And concluding three weeks of reading The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, I offer this meaning (Reeves, p37-38):
“Good sons, after leaving the king of trees, when I turned the Dharma wheel of the four truths for the five men at Deer Park in Varanasi, Ajnata-Kaundinya and the others, I taught that all things are originally empty and calm, ceaselessly changing, arising and perishing in an instant.
“When I spoke in various places during the middle period, proclaiming the twelve causes and conditions and the six transcendental practices for monks and the group of bodhisattvas, I also taught that all things are originally empty and calm, ceaselessly changing, arising and perishing in an instant.
“Now, preaching the Great Vehicle Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, I also teach that all things are originally empty and calm, ceaselessly changing, arising and perishing in an instant.
“Good sons, this is why the teachings at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end are the same in expression but different in meaning. Since the meaning is different, so too the understandings of living beings differ. And since understandings differ, so too attainments of the Dharma, of its fruits, and of the Way differ.
“Good sons, at the beginning, though I taught the four truths for those who sought to be śrāvakas, eight million heavenly beings came down to hear the Dharma and aspired to become awakened. In the middle, though I preached the profound twelve causes and conditions in various places for those who sought to be pratyekabuddhas, innumerable living beings aspired to become awakened or continue as śrāvakas. Next, though I proclaimed over many eons the practice of bodhisattvas by teaching the equality of the twelve literary forms of the Great Wisdom Sutra, and the vast Flower Garland Sutra, hundreds of thousands of monks, tens of thousands of millions of human and heavenly beings, and innumerable other living beings could remain as stream-enterers, once-returners, non-returners, or arhats in the Dharma of causes and conditions appropriate for pratyekabuddhas.
“Good sons, for this reason, it is known that while the teaching is the same, the meanings differ. Since the meanings differ, so too the understandings of living beings differ. And since understandings differ, so too attainments of the Dharma, of its fruits, and of the Way differ. Thus, good sons, from when I attained the Way and stood to teach the Dharma for the first time until I proclaimed the Great Vehicle Sutra of Innumerable Meanings today, I have never ceased preaching about suffering, emptiness, impermanence, no enduring self, the absence of greatness, the absence of pettiness, original non-arising, present non-extinction, one character, absence of character, Dharma character, Dharma nature, non-corning, non-going, and the four modes by which all the living are driven.
“Good sons, this is why all buddhas everywhere respond to the variety of voices without a forked tongue and with one sound. Though each has only one body, they show bodies as innumerable and numberless as the sands of hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of Ganges. In each body, they display a number of similar types, countless as the sands of hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of Ganges. And in each type, they show forms as countless as the sands of hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of Ganges.
“Good sons, accordingly, this is the inconceivable and profound sphere of all the buddhas. The two vehicles cannot comprehend it, and even bodhisattvas at the tenth stage cannot reach it. Only among buddhas can it be fathomed well.
“Good sons, this is why I teach that the wonderful, profound, and unexcelled Great Vehicle Sutra of Innumerable Meanings is truly correct in logic, unsurpassed in value, and protected by the buddhas of the past, present, and future. No demonic or non-Buddhist ways can damage it, nor can any wrong view of life and death defeat or destroy it.
“Therefore, bodhisattva great ones, if you want to attain unexcelled awakening quickly, you should practice and study the profound, unexcelled Great Vehicle Sutra of Innumerable Meanings.”