四明尊者教行錄 2.26

2.26

I reply: Although phenomena and principle are distinguished, they exist together within a single thought-moment. Since they are not two separate extremes, why must one deliberate on them simultaneously [as rivals]? Thus we know that physical body and land are not separate from true suchness. To be able to illuminate them as non-dual at the initial stage of aspiration belongs only to the perfect and sudden teaching; the preceding three [teachings] cannot do so. Hence the Avataṃsaka [Sūtra] says: 'The torrential rain poured down by the dragon king Sāgara can be received only by the ocean, not by any other ground.' In the Pratyutpanna Samādhi, one contemplates the forty-eight marks, cognizing and knowing each one, and at that very time practices the threefold contemplation. Master Jingxi established the bodily marks as the objective realm, and emptiness and so forth as the contemplation. Now I ask: Does one wait until the contemplation of the bodily marks is achieved before practicing the threefold contemplation? Or are realm and contemplation practiced simultaneously? If one must wait until the contemplation is achieved, then if the realm of bodily marks does not appear within the ninety days, the threefold contemplation cannot be applied—how could the perfect practice be accomplished? If upon entering the bodhimaṇḍa one immediately practices the threefold contemplation, this verifies that contemplating marks does not obstruct illuminating the ultimate truth. Furthermore, when our school establishes this perfect practice, it does not rely solely on the threefold contemplation, but must also treat the ten vehicles. The body must circumambulate and the mouth must chant; when the three karmic activities are operated together without ceasing for ninety days, the samādhi can be achieved and all buddhas will appear simultaneously. Therefore, you must not obstruct yourself with narrow sentiments; you must engage in cultivation with an interfused mind. Yet apart from our perfect school, none can comprehend this. Take, for instance, the threefold contemplation: though its substance is non-dual, its meanings are mutually opposed. Emptiness preserves not a single mark; conventionality establishes all dharmas; and the middle nature is free from both extremes. Although a beginner of the separate teaching has faith in the middle way, they cannot immediately contemplate it; they must achieve the contemplation of emptiness through analyzing or embodying forms, and then inevitably pass through many kalpas comprehensively learning various gates, and only when the two contemplations are balanced and equal can they cultivate the middle contemplation. A person of the perfect teaching, from their very first step, contemplates the three truths simultaneously within a single mind. Hence the Benevolent King Prajñā [Sūtra] says: 'Existence and non-existence are inherently two, like the two horns of an ox. Illuminating understanding sees that they are non-dual, yet the two truths are never identical.' It also says: 'Regarding the truths, they are always inherently two; regarding the understanding, it is always inherently one.' Unless one first comprehends that the nature contains all dharmas in interfused wondrousness and contemplates them accordingly, who could, from the initial mind, transcend those accumulated practices? The substance of the primary and dependent [recompenses] here is fundamentally inconceivable; when contemplated with the wondrous contemplation, it naturally accords. Why take the obscured and obstructed conceptualization of phenomena and the annihilating ultimate truth as grounds for doubt and difficulty? One should know that dhyāna translates as 'quiet deliberation,' which is another name for stillness and illumination. Since illumination is present within stillness, when a person of the perfect teaching cultivates it, how could they illuminate a dull, inert object without illuminating the interfused wondrousness inherent right there? Moreover, since this method of contemplation is similar to the Pratyutpanna, it must treat the three powers—namely, the power of the Buddha's majesty, the power of samādhi, and the power of the practitioner's original merit. One must not use one's own emotional conceptualizations to deliberate upon this inconceivable, holy Dharma.