宗教皆依人類的心靈需要而施設，一切的人存在皆由眾生心地所變現，人存在是三界世間一切宗教建立的根本。佛教以人道有情為六道輪迴升墮之總樞紐，依人的形象為本而塑造了如來的三十二相，成佛者皆須來人間示現八相成道，可見佛教是人本的宗教而認為人類是宇宙中最高靈智的展現者。天台思想以《華嚴經》為初時教，以《法華經》為末時教，二者皆為天台教義核心，展現了人存在的種種因地至果地的一切境界內容，它所建立的五時教雖次第井然，但初時教與末時教乃表裡等質的關係，只有應機逗教之分而無勝劣高低之別。《華嚴經》是佛陀成道三七日內敷演其自覺聖智的內容，代表不共三乘的別教一乘，嘉祥吉藏說為一切佛教法義的根本法輪；《法華經》為眾生透過三乘法義的修證過程會三歸一而為二乘聖者授記成佛之證言，代表圓具三乘的圓教一乘。古來諸家對此兩部大經雖有圓、別、通、同之諍論，然其世出世間法之本質究竟等無差別，同教、別教之分只是立論角度之別，《華嚴》與《法華》皆各具之。剋實而論，《華嚴經》的境界內容乃是佛陀演說《法華經》所指向的終極理想與究竟義趣，《法華經》的法義乃為達成《華嚴經》的圓滿果證並彰顯諸佛如來的興世本懷與修證象徵，釋迦如來廣作譬喻演說以顯示三乘方便終歸一佛乘。若《心經》是《般若經》的濃縮，則《法華經》就是《華嚴經》的精髓。這兩部大經的演述雖有時空始末的先後差別，然其法義本質與究竟目標完全相同，旨在闡明宇宙萬法唯一心造、人人皆有佛性而必可成佛的圓教精神，其目的皆為有情眾生「開、示」諸法實相如來藏的內涵，令一切有情「悟、入」真如佛性的究竟果地，故說諸佛世尊唯以一大事因緣故出興於世，謂為眾生開、示、悟、入佛之知見，此乃《妙法蓮華經》之心髓。

All religions are established for human beings’ spiritual needs. Human being is the manifestation of their minds, as human being is the foundation of the creations of all religions in the three realms of samsāra. In Buddhism, human beings are considered pivotal to the six kinds of rebirth in saṃsāra; the thirty-two marks of the Buddha are created based on the images of human beings. All of those who accomplish Buddhahood have to come to the world of men to reveal the eight aspects of Buddha's life, therefore it goes without saying that Buddhism is a humanistic religion and sees human beings as the manifestations of the highest spirituality in the universe. In T'ien-t'ai Buddhism, Avataṃsaka-sūtra is the first period of Buddha's teaching, while Saddharmapundarīka Sutra is the last period of Buddha’s teaching; they are both the core of the T'ien-t'ai teachings, displaying all the states of human being from the causal ground to the resulting Buddhahood. Founded by T'ien-t'ai Buddhism, although the five periods of Śākyamuni's teaching are hierarchical and orderly, the first and last period are equal inwardly and outwardly, based on people’s aptitudes, and deprived of any distinctions in status. Avataṃsaka-sūtra represents the differentiating vehicle of the extraordinary three vehicles, while Saddharmapundarīka Sutra represents the unitary vehicle of the three perfect vehicles. To be frank, Avataṃsaka-sūtra is about Buddha’s lectures on the ultimate ideals and meanings pointed out in Saddharmapundarīka Sutra, while Saddharmapundarīka Sutra is about attaining perfectly the resulting Buddhahood and manifesting Buddha’s spirit of saving the world and the symbol of his practice and realization. If Hrdaya-sutra is the condensation of Bore Sutra, then Saddharmapundarīka Sutra is the essence of Avataṃsaka-sūtra. Though temporally and spatially separate, these two grand sutras are identical in meanings and goals, meant to explicate the perfect teachings: first, all things in the universe are created by the heart; second, everyone posses Buddha nature and can accomplish Buddhahood. The goals of these two grand sutras are to reveal to human beings the immanence of the true marks of all elemental constructs and athāgatagarbha (the womb of the tathāgata) and make human beings realize the resulting Buddhahood unconditioned Buddha-nature, which is the quintessence of Saddharmapundarīka Sutra.