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Great Cessation-and-Contemplation Volume I

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GREAT CESSATION AND CONTEMPLATION VOLUME I

GREAT CESSATION-AND-CONTEMPLATION VOLUME I

Front Matters

BDK English Tripiṭaka Series GREAT CESSATION-AND-CONTEMPLATION VOLUME I

(Taishō Volume 46, Number 1911) Translated by Paul L. Swanson BDK America, Inc. 2024

Copyright © 2024 by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and BDK America, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Printing, 2024

ISBN: 978-1-886439-95-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2024951318 Published by

BDK America, Inc.

1675 School Street

Moraga, California 94556

Printed in the United States of America

A Message on the Publication of the

English Tripiṭaka

The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed.

Ever since the Buddha's Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha's teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha's eighty-four thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirty-nine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future. It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the Compassionate One reach each and every person in the world.

Numata Yehan

Founder of the English

August 7, 1991 Tripiṭaka Project

Editorial Foreword

In the long history of Buddhist transmission throughout East Asia, translations of Buddhist texts were often carried out as national projects supported and funded by emperors and political leaders. The BDK English Tripiṭaka project, on the other hand, began as a result of the dream and commitment of one man. In January 1982 Dr. Numata Yehan, founder of Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), initiated the monumental task of translating the complete Taishō shinshū daizōkyō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Buddhist canon) into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April 1982. By July of the same year the Translation Committee of the English Tripiṭaka was officially convened. The initial Committee included the following members: (late) Hanayama Shōyū (Chairperson), (late) Bandō Shōjun, (late) IsHIgami Zennō, (late) Kamata Shigeo, (late) Kanaoka Shūyū, Mayeda Sengaku, (late) Nara Yasuaki, (late) SayeKI Shinkō, (late) SHIoiri Ryōtatsu, (late) Tamaru Noriyoshi, (late) Tamura Kwansei, (late) Uryūzu Ryūshin, and (late) Yuyama Akira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: Kanazawa Atsushi, Watanabe Shōgo, Rolf Giebel of New Zealand, and Rudy Smet of Belgium.

After holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee selected one hundred and thirty-nine texts for the First Series of the project, estimated to be one hundred printed volumes in all. The texts selected were not limited to those originally written in India but also included works composed in China and Japan. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the texts for the Second Series will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published. Given the huge scope of this project, accomplishing the English translations of all the Chinese and Japanese texts in the Taishō canon may take as long as one hundred years or more. Nevertheless, as Dr. Numata wished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue until completion, even after all the present members have passed away. vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

Dr. Numata passed away on May 5, 1994, at the age of ninety-seven. He entrusted his son, Mr. Numata Toshihide with the continuation and completion of the English Tripiṭaka project. Mr. Numata served for twenty-three years, leading the project forward with enormous progress before his sudden passing on February 16, 2017, at the age of eighty-four. The Committee previously lost its able and devoted first Chairperson, Professor Hanayama Shōyū, on June 16, 1995, at the age of sixty-three. In October 1995 the Committee elected Professor Mayeda Sengaku (then Vice President of Musashino Women's College) as Chairperson, and upon the retirement of Professor Mayeda in July 2016, the torch was passed to me to serve as the third Chairperson. Despite these losses and changes we, the Editorial Committee members, have renewed our determination to carry out the noble ideals set by Dr. Numata. Present members of the Committee are Kenneth K. Tanaka (Chairperson), Mayeda Sengaku, IcHIsHIma Shōshin, Katsura Shōryū, Minowa Kenryō, Saitō Akira, SHImoda Masahiro, Watanabe Shōgo, and Yonezawa Yoshiyasu. The Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research was established in November 1984, in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., to assist in the publication of the translated texts. The Publication Committee was organized at the Numata Center in December 1991. In 2010, the Numata Center's operations were merged with Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai America, Inc. (BDK America), and BDK America continues to oversee the publication side of the English Tripiṭaka project in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee in Tokyo. To date, the project has completed about seventy-five percent of the seven thousand one hundred and eighty-five Taishō pages of texts selected for the First Series. Much work still lies ahead of us but we are committed to the completion of the remaining texts in order to realize the grand vision of Dr. Numata, shared by Mr. Numata and Professor Hanayama, to make the Buddhist canon more readily accessible to the English-speaking world.

Kenneth K. Tanaka

Chairperson

Editorial Committee of

the BDK English Tripiṭaka

viii

Publisher's Foreword

On behalf of the members of the Publication Committee, I am happy to present this volume as the latest contribution to the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. The Publication Committee members have worked to ensure that this volume, as all other volumes in the series, has gone through a rigorous process of editorial efforts. The initial translation and editing of the Buddhist scriptures found in this and other BDK English Tripiṭaka volumes are performed under the direction of the Editorial Committee in Tokyo, Japan. Both the Editorial Committee in Tokyo and the Publication Committee, headquartered in Moraga, California, are dedicated to the production of accurate and readable English translations of the Buddhist canon. In doing so, the members of both committees and associated staff work to honor the deep faith, spirit, and concern of the late Reverend Dr. Yehan Numata, who founded the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series in order to disseminate the Buddhist teachings throughout the world. The long-term goal of our project is the translation and publication of the texts in the one hundred-volume Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon, along with a number of influential extracanonical Japanese Buddhist texts. The list of texts selected for the First Series of this translation project may be found at the end of each volume in the series.

As Chair of the Publication Committee, I am deeply honored to serve as the fifth person in a post previously held by leading figures in the field of Buddhist studies, most recently by my predecessor, John R. McRae. In conclusion, I wish to thank the members of the Publication Committee for their dedicated and expert work undertaken in the course of preparing this volume for publication: Managing Editor Marianne Dresser, Dr. Hudaya Kandahjaya, Dr. Carl Bielefeldt, Dr. Robert Sharf, and Rev. Brian Kensho Nagata, Director of the BDK English Tripiṭaka Project.

A. Charles Muller

Chairperson

Publication Committee

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka Numata Yehan v Editorial Foreword Kenneth K. Tanaka vii Publisher's Foreword A. Charles Muller ix Translator's Introduction Paul L. Swanson xiii Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, Volume I 1 Introduction by Guanding 3 An Outline of the Ten Chapters Chapter I. Synopsis 31 Chapter II. Explanation of Terms Chapter III. Features of the Essence Chapter IV. Encompassing All Dharmas Chapter V. Incomplete and Perfect Cessation-and-Contemplation Chapter VI. Clarification of Twenty-five Preparatory Means Chapter VII. Contemplation Proper (Part One) 23 155

