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Great Cessation-and-Contemplation Volume II

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GREAT CESSATION AND CONTEMPLATION VOLUME II

GREAT CESSATION-AND-CONTEMPLATION VOLUME II

Front Matters

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

(Taishō Volume 46, Number 1911) Translated by Paul L. Swanson BDK America, Inc. 2025

Copyright © 2025 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, 2025

ISBN: 978-1-886439-96-2

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 vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue until completion, even after all the present members have passed away. 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 the translation of about eighty 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 II Chapter VII. Contemplation Proper (Part Two) 3 Notes 455

Glossary 457

Bibliography 527

Index 529

A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series) 557 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 "cessation and 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 Six Sublime Teachings (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 dwelt 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 sections of Chapter VII, and the final three chapters, 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 is published in two volumes. Volume I includes Chapters I-VI and the first part of Chapter VII (through fascicle five). This Volume II 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.5 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 onesided 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

Chapter VII

Contemplation Proper

(Part Two)

An Outline of the Ten Objects of Correct

or Proper Contemplation (continued)

2. The Contemplation of Realizing Emptiness

from the Conventional in Terms

of Conceptual Attitudes

Second is (to penetrate) the essence of conceptual attitudes by realizing emptiness and deconstructing dharmas universally. This consists of three parts: (1) to clarify conceptual attitudes as conventional, (2) to clarify the contemplation of the essence (of the emptiness of conceptual attitudes), and (3) to clarify the levels (of attainment).

1. Conceptual Attitudes as Conventional

"Conceptual attitudes as conventional" refers to (attitudes such as greed or) covetousness, anger, ignorance (or delusion), and (selfish and arrogant) pride. These are called the "dull (obvious passionate) afflictions," and properly speaking are also called the "three poisons." As we traverse through the triple world (of desire, form, and formlessness), we experience ten (destinies, from hell to buddhahood). These three realms each include nine stages, and each of these stages include nine levels, giving a total of eighty-one levels. All of these involve the generation of karma (with its concomitant recompense), which leads to experiencing rebirth in the triple world. These (karmic retributions and conceptual attitudes) are not exhausted even at (the level of attaining) the first fruit (of the stream-enterer, the stage at which one must still experience rebirth) seven times. (One who has attained the first fruit and overcome many delusions and passionate afflictions) is like a lamp, which burns more brightly just before (the fuel is) exhausted. (At this stage) you still have (passionate sexual) desires but you do not lust after those who are 3

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not your spouse; you experience anger but you "cultivate the stages without calamity"; you have delusions but you do not conceptualize the nature of reality (as substantial); you naturally keep the precepts that accompany the path; therefore, these are called "passionate afflictions proper." This situation is not the same as with the delusions of mistaken views, which overflow without direction and give rise to attachments whenever there is contact with sense objects.

That which is called "conceptualization" gets its name from reliance on (conceptual) understanding. At the early stages, the contemplation of the true, [that is, emptiness,] is shallow, and still involves matters that are obstacles (to realization). These delusions are removed later after repeated reflection on emptiness. Therefore, these are called "the delusions of conceptual attitudes." The (Abhidharma) scholastics say that "(The afflictions of) the realm of desires are called 'greed or covetousness'; (the afflictions of) the higher realms are called 'passions.'" The scholars of the Treatise on the Real criticize this statement, saying that those in the upper realms still covet the flavor of dhyāna meditation [and thus are guilty of covetousness], and those in the lower realms also have passionate desires. Thus, passions and covetousness are common to both (those in the lower and higher realms); in what sense can they be fixed as belonging to one side (or the other)? If it is said that greed or covetousness is heavier for those in the lower realms, and greed or covetousness is lighter for those in the higher realms, then does this mean that those whose greed or covetousness is "light" have no greed or covetousness? This is just one (tentative) explanation. When the Buddha was in the world, he gave various explanations in accordance with various conditions; these are conventional verbal (explanations), and not fixed (for all situations at all times). Thus, you should not rely on just one interpretation (among many possibilities). When you are faced with passionate afflictions, you should just destroy and remove them, and not be bothered with arguing whether they are (to be called) "covetousness" or "passion." This is analogous to removing dung (from toilets): the primary purpose is to remove the impurities and it is not crucial to make fine distinctions [concerning the types of excrement being handled]. There are means that are essential to entering the path, but verbal (scholastic) distinctions are secondary. If you wish to know the fine points (concerning such scholastic matters), you 4

should consult (texts such as) the Abhidharma and the Treatise on the Real, where they are clarified and discussed in detail. What I am going to discuss here is the (practical) contemplation of emptiness and conventionality (for the deconstruction and destruction of conceptual attitudes). 2. Contemplation of the Conventionality of Concepts

Second is to clarify the contemplation of the essence (of emptiness, for the sake of deconstructing and destroying conceptual attitudes). Those of the teaching of arising and perishing (of the Tripiṭaka Teachings) use analytical wisdom to sever mistaken views in the first (stages), and then they again use analytical wisdom to deeply reflect on and sever conceptual attitudes in the later (stages). Those of the teaching of neither arising nor perishing [Shared Teachings] use insight into the essence (of reality) to realize emptiness in the first (stages), and then in the later (stages) they again use (contemplation of) the essence of conceptual attitudes to deeply reflect on (their emptiness), without relying on other ways. We are now concerned with realizing emptiness through (contemplating) the essence of covetous desires as conventional. When the nine levels of desires and delusions arise one after the other, they each involve the three kinds of conventionality, just as a woman has six desires, that is, (1) desire for "colorfulness" [or "sexiness"], (2) desire for (good) appearance [or "a comely face"], (3) desire for a noble demeanor, (4) desire for (beautiful) words and sounds, (5) desire for delicacy, and (6) desire for (attractive) physical features. Various distinctions can be made (concerning these desires). If an ascetic comes into contact with these six desires they can defile his sense faculties; his blood will pound in his veins, and the appearance of covetousness will be manifested externally. These (six desires) are not severed even at the level of the first fruit (of the stream-enterer). How much less so (can they be avoided) by ordinary beings. Ānanda still had habitual traces (of these desires), so when he saw women within the assembly, he would speak with them first. His sensual desires were aroused by these remaining habitual traces; how much more (would desires be aroused) by the passionate afflictions themselves. The Lotus Sutra says, "One should not preach the Dharma with reference to a female body and become attached to those forms that arouse conceptions of sensual desire." If you become attached to these forms, these sense objects will agitate your mental faculties and arouse thoughts of sensuous desires; 5

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this is conventionality as causal arising. Thoughts (of sensual desires) will arise continuously (one after the other) without a break, finally leading you to actually perform the deed; this is conventionality as continuity. The features of thoughts with sensual desires are different from those that have no sensual desires; this is conventionality as relativity. [If you realize the conventionality of conceptual attitudes in this way, that] conventional things are empty and have no (substantial) reality, you will not become conceptually (attached) to these (afflictions) and will take this (realization) as the principle of the path.

Contemplate these thoughts of sensual desires. Do they arise from the sense faculties, or do they arise from the sense objects, or do they arise from both (the sense faculties and objects), or do they arise apart from (the sense faculties and objects)? If (we say that) they arise from the sense faculties, this means that thoughts arise on their own before coming in contact with sense objects, [but this is impossible]. Do they arise from the sense objects? Sense objects are an "other" (existence outside the senses); how can they be responsible for (the arising of sensual desires) in oneself? Do they arise from both? That would require the arising of dual mental functions. Do they arise without a cause? It is impossible (for something to occur) without a cause. If we examine (the arising of sensual) desires with the tetralemma, (we can see that) desires do not "come" from anywhere. Since they do not come from anywhere, they do not go anywhere. They are ultimately empty and quiescent. When people with sharp faculties contemplate in this way, one level of conceptual attitudes as conventional is removed, and one part of true clear (wisdom) is manifested. If you do not yet feel a rapport (with this conclusion), use the four methods of instruction, alternate between study and meditation, and properly regulate your practice of cessation-andcontemplation in order to attain rapport [with the emptiness and conventionality of conceptual attitudes], thus severing one level of conceptual attitudes and manifesting a part of the truth (of emptiness).

If people of dull faculties contemplate (the conventionality of conceptual attitudes) as "causally arisen," [as explained in the previous paragraph,] but are not able to remove even the first level (of afflictions), they should contemplate (the conventionality of conceptual attitudes) as "continuity." Do they arise upon the perishing of the previous thought, or do they arise 6

when (the previous thought) has not perished, or do they arise from both the perishing and not perishing (of the previous thought), or do they arise from neither the perishing nor not perishing (of the previous thought)? Suppose we say that they arise upon the perishing (of the previous thought), but then the perishing is not able to arise. Suppose we say that they arise when (the previous thought) has not perished, but (this cannot be because) there is no arising without perishing. Suppose we say that they arise from (both) perishing and not perishing, but (this cannot be because) their natures are mutually exclusive. Suppose we say that they arise apart (from each other), but this is impossible (because they are mutually dependent). Thus, through the tetralemma (we can realize that) desires do not exist (substantially), and the four (possibilities of the tetralemma) do not (obtain). When you contemplate in this way you should realize both that which arises (such as covetousness and other afflictions of conceptual attitudes) and the objects are both empty. If you still do not realize this, you should skillfully cultivate the four methods of instruction.

If you still do not realize this through such cultivation, you should next contemplate (the conventionality of conceptual attitudes) as "relative" in order to reach an understanding as outlined above. This is how it should be done for the first level (of afflictions), and the same should be done for the later eight levels, thus destroying or deconstructing nine levels of covetous desires. It is the same for destroying or deconstructing nine levels of greed, ignorance, and selfish pride. This should be understood as outlined above, so I will not repeat the explanation here. Thus, the true (emptiness) of the nine levels (of afflictions) is made manifest; this is the principle of nonarising. The delusions of nine levels are exhausted; this is the cause for their nonarising. The results of the realm of desires do not arise; this is the result of nonarising. Since there is no arising, there is no perishing; this is the forbearance of the nonarising of phenomena, and so forth. Question: Must the passionate afflictions of the realm of desires be fixed at nine levels (or types)?

Answer: The Treatise on the Real says that (there are differences between the afflictions) overcome on the unobstructed path and those severed on the path of liberation, but just teaches nine levels (of afflictions). The Abhidharma teaches that (afflictions are) overcome on the (first) "path of 7

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means" and on the "path of supreme progress," they are severed on the "unobstructed path," and awakening is realized on the "path of liberation," which shows that there is a state without delusions [but there are still nine types of afflictions]. There are many examples in the sutras [that say there are nine types of afflictions], so we will rely on these for now. If you enter contemplation (and realize emptiness) through the conventionality of mistaken views, with such an undefiled mind you are quick to sever (afflictions) without emerging from contemplation, and there is no need to discuss levels and such distinctions. The path of cultivation is slow and gradual and requires various means for attainment. It must be carefully cultivated with skill, alternating between study with faith and Dharma methods of meditation. In order to turn to and enter the (fourth and highest) path of supreme progress, there are numerous (means required to attain this) superior progress, and you should know that there are many levels and distinctions. (In this sense) there are not only nine (levels of afflictions). (The number) "nine" is used just as a general division.

1. The realm of form. Next, destroying or deconstructing the nine levels (of afflictions) of the realm of form involves using worldly wisdom or using undefiled wisdom [or wisdom undefiled by outflows of passion]. For example, there are those who attain liberation through wisdom and have not experienced worldly dhyāna meditation but they have attained (the level of) one who has no more to learn by using undefiled (wisdom). People who have attained the first fruit (of the stream-enterer) and have not experienced dhyāna meditation must progress in their cultivation through serious reflection on the principle (of reality) by using undefiled (wisdom). A person who has attained liberation through both can use either undefiled wisdom or worldly wisdom. Let us, for now, look at the situation regarding one who relies on worldly wisdom to attain dhyāna meditation.

