These excerpts explore the complexities of understanding and practicing Buddhism. The first section highlights the difficulty of grasping its principles, emphasizing the need to integrate Buddhist teachings with existing knowledge and introducing the four stages of study: faith, understanding, practice, and realization. The second section introduces the concept of "Three Divisions of All Phenomena" (體, 相, 用), explaining how everything, including ourselves, can be analyzed in terms of its fundamental nature (體), temporary appearance (相), and function (用). Finally, the third and fourth sections examine the "Three Reasons for Arising" (生起三由) – cause, condition, and effect – explaining how phenomena come into being through the interaction of these factors, and the importance of understanding the relationship between factual events and underlying principles (事與理) in both understanding and practicing the Dharma.