Chih-i remarks that it is easy to understand the destruction of the four attachments, but not in the case of breaking through the realization of the three sages. Thus, he gives an explanation of how these three views should be refuted. To refute the first extreme view of “emptiness only,” the Buddha uses the doctrine “emptiness and existence,” indicating that emptiness does not mean nothingness. The second view “emptiness only and not emptiness only” recognizes that things are conventionally existent though they are fundamentally empty (which is obviously the perception that goes a step further than the former one). However, this second view should still be refuted since it differentiates emptiness from existence. For this purpose, the doctrine of “not two things” is employed to declare that the emptiness and the provisional existence are not two separate things. In order to obtain the Middle Way of making no distinction of these two aspects, this third view abandons these two aspects, since either of them is an extreme view. The phrase that represents this Middle Way is “not emptiness only.” Nevertheless, this Middle Way is questionable, as it is obtained through abandoning either the view of emptiness or the view of existence. In order to refute this third view, the doctrine of “not different” is introduced, revealing the Middle Way of the Perfect Teaching, which is not the transcendence to emptiness and existence. For Chih-i, going beyond things is still a deliberate act of differentiation, and is far from the Ultimate Truth. The alternative view that is offered by Chih-i is the Middle Way of the Perfect Teaching, which is not realized by negating the two sides, but by affirming the identity of the two sides. This Middle Way of the Perfect Teaching is what the substance of the Lotus Sūtra embodies, and this substance dissolves differences of the truths of the three sages. Through the principle of identification, this Middle Way encompasses all dharmas (entities), because “all mundane affairs are not a violation of the Ultimate Truth. Every color and fragrance is none but the Middle Way.” Therefore, these three truths are integrated in the Lotus Sūtra. This functional aspect of the substance that dissolves differences confirms that the Lotus Sūtra contains the correct substance. (Vol.2, Page 12-14)