If, upon first practicing dhyāna meditation you destroy the obstacles of actual deeds, you can thus arouse samadhic concentration within the realm of desires, and by destroying (the deeper) obstacles of the nature (of reality), you can arouse samadhic concentration within (the realm of) form. Therefore, it is said that the obstacles of phenomenal or actual deeds (obstruct) what is to come [if one had progressed on the path], and the obstacles of nature (obstruct) the (four) basic (dhyāna stages of meditation). If you 8

remove the obstacles of nature, the dharmas of the first dhyāna (stage) will arise. The features of the first dhyāna stage are that the body will be sensitive to the eight tactile senses and give birth to the meritorious qualities of the five constituents (of examination, reflection, joy, bliss, and concentration). (At this level,) "savoring" (the experience or "flavor" of meditation) is called "covetousness"; making light of those who have not yet attained (this level) is called "pride"; and not knowing that suffering and the causes of suffering still exist within dhyāna meditation is called "ignorance." In this way there are also nine levels (of afflictions) within these three delusions, and each level involves the three kinds of conventionality. For the eight tactile feelings in the realm of form to come into contact with the mental sense organ and so forth of the realm of desires is (the conventionality of) "causal arising." To make distinctions within your contemplation without severing them from thought to thought is (the conventionality of) "continuity." For the mind that arouses dhyāna meditation to be different from the mind that does not arouse it is (the conventionality of) "relativity." If you do not destroy (the afflictions) through this contemplation, you will experience further rebirth in accordance with (the afflictions associated with one-sided) dhyāna meditation. How can this be called "nonarising"? To use the tetralemma (in conjunction with) cessation-and-contemplation (in this way) is a good and skillful cultivation of practice, (and this practice is the content of the paths of) "means" and "superior progress." If you sever one level of delusions, this is called "the unobstructed path." If you realize a state of no delusions, this is "the path of liberation." If you remove even one part of the delusions, then both the cause and the result are nonarising, so this is called "realizing emptiness from conventionality." Using the tetralemma (in conjunction with) cessation-and-contemplation (to contemplate conventionality) as "continuity" and "relativity" is in the same way the realization of emptiness through the contemplation of conventionality. The destruction of the first level (of afflictions) is already (to destroy) the remaining eight levels in a like manner. The destruction of covetousness is already, in a like matter, the destruction of the nine levels of pride and ignorance. 1. The first dhyāna stage. If you deconstruct and destroy the phenomenal obstacles at the first dhyāna stage and arouse a middling (state of concentration and attainment) and your life ends at this stage, you will not give birth 9

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to the second dhyāna stage. This is, for example, like not giving birth to the first dhyāna stage because you have not escaped from the natural obstacles in the realm of desires. The second dhyāna stage is aroused when you destroy the natural (obstacles) of the first dhyāna stage, together with joy, so it is accompanied by the four constituents of (inner purity), concentration, joy, and bliss. Within this (stage) there is the savoring (of the bliss of meditation), there is covetousness, there is pride, and there is ignorance, each with nine levels (of afflictions), and each level involving the three conventionalities. When the inner purity of sense objects (in the meditator's mind) combines with the mental sense organ, this is (conventionality as) "causal arising." The internally pure thoughts continue (one after the other; this is conventionality as "continuity"). Internal (thoughts) that are pure are in contrast to internal (thoughts) that are not pure (is conventionality as "relative"). These are the three kinds of conventionality (for this level). If these are not examined through contemplation, you will experience rebirth in accordance with this dhyāna [because it still involves the above afflictions]. You should now use cessation-and-contemplation to cultivate practice and accomplish (the paths of) "means" and "superior progress," sever delusions (through the) unobstructed (path), become enlightened to the truth (of emptiness through the path) of liberation, and realize the nonarising of both phenomena and the principle (of reality). If you have not realized this yet (through the contemplation of conventionality as causal arising), you should contemplate (conventionality as) continuity and relativity in a similar manner, remove the (other) eight levels in a like manner, and (eliminate) ignorance and pride and so forth in a like manner.

2. The second dhyāna stage. The second dhyāna stage also has obstacles of phenomena and obstacles of nature. When phenomenal (obstacles) are gone, you arouse a median state (of concentration), and when those of nature are gone you arouse the third dhyāna stage. This (third dhyāna) is aroused together with bliss, and this bliss is profoundly sublime. A noble one is able to abandon (these obstacles), but it is difficult for an ordinary person to abandon them. Within this (stage) there are passions and pride and ignorance, each with nine levels, and each level involving the three types of conventionality. Bliss (arises) in response to the mental sense organ, (this is conventionality as "causal arising"). Blissful thoughts continue (one after 10

the other; this is conventionality as "continuity"). There is bliss in contrast to non-bliss, (this is conventionality as "relativity"). If you do not contemplate thoroughly, you will experience rebirth in accordance with this dhyāna. You should now use the contemplative wisdom of the tetralemma to deconstruct and destroy these (afflictions). Sever delusions through (the paths of) means, superior progress, and nonobstruction, and realize the truth (of emptiness) through (the path of) liberation, thus realizing the nonarising of both phenomena and principle [since you realize that they are merely causally arisen]. If they still are not removed, then cultivate (the contemplation of covetousness in terms of their conventionality) as continuity and relativity, and approach the remaining eight levels in a like manner. Approach the nine levels of (the afflictions of) ignorance and pride in a like manner. 3. The third dhyāna stage. The third dhyāna stage also has the dual phenomenal and natural obstacles. If you destroy the obstacles of nature (at this stage, you arouse the fourth dhyāna stage). This arising is accompanied by equanimity or abandonment, but also involves passions, pride, and ignorance, which each have nine levels and involve the three types of conventionality. When the immobile dharmas come in contact with the mental sense organ, this is (conventionality as) causally arising, and so forth (for conventionality as continuity and relativity). If you do not contemplate thoroughly, you will experience rebirth in accordance with this dhyāna. You should now use cessation-and-contemplation (to realize the causal arising of afflictions, and to cultivate the paths of) means, superior progress, nonobstruction, and liberation, and thus realize the nonarising of both phenomena and principle. If they are still not removed, then contemplate (their conventionality in terms of) continuity and relativity in a like manner. Approach the remaining eight levels (of covetousness) and (the nine levels of) ignorance and pride in a like manner.

4. The fourth dhyāna stage. Suppose you attain the (so-called) "nonconceptual heavenly state," [that is, the fourth of the "divine realms" within the fourth dhyāna stage]—this is called "nonconceptual" because thoughts are extinguished but form remains. Ordinary sentient beings consider this as "nonconceptual," but actually this state still involves conceptions. For example, even though the phenomenal obstacles are severed, the natural (latent habitual) obstacles still remain. Since this does not involve liberation 11

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from form, it is called a non-Buddhist heavenly state. If you have previously destroyed the thoughts of mistaken views, and these thoughts of mistaken views are gone forever, then there is no reason to be born in this heavenly state. If, for some reason your mind arouses this state of concentration, you should realize that this (state) also involves the three types of conventionality, and you should use the four contemplations (of the tetralemma) to deconstruct it (as causally arisen). The same goes for (contemplating it in terms of the conventionality of) continuity and relativity. [The five realms of the nonreturner:] Suppose you attain the five divine realms of the nonreturner and further refine the fourth dhyāna stage. If you use the undefiled to affect the defiled, so that your concentration (within the realm) of form turns clear, your resultant reward becomes superior. When this superior concentration arises, it also involves the delusions of nine levels of passions, pride, and ignorance with their three types of conventionality. Use the four contemplations to realize penetrating insight into the essence (of emptiness and conventionality as causal arising) and realize the nonarising of phenomena and principle through unobstructed wisdom and liberation. If (the afflictions) still are not removed, then cultivate (realization of their conventionality as) continuity and relativity in a like manner. Remove the other eight levels in a like manner, and (sever the afflictions of) ignorance and pride in a like manner. Thus, (you realize that) the thirty-six levels (of afflictions)—that is, the nine (levels each) of four (dhyāna stages)—are ultimately nonarising.

2. The realm of formlessness. Next is deconstructing and destroying the nine levels (of afflictions) of the realm of formlessness. Suppose you wish to extinguish "the three types of matter, [that is, 'visible form'] regarding resistance and so forth." At that time if you destroy the phenomenal obstacles, you will arouse (the concentration of) pre-dhyāna preparations, and if you destroy the natural obstacles you will realize (the concentration of) the place of emptiness, [that is, "the samādhi which is the realization of the inexhaustibility of emptiness," the first level of the formless realm]. The concentration that realizes this place of emptiness also involves passions, pride, and ignorance. You should use the four contemplations (to cultivate the paths of) means and superior progress to realize the nonarising of phenomena and principle. If (the afflictions are) not removed, then cultivate (realizing their 12

conventionality as) continuity and relativity, in a like manner. Approach the (other) eight levels and (the nine levels of the afflictions of) ignorance and pride in a like manner.

(In the formless realm) you first come in contact with emptiness, but if there is an excess of emptiness (which causes) distraction, then you should abandon emptiness and come in contact with (the concentration of the inexhaustibility of) consciousness, [that is, the second level of the formless realm]. That is, you attain the concentration of (the inexhaustibility of) consciousness, and your thoughts attain mutual rapport (with the formless realm). This (state) also involves the delusions of passions, pride, and ignorance. Again, use the four contemplations (to cultivate the paths of) means and superior progress and so forth to realize the nonarising of phenomena and principle. The other matters should be known (as outlined above). If you first come in contact with (the realm of the inexhaustibility of) consciousness and have an excess of a concentrated mind so that you are distracted, you should abandon your excessive (reliance on samadhic) consciousness and come in contact with the consciousness of the place of nonexistence, [that is, the third level of the formless realm]. But if you come in contact with even a little consciousness, how can one refer to this as "nonexistence"? If you use even a little consciousness, how can one refer to this as "the place where nothing functions"? (Nevertheless, at this level) you now realize concentration by coming in contact with nonexistence. If your thoughts are in rapport with this dharma, (you should know that this realm) also involves the three types of conventionalities and so forth, and you should use the four contemplations, and so forth; the other matters should be known (as outlined above).

First, the realm of (inexhaustible) consciousness is like an ulcer and the realm of nonexistence is like a boil. There is a further, superior (realm of) concentration called that of "neither conceptions nor no conceptions," [that is, the fourth and highest level of the formless realm]. The Abhidharmavibhāṣā-śāstra says "this is neither the nonconceptuality of the nonconceptual heavenly state, nor the conceptuality of the three kinds of emptiness, and therefore it is called 'neither conceptions nor no conceptions.'" A teacher of people has said:

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(The realm of) formlessness is a variant realm of the heavens of form, but the terms should not be used in the same way. If we interpret the terms regarding the realm itself, (we should say that) conceptions were already removed by the previous realm (or concentration) of nonexistence, and here one removes (the conceptual attitude of) no conceptions. Both (attitudes of) "concepts" and "no concepts" are abandoned; therefore this (realm) is called "neither conceptions nor no conceptions." The Great Treatise says, "[There are four (levels of) formlessness.] One is constantly defiled, and distinctions need to be made concerning (the other) three." The first three (realms of emptiness, consciousness, and nonexistence) are both defiled and undefiled. If one is able to arouse transworldly wisdom (in or through these realms), then it can be called undefiled; if one does not arouse (transworldly wisdom) in or through this (realm of) concentration, then it is defiled. Teachings are given in response to the needs and capacities (of the listeners), so they are sometimes obscure and sometimes clear; thus, I have given this explanation. There are, in fact, some people who arouse (the attainment of) nondefilement from within this (fourth realm of) concentration [despite the quote from the Great Treatise]. What should we make of this? For now, I will just rely on the teaching [and leave it at that]. Although there are no crude passionate afflictions within this (formless realm of) concentration, there are ten types of minute dharmas [of passionate afflictions associated with sensation, conceptions, volitions, contact, conceptual attitudes, desires, understanding, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom], as (explained) in the Gradual Methods for Practicing Meditation. You should know that (even) this (realm of) concentration involves the three types of conventionality. Now you should singlemindedly utilize undefiled wisdom to deconstruct (the paths of) means, superior progress, nonobstruction, and liberation and realize the nonarising of phenomena and principle. The nine levels (of afflictions of this and other types of conventionality should be deconstructed) in a like manner, and should be known as outlined previously. If you use worldly wisdom to sever all the delusions of conceptual attitudes, this is called the wisdom of exhaustion (of afflictions). If you sever them with undefiled wisdom, this is called the wisdom of nonarising. This is called the contemplation of the essence of conceptual attitudes (as 14

empty). This exhaustively destroys the nine times nine (types of afflictions) in the triple world, or eighty-one levels of the delusions of conceptual attitudes. This is what it means to deconstruct and destroy dharmas universally. 3. Clarification of the Levels of Attainment

Third, clarifying the levels of entering or realizing emptiness through conventionality by deconstructing or destroying (the afflictions of) conceptual attitudes consists of four parts: (1) the levels of deconstructing or destroying conceptual attitudes for those of the Tripiṭaka Teachings, (2) the levels of deconstructing or destroying conceptual attitudes for those of the Shared Teachings, (3) the Distinct Teachings with names in common with the levels of the Shared Teachings, and (4) the Distinct Teachings, in terms of the levels of bodhisattvas of the Shared Teachings.

