[I]n classifying the tentative and real, Fa-yün classified the first five suchlikes as the tentative, which belongs to common ignorant people. The next four suchlikes were classified as the real, which belong to sages. The last suchlike is a general one that brings together the tentative and the real. This verse [from Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra] is quoted as proof: “the suchlike great results and retributions.” Because they are “great,” therefore one can know the real. Because of “various meanings of nature and appearance” one can know the tentative.

I think that this [interpretation by Fa-yün] is mistaken. There are three meanings to the word “great” – large, many, and superior. If one accepts “large” to be the meaning of the real, then one should also accept the meanings of “many” and “superior.” But is not the fact of having various names [which is the defining characteristic of conventional existence] the meaning of “many”?¹³⁸ If one says that the tentative belongs to ordinary ignorant people, does that mean that ordinary people lack [participation in] the real?¹³⁹ If the real belongs to the sages, then does that mean that sages lack [participation in] tentative existence?¹⁴⁰ If one examines this position, one can see that it is unreliable.

Also, the northern Master[s] say that the first five are the tentative and the later five are the real. This [interpretation is based on] human emotions.¹⁴¹

138

Therefore the term “great” can apply to both the tentative and real. return

139

But the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says that all people possess the Buddha nature. return

140

But, for example, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara manifests himself in this world in thirty-three ways. return

141

In contrast to wisdom, it has no basis in reason or reality. return

142

The fundamental equality of all dharmas as empty of substantial Being return