This polar notion is established to judge various teachings of the Buddha in terms of whether or not they contain expedient means. Chih-i demonstrates the coarseness or subtlety by comparing the Lotus Sūtra with other sūtras. The teaching of the Buddha that contains expedience in other sūtras is considered to be Relative Truth, for it complies with various capabilities and inclinations of audiences. Relative Truth is coarse, given that it is only the means to reach the final goal of the Ultimate Truth. In the ultimate teaching of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha directly reveals that all past teachings are expedient means in leading beings to open the Buddha’s knowledge and insight. The Lotus teaching that contains no expedient means is regarded by Chih-i to be the ultimate, and renders subtlety. However, the distinction of the coarseness and the subtlety are only Chih-i’s strategy of projecting the superiority of the Lotus teaching in his system of classification so that the ultimate goal of attaining Buddhahood as the spirit of Mahāyāna Buddhism can be asserted. In Chih-i’s view, with the Ultimate Truth as an absolute reality, there is no more distinction between these two. From the viewpoint of the coarse teaching as the preparatory means for listeners to be intellectually matured for the subtle teaching, and from the viewpoint of the Buddha’s real intention being always for the purpose of expounding the subtle teaching even when he was implementing the coarse teaching, the significance of the coarse teaching would never be overly emphasized. Hence, Chih-i insists that the coarseness contains the subtlety, and it is no longer coarse when the universal salvation for all beings is declared by the Buddha in the Lotus Sūtra. (Page 64)