BECAUSE IF ONE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE PROVISIONAL AND ACTUAL, those two kinds of teaching,, AND are someone who TAKES THE PROFOUND FOR THE SUPERFICIAL, ONE LOSES ITS GREAT BENEFIT. You won't obtain the greatest benefit from the Sutra because you don't recognize what is the profound, or actual teaching and what is the superficial or provisional teaching. WHILE IF ONE TAKES THE SUPERFICIAL FOR THE PROFOUND, if you consider the provisional teaching to be the actual teaching, ONE DEPRIVES IT OF USE.

You won't use it for what it's meant to do, and it becomes useless. BECAUSE ONE ADORNS THE SAGELY TEACHING TO MAKE IT DEEP AND VAST. Our adorning the teaching spoken by the Sage is to increase its profundity and vastness. BECAUSE IN ALL THE SAGELY TEACHINGS THERE ARE NATURAL DIVISIONS. Within the Three Stores and the Twelve Divisions of the Canon there are combinations and divisions. BECAUSE ALL THE GREAT BODHISATTVAS ALSO OPEN OUT THE TEACHINGS. All of the Great Bodhisattvas have places in the teachings where they bring things together and places where they open them out. So they create further differences.

PROLOGUE:

      FOR THOSE MANY REASONS, IN OPENING OUT THE TEACHING THERE ARE MORE GAINS AND FEWER LOSSES.. WHILE IN UNITING IT THE GAINS ARE FEW AND THE LOSSES MORE. BUT IF ONE CAN JUST EMPTY  ONESELF IN SEEKING THE DOCTRINES, WHAT CANNOT BE DIVIDED IS DIVIDED, AND HOW IS THAT TO MISS THE GREAT MEANING? THEREFORE, WE NOW DIVIDE IT.

COMMENTARY:

      FOR THOSE MANY REASONS, the various reasons just stated, IN OPENING THE TEACHING THERE ARE MORE GAINS AND FEWER LOSSES. Why would we want to open it up? By doing so, we can understand more principles. WHILE IN UNITING IT THE GAINS ARE FEW AND THE LOSSES MORE. If we don't open it up to discuss its doctrines, then we gain less and don't understand as much. BUT IF ONE CAN JUST EMPTY ONESELF IN SEEKING THE DOCTRINES, provided one can become empty of a self in one's search for its purport, then WHAT CANNOT BE DIVIDED IS DIVIDED. Right within what is indivisible one makes divisions, AND HOW IS THAT TO MISS THE GREAT MEANING? It couldn't be in opposition to the great intention, or fail to be in accord with the main drift. THEREFORE, WE NOW DIVIDE IT in a very general way.

PROLOGUE:

      THE SECOND, ANCIENT AND PRESENT DISAGREEMENTS AND CONCURRENCES, IN CONTRIVED DIVISION HAVING TWO PARTS: FIRST, DISCUSSION OF THIS LAND, AFTERWARDS EXPLANATION OF THE WESTERN REGION. NOW TO BEGIN, ALTHOUGH THE EXPLANATIONS ARE MANY, IN GENERAL TO ARRANGE THEM UNDER A NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, ONE DEFINES FIVE DOORS.

COMMENTARY:

      THE SECOND of the four doors explaining all the establishments of teachings on the part of the schools which are not the same, is ANCIENT AND PRESENT DISAGREEMENTS AND CONCURRENCES. "Ancient" refers to what was past and "present" what was contemporary with the T'ang Dynasty, not what is right now. "Disagreements" means what is in contradiction to the purport of the Sutras, while "Concurrences" means what goes along with the drift of the Sutras without opposing it--IN CONTRIVED DIVISION HAVING TWO PARTS. This is not an obvious distinction to make, but rather a very forced division into two kinds: FIRST, DISCUSSION OF THIS LAND, the disagreements and concurrences in China, and AFTERWARDS EXPLANATION OF THE WESTERN REGION. After that India will be talked about, because even though the Buddha came from India, in the explanations of Sutras by the Dharma Masters who came later there are both disagreements and concurrences.

      NOW TO BEGIN, ALTHOUGH THE EXPLANATIONS ARE MANY, IN GENERAL TO ARRANGE THEM UNDER A NUMBER OF REPRESENTATIVES, ONE DEFINES FIVE DOORS. Even though the methods of explaining found in the various commentaries by the various Dharma Masters of different schools amount to numerous commentarial lineages, we can't talk about them all. We have to simplify them into their main family lines, and to do that "one carves out five doors." Just as determining family lineages calls for carving ranks and engraving names on tablets, these too are ordered and ranked, and turn out to fall within five doors.

