摩訶止觀 9.40

9.40

Next, explaining the manifestation of [the contemplation of] the extraordinary [aspects of breathing] (te-sheng / *viśeṣa): If based on the Vinaya teachings, it should follow the contemplation of the impure; if based on practice, it precedes the contemplation of the impure. As the Vinaya says: "When the Buddha taught the contemplation of the impure to the bhikṣus, they all gave rise to aversion and disgust, unable to dwell together with this foul body, and offered their robes and bowls to hire [someone using] a deer-staff to take their lives. The Buddha had them set aside the impure and cultivate the extraordinary [breathing contemplation]." Rhubarb and croton seed purge a person excessively; one whose bodily strength is weak is immediately exhausted by them. One further uses other medicines to simultaneously purge and tonify. Tonifying is thus love [or stabilization]; purging is thus prodding. Prodding is superior to the fundamental [dhyānas]; love is superior to [the contemplation of] the impure. Having contemplation, it is called "also uncontaminated"; because its countervailing power is weak, it is called "also contaminated." It is like a fastidious person eating a pig's stomach—a vile receptacle for feces, yet one can still force oneself to eat it; but if it were a foul pig in the sixth month, swarmed by maggots and flies, it could no longer be eaten. The extraordinary is actual contemplation and can still be taken leisurely; the impure is imaginative contemplation and must not be endured too long (and so on).