Prologue:

The first teaching refers to all those of outside ways, who are confused about true principle and give rise to erroneous speculations on a vast scale. Two refers to the Small Vehicle adherents who, with respect to true suchness according with conditions yet not changing, within the two parts of the meaning only speak the manifested principle of the emptiness of beings. It is therefore called the “half,” like the “half-word” in the Nirvana.

Three refers to only obtaining “not changing” and not obtaining “according with conditions,” and is therefore said to be of “one part.” Yet because it explains both kinds of emptiness it is therefore called the “whole.” Four is called the entire portion because it contains both meanings of according with conditions and not changing. Its elaboration is Agama Sutra he describes.

Commentary:

The first teaching, the Teaching of confused Truth Attached to Errors, is that of mistaking the false for the true, and mistaking suffering for bliss. It’s a case of turning one’s back on enlightenment and uniting with the dust, of being confused about the truth and pursuing the false. This first teaching refers to all those of outside ways. They are confused abut the substance and principle of the Middle Way, which is just the Treasury of Thus Come One. Externalists don’t know about that.

They are people who are confused about true principle and give rise to erroneous speculations on a vast scale. They think to themselves, “This is permanent, eternal, and unchanging. Once one is born in the heavens one enjoys everlasting bliss and never needs to suffering again – and that never changes throughout time and all eternity.” They speculate that there is permanence, inventing unprincipled and outlandish theories.

There are also externalists who become attached to speculations concerning annihilationism, having such ideas as, “When people die it’s like a lamp going out – they just disappear, and there isn’t any such thing Agama Sutra a soul. So what’s cultivation for? One should cultivate one’s body so it gets nice and plump – eat well, live in a fine house – that’s the better plan. Otherwise it’s too insulting to one’s body when it dies and gets all skinny and black never to have let it eat well or wear good clothes, or even to have drunk a single mouthful of honeywater. No matter what, I’m going to help this body of mine not take a loss! It won’t be of any use after death, since there isn’t any after life, so I’ve got to take the best care possible of my body in this life.”

Those externalists attach either to permanence or to annihilationism, and don’t know there is an ultimate meaning of the Middle Way. They aren’t aware that the nature of the Thus Come One’s Treasury pervades the Dharma Realm, or that the Middle Way is that of perfect interpenetration without obstruction. Therefore, they become attached to permanence or to annihilationism, either to existence or to emptiness, and speculate about being and non-being.

That’s why they’re called those of outside ways. They concoct a great many erroneous theories, which makes them ordinary, common people, forever muddled and confused. When they are born they don’t know how they’ve died. All mixed up and confused they are born, and die the same way. If you tell them to know what’s going to happen to them in advance, they won’t be able to, since their confusion is too deep and they can’t be pure. They have too many false thoughts in their minds, and their ignorance is too heavy, so they can’t be such that:

When one’s heart is clear, the moon is reflected in the water
When one’s mind is in Samadhi, there are no clouds in the sky

When your heart is pure, it’s Agama Sutra when the moon is reflected in water and can be seen very, very clearly. If your mind truly has Samadhi, it’s like the sky when there are no clouds. That’s why it’s said:

A thousand pool have water, and a thousand pools have moons
Ten thousand miles without a cloud; ten thousand miles of sky!

That’s a state which ordinary, common people don’t know about, and the first is their Teaching.

Two refers to the Small Vehicle adherents, the Sound Hearers and Those Enlightened to Conditions, who, with respect to the self-nature of true suchness don’t grasp the whole thing. The two parts are according with conditions yet not changing, and according to conditions still not changing. Within the two parts of the meaning, they only speak the manifested principle of the emptiness of beings, the emptiness of people. They do not understand the emptiness of dharmas. It is therefore called the “half” Teaching of Part of the Truth, like the “half-word” Teaching for those of the Small Vehicle discussed in the Nirvana Sutra.

Three refers to only obtaining “not changing” and not obtaining the principle of “according with conditions.” With it one only grasps part of the principle, and is therefore said to be of “one part.” Yet because it explains both kinds of emptiness, that of people and of dharmas, it is therefore called the “whole” Teaching of part of the Truth. In the case of four, it is called the entire portion because it contains both meanings of according with conditions and not changing. With it one obtains:

According to conditions still not changing;
Always according with conditions, yet always not changing,
Ever not changing according to conditions.
Although always according with conditions,
Nonetheless never changing according to conditions.
Although according to conditions never changing,
Nonetheless ever according with conditions.

