摩訶止觀 正修止觀（總論）

Once you genuinely begin the work, torpor, distraction, afflictions, illness, and even meditative concentration and the sense that you have attained something may all become more vivid. This does not immediately prove that cultivation is going well, nor does it immediately prove that you have taken a wrong turn.

Zhiyi first holds to only two sentences: do not follow, and do not fear. Following an object loses the correct road; retreating in fear also obstructs proper cultivation. When torpor comes, contemplate upon torpor. When distraction comes, calm within distraction. A pig rubbing against a golden mountain, many streams entering the sea, fuel making fire blaze, and wind enlarging the kalā-gurula insect—objects do not merely obstruct you; they also reveal whether calming-and-contemplation truly has strength.

The treatise therefore opens ten objects: aggregates/sense fields/elements, afflictions, illness, karmic marks, demonic affairs, meditative concentration, various views, overbearing pride, the Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas. The first is not a mysterious experience but this very body and mind. It has never been absent. Cultivation need not wait for a special object before it can begin.

The remaining nine arise according to causes and conditions. They may have a sequence or disregard sequence, appear alone and distinctly or crisscross and overlap. A wholesome object may harm calming-and-contemplation, while an unwholesome one may deepen clarity and stillness. An object’s name, duration, ease, difficulty, or number of appearances cannot complete the judgment for you. The final questions remain: has calming become stiller, and has contemplation become clearer?

The sixteen rounds of questions and answers push this point to its limit. The five aggregates are the object and can also become contemplation. Although the aggregates turn, the contemplated object remains distinctly present. One thought has no graspable mark, yet the causes and results of the ten Dharma realms do not disappear. Dharma-nature is originally so, not made temporarily, like one mote of dust inherently possessing the divisions of the ten directions.

Proper cultivation does not mean finally encountering a perfect object. It means that whatever object comes, you make it neither master nor enemy. You see it clearly and investigate it in the present, neither mistakenly taking nor mistakenly abandoning it.

Mohe Zhiguan, Fascicle Five〔Upper〕

Spoken by Tiantai Master Zhiyi of the Sui dynasty and recorded by his disciple Guanding.

From Wondrous Understanding into Correct Practice

Seventh is proper cultivation of calming-and-contemplation. The preceding six layers all opened wondrous understanding on the basis of scripture; now correct practice must be established on the basis of that understanding. Lamp oil and flame depend upon one another, just as eyes and feet support one another. When practice and understanding both become diligent, the three obstructions and four Māras race to arise; profound torpor and vast distraction cover and shake the concentration and clarity already present.

These objects must neither be followed nor feared. Follow them and they carry one toward evil destinies; fear them and they obstruct cultivation of correct Dharma. Contemplate torpor with contemplation so that torpor itself turns clear; calm distraction with calming so that distraction itself turns still. This resembles a pig rubbing against a golden mountain, many streams entering the sea, fuel making fire blaze more strongly, or wind enlarging the kalā-gurula insect.

This vajra-like contemplation can cut through the battle formation of afflictions; these firm and powerful feet can cross the wilderness of birth and death. Wisdom is purified through practice, and practice advances through wisdom. Illuminating, moistening, guiding, and penetrating interweave and adorn one another, like two hands on one body rubbing and polishing each other. One thereby not only opens inwardly, removes obstructions, and advances one’s own path, but also becomes versed in sūtras and treatises and outwardly awakens those who have not heard the Dharma. Shaping oneself and shaping others, one completes both self-benefit and benefit of others. Who else but such a person could be a teacher of the people and treasure of the state?

One further learns the Buddha’s compassion, withholding nothing, teaching calming-and-contemplation to others and giving it to them. It is like opening the gate of a treasury and pouring out what it contains, or relinquishing the wish-fulfilling jewel. The jewel radiates light and rains down treasure: it breaks the darkness and enriches the destitute, releases illumination in the long night, and relieves the poor. Riding the two wheels of calming-and-contemplation, one reaches far; spreading the two wings of practice and understanding, one flies high. Smooth as jade and vivid as kingfisher-blue—how could its excellence be exhausted in words? Even crushing one’s bones at the City of Fragrance or casting away the body on the snowy peaks would hardly repay the kindness of Dharma.

