As mentioned yesterday, I am inserting the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings into my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra practice as a way to keep this sutra and The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva in my practice after concluding my 21-Day Retreat Encouraged by Universal Sage Bodhisattva.

Not everything in the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings is easy to digest. For me, I stumble over the many places where negation is used to emphasize the nature of emptiness. This comes early in the sutra when the Bodhisattvas are describing the Buddha (Reeves, p26-27).

His body is neither existing nor non-existing,
Neither caused nor conditioned,
Neither itself nor other,
Neither square nor round,
Neither short nor long.

It does not appear or disappear.
It is not born and does not die.
It is neither constructed nor raised up,
Neither made nor produced.

It is neither sitting nor lying,
Neither walking nor standing still,
Neither moving nor turning over,
Neither at rest nor idle.

It does not advance or retreat,
Knows not safety or danger,
Neither right nor wrong.
It is neither virtuous nor improper.

It is neither this nor that,
Neither going nor coming.

It is neither blue nor yellow,
Neither red nor white;
Neither crimson nor purple,
Nor a variety of colors.

Chih-i, the founder of the T’ien T’ai School upon which much Nichiren Doctrine rests, took such discussions as this and applied  the Threefold Truth – Emptiness, Provisional and Middleway. All things are essentially empty of any enduring, unchanging, self. What we perceive is our provisional existence that flows from causes and conditions of dependent origination. The Middle Way recognizes the non-duality of emptiness and provisional existence.

So what’s left with after all of those negations? The Middle Way.

Or at least that’s my understanding.  For an interesting discussion of how Chih-i applied the Threefold Truth to the Ten Suchnesses of Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, see this quote from the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra.