[In discussing the Buddha], Chih-i … emphasizes the unity or integration of the Buddha-realm with all other aspects of reality. As Chih-i rhetorically asks:

How can there be any dharma distinct from the Buddha? [There cannot.] All of the hundred realms and thousand suchnesses are the objective realm of the Buddha. [T 33, 696a4-5]

In other words, the Buddha is not a separate and detached realm from that of our world of passionate illusions, but an integrated and involved part of it. The difference is that only a Buddha truly understands and perceives reality as it truly is. Understanding this vast reality requires a vast and penetrating wisdom. Both objective reality and the wisdom of the Buddha are thus “inconceivable”, beyond conceptual understanding. In short, the dharma of the Buddha is “subtle.”