Vessels for Hearing Dharma and Losses in Persons and Dharmas

A swift horse sees the shadow of the whip and immediately enters the correct road. A foolish, dull person resembles one in whom poison has entered deeply and who has lost the original mind. Without confidence, Dharma cannot enter the hand; without the hook of hearing Dharma, even what is heard cannot be understood. Lacking the eye of wisdom, one cannot distinguish true from false. The whole body resembles one numb with leprosy, unable to advance even one step and unaware of the condition. Why labor to teach Dharma to someone who accumulates offenses this way?

Even if such a person rejects the world, one may only savor an inferior vehicle and cling to branches and leaves, like a dog familiar only with laborers; one may revere a monkey as Śakra and offer gravel as the bright pearl. How can the path be discussed with someone in such darkness? There are also dhyāna practitioners who do not penetrate others’ capacities and invariably prescribe milk as medicine. Some speak of embodying mind or stepping upon mind, some teach harmonizing, awakening, or seeking, and others speak of extinction or clarity, yet all follow only one track. Obstacles and difficulties have ten thousand roads, but they cannot distinguish the confusion. Seeing the slightest unusual mark, they immediately judge it the path. Unsuitable as vessels themselves and lacking the skill to shape others, teacher and disciple rely on one another like the blind and lame and fall together, as though blind and lame persons wandered at night. They are truly pitiable. The calming-and-contemplation described here should not be taught to the kinds of people above. For the noble it accomplishes nobility; through the base it reveals baseness.

Opening the Objects Contemplated into Ten

The objects faced by calming-and-contemplation are now opened into ten kinds: first, aggregates, sense fields, and elements; second, afflictions; third, illness; fourth, karmic marks; fifth, demonic affairs; sixth, meditative concentration; seventh, various views; eighth, overbearing pride; ninth, the Two Vehicles; and tenth, bodhisattvas. All ten can cover and obstruct calming-and-contemplation.

There are two reasons for placing the aggregates first. First, they are present before the eyes. Second, this follows scripture. The Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Śrāvakas practice the path in reliance on the four establishments of mindfulness; bodhisattvas first contemplate form and continue through wisdom of all modes.” Every chapter is like this, so no scripture is violated. Once practitioners have received a body, who does not have the burden of aggregates and sense fields immediately present? They are therefore contemplated first. Only when a different mark later arises is it arranged separately as the next object.

The five aggregates and four elements combine. If not illuminated and examined, they rush onward without one’s knowing, like someone shut inside a boat’s cabin and carried downstream—how would one know the boat is flying swiftly? Only when turning back and going upstream does one begin to notice how fast the water flows. Contemplating the result of the five aggregates stirs the cause of afflictions, so after the five aggregates the text discusses the four divisions.

The four elements are illnesses of body; the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion are illnesses of mind. Ordinarily, because body and mind are evenly joined, consciousness does not notice. Now the elements and divisions are contemplated together, striking one another through channels and organs; the four snakes become imbalanced and rise, thereby producing illness.

Immeasurable karmic practices are too numerous to reckon, and weak, scattered goodness cannot stir them. By cultivating calming-and-contemplation now without abandoning it in health or illness, one turns the wheel of birth and death. Sometimes wholesome karma sprouts and karmic marks move; sometimes unwholesome karma decays and karmic marks move; sometimes wholesome karma moves to disclose the retribution about to be received; sometimes unwholesome karma comes to demand its retribution. Karmic marks are therefore taught after illness.

When unwholesome karma moves, its evil is about to cease; when wholesome karma moves, goodness is about to arise. Māra urgently emits its realm and arrives to make many difficulties or destroy the practitioner’s path. Demonic affairs are therefore taught after karmic marks.

