mahāprajñāpāramitā Śāstra says that Subhūti, in the Lotus Sūtra, heard it taught that even raising a hand or bowing the head suffices to attain buddhahood, and it is on this basis that the present question of his regression is raised. If that is so, then which came first, the Larger Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra or the Lotus Sūtra — how can the order between them be fixed at all?" The treatise says: Zhiyi and Zhang'an give such explicit statements as these, yet people today never even look at them, still passing on by rote the false claim of "twelve years of Āgama, eight years of Vaipulya" — a mistake that does great harm. We therefore first set forth the general discourse, and next the specific discourse.

First, clarifying the general sense of the Five Periods: there is a class of beings of great capacity who, in this very land, behold Vairocana's body and land in the Flower-Treasury World as eternally abiding, unceasing — this is how the Avataṃsaka period extends generally to the very end of the Buddha's teaching career. Even the "Chapter on Entering the Dharma-Realm" within the Avataṃsaka itself is certainly not confined within the twenty-one days after the enlightenment. There is, moreover, a class of beings of lesser capacity who, from the Deer Park onward until the Śāla Grove, heard only the Āgamas, the Vinaya, and the Abhidharma — this makes it clear that the Tripiṭaka teaching, too, extends generally through the beginning and the end. Zhang'an refutes the rigid theory in just this way — how can foolish people still cling to their confusion? There is, moreover, a class of beings of lesser capacity fit to hear rebuke and praise, and thereby to give rise to shame and admiration — the Buddha at once taught them the Vaipulya dharma-gates for their sake. How, then, could this be confined to a mere eight years after the Āgamas' twelve? Indeed, the Vaipulya Dhāraṇī Sūtra is said to have been taught after the Lotus Sūtra — this makes it clear that the Vaipulya period, too, extends generally through the beginning and the end. There are, moreover, beings of the three vehicles who must pass through worldly and world-transcending dharmas such as form and mind, one by one gathering them back into the Mahāyāna path — the Buddha at once taught them the Prajñā teachings for their sake. Hence it is said: "From his first attainment of the path until his entry into nirvāṇa, throughout that whole interval he constantly taught the Prajñā" — this makes it clear that the Prajñā period, too, extends generally through the beginning and the end. There are, moreover, sentient beings of ripened capacity for whom the Buddha at once opened the provisional to reveal the real, and opened the traces to reveal the origin — there is certainly no principle by which this had to be withheld until forty years into his teaching career. It is only that, by his spiritual power, the Buddha caused those whose capacities were not yet ripe not to hear it. Hence Great Master Zhiyi says: "On the side of the open and manifest, the Lotus teaching is not seen earlier; but discussed on the side of the secret, there is, in principle, no obstruction." Consider how the sūtra says: "Long ago I heard from the Buddha a Dharma such as this, in which I saw bodhisattvas receive predictions of buddhahood." Is "a Dharma such as this" anything other than the Wondrous Dharma of the Lotus? Again, the Brahmā Net Sūtra says: "I have now come to this world eight thousand times, sitting upon the throne of the vajra flower-light king," and so forth — is this, too, not an instance of opening the traces to reveal the origin? There are, moreover, sentient beings who are saved precisely by beholding the Buddha's nirvāṇa — the Buddha at once showed the entry into nirvāṇa for their sake. Hence it is said: "Within each of the eight aspects of a buddha's life, each in turn possesses all eight aspects, inconceivably." And the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, in retrospectively recounting the conditions of King Ajātaśatru's repentance and the like, is certainly not describing events confined to a single day and night.