PROLOGUE:

      ONE, ESTABLISHING THE ONE-SOUND TEACHING. THAT IS, THAT THE TEACHING OF THE THUS COME ONE'S SINGLE GENERATION DID NOT DEPART FROM A SINGLE SOUND. NONETHELESS THIS HAS TWO MASTERS: ONE, BODHIRUCI OF THE LATTER WEI WHO SAID, "THE THUS COME ONE'S SINGLE SOUND SIMULTANEOUSLY DECLARES TEN THOUSAND, AND SETS FORTH BOTH GREAT AND SMALL. TWO, DHARMA MASTER KUMARAJIVA OF YAO CH'IN WHO SAID, "THE BUDDHA'S ONE PERFECT SOUND IS LEVEL AND EQUAL AND NON-DUAL. WITHOUT DELIBERATION HE UNIVERSALLY RESPONDS, AND THE POTENTIALS THEMSELVES HEAR IT DIFFERENTLY. IT IS NOT THAT THE SOUND HE SPEAKS INHERENTLY DECLARES GREAT AND SMALL." THEREFORE THE VIMALAKIRTI SUTRA SAYS, "THE BUDDHA USES A SINGLE SOUND TO PROCLAIM THE DHARMA, AND LIVING BEINGS EACH HAVE THEIR INDIVIDUAL UNDERSTANDINGS."

COMMENTARY:

      ONE, ESTABLISHING THE ONE-SOUND TEACHING. In dividing up the five doors, the first door is that of the One-Sound Teaching, the Teaching spoken by the Buddha with a single sound. THAT IS, THAT THE TEACHING OF THE THUS COME ONE'S SINGLE GENERATION DID NOT DEPART FROM A SINGLE SOUND. This is to say that the principles of Shakyamuni Buddha's one generation teaching were not apart from one sound. But NONETHELESS THIS HAS TWO MASTERS, two Dharma Masters who are ONE, BODHIRUCI, "Desire for Bodhi" OF THE LATTER WEI WHO SAID, "THE THUS COME ONE'S SINGLE SOUND SIMULTANEOUSLY DECLARES TEN THOUSAND." Within that one sound there are ten thousand differentiations, "AND it SETS FORTH GREAT AND SMALL." At one and the same time it speaks the Dharma of the Great Vehicle and that of the Small, so the great and the small are both declared together inside that single sound. All living beings hear it at the same time and all understand, yet this is not saying the Dharma spoken by the Buddha has great or small to it. It means that people of the Great Vehicle hear it as Great Vehicle doctrine, and those of the Small Vehicle hear it as principles of the Small Vehicle. This is what Bodhiruci said.

      TWO, DHARMA MASTER KUMARAJIVA OF YAO CH'IN. You can see from this that National Master Ch'ing Liang must not have been very happy with Bodhiruci, so that's all he calls him, without adding the title "Dharma Master." But he says "Dharma Master Kumarajiva," and in fact in the Chinese he only uses two characters of his name and doesn't say his name in full, out of respect for Dharma Master Kumarajiva, WHO SAID, "THE BUDDHA'S ONE PERFECT SOUND IS LEVEL AND EQUAL AND NON-DUAL." I like what Dharma Master Kumarajiva said too. He said that although the Buddha's was just one sound, it was a perfect sound, not an incomplete sound. And in speaking to each and every living being it was totally fair, equal, and impartial. It didn't have two meanings, and it had no great or small. It was totally perfect and singularly wonderful. He said, "WITHOUT DELIBERATION HE UNIVERSALLY RESPONDS." He doesn't have to think anything over or deliberate, yet enables a universal response to take place and everyone to obtain its advantages. "AND THE POTENTIALS THEMSELVES HEAR IT DIFFERENTLY." The "Potentials," the living beings who listen to the Sutras, all obtain advantages according to what kind of living being they are. Human beings hear it and bring forth the resolve for Bodhi. Ghosts hear it and it decreases their karmic obstacles. "IT IS NOT THAT THE SOUND HE SPEAKS INHERENTLY DECLARES GREAT AND SMALL." It isn't to say that the Buddha basically pronounced the Great Vehicle and the Small Vehicle in the Dharma he spoke. That was not the case. THEREFORE THE VIMALAKIRTI SUTRA SAYS, "THE BUDDHA USES A SINGLE SOUND TO PROCLAIM THE DHARMA." The Buddha speaks the wonderful Dharma with just one sound, "AND LIVING BEINGS EACH HAVE THEIR INDIVIDUAL UNDERSTANDINGS." The living beings understand the principles spoken by the Buddha according to what kind of living being they are and how much wisdom they have. This second way of putting it is a more perfect explanation-- it concurs more than what Bodhiruci said before, which was more in disagreement than in accord with principle.