If demonic affairs can be crossed, merit arises. Through causes cultivated in the past or the power of present practice, many kinds of meditative concentration race to arise: some with attachment to savor, some pure, some arising horizontally, and some vertically. Meditative concentration is therefore taught after demonic affairs.

Meditative concentration has a factor of contemplation, from which wrong wisdom may arise. When one contemplates Dharmas in a negligent and one-sided manner, many inversions arise, and deviant eloquence becomes extremely fierce and sharp. Various views are therefore taught after meditative concentration.

If one knows the various views are wrong, stops delusive thought and attachment, and neither sharp nor dull delusions of greed and anger arise, a person without wisdom supposes nirvāṇa has been realized. In the Lesser Vehicle, some falsely reckon the four dhyānas as the four fruits; in the Great Vehicle, a Māra may arrive and bestow a prediction. These are persons of overbearing pride who have not realized but suppose they have. Overbearing pride is therefore taught after various views.

Once views and overbearing pride become quiet, Lesser Vehicle Dharma cultivated in past lives may arise because mind is still. Śāriputra’s relinquishing his eye is such an event. The Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Among bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges who arouse the great mind, only one or two enter the bodhisattva stage; most fall into the Two Vehicles.” The Two Vehicles are therefore taught after overbearing pride.

If one can remember the original vow and not fall into one-sided emptiness, objects belonging to bodhisattvas on many paths of preparatory means arise. The Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Some bodhisattvas who have not long cultivated the six perfections hear profound Dharma, slander it, and fall into hell.” This refers to bodhisattvas of the six perfections. Those at preparatory stages of the Shared Teaching may also slander; after entering the true path, they do not. The initial mind in the Distinct Teaching already knows there is profound Dharma and therefore likewise does not slander it. All these belong to many skillful wholesome roots and are therefore taught after the Two Vehicles.

These ten objects begin with the ordinary person’s direct retribution and end with what is called “the noble person’s preparatory means.” The object of aggregates and sense fields is always immediately present and can be contemplated whether the others arise or not. The remaining nine become objects of contemplation only when they arise; if they do not arise, what would there be to contemplate? Further, the first eight are distant from the correct path and require deep protection before returning to the proper course. The last two are close to the correct path. Upon reaching these stages, there is no need to fear a complete absence of contemplative Dharma; a little cultivation can return them to correctness.

Ten Gates of the Objects’ Mutual Arising

Failure to understand how the various objects arise in relation to one another produces a vast net of doubt, like standing at a fork and not knowing which road to take. If one has first heard these Dharma-marks, no matter how strangely objects transform, mind can remain settled like empty space. Mutual arising has ten gates: sequential/nonsequential, mixed/unmixed, complete/incomplete, intentional/unintentional, accomplished/unaccomplished, beneficial/nonbeneficial, lasting/nonlasting, difficult/not difficult, repeated/not repeated, and the three obstructions/four Māras. Together they are called nine pairs and seven singletons.

Sequential and Nonsequential

Sequential has three meanings: Dharma, cultivation, and arising. Dharma means that the Dharmas themselves have a sequence from shallow to deep. Cultivation means they were studied sequentially in a past life or are cultivated sequentially in this life. Arising means that they are cultivated in sequence and arise in sequence.

Nonsequential likewise has the three meanings of Dharma, cultivation, and arising. As to arising, the order need not be fixed: the bodhisattva object may arise first and the object of aggregates and sense fields later. Although out of order, all ten remain numerically complete. As to cultivation, when the four elements oppose one another, illness is treated first; when the four divisions increase, afflictions are treated first. The same applies to every object: whichever has stronger force is cultivated first.

As to Dharma, eye, ear, nose, tongue, aggregates, sense fields, elements, and so forth are all gates of quiescence and all the Dharma realm. Why abandon this Dharma to take another? This comes from the Jeweled Casket Scripture〔and so forth〕. Know that outside the Dharma realm there is no other Dharma to arrange in sequence.