173

215

235

261

349

Notes 491

Glossary 493 Bibliography 563 Index 565

A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series) 591 xi

Translator’s Introduction

Translator's Introduction

Paul L. Swanson

The Great Cessation-and-Contemplation ("Great Calming and Insight"; Mohezhiguan 摩訶止観, T. 1911) by Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597) is one of the most influential texts in East Asian Buddhism, a monumental survey of the vast expanse of Buddhist teachings and practices in terms of the broad rubric of "cessationand-contemplation" (or "calming and insight," Skt. śamatha-vipaśyanā). The text includes many concrete instructions on preparing for and undertaking a variety of practices; however, it is not simply a manual for the practice of meditation and is more a treatise on the theory and application of Buddhist meditative practice. It provided the foundation for Tiantai Buddhism as one of the two major Buddhist philosophical schools in China, and cast its net widely in Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. For centuries it was the main text for one of the two major courses for monks on the Japanese Tendai school headquarters on Mount Hiei, and thus influenced the development of almost all aspects of Buddhism in Japanese history, including Tiantai/Tendai proper, mountain asceticism, esoteric Buddhism, Shinto/ Buddhist syncretism known as honji-suijaku 本地垂迹 and shinbutsu shūgō 神仏習合, the Pure Land traditions of Hōnen and Shinran, the Zen traditions of Dōgen, Ippen, and others, and the Lotus Sutra tradition of Nichiren. In the arts it famously provided inspiration for Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji. Nevertheless the Mohezhiguan does not stand alone in the Tiantai tradition. It is one of the so-called "three great texts" of Tiantai Buddhism, along with the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra 妙法蓮華經玄義 (T. 1716), a treatise that takes an unconventional approach in its scriptural exposition through its analysis of the words in the title of the Lotus Sutra, and the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra 妙法蓮華經文句 (T. 1718), a relatively traditional commentary on the text of the Lotus Sutra. The Great Cessation-and-Contemplation is also part of a trilogy of Zhiyi's texts on Buddhist practice in the Tiantai tradition. The first is one of Zhiyi's earliest works, the Gradual Practice of Meditation 次第禅門 xiii

Translator's Introduction

(T. 1916), a detailed presentation of the stages of dhyāna (Ch. chan, Jp. zen) meditation. This text was later summarized and updated in the more famous Shorter Tiantai Cessation-and-Contemplation 天台小止観 (T. 1915). In the Tiantai tradition this was considered the "gradual and successive" or "progressive" type of practice, from simple or lower stages to the more advanced. The second text, the short Teaching on the Six Sublime Practices (T. 1917), outlines Buddhist practice in what is considered a "variable" fashion, not necessarily in any predetermined order. The culmination of Zhiyi's analysis of Buddhist practice is the "perfect and immediate" practice expounded here in the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation.

Zhiyi was born in 538 C.E. to the family of a high official in the Liang dynasty. He entered the Buddhist path at a young age and studied under a number of masters, including the mountain retreat of Nanyue Huisi, where he practiced the Lotus Sutra and is said to have attained a "great awakening." At the age of thirty he followed the advice of his master and returned to the capital at Jinling, where he gave the lectures that eventually were edited by his disciples as the Gradual Practice of Meditation and the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra. Despite, or perhaps because of, his popularity, after eight years he abandoned the capital and dwelled on Mount Tiantai, where he developed his insight into the threefold truth of emptiness, conventionality, and the Middle and other basic ideas that would inform Tiantai Buddhism. He eventually went to the capital again to give the lectures that became the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra and the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, but again preferred to return to Mount Tiantai. He was continuously pressured to return and give more public lectures, and he passed away at the age of sixty (597 C.E.) while traveling between Mount Tiantai and the capital.2

The contents of the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation follow a certain structure, with overlapping themes. It opens with an impressive Introduction by Zhiyi's disciple Guanding, who edited the lectures by Zhiyi over a number of years to produce the final text. The Introduction includes a compressed lineage of the tradition (beginning with Śākyamuni), an outline of the three kinds of practice taught by Zhiyi (gradual and successive, variable, and perfect and sudden), and concludes with an argument on why the Dharma teachings, which are considered beyond adequate verbal expression, should be expounded. xiv

Translator's Introduction

After a brief outline of the ten chapters of the treatise, the first chapter titled "Synopsis," offers a longer summary of the contents and intent of the text as a whole. This opens, appropriately enough, with a look at the mind of aspiration for awakening (bodhicitta), which involves the Four Noble Truths and the Four Universal Vows understood in terms of a basic tetralemma of "arising, nonarising, immeasurable, and spontaneous," a pattern that also applies to the basic Fourfold Teachings (Tripiṭaka, Shared, Distinct, and Perfect) of Zhiyi's doctrinal classification system. The section concludes with a presentation on the "six identities" (identity in principle, verbal identity, identity in contemplative practice, identity in resemblance, identity in partial realization, and ultimate identity), a uniquely Tiantai analysis of six levels of understanding the integrated nature of all reality in the form of stages for awakening. The second, and longer, part of the Synopsis explains the four samādhis—constantly sitting, constantly walking, both walking and sitting, and neither walking nor sitting—through which Zhiyi sought to comprehensively include all forms of Buddhist practice. These include detailed instructions (while often referring to earlier works by Zhiyi on these matters) for various practices: sitting in meditation, walking while chanting the name of the Buddha, the vaipulya samādhi that involves the use of dhāraṇī spells, the lotus samādhi that focuses on the Lotus Sutra, and maintaining concentrated insight in any and all aspects of life. The final three sections are brief explanations of what should have been the content of the final three chapters of the text, but these chapters remained unfinished. The second through sixth chapters provide further analysis to prepare for the exposition of "Contemplation Proper" in the seventh chapter. The second chapter explains the term "cessation-and-contemplation" (Skt. śamatha-vipaśyanā). The third chapter takes up the essence of the matter in terms of teachings, wisdom, and objects, a commonly used threefold pattern. The fourth chapter shows how the practice of cessation-and-contemplation encompasses all reality, all delusions, all wisdom, all practice, all levels of attainment, and all teachings. The fifth chapter makes various distinctions between incomplete and perfect cessation-and-contemplation. The sixth chapter provides a detailed presentation of twenty-five preparatory means (in five groups of five items) for undertaking the practice of cessation-and-contemplation, from arranging five conditions (from a moral life to preparing food and clothing and acquiring "good friends"), xv

Translator's Introduction

renouncing the five sense desires, rejecting five impediments, regulating five matters, and a final list of five supplementary matters. Finally this brings us to the core of the text on "Contemplation Proper."

The seventh chapter on "Contemplation Proper" is the longest section of the text, taking up almost three-fourths of the content. It is supposed to contain ten sections (though the last three are not completed) on ten objects or fields of contemplation: the sense fields, passionate afflictions, disease, karma, demonic forces, dhyāna meditation, mistaken views, overweening pride, the two vehicles, and bodhisattvahood. These all involve ten modes of contemplation, in descending order of primacy or importance:

1. Contemplating the inconceivable,

2. Arousing compassionate thoughts,

3. Skillful means for a peaceful mind,

4. The universal deconstruction of phenomena,

5. Knowing what penetrates and what obstructs,

6. Cultivating the steps on the path,

7. Controlling and healing through auxiliary methods,

8. Knowing the stages of attainment,

9. Resting in patient forbearance, and

10. Avoiding passionate attachment to dharmas.

These ten modes of contemplation are described in most detail in the first section on "contemplating the sense fields (of the five aggregates, the twelve sense entrances, and the eighteen sense realms)." The explanation of "contemplating the inconceivable" begins with a focus on what is "conceivable," thus making it easier to explain what is "inconceivable." What is "conceivable" involves the famous discourse of the interpenetration of the ten dharma realms (from hell to buddhahood), the ten suchlike characteristics, and so forth which together provide the foundation for an exposition on the idea of "three thousand realms in a single thought," a section which many consider to contain the core teachings of Tiantai Buddhism. The next two sections emphasize the importance of compassion and the use of skillful means to attain a peaceful mind through cessation and contemplation. The fourth section on the "universal destruction of phenomena" is the longest subsection of the text, comprising almost twenty percent of the total text of the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation. The argument involves deconstructing all views using the tetralemma of "A," "B" (or non-"A"), both, xvi