      The principle discussed in the Chapter on the analogy of Medicinal Herbs in the Dharma Flower Sutra is just about the same as this. In that Chapter it says that the Buddha is like a great cloud which universally covers over all living beings, and when it rains, the large trees obtain more moisture, while small trees take in less, whereas the plants and grasses receive an amount proportionate to their size. Each obtains the amount that suits it. That principle is really the same as the one set forth by Dharma Master Kumarajiva here.

PROLOGUE:

      OF THE TWO MASTERS ABOVE, THE FORMER MAINTAINED THAT THE DIFFERENCES WERE INHERENT IN THE BUDDHA'S SOUND, WHEREAS THE LATTER SAID THAT THE DIFFERENCES WERE IN THE POTENTIALS THEMSELVES. EACH OBTAINED ONE MEANING OF THE PERFECT SOUND, YET BOTH MAKE UP THE ROOT OF THE TEACHING, THE UNDIVIDEDNESS OF ITS INTENT.

COMMENTARY:

      OF THE TWO MASTERS ABOVE, says National Master Ch'ing Liang, referring to the two Dharma Masters in the preceding sections, THE FORMER MAINTAINED THAT THE DIFFERENCES WERE INHERENT IN THE BUDDHA'S SOUND. Bodhiruci said that there were different ways of speaking right within the Buddha's sound; that although the sound was one, the Dharma it spoke had differences. WHEREAS THE LATTER SAID THAT THE DIFFERENCES WERE IN THE POTENTIALS THEMSELVES. The principle enounced by Dharma Master Kumarajiva was somewhat different from that pronounced by Bodhiruci. He said the differences did not lie in the Buddha's sound-" which was a single, perfect sound--but rather that because living beings' potentials differed, the advantages each living being obtained were also different. That meant the differences were in the potentials themselves. EACH OBTAINED ONE MEANING OF THE PERFECT SOUND. Each of those two ways of putting it grasped a portion of the principle involved in the perfect sound, a fraction of what it meant; YET BOTH MAKE UP THE ROOT OF THE TEACHING. Both of those explanations, however, act as the root of the Teaching, THE UNDIVIDEDNESS OF ITS INTENT. Basically that principle with its explanation has no divisions.

PROLOGUE:

      THE SECOND, ESTABLISHING TWO KINDS OF TEACHINGS. THIS ITSELF HAS FOUR REPRESENTATIVES. ONE, TRIPITAKA MASTER DHARMA-KSHEMA OF THE WESTERN CH'IN WHO ESTABLISHED THE HALF- AND-WHOLE-TEACHINGS, THE SOUND HEARER STORE BEING THE HALF-WORD TEACHING. AND THE BODHISATTVA STORE BEING THE WHOLE-WORD TEACHING. DHARMA MASTER YUAN OF SUI ALSO ESTABLISHED THE SAME THING.

COMMENTARY:

      Of the five doors explaining the ancient and present disagreements and concurrences in China, the first door established the One-Sound Teaching, while THE SECOND door now is ESTABLISHING TWO KINDS OF TEACHINGS. THIS, the setting up of two types of Teachings, ITSELF HAS FOUR REPRESENTATIVES, four Dharma Masters. One, the first representative, was TRIPITAKA MASTER DHARMAKSHEMA OF THE WESTERN CH'IN, WHO ESTABLISHED THE HALF-AND-WHOLE TEACHING. "Dharma Kshema" is Sanskrit and translates "Dharma Abundance," meaning the Buddhadharma which he studied and practiced was extremely abundant. This Dharma Master was of the Western Ch'in period, and he set up a teaching mark, saying that there was the Half-Word Teaching and the Whole Word Teaching. THE SOUND HEARER STORE BEING THE HALF-WORD TEACHING, AND THE BODHISATTVA STORE BEING THE WHOLE-WORD TEACHING. The Half-Word Teaching was Small Vehicle Dharma, while the Whole-Word Teaching was Great Vehicle Dharma. You can also say that the Half-Word Teaching is the Provisional Teaching, while the Whole-Word Teaching is the Actual Teaching. Therefore, the Whole-Word Teaching includes the Provisional Teaching within it, yet the Half-Word Teaching does not include the Actual Teaching in itself. So the Half-Word Teaching is the Sound Hearers Store, and the Whole-Word Teaching is the Bodhisattva Store. DHARMA MASTER YUAN OF SUI ALSO ESTABLISHED THE SAME THING. At the time of the Sui Dynasty, there was Great Master Hui Yuan of Tung Lin Temple, the First Patriarch of the Lotus Society, that is, the Pure Land School. He was very learned. Everyone was afraid of him for he was very fierce. When he was discussing some point he could demolish your argument in a few words, and so people all feared him. He too set up a Half-Word and a Half-Word teaching, the same as just described.

PROLOGUE:

      THIS TEXT IS THEN BASED ON THE NIRVANA, WHICH HIDES THE FACT THAT IT IS INTENDED AS A CONNECTING OF CHARACTERISTICS AIMED AT REVEALING THE GREAT TO THE SMALL. AND DOES NOT YET WITHIN THE GREAT REVEAL THE EXISTENCE OF PROVISIONAL AND ACTUAL, YET IT ALSO INCLUDES HALF AND WHOLE.

COMMENTARY:

      THIS TEXT IS THEN BASED ON THE NIRVANA. The section of Prologue just discussed is based upon the teaching substance set up in the Nirvana Sutra. WHICH HIDES THE FACT THAT IT IS INTENDED AS A CONNECTING OF CHARACTERISTICS AIMED AT REVEALING THE GREAT TO THE SMALL . The Ha1f-and Whole-word teachings discussed in the Nirvana Sutra constitute a teaching substance in which there is revelation of the Great Vehicle to those of the Small Vehicle. From the small a connection is made with the great, and from the provisional a connection is made with the actual, the intention being that of connecting characteristics. One links up the teaching marks. However, it DOES NOT YET WITHIN THE GREAT REVEAL THE EXISTENCE OF PROVISIONAL AND ACTUAL. It doesn't yet inside of the Great Vehicle talk about how there is a provisional and an actual, YET IT ALSO INCLUDES HALF AND WHOLE. Even though it doesn't state that there is provisional and actual, it nonetheless includes the existence of the statement of a Half-Word and Whole-Word Teaching. Therefore, even though it doesn't come right out and say it, it still includes the principles of provisional and actual--of there being a Half-Word Teaching and a Whole-Word Teaching.

      I talked just now of the Great Master Hui Yuan, and it was he who introduced the Dharma door of recitation of the Buddha's name, during the Sui Dynasty. He went to Mount Lu, where there wasn't any water, so he plunged his tin staff into the ground, and when he drew it out fresh, water came gushing forth, creating a spring of very sweet water. He had lots of magical kinds of responses befall him. At the time there were tigers on the mountain, and they took refuge with him (one in particular..). Everyone was afraid of him, but they feared his Way virtue. It wasn't, as I said before, that he was fierce. He was very kind and compassionate to everyone, but since they all respected him, they stood in awe of him, because his Way virtue was high and lofty. This Dharma Master was the First Patriarch of the Pure Land School, whose transmission he began. It held up reciting the Buddha's name its rule. At the very end he saw the Three Sages of the West--Amitabha Buddha, Kuan Yin Bodhisattva, and Great Strength Bodhisattva--come and ask him three times before he went. The first time, he didn't go. The next time he didn't go either. But the third time he saw Amitabha Buddha really and truly coming to ask him to go, and so he told everyone, "On such and such a day at such and such a time I'm going to be reborn in the Western Land of Ultimate Bliss." He had that kind of response, and so after that people recited the Buddha's name.

