In Chih-i’s opinion, the distinction among the Three Truths (Emptiness, the Provisional, and the Middle Way) is only so that people can comprehend them easily. Actually, these Three Truths are embedded in each other. When Emptiness is taken into account, the aspects of the Provisional and the Middle Way are also empty — a reality of lacking substantial Being. When the Provisional is taken into account based on the view of Emptiness, all entities bear names as conventional existence a reality of variety. On the basis of Emptiness, this view of the Provisional is non-attachment to the provisional existence. When the Middle Way is taken into account, all entities are both empty and provisional. (Vol. 2, Page 73)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of BuddhismMonthly Archives: November 2018
The Transmission of the Three Great Hidden Dharmas
Because Nichiren Shonin has had the great compassion to teach the Lotus Sutra in the Declining Age of the Dharma, the transmission of the Three Great Hidden Dharmas will extend beyond the Declining Age of the Dharma into the endless future.
Awakening to the LotusDaily Dharma – Nov. 1, 2018
I sought the Great Dharma strenuously
Because I wished to save all living beings.
I did not wish to benefit myself
Or to have the pleasures of the five desires.
The Buddha sings these verses in Chapter Twelve of the Lotus Sūtra. He describes his previous life as a great king who abandoned his throne, his wealth, and all the advantages of his position in society for the sake of enlightenment. In that life he realized that having pleasure as a goal was not making him happy, and only through the vow of the Bodhisattva to benefit all beings could he learn to see the world as it is.
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