西方合論 6.6

6.6

Second, regarding the practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā: in various vaipulya sūtras such as the Perfect Enlightenment, Śūraṅgama, and Avataṃsaka Sūtras, ancient and modern scholars have broadly established gates of contemplation. Yet only the Tiantai school's threefold contemplation is the most direct, revealing the trap and snare for the one mind and grasping the essentials of all dharmas; as a shortcut for cultivation, nothing surpasses this. The essential tenet of the Western Land naturally possesses the sixteen correct contemplations; yet each and every contemplation completely contains these three meanings. Therefore, when Tiantai expounded the sūtra, he directly subsumed those sixteen under the three truths. The Miaozong chao states: “The three virtuous essences in the nature are the three bodies of the buddhas; precisely these three virtues and three bodies are the threefold contemplation of our one mind. If it were not so, there would be a buddha outside contemplation, and the object would not be identical with the mind; how could it be called the contemplation of the absolute of the perfect school? One may also take Amitābha's three bodies as the dharmakāya, our threefold contemplation as prajñā, and seeing the Buddha upon completing contemplation as liberation: mentioning one includes three, like the new letter ‘i’. Since contemplating the Buddha is thus, contemplating the dependent and primary [rewards] is in principle no different.” As this is extensive in the commentary and subcommentary, it cannot be fully related. As for Chan Master Wenling, he entered the gate of the threefold contemplation purely through a single recitation of the Buddha's name. Saying that the contemplation of the three truths is present in the recitation: for instance, with one recitation of the Buddha's name, one immediately understands that this subjective reciting essence is empty, and the recited object is without characteristics; this is recitation abiding in the contemplation of emptiness, and the recited Buddha is the nirmāṇakāya, with the mind shattering the delusions of view and thought. Although the subjective reciting essence is empty and the recited object is without characteristics, this does not hinder the subjective recitation from being clear and the recited object from being distinct; this is recitation abiding in the contemplation of the provisional, and the recited Buddha is the saṃbhogakāya, with the mind shattering the delusions of dust and sand. Exactly when the subjective and objective recitation are empty, the subjective and objective recitation are distinct; exactly when the subjective and objective recitation are distinct, the subjective and objective recitation are quiescent. Emptiness and the provisional mutually abiding is recitation abiding in the contemplation of the middle, and the recited Buddha is the dharmakāya, with the mind shattering the delusion of ignorance. This furthermore takes the cause of buddhānusmṛti to completely fulfill the three truths and purify those four lands, like taking a single dust mote and transforming the great earth into gold; this is called the inconceivable gate of contemplation of the perfect interfusion of the dharmadhātu.