"Great Master Hui Yuan plunged
his tin staff in the ground...and water came gushing forth"

      Now it's the Dharma Ending Age, and when that happens people study reciting the Buddha's name to end birth and death. However, right now in America it's the Proper Dharma Age, so does that mean we shouldn't recite the Buddha's name? No. You can recite the Buddha's name just the same. Don't we recite the Buddha's name at morning and evening recitation? The Dharma door of recitation of the Buddha's name can be practiced during the Proper Dharma Age, the Dharma Semblance Age too, and is even more necessary during the Dharma Ending Age. When the Dharma comes to an end, at the very last when everything else is gone, the Amitabha Sutra remains in the world for another hundred years, then disappears. After that, the six-syllable vast name NA MWO 0 MI TWO FWO, "Namo Amitabha Buddha," stays in the world for another hundred years and crosses over limitless and boundlessly many living beings. At the final point, the two syllables "Na Mwo" go too, and people just recite "0 Mi Two Fwo, 0 Mi Two Fwo," which lasts in the world another hundred years, and crosses over an unbounded number of beings. So in the final state of the end of the Dharma only "Amitabha" is left in the world; yet the people who know about it are very few. Right now in the world, there are countries whose people know about reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha, yet others where the people have never even heard the sound of his name. That's because living beings have different kinds of karmic obstacles, and differing causes and conditions.

      Some people say that Great Master Hui Yuan was a transformation body of Amitabha Buddha, since he spread the Dharma door of reciting the Buddha's name, while others say that he was a transformation body of Shakyamuni Buddha, since he maintained the Proper Dharma. People made those guesses, but I just say he was Great Master Hui Yuan.

PROLOGUE:

      TWO, DHARMA MASTER YEN OF SUI, WHO ESTABLISHED THE TWO TEACHINGS, GRADUAL AND SUDDEN. THAT IS, FOR THOSE WHO ARE POTENTIALS FOR GRADUAL ENLIGHTENMENT, THE GREAT ARISES DUE TO THE SMALL, AND WHAT IS ESTABLISHED INCLUDES ALL THREE VEHICLES. IT IS THEREFORE CALLED GRADUAL. FOR THOSE ARE POTENTIALS FOR THE SUDDEN IT GOES DIRECTLY TO THE GREAT, NOT DUE TO THE SMALL, AND SO IS CALLED SUDDEN. ALTHOUGH IT IS IN TERMS OF THE POTENTIALS THAT THERE ARE SAID TO BE GRADUAL AND SUDDEN, STILL THE DHARMA SPOKEN DOES NOT GO BEYOND HALF AND WHOLE.

COMMENTARY:

      TWO, DHARMA MASTER YEN WHO ESTABLISHED THE TWO TEACHINGS, GRADUAL AND SUDDEN. "Gradual" refers to studying step by step, while "Sudden" means suddenly having accomplishment. If it's the gradual, one goes for example from the Tripitaka teaching to the Connective Teaching, the Special Teaching, and afterwards the Perfect Teaching--according to the T'ien T'ai system.

The Hsien Shou system describes it as starting with the Small Teaching, then going on to the Initial Teaching, the Final Teaching, the Sudden Teaching, and the Perfect Teaching, again studying step by step. The Sudden Teaching refers to suddenly opening enlightenment and immediately becoming a Buddha, achieving immediate understanding. Here it says, THAT IS, it is FOR THOSE WHO ARE POTENTIALS FOR GRADUAL ENLIGHTENMENT, for opening enlightenment bit by bit. So you can see there are big enlightenments and small enlightenments. A small enlightenment would be for example, when you have eaten and are full and realize, "Oh, eating can cure hunger! How wonderful!" That's a small enlightenment. An example of a big one is when you wake up in the morning and say, "Oh! Basically last night I was sleeping! And I had a dream in which I did so many things! Oh! Basically human life is just a dream! We do this and that, but all of it is dreaming!" That's opening a big enlightenment, wouldn't you say? That's even more wonderful. Having small enlightenments and bigger enlightenments is termed "gradual," and in that case THE GREAT ARISES DUE TO THE SMALL. Great enlightenment arises from the small which grows larger bit by bit. It's like a child that grows up, gets old, then dies--