Translator's Introduction

or neither from various perspectives, and using a threefold contemplation of realizing emptiness from conventional existence, in turn realizing conventionality from the perspective of emptiness, and contemplating the Middle Path by realizing both emptiness and conventionality. This is followed by a short section on knowing what is involved in and what obstructs awakening, a brief interlude after the extremely complicated previous section. The sixth section delineates the thirty-seven steps on the path, from the four mindfulnesses to the eightfold path. The seventh section focuses on the six perfections (from giving to wisdom). The eighth section explains various levels of attainment, and the list of ten is rounded out with brief comments on the importance of patience and not being attached to dharmas that one has already attained. The rest of the text focuses on other objects or fields of contemplation. The second object is that of passionate afflictions, and provides advice on how to control these afflictions. The discussion on the objects of disease is unusual for Zhiyi in its reference of indigenous (non-Buddhist) Chinese methods of handling disease, such as the four elements and chi energy, although the conclusion is that proper cessation-and-contemplation is the true method for overcoming disease. The next section on "karma" again focuses on the importance of the six perfections. The fifth section on "demonic forces" also refers to indigenous Chinese concepts of spirits and demonic forces, again concluding that the practice of cessation-and-contemplation is best for controlling these forces. The sixth section on dhyāna meditation outlines the various practices and stages of meditative concentration. The seventh (and final section of the text) examines mistaken views, first those of non-Buddhist traditions and then various mistaken (or one-sided) views within the Buddhist tradition.

The last three parts of the seventh section on mistaken views in Chapter VII and the final three chapters, Chapters VIII-X, remain unfinished. The general assumption is that the three-month summer retreat had come to an end and thus Zhiyi wrapped up his lectures. However, since the earlier Gradual Practice of Meditation has the same structure and also stops at the same place, it can be argued that Zhiyi did not flesh out the details of these sections, leaving Guanding without the content to incorporate these sections during his long editorial process.

Although this treatise, as we have seen, contains many details in its exposition of various aspects of Buddhist thought and practice, throughout these xvii

Translator's Introduction

discussions are a number of important themes or patterns that constantly inform the argument. Perhaps the most important is the pattern of threefold truth and threefold contemplation, of emptiness (that nothing is substantial and unchanging), of conventionality (that nevertheless all things have provisional existence through various causes and conditions), and of the Middle Path (that accepts the simultaneous truth of both emptiness and conventionality).3 Again, this pattern is also seen in the Fourfold Teachings of Zhiyi's: the Tripiṭaka Teachings (that focus on causality), the Shared Teachings (of the Hinayana and Mahayana understanding of emptiness), the Distinct Teachings (of the Mahayana bodhisattva who reenters the conventional world with compassion), and the Perfect Teaching (of the Middle Path that simultaneously affirms emptiness and conventionality). Other themes that appear frequently are that of buddha-nature and the capacity of all beings to become buddhas, the importance of skillful conventional means and thus the four methods of instruction (for the worldly, the individual, therapeutic, and supreme), and the identity or indivisibility of apparent opposites (such as samsara and nirvana, passionate afflictions and awakening) that are neither one nor two, neither the same nor different. To explain in a bit more detail, Tiantai teachings and practice can be summarized as aiming for awakening through an interrelated fourfold and threefold structure or pattern. Although the later Tiantai/Tendai tradition developed and focused on a classification system of "Five Periods and Eight Teachings,"4 the most basic pattern can be found as expressed in the famous Verse 18 from Chapter 24 of Nāgārjuna's Middle Treatise:

All things arise through causes and conditions; I explain this as emptiness;

Again, these are conventional designations; Again, this is the meaning of the middle path.

These elements are reflected in Zhiyi's analysis of all the teachings of the Buddha in terms of the Fourfold Teachings: the Tripiṭaka Teachings (or Hinayana, the teachings focusing on causality that were expounded at Deer Park soon after the Buddha's awakening), the Shared Teachings (or the understanding and practice of emptiness shared or held in common by both Hinayana and Mahayana), the Distinct Teachings (or the understanding of emptiness as not nothing and yet conventionally real, a Mahayana understanding by bodhisattvas xviii

Translator's Introduction

who remain in the mundane world in order to save others), and the Perfect Teaching of the Middle Path (realized by a buddha) that perfectly discerns both emptiness and conventional reality. This is distilled further into the threefold pattern of practice and awakening of emptiness (which involves cutting off and severing delusions and passionate afflictions to perceive the nonsubstantiality of things), conventionality (which involves a positive contemplation and insight into the temporary or conventional reality of our mundane existence), and the Middle (which perfectly perceives the correct insight of both emptiness and conventionality without being attached to either "extreme"). This fourfold (not only the Fourfold Teachings, but also the four types of understanding the Four Noble Truths, and so forth) and threefold pattern (not only the threefold truth and threefold contemplation, but also threefold buddha-nature and so forth) is expanded in great detail by Zhiyi through the presentation of a dizzying variety of teachings and possible practices, including a vast system of contemplative meditation, chanting texts and spells, leading a moral life, clearly observing objects such as mundane phenomena or a buddha image, following detailed ritual observances, advancing on stages of attainment, and so forth, sometimes gradually and sometimes suddenly. As we have seen, such details make up the bulk of this text. Due to its length, the BDK English Tripiṭaka translation will be published in two volumes. This Volume I includes Chapters I-VI and the first part of Chapter VII (through fascicle five). Volume II, to be published in sequence, contains the remainder of Chapter VII.

A Tale of Two Translations

A fully annotated translation and study of the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation has already been published in three volumes as Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight: T'ien-t'ai Chih-i's Mo-ho chih-kuan (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2018). Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai soon thereafter approached me to revise the text into a straight, unannotated translation for the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series. Although I was wary that such a complicated text could be adequately presented in a straight translation, we agreed that since the detailed annotations and supplementary explanations and materials were already available in Clear Serenity for those who wished to dig deeper, it would make sense to prepare a "simple" straightforward translation for broader readership. Of course, this was not just a matter of removing the notes. Without the explanatory notes xix

Translator's Introduction

much of the text required revisions and rephrasing, sometimes into more of a paraphrase than a strict translation. After removing all the notes, the imbedded Chinese characters, supplementary explanations, and so forth, the entire text was reread, reexamined, and revised. The Wade-Giles Chinese transliterations were changed to Pinyin. Content not explicitly in the original Chinese but implied or necessary for understanding in English was added in parentheses (for implicit content) or square brackets [for additional material or details]. I tried to polish the prose for a more general, rather than a strictly academic, reader; for example, using English to render certain Sanskrit terms: "bodhi wisdom" as "awakening," skandha as "aggregate," siddhānta as "method of instruction," and so forth. For standard terms I have usually followed the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series guidelines.