1. Tripiṭaka Teachings

The levels of deconstructing or destroying (the afflictions of) conceptual attitudes in the Tripiṭaka Teachings are as follows. The Treatise on the Real clarifies that (the realization of) the sixteen mental (contemplations of the Four Noble Truths) is properly the level of the first fruit (of the stream-enterer). Other traditions claim that (realizing) these sixteen mental (contemplations) is the level of insight into the path. If, for now, we consider only the path of cultivation (beyond the attainments of a stream-enterer), those who sever the first level of the desirous delusions (of conceptual attitudes) and gradually reach the fifth level of exhausting (conceptual attitudes) are all called those facing (the way of) the once-returner. If they go beyond this severance and attain the exhaustion of the fifth level, all of these are called "wandering sages." Next, those who exhaustively sever the six levels are called (those who have attained) the fruit of the once-returner, and those who go beyond severance to attain the (full) exhaustion of the sixth level are called "once-returners." Next, those who sever the seventh level and reach the eighth level are called those facing (the way of) the nonreturner. Those who go beyond this severance and attain the eighth level are called "having seeds for only one (more) life." Next, those who exhaustively sever the ninth level are called (those who have attained) the fruit of the nonreturner, and finally they do not return again to the realm of desires.

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Next, those who sever the first level of the first dhyāna stage attain the eighth level of (the realm of) nonconceptuality, and (exhaust) all of seventyone levels (of conceptual delusions). These are called those facing (the way of) the arhat. This (level) includes within it six levels of the nonreturner. Those who attain the ninth (degree of conceptual delusions) through the unobstructed path, exhaustively sever the ninth (level of) delusions through (the concentration of) nonconceptualization, and realize the ninth (and top level) of the path of liberation are called those who have attained the fruit of the arhat. Those who exhaust the conceptual (attitudes and delusions) of the triple world and attain the wisdom of exhaustion (of delusions) and the wisdom of nonarising are called those who do not give birth to passionate afflictions. Those who realize the true emptiness of even a part of the eighty-one (delusions and afflictions) are called those who (realize) the nonarising of the principle (of reality, that is, the emptiness of all things); for true wisdom, [that is, the realization of emptiness,] to be sufficient is called the wisdom of nonarising. Not experiencing (any further rebirth in) samsara is called the resultant reward [or "fruit and recompense"] of (realizing) nonarising. If we were to discuss (the level and attainments of) the pratyekabuddha, this involves further subjugation of minute habitual traces (of delusions). They are different (from śrāvakas) in that they do not give birth (to even these habitual traces).

This is a short summary of the classification of levels of severing (deluded) conceptual attitudes of conventionality in terms of analytical (destruction or deconstruction as used in the Tripiṭaka Teachings). 2. Shared Teachings

Second is regarding those of the Shared Teachings, to examine the essence, [that is, emptiness,] of conceptual attitudes in terms of levels that are in common with that of the Tripiṭaka Teachings. As it is clarified in the Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines, the (first of the ten bhūmi) stages, the stages of "parched wisdom" and "potential" up to the sixth stage (of "freedom from desire") are shared with the śrāvakas, [that is, those of the Tripiṭaka Teachings], those up to the seventh stages (of "completion") are shared with pratyekabuddhas, those up to the eighth stage (of pratyekabuddhahood) and ninth stage (of bodhisattvahood) are shared with bodhisattvas, 16

and when those on the stage of bodhisattvahood convert, they enter the tenth stage, called the stage of buddhahood. As for the stages that are said to be "shared," there are higher and lower (attainments within the stages). But, as the Great Treatise says, the three people (śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas) are the same in severing the afflictions proper and the same in entering nirvana with and without remainder. Therefore, it is said that they are "shared." It is like when you burn wood, some becomes charcoal [leaving something left to burn] and some becomes ash; in this way there are higher and lower (attainments by different people).

The stage of "parched wisdom" corresponds to the three levels of acquiring erudition: first, the five contemplations for putting the mind at rest, the distinct states of mindfulness, and the general states of mindfulness. Generally, these are still levels of an ordinary outsider, and therefore it is called the stage of "parched wisdom." (The second stage of) "potential" corresponds to the levels of the four good roots. Through the power of the general states of mindfulness, one arouses good from within the defiled five aggregates; this is called "heat," [the first of the four good roots]. By advancing further to the preliminary, middling, and later (advanced) states of mind, one attains and realizes (the other three good roots of) the "summit," "patience," and "the dharma supreme in the world." Generally, this is called (the levels of those who are low-level) insiders; therefore, this is called the stage of "potential." These two levels share (the activity of) overcoming mistaken views and delusions.

(The third stage of) "the eighth person" is that of "eight kinds of forbearance." Here one advances from (the level of the fourth good root of) "supreme in the world" and turns to realize or enter the uninterrupted samādhi. Therefore, it is called (the stage of) "the eighth person." (The fourth stage of) "insight" involves insight into true (emptiness), severance of the mistaken views and conceptual attitudes of the triple world, and the complete exhaustion of the eighty-eight passionate afflictions. Therefore, this is called the stage of insight.

(The fifth stage of) "weakening (delusions)" involves removing six levels of conceptualizations in the realm of desires. Therefore, this is called the stage of "weakening delusions."

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(The sixth stage of) "freedom from desires" involves exhaustively removing nine levels (of conceptual delusions) in the realm of desires. Therefore, this is called the stage of "freedom from desires."

(The seventh stage of) "completion" involves exhaustively removing seventytwo levels (of conceptual delusions) in the form and formless realms. (Up to this stage) this is like a fire that burns wood to leave charcoal. Therefore, this is called the stage of "completion."

(The eighth stage of) "pratyekabuddhahood" involves deepening and sharpening your goodness and wisdom so that you overcome and remove the habitual traces (of passionate afflictions and delusions), as when only ash remains when wood is burned.

(The ninth stage of) "bodhisattvahood" involves deepening and sharpening your goodness and wisdom, proficiency in both the path and contemplation, severance of the habitual traces as well as mental and physical ignorance, and attainment of the Dharma eye and the wisdom of the path, with supremacy in supranormal powers to purify a buddha land, master the dharmas of the Buddha's (ten) powers and the (four) fearlessnesses, and exhaust all remaining traces (of passionate afflictions and delusions), as (an intense fire) leaves only a little ash.

(The tenth stage of) "buddhahood" involves great virtue, the accumulation of sharp wisdom, the attainment of all wisdom contained in a single thought, and the eternal exhaustion of habitual traces [of passionate afflictions and delusions], as the fire at the end of an eon leaves no charcoal and no ash. These are the ten bhūmi stages—the levels of the severance of conceptual delusions—that are shared by those of the three vehicles. 3. Distinct Teachings with Names in Common with the Shared Teachings Third is (to discuss) the names of the levels (of severing conceptual delusions) in the Distinct Teachings that are shared with those of the Shared Teachings. Formerly it has been said that mistaken views are severed at the third stage, or it has been said that mistaken views are severed at the fourth stage, or it has been said that conceptual (delusions) are exhaustively severed at the sixth stage, or it has been said that conceptual (delusions) are exhaustively severed at the seventh stage. If we consider these words, (it can be said that) the masters who say that all mistaken views are severed at the third stage or the fourth stage do not understand the meaning of the 18

Shared Teachings. Why is this so? Because at the levels that those of the three vehicles share, they are the same in that they enter the uninterrupted samādhi; they sever mistaken views without going in and out (of their concentrated state) of contemplation.Why abruptly conclude that conceptual attitudes are severed at either the third or fourth stages? If you take the position that mistaken views are severed on the third stage, then (it must follow that) conceptual attitudes should be severed at the fourth stage. If you take the position that mistaken views are severed at the fourth stage, then this means that mistaken views are not yet severed at the third stage. If you take the position that mistaken views are severed at both stages, is this achieved by going in and out of contemplation, or by not going in and out of contemplation? If it is achieved by not going in and out of contemplation, then (the severing of mistaken views) does not occur at both stages [since it would have to occur at one or the other]. If it is achieved by going in and out of contemplation, this cannot be the level at which mistaken views are severed [because the severance of views involved uninterrupted samādhi]. The human masters (who teach this) justify their position by saying that the sutras teach it, but these masters do not understand the intent of the sutras. Now I say that these sutras are borrowing the meaning of the Distinct Teachings to manifest the Shared Teachings. The meaning of "mistaken views" in the Distinct Teachings is very extensive, and so it is taught that (it covers both) the third stage and the fourth stage; the meaning of "mistaken views" in the Shared Teachings is more limited, and so (their severance) is not by going in and out of contemplation. Thus, the names are borrowed from the Distinct Teachings, but the meaning is certainly taken from the Shared Teachings. Let us interpret (the issue of the severance of mistaken views at the third or fourth stage) in terms of not going in and out of contemplation: if we speak of the third stage, this refers to the early severance of mistaken views, and if we speak of the fourth stage, this refers to the later severance of mistaken views, all done without going (in and) out of contemplation. This is like saying that the sixteen mental (contemplations of the Four Noble Truths) are sometimes called "the path (for severing mistaken) views" and sometimes called "the path (for severing) conceptual attitudes." Next, naming the Shared levels by borrowing names from the Distinct Teachings is as follows. The three levels of acquiring erudition by 19

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"outsiders" correspond to the stage of "parched wisdom," but (in the Distinct Teachings) this is called the "ten levels of faith." The levels of the four good roots of "insiders" corresponds to the stage of "potential," which (in the Distinct Teachings) is called the "ten abodes," the "ten levels of practice," and the "ten levels of merit transference." The (third and fourth) stages of the "eighth person" and "insight" correspond to the stream-enterer, which (in the Distinct Teachings) is called the first (bhūmi) stage of "joy." The stage of "weakening (delusions)" corresponds to the once-returner. The oncereturner includes (the phases of) facing toward (the goal) and (achieving) the fruit. Facing toward (the goal) corresponds to the stage of "freedom from defilements," and establishing the fruit corresponds to the stage of "clarity." The stage of "freedom from desires" corresponds to the nonreturner. The nonreturner includes (the phases of) facing toward (the goal) and (achieving) the fruit. Facing toward (the goal) corresponds to the stage of "flame," and establishing the fruit corresponds to the stage of "difficult victory." The stage of "completion" corresponds to the arhat. The arhat includes (the phases of) facing toward (the goal) and (achieving) the fruit. Facing toward (the goal) corresponds to the stage of "manifestation," and establishing the fruit corresponds to the stage of "far practice." The establishment of the level of the pratyekabuddha corresponds to the stage of the "immovable." The establishment of the stage of bodhisattvahood corresponds to the stage of "good wisdom." Or the later (advanced) mental stage of one who has achieved the stage of bodhisattvahood corresponds to the stage of the "Dharma cloud." Or the stage of buddhahood corresponds to the stage of the Dharma cloud. The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines says, "The bodhisattva on the tenth bhūmi stage is like a buddha," so this interpretation is possible. If we borrow the names (of stages) from the Distinct Teachings to classify the levels of those of the three vehicles of the Shared Teachings, then those on the first stage sever the delusions of mistaken views, those on the second stage sever the first and second levels of conceptual attitudes in the realm of desires; those on the third stage sever (up to) the sixth level of conceptual attitudes; those on the fourth stage sever the seventh and eighth levels of conceptual attitudes; those on the fifth stage sever (up to) the ninth level of conceptual attitudes; those on the sixth stage sever up to the seventy-first level of conceptual attitudes; those on the seventh level sever up to the 20

seventy-second level of conceptual attitudes; those on the eighth stage and above conquer the habitual traces (of afflictions and delusions) and sever ignorance and so forth. This should be known as outlined previously. 4. Distinct Teachings in Terms of the Levels of the Shared Teachings Fourth is borrowing names (of stages) from the Distinct Teachings to name the bodhisattva levels of those of the Shared Teachings. (The stage of) "parched wisdom" corresponds to the "outsiders." The stage of "potential" corresponds to the "insiders." "Eighth person" corresponds to the first bhūmi stage (of "joy"). (The first) fifteen mental (contemplations) corresponds to the second stage. The sixteenth mental (contemplation) corresponds to the third stage. These three stages all involve severing the delusions of mistaken views without going out of contemplation.

(Also, attaining) the four forbearances corresponds to the first stage; (attaining) the four wisdoms corresponds to the second stage; the four comparable recognitions correspond to the third stage; and the four comparable wisdoms correspond to the fourth stage. These four stages all involve severing the delusions of mistaken views without going out of contemplation. How can these be said to be the same as the former interpretations (of old masters)? (Further, the stage of) "weakening (delusions)" is the fifth stage, at which (up to) the sixth level of conceptual attitudes are severed. "Freedom from desires" is the sixth stage, at which (up to) the ninth level of conceptual attitudes are severed. "Completion" is the seventh stage, at which the conceptual attitudes of the form and formless realms are exhaustively severed. "Pratyekabuddhahood" is the eighth stage and, up to the stage of "buddhahood," these involve the severance of habitual traces (of afflictions and delusions) and ignorance, as outlined previously.