Next, clarifying the specific sense of the Five Periods: this concerns a class of śrāvakas of the very dullest capacity, who must pass completely through five successive rounds of tempering and forging before they finally enter the real. That is to say: at first, at the Avataṃsaka assembly, they neither see nor hear it at all, their capacity entirely raw, like milk. (Throughout the first eight assemblies of the Avataṃsaka there are never any śrāvakas present at all — hence it is said they "neither see nor hear." Only at the ninth assembly, the "Chapter on Entering the Dharma-Realm," held in the Jeta Grove, are śrāvakas present at last — and by that time they had already realized the fruits of sagehood, yet before the bodhisattvas' own realm they remained as though deaf and mute. From this one can confirm that even had they heard the Avataṃsaka before this, it would certainly have been of no benefit. But Śāriputra and the others, having heard the Tripiṭaka teaching, thereby realized the fruits of sagehood, and only then took part in the Dharma-Realm assembly — from which one knows that the "Chapter on Entering the Dharma-Realm" certainly cannot be said to have been taught before the Āgama period. How can people so carelessly fail to reflect and examine this, falsely claiming that the Avataṃsaka is confined within the twenty-one days after the enlightenment?) Next, at the Āgama period, hearing the dharma of causes-and-conditions and generation-and-extinction, they turn from ordinary beings into sages — like milk turning into cream. (Cream is simply ripened milk-liquid.) Next, hearing the Vaipulya teachings — which rebuke the partial, censure the small, praise the great, and extol the perfect — they thereupon become ashamed of the small and long for the great, grieving over themselves as a blighted seed. Though they now hear all Four Teachings in full, they gain from this only a hidden benefit corresponding to the shared teaching — like cream turning into fresh curdled butter. Next, hearing the Prajñā teachings, in which all dharmas are gathered together as the Mahāyāna, they are transferred over to instruct the bodhisattvas, and come to comprehend the entire treasury of the Buddha-dharma. Though this carries along the shared and distinct teachings, it directly clarifies the perfect teaching — yet they gain from this only a hidden benefit corresponding to the distinct teaching, like fresh curdled butter turning into ripened butter. Next, hearing the Lotus Sūtra, in which the provisional is opened to reveal the real, they finally attain the real benefit of the perfect teaching — like ripened butter turning into ghee. Yet even this specific Five-Periods scheme is not rigidly fixed to any particular year, month, day, or hour — it is simply that, whatever a being is fit to hear, that is what he at once comes to hear. In the Tathāgata's teaching of the Dharma, his spiritual power is entirely at ease: one sound, understood differently by each hearer — how could this possibly be pinned down by ordinary thought? There are, moreover, those of somewhat sharper capacity who need not pass through all Five Flavors in full — some pass through only four, three, or two rounds of tempering before entering the real. And whoever awakens and enters at any single one of the Āgama, Vaipulya, or Prajñā periods is included precisely within the two methods of the secret and the indeterminate. There are, moreover, sentient beings not yet able to bear hearing the Lotus Sūtra, who either willingly withdraw from the assembly of their own accord, or are transposed to other lands — these must then wait for the Nirvāṇa Sūtra to gather up what was left behind, or wait for some other buddha after this one's extinction. The matter is not all of one kind. Let the reader steep himself thoroughly in the Profound Meaning and the Textual Commentary of the Lotus Sūtra, and the crowd of doubts will resolve of themselves.

On the Four Teachings of Method. The sudden has two senses. First, the sudden teaching as a division: this means what was suddenly taught, right after the Buddha's first attainment of the path, for people of great capacity — confined solely to the Avataṃsaka. (Whatever, throughout the Buddha's teaching career, directly taught the great dharma beyond the three realms, not shared in common with the three vehicles — such as the Brahmā Net Sūtra, the Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment, and the like — should properly be gathered into this division. This is what is meant by "using the specific to fix the general, and gathering the general into the specific.") Second, the sudden teaching as a mark: this means such doctrines as "at the very moment the resolve is first aroused, one already attains correct enlightenment," and "nature and cultivation are not two, sentient beings and buddhas share the same essence" — these are found throughout the Vaipulya and Prajñā sūtras alike.

The gradual likewise has two senses. First, the gradual teaching as a division: this means, confined specifically, the Āgama period as the beginning of the gradual (whatever, throughout the Buddha's teaching career, taught the Four Noble Truths of generation-and-extinction, the twelve links of dependent origination as actual phenomena, the six pāramitās, and the like — the provisional teachings of the three vehicles — should properly be gathered into this division); the Vaipulya period as the middle of the gradual (whatever, throughout the Buddha's teaching career, taught by rebuking the partial, censuring the small, praising the great, and extolling the perfect, together with whatever is not gathered into the other four periods, should properly be gathered into this division, since the sense of "a condition that strengthens" is broad); and the Prajñā period as the end of the gradual (whatever, throughout the Buddha's teaching career, taught the Prajñā teachings, whether shared with the two vehicles or not shared, should properly be gathered into this division). Second, the gradual teaching as a mark: this means practicing through kalpa after kalpa, severing afflictions and realizing the stages in sequence — this, too, is found even within the Avataṃsaka. The Lotus Sūtra gathers the gradual back into the sudden: it is unlike the Avataṃsaka's own initial teaching, and is therefore not simply sudden; it is unlike the Āgama, Vaipulya, and Prajñā teachings, which remain separated and not yet fused together, and is therefore not simply gradual. And yet it still reflects both the sudden and the gradual marks at once.

