佛說觀無量壽佛經 想像

Placement of the passage as a whole. This unit is the eighth of the sixteen contemplations. The sūtra first concludes what precedes and gives rise to what follows (once this matter has been seen, next one should form the image of the Buddha); next it sets up the meaning of the passage 「諸佛如來是法界身」—“the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are the dharma-realm body,” within which the eight characters 「是心作佛，是心是佛」—“this mind makes the Buddha; this mind is the Buddha” are the pivot of the doctrine of the whole sūtra; next it teaches the manner of contemplation (first form the image of the figure; whether the eyes are closed or open, one sees a jeweled image seated upon that flower); next it gives rise to the images of the two bodhisattvas and to the contemplation of many bodies in the three lotuses beneath the trees; next it clarifies that whether one comes out of concentration or enters it one constantly hears the wondrous Dharma; next it judges wrong from right by 「令與修多羅合」—“let it be made to accord with Xiuduoluo”; and it closes by settling the name of the contemplation and clarifying that in the present body one attains the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha. The whole passage runs to four hundred and eighty-six characters. The last sixteen characters of the base text, 「作是觀者，名為正觀。若他觀者，名為邪觀」—“to make this contemplation is called right contemplation; to make another contemplation is called wrong contemplation,” are absent from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Dunhuang witnesses and from the current-circulation printing — the chief item of collation in this unit; see the ninth topic.

I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement

Shandao’s Commentary in Four Fascicles divides this contemplation into thirteen sentences:

「八、就像觀中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其十三。」—“Eighth, within the contemplation of the image there is likewise first the raising, next the distinguishing, and last the conclusion — there are thirteen in all” 〔T37n1753 0267a01〕.

The thirteen sentences of the commentary stop at 「得念佛三昧」—“attains the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha,” and the last sixteen characters of the base text do not enter its outline; the judgment of wrong and right in this contemplation the commentary attaches to the single sentence 「令與脩多羅合」—“let it be made to accord with Xiuduoluo” (the eleventh sentence), and not to the last sixteen characters. This stands side by side with the variant recorded in the ninth topic, recorded without adjudication, and no causal inference is drawn between them.

The witness column · Zhiyi’s outline of this passage (recorded without adjudication):

「第八明像想。中有三：初、汎明諸佛法身自在從心想生」—“The eighth clarifies the forming of the image of the figure. It has three parts: first, a general clarification that the dharma-body of the buddhas is unhindered and arises from the imaging mind” 〔T37n1750 0192b01〕. 「二、「是故應當」下，徧觀彼彌陀并示觀行」—“Second, from ‘therefore you should’ onward, contemplating that Amitābha everywhere and showing the practice of contemplation” 〔T37n1750 0192b02〕. 「三、「作是觀者」下，明修觀獲利也」—“Third, from ‘makes this contemplation’ onward clarifies the benefit gained by cultivating the contemplation” 〔T37n1750 0192b03〕.

Zhiyi too sets up no separate topic in this contemplation for showing the contemplation to be wrong or right; his third topic begins at 「作是觀者」—“makes this contemplation” and ends with the benefit. In both commentaries the outline of the final segment of this contemplation is alike wanting; both are recorded without adjudication.

II. Collation with the Alternate Translations — recorded without adjudication

There is no second Chinese translation of this sūtra. The titles of the sūtras in the twelfth volume of the Taishō canon, T12n0360 through T12n0396, have been searched: this is the only such text, and there is no alternate translation against which to collate. Recorded honestly.

Is there a parallel text of the contemplation of the image in the other sūtras of this same axis? Nothing was found — the whole of The Amitābha Sūtra, T12n0366, and of Xuanzang’s The Sūtra on Praising the Pure Land and the Buddha’s Embrace, T12n0367, has been searched, and of such words as 「是心作佛」 (this mind makes the Buddha) and 「法界身」 (the dharma-realm body) not one is found. Recorded honestly.

The text of this passage as cited in Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in the Pure Land, T40n1819, differs from the base text of this edition in certain places — what the commentary on the treatise gives is a citation and not an alternate translation, and the items are recorded one by one at the end of the eighth topic.

