摩訶止觀 5.87

5.87

It is like Viśvakarman constructing the Hall of Victory: neither too sparse nor too dense, the gaps admitting only a thread, towering and lofty, standing high against the heavens, something that an clumsy craftsman could never measure or plan. It is also like a fine painting: sketching its contours, rendering the likeness vividly true, its skeletal structure full of spirit, its vitality animated and soaring—how could a mere color-filler dab and arrange it? These ten levels of contemplative methods horizontally and vertically integrate and encompass, being subtle and exquisitely skillful. At the beginning, one discriminates the true from the false of the realm; in the middle, primary and auxiliary practices assist each other; at the end, one peacefully endures without attachment. The intention is complete and the method skillful, comprehensive and fully prepared; setting the standard for the beginner's mind, it conveys the practitioner to that sarvajñā. This is not something that dhyāna masters of dark realization or Dharma masters who recite texts could know. For it is truly what the Tathāgata diligently sought across accumulated kalpas, what he wondrously realized at the bodhimaṇḍa, what Śāriputra thrice requested, and what was thrice expounded through dharmas and parables: it lies right here.