The secret likewise has two senses. First, the secret teaching: this means that, within the first four periods, the Buddha might teach the sudden to one person and the gradual to another, and so forth, with each party unaware of what the other received, each nonetheless gaining benefit. (The Lotus Sūtra "directly casts aside skillful means and teaches only the unsurpassed path" — it is therefore not secret.) Second, secret spells: this means all dhāraṇī-verses, which are found throughout the teachings of all Five Periods.

The indeterminate likewise has two senses. First, the indeterminate teaching: this means that, within the first four periods, the Buddha might teach the sudden to one person and the gradual to another, with each party aware of what the other received, each gaining a distinct benefit — that is, whoever is fit to hear the sudden hears the sudden, and whoever is fit to hear the gradual hears the gradual. (The Lotus Sūtra teaches the Mahāyāna with utter determinacy — it is therefore not marked by the indeterminate teaching.) Second, indeterminate benefit: this means that, within the first four periods, one might hear the sudden teaching yet gain a gradual benefit, or hear the gradual teaching yet gain a sudden benefit — that is, the sudden aiding the gradual, and the gradual aiding the sudden. (Whoever hears even a single phrase or verse of the Lotus Sūtra receives, without exception, a prediction of buddhahood — it is therefore not marked by indeterminate benefit.)

As for the sudden teaching as a division: it makes use only of the two teachings of content, the perfect and the distinct. The gradual teaching as a division makes use of all four teachings of content in full. The open-and-manifest indeterminate, since it pervades all four periods, likewise makes use of all four teachings of content. The secret indeterminate, also pervading all four periods, likewise makes use of all four teachings of content. As for the sudden teaching as a mark: taken specifically, it belongs only to the perfect teaching; taken generally, the first three teachings, too, each have their own sense of the sudden — as with "welcome, monk!" whereby arhatship is attained instantly, and the like. As for the gradual teaching as a mark: taken specifically, it belongs to the Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct three teachings; taken generally, the perfect teaching, too, has a sense of the gradual — as in its own stages of contemplative practice, resemblance, a portion of the truth realized, and the ultimate. The secret teaching, since each party is unaware of the other, cannot be transmitted as a fixed content; secret spells, considered in terms of the four siddhāntas, can be transmitted. The indeterminate teaching and indeterminate benefit are both subsumed within the first four periods, and so there is no separate division that can be pointed to for them.

In terms of the Teachings of Method, three contemplations are further established: the sudden contemplation, the gradual contemplation, and the indeterminate contemplation. As for the secret teaching — since it cannot be transmitted, no contemplation can be established in terms of it. Were one to try to establish a contemplation for it anyway, it would still be nothing other than the three dharmas of the sudden, the gradual, and the indeterminate, each simply being secret in how it operates. Now, these three contemplations share their names with the three teachings, yet their import is very different. What does this mean? The sudden teaching points to the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, and its meaning includes the distinct teaching as well; the sudden contemplation, by contrast, pertains only to the person of the perfect teaching, who from the very first arousing of the mind directly contemplates the true mark of all dharmas — this is what is explained in the Mo-ho Chih-kuan. The gradual teaching points to the Āgama, Vaipulya, and Prajñā periods, and its meaning includes all Four Teachings, not yet opened up and revealed. The gradual contemplation, likewise, pertains only to the person of the perfect teaching: though his understanding is already perfect, his practice must still proceed in sequence — this is what is explained in the Shi Chan Boluomi Cidi Famen. The indeterminate teaching points to the first four periods, likewise including all Four Teachings, still not yet gathered together and fused. The indeterminate contemplation, likewise, pertains only to the person of the perfect teaching: his understanding already perfect from the outset, whatever practice he takes up — whether skipping ahead or proceeding in sequence — he is able to awaken and enter through it. This is what is explained in the Six Wondrous Dharma-Gates. (This text survives in the kingdom of Koryŏ; it was lost within the Divine Land itself.) Question: If it suffices simply to teach the perfect-and-sudden calming-and-contemplation, why teach the gradual and the indeterminate as well? Answer: Capacities and natures differ from one another; were only the sudden taught, not all capacities would be gathered in. Question: Since they are called the gradual and the indeterminate, why do they nonetheless pertain only to the person of the perfect teaching? Answer: For the person of the perfect teaching, whatever dharma he receives, none fails to be perfect. Furthermore, one who has not yet opened up a perfect understanding ought not to speak carelessly of cultivation and realization at all; and even if he did cultivate and realize something, he could not avoid a single day under the perfect teaching being worth a whole kalpa under an inferior one.