廬山蓮宗寶鑑 2.23

2.23

《觀無量壽佛經》云「佛告韋提希：『汝及眾生應當專心繫念一處，想於西方。凡作想者，一切眾生自非生盲，有目之徒皆見日沒。當起想念正坐西向，諦觀於日，令心堅住專想不移，日欲沒時狀如懸鼓。既見日已，開目閉目皆令明了。是為日想，名曰初觀。』」行人入此觀者，須於靜處屏絕外緣，正坐攝心，諦觀日輪現在目前，注心一境凝然寂靜，如對明鏡自覩面像。心若馳散，制之令還。心息住定，即得三昧。可謂海底金烏天上日，眼中瞳子面前人。

The Guan Wuliangshou jing says: "The Buddha told Vaidehī: 'You and sentient beings should concentrate your minds, fix your thoughts on a single place, and reflect upon the western direction. How should one form this reflection? All sentient beings, unless blind from birth, possess eyes and can see the setting sun. You should give rise to the thought, sit upright facing west, and carefully contemplate the sun, causing the mind to abide firmly in concentrated reflection without wavering. When the sun is about to set, its shape is like a suspended drum. Once you have seen the sun, whether your eyes are open or closed, let it be clearly distinct. This is the reflection on the sun, called the first contemplation.'" When a practitioner enters this contemplation, they must cut off external conditions in a quiet place, sit upright and collect the mind, carefully contemplating the solar orb manifest before their eyes, focusing the mind on a single realm in still quiescence, as if facing a bright mirror and seeing one's own facial reflection. If the mind scatters, restrain it and bring it back. When mind and breath abide in stillness, samādhi is attained. It may be called: 'The golden crow at the bottom of the sea, the sun in the sky; the pupil in the eye, the person before one's face.'