for you could say "sudden" was dying. That's because one's faults all die, along with all the false thinking generated by one's of stupidity. All at once they are cut off, and so the great comes about due to the small, AND WHAT IS ESTABLISHED INCLUDES ALL THREE VEHICLES. The teaching which is established has the Sound Hearer Vehicle, the Conditionally Enlightened Vehicle, and the Bodhisattva Vehicle. IT IS THEREFORE CALLED GRADUAL. That's why the name given to it is "gradual." FOR THOSE WHO ARE POTENTIALS FOR THE SUDDEN, on the other hand, IT GOES DIRECTLY TO THE GREAT, right to the Great Vehicle, NOT DUE TO THE SMALL. It doesn't go from where the small is on to where the great is, AND SO IT IS CALLED SUDDEN. One immediately becomes a Buddha. It's as when Shakyamuni Buddha was born he was able to stand. He pointed one finger to the heavens and one to the earth and said, "In between heaven and earth only the Buddha is honored." That's a case of the sudden. One Upasaka asked me, "How could he had done that?" I asked him, "Why couldn't you do that? That's your answer." In other words, he didn't believe Shakyamuni Buddha could have done it, and I was answering, "Of course you don't believe he could, because you can't. If you were able to do it, you'd believe it." It was very simple, and he didn't have anything to say. He likes to use logic, so I answered him logically.

ALTHOUGH IT IS IN TERMS OF THE POTENTIALS THAT THERE ARE SAID TO BE GRADUAL AND SUDDEN, STILL THE DHARMA SPOKEN DOES NOT GO BEYOND HALF AND WHOLE. Even though the emphasis is put on the potentials here, the teachings involved are summed up by saying there is the half-word teaching and the whole-word teaching in the Dharma spoken.

PROLOGUE:

      THE THIRD, DHARMA MASTER YIN OF THE EARLY T'ANG WHO ALSO ESTABLISHED TWO TEACHINGS: ONE, THE CIRCUITOUS TEACHING, THAT IS THE SUTRAS OF SHAKYAMUNI, BECAUSE THEY FOLLOW THE NATURE OF POTENTIALS AND ACCORDING TO A PLAN BREAK ATTACHMENTS, SUCH AS THE NIRVANA AND SO FORTH. TWO, THE LEVEL ROAD TEACHING, THAT IS THE SUTRAS OF NISHYANDA, BECAUSE THEY FOLLOW THE DHARMA NATURE AND SPEAK WITH COMFORT AND EASE, LIKE THE FLOWER ADORNMENT SUTRA.

COMMENTARY:

      THE THIRD of the four representatives who established two kinds of teachings was DHARMA MASTER YIN OF THE EARLY T'ANG Dynasty WHO ALSO ESTABLISHED TWO TEACHINGS: ONE, THE CIRCUITOUS TEACHING. "Circuitous" means that it is windy, round-about, not direct. That is for example, first speaking the Tripitaka Teaching, then the Connective Teaching, after that the Separate Teaching, and finally the Perfect Teaching, rather than starting out by speaking the Perfect Teaching. It is therefore circuitous teaching, THAT IS THE SUTRAS OF SHAKYAMUNI, the Sutras spoken by Shakyamuni Buddha, BECAUSE THEY FOLLOW THE NATURE OF POTENTIALS, go along with it, AND ACCORDING TO A PLAN BREAK ATTACHMENTS. Their following the nature of potentials means contemplating the potentials and enticing with teachings. They take a look at the factors of potentialities and speak the appropriate Dharma; and they plan the Dharma they speak so that it will break all the attachments of living beings, SUCH AS THE NIRVANA AND SO FORTH. Sutras such as the Nirvana Sutra are examples of that. TWO, THE LEVEL ROAD TEACHING, THAT IS THE SUTRAS OF NISHYANDA, the Sutras spoken by Nishyanda Buddha. BECAUSE THEY FOLLOW THE DHARMA NATURE. They don't comply with the potentials in what they say, but rather they are speech congruent with the nature--they speak the Dharma in accord with the Dharma nature AND therefore SPEAK WITH COMFORT AND EASE. There is nothing contrived about them. They don't contain such thoughts as, "What kind of Dharma should I speak in order to cross you over?" What is said is "congruent with the nature"--the Dharma flows forth straight from the self-nature, LIKE THE FLOWER ADORNMENT SUTRA. The Flower Adornment Sutra is spoken in accord with the self-nature, and doesn't involve such considerations as, "If I speak this Dharma, will living beings be able to accept it or not?" It's not Dharma that is spoken after contemplating the potentials--the Dharma is spoken congruent with the nature, flowing forth from the self-nature. The Flower Adornment Sutra is speech congruent with the nature.

PROLOGUE:

      MOREOVER, THESE TWO TEACHINGS IN GENERAL HAVE FOUR DIFFERENCES: ONE, DIFFERENCES OF HOSTS, THAT IS BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRANSFORMATION BODIES OF SHAKYAMUNI AND THE TEN BODIES OF NISHYANDA. TWO, DIFFERENCES OF PLACE, BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WOODEN TREE AND GRASS SEAT IN THE SAHA REALM AND THE JEWELLED TREES, THE PRECIOUS THRONE AND SO FORTH IN THE FLOWER TREASURY REALM.

