釋禪波羅蜜次第法門 5.90

5.90

First, regarding cause and effect: broadly speaking, practicing the internal and external expedient means, entering the anāgamya, and so forth serve as the cause, which produces the first dhyāna as the effect. Explaining it more proximately now, relying solely on the first dhyāna, it intrinsically contains cause and effect. Some say: 'The four factors are the cause, and the subsequent factor of ekāgratā is the effect.' This, however, has no scriptural basis. Now, relying on the Yingluo jing to explain the dhyāna factors, the five factors are the cause, and the sixth, the silent mind, is the essence of absorption, thus taking the essence as the effect. If one discusses cause and effect generally, factor causes factor, and cause and effect can be distinguished in all of them.