教觀綱宗 1.2

1.2

The essential core of the Buddhas and patriarchs is simply doctrine and contemplation. Contemplation without doctrine is not correct; doctrine without contemplation cannot be transmitted. To have doctrine without contemplation is delusion; to have contemplation without doctrine is perilous. Now, discussing the periods and doctrines comprehensively, the main outline comprises eight; when contemplating is established based on the doctrines, the count is also roughly the same. The eight teachings are: first, sudden; second, gradual; third, secret; fourth, indeterminate: these are called the four teachings of conversion method, like worldly medical prescriptions. Fifth, Tripiṭaka; sixth, shared; seventh, distinct; eighth, complete: these are called the four teachings of conversion doctrine, like worldly medicinal ingredients. It should be known that what the sudden and others employ does not go beyond the four flavors of the Tripiṭaka and the rest. The Tripiṭaka takes emptiness through analysis as its contemplation; the shared takes emptiness through embodiment as its contemplation; the distinct takes gradual stages as its contemplation; the complete takes the single mind as its contemplation. Each of the four contemplations uses the ten dharmas constituting the vehicle, which can convey practitioners to the stage of nirvāṇa. The two kinds of doctrine and contemplation of the Tripiṭaka and the shared convey one to the nirvāṇa of the truth of the real; the two kinds of doctrine and contemplation of the distinct and the complete convey one to the great parinirvāṇa of the truth of the middle. The three—Tripiṭaka, shared, and distinct—are all called expedient; only the doctrine and contemplation of the complete teaching are called real. Within the contemplation of the complete, there are again three kinds: first, sudden; second, gradual; third, indeterminate. When deploying the expedient for the sake of the real, the expedient contains the real. When opening the expedient and revealing the real, the real integrates with the expedient.