It goes without saying that a straight translation without annotation would and should be different from a technical translation supplemented by an explanation in notes. Here I will give only two examples to illustrate the challenge of making two (somewhat) different translations of the same text. 1. The first four characters 止観明静 that open the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation are a study in precision, and (after reading and understanding the entire text) could be said to contain in essence the intent of the entire text. And yet a direct, literal translation of just the four characters would be "stop, look, clear, quiet," which does not adequately convey their meaning in English. The first thing one must realize is that the first two characters are the Chinese translation of śamatha-vipaśyanā, a comprehensive term of basic Buddhist meditation indicating the calming and stabilizing meditation that removes passionate afflictions and calms distracting thoughts and feelings, and clear insight and concentration that correctly perceives reality. The two together are compared to seeing clearly to the bottom of a pond when the waters are calm and the murky waters are settled. The other two characters can be taken individually as "clear/bright" and "quiet/serene," or as a compound meaning "quiet serenity" or "serene quietude." The matter is further complicated by the fact that the individual parts of these two compounds can each be taken separately, as in "the clarity of insight contemplation" and "the serene quietude of calm cessation," or as compounds that modify each other. Thus, in my Clear Serenity translation I proffered "The luminous quiescence of cessation-and-contemplation" with xx

Translator's Introduction

detailed explanation in a note.55 The inability to explain this in a note forces one to translate these four characters in an expansive way, resulting in: Cessation-and-contemplation is bright quiescence; to put an end [to obstacles such as deluded thoughts, attachments, and passionate afflictions] is to attain calm serenity, and to contemplate [things as they are] is to attain clear insight. Of course, most of the text does not require such major adjustments, but this illustrates the issues that are involved in preparing an unannotated translation. 2. Another example comes from near the end of the text where Zhiyi briefly quotes a sutra to illustrate the danger of one-sided scholasticism. The Chinese, in a direct literal translation, reads "Broad says 'various questions bridge wise one scolds.'" Zhiyi is quoting a tale from the Mahāvaipulya-dhāraṇī-sūtra about a group of travelers who come upon a great bridge across a ravine, and instead of crossing it stand there and argue over thousands of questions such as where the wood for the bridge came from, how many elephants were used to build it, and so forth. Finally, a wise person scolds them, saying they should abandon these questions and just cross the bridge, offering a variant of the more famous analogy of a boat to cross to the other shore. In Clear Serenity I translated this as "The Great Vaipulya [Dhāraṇī Sūtra] says, 'A wise person rejects various [impractical] questions about a bridge,'" and then explained the story from the source material in a note. For the unannotated translation I supplemented it somewhat to give "The Great and Broad (Vaipulya) Dhāraṇī Sutra tells about those who argue over various (impractical) questions about a bridge (instead of crossing it) and are scolded by a wise person." This is a more common example than the first, as only a few words of explanation are added to make an understandable English translation. Those interested in more details and explanation of the text (as well as possible variant translations) are invited to access the supplementary explanations and materials in the three volumes of Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight and in Daniel B. Stevenson and Neal Donner's The Great Calming and Contemplation: A Study and Annotated Translation of Chih-i's Mo-ho chih-kuan (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1993). A careful reader will surely find many examples of various nuances and possible variant translations on every page. xxi

GREAT CESSATION-AND-CONTEMPLATION (Mohezhiguan 摩訶止観)

Taught by the Great Master, the Wise One Zhiyi of Mount Tiantai of the Sui Recorded by Guanding, a Disciple

Introduction

by Guanding

1. The Lineage of the Teaching

Cessation-and-contemplation is bright quiescence; to put an end [to obstacles such as deluded thoughts, attachments, and passionate afflictions] is to attain calm serenity, and to contemplate [things as they are] is to attain clear insight. This had not been fully explained and heard in former ages. The wise one Zhiyi elucidated these matters for one summer retreat from the twenty-sixth day of the fourth month of Kaihuang 14 (594) of the Great Sui dynasty, at Yuquansi in Jingzhou, pouring forth his compassion twice a day. Although his eloquence was boundless, he completed only through (the section on the contemplation of) the objects of mistaken views. Thus, the Dharma wheel ceased turning, and he did not expound on the latter sections. Yet in drawing water from a stream, one seeks its source, and scenting a fragrance one traces its origin. The Great Treatise says, "I, the Buddha, practiced without a teacher." A sutra says, "I, Śākyamuni, received the prophecy [of attaining buddhahood without a teacher] from Dīpaṃkara." The Analects says, "One who is born with knowledge is superior; one who acquires it through study is next best." The Buddhist teachings are vast and sublime; they shine forth spontaneously with the truth of Heaven, [and Zhiyi's understanding of it is] like the blue from an indigo plant. If a practitioner hears of the transmission of the Dharma treasury, he will know its origin. The World-honored One who experienced great awakening completed his religious practices through countless eons [in previous lives, received prophecy of his future buddhahood, and was born as a human being in this world]. Then in six years [of ascetic discipline in this life as Śākyamuni] he overcame mistaken views and defeated the demon Māra by raising a single finger [while meditating under the bodhi tree and achieving his great awakening]. [He preached the Buddha Dharma] first at Deer Park, then at Vulture Peak, and finally at Crane Grove [near Śrāvastī, where he passed away]. He transmitted the Dharma to Mahākāśyapa.

Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, Volume I

[1.] Mahākāśyapa divided and distributed the Buddha's physical remains into eight portions, compiled the Tripiṭaka, and transmitted the Dharma to Ānanda.

[2.] Ānanda entered the wind samādhi while in the middle of the Ganges River and divided his body into four parts and transmitted the Dharma to Śāṇavāsa.

[3.] Śāṇavāsa, with his hands, made the ambrosia (of the Dharma teachings) rain down, and revealed five hundred Dharma teachings, and transmitted the Dharma to Upagupta. [4.] Upagupta attained the third fruit of the nonreturner while still a layman and attained the fourth fruit of the arhat upon receiving the precepts and transmitted the Dharma to Dhṛtaka.

[5.] Dhṛtaka had already attained the first fruit of stream-enterer when he ascended the ordination platform and became an arhat upon completion of the ordination ceremony. He transmitted the Dharma to Miccaka. [6.] Miccaka transmitted the Dharma to Buddhanandi.

[7.] Buddhanandi transmitted the Dharma to Buddhamitra. [8.] Buddhamitra conferred the Triple Refuge (in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) to a king after defeating a numerologist in debate and transmitted the Dharma to the bhikṣu Pārśva.

[9.] The bhikṣu Pārśva emerged from the womb [of his mother after sixty years] with his hair already white. Light emanated from his palm, and he took up a sutra. He transmitted the Dharma to Puṇyayaśas. [10.] Puṇyayaśas debated and won over Aśvaghoṣa [through the exhibition of supranormal powers such as light emanating from his hand] and shaved his head and made him a disciple.

[11.] Aśvaghoṣa composed a piece called the Rāṣṭrapāla that musically expressed the truths of transience, suffering, and emptiness, so that those who heard it were awakened to the path. He transmitted the Dharma to Kapimala. [12.] Kapimala wrote a treatise on selflessness, and wherever this treatise was disseminated, false views were extinguished. The Dharma was transmitted to Nāgārjuna. [13.] (As for Nāgārjuna,) "arjuna" refers to the tree under which his physical body was born, and "nāga" refers to [the snake/dragon-like creature which, according to legend, led Nāgārjuna to a palace in the depths of the sea 4

Introduction by Guanding

and presented him with the Buddhist scriptures, which led to] his attainment of the Dharma body. The Dharma was transmitted to Deva. [14.] (Kāṇa)deva gouged out the divine eye [of a statue of Maheśvara], and then in turn offered [his own fleshly eye to an incarnation of Maheśvara, and another grew in its place until he offered] ten thousand fleshly eyes. The Dharma was transmitted to Rāhulata.

[15.] Rāhulata comprehended the contents of the Book of Demon Names and thus defeated the non-Buddhist brahman(s) and transmitted the Dharma to Saṅghānandi.

[16.] Saṅghānandi taught a verse to test an arhat and transmitted the Dharma to Saṅgayaśāta.

[17.] Saṅgayaśāta was on his daily rounds by the sea when he saw a palace, and there he taught a verse; the Dharma was then transmitted to Kumārata.

[18.] Kumārata [had such a marvelous memory that when he] saw ten thousand horsemen he could remember the color of each horse, each rider's name, and could even differentiate their clothing. The Dharma was then transmitted to Jayata.