COMMENTARY:

      MOREOVER, THESE TWO TEACHINGS, the two kinds of Teachings just introduced that is, the Circuitous Teaching and the Level Road Teaching (which you could also call the Level and Direct Teaching) IN GENERAL HAVE FOUR DIFFERENCES. Four differences can be seen in overview: ONE, the first kind, is DIFFERENCES OF HOSTS. There are differences between the host who speaks the Flower Adornment Sutra and the host who speaks other Sutras. THAT IS BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TRANSFORMATION BODY OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA, which manifests the appearance of a six foot tall Bhikshu, AND THE TEN BODIES OF NISHYANDA. The ten bodies of the 10,000 foot tall Nishyanda Buddha. The ten bodies were discussed before. TWO, the second kind, is DIFFERENCES OF PLACE. The first difference was of hosts, that is between Shakyamuni Buddha using the appearance of a six foot tall Bhikshu to speak other Sutras, and just for the speaking of the Flower Adornment Sutra manifesting the ten thousand foot tall Nishyanda Buddha appearance, to be the host who speaks the Flower Adornment Sutra-- quite a difference from that of the appearance of the six foot tall elder Bhikshu. The second is differences in locations, THAT IS BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WOODEN TREE AND GRASS SEAT IN THE SAHA REALM--when Shakyamuni Buddha in the Saha "Able to Be Endured" World sits beneath the Bodhi tree on one auspicious mat made of grass--AND THE JEWELLED TREES, PRECIOUS THRONE AND SO FORTH IN THE FLOWER TREASURY REALM. When Shakyamuni Buddha in the Realm of worlds of the Flower Treasury made appear the ten thousand foot high Nishyanda Buddha body, at that time there were trees made of the seven precious gems, and a jewelled throne—so the places were the same. When the Flower Adornment Sutra was spoken, he manifested speaking in the World Systems of the Flower Treasury, whereas for speaking other Sutras were spoken in the Saha World. However, the World Systems of the Flower Treasury are not separate from location in the Saha World, for when he spoke that Sutra, right within the Saha World it became the world-systems of the Flower Treasury.

PROLOGUE:

      THREE, DIFFERENCES OF ASSEMBLIES, BECAUSE I THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPEAKING FOR THE SOUND HEARERS AND BODHISATTVAS AND IT BEING SPOKEN IDENTICALLY ONLY FOR THE BODHISATTVAS AND THOSE OF THE ULTIMATE POSITION. FOUR, DIFFERENCES OF SPEAKING, BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPEAKING CONFINED TO A LOCATION AND THE SPEAKING THAT EXTENDS THROUGHOUT THE TEN DIRECTIONS.

COMMENTARY:

      THREE, the third kind of difference, is the DIFFERENCES OF ASSEMBLIES. That is BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPEAKING FOR THE SOUND HEARERS AND BODHISATTVAS, between the Sutra being spoken for the Sound Hearers and Bodhisattvas together, AND IT BEING SPOKEN IDENTICALLY ONLY FOR THE BODHISATTVAS AND THOSE OF THE ULTIMATE POSITION. The manner of speaking and the principles spoken only at the same time of the Bodhisattvas and those of the Ultimate Position, that is Bodhisattvas of the Tenth Ground, are different from what is spoken for the Sound Hearers and Bodhisattvas together, so the assemblies of current potentials are different. FOUR, is that there are DIFFERENCES OF SPEAKING. The method of speaking is not the same, BECAUSE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPEAKING CONFINED TO A LOCATION, that is speaking which is limited to the Seven Places in the Saha World, AND THE SPEAKING THAT EXTENDS THROUGHOUT THE TEN DIRECTIONS. There is a difference between the speaking that penetrates all the worlds of the ten directions to the limits of empty space and the Dharma Realm, and the speaking that is confined to a manifestation of the Seven Places of the Saha World.

PROLOGUE:

      THESE ARE DETERMINATIONS BASED UPON THE MANNER OF TRANSFORMING.

COMMENTARY:

      THESE ARE DETERMINATIONS BASED UPON THE MANNER OF TRANSFORMING. Here the kind of teaching it is, is decided on the basis of the manner in which the teaching is bestowed.