It was formerly said (by old masters) that conceptual attitudes were exhaustively severed at the sixth stage, so one becomes an arhat (at this stage). Or they refer to the Sutra of the Benevolent Kings, which claims that one becomes an arhat at the seventh stage. However, the sixth stage is called "freedom from desires," where one stops at becoming free from (up to) the ninth level of (conceptual delusions) in the realm of desires, which should be equivalent to a nonreturner [and not an arhat]. Even if you wrap up the fruit (of a nonreturner) and practice (that which involves) facing (toward the 21

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goal of an arhat), (at this stage) you still have the nine levels (of delusions) of nonconceptuality, so this cannot be the attainment of an arhat. If you attain the seventh stage of "completion," this can be said to be the fruit (of an arhat). In the sense that "facing" (toward the goal) coincides with the (final) fruit, (it can be said that) completing the levels of the first dhyāna stage coincides with the seventh stage, but it is at this time (at the seventh stage) that it is worthy of the name "completion."

Let us now interpret this and clarify the meaning in terms of the ten perfections. One realizes the wisdom of emptiness with the sixth (perfection) of prajñā-wisdom, thus exhaustively severing delusions and becoming an arhat. With the seventh (perfection) of (skillful) means, one goes beyond prajñā-wisdom (for oneself) and utilizes conventional transformations (to save other beings). This is called "utilitarian service." If one becomes an arhat on attaining the seventh stage, then in terms of matching the stages with the "facing" and "fruits" (of the four levels from stream-enterer to arhat), it is appropriate that the seventh stage matches the fourth fruit (of the arhat). These are all tentative and subjective correspondences, and the sutras and treatises are not all the same (regarding their lists and definitions of the stages). It is necessary to consider these matters, but one should not become attached to the petty details.

5. Questions and Answers Concerning the Stages

Question: (You say that) those of the three vehicles share the severance (of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes). This meaning has already been clarified, but on what basis do you disclose only the bodhisattva stages? Answer: The Great Treatise uses the classification of three stages of a "burning wick," [that is, there is a flame, the flame is used to light the wick of a candle, and the candle burns,] to illustrate that there are three "places" (or stages) of severing delusions by bodhisattvas. (The stage of) parched wisdom involves overcoming delusions; this is like the original flame with which you light (the candle). Now, (the delusions are) truly severed at (the stage of) the "eighth person," [which is like the burning candle]; why can we not say that this involves the original flame?

Again, the Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines says that "the bodhisattva of the tenth bhūmi stage is like a buddha." This already clarifies the fact that the last stage is proximate to the ultimate (stage or attainment of 22

buddhahood); why cannot the same claim be made that there are no "middling stages" or "early stages" [since they are "included" in the final stage]? On this basis we can further speculate concerning individuals by revealing the ten bhūmi stages of bodhisattvas; where is the fault (in this)? (On the other hand,) if there were no stages (of progressive attainment), the sutras would not speak of bodhisattvas cultivating the practices of the stages from the first stage to the tenth stage and of the various Dharma gates that correspond to each stage. Again, the Great Treatise says:

The stage of parched wisdom, regarding the dharma of the bodhisattva, consists of "the forbearance from overcoming (delusions)." The stage of "potential," regarding the dharma of the bodhisattva, consists of "forbearance pliantly following (the path)." The stage of the "eighth person," regarding the bodhisattva, corresponds to the "forbearance of (realizing) the nonarising of phenomena." The stage of "insight," regarding the bodhisattva, corresponds to the fruit of the forbearance of the nonarising of phenomena. The stage of "weakening (delusions)," regarding the bodhisattva, corresponds to freedom from desires and purity. The stage of "freedom from desires," regarding the bodhisattva, corresponds to supremacy in supranormal powers. The stage of "completion," regarding the śrāvaka, is called the stage of buddhahood, but regarding the bodhisattva is (the attainment of) "forbearance of the nonarising of phenomena." Therefore, it says in the Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines: The wisdom and severance of a stream-enterer are, for a bodhisattva, (the realization of) the forbearance of the nonarising of phenomena, and so forth up to the wisdom and severance of a pratyekabuddha are, for a bodhisattva, the forbearance of the nonarising of phenomena. These (sutras and) treatises make such distinctions in terms of the bodhisattva. Hence, I follow their example in giving my interpretation. Where is the fault in that?

Question: (You point out that) nine levels (of afflictions and delusions) in the realm of desires are severed. What is the meaning of making so many categories of results?

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Answer: If a dangerous place presents many hazards, many protective walls are necessary. In the same way the realm (of desires) presents many hazards, and so many (levels of) results (are necessary) to reassure (the practitioner).

[Question:] If so, as there are many distractions in this realm (of desires), you should establish (or insist on the practice of) many dhyāna meditations. Answer: The realm of desires is not (a stage) for practicing concentrative meditation, so it is not (appropriate) for establishing dhyāna meditations. (On the other hand,) conditions are appropriate for (attaining) nondefilement, so one can establish (various) results (such as that from stream-enterer to arhat). Question: Those of the three vehicles equally realize wisdom and severance. Why is this called "wisdom and severance" for those of the two vehicles (śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas) and called "the forbearance of (realizing the nonarising of) dharmas" for bodhisattvas?

Answer: "Forbearance" is the cause and "wisdom" is the result; therefore the (first) fifteen mental (contemplations) are called "forbearances," and the sixteenth mental (contemplation) is called "wisdom." Again, those of the two vehicles have (in a manner of speaking) already reached (their) "awakening," so it is more convenient to classify them in terms of "wisdom and severance"; bodhisattvas still anticipate buddhahood, and so are still in a "causal" state (leading to buddhahood), and thus we use the term "forbearance." Again, bodhisattvas give rise to one part of mastery for each level of conceptual attitudes that are exhausted. Therefore, as each level (of delusions) passes away, another level (of mastery) arises—the bodhisattva bears the strenuous suffering (of this samsaric world) of arising and passing away and does not enter (final) nirvana; therefore, this is called "forbearance." If we were to clarify the levels of the deconstruction or destruction of the conventionality of conceptual attitudes regarding the Distinct Teachings, first, by deconstructing mistaken views you properly realize the first abode (of "aspiration"). From the second abode (of "maintenance") to the seventh abode (of "nonretrogression") you deconstruct the conventionality of conceptual attitudes. If you wish to minutely divide the ordered levels and classify the levels of the abodes (from the second to the seventh), this can be known and inferred from the above (explanations). From the eighth, ninth, 24

and tenth abodes you properly overcome the habitual traces (of afflictions and delusions). The ten levels of practice are where you properly go beyond the levels of conventionality, so it is not related to what was explained above. If we were to clarify the levels of the deconstruction or destruction of the conventionality of conceptual attitudes regarding the Perfect Teaching, first you deconstruct the conventionality of mistaken views properly at the first level of (the ten levels of) "faith." From the second to the seventh levels of faith, you deconstruct the conventionality of conceptual attitudes. If you wish to minutely divide the ordered levels, you should compare the various levels of faith, and this can be known and inferred from the above (explanations). From the eighth to the tenth levels of faith you exhaustively sever the habitual traces (of afflictions and delusions). The Flower Garland Sutra says that at the time of the first aspiration (for awakening, both the afflictions) proper and their (latent) habitual traces are exhausted in a moment, without any remainder. The habitual traces of the supramundane realm are not yet exhausted, even though the habitual traces of this realm are exhausted. The Flower Garland Sutra also says that "the first aspiration (for awakening) exceeds that of Śākyamuni." This is the meaning here. What does it mean to "exceed" (the attainment of Śākyamuni)? If (the afflictions) proper and their habitual traces are both exhausted, one is able (to attain) the eight phases in the life of a buddha [from descending from Tuṣita Heaven to entering nirvana], which means one is equal [to a buddha such as Śākyamuni]. If you further perfectly cultivate the threefold contemplation (of emptiness, conventionality, and the Middle), you will exceed and surpass [the attainment of the historical Śākyamuni].

[Question:] If this is so, then can there be śrāvakas whose (attainments) exceed that of a bodhisattva?

[Answer:] Yes. The śrāvakas of the buddha path clearly exceed the bodhisattvas (of the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings). Again, they use the same terms regarding deconstructing conventionality at the earlier levels, but they are different in the wisdom used to realize the principle (of reality). When those of the two vehicles of the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings deconstruct conventionality and destroy the mundane truth, they are not able to transcend conventionality and do not give rise to (supranormal) masteries. When 25

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the bodhisattvas of the Shared Teachings deconstruct conventionality and destroy the mundane truth, they in turn are able to transcend conventionality and do give rise to (supranormal) masteries, and when their transformed conditions are consumed, their bodies become ash and they realize emptiness. When those of the Distinct Teachings deconstruct conventionality, they also are able to transcend conventionality and give rise to (supranormal) masteries; they manifest the Middle Path and do not ultimately dwell in emptiness. When those of the Perfect Teaching deconstruct conventionality, they already perceive emptiness, already realize conventionality, and already realize the Middle, and perfectly overcome ignorance. If we say that those of the two vehicles and bodhisattvas are all the same in their wisdom and severance (of delusions) but different in teaching and saving others, this is to compare them from the perspective of the Shared Teachings. If we say that those of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas are different in their wisdom but the same in their severance (of delusions), this is to compare them from the perspective of the Distinct and Perfect Teachings.

Question: To deconstruct the conventionality of conceptual attitudes and realize emptiness, one deconstructs nine times nine, or eighty-one levels (of conceptual attitudes). Is it possible to go beyond even this result? Answer: If we differentiate (the levels) sequentially, we come up with the number as explained previously. But one who practices does not necessarily unidimensionally follow these levels in order. (For example,) after (a follower of) the Tripiṭaka Teachings attains the last of the sixteen mental concentrations, he can go beyond this result in a single thought-moment and attain (the level of) a nonreturner, or go beyond that and become an arhat, without advancing gradually and sequentially as explained in detail above. One exhausts the delusions of all the levels and arouses the concentrations of all the levels even if one does not sequentially go through all the levels. Again, take the example of the Tripiṭaka buddha: in the twinkling of an eye all mistaken views and conceptual attitudes are immediately exhausted, and the virtues of a buddha are made manifest in a single moment. Such a person has sharp faculties and so does not need to pass sequentially through various levels. But just because one with sharp faculties transcends the levels does not make the levels meaningless. Why? Because they are explained in this way (with various levels) in the Dharma teachings of the buddhas. 26

Question: One with sharp faculties is able to transcend (the details of the levels). But Śāriputra was the sharpest of them all. Why did he (remain a śrāvaka and) not transcend (the levels)?

Answer: The Hinayana is for guiding those of dull (faculties), and so they rely on these levels for attaining tranquility and cannot transcend them. [As it says in the Great Treatise,] Śāriputra was of great wisdom and was a leader in turning the wheel of the Dharma and making distinctions concerning the structure of the levels, and (he required) seven days or fifteen days (to attain awakening), and thus did not transcend (the sequential practice of the levels). Ānanda worked as a servant (of the Buddha), and thus did not transcend (the practice of the levels). It is not that they did not have sufficient power of wisdom. The bodhisattvas of the Shared Teachings are sharper in wisdom than those of the two vehicles, and are able to transcend (the levels), but when they carry the responsibility of other beings and serve as their guides, they must depend to a great extent on the distinctions (of the levels) and therefore do not teach about transcending (them). Those of the other two Teachings of Distinct and Perfect are also like this. Although they can transcend or not transcend (the levels), the final goal is to universally deconstruct the conventionalities of conceptual attitudes. "Transcending the results" (of the levels) consists of four (types): (1) transcendence that is a basic severance, (2) minor transcendence, (3) major transcendence, and (4) great major transcendence. [1] Suppose that fundamentally you are at the stage of an ordinary person and attain the concentration of no conceptions, and now arouse (the state of) nondefilement and consummate the sixteen mental contemplations, thus becoming a nonreturner. Suppose that fundamentally you are at the stage of an ordinary person and attain the first dhyāna and the second, third, and fourth dhyānas, now consummating the sixteen mental contemplations; again, you become a nonreturner. Suppose that fundamentally you are at the stage of an ordinary person and sever the nine levels (of delusions) of the realm of desires by means of worldly wisdom, and, depending on whether many or few (severances), consummate the sixteen mental contemplations and transcend the result in accordance with these fundamental severances. These are all called "transcendence that is a severance of fundamentals." [2] If you are at the stage of an ordinary person and have not yet achieved dhyāna (concentration) 27