[19.] Jayata created a fiery pit for one (monk) who had committed serious transgressions and caused him to enter (the pit) in order to do penance; the pit became a pond, and the sins were extinguished. [20.] The Dharma was then transmitted to Vasubandhu, and then the Dharma was transmitted to Manorhita.

[21.] Manorhita divided (the land) into two parts [north and south] at the Ganges River, and he himself taught those in one part. [22.] The Dharma was then transmitted to Haklenayaśas, and then to Siṃha.

[23.] Siṃha was put to the sword by order of the (evil) king of Damiļa, and when the sword cut off his head, milk flowed forth [instead of blood]. Thus, the treasury of the Dharma was transmitted, first to Mahākāśyapa and finally to Siṃha, to twenty-three persons. Madhyāntika and Śāṇavāsa (received the transmission) simultaneously, so actually there were twentyfour persons. These masters were all (heirs to) the prophesies of the Golden Mouth (of the Buddha); they were noble people, able to benefit many. 5

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In the past, there was a king who decided not to build a stable near a temple, but rather built the stable near a slaughterhouse [so that the animals therein would be influenced accordingly with an evil disposition]. How much more will human beings be influenced for the good from encountering noble influences, and how can we not benefit (from this encounter)! Again, there was a brahman who was selling skulls, in some of which a rod could be passed fully through the holes, in some only half through, and in some not at all. Someone built a stupa and performed memorial services for the sake of those that a rod could pass through, and as a result (the builder) attained rebirth in heaven. The essence of hearing the Dharma can be compared to this virtue; the Buddha has transmitted the treasury of the Dharma for the sake of such benefit.

In this treatise on cessation-and-contemplation, the Wise One of Tiantai (Zhiyi) explains the teachings, [or, "approaches to Dharma,"] that he has practiced in his own heart and mind.

When Zhiyi was born, light filled the room and double pupils appeared in his eyes. He practiced the Lotus Sutra repentances and articulated dhāraṇī spells, [and realized emptiness on Mount Dasu under the tutelage of Huisi]. Then, in place of his Dharma master Huisi, he lectured on the golden-lettered Prajñāpāramitā Sutra. The two dynasties of the Chen (557-589) and the Sui (589-618) honored him as the "imperial teacher." He passed into quiescence in a meditative position, having attained the (fifth and highest) stage of "the five preliminary levels."

Therefore, the Lotus Sutra says:

The offering of the seven treasures given for each person in four hundred myriads of millions of billions of countries, and magically transforming them so that they attain the six penetrating supranormal powers, is not equal to a hundred thousand millionth part of the appropriate joy experienced by a person for the first time. How much more so for the attainment of the fifth level [of the five preliminary levels attained by Zhiyi]! The Lotus Sutra also says, "This (person who preaches the Lotus Sutra) is a messenger of the Tathāgata, a servant of the Tathāgata who performs the deeds of the Tathāgata." The Great Nirvana Sutra speaks of "a bodhisattva on the first stage" [who is able to benefit others. Thus, the level of Zhiyi's attainment was not insignificant]. 6

Introduction by Guanding

Zhiyi's teacher was Nanyue (Huisi). Nanyue's meritorious practices were inconceivable. He did nothing but chant for ten years, practiced the Vaipulya repentance for seven years and the constantly sitting samādhi for three months, and in a moment attained perfect realization. He quickly reached an awareness of both Hinayana and Mahayana teachings. Nanyue studied under the meditation master Huiwen, who was without equal in the area of the Yellow River and Huai River during the reign of Gaozi (550-559) of the Northern Qi dynasty. His teachings were not understood by the people of his day, as people who tread the earth and gaze at the sky do not know the depth of the earth nor the height of the sky. Huiwen exclusively relied on the Great Treatise for his mental discipline. This treatise was taught by Nāgārjuna, the thirteenth in the line of the transmission of the treasury of the Dharma (as explained above). In his Treatise on Contemplation of the Mind, Zhiyi says, "I entrust myself to the teacher Nāgārjuna." Thus, we know that Nāgārjuna was the highest patriarch [and founder of the Tiantai lineage].

A skeptic may say, "[The method of Nāgārjuna's] Middle Treatise (Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā) is to clear away [mistaken views and verbal constructs], while cessation-and-contemplation is constructive. How can they be considered the same?" However, it should be known that there are about seventy Indian commentators (on Nāgārjuna's Middle Treatise); we should not affirm only that of *Piṅgala, [or *Vimalākṣa; Qingmu, "Blue Eyes," which emphasizes the negativistic side of Nāgārjuna's teachings,] and reject the other commentators. The Middle Treatise (Chapter 24, verse 18) itself says:

All things that arise through causes and conditions, I explain as emptiness,

Again, this is a conventional designation.

Again, this is the meaning of the Middle Path.

2. The Three Kinds of Cessationand-Contemplation

Tiantai Zhiyi transmitted the three kinds of cessation-and-contemplation of (his master) Nanyue (Huisi): (1) gradual and successive (or 7

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progressive), (2) variable (or undetermined), and (3) perfect and sudden (or immediate). All of these are of the Mahayana, they all take the true aspect of reality as their object (of contemplation), and are alike called "cessation-and-contemplation."

The gradual and successive method involves beginning with the shallow and later advancing to the profound, like climbing a ladder. The variable method involves alternating the earlier and later [stages, depending on the need], as a diamond placed in sunlight [casts a different color depending on its angle]. The perfect and sudden method involves the nonduality of the beginning and later stages, like a magician who floats in space. Since there are three kinds of faculties (among human beings, of inferior, middling, and superior), three methods are taught using these three analogies. Here ends the abbreviated explanation; now I will explain further in more detail.

1. Gradual and Successive Cessation-and-Contemplation

First, the gradual method of cessation-and-contemplation. Even at the beginning (of practice) there is a certain awareness of the true aspect of reality, but since the true aspect of reality is difficult to understand, practice is facilitated by a gradual progression.

1. First you cultivate [moral fortitude by] taking refuge in the precepts, turning away from vice and facing toward what is right, ceasing the activities of fire, blood, and sword (of hell dwellers, beasts, and hungry spirits), and accomplishing the three good ways (of asuras, humans, and gods). 2. Next you cultivate meditative concentration, putting an end to the net of distractions in our realm of desires, and accomplishing the concentrated states of the realms of form and formlessness [wherein all passionate afflictions are overcome]. 3. Next you cultivate [the meditative states of nondefilement wherein there are] no outflows of passions, ceasing your imprisonment in the triple world (of desire, form, and formlessness), and accomplishing the way to nirvana.

4. Next you cultivate kindness and compassion, putting a stop to seeking after only your own awakening, and thus accomplishing the way of the bodhisattva.

Introduction by Guanding

5. Finally you cultivate (the realization of) the true aspect of reality, putting a stop to both extremes of dualities and one-sided conceptions, and accomplishing the way of constant abiding [in perfect buddhahood]. This is the method of starting with the shallow at the beginning and later advancing to the profound, which is characteristic of the gradual and successive method of practicing cessation-and-contemplation. 2. Variable Cessation-and-Contemplation

The variable method of practicing cessation-and-contemplation involves no particular predetermined stages. In terms of the gradual method outlined above and the sudden method to be outlined below, the variable method may involve the gradual method first and the sudden method later [or the other way around]. Or it may alternate between the shallow and the profound. Or it may involve at times the phenomenal or practical and at other times [the abstract] principle of reality. Or [in terms of the four methods of instruction], [1.] one can point to the worldly (mundane reality) as the supreme (truth), or [4.] one can point directly to the supreme (truth), or [2.] as it is presented to each individual or [3.] in its therapeutic corrective function. Or, it may involve cessation gained through the quietude of contemplation, or it may involve insightful contemplation gained through the illumination based on cessation. Therefore, this method is called variable (or undetermined) cessation-and-contemplation.

