This paper employs the “Samanta-mukha-parivarta” (Universal Gateway) chapter of the Lotus Sūtra as the main literary source to discuss the Buddhist soteriological transformation of mind, body, and abiding-places by a mechanism switching between foundational emptiness and worldly manifestations. The five sections of this paper are organized as follows. Section one offers a broad outline of this paper’s argument and a breakdown of its individual sections. Section two summarizes the main thesis of the “Samanta-mukha-parivarta” chapter and discusses its structure, title, and key ideas to provide a context for the argument to be presented in this paper. Section three elucidates how the topics of mind, body, and abiding-places systematically build up deliberation and practices in an unfolding manner. Section four investigates the modes of unfolding bodhisattva practices exemplified by the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. Furthermore, this section also reflects on the scope of bodhisattva practices from a philosophical perspective and investigates the prospect of approaching the most advanced level. Section five concludes and summarizes the main points of this paper.