Afflictions themselves are the Dharma realm. As the Scripture of the Nonpractice of All Dharmas says, “Craving itself is the path.” The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “Practicing the non-path, one penetrates the Buddha-path.” Once the Buddha-path is penetrated, there is no further sequence.

Illness itself is the Dharma realm. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “My present illness is neither real nor existent; beings’ illness is likewise neither real nor existent.” Through this, one treats oneself and liberates beings. Vimalakīrti manifested illness in his square chamber, and the Tathāgata manifested illness-practice between the twin trees. This is precisely the meaning.

Karmic marks themselves are the Dharma realm. Karma belongs to the aggregate of formations. The Lotus Sutra says, “Deeply penetrating the marks of offense and merit, universally illuminating the ten directions, the subtle and wondrous pure Dharma body possesses the thirty-two marks.” Penetrating how karma arises through causes and conditions and lacks sovereignty reveals emptiness; this karma breaks karma. When beings should be liberated through a certain karma, many karmic acts are manifested; this karma establishes karma. Karma and nonkarma, bondage and liberation, are all unattainable. Universal-gate manifestation simultaneously illuminates bondage and liberation, so it is called “deep penetration.” How could this be enough only to make one a teacher of the Vaipulya teaching?

Demonic affairs themselves are the Dharma realm. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says, “The thusness of the Māra-realm and the thusness of the Buddha-realm are one thusness, not two.” Within ultimate reality even Buddha cannot be seen; how much less Māra? Even if a Māra exists, it resembles good medicine smeared on the soles of one’s shoes, ready to be ridden and employed〔and so forth〕.

Dhyāna itself is the Dharma realm. One able to contemplate mind-nature is said to possess the highest concentration; this is śūraṅgama. The inner mind is neither obscured nor scattered, enters king samādhi, and gathers every samādhi within it.

Views themselves are the Dharma realm. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “Enter the correct mark through a deviant mark, and without moving from the various views cultivate the thirty-seven factors.” One may also cultivate them while moving, not moving, both moving and not moving, or neither moving nor not moving. Views serve as the gate of entry and also as attendants.

Pride itself is the Dharma realm and never leaves afflictions. Contemplating the nonpride, great pride, and neither-pride-nor-nonpride of pride thereby accomplishes the secret treasury and enters great nirvāṇa.

The Two Vehicles themselves are the Dharma realm. If one only “sees emptiness but does not see the not-empty”〔and so forth〕, know that “the wise see emptiness and also see the not-empty.” It is further said: “Decisively understanding the śrāvaka Dharma, this king of all scriptures, and having heard it, reflecting according to truth, one draws near the unsurpassed path.”

The bodhisattva object itself is the Dharma realm. If even the basest unwholesome Dharmas, birth and death, and the Lesser Vehicle are themselves the Dharma realm, how could bodhisattva Dharma not be the Buddha-path? The provisionality of a bodhisattva’s preparatory means is itself the real and also neither provisional nor real. Through this one accomplishes the secret treasury and enters great nirvāṇa. Thus every Dharma is itself the Dharma realm; this is the nonsequential Dharma-mark.

Mixed/Unmixed and Complete/Incomplete

Mixed and unmixed mean the following. When one object arises, then stops before another object arises, with each one distinctly clear, this is unmixed. If aggregates and sense fields have just arisen when afflictions appear, and before afflictions cease karma, Māra, dhyāna, views, pride, and so forth also arise, so that several objects crisscross, occur together, or follow one another in overlapping succession, this is mixed arising. Even mixed arising does not go beyond the ten objects.

Complete and incomplete concern numerical fullness. If all ten are present, this is complete; if any one is absent, incomplete. Sequential/nonsequential and mixed/unmixed can each be further discussed as complete or incomplete. There are also generally complete, generally incomplete, particularly complete, and particularly incomplete. When all ten numbers are present, this is generally complete. When the ten cannot be known in detail, generally incomplete. When one is missing among the nine, particularly incomplete. When every one among the nine is known in detail, particularly complete.