When one has that kind of wisdom, one can understand how within true suchness both parts of that principle are contained, and so it is called the Whole Teaching of the Entire Truth. Its elaboration is Agama Sutra he describes. If you want to know about this in detail, you can look up what the Venerable Yuan has to say about it in his work establishing the four kinds of Teachings.

Prologue:

Nonetheless, in now determining the sagely teaching, how can one confound it with deviant doctrines? If it is to match them with their teaching hosts, one should first set up three teachings Agama Sutra per this land; or else, Agama Sutra does the western region, make divisions into internal and external, the six masters, and so forth.

Commentary:

So far National Master Ch’ing Liang has simply named the four kinds of Teaching set up by the Venerable Yuan. Now he is going to criticize them Agama Sutra incorrect, and so continues: Nonetheless, in now determining the sagely teaching, the Teaching Dharma spoken by the Sage, how can one confound it with deviant doctrines? How can you mix in the deviant things which are said by ordinary, common people of outside ways – externalists and off-track cults? If it is to match them with their teaching hosts and set up Teachings on the basis of their founders, one should first set up three teachings as per this land, Chung Kuo (China).

The Three Teachings

• Confucianism
• Taoism
• Buddhism

Confucianism discusses the principles of heaven and earth and of being a person. Taoism only discusses the principles of the Way of Heaven, not of the human realm. Buddhism discusses world-transcending principles for escaping the three Realms. So, in the discussion of Chung Kuo, one should first name Confucianism with Confucius as its Teaching Host, then Taoism with Lao Tzu as its Teaching Host, and finally Buddhism with Shakyamuni Buddha as its Original Teacher. Once the three Teachings have been set up, you go on to explain them.

• Confucianism

A discussion of Confucianism would, for instance, describe the Three Bonds.

The Three Bonds

1. The Ruler is the Bond for the Minister
2. The Father is the Bond for the Son
3. The Husband is the Bond for the Wife

One would also describe the Five Constant Relationships.

The Five Constant Relationships

• The Relationship to Elder Brother
• The Relationship to Younger Brother
• The Relationship to Father
• The Relationship to Mother
• The Relationship to Children

In Confucianism there are also the Five Constant Interrelationships, for it talks in terms of ethics and morality primarily, and so is concerned with constant, regular, natural relations.

The Five Constant Interrelationships

• The Relationship between Prince and Minister
• The Relationship between father and Son
• The Relationship between Husband and Wife
• The Relationship between Elder and Younger Brothers
• The Relationship between Friends

There are also Five constant Moral Virtues which are stressed in Confucianism.

Five constant Moral Virtues

• Humaneness
• Righteousness
• Propriety
• Knowledge
• Trustworthiness

Confucianism also discusses the Nine Classes of Society, also found in the Commentary to the Shurangama Sutra, that existed in Chung Kuo, of which there are superior, average, and inferior ranked versions.

The Nine Classes

• Scholars
• Physicians
• Geomancers
• Astrologers
• Precision Artists
• Painters of Freer Technique
• Members of the Sangha
• Taoist Master
• Musicians and Chess Experts

Scholars are those who study and attain top ranks on the examinations. Physicians are doctors of various sorts. The third class is geomancers who survey the lay of the land, determining which areas have “wind and water” such that if your stinking skeleton is buried there your descendents can be Emperors. Wouldn’t you say that was wonderful? It is all because the piece of land has that kind of “wind and water.” That’s why in Chung Kuo if you engage a geomancer, the very least you must present him with $10,000. then delighted with the cash, he’ll locate a piece of “dragon” land for you, and in the future you’ll be Emperor.

You may be asking ,”Is it really that way?” well, you can say it is, and you can say it is not. The reason you can say it is is that if you and your parents and ancestors all have virtuous conduct, then even without looking for land with “wind and water” you will happen upon it. On the other hand, if you lack virtuous practices, even if you find land with the requisite “wind and water,” they will run away. The ancients put it this way:

Worldly people all say the sites are in the mountains
How are they to know the sites are in the square inch?

