While affirming the superiority of the Perfect Teaching, Chih-i does not mean to reject the other three teachings, as he regards all Buddhist doctrines whether coarse or subtle to be the teaching of the Buddha. His goal of judging the coarse or subtle is to resolve differences among the Four Teachings. This is because only when all of the Four Teachings are affirmed to be valid, can all beings with various types of faculties be embraced by the teaching of the Buddha. Chih-i’s conclusion is that the Ultimate Truth includes both coarseness and subtlety. In an absolute sense of opening the coarseness (e.g. relative) and revealing the subtlety (e.g. ultimate) and leading all sentient beings to attain universal liberation of Buddhahood, coarseness is subtlety. This is because each of the three teachings (Tripitaka, Common, and Separate) is an indispensable step towards the attainment of Buddhahood. However, Chih-i asserts that this absolute sense of integrating the coarse and the subtle (i.e., the three teachings are equally subtle as the Perfect Teaching) only becomes transparent in the Lotus Sūtra, in which the real intention of the Buddha for universal salvation is directly conveyed. Although the coarseness is expedient means that serves to reveal the subtlety, from the former is relative and the latter is ultimate, the equal importance of the relative and the ultimate for Chih-i lies in the fact that only by relying on the relative, can the ultimate be displayed. Meanwhile, only by aiming at the ultimate, can the relative be considered as valid. (Vol. 2, Page 101-102)