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but consummate the sixteen mental contemplations, you can transcend (the earlier levels) while removing the delusions of the various levels of the realm of desires. Or there are those who (sever) two or three levels and become "wandering sages," [i.e., once-returners,] and those "having seeds for only one life," [i.e., nonreturners,] and so forth. This is "minor transcendence." [3] Suppose that fundamentally you are at the stage of an ordinary person and hear the Dharma and receive the invitation "Well come!" (from the Buddha), and become an arhat. This is "great transcendence." [4] Suppose you completely exhaust both (the afflictions) proper and their habitual traces in a single thought-moment, like the Buddha; this is "great major transcendence." The people of the Perfect Teaching have the sharpest (faculties); they teach what is truly real and are not involved in the structure of levels (of attainment). This is the greatest transcendence. The Sutra of the Bodhisattva's Necklace clarifies the "sudden (or immediate) awakening of the Tathāgata." The Lotus Sutra says, "In an instant (the young daughter of the dragon king) attained awakening," so this is an example of transcendence (of sequential levels). The vow of compassion (to save all beings in this world) is a heavy responsibility, so it does not involve transcending (the levels). The Vimalakīrti Sutra says, "Although one has attained the path of the Buddha, in order to save sentient beings, one practices the path of the bodhisattva." This involves both transcendence and nontranscendence. The principle of true reality is neither transcendent nor nontranscendent. All is fluid when one teaches in accordance with people's capacities, but in regard to the principle (of reality, these distinctions) are always "quiescent" or "dormant." 3. The Four Gates of the

Fourfold Teachings

Third is to consider the matter (of the deconstruction of dharmas) from the perspective of four "gates" [that is, the options of being, non-being, both, and neither in the Tripiṭaka, Shared, Distinct, and Perfect Teachings]. 1. Tripiṭaka Teachings

1. The Gate of Being

Both the delusions of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes are obstacles to the two principles of the Shared and Distinct Teachings, [that is, 28

"emptiness" and "conventionality"]. If you destroy the obstacles and manifest the principle(s), the gate (of realization to awakening) is not impenetrable. The Abhidharma clarifies that "I and various people seek what is unobtainable, like the hair of a tortoise or the horns of a rabbit." Real phenomena (as causally co-arising and empty) are all that exist. People are deluded concerning these real phenomena, [or, the "true Dharma,"] and perversely arouse mistaken views and conceptual attitudes. These mistaken views and conceptual attitudes are transient and do not abide from thought to thought; they revolve (through the three phases of arising, changing, and perishing) as real phenomena, arising and perishing in turn. If you contemplate (things) in this way, you are able to deconstruct all of the individual, multiple, and combined mistaken views, destroy the eighty-one levels of conceptual attitudes in the triple world, and realize the nonarising of causes and results and delusion and wisdom. This is the meaning of deconstructing dharmas with the teaching or "gate" of "being" [or naive realism] by those of the Tripiṭaka Teachings. This (teaching) was first revealed (when the Buddha preached) at the Deer Park, where first Ājñāta-Kauṇḍinya and the five mendicants (were converted by Śākyamuni and) acquired purity; and when Aśvajit taught the three truths and Śāriputra destroyed his (own mistaken) views in a period of seven days and later became an arhat [upon hearing the Dharma from the Buddha]. A thousand and two hundred and more people came to perceive the supreme meaning (of the Dharma) through this "gate of being." The Great Treatise says, "If you attain the (skillful) means of prajñā-wisdom, you realize (the true meaning of) the Abhidharma and yet do not succumb to (a naive view of) being [that is, the deluded idea of substantial Being or 'realism']." The Great Collection of Sutras says, "For the people with the (extreme) view of eternalism, teach them that there is a severance between (different) thoughts." This refers to the severance of the bonds (of afflictions) by the stream-enterer. Is this not (an example of) the deconstruction of conventionality by (those of) the "gate of being"? Why do the people of the Treatise on the Real reject this and say that this is merely a means for controlling the mind and is not an attainment of the path? 2. The Gate of Emptiness (or Non-Being)

According to the Treatise on the Real, "Both myself and other people are originally nonexistent; (it appears that) there are 'real phenomena,' but they 29

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are vacuous and do not exist (substantially)." If you are deluded concerning this vacuous (existence), you will perversely arouse mistaken views and conceptual attitudes and flow in the cycle of birth and death. Contemplate these mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as all (endowed) with the three kinds of conventionality and as vacuous (emptiness), and that conventional realities have no (substantial) being; this is called the equality of emptiness. If you cultivate contemplation in this way, you will deconstruct the immeasurable individual, multiple, and combined mistaken views, deconstruct the eighty-one levels of conceptual attitudes, and realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is what is referred to by the meaning of "deconstructing phenomena through the gate of emptiness in the Tripiṭaka Teachings." Therefore, it says, "I now wish to clarify the true meaning of the Tripiṭaka." Here "true meaning" refers to "emptiness." The Āgama sutras say:

(We speak of) this [or "my"] old age and death, or another's old age and death; both of these are deviant views. This [or "my"] old age and death is nothing but the emptiness of phenomena (and the self); the old age and death of others is the emptiness of (other) sentient beings. Again, it says [in the Great Treatise],

The body of the Buddha Dharma is emptiness.… Subhūti was clear in his wisdom of emptiness and was able, while in a stone cavern, to perceive this body of the Buddha Dharma.

Therefore, in the Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines this person [Subhūti] teaches about emptiness, and Śāriputra teaches about prajñāwisdom. The Buddha wishes to compare "great" emptiness [or the emptiness of Mahayana] with "small" emptiness [or the emptiness of Hinayana], and great wisdom [or prajñā, the wisdom of Mahayana,] with the small wisdom [of Hinayana]; therefore, he has two people present the teachings. The Great Treatise says:

If you do not attain the (skillful) means of prajñā-wisdom and yet realize emptiness, you will succumb to (the mistaken view of) nothingness or nihilism.

The Great Collection of Sutras says, "For the people with the (extreme, mistaken) view of annihilationism, teach that there is a severance of each individual thought." Thus, you should know that the Tripiṭaka Teachings also teach the gate of emptiness. Why do the Abhidharmists capriciously say that this is (only) a Mahayana meaning of emptiness?

3. The Gate of Both Being and Emptiness

Take, for example, Kātyāyana who, on the basis of what he had realized, composed the Peṭaka [or Piṭaka] Treatise and transmitted it to southern India. (This text teaches) "nothingness" as conventionality, as explained previously, so that "real phenomena" both exist and do not exist. If you arouse a fixed affinity (for this view), you will perversely arouse mistaken views and conceptual attitudes. Contemplate these real phenomena as an appearance of being and non-being, and thus deconstruct the single, multiple, and so forth mistaken views and eighty-one (levels of) conceptual attitudes, and realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is called the meaning of deconstructing dharmas with the gate of both emptiness and being in the Tripiṭaka Teachings. Therefore, it says in the Great Treatise: If you attain the (skillful) means of prajñā-wisdom, you realize (the real meaning of) the teachings of the Peṭaka (Treatise) and do not succumb to (the mistaken views of) being and non-being.

4. The Gate of Neither Being nor Emptiness

The gate of neither emptiness nor Being is as follows. It is like the Great Treatise clarifying that when Chandaka controls his thoughts and develops forbearance, then you should preach the Saṃthakātyāyana Sutra to him. By becoming free of both (extreme views of) Being and nothingness he will be able to attain the path. By this contemplation you are able to deconstruct the individual, multiple, and so forth mistaken views and the eighty-one (levels of) conceptual attitudes, realize emptiness from conventionality, and realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is what is meant by "deconstructing conventionality with the gate of neither Being nor nothingness in the Tripiṭaka Teachings." However, you should know that Chandaka attained the Hinayana path, and you should not exaggerate and say that he attained the Middle Path of Mahayana.

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These "four gates" are all ways for the stream-enterer to attain the path, because the stream-enterer is the "first fruit" [of the "four fruits" culminating with that of the arhat]. Those who are superior [in ability or insight] are worthy of this name in a distinct way; there is a distinct or specific (attainment of the stream-enterer) for each of the (first) three gates, and a general or shared (attainment of the) stream-enterer. That of the "gate of Being" is the stream-enterer (who realizes) transience. That of the "gate of nothingness" is the stream-enterer (who realizes) the equality of emptiness. That of the gate of "both Being and non-Being" is the stream-enterer (who realizes conventional) appearance. That of the "gate of neither Being nor non-Being" is the stream-enterer (who realizes) the denial of both (extremes). These (various types of) stream-enterers are all the first fruit of these four gates. They are distinct in the way they contemplate the four gates or teachings but are the same in their perception of the real truth. It is like a city that has four gates; they are not different in the sense that they all offer a passageway to (meet and) assemble (in the city). Therefore, the Great Collection of Sutras says: For people with the (extreme) view of eternalism, teach that there is a severance between thoughts. For people with the (extreme) view of annihilationism, teach that there is a severance of each individual thought. These two (types of) people are different (in their assumptions), but there is no distinction regarding their attainment of the path. The Great Nirvana Sutra says:

The five hundred bhikṣus each gave an individual explanation for the causes of the body; it is not the case that these explanations are incorrect [just because each is different].

Guṇavarman said:

Various treatises each provide different teachings, but the principle that is practiced is not different. There is (debate as to) right and wrong when people cling to sides, but for those who have realized (awakening) there is no disagreement or disputation.

At the time of the [Northern] Song (420-479) the Treatise on the Real was popular among scholars, and disputes arose concerning various 32

interpretations. Therefore, this verse was presented (by Guṇavarman) as a reproach. The real truth is quiescent and solitary; it is neither one nor four. Śāriputra said, "I have heard that there is no verbalization in liberation." Why, then, should the four gates be (verbally) recorded? If you become attached to (the extreme view) of arising, [that is, Being or naive realism,] you will never be able to attain the path; why say that this is so only for the gate of being? If you remove mistaken views and conceptual attitudes, you will attain (the path); why say that this is so only for the gate of emptiness? It is not the case that the words of only one treatise, [that is, the Treatise on the Real,] constitute the meaning for attaining (the path), and that of the scholastics (of the Abhidharma) constitute deconstruction (through analyzing phenomena)? If you realize the intent of the four methods of instruction, then (you will realize that the teaching of) both the Treatise on the Real and the Abhidharma are valid. If you cannot realize this intent, then both the Treatise on the Real and the Abhidharma will be (limited to the) deconstruction (of analyzing phenomena). It is the same also (for the other aspects of the four gates) up through (the teaching of) "neither being nor non-being." If you use the gate of being to clarify the features of phenomena, this is "crude." If you use the gate of emptiness to clarify phenomena, this is "fine." If you judge that one is skillful and the other is crude for attaining or destroying (the path), then (you must conclude that the first) three gates are all inferior (to the fourth). But one gate alone is not (in all ways superior to the rest). Why is it popular to argue about the four gates [or teachings] in this manner? This is based on the idea that those of the two vehicles save only themselves, and that there is only one path that must be followed strictly, depending only on this, and not allowing any compromise. People who came along later and studied this (way of thinking) gave rise to error for this reason. The bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka Teachings are not like this. They overcome delusions through an analytical (realization of) emptiness and thus learn the four gates one-sidedly, but they have extensive knowledge of the features of phenomena in order to save others, and when they become buddhas they are called "those with true universal knowledge." Therefore, the Great Treatise quotes Kātyāyanīputra's clarification of the meaning of a bodhisattva, saying:

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The Bodhisattva (Śākyamuni) first met (the possibility of becoming) the Buddha Śākyamuni and aroused his first aspiration for awakening; (from then) until the time of the Buddha Khāṇuśikhin was the first immeasurable eon, when in his mind (Śākyamuni) did not yet know that he would become a buddha, nor did he say anything about it. Next, up to the time of the Buddha Dīpaṃkara was the second (immeasurable eon). The Buddha Vipaśyin was in the third (immeasurable eon). (Śākyamuni) practiced the six perfections and consummated them during each of these time periods. He consummated the perfection of giving, like Śivi giving (his body as an offering) in substitution for a pigeon, and so forth up to consummating the perfection of wisdom like the minister Govinda, who (wisely) divided up Jambudvīpa [to avert conflict]. Over the course of a hundred eons, he planted the seeds of the thirty-two marks (of a buddha). (In this context,) when we discuss the causes (for buddhahood), we refer to Śākyamuni; when we discuss the fruit (of buddhahood) we point to Maitreya; this involves universally practicing the four gates (or teachings) and the methods of the path to overcome and weaken the passionate afflictions. (In the Great Treatise) Nāgārjuna criticized this (approach), saying: "Weakening" means "severing." As a once-returner conquers six levels of conceptual attitudes, this is called the stage of weakening (delusions). But they have not yet severed (the delusions); how can this be the attainment of (the stage of) weakening (delusions)?

