Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

scriptures as the highest teaching of the Buddha: the
Tian Tai say it is the Lotus Sutra, but the Hua Yan claim
it is the Avatamsaka, and so on.
We can settle all these disputes in a very nice way by
our practice of the Three-in-one.
2. Development of the Buddha's Doctrine
The second reason why we should propound the system
of Three-ways-in-one is that we emphasize to the
utmost the development of the Buddha's doctrine itself.
If we wish to make any division of teachings, it should
be according to known historical facts—an objective
division, not a subjective one based on our own
preference of school. We should not follow ideas such
as those of the Hua Yan, who say that only a day or two
after the Sambodhi of Gautama, he preached the
Avatamsaka Sutra and then, since no one understood,
gave a "beginner's" course in the Agama Sutras. Who
can prove this? Does not this classification rather glorify
the school which made it? We should not like to do this.
a. Historical Sequence
The Buddha first preached to the five bhiksus in the
Deer Park near Benares. This is according to all
historical accounts, which state that the Sutra called
"The Turning of the Wheel of the Law" (Dharmachakra
pravartana) was the first taught by the Buddha.
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