There are further horizontally complete/incomplete and vertically complete/incomplete. For example, arising from the four dhyānas through the concentration of neither perception nor nonperception is vertically complete; reaching only the concentration at the base of nothingness is vertically incomplete. The arising of penetrating-illumination dhyāna, liberations, and so forth is horizontally complete; arising of only seven liberations is horizontally incomplete. Again, arising from the first through fourth dhyāna is vertically complete; reaching only the third is vertically incomplete. Within the first dhyāna, possessing all nine grades is vertically complete; reaching only the eighth is vertically incomplete. Within one grade, possessing all five factors is horizontally complete; possessing four or fewer is horizontally incomplete. All remaining cases follow by analogy〔and so forth〕.

Cultivated/Uncultivated, Accomplished/Unaccomplished, Beneficial/Nonbeneficial

Cultivated and uncultivated mean the following. Intentionally cultivating aggregates, sense fields, and elements so that sense fields and elements open into understanding is cultivated and arising. When aggregates, sense fields, and elements arise by themselves without intention and one penetrates form and mind, this is uncultivated and arising. The same applies through the bodhisattva object. The four alternatives should be taken as the basis, each interwoven into thirty-six statements, as illustrated below in the object of afflictions.

Accomplished and unaccomplished mean the following. When one object arises and is ultimately accomplished, then stops before another arises, and each further object is likewise ultimately accomplished, this is accomplishment. When one object arises but abruptly disappears, with not only an incomplete number of grades but every portion dark, obscure, and unclear, this is nonaccomplishment. The preceding complete/incomplete concerns only the number of heads; here the issue is whether the substance of one object is complete from beginning to end.

Beneficial and nonbeneficial mean the following. Sometimes an unwholesome Dharma arises but greatly benefits calming-and-contemplation, turning illumination and stillness deeper. Sometimes a wholesome Dharma arises but greatly harms calming-and-contemplation, damaging stillness and illumination. One can further distinguish increasing stillness while damaging illumination, damaging stillness while increasing illumination, increasing both, and damaging both.

Difficult/Easy, Lasting/Brief, Repeated/Not Repeated

Difficult and not difficult to arise mean that unwholesome Dharmas may be difficult or easy to arise, wholesome Dharmas may be difficult or easy to arise, both wholesome and unwholesome may be difficult, or both may be easy.

Lasting and not lasting mean that one object may remain for a long time without receding, or may recede as soon as it arises〔and so forth〕.

Repeated and not repeated mean that one object may arise once and then a second time, or repeatedly many times; another object may arise once and stop, never arising again. These many differences must be skillfully understood and must not be wrongly accepted or rejected. Every one must be investigated through calming-and-contemplation so that mind has no obstruction.

Three Obstructions and Four Māras

Concerning the three obstructions and four Māras, the Contemplation of Samantabhadra says, “The people of Jambudvīpa have heavy three obstructions.” Aggregates and sense fields and illness belong to the obstruction of retribution; afflictions, views, and pride to the obstruction of affliction; and karma, Māra, dhyāna, the Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas to the obstruction of karma. They obstruct calming-and-contemplation, making calming not still and contemplation not clear. They also block the path of awakening so practitioners cannot penetrate the stages of the five grades and purification of the six faculties; they are therefore called “obstructions.”

As for the four Māras, aggregates and sense fields themselves are the Māra of aggregates. Karma, dhyāna, the Two Vehicles, bodhisattvas, and the like all belong to the aggregate of formations and are also called the Māra of aggregates. Afflictions, views, pride, and so forth are the Māra of afflictions. Illness is a cause of death and is called the Māra of death. Demonic affairs constitute the Māra as a heavenly being. Māra has the meaning “one who takes away”: destroying contemplation is called “taking life,” and destroying calming is “taking the body.” Māra also means “grinding and distorting”: it grinds and distorts contemplation, making it dark, and grinds and distorts calming, making it scattered; it is therefore called Māra〔and so forth〕.

Causes and Conditions across Two Lives in Mutual Arising

Question: Why do these objects arise in relation to one another?