Therefore, you should know that is a discussion of "weakening" (delusions) only in terms of overcoming [them, and not "severing" them]. (Attainment of) the thirty-four enlightened mental states is called "severing." Even if we are able to explain (severing) in this way, this is still an explanation that is a (skillful) means of an early teaching, [that is, of the Tripiṭaka Teachings]. The Great Nirvana Sutra calls this a "partial" (teaching). The Lotus Sutra uses the illustration that for twenty years (the ignorant son) "constantly removed dung" [while he worked for his father]. The Great Treatise calls it "clumsy healing." The Vimalakīrti Sutra speaks of "the poor way to attain bliss (for sentient beings)." Vasubandhu calls it "the inferior vehicle." These comments all refer to these four gates (of the Tripiṭaka Teachings), and this (interpretation) is not what I intend to use here [in the Mohezhiguan]. 34

2. Shared Teachings

Next concerns the differences in the four gates of the Shared Teachings. 1. The Gate of Being

If you clarify that all conventional realities arise from ignorance, and that this ignorance is like an illusion, then all that arises is also like an illusion. To be "like an illusion" is to be like vacuous space; nevertheless, this illusion needs to be contemplated and deconstructed as conventional. Although it is "like vacuous space," it nevertheless arises as vacuous space. Therefore, it says [in the Great Treatise], "Dharmas do not arise, and yet prajñā-wisdom arises." In this way contemplative wisdom is able to deconstruct all mistaken views and conceptual attitudes, and you realize that delusions and wisdom and causes and results do not arise (substantially). This is what is called "the intent of contemplating the gate of being (in the Shared Teachings)." 2. The Gate of Emptiness (or Non-Being)

If we say that the essence of all dharmas of conventional realities are (empty) like an illusion or apparition, and so forth up to nirvana also being like an illusion or apparition, this is an easy way to understand these illusions and apparitions as emptiness, but a difficult way to understand nirvana as emptiness. The easy is taken up to understand the difficult; both the easy and the difficult are empty. Again, this is like an illusory person fighting with emptiness; both that which contemplates and that which is contemplated are quiescent in nature. In this way, through the wisdom of emptiness you realize the essence of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as illusory and truly (empty), and you are able to realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is what is called "the intent of deconstructing conventionality with the gate of emptiness."

3. The Gate of Both Being and Emptiness

If you clarify that all dharmas are like an image in a mirror that can be seen yet not seen, this "seeing" is its "being" and the "not seeing" is its "nothingness" (or emptiness). It is nonexistent (in lacking substantial Being) yet (conventionally) existent; it exists [conventionally] yet has no (substantial) Being. If you contemplate in this way, you are able to deconstruct all the dharmas of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes and realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is what is 35

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called "the intent of the contemplation of deconstructing conventionality with the gate of both emptiness and being."

4. The Gate of Neither Being nor Emptiness

We have already said that these (phenomena) are (like) an illusion and apparition; how can they be described as "existing" or "nothingness"? Since they do not exist, it is not proper to say they have being. Since they are not nothingness, it is not proper to say that nothingness does not exist [or "there is no nothingness"]. In this way contemplative wisdom is able to deconstruct all dharmas of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes, and you can realize the nonarising of delusions and wisdom and causes and results. This is what is called "the intent of the contemplation of deconstructing conventionality with the gate of neither Being nor nothingness."

If those of the Tripiṭaka Teachings arouse mistaken views by regarding (phenomena) as real, stream-enterers can avoid both of the two extremes (of eternalism and annihilationism) through analytical contemplation, by deconstructing the reality of, (for example,) a pillar just as it is. Those of the Shared Teachings arouse mistaken views by regarding forms as illusory, and by contemplating their essential emptiness they can avoid both of the two extremes, like viewing a pillar as (an image) in a mirror. Since this involves deconstruction in terms of essential (emptiness), this is called "neither being nor non-being." Although this is not the Middle Path, the method of (realizing emptiness in) essence is an "adapted vacuousness" which purifies attachment to mistaken views. Therefore, the Great Treatise says (in verse): The perfection of prajñā-wisdom is like a great fire,

Whose flames in all four directions make it unapproachable. This verse includes the meaning of the four gates; if you consider it carefully and minutely, this should become clear. The Great Treatise also says, "Prajñā-wisdom has four types, [that is, of being, non-being, both, and neither]." Again, it says, "The four gates are the entrance to the pure and cool pond (of wisdom)." These are all veritable witnesses to the four gates. If you do not become attached (to any single gate), they are all potential ways for you to pass through and realize (the path). If you become attached to them, you will get burned by them. The Buddha taught the contemplation of these four gates in order to show people the way to avoid disputes. 36

Question: Where does the Buddha show people the way to dispute? Answer: The Buddha does not show people the way to dispute. Disputes arise because sentient beings do not understand (correctly) and they become attached (to their one-sided views). The Tripiṭaka Teachings are a shallow and proximate (interpretation of the) four gates, and it appears that they conflict (with each other). Therefore, it is easy to become attached (to one side) and argue (about which side is correct). The Treatise on the Real scholars denounce the Abhidharma position, saying that it is merely a convenient method for regulating the mind and does not allow at all for attaining the path. The Abhidharma scholars say that the (Tripiṭaka Teaching) is merely a way to attain the path by gaining insight into being, and that (the idea of) emptiness belongs to Mahayana. These two types of scholars have lost sight of the intent of the four gates. They denounce and oppose each other and are resolutely attached to their own views; thus, it is easy for disputes to arise among them. This is called (teachings that) show people the way to dispute. In the Shared Teachings, the essence of dharmas is (seen to be) like an illusion or apparition, with form having no (substantial) reality but only verbal designation, [lit., "names and words"]. It is easy (to perceive that things that are only) names and words are vacuous (and empty) and to follow this (insight) without opposition; thus it gives rise to only a few disputes. The Great Treatise criticizes the Tripiṭaka Teachings saying that other sutras show many ways for people to dispute, but the Prajñāpāramitā sutras show the way for people to avoid dispute. This is also called "skillful saving in accordance with reality." The Middle Treatise says, "The three people (śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas) share in attaining (insight into) the true mark of reality." The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines says that "people of the three vehicles are the same in teaching the path without words, in severing passionate afflictions, and perceiving the supreme meaning." This is also called the "common prajñā-wisdom." The Great Nirvana Sutra calls this the "three animals [rabbit, horse, and elephant] crossing a river." All of these refer to the intent of the contemplation of the four gates in the Shared Teachings. Again, this (interpretation) is not what I intend to use here [in the Mohezhiguan]. 3. Distinct Teachings

Next concerns the four gates of the Distinct Teachings. This refers to contemplating a distinct principle and distinct delusions, and so is not the 37

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same as the content of the above (on the Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings). It is cultivated gradually and successively, and its awakening is gradual and successive, so in this way it is not the same as the next (Perfect Teaching). The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "When they hear that the Great Nirvana Sutra has the highest path, the great assembly (of bodhisattvas) will practice it correctly," that is, they will arouse the aspiration for awakening, leave home, keep the precepts, cultivate concentrated meditation, contemplate the wisdom of the Four (Noble) Truths, and attain the twenty-five samādhis. This is not different from the Tripiṭaka Teachings in that the activities are performed gradually and progressively, but it is done with the spirit of the Great Nirvana Sutra in guiding (people) concerning all the Dharma teachings. In this sense it is different from the previous (Tripiṭaka and Shared Teachings). One gradually cultivates the five practices [of noble practices, altruistic practices, divine practices, parental practices, and practices of disease]; in this sense it is different from the next (Perfect Teaching).

1. The Gate of Being

The four gates (in the Distinct Teachings) involve contemplating mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as illusions and apparitions, and exhaustively (realizing) that visible forms are vacuous empty delusions but that there is a distinct form of sublime reality that is called "buddha-nature." The Great Nirvana Sutra says:

The emptiness of emptiness is a non-Buddhist path. Liberation is not emptiness, but is true, good, and sublime form. The secret treasury of the Tathāgata is not obtainable and not (substantial) being.… Selfhood is the womb or treasury of the Tathāgata (tathāgatagarbha). The tathāgatagarbha is buddha-nature. The Tathāgatagarbha Sutra gives ten analogies (for the tathāgatagarbha, like) gold wrapped and covered with rags, and a statue (concealed) within its mold of clay. This is the gate of being (for the Distinct Teachings). 2. The Gate of Emptiness (or Non-Being)

The gate of emptiness is as follows. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "Kapilavastu is empty. The womb of the Tathāgata (tathāgatagarbha) is empty. Great nirvana is empty." It also says, "This leads all sentient beings 38

to attain the great nirvana of no form." Nirvana is not "being." We speak of the "existence" of nirvana in worldly terms [or lit., "due to worldly, mundane (concerns)"] but nirvana has neither form nor sound (nor the other characteristics of experiential objects), so how can it be said to be seen or heard? This is the gate of emptiness (for the Distinct Teachings). 3. The Gate of Both Being and Emptiness

The gate of "both emptiness and being" is as follows. (The Great Nirvana Sutra says,) "A wise person perceives both emptiness and nonemptiness." (It also says that) if we affirm (merely) emptiness, then there is no constancy, bliss, selfhood, or purity. If we affirm nonemptiness, then again, we can accept the constancy, bliss, selfhood, and purity (of great nirvana). It is like a bottle that is filled with water, liquor, or cream that cannot be said to be empty or not empty. This is called the gate of both emptiness and being (for the Distinct Teachings).

4. The Gate of Neither Being nor Emptiness

The gate of neither being nor nothingness transcends the four (options) and is free from a hundred (negations). This is beyond words and is inexpressible. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "Neither permanent nor severed; this is called the Middle Path." This is this gate (of neither being nor emptiness or nothingness for the Distinct Teachings). If you realize the intent of these four gates, you will penetrate and realize the true aspect (of reality). If you do not realize this intent, (you will realize only) the intent of overcoming delusions gradually and (at the level of skillful) means. The Great Nirvana Sutra calls this the "noble activity of the bodhisattva." The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines calls it the "unique prajñā-wisdom (of the bodhisattvas)." This is the intent of the four gates of the Distinct Teachings and is not what I will use here [in the Mohezhiguan]. 4. Perfect Teaching

Next is the four gates of the Perfect Teaching, which in its teaching of the sublime principle (of reality) and of sudden (practice) is different from the two previous (Shared and Distinct Teachings). It is perfectly integrated and unhindered. In this way this is different from the step-by-step method of the Distinct Teachings. What are the four gates (for the Perfect Teaching)? 39

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1. The Gate of Being

Contemplate the conventionality of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as the Dharma realm (of human experience) and integrated with the Buddha Dharma. Again, (contemplate) all phenomena as (the result of) the causes and conditions and the nature of phenomena, and that the supreme meaning (of reality) is also (an aspect of) such causes and conditions. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "the extinction of ignorance is the cause for attaining the burning flame of the torch of awakening." This is called the gate of being (for the Perfect Teaching).

2. The Gate of Emptiness (or Non-Being)

The gate of emptiness is as follows. Contemplate the illusory apparitions of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes and all phenomena as having no (substantial) causes or conditions. The self and nirvana are both empty. However, when there is (conventionally) an empty disease, this empty disease is also empty. Thus, the three truths (of emptiness, conventionality, and the Middle) are all empty.

3. The Gate of Both Being and Emptiness

How about the gate of both emptiness and being? (Contemplate) the illusory apparitions of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as (things that,) though not truly real, can be differentiated as conventional designations and cannot be exhausted. This is like "thousands of sutra scrolls existing within one minute particle of dust" [as explained in the Flower Garland Sutra] or "being immovable in the supreme sense yet able to distinguish all aspects of phenomena" [as explained in the Vimalakīrti Sutra]. Again, it is "like the great earth, which is one and yet is able to give rise to various sprouts" [as explained in the Flower Garland Sutra], and [in the Sutra of the Buddha Treasury] "that which cannot be (fully expressed) with names and forms is spoken of conventionally with names and forms" and "the Buddha also is merely a verbal designation." This is the gate of both being and nothingness (for the Perfect Teaching).

4. The Gate of Neither Being nor Emptiness

What is the gate of neither Being nor nothingness (for the Perfect Teaching)? Contemplate the illusory apparitions of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes as the nature of reality [Dharma-nature] itself. Dharma-nature is 40

inconceivable. It is not mundane, so it is not existent (substantial) Being. It is not transworldly, so it is not nothing. There is not a single color or scent that is not the Middle Path, and the (integrated) middleness of one is the (integrated) middleness of all. (The Buddha) Vairocana pervades all places. How can there be mistaken views and conceptual attitudes that are not real phenomena? This is called the gate of neither-Being nor non being (for the Perfect Teaching).