III. Scriptural and Treatise Grounding (the “eye”)

The place of the contemplation of the image within the direct recompense — Shandao, distinguishing the true from the provisional in the direct recompense in the Section on the Profound Meaning, clarifies that this contemplation is 「假正報」, the provisional direct recompense:

「言假正報者，即第八像觀是也。」—“As for ‘the provisional direct recompense,’ it is the eighth contemplation, of the image” 〔T37n1753 0246c25〕. 「觀音勢至等亦如是，此由眾生障重染惑處深，佛恐乍想真容無由顯現，故使假立真像以住心想，同彼佛以證境故言假正報也。」—“It is likewise with Avalokiteśvara, Mahāsthāmaprāpta, and the rest. Because the obstructions of sentient beings are heavy and they are deep in defilement and delusion, the Buddha feared that if they were suddenly to form the image of the true countenance it would have no way of appearing, and so he had them provisionally set up a true image upon which to settle the mind’s imaging, so that by likeness to that Buddha the object might be realized; therefore it is called the provisional direct recompense” 〔T37n1753 0246c26〕.

The ninth, the contemplation of the true body, is then 「真正報」—“the true direct recompense” 〔T37n1753 0246c29〕. That a figure is provisionally set up for the mind to settle upon makes a stair for the contemplation of the true body; this is the doctrinal ground on which this contemplation stands before that one.

The text of this contemplation is the ninth of the ten proofs in Shandao’s Section on the Profound Meaning:

「九、如像觀中說言：『佛告韋提：「諸佛如來入一切眾生心想中，是故汝等心想佛時」』者，是其九證也。」—“Ninth, as it is said in the contemplation of the image, ‘The Buddha told Vaidehī: the buddhas, the tathāgatas, enter into the imaging mind of every sentient being; therefore, when your minds form the image of a buddha…’ — this is the ninth proof” 〔T37n1753 0249c04〕.

What Zhiyi attaches to this contemplation lies in the dharma-body’s being unhindered and appearing in accordance with things; the similes and glosses he brings out are given in the fourth and seventh topics. What the two houses attach here is not the same, and both are recorded.

The words of this contemplation are cited by a later treatise-master — Tanluan, in glossing the merit of the body-act in the Treatise on Birth in the Pure Land, cites this whole passage and glosses it himself; see the eighth topic.

IV. Essentials of the Commentary on This Passage (the Commentary in Four Fascicles, line by line)

Why the buddhas are raised in general — the commentary poses the question and answers it:

「言所以者何者，是其問也。所以須想佛者何。」—“As for ‘why is this so,’ that is the question: why must one form the image of the Buddha?” 〔T37n1753 0267a03〕. 「問曰：「韋提上請，唯指彌陀。未審如來今總舉諸佛，有何意也？」」—“Question: ‘Vaidehī’s request above pointed only to Amitābha. It is not clear what intent the Tathāgata has in now raising the buddhas in general.’” 〔T37n1753 0267a06〕. The commentary answers — 「欲顯諸佛三身同證，悲智果圓等齊無二」—“It is to show that the buddhas alike realize the three bodies, and that in compassion and in wisdom their fruit is round, level and equal, without a second” 〔T37n1753 0267a08〕. 「端身一坐影現無方，意赴有緣時臨法界。」—“Sitting upright in a single seat, their reflection appears with no fixed quarter; their intent goes out to those who have the affinity, and in that moment they draw near throughout the dharma-realm” 〔T37n1753 0267a08〕.

The three meanings of 「法界身」, the dharma-realm body —

「言法界者，有三義：一者心遍故解法界。二者身遍故解法界。三者無障礙故解法界。」—“As for ‘dharma-realm,’ it has three meanings: first, because the mind pervades, one understands the dharma-realm; second, because the body pervades, one understands the dharma-realm; third, because there is no obstruction, one understands the dharma-realm” 〔T37n1753 0267a09〕. 「正由心到故身亦隨到，身隨於心，故言是法界身也。」—“It is precisely because the mind arrives that the body arrives with it; the body follows upon the mind, and therefore it is said to be the dharma-realm body” 〔T37n1753 0267a11〕. 「言法界者，是所化之境，即眾生界也。言身者，是能化之身，即諸佛身也。」—“As for ‘dharma-realm,’ it is the sphere that is converted, namely the realm of sentient beings; as for ‘body,’ it is the body that converts, namely the body of the buddhas” 〔T37n1753 0267a13〕.

The meaning of 「入眾生心想中」, entering into the imaging mind of sentient beings —

「言入眾生心想中者，乃由眾生起念願見諸佛，佛即以無礙智知，即能入彼想心中現。」—“As for ‘entering into the imaging mind of sentient beings,’ it is because sentient beings give rise to the thought and wish to see the buddhas that the Buddha knows it with unobstructed wisdom and is able to enter into that imaging mind and appear there” 〔T37n1753 0267a14〕. 「但諸行者，若想念中、若夢定中見佛者，即成斯義也。」—“Whenever practitioners see the Buddha, whether in thought and image or in dream or in concentration, this meaning is fulfilled” 〔T37n1753 0267a16〕.

