釋禪波羅蜜次第法門 7.72

7.72

Twelfth, contemplating impermanence: this serves to counteract and refute the immobility of the fourth dhyāna. Why is that? In the mundane world, there are moving phenomena and immobile phenomena. The three [lower dhyānas] are moved by joy and pleasure, and thus are still called moving phenomena. Now, this fourth dhyāna is named immobile absorption. When ordinary people attain this absorption, they mostly produce notions of permanence, generating attachment and grasping in their minds. Now, if one contemplates this absorption as being subject to origination, cessation, and succession, transformed by the three characteristics, one knows that these are marks of destruction and insecurity. Therefore, the sūtra says: “All moving and immobile phenomena in the entire world are marks of decay and insecurity.” Hence it is named contemplating impermanence.