Question: A skeptic might say, "These (three methods of cessationand-contemplation) are the same in their teaching, in the objects of their practice, and in name, so why are they suddenly different when it comes to their actual practice?"

Answer: They are the same, but they are not the same; though they are not the same, they are the same. For example, the gradual and successive method of cessation-and-contemplation involves six destinies, three of which are good [asura, human, and divine,] and the other three evil [hell dwellers, beasts, and hungry spirits]. [The third level, of attaining the samādhi of] no outflow of passions, involves (transcending) the three [mental states of desire, form, and formlessness]. Altogether [including the three individual stages of the second, fourth, and fifth parts outlined above,] there are twelve (levels of development in the gradual progression) that are not the same. 9

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There are many ways of verbally explaining (the practice of cessation-and-contemplation in an undetermined way), therefore it is called variable (or undetermined cessation-and-contemplation). Question: This chapter (describes three methods of cessation-and-contemplation which are) the same Mahayana teaching, the same in having the true aspect (of reality as their object), and the same in being called "cessation-and-contemplation." Why then is this (chapter) called "On Distinctions"? Answer: They are the same but they are not the same; though they are not the same, they are the same. For example, the gradual and successive method of cessation-and-contemplation involves nine stages that are not the same. The variable method of cessation-and-contemplation involves four options that are not the same. Together there are thirteen aspects that are not the same. There are many ways of verbally explaining the practice of cessation-and-contemplation, therefore it is said that they are not the same. [But they are the same in that] all Noble Ones are concerned with [the one undifferentiated] reality [of attaining nirvana] which is unconditioned, and yet they make distinctions. This is the meaning here [that is, there are some ways that the three types of cessation-and-contemplation are the same, and some ways that they are not the same].

3. Perfect and Sudden Cessation-and-Contemplation

The perfect and sudden method of practicing cessation-and-contemplation involves taking the true aspect of reality as the object from the very beginning. Whatever is made to be the object of contemplation, it is the Middle [that simultaneously includes both emptiness and conventional reality]; there is nothing that is not truly real. [When you attain the state of contemplation wherein] reality itself is fixed as the object of contemplation, and thoughts are integrated with reality itself, (then you realize that) there is not a single color nor scent that is not the Middle Path. It is the same for the realm of the individual, the realm of buddhas, and the world at large. All (phenomena experienced through) the aggregates and senses are thusness; therefore, there is no (substantial) suffering that needs to be removed. Since ignorance and the exhausting dust (of passionate afflictions) are indivisible from awakening, there is no origin [of suffering, that is, craving,] to be severed. Since the extreme dualities and false views are indivisible from the Middle and what is right, there is no path to be cultivated. Since this cyclic world of samsara is 10

Introduction by Guanding

indivisible from nirvana, there is no extinguishing (of craving) to be realized. Since suffering and its causes do not exist (substantially), there is no mundane world (to be transcended); since the path and the extinction (of craving) do not exist (substantially), there is no transcendent world (to be gained). There is purely the single true mark (of reality as it is); there are no separate things outside this true mark. For things in themselves to be quiescent is called "cessation"; to be quiescent yet ever luminous is called "contemplation." Though earlier and later stages are spoken of, they are neither dual nor separate. This is called perfect and sudden cessation-and-contemplation. 4. Scriptural Support for the Perfect and Sudden Cessation-and-Contemplation The gradual and variable methods of cessation-and-contemplation will be set aside and not discussed [any more here in this text]; I will now clarify further the perfect and sudden cessation-and-contemplation by relying on the scriptures.

As Bhadramukha (the bodhisattva "Chief in Goodness"), who had fully accomplished exceedingly profound and sublime virtues, said [in the Flower Garland Sutra]:

When a bodhisattva dwelling in samsara

First arouses an aspiration for a mind of awakening, He singlemindedly seeks awakening

Firmly and unswervingly.

The merit from this single thought

Is profound, vast, and unlimited.

The Tathāgata can differentiate and (attempt to) explain it But he cannot exhaust (its meaning) even though he expends a whole eon.

This bodhisattva hears the perfect Dharma teachings, arouses perfect faith, establishes perfect practices, dwells in the perfect levels of attainment, adorns himself with perfect virtue, and with perfect power functions to establish sentient beings [in the truth].

What does it mean to hear the perfect Dharma? (It means) to hear that [the suffering in this mundane world of the cycle of birth and death, that is,] samsara, is indivisible from the Dharma body (of perfected buddhahood), 11

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[or, "samsara is nirvana"]; that passionate afflictions are indivisible from prajñā-wisdom, [or, "passions are wisdom"]; that the bonds of karma are indivisible from liberation, [or, "karmic bonds are liberation"]. Although there are three (different) names, there are not three essences (or realities); although there is only one essence [reality,] three names are established. These three are of a single mark; in reality there is no (ultimate) difference (between them). The Dharma body is ultimate, as prajñā-wisdom and liberation are ultimate. Prajñā-wisdom is pure; the others [the Dharma body and liberation] are also pure. Liberation involves total mastery; the others also involve total mastery. It is the same when you hear of any other phenomenon; all include the Buddha Dharma without being diminished or lessened in any way. This is called "hearing the perfect Dharma."

What is perfect faith? It is believing, [or, having the conviction,] that all phenomena are simultaneously empty, conventional, and the Middle. There are (ultimately) not one or two or three, and yet there are [provisionally or conventionally] one or two or three. (To say that) there are not one or two or three is to obstruct [the conventional necessity for there] to be one or two or three; to say that there are one or two or three illumines [the conventional aspects of] the one or two or three. (Ultimately) there is no obstructing and no illuminating; all are ultimate, pure, and of full mastery. Not fearing when you hear of this profundity, not doubting when you hear of this vastness, having courage even when you hear of that which is beyond profundity and vastness: this is called perfect faith.

What is perfect practice? To singularly and wholeheartedly seek supreme awakening; [concretely speaking, to realize that] the extremes are also the Middle, that is, to perfectly cultivate the threefold truth without becoming distracted, to be neither tranquilized by that which is infinite nor agitated by that which is finite, and thus neither agitated nor tranquilized, and to directly realize the Middle Path. This is called perfect practice. What is realizing the perfect levels of attainment? It is realizing that when you enter the first stage of abodes, one stage is all the stages, all are ultimate, all are pure, and all involve full mastery. This is called realizing the perfect levels of attainment.

What is it to be adorned with perfect mastery? The [Flower Garland] Sutra explains the features of mastery in detail: you can enter right 12

Introduction by Guanding

[concentration and realize emptiness] in one sense faculty, [such as with the eyes or ears,] or you can arise from (right concentration) with a sense faculty and go forth and preach [the Dharma and thus realize the conventional]. You can both enter and leave (right concentration) in one sense faculty, or you can neither enter nor leave in one sense faculty [and thus realize the Middle]. The same can be done in each and every sense faculty. You can enter right concentration with respect to one dust-like sense object, or you can arise from (right concentration) with respect to a sense object and go forth and preach. You can both enter and leave (right concentration) with respect to one sense object, or you can neither enter nor leave with respect to one sense object. The same can be done with respect to each and every sense object. You can enter right concentration in a certain direction, or you can arise from (right concentration) in a certain direction and go forth and preach. You can both enter and leave (right concentration) in a certain direction, or neither enter nor leave in a certain direction. You can enter right concentration with respect to one thing, or you can arise from (right concentration) with respect to one thing and go forth and preach. You can both enter and leave (right concentration) with respect to one thing, or you can neither enter nor leave with respect to one thing. In other words, whether you enter, leave, both enter and leave, or neither enter nor leave (right concentration) with respect to a single sense faculty or sense object, you have full mastery over each and every direct karmic retribution [induced by your own activities and senses], as well as from (each and every) indirect karmic retribution [induced by your environment]. This is called the adornment of perfect mastery. [As it says in the Long Āgama:]

This is analogous to the light of the sun: as it revolves around the four great continents (of the world), it is noon in one place, morning in another, evening in another, and midnight in another.