The meaning of 「是心即是三十二相」, this mind is itself the thirty-two marks —

「此明標心想佛，但作佛解。」—“This clarifies that when the mind is set upon forming the image of the Buddha, one takes it simply as the Buddha” 〔T37n1753 0267a19〕. 「從頂至足心想不捨，一一觀之無暫休息。」—“From the crown to the feet the mind’s imaging does not let go; one contemplates them one by one without a moment’s rest” 〔T37n1753 0267a20〕. 「乃由心緣一一相故，即一一相現。心若不緣，眾相不可見。」—“It is because the mind takes each single mark as its object that each single mark appears. If the mind does not take them as object, the many marks cannot be seen” 〔T37n1753 0267a23〕. 「但自心想作，即應心而現。故言是心，即是三十二相也。」—“It is one’s own mind alone that forms the image and makes it, and it appears in answer to the mind. Therefore it is said that this mind is itself the thirty-two marks” 〔T37n1753 0267a24〕. 「言八十隨形好者，佛相既現，眾好皆隨也。」—“As for ‘the eighty secondary excellences conforming to the form,’ once the Buddha’s marks appear, all the excellences follow with them” 〔T37n1753 0267a25〕.

The gloss on 「是心作佛，是心是佛」 —

「言是心作佛者，依自信心緣相如作也。」—“As for ‘this mind makes the Buddha,’ it is that, relying on one’s own mind of trust, one takes the mark as object and makes it accordingly” 〔T37n1753 0267a27〕. 「言是心是佛者，心能想佛，依想佛身而現，即是心佛也。」—“As for ‘this mind is the Buddha,’ the mind is able to form the image of the Buddha, and he appears in dependence on the imaged Buddha-body; this is precisely the mind-Buddha” 〔T37n1753 0267a28〕. 「離此心外，更無異佛者也。」—“Apart from this mind there is no other, different buddha” 〔T37n1753 0267a29〕.

Below this the commentary sets up a barrier of its own —

「或有行者，將此一門之義作唯識法身之觀，或作自性清淨佛性觀者，其意甚錯，絕無少分相似也。」—“There are practitioners who take the meaning of this one gate as a contemplation of the consciousness-only dharma-body, or as a contemplation of the intrinsically pure buddha-nature: their intent is greatly mistaken, and there is not the least part of resemblance” 〔T37n1753 0267b04〕. 「既言想像假立三十二相者，真如法界身豈有相而可緣，有身而可取也。」—“Since it says that in forming the image one provisionally sets up the thirty-two marks, how could the dharma-realm body of suchness have marks that could be taken as object, or a body that could be grasped?” 〔T37n1753 0267b06〕. 「然法身無色，絕於眼對，更無類可方，故取虛空以喻法身之體也。」—“Yet the dharma-body has no form and is cut off from what the eye faces; there is nothing of its kind to set beside it, and so empty space is taken to figure the substance of the dharma-body” 〔T37n1753 0267b08〕. 「又今此觀門等，唯指方立相，住心而取境，總不明無相離念也。」—“Moreover this gate of contemplation and the rest only point out the direction and set up the mark, settling the mind and taking the object; nowhere do they clarify marklessness and the departure from thought” 〔T37n1753 0267b09〕. 「如來懸知末代罪濁凡夫，立相住心尚不能得，何況離相而求事者。」—“The Tathāgata knew from afar that ordinary beings of the last age, guilty and turbid, cannot so much as set up the mark and settle the mind — how much less those who would depart from the mark and seek the matter” 〔T37n1753 0267b11〕. 「如似無術通人，居空立舍也。」—“It is like a man without the arts of supernormal power building a house in mid-air” 〔T37n1753 0267b13〕.

The two sayings 「離此心外，更無異佛者也」—“apart from this mind there is no other, different buddha” 〔T37n1753 0267a29〕 and 「其意甚錯」—“their intent is greatly mistaken” 〔T37n1753 0267b05〕 come out of one and the same commentary and stand five lines apart; this edition records both verbatim, imposing no reconciliation in the commentary’s stead and making no judgment as to which is its settled meaning.

