Arising and abandoning are the two aspects of evaluating various levels of religious attainment as positions that belong to the Four Teachings respectively. According to Chih-i, the positions that belong to the three teachings (Tripiṭaka, Common, and Separate) are coarse, seeing that the doors of these teachings are expedient means or contain expediency. This proposes that truth expounded by the Buddha in these teachings is relative, which functions to guide beings to eventually reach the Ultimate Truth. The positions of the Perfect Teaching are considered to be subtle, for the door of the Perfect Teaching directly reveals the Ultimate Truth without having to employ expedient means as the Relative Truth. Therefore, “arising of positions” (Wei-hsing) is to confirm the legitimacy of various positions regardless of whether they are coarse or subtle, from the viewpoint that all of them are beneficial in terms of suiting different abilities of sentient beings. On the other hand, the abandonment of these tentative positions (Wei-fei) is necessary for the arising of new positions. Attainment arises according to conditions. Along with the arising of new conditions, new positions are produced, with which old positions must be abandoned. With regard to the Four Teachings, Chih-i argues that the positions of the Tripiṭaka, the Common, and the Separate Teachings must be abandoned. This is because, once they have fulfilled their roles as tentative positions, i.e., after one has progressed from these three teachings to the Perfect Teaching, and attained the ultimate position of the Perfect Teaching, these tentative positions are no longer needed. Moreover, at the moment when these tentative positions hinder one’s attainment of the ultimate position on the path of religious practice, they must be abolished too. (Volume 1, Page 60)
The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra: Tien-tai Philosophy of Buddhism