In the previous chapter we studied the chronology of the teachings given by Shakyamuni Buddha throughout his life.

After a precise and meticulous analysis, Zhiyi, the great master of the Tendai, defines five periods of teachings which were the periods of the Flowery Ornament, the Agama Sutras, the Developed Sutras, the Wisdom Sutras and the Lotus and Nirvana Sutras.

Along with this chronological analysis, he also engaged in a study of the contents of the teachings and a study of the methods used by the Buddha to deliver these teachings during the five periods. He thus distinguished four doctrines classified according to the content of the teachings (kehō no shikyō - 化法の四教) and four doctrines classified according to the teaching method (kegi no shikyō - 化義の四教).

The four doctrines classified according to the content of the teachings

The four doctrines of the nature of the teachings represent the classification established by the Great Master Tendai according to the content of the Buddha's teachings. These are the Basket Teachings, the Common Teachings, the Particular Teachings and the Perfect Teaching.

1. The teachings of the baskets

The term "teachings of the baskets" (Sanzō kyō) is short for teachings of the three baskets and refers to sutras (scriptures), rules (precepts) and treatises (commentaries).

These three baskets (Sanzō, Tripitaka) refer to both the sutras, rules and treatises and those who master them.

Originally, the three baskets are inherent in the Mahayana and Hinayana teachings. Now, the great master of the Tendai interpreting the sentence in chapter 14 of the Lotus Sutra (the easy practices):

"The scholars of the three baskets, avidly attached to the Small Vehicle

Il désigna le Petit véhicule par l’appellation « Trois Corbeilles ».

The teachings of the Baskets are addressed primarily to auditors and awakened ones by the conditions (the two vehicles) and secondarily to bodhisattvas. The doctrine contained in the Basket Teachings states that the sufferings of the three worlds and six paths (hell, hungry spirits, animals, ashura, human beings, and heaven) are the result of the evil passions (misguided views and thoughts) of previous lives and the retribution of the karma (deeds) generated by these evil passions, and that to eliminate these vexations one must awaken to the truth of emptiness.

The view of emptiness taught in the Baskets is the "analytical view of emptiness," which analyzes all things and says that these things exist for a certain time because of causes and conditions, and when these causes and conditions are exhausted, they are destroyed and return to emptiness. On the basis of this view of emptiness, auditors practice the four noble truths, conditionally awakened ones practice the twelve causal links, while bodhisattvas practice the six perfections to eliminate the evil passions of misguided views and thoughts, so that they are never again born into the suffering world of the three worlds and six paths. This is the notion of awakening the teachings of the baskets. The misguidedness of the views are the evil passions generating illusion as to reason and the misguidedness of the thoughts are the evil emotional passions.

As long as there is a physical body, these evil passions confuse the mind, so it is said that only by the burning of the body and the destruction of wisdom can one enter true nirvana. This enlightenment is called "unremitting nirvana".

Such a view of emptiness in the Basket teachings is called "simple emptiness" because it denies reality and sees all entities as just one facet of emptiness. It is also called "partial emptiness" because it is a biased truth.

The teaching of the Baskets can be found in the sutras of the Agama period, the Expanded Sutras and Nirvana.

2. The common teachings

The common teachings represent the teachings of the Great Circumstantial Vehicle, which are addressed primarily to the bodhisattvas and secondarily to the two vehicles, which is therefore the opposite of the teachings of the Baskets.

The word "common" (of common teachings) is used because the "substantive emptiness" taught there has elements in common with the emptiness taught in the Baskets (simple, analytical emptiness) that precedes it and also elements in common with the particular and perfect teachings that follow it.

The Common Teachings explain that the practice of contemplation to escape the suffering effects of the three worlds and the six paths, the "contemplation of substantive emptiness", according to which the true nature of the various phenomena does not exist in the first place, because they arise from the conjunction of causes and conditions.

In the Common Teachings, the characters of the three vehicles practiced the ascetics of the four truths of nonproduction, the twelve causal links, and the six perfections. However, the content of their awakening was not the same because of their different predispositions, acute or obtuse. Indeed, the bodhisattvas and the two vehicles (the auditors and the awakened by conditions) of obtuse root, although hearing "substantive emptiness" stopped at the awakening to "simple emptiness", as in the teachings of the Baskets. On the other hand, the sharp-rooted bodhisattvas awakened to the "principle of non-simple emptiness" including the wonderful principle of the middle voice implying that the substance of things is not merely empty, but also contains the existent.

Therefore, the main purpose of these common teachings was to make the sharp-rooted bodhisattvas realize the truth of non-simple emptiness, so that they could proceed to the next stage of practicing the particular and perfect teachings.

The Common Teachings are found in the periods of the Expanded Sutras, Wisdom and Nirvana.

3. Particular teachings

The Particular teachings are so called because their content is different from the previous teachings of Baskets and Common and the following Perfect teaching, and it was given only to bodhisattvas.

Here, while the two previous teachings taught only the truth of emptiness, the three truths of emptiness, conditionality, and medianity are widely revealed.

The "truth of emptiness" means that all existences are devoid of a fixed entity. The "truth of conditionality" means that all existences manifest a temporary aspect according to causes and conditions. The "truth of medianity" is that all beings are neither empty nor temporary, but are both empty and temporary, transcending both sides of emptiness and conditionality. This is where we find the unchanging truth.

However, the Three Truths of Emptiness, Conditionality and Midwayness taught in the Particular teachings are called the "Three Separate Truths" because they are separate from each other and do not integrate. Furthermore, the truth of midway revealed in the Particular teachings is called the "truth of simple midway" because it is a simple midway that does not include the two truths of emptiness and conditionality.