How could you know that basically the grave sites aren’t in the mountains at all, but in the “square inch” – the mind? If you have a good mind you’ll find good land, and vice versa. The principles of geomancy are too complicated to explain here.

The fourth class is that of astrologers and physiognomists. The fifth is the category of artists who do precision work with a fine brush, while the sixth is those who paint with a large brush in broad, bold strokes. These days the painter Chang Dai-chien uses the splatter-ink technique and assigns it to the broad-brush category. The seventh class is members of the Buddhist Sangha, the eighth is Taoists Masters, and the ninth is musicians such Agama Sutra guitar players, along with experts attachment the game of chess – such Agama Sutra participants in chess tournaments. Besides the Three Teachings and Nine Classes, Confucianism defines the Five Professions and Eight Occupations, and gives another interpretation of the Nine Classes Agama Sutra those of literature or schools of philosophy.

The Nine Schools of Philosophy

• Confucianism
• Taoism
• Divination
• Law
• Logic
• Micius
• Politics
• Miscellaneous
• Agriculture

Taoism, on the other hand, talks in terms of “non-doing”—the unconditioned – and purity. Buddhism speaks of the unconditioned with nothing not conditioned, of non-doing which does not preclude there being doing. Buddhism also speaks of transcending the three Realms and a great many other principles such Agama Sutra those of the Great and Small Vehicles and the Provisional and Actual Teachings. In Taoism there is the Tao Te Ching – the “Classic of the Way and Its Virtue” – by Lao Tzu, and the Five Thousand Sayings of the Taoist Canon.

In other words, one should first state what the Teachings are, then explain their principles. One also needs to distinguish the Three Teachings – Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism – from the Three Teachings of Sound Hearers, Those Enlightened to Conditions, and Bodhisattvas; or else, Agama Sutra does the western region, India, make divisions into two – an internal Teaching and an external Teaching -- the six outside-way masters representing six theoretical positions who are discussed in detail in the Commentary to the Shurangama Sutra, and so forth.

The Six Outside-Way Masters

• Purana Kashyapa
• Maskari Goshaliputra
• Sanjaya Vairatiputra
• Ajitakeshakambala
• Kakuda Katyayana
• Nirgrantha Jnatiputra

Prologue:

Furthermore, if one makes the Nirvana the basis for a half and whole, since the final two are both whole, there should not be the additional words “part of.” And when there is only attainment of the part which is that of not changing, how can that be called the whole? Moreover, how can the Nirvana’s half and whole only be in terms of the two kinds of emptiness, and how can it not be speaking of wonderful existence and reproaching emptiness?

Commentary:

In this passage of text, National Master Ch’ing Liang disqualifies the Four Teachings established by the Venerable Yuan, and so he says: Furthermore, if one makes the Nirvana Sutra the basis for determining a Half-Word Teaching and a Whole-Word Teaching, since the final two Teachings, the third and the fourth, are both Whole-Word Teachings, there should not be the additional words “part of” to cover the situation of only attaining to not changing without achieving according with conditions.

And when there is only attainment of the part of the principle of True Suchness which is that of not changing, how can that be called the whole? If it’s partial, you can’t call it whole.

Moreover, how can the Nirvana Sutra’s half-Word Teaching and whole-Word Teaching only be talking in terms of the two kinds of emptiness of people and dharmas? And how can it not be speaking of the principle of wonderful existence and reproaching emptiness? In the Nirvana Sutra it talks about both emptiness and existence. The Sound Hearers just understand emptiness and not non-emptiness. Since the Bodhisattvas understand emptiness Agama Sutra well as non-emptiness—the principle of true emptiness and wonderful existence – isn’t that to censure emptiness by saying it’s not right?

Prologue:

Therefore, what he established is unacceptable.

Commentary:

Therefore, what he established, from the Teaching of Confused Truth Attached to Error of ordinary, common people, on through the Teaching for those of the Two Vehicles and Bodhisattvas of initial resolve, up until the Whole Teaching of the Entire Truth for those who do recognize the Treasury of the Thus Come One, is unacceptable theory. He was not justified in setting things up that way.

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