The method of contemplating the image —

「又觀像住心之法一如前說」—“Again, the method of contemplating the image and settling the mind is entirely as stated above” 〔T37n1753 0267b23〕. 「從頂一一想之，面眉毫相、眼鼻口耳、咽項肩臂手指」—“From the crown one forms the image of them one by one: the face, the brows and the tuft-mark, the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the ears, the throat, the neck, the shoulders, the arms and the fingers” 〔T37n1753 0267b24〕. 「從上向下名順觀，從下千輪向上名逆觀」—“From above downward is called forward contemplation; from the thousand-spoked wheels below upward is called reverse contemplation” 〔T37n1753 0267b26〕. 「又佛身及華座寶地等，必須上下通觀。」—“Again, the Buddha’s body together with the Flower Throne and the jeweled ground and the rest must be contemplated throughout, above and below” 〔T37n1753 0267b28〕.

Here the commentary judges the weight of this contemplation among the thirteen —

「然十三觀中，此寶地寶華金像等觀最要。」—“Yet among the thirteen contemplations, those of the jeweled ground, the jeweled flower, and the golden image are the most essential” 〔T37n1753 0267b29〕. 「若欲教人即教此法。但此一法成者，餘觀即自然了也。」—“If one would teach another, let him teach this method. Once this one method is accomplished, the remaining contemplations are of themselves clear” 〔T37n1753 0267c01〕.

The images of the two bodhisattvas, and guarding the settled mind —

「欲觀此二菩薩者，一如觀佛法也。」—“One who would contemplate these two bodhisattvas does so entirely as in the method of contemplating the Buddha” 〔T37n1753 0267c05〕. 「又聞一切莊嚴皆能說於妙法，既見聞此已，恒持莫失，名守定心也。」—“Again, he hears that all the adornments are able to speak the wondrous Dharma; and having seen and heard this, he holds it constantly and does not lose it — this is called guarding the settled mind” 〔T37n1753 0267c11〕.

The closing words of the whole contemplation —

「斯乃群生障重，真佛之觀難階，是以大聖垂哀，且遣注心形像。」—“It is that the obstructions of the multitude of beings are heavy and the contemplation of the true Buddha is hard to climb to; therefore the great sage let down his compassion and for the time being directed them to pour the mind upon a figure” 〔T37n1753 0267c17〕.

V. Divergent Readings of the Commentators (in parallel columns — recorded without adjudication)

Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in the Pure Land (Northern Wei) gives a separate gloss on the same passage, recorded here for comparison (it is not one of the two mirrors of this edition, but a master of old within this corpus who cites the passage; his period is stated as it is):

「是心作佛者，言心能作佛也。」—“‘This mind makes the Buddha’ says that the mind is able to make a buddha” 〔T40n1819 0832a24〕. 「是心是佛者，心外無佛也。」—“‘This mind is the Buddha’ says that outside the mind there is no buddha” 〔T40n1819 0832a24〕. 「言諸佛如來是法界身者，法界是眾生心法也。」—“As for ‘the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are the dharma-realm body,’ the dharma-realm is the mind-dharma of sentient beings” 〔T40n1819 0832a15〕. 「以心能生世間出世間一切諸法故，名心為法界。」—“Because the mind is able to give rise to all dharmas, worldly and world-transcending, the mind is named the dharma-realm” 〔T40n1819 0832a16〕.

The three houses each have their own reading of these eight characters; all are recorded without adjudication, no reconciliation is imposed, and no one of them is chosen as correct.

VI. Terms (first occurrences — all glosses drawn from the two mirrors)

Terms on which the two mirrors yield nothing, recorded honestly: for the three words 「閻浮檀」 (Jambūnada), 「鳧鴈」 (the wild ducks and geese), and 「鴛鴦」 (the mandarin ducks), neither commentary gives one word of gloss anywhere in its whole text (each has been searched through). The word 「麁想」 (rough image) Shandao uses separately at the contemplation of the image of water (「又細想及麁想，心水即動」—“again, with fine imaging and with rough imaging, the water of the mind stirs” 〔T37n1753 0262c29〕), which is not the same use as 「名為麁想見極樂世界」—“it is called seeing the world of Ultimate Bliss in a rough image” in this passage; the gloss there is not made to stand for the sense here.

The transcribed terms in this passage are not limited to these (samādhi, Jambūnada, bodhisattva, kalpa, Duotuoajiadu, Aluohe, Sanmiaosanfotuo, Xiuduoluo, and the rest); the two commentaries give Chinese names for only the last four (the glosses all take the Chinese names Zhiyi supplies; see the table above), and for the rest they give none; this edition does not supply Sanskrit forms in their stead.

