三照
The three shinings; the sun first shining on the hill-tops, then the valleys and plains. So, according to Tiantai teaching of the Huayan stra, the Buddha's doctrine had three periods of such shining: (a) first, he taught the Huayan stra, transforming his chief disciples into bodhisattvas; (b) second, the Hnayna stras in general to rvakas and pratyeka-buddhas in the Lumbin garden; (c) third, the 方等 stras down to the 涅盘经 for all the living. See the 六十华严经 35, where the order is five, i.e. bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, rvakas, lay disciples, and all creatures.