Furthermore, the Particular teachings reveal three misguidance, the misguidance of views and thoughts, the misguidance of dust, and the misguidance of darkness, which the Bodhisattvas of the Great Vehicle must interrupt. And in order to interrupt these three kinds of misguidance, they must practice by progressing through 52 degrees which are the ten degrees of faith, the ten degrees of stations, the ten degrees of practice, the ten degrees of transference, the ten lands, the equal awakening, and the wonderful awakening.

Furthermore, in addition to the three worlds and six paths taught in the Basket and Common teachings, the Particular teachings reveal the causality of all ten worlds, including the four Holy paths (auditors, conditionally awakened, bodhisattvas, and Buddha), but establish that these ten worlds are separate and thus do not reveal the mutual presence of the ten worlds.

Thus, not revealing the perfect fusion of the three truths, the fusion, the mutual presence of the ten worlds, the Particular teachings are not yet Perfect teachings.

The Particular teachings are found in the Sutras taught in the periods of Flowering Ornament, Expanded Sutras, Wisdom and Nirvana.

4. The Perfect Teaching

The Perfect Teaching is the teaching that reveals that all things in the dharma worlds of the universe are harmoniously integrated into one inconceivable substance.

In the Perfect Teaching, the three truths of emptiness, conditionality and medianity are not isolated, but in a relationship where each truth is the three truths and the three truths are one. This is called "the perfect fusion of the three truths". This perfect fusion of the Three Noble Truths implies that all the individual substances of the worlds of dharmas and the entire world of dharmas are the wonderful inconceivable substance of the middle way. Compared to the "simple medianity" of the Particular teachings, the medianity of the Perfect teaching is called "non-simple medianity.

Furthermore, the Perfect Teaching reveals the reciprocity of the ten worlds, implying that the lives of the nine worlds are present in the Buddha world and the life of the Buddha world is also present in the lives of the beings of the nine worlds.

The Perfect Teaching, which explains the perfect fusion of the Triple Truth and the mutual presence of the ten worlds, represents the complete teaching and ultimate enlightenment of the Buddha.

On the basis of this principle of the perfect fusion of the Threefold Truth and the mutual presence of the Ten Worlds, the Lotus Sutra reveals the Doctrine of One Thought Three Thousand. Belief in this doctrine enables the matching of ourselves with the dharma worlds of the universe and it is no longer necessary to renounce the five desires and evil passions, which were previously considered something to be renounced, and our ordinary body of being, as it is, opens to Buddhahood and we become Buddha from this body.

The truth contained in the Perfect Teaching is also taught in the periods of the Flowery Ornament, the Expanded Sutras and the Wisdom. However, being mixed with the means taught in the Basket, Common and Particular teachings, the sutras taught in these periods are not pure teachings. For this reason, they are called the "Perfection of the Earlier Sutras. The Lotus Sutra, on the other hand, is the teaching that reveals only the doctrine of perfect fusion and perfection. For this reason it is called "the unique wonder of pure perfection.

The four doctrines classified according to the teaching method

The four methods of teaching represent the form and methods that Shakyamuni Buddha used during his fifty years of preaching and that the great master of Tendai categorized as Subtle, Gradual, Secret, and Indeterminate teachings.

1. The Sudden teaching

The word "sudden" means "immediate" and refers to the fact that the Buddha preached the Mahayana teachings directly, regardless of the abilities and predisposition of the beings he addressed. This form of preaching was used in the Flowering Ornament period and its content reiterated in both the Perfect and the Particular teachings.

2. The Gradual teachings

This method of teaching means that the Buddha gradually led beings from the superficial to the deeper teachings according to their predisposition. This form of preaching corresponds to the Agama period, the Expanded Sutras period and the Wisdom period.

With this method of Gradual teachings, in the Agama period, only the teachings of the Baskets (the Small Vehicle) were taught. In the period of the developed Sutras, the Small Vehicle (Basket Teachings) was taught alongside the Mahayana (Common, Particular and Perfect Teachings). In the Wisdom period, both the Common and Particular teachings were taught along with the Perfect teaching.

3. The Secret Teachings

Secret teachings are also called Secret and indeterminate teachings, which refers to a way of teaching in which beings who listen to the Buddha's teachings are unaware of each other's existence (secret) and hear the same teachings in different ways according to their own abilities (they listen to the same thing and understand it in different ways), so that the benefits they receive are not fixed (indeterminate). This method of preaching is found in part of the Flowering Ornament period and in the Agama, Expanded Sutra and Wisdom periods.

4. Indeterminate Teachings

The indeterminate teachings are also called manifest indeterminate teachings. This refers to a method of teaching in which the beings listening to the Buddha's teachings are aware of each other's (manifest) existence, but because in the same way as in the Secret teachings, they are listening to the same thing which they understand in different ways, the benefits to the beings are indeterminate. This method of preaching, like the Secret teachings, is found in part of the Flowering Ornament period, the Agama period, the Expanded Sutras and the Wisdom period.

Thus, the reason why the Buddha used such a variety of means and methods in his teachings was to gradually harmonize the predisposition of beings and lead them to the true and unsurpassed Lotus Sutra so that they would obtain liberation. The Lotus Sutra is called the "Nectar Transcending the Eight Doctrines" because it is the Perfect Teaching directly based on the Buddha's enlightenment and because it transcends the four doctrines classified according to the content of the teachings and the four doctrines classified according to the teaching method.