What does it mean for one gate to be (indivisible from) the (other) three gates? One gate includes all gates: why limit (this inclusiveness) to three? What does this mean? To contemplate "all things that arise through causes and conditions" is the first gate. All is included in the first gate. The first gate "is empty." One is empty and all is empty; this is the second gate. The first gate "is conventionality." One is conventional and all is conventional; this is the third gate. The first gate is the "Middle." One is Middle and all is Middle; this is the fourth gate. Thus, the first gate is (indivisible from) the (other) three gates, and the three gates are (indivisible from) the (other) gates. This is to take up one gate as nominally representative (of the others); even though there are four names (for the four gates), their principles are not distinct. To deconstruct mistaken views and conceptual attitudes on the basis of the gate of nonarising as explained above is the (second) gate of emptiness. One gate is all gates, and it is not that nonarising is completed by (one gate) alone. The deconstruction of one is the deconstruction of all, and it is not that (the process) stops and is completed with the deconstruction of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes. To realize emptiness from conventionality is (to realize) that the emptiness of one is the emptiness of all, and it is not that (the process) is completed (by realizing) merely emptiness, that is, the emptiness of the cycle of birth and death (samsara). This is the meaning of the four gates of the Perfect Teaching, and this is the proper (focus) to be used here [in the Mohezhiguan].

If this is so, then why was it necessary to bring up the various distinctions explained above? (It is necessary) because ordinary beings are benighted and dull and they cannot (come to) know (fully) without such explanations. First, they must be enticed to have this disclosed (slowly and gradually), and then later they will realize the correct path. The Lotus Sutra says, "Although I preach various paths, truly there is only One Vehicle." If you follow this 41

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meaning, then even if one makes distinctions all day, there is (ultimately) no place for making distinctions. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "There is the single practice which is the practice of the Tathāgata." The Lotus Sutra calls it "directly abandoning (skillful) means and preaching only the supreme path." The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines calls it "universal wisdom with which you know all phenomena." The Vimalakīrti Sutra speaks of "entering a campaka grove and not smelling any other scent." The Flower Garland Sutra speaks of the "Dharma realm" (of all human experience). This is the meaning of the four gates (for the Perfect Teaching). This above (explanation) is about the gate of nonarising for deconstructing conventionality. If you realize this intent, this is the gate of the Perfect Teaching and not the gate of (provisional or conventional) means. This is called deconstructing dharmas universally [regarding the Perfect Teaching]. 2. The Contemplation of Realizing Conventionality from Emptiness Second, deconstructing dharmas universally by entering or realizing conventionality from emptiness consists of four parts. First is the intent of "entering or realizing conventionality." Second is clarifying the causes and conditions for entering or realizing conventionality. Third is clarifying the contemplation of entering or realizing conventionality. Fourth is clarifying the levels of entering or realizing conventionality.

1. The intent of realizing conventionality (to benefit others). The intent of entering or realizing conventionality is as follows. There is (the type of) merely entering or realizing conventionality from emptiness, and there is (the type of) knowing that emptiness is not empty and entering or realizing conventionality by deconstructing emptiness (as not nihilistic nothingness). The wisdom and severance of those of the two vehicles are both the same (as that of bodhisattvas and buddhas) regarding attesting to the truth (of emptiness), but they are not called bodhisattvas because they do not have great compassion. The Flower Garland Sutra says that those of the two vehicles also attain realization of the true nature and marks of all phenomena, but they are not called buddhas. If you practice for yourself, you can realize emptiness partially, but when it comes to saving (other) beings, you cannot accomplish it outside of (realizing) conventionality. Bodhisattvas realize emptiness from conventionality and destroy their own bonds of attachments, 42

so (in this sense) they are not the same as ordinary ignorant people. They enter or realize conventionality from emptiness and destroy the bonds of others, so (in this sense) they are not the same as those of the two vehicles. Though abiding in (conventional worldly) existence, they are not defiled (by it); they discern (the proper) medicine (for various diseases) with their Dharma eyes; they put a halt to disease with their compassion; their vast love is unlimited; they never tire (in striving for) the concurrent salvation [of both themselves and others to "cross over" to the other shore of awakening]; they have complete mastery with their mind; their good and skillful means are "like trees planted in the empty sky" or "like shooting arrows into the sky, one after the other so that they do not fall back to the ground." If you abide (always and only) in emptiness you can never benefit sentient beings. Striving to benefit others—this is the intent of "entering or realizing conventionality."

2. The causes and conditions for realizing conventionality. The causes and conditions for entering or realizing conventionality can be summarized in five aspects.

First is the overlapping of compassionate thoughts. When you first deconstruct conventionality, you perceive that sentient beings are perverted and bound in the prison (of their passionate afflictions) and are unable to escape, so you arouse great compassion (toward them), as (parents) love all their children equally. At this point you have already severed your delusions and realized emptiness, and so you feel pity and pain (toward the suffering sentient beings) as if you were one (with them, and you feel the pain) doubling and multiplying. You put (the needs of other) people first and yourself later, and your (desire to) grant (bliss) and extract (suffering) grows all the more fervent.

Second is the remembrance of your original (bodhisattva) vows. First (at the beginning of your religious life) you aroused the universal vows (of a bodhisattva) to remove suffering and grant bliss (for all sentient beings) and lead them to attain a calm peace. Sentient beings have much suffering and they are not yet able to attain deliverance. If you alone (are delivered and) become exempt (from such a situation), this would contradict your primary aspiration. You should not forget your original purpose, [that is, your original vow]; how can you abandon (other) conscious beings? You "enter" (the 43

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mundane world of) conventionality and share their activity, and thus guide them (toward awakening). [As the Śrīmālādevī Sutra says,] "The first deeds (or practices on the path) of those of the two vehicles are not foolish methods"; (those of the two vehicles) also make the great vow (to save all beings) but as they pass through their lives they forget (this vow), retreat from the Mahayana and embrace the Hinayana, and they must be reproached by the noble ones (to remember it again). Bodhisattvas are not like this; they are like a mother who when gaining food always brings to mind her children. Third is the fierce sharpness of wisdom. When you realize emptiness, you come to know that within (the realization of) emptiness there is an excessive tendency to reject all other (things). Why? Because when you abide (always and only) in emptiness, you do not purify a buddha land or teach and transform sentient beings, nor are you completely endowed with the Buddha Dharma, nor are you able to accomplish it. After you realize this excessive tendency, you will deny (one-sided) emptiness and enter and realize conventionality.

Fourth is (the power of) good and skillful means as you enter the [mundane] world. The passionate afflictions of (this samsaric world of) life and death are not able to impair wisdom. If you run into various impediments and difficulties, these (in turn) act to encourage you on the path of transformation [that is, of teaching, guiding, and saving others].

Fifth is the power of great diligence. Although the buddha path is long and far, you should not consider it so remote (as to be out of reach); although the number of sentient beings is numerous, you should have courage. Fortify your mind and do not retreat; diligently pursue your (original) aspiration for your destination, and from the beginning do not grow weary or be lazy. These are called the "five conditions" (for realizing conventionality). These five meanings are the same as those found in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. This text contains three types of consoling analogies (regarding conventionality). First it clarifies that the (physical) body that is contemplated is impermanent and so forth. This is the analogy for "realizing emptiness." At the end it says, "I am the king of physicians." This is the analogy for "realizing the Middle." Between these are the analogies for "realizing conventionality," which involve the five meanings (outlined above). The phrase "through my own disease I have pity toward the disease of others" is the (first 44

meaning of) "compassion of being one" (with others). (The next phrase,) "You should know the fate of suffering (by others) through innumerable eons," can be nothing other than (the second meaning, that is,) "original vows." (The next phrase,) "you should be mindful of benefiting all sentient beings," can be nothing other than (the third meaning, that is,) "knowing the excessive (negativity) of emptiness." (The next phrase,) "in your thoughts cultivate blessings and be mindful of a pure life," is (the fourth meaning, that is,) good and skillful means. (The next phrase,) "do not give rise to discouragement but always arouse diligence," is the fifth meaning. Thus, the meaning (of these five "causes and conditions") matches that of this text (of the Vimalakīrti Sutra).

"Entering or realizing conventionality from emptiness" involves four aspects without which you would never be able to go beyond ("mere" emptiness to "emerge in conventionality"). Now I will differentiate them in terms of the single type of those with sharp faculties. Śrāvakas who abide in "mere emptiness" do not necessarily have dull faculties. Bodhisattvas who enter or realize conventionality do not necessarily have sharp faculties. Śāriputra, for example, was sharp in his wisdom, but he did not advance beyond (the realization of emptiness) to (realize) conventionality. We should use a (fourfold) tetralemma in order to interpret this matter: either your faculties are sharp and you abide in emptiness, or your faculties are dull and you abide in emptiness, or your faculties are sharp and you enter or realize conventionality, or your faculties are dull and you enter or realize conventionality. This is analogous to (four possible situations): (1) suppose your body is emaciated and you have no strength, but you have great courage so that you can enter into danger and destroy the enemy and there is no adversary left in front of you. (2) Suppose that your body's power is magnificent and you also have powerful courage, so that you can thrust to the left and strike to the right with no one to oppose you. (3) Suppose that your body is powerful but you are cowardly and fearful; even though you have (physical) power in your favor, you will lose your courage when faced with the ranks (of the enemy). (4) Suppose you have no (physical) power and no courage, and are thus lacking in both areas; how would you be able to prevail? The person who abides in emptiness also is of two types [like the two types who lack courage], and (the person who goes beyond emptiness to) "emerge in conventionality" is 45

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also likewise [like the two types who have courage and can thus prevail]. One who is endowed with these five conditions is like someone who has parents [or "intimate friends" who care for them], has the promise (of a vow), has a strategy (to go beyond emptiness), has the power (of good and skillful means), and has the courage (to diligently persevere); therefore such a person is able to enter or realize conventionality. Even if the root of wisdom is dull, such a person is able to enter or realize conventionality due to (the power of) the other four conditions. Even if a śrāvaka is (endowed with) sharp wisdom, he is not able to enter or realize conventionality because he does not have the (other) four conditions.

3. The Contemplation of Realizing Conventionality

Third is to clarify the contemplation of entering or realizing conventionality, which consists of three parts. First is knowing the disease, second is differentiating the medicine, and third is applying the medicine. 1. Knowing the disease. "Knowing the disease" refers to knowing the diseases of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes. 1. Knowing mistaken views. (First is knowing mistaken views. This involves) knowing the fundamental roots of mistaken views, knowing the causes and conditions that arouse mistaken views, knowing the far and near (of the past, present, and future) of mistaken views, and knowing the overlapping numbers of the delusions of mistaken views. 1. Knowing the fundamental roots of views. What is it to know the fundamental roots of mistaken views? The mistaken view of the self is the basic root of all mistaken views. A single thought in a deluded mind is the basic root of the mistaken view of the self. Immeasurable mistaken views arise from this deluded mind, proliferating vertically and horizontally (in all directions) such that they cannot be calculated. Various karmic bonds are created through these mistaken views, so that you fall into the three (evil) destinies and float and revolve through them without end. As with a spinning wheel of fire, if you wish to make it cease you must stop the hand (that spins the wheel). (You should) know that thoughts are not (substantial) thoughts, but that thoughts arise due to deluded conceptions. Again, know that the "self" is not a (substantial) self, and that the "self" arises due to perverted views. If such perversions and deluded conceptions cease, the fundamental roots cease 46

(to function), so the branches and leaves (of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes) will naturally pass away.

2. Knowing the causes and conditions that arouse views. What is it to know the causes and conditions that arouse mistaken views? Causes and conditions are various, and so also the mistaken views that arise are different. How can we know them? We can know them through their internal and external features. The internal and external features are as follows. The environmental circumstances [lit., "dwelling places"] of sentient beings are various and different. The time or season is hot or cold; the land is high or low; their upbringing is sophisticated or crude, their food is rich or meager. Since their circumstances are different, so the results and retributions are various and different. Even those who come from the same climate (are different): some are thrifty and some profligate, some are generous and some frugal, some have and some do not have (many possessions), some gain and some lose; there is poverty and wealth, hunger and satiety, and so forth. Physical appearances are also different: (people are) short or tall, comely or ugly, large or lean, healthy or sickly, and so forth. Their personalities [or "fundamental natures"] are various and different and can be joyful or evil. Some are indifferent to fame and abandon high (social) status to enjoy themselves by cutting wood or fishing. Some "rein in a bull to attain (the rank of) prime minister" or "carry a kettle to become a cabinet minister." Some specialize in the literary arts and some specialize in the martial arts. Some are absorbed in wine, and some have a fondness for tasty (food). There is much greed, much extravagance, much anger, much (seeking after) pleasure, much ignorance, much frailty. In this way there are hundreds of thousands of millions of variations. These many various distinctions apply just to the human condition; how much more unspeakable variety is there among other kinds of beings? In this way there is a great variety and difference among sentient beings and the world in which they dwell, so you should know that their karmic deeds are also different. Because their karmic deeds are different, they arouse different mistaken views. Thus, by perceiving the end results you can know the basic roots, and by perceiving the external you can distinguish and know the internal (features).