VII. Similes and Rhetoric

The one simile the sūtra uses of itself: 「見如此事，極令明了，如觀掌中」—“see this matter with utmost clarity, as though looking at the palm of the hand” 〔T12n0365 0343a28〕 — the clarity of an accomplished contemplation given by the looking at a palm. This simile is of the same type as 「如於鏡中自見面像」—“as though seeing one’s own face in a mirror” 〔T12n0365 0343a15〕 in the seventh contemplation, and the tenth uses it once more, 「悉令明了，如觀掌中」—“let all be clear and distinct, as though looking at the palm of the hand” 〔T12n0365 0344a16〕: three occurrences in the whole sūtra.

Similes set up by the mirror commentaries (not present in the sūtra, recorded here for reference and not to be confounded with the sūtra’s own simile):

Two things may be recorded as rhetoric. First, of the eight characters of the two sentences 「是心作佛，是心是佛」 six are the same, and only the one character 「作」, makes, is exchanged for 「是」, is — and with that the position of the meaning is settled otherwise; in the whole of this sūtra a doubled sentence of this kind occurs here alone. Second, this passage begins at 「見此事已」 and begins again at 「見此事已」 (〔T12n0365 0343a18〕 and 〔T12n0365 0343a29〕): within a single passage the same words are used twice, the first taking up the Flower Throne of the seventh contemplation and the second the jeweled image of this one, so that one and the same form of words strings contemplation to contemplation.

VIII. Citation and Carrying Forward

• Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in the Pure Land, T40n1819, cites the text of this passage verbatim and glosses it himself (Northern Wei; found within this corpus):

  「問曰：《觀無量壽經》言「諸佛如來是法界身，入一切眾生心想中。是故汝等心想佛時，是心即是三十二相八十隨形好，是心作佛、是心是佛，諸佛正遍知海從心想生。」是義云何？」—“Question: The Sūtra on Contemplating the Buddha of Measureless Life says, ‘The buddhas, the tathāgatas, are the dharma-realm body and enter into the imaging mind of every sentient being. Therefore, when your minds form the image of a buddha, this mind is itself the thirty-two marks and the eighty secondary excellences conforming to the form; this mind makes the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha; the ocean of perfect and universal knowledge of the buddhas arises from the imaging mind.’ What is the meaning of this?” 〔T40n1819 0832a08〕

  His own gloss is given in the fifth topic. The sentence as cited in the commentary on the treatise differs from the base text of this edition in one place of wording: the base text reads 「遍入一切眾生心想中」—“enter everywhere into the imaging mind of every sentient being” 〔T12n0365 0343a19〕, while the commentary on the treatise cites 「入一切眾生心想中」—“enter into the imaging mind of every sentient being.” It turns upon the single character 「遍」, everywhere, which is precisely the variant recorded in the Taishō collation notes (see the ninth topic). There is besides one difference of punctuation, which is not a difference of wording: the enumeration mark in the base text’s 「是心即是三十二相、八十隨形好」—“this mind is itself the thirty-two marks and the eighty secondary excellences conforming to the form” 〔T12n0365 0343a20〕 is not added where the commentary on the treatise cites it — punctuation is a thing men of today have applied to the canon, the characters of the two are not different, and it is not entered as a textual variant.

• Shandao’s Section on the Profound Meaning cites this passage as its ninth proof 〔T37n1753 0249c04〕, and what he cites reads 「諸佛如來入一切眾生心想中」—“the buddhas, the tathāgatas, enter into the imaging mind of every sentient being,” likewise without the character 「遍」, agreeing with the commentary on the treatise. All three places are recorded without adjudication.

• Citations of the Ming and Qing (their periods stated as they are, not conflated with the masters of the Tang and Song): a text of the water-and-land ritual class, X74n1499 (Qing), in narrating this sūtra cites 「諸佛如來是法界身，入一切眾生心想中，汝等心想佛時，此心即是三十二相，八十種好，是心作佛，是心是佛」—“the buddhas, the tathāgatas, are the dharma-realm body and enter into the imaging mind of every sentient being; when your minds form the image of a buddha, this mind is itself the thirty-two marks and the eighty kinds of excellence; this mind makes the Buddha, this mind is the Buddha” 〔X74n1499 0879a04〕; and the Gazetteer of Mount Jiuhua, GA072n0077 (revised by the monk Yinguang in the Republic), in its biography of Zhixu of the Qing preserves Ouyi Zhixu’s reply to Zhuo Zuoche, which uses 「是心作佛，是心是佛」—“this mind makes the Buddha; this mind is the Buddha” as a saying 〔GA072n0077 0187a01〕 without naming the sūtra. The fact is recorded; the meaning is not argued.