(The situation is) not the same because of the rotation [of the sun]: there is only one sun, but it is perceived differently in four places. The mastery of a bodhisattva is like this.

What is it to perfectly establish sentient beings (in the truth)? By emitting a single beam of light (a buddha or bodhisattva) can lead sentient beings to attain the benefit of realizing the perfect integration of emptiness, the 13

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conventional, and the Middle, to attain the benefits of (mastery over) entering, leaving, both entering and leaving, and neither entering nor leaving (right concentration). This is applicable in all activities, whether you are walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, whether you are speaking or silent. One who has an affinity (for this truth) can perceive it, as the eye can see light. Those without such an affinity will not realize it, as it is always dark for the blind. Therefore, let us take up the analogy of the Dragon King. In height (his power) encompasses the six heavens (of the realm of desires), and in breadth (his power) spans the four continents. He arouses all manner of clouds, manipulates all manner of thunder, flashes all manner of lightning, and causes all manner of rain to fall. The Dragon [King does all of this] while in his own palace, immobile and secure, and yet his activity appears different to all. The bodhisattva is also like this. Internally he has himself fully consummated (the truth of) the identity [or indivisibility] of emptiness, conventionality, and the Middle, and (on the basis of) the unmoving nature of reality, he can lead (sentient beings) to acquire all manner of benefits and attain all manner of functions [that lead to buddhahood]. This is called "perfect power that functions to establish sentient beings (in the truth)." If at (the level of) the first aspiration you are already like this, how much more so are your thoughts advanced in the middle and later stages! [As the Lotus Sutra says,] "The Tathāgata diligently proclaims this Dharma" and "those who hear it rejoice."

[As illustrations of this aspiration for awakening, the Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines tells of the bodhisattva] Sadāprarudita ("Constantly Weeping") seeking (wisdom) in the east, [the Flower Garland Sutra tells of] Sudhana ("Good Wealth") seeking (the Dharma) in the south, [the Lotus Sutra tells of the bodhisattva] Bhaiṣajyarāja ("Medicine King") burning his arm (as an offering to the Buddha), and [the Sutra of the Benevolent Kings tells of] Sutasoma ("Universal Radiance") (risking) having his head cut off (for the sake of the Dharma).

[The value of seeking the Dharma is incalculable. The Diamond Sutra says:]

Even if you should abandon your own body three times a day for (as many days as there are) grains of sand in the Ganges River, this would not have as much power of recompense as the power of one verse (of the 14

Introduction by Guanding

sutras). Even if you carry (the Buddha) on both shoulders for a hundred, thousand, million eons, how could you expect to repay the blessings of the Buddha Dharma?

One teaching of one sutra is like this; the other sutras are likewise. 5. Scriptural Support for the Three Kinds of Cessation-and-Contemplation A skeptic might say, "I would like to hear of scriptural proof for the other (two methods of) samadhic concentration, [that is, the gradual and variable methods of cessation-and-contemplation]." The sutras and treatises are vast and extensive. They cannot be cited in detail, but I will briefly take up a few. The Vimalakīrti Sutra says:

When the Buddha first sat under the (bodhi) tree and overcame Māra with his power, he attained the ambrosia-like extinction [of passionate afflictions] and perfected the awakening of the path. He turned the wheel of the Dharma three times (at the Deer Park) in the great chiliocosm. This wheel (of the Dharma teachings) was originally and constantly pure. The fact that divine and human beings have attained the path is witness to this truth. The Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha thus were manifested in this world.

This is proof of the gradual teaching.

[The Vimalakīrti Sutra] also says:

The Buddha expresses the Dharma with a single sound, and each sentient being attains understanding according to their own type:… Some have fear and some rejoice; some develop aversion and others eliminate their doubt. These are (the Buddha's) suprahuman powers and unique qualities. This is the proof for the variable teaching.

[The Vimalakīrti Sutra] also says:

(The Buddha) preaches that phenomena are neither (substantial) Being nor nothingness; all phenomena arise due to a confluence of causes and conditions. There is no (substantial) self, nothing which is (substantially) produced, no (substantial) recipient [of karmic retribution or recompense], 15

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but (nevertheless) the karmic reward and recompense from evil and good deeds do not perish (and have no effect).

This is proof for the perfect and sudden teachings.

The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines says, "[You attain ultimate awakening] by progressive practice, progressive study, and a progressive path." This is proof for the gradual method. It also says, "When a wishfulfilling maṇi jewel is wrapped in objects of various colors and placed in water, the color (of the water) changes according to (the color of) the object [placed in it]." This is proof for the variable method. It also says, "From the first aspiration for awakening they already sit in the place of awakening, turn the wheel of the Dharma, and save sentient beings." This is proof of the perfect and sudden method.

The Lotus Sutra says, "In this way people should, in accordance with this Dharma, gradually enter into the Buddha's wisdom." This is proof of the gradual method. It also says, "If they do not believe this Dharma, then other profound Dharmas will show, teach, benefit, and delight them." This is proof of the variable method. It also says, "I directly abandon skillful means and preach only the supreme path." This is proof of the perfect and sudden method. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "From a cow comes milk, [from milk comes cream, from cream comes raw curds, from curds comes butter (or refined curds),] until it becomes ghee." This is proof for the gradual method. It also says, "If poison is put into milk, it will kill people. [The same is true for each step in the refinement of milk] up to, if poison is put in ghee, the ghee will kill people." This is proof for the variable method. It also says, "In the Himalaya mountains there is a type of grass called kṣānti (patience). If a cow eats it, you can obtain ghee." This is proof for the sudden method. The Sutra of Immeasurable Meanings says:

When the Buddha turned the wheel of the Dharma, fine droplets rained down to wash away all the dust of desires, opening the gate of nirvana, fanning the wind of liberation, removing the seething passions of the world, to attain the purity and coolness of the Dharma. Next, there fell the rain of (the teaching of) twelvefold conditioned arising, which poured out over the land of ignorance [and old age, sickness, and death], blotting out the intense rays of mistaken views. Then the supreme Mahayana cascaded forth, leading all to arouse the aspiration for awakening. 16

Introduction by Guanding

This is proof for the gradual method.

The Flower Garland Sutra says:

The sea dragons make rain fall into the ocean with (the ferocity of churning) carriage axles; [the sea can absorb it, but] other places cannot endure it…. The perfectly complete sutras were taught for those of superior faculties; those (śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas) of the two vehicles were as deaf and dumb.

The Vimalakīrti Sutra says:

Upon entering a campaka magnolia grove, you do not smell any other scent [but only the overpowering fragrance of the campaka magnolia flowers]. (In the same way,) those who enter this room perceive only the fragrance of the virtues of all buddhas.

The Sutra on the Samādhi of Heroic Progress says, "If you grind myriad kinds of incense into a ball and burn it, a single particle (of the incense) contains all of the vapors."