3. Knowing the far and near (past, present, and future) of views. What is it to know the "far and near" arising of mistaken views? It is to know that 47

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(the effects of) the accumulation and multiple layers of such mistaken views are not limited to one lifetime; to know that such-and-such views arose in a recent lifetime (in the past); to know that such-and-such views happen to have arisen in this life (in the present); and to know that such-and-such views will flourish in a future life.

4. Knowing the overlapping numbers of views. What is it to know the many or few overlapping numbers of mistaken views? Three (types of) conventionalities emerge from one mistaken view of existence. Again, four options (of the tetralemma) emerge from the three conventionalities. These three conventionalities combine to involve twelve options. Again, the four methods of instruction emerge from the four options (of the tetralemma), combining with the twelve options to give forty-eight (variations on the) methods of instruction. Again, the nature of emptiness and the marks of emptiness emerge from one method of instruction, so the forty-eight (variations of) methods of instruction combine to give ninety-six (types of) the nature and features of emptiness. Each and every option involves cessation-andcontemplation, combining to give one hundred and ninety-two options of cessation-and-contemplation. These combined with the previous fundamental (mistaken views) gives a total of three hundred and forty-eight options. This applies to those who practice (the path) based on faith (from hearing and learning the Buddha Dharma); the same can be applied to those who practice (the path) based on Dharma (methods of meditation). The same can be applied to those who turn from practice based on faith to practice based on Dharma (methods of meditation), and the same can be applied to those who change from practice based on Dharma (methods of meditation) to practice based on faith. If we combine (all the options from) these four (types of) people, there are one thousand three hundred and ninety-two options. This applies to one mistaken view of existence. The same is true for one mistaken view of nonexistence. The same is true for one mistaken view of "both existence and nonexistence." The same is true for one mistaken view of "neither existence nor nonexistence." Together these four (types of) views give five thousand five hundred and sixty-eight options. It is thus for the individual fourfold views. It is also thus for the multiple fourfold views. It is also thus for the integrated or combined fourfold views. Together these three types of the four mistaken views give sixteen thousand seven hundred and four 48

options. The (fourfold) views that are beyond words are like the first view of existence; that is, it involves only one thousand three hundred and ninety-two options. Thus, the combined total (for the four types of fourfold views) is eighteen thousand and ninety-six options. These are objects to be destroyed or deconstructed; it is also the same for (the subject that) does the destroying or deconstructing. Combining the objects and subjects gives thirty-six thousand one hundred and ninety-two. The practice for (saving) oneself is also like this, and (the activity of) saving others is also like this. Combining that of saving oneself and others gives a total of seventy-two thousand three hundred and eighty-four. If we were to continue in this fashion regarding all sixty-two (mistaken views) and eighty-eight (passionate) afflictions, discussing them in terms of the three conventionalities, four options, and so forth, we would come up with an immeasurable, unlimited, and inexhaustible (number of overlapping options and varieties of mistaken views). The various aspects of disease are thus immeasurable, but the bodhisattva knows them all. (A bodhisattva) knows what and how the options combined to make this view, and knows what and how the options combined to make that view, whether it is deep or shallow or light or heavy. (The bodhisattva) skillfully distinguishes (concerning these views), without making any errors. This is called "knowing (the second Noble Truth of) the causes (of suffering)." When you already know the causes (of suffering), then you are able to know (the first Noble Truth of) suffering, that suffering and its causes flow in the cycle of birth and death. This involves a minute elucidation of the "root and branches," the origin and results (of mistaken views). Again, if before you realize emptiness you universally contemplate the mistaken views and conceptual attitudes and thoroughly know the features of disease, this is a (skillful) means for emerging in conventionality, and can later be used as one gate for severing delusions and entering or realizing emptiness. When you emerge in conventionality, it will be easy for you to discriminate among the mistaken views and conceptual attitudes and illuminate them, and even a light cultivation of cessation-and-contemplation will make the Dharma eye clear. When those of the two vehicles realize emptiness, they rely exclusively on one gate or method, so they do not have these "preliminary inducements." It is a mistaken application of medicine (to use these methods as) the teaching for the two (types of Mahayana) disciples 49

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(who practice based on faith and on Dharma methods of meditation). Also, (those of the two vehicles) are lacking in the five intentional meanings (for realizing conventionality); how can they enter or realize conventionality? Bodhisattvas, on the other hand, have the power of good and skillful means, great compassion, their original vows, and great diligence. Or, by silencing all conceptual attitudes, (bodhisattvas) arouse the Dharma eye, thus differentiating and knowing the diseases of mistaken views. Or, by penetrating contemplation of the phenomena of the mistaken views, they arouse the wisdom of the path and clearly and fully know the phenomena of the delusions. If you do not realize this, then merely with the power of diligence you should strive to polish (the practice of) cessation-and-contemplation. When the internal causes mature, you will externally receive the support of the Buddha. Whether this is hidden or manifested, you will become fully awake and disclose awakening, and will clearly and fully know the diseases of mistaken views. You will know yourself and know others, as in seeing various colors and forms in a mirror, and your judgment of the truth will be unhindered.

2. Knowing conceptual attitudes. Next is to clarify (four parts concerning conceptual attitudes): (1) knowing the fundamental root of the disease of conceptual attitudes, (2) knowing the causes and conditions for the arising of conceptual attitudes, (3) knowing the "far and near" of the arising of conceptual attitudes, and (4) knowing the overlapping numbers of the diseases of conceptual attitudes. The (first) three parts should be known from the discussion of the diseases of mistaken views (as discussed above), that is, the conventionality of conceptual attitudes has ignorance as its root, and so forth. The overlapping numbers (of the conceptual attitudes) is as follows. The nine stages include eighty-one levels. The first level involves three conventionalities, and there are four options of cessation-and-contemplation, so the three conventionalities combine (with the four options) to give twelve options. One option includes the faith and understanding [of those who practice the path based on faith] and the insight and attainment [of those who practice the path based on Dharma methods of meditation], and each of these involves the use of the four methods of instruction; thus (the practices based on) faith and Dharma (methods of meditation) each involve eight (aspects), combining to give sixteen aspects. (The practices based on) faith 50

and Dharma (methods of meditation) each involves changing to the other practice, giving an additional sixteen (aspects), combining with the previous (sixteen aspects) to give thirty-two options. Thus, one option already contains thirty-two options. These thirty-two combined with the twelve options of the three conventionalities gives three hundred and eighty-four options. Each option also includes the two aspects of emptiness, that is, the nature and features (of emptiness), combining for seven hundred and sixty-eight options. If we combine this with the previous total, there are one thousand one hundred and fifty-two options. (The twelve options of) the fundamental root (of conceptual attitudes) gives one thousand one hundred and sixty-four options. This is so for one level, so the nine levels together give a total of ten thousand four hundred and seventy-six options. This is so for the nine levels of the realm of desires; combining the nine levels of the triple world gives ninety-four thousand two hundred and eighty-four options. This is so for the objects to be destroyed or deconstructed; it is the same for the subject who does the destroying or deconstructing. Combining (the options for) the objects and subjects gives one hundred and eighty-eight thousand five hundred and sixty-eight options. The practice for (saving) oneself is also like this, and (the activity of) saving others is also like this. Combining these gives a total of three hundred and seventy-seven thousand one hundred and thirty-six options for cessation-and-contemplation (of conceptual attitudes). If we were to discuss this minutely, each and every one of these levels includes immeasurable levels; each and every dhyāna meditation includes immeasurable dhyāna meditations, (six) supranormal powers and (three illuminating) insights, (eight) liberations or renunciations and so forth. Thus, by the time one arouses just the various dhyāna meditations (there are so many variations that) they cannot be described, not to mention (the immeasurable conceptual attitudes that are destroyed or deconstructed at) the various levels of the various dhyāna meditations. (The conceptual attitudes that are destroyed) within the various levels also include the options of the three conventionalities, the (four) contemplations, and so forth. Their numbers are difficult to comprehend. If we say that the delusions of mistaken views are (a vast expanse like) forty miles of water, these (delusions of conceptual attitudes are like) coming into contact with one drop of water, which is equivalent to ten miles of water (of mistaken views). Since these (conceptual 51

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attitudes) do not arise alongside (each other), they are compared to drops of water, which, if a large number are multiplied and overlaid together, would become (an expanse of) ten miles (of water).

Those of the two vehicles directly realize emptiness, so they do not make these distinctions. Bodhisattvas first destroy or deconstruct the conventionality of conceptual attitudes as (skillful) means. First, they get to know them in general, [that is, realize their emptiness,] then they emerge in conventionality and cultivate its contemplation, which helps to open the Dharma eye. In general, they use both cessation and contemplation, and this is their gate or method for knowing conventionality. There are various methods for cultivating them distinctly. Putting an end to conditioned thoughts is called "cessation." (A bodhisattva cultivating) a relation to the delusions of conceptual attitudes is called "contemplation." With the power of great compassion, great vows, and great diligence, and with the majestic support of the Buddha, (bodhisattvas) become fully awake and disclose understanding, attain the insight of the Dharma eye and the knowledge of the wisdom of the path, and can clearly discriminate and distinguish the features of the diseases of the conventionality of conceptual attitudes.

As we have seen above, the overlapping numbers of mistaken views and conceptual attitudes are very complicated, but if they are known in this way, what can obstruct (your practice of cessation-and-contemplation)? (Teachings such as those found in) the five collections of precepts are not particularly heartwarming (or inspiring), but if you respond to these phenomena as you come in contact with them, you will be able to correct yourself and correct others. If you learn these various options, practicing and using them, you can practice for yourself and teach others, unhindered and in accordance with your will.

2. Differentiating the medicine. Second is entering or realizing conventionality and differentiating the medicine. The features of diseases are immeasurable, so the medicines (to treat disease) are also immeasurable. We can summarize them in three parts: first, the medicine of worldly teachings; second, the medicine of transworldly teachings; and third, the medicine of supreme transworldly teachings. The Perfection of Wisdom in 25,000 Lines presents three kinds of "giving the Dharma teachings": The Triple Refuge (in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), the five precepts [of not killing, not stealing, 52

not engaging in improper sexual activity, not using false speech, and not consuming intoxicating beverages], the path of the ten good deeds, the four dhyāna meditations, the (four) boundless demeanors, and so forth is called the "giving of worldly teachings." The second is the giving of transworldly teachings. The third is the giving of supreme transworldly teachings. These should be known [as the three types of "giving the Dharma teachings"]. 1. The medicine of worldly teachings. The Great Treatise says: What does it mean to utilize the giving of the worldly Dharma teachings? It is analogous to when a prince falls from a high place and his father the king, with loving thoughts, places silk on the ground where he falls to deliver him from pain and harm. It is the same for sentient beings. If they should fall into the three (evil) destinies, the Noble One, with compassionate thoughts, tentatively entices them with good worldly teachings to deliver them from the evil realms.

However, ordinary deluded beings cannot know even this medicine of worldly teachings on their own. All of them (depend on) a noble one to "entrust his traces" to the same (world) as ordinary beings, guiding and teaching them as ignorant children as long as there is no buddha in the world. The Great Nirvana Sutra says, "All of the worldly, non-Buddhist scriptures are (actually) the teachings of the Buddha, and are not non-Buddhist teachings." The Golden Light Sutra says, "All the good discussions in the world are all based on this sutra." If you have a profound knowledge of the worldly teachings, (you realize that) this is the Buddha Dharma (itself). Why? The ten good deeds bundled together are (equivalent or correspond to) the five precepts. If you profoundly know the meaning of (non-Buddhist teachings such as) the five constant (virtues) [of humaneness, duty, propriety, wisdom, and trust] and the five elements [of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water], (you will see that) they resemble the five precepts (of Buddhism). Treating people with benevolent humaneness and nurturing others without bringing them harm corresponds to the (first) precept of not taking life. Yielding to what is dutiful and honest and sacrificing yourself to benefit others, corresponds to the precept of not stealing [or, "not taking what is not offered"]. Keeping propriety and behaving according to social custom, such as binding up your hair (in preparation) for marriage, corresponds to the 53

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

Great Cessation-and-Contemplation Volume II