Answer: All arise through causes and conditions in past and present lives. If one has seeds of gradual contemplation from the past, the rain of cultivation in this life makes them arise in sequence. With seeds of sudden contemplation, they arise out of sequence; with seeds of indeterminate contemplation, in a mixed fashion. If their number was complete in past cultivation, they arise completely in this life; if incomplete, incompletely. If realization occurred in the past, arising in this life can be accomplished; if there was only cultivation without realization, arising in this life is unaccomplished. When the past cause is strong, an object arises without cultivation in this life; when the present condition is strong, it waits for cultivation before arising.

If the past cause and present condition are both skillful and dedicated toward the higher path, what arises in this life brings benefit. If poison was mixed into past causes and conditions, what arises in this life causes harm. If the original force of an object’s cause was weak, it does not remain long; if strong, it remains. From coarse abiding through subtle abiding to the four dhyānas, strength and weakness should be judged level by level〔and so forth〕.

A wholesome object arises easily when the enclosure of obstruction is light and with difficulty when the obstruction is heavy. An unwholesome object arises with difficulty when the capacity is sharp and easily when the capacity is dull. When an unwholesome object is about to cease, it comes to take leave; when a wholesome object is about to arise, it comes to announce itself—thus it arises only once and does not recur. When a wholesome object is about to cease, it comes seeking rescue; when an unwholesome object is about to flourish, it comes seeking acceptance—thus it arises again and again and again.

All this requires the essential instructions of oral transmission and the careful weighing of wisdom. Do not rely only upon your own mind and mistakenly judge right and wrong. Be circumspect! Be diligent! Take this seriously!

Sixteen Rounds of Private Analysis

1. If Dharmas Are Like Dust and Sand, Why Fix the Objects at Ten?

Question: Dharmas are as numerous as dust and sand. Why are the contemplated objects fixed at ten?

Answer: It is like the great earth: though one, it can produce many kinds of sprouts. Fixing the number at ten is neither too broad nor too abbreviated and makes the meaning easy to understand; therefore ten are taught.

2. In What Sense Are the Ten Objects Shared, and in What Sense Distinct?

Question: What are the shared and distinct meanings of the ten objects?

Answer: When beings first receive a body, not one lacks a body; contemplative methods in the scriptures also often begin from form. The aggregates are therefore placed first. One can speak of aggregate-basis, aggregate-cause, aggregate-affliction, aggregate-master, wholesome aggregates, as well as aggregate-cause, distinct aggregates, and so forth〔and so forth〕.

Under the shared name afflictions, views and pride likewise belong to afflictions; aggregates and sense fields and illness are results of afflictions; karma is their cause; dhyāna is unmoving karma, and karma is the function of afflictions; Māra governs the desire realm and is master of afflictions; and the Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas are embraced by distinct delusion〔and so forth〕.

Under the shared name illness, aggregates, sense fields, and elements are the basis of illness; afflictions, views, pride, and so forth are illnesses of affliction. The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says, “My present illness all arises from delusive thoughts and many afflictions in past lives.” Karma is also illness. The Great Nirvāṇa Sūtra says, “The king is now gravely ill.” Here the five heinous acts are called illness. Māra can create illness; the three disasters are outward afflictions, while panting and joy are inward afflictions. Dhyāna has joy and pleasure and therefore also belongs to illness. The Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas have the illness of emptiness, while that illness of emptiness is itself empty.

Under the shared name karma, aggregates and sense fields are karmic result; afflictions, views, and pride are the basis of karma; illness is karmic retribution; Māra is Māra-karma; dhyāna is unmoving karma; and the Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas are uncontaminated karma.

Under the shared name Māra, aggregates and sense fields are the Māra of aggregates; afflictions, views, and pride are the Māra of afflictions; illness is the Māra of death; demonic affairs constitute the Māra as heavenly being; and every remaining object is embraced by the Māra of formations.

