The Prose & Verse of The Lotus Sutra

Chapter 2 - Ways & Means

 Text - Page 8

"No more, Sariputra, it is not necessary to teach of it again."

 From No More... (Shi): This is that which is beyond praise.

The Master Seng-Yin¹ said:
"One desires to cause there to be no more minds that question or doubt."

The Master Hui-Kuan² said:
"The real spirituality of the Dharma is difficult to comprehend. Therefore one begins by suppressing and calming the feelings that are always disturbed."

Now it is clarified that this spirituality is deep, serene, and beyond the ways of words and language. Its embodiment is inexpressible, and so there are no more words of praise. Out of mercy and compassion one teaches of it. But when one will injures the good spiritual roots³ of those that listen but are unable to understand, one teaches of it no more.

From This is because... (Sho I Sha Ga): This explains the purpose of praising it no more. This is in two parts:
1. Concerning the inexpressibility of the Buddha - the most noble person who cultivates the very highest spirituality.
2. Then we clarify the inexpressibility of the sphere that is the very deep and inconceivable spiritual realm.⁴

"This is because the Buddha has realized that which is most rare and difficult to understand and which can only be ultimately fathomed between the Buddhas..."

Concerning The Buddha has realized (Buts-sho Joju): This clarifies that horizontally the dual wisdom is inexpressibly full .
From Only ... between the Buddhas: (Yui Butso Yo Butsu): This clarifies that vertically the dual wisdom is inexpressibly deep .

• Realized (Joju) or not, Hard to understand (Nange) or not, this clarifies that the horizontal cultivation and attainment is inexpressibly broad.
• It can only be ultimately fathomed between the Buddhas (Yui Butsu Yo Butsu Naino Kujin): In the beginning, it was only partly attained and the source was not yet fathomed, like the moonlight on the first fourteen days of the lunar month which is not yet everywhere. The source can only be ultimately fathomed between the Buddhas. It is like the light of the moon on the fifteenth day of the month, when its embodiment is not without being totally round and the light is not without being everywhere⁵. Like this, the vertical cultivation and attainment of the path is inexpressibly deep.

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Footnote:

1. Seng-Yin: A disciple of Hui Lung at Lu-Shan and head of the Chung-Hsing Monastery.

2. Hui-Kuan: Studied at both Lu-Shan and Chang-An and, along with Tao-Sheng, facilitated the correspondence between Kumarajiva (at Chang-An) and Hui-Yuan (at Lu-Shan)

3. Mercy and compassion: The Buddha's response to living beings Good spiritual roots: Faith, diligence, presence of mind, mental concentration and spiritual insight; the spiritual qualities of living beings that enable them to sympathize and receive the response of the Buddha

4. The Buddha - the most noble person: The Person "The Buddha has realized" (Buts- Sho Joju)
The sphere that is the very deep and inconceivable spiritual realm: The Dharma "that which is most rare and difficult to understand" (Dai Ichi Ke-u Nange)

5. The waxing and waning of the moon illustrates the gradual development of the wisdom (the waxing of the first fourteen days of the lunar month), the fullness of wisdom (the roundness of the full moon on the fifteenth day) and the gradual detachment (the waning of the last fourteen days of the month) culminating in the attainment of the Great Parinirvana (the new moon).

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