Chih-i emphasizes that the cause and effect of the Buddha’s practice in the Traces (that is stated in other sūtras) is the Relative Truth. This is because the initial enlightenment of the Buddha in the Origin is not explained in other scriptures. Chih-i views the gist of the Lotus Sūtra as the Ultimate Truth or the essential teaching of the Buddha, because this gist displays the original cause and effect of the Buddha’s practice of the Origin in an incalculable past. The Buddha made clear that the Origin is ultimate, and the Traces are relative, since the Traces are derived from the Origin.