Under the shared name meditative concentration, dhyāna itself is the dhyāna object. Aggregates and sense fields, afflictions, views, pride, karma, and so forth are all embraced by the mental factor of concentration among the ten universally associated Dharmas. Māra is a result of access concentration and is also embraced by concentration. The Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas are embraced by pure dhyāna. They may also be gathered under the three concentrations of high, middle, and low: high concentration embraces bodhisattvas and the Two Vehicles; middle and low concentrations embrace the remaining eight objects〔and so forth〕.

Under the shared name views, aggregates and sense fields belong to the views of self and being; afflictions possess all five views; illness belongs to the views of a living entity and a life-principle; karma, dhyāna, and so forth belong to the view of an agent and also to attachment to precepts; Māra is embraced by the views of one who causes action, one who undergoes, one who generates, and so forth. Further, birth and death are embraced by an extreme view; pride by the view of self; and the Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas in preparatory means by crooked views.

Under the shared name pride, aggregates and sense fields are embraced by self-pride; afflictions by pride in relation to pride; illness by the pride of inferiority; karma by conceit, for one makes karma because of conceit; Māra by great pride; dhyāna by conceit; views also by great pride; and the Two Vehicles and bodhisattvas by overbearing pride.

Under the shared name Two Vehicles, the four establishments of mindfulness and Four Truths embrace the other nine objects. Under the shared name bodhisattva object, the four universal vows embrace the other nine.

3. Can Practitioners Also Share These Names?

Question: If objects, Dharmas, and names can be shared, can practitioners also share a name?

Answer: The Great Nirvāṇa Sūtra says, “Why is one who has not yet aroused the mind called a bodhisattva?” Persons within the first nine objects may all be called bodhisattvas in a shared sense. If called Two-Vehicle persons in a shared sense, there are four kinds of śrāvakas: śrāvakas of overbearing pride can embrace persons in the first eight objects, while śrāvakas of the Buddha-path can embrace persons of the bodhisattva object.

4–6. Impermanent, Contaminated, and One-Sided True

Question: Are all ten objects impermanent in a shared sense?

Answer: The Ratnagotravibhāga says, “Bodhisattvas abiding in the uncontaminated realm still possess the inversion of impermanence.”

Question: Are all ten objects contaminated in a shared sense?

Answer: The meaning of “contamination” can be shared, while the meaning of “existent” differs slightly.

Question: Are all ten objects one-sided true in a shared sense?

Answer: The meaning of “one-sided” can be shared, while the meaning of “true” differs.

7. The Four Alternatives of Shared and Distinct

Question: The shared meaning can now be understood. What is the distinct meaning?

Answer: The ten objects each being different is the distinct meaning. There is also both shared and distinct: the aggregates are the basis for receiving a body and the beginning of contemplative wisdom, so they alone are placed first. This object is both shared and distinct. The latter nine are each named according to the distinct mark that arises. They can be called shared or distinct, but not both shared and distinct.

8. Why Are Afflictions and Illness Not Both Shared and Distinct?

Question: If so, afflictions are also the basis of all Dharmas, and one originally cultivates contemplation in order to treat delusion, so they too are the beginning of contemplation. The four elements of the sick body are also the basis of every activity, and one originally cultivates contemplation to treat illness, so this too is the beginning of contemplation. Why are these not both shared and distinct?

Answer: If the body is said to arise from afflictions, those afflictions belong to a past life. If present afflictions are said to exist through this body, illness does not constantly arise, so its power as a phenomenal basis is weak. Sūtras and treatises likewise do not begin contemplation with illness, and therefore it is not both shared and distinct. As for neither shared nor distinct, everything is inconceivable: one aggregate is all aggregates, neither fixed as one nor fixed as all.

9. Why Is Understanding Arising within Aggregates and Sense Fields Not Given a Separate Name?

Question: The remaining nine objects are separately named because different marks arise. When understanding arises within aggregates and sense fields, should it not also receive a separate name?

Answer: When understanding arises within aggregates and sense fields, there is no distinctly different object-mark; it remains embraced by aggregates and sense fields. If this understanding is grasped