It should be noted that, in the context of the Kaimoku shō, this “true ichinen sanzen,” the mutual encompassing of original cause and original effect that is “hidden in the depths” of the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter, comes as the culmination of a discussion of five successive levels of teaching, codified by later Nichiren scholars as the “fivefold comparison” (gojū sōtai). Though he did not state so explicitly, Nichiren was in effect here establishing his own doctrinal classification (kyōhan). In so doing, he drew on both traditional T’ien-t’ai categories and the medieval Tendai of his own day, assimilating them to his own insights. The five steps of the comparison are: (1) Buddhist teachings surpass those of non-Buddhist traditions, such as Confucianism and Brahmanism (naige sōtai); (2) within Buddhism, Mahāyāna surpasses Hinayāna (daishō sōtai); (3) within the Mahāyāna, the Lotus Sūtra, being true, surpasses the other sūtras, which are provisional (gonjitsu sōtai); (4) within the Lotus Sūtra, the origin teaching surpasses the trace teaching (honjaku sōtai); and (5) within the origin teaching, “contemplative insight” (kanjin) surpasses the written text (kyōsō). From the standpoint of the sūtra text, the “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter reveals that Śākyamuni Buddha first achieved Buddhahood countless kalpas ago; yet, however inconceivably distant, that Buddhahood nonetheless had a beginning in time and represents the fruit of a linear process of cultivation. From the standpoint of kanjin, however, the same “Fathoming the Lifespan” chapter is seen to reveal the mutual encompassing of the beginningless nine realms and the beginningless Buddha realm, or the simultaneity of original cause and original effect. Unlike some of the later, more extreme medieval Tendai thinkers, Nichiren never regarded kanjin as a separate transmission independent of the Lotus Sūtra; the realm of “original cause and original effect” is always mediated by the sūtra text. (Page 265)