The Buddha then declared: “The Law preached by the Tathāgata is of one form and flavor, that is to say, deliverance, abandonment, extinction, and finally the attainment of perfect knowledge.” This means that though his teachings are all the same essentially, they can be analyzed into three parts: deliverance (gedatsu-sō), abandonment (ri-sō), and extinction (metsu-sō).

“Deliverance” is the mental state of being no longer influenced by changes in circumstances or things. If one reaches this state, one can consider all things equally, unmoved by whatever happens. On the other hand, those who are convinced that they cannot look at things equally wish to rise above the world ofphenomena, and so they lose the feeling of kinship with people who are suffering and distressed. We should abandon such self-righteousness and strive instead to save people from their sufferings. This attitude is called “abandonment.”

“Extinction” means to extinguish false discrimination between oneself and others, that is, to feel the unity of oneself and all creatures in the universe. We cannot reach this state of mind as long as we think only that we must save people who are suffering and distressed. We must wish to stretch out our hands to others spontaneously and embrace them. This feeling is the mental state of the unification of oneself and others.