The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines says, "In order to know all dharmas by means of universal wisdom, you should study the perfection of wisdom."

The Lotus Sutra says, "They pressed their palms together with reverence, wishing to hear the complete path."

The Great Nirvana Sutra says:

[The vajra samādhi includes the practice of all the other states of concentration, it is] like a person bathing in the great ocean; it should be known that this person is using the waters of all the rivers." [These all illustrate the perfect and sudden method.] The Flower Garland Sutra says, "It is like the sun which, when it rises, first illumines the tall mountains, then illumines the dark valleys, and then illumines the plains." The plains correspond to the variable method; the dark valleys correspond to the gradual method, and the tall mountains correspond to the sudden method [of practicing cessation-and-contemplation]. Everything quoted above is proof from the Golden Mouth (of the Buddha). It is the Dharma revered and cherished by the tathāgatas of the 17

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past, present, and future. The past reaches back perpetually into the past, distant and without beginning. The present is a present boundless and without limits. The future rolls on ceaselessly into the future. These are all inconceivable. You should know that cessation-and-contemplation is the teacher of all buddhas; since the Dharma is constant, all buddhas are constant. The same is true regarding bliss, selfhood, and purity. How could anyone not believe such scriptural proof?

6. The Three Texts of Zhiyi on Cessation-and-Contemplation When you believe in this Dharma [teaching of the three kinds of cessation-and-contemplation and the threefold truth], you should be familiar with the three texts [by Zhiyi that teach it, as follows]:

(The first, on the gradual method, is) the Gradual Methods for Practicing Meditation (Cidi chanmen), altogether thirty fascicles. The ten fascicles of the current edition were privately recorded by Fashen of Dazhuangyansi. (The second is) the text on the variable method, the Teaching on the Six Sublime Practices (Liumiao famen). In accordance with the meaning of the "variable" [method of cessation-and-contemplation that this text teaches], it itemizes (topics such as) the twelve dhyāna meditations, [that is, the four dhyāna stages, the four concentrations on emptiness, and the four boundless demeanors;] the nine considerations [on decaying corpses, from bloating to white bones]; the eight renunciations [from removing desires to transcending time and space]; [four types of practice, that is,] contemplation, disciplined training, (the perfuming effects of) discipline, and cultivation; [the realization of twelvefold] causes and conditions; and (the practice of) the six perfections. (This text handles these topics) freely from various angles (both vertically and horizontally), unhindered and without constraints [of a fixed progression]. Maoxi, Director of the Imperial Secretariat for the Chen dynasty, asked Zhiyi to produce this text.

The (third) text, on perfect and sudden [cessation-and-contemplation, is the current Mohezhiguan]. This was recorded in ten fascicles by Guanding at Yuquansi in Jing province.

Although there are three texts (on cessation-and-contemplation), you should not be attached to any specific text and thus become calloused or otherwise harm yourself. The Great Treatise says, "Whether or not you 18

Introduction by Guanding

perceive prajñā-wisdom, everyone is in bondage and everyone is liberated." The way the texts should be regarded is also like this. 7. On Why the Dharma Should Be Verbalized and Expounded A skeptic may say that since "all dharmas are characterized as quiescent and extinct, they are impossible to explain in words" [so why try to attempt a verbal explanation?] The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "The arising of arising is unexplainable…and the nonarising of nonarising is also unexplainable." Whether (explaining) in general or precisely and in detail, the way of (understanding through) verbalization is not possible; you cannot explain (through words) nor is there anything (substantial) to explain. Śāriputra said [in the Vimalakīrti Sutra], "I have heard that there is no verbalization in liberation, therefore I do not know what to say about it." The Vimalakīrti Sutra (also) says:

That (Buddha Dharma) that has been verbalized cannot be [adequately or truly] verbalized nor signified; those who listen to the Dharma cannot (truly) hear or comprehend it.

The people are not able to verbalize it, and the Dharma (itself) cannot be verbalized; yet you speak of conveying it. [How can this be?] [This objection may seem reasonable, but] this presents only one extreme [negative viewpoint, that of "nonverbalization"], and does not perceive the second [extreme of naive acceptance of verbalization, nor the middle ground that merges both extremes. The following scriptural passages present a more balanced and rounded view].

The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "Since there are causes and conditions, it is also possible to verbalize them."

The Lotus Sutra says, "Innumerable skillful means under various conditions are used to preach to sentient beings." (The Lotus Sutra) also says, "He (Śākyamuni) expounded (the Dharma) to the five bhikṣu monks through the power of skillful means." (These scripture passages show that) it is possible to verbalize [the Dharma], whether in general or specifically in detail.

The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "A person who has (healthy) eyes can explain (the color of) milk to a blind person." This points out that the real truth (of ultimate meaning) can be verbalized.

Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, Volume I

The Prajñāpāramitā Sutra of the King of Heaven (Devarājapravara) says, "Although [the essence of] a dhāraṇī spell is without words, yet words do manifest dhāraṇī." This points out that the mundane truth can be verbalized. Also, [the Middle Treatise says that] "the Tathāgata constantly relies on the two (mundane and real) truths to expound the Dharma." The Vimalakīrti Sutra says, "To depart from the nature of words and letters is liberation"; to verbalize is not to verbalize. The Great Nirvana Sutra says:

If one knows that the Tathāgata constantly does not expound the Dharma, this means that this person is one who has heard much (expounding of the Dharma).

This points out that not verbalizing is to verbalize. The Sutra of the Questions of Viśeṣacintibrahma says, "The Buddha and his disciples constantly practice two things: either expounding or keeping silent." The Lotus Sutra says, "Whether coming or going, sitting or standing… (the Buddha) constantly expresses the sublime Dharma like a pouring forth of rain."

It is also said that if you seek the path of the Buddha, you should constantly follow those who have heard much (of the Buddha's teaching), since, (as it says in the Lotus Sutra,) "such good friends play an important part as ones who convert and lead and enable you to see the Buddha." The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "Clouds and thunder in the sky produce [reflections that look like] flowers on ivory." How can the one-sided claim be made that (the Dharma) cannot be verbalized?

If verbalizing and keeping silence are seen as in conflict, then you cannot understand the intent of the teachings and you depart further and further from the truth. (However,) there is no truth apart from its exposition, and there can be no exposition apart from the truth. Expounding is indivisible from not expounding, and not expounding is indivisible from expounding. [Verbalizing is not verbalizing, and not verbalizing is verbalizing.] They are nondual and yet not distinct; particular phenomena and true (reality) are indivisible. Through great compassion (the Buddha) has pity on all who have not heard [the Dharma, and therefore expounds the Dharma with provisional 20

Introduction by Guanding

indicators such as words]. It is as if by raising a round fan you replicate (the image of) the moon that is hidden behind a range of mountains, or by artificially shaking a tree you can teach about (the nature of) air when the wind has stopped. People these days have dull minds and it is difficult for them to attain profound discernment. Eyes depend on visible forms to see, and recourse to words facilitates (understanding). However, if you are hindered (from gaining understanding) by being trapped by words, then you should know (both the way of) words and that of the denial of words, and have penetrating understanding into (the meaning of) words, the denial of words, and the denial of nonverbalization. Then you are able to attain complete understanding through a single text. This is the reason for the production of three texts [explaining the three methods of cessation-and-contemplation]: that you may achieve the single goal (of buddhahood).

Here ends the abbreviated discussion of the origins of this text. 21

Nguồn: BDK America — English Tripiṭaka (bdkamerica.org).

Great Cessation-and-Contemplation Volume I