• How the meaning of this contemplation carries forward inside the sūtra itself: the commentary states outright that the image set up in this contemplation is the stair to the contemplation of the true body — 「斯乃群生障重，真佛之觀難階，是以大聖垂哀，且遣注心形像。」—“it is that the obstructions of the multitude of beings are heavy and the contemplation of the true Buddha is hard to climb to; therefore the great sage let down his compassion and for the time being directed them to pour the mind upon a figure” 〔T37n1753 0267c17〕; and the sūtra likewise takes up the Flower Throne before it with 「見此事已」—“once this matter has been seen” 〔T12n0365 0343a18〕 and opens the true body after it with 「此想成已」—“once this image is accomplished” 〔T12n0365 0343b15〕, the three contemplations linked one to the next in order.

IX. Placement Among the Recensions

The collation notes (<app>) within the domain of this unit come to twelve in all: ten Taishō variants, one item carried over by precedent, and one newly added CBETA collation note (those carried over by precedent are notes whose base-text entry stands elsewhere while the precedent extends to this place, marked in parentheses in the table below):

Four things may be recorded:

① 〔T12n0365 0343a19〕 The presence or absence of 「遍」 — the base text reads 「遍入一切眾生心想中」, enter everywhere into the imaging mind of every sentient being, while the Yuan, the Ming, and the current-circulation printing have no 「遍」. Shandao’s Section on the Profound Meaning, where it cites this 〔T37n1753 0249c04〕, and Tanluan’s Commentary on the Treatise on Birth in the Pure Land, where it cites this 〔T40n1819 0832a08〕, both read 「入一切眾生心想中」, without the character 「遍」. All four places are recorded, not one character of the base text is altered on that account, and no judgment is made in their stead as to which is the original text.

② 〔T12n0365 0343b11〕 The inversion of the name of the contemplation — the base text reads 「是為想像」, this is the forming of the image, while the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, and the current-circulation printing read 「像想」. The unit name carved in this edition follows the base text with 「想像」; Shandao’s commentary marks it 「像觀」—“the contemplation of the image” 〔T37n1753 0267a01〕, and Zhiyi’s commentary marks it 「像想」—“the image formed” 〔T37n1750 0192b01〕. All three forms are recorded without adjudication.

③ 〔T12n0365 0343b13〕 The last sixteen characters — the last sixteen characters of the base text are absent from all five of the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, the Dunhuang witness, and the current-circulation printing (the Taishō’s original form gives it as a lacuna of sixteen characters). Two matters are set beside this, with no causal inference drawn between them: ⓐ the thirteen sentences of Shandao’s commentary on this contemplation stop at 「得念佛三昧」, attains the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha, and his distinguishing of whether the contemplation is wrong or right is attached to the single sentence 「令與脩多羅合」 〔T37n1753 0267c13〕 and not to the last sixteen characters; ⓑ the three topics of Zhiyi’s commentary on this contemplation likewise set up no separate topic for showing the contemplation to be wrong or right 〔T37n1750 0192b01〕. Both are recorded, and the outline of a commentary is not used to prove the text of a witness. This item is of the same type as the variant of the last sixteen characters of the first contemplation, of the image of the sun 〔T12n0365 0342a04〕, and is the second such occurrence in this sūtra.

④ The 「敦」 (Dunhuang) witness appears for the first time in this unit — the Taishō collation notes give no reading from the Dunhuang witness until 〔T12n0365 0343b10〕, and from this unit onward its notes grow denser through the contemplations that follow. Where it first appears is recorded honestly.

Graph and lemma: the base text reads 「令與修多羅合」 〔T12n0365 0343b09〕, while Shandao’s commentary marks it 「令與脩多羅合」 〔T37n1753 0267c13〕, the two graphs 「修」 and 「脩」 differing; Zhiyi’s commentary reads 「修」 〔T37n1750 0192b21〕. Each belongs to its own text and no regularization of graphs is imposed (the policy of this axis).

Gaiji: nothing found in this unit. Inline glosses (place="inline" notes): nothing found in this unit. Ideographic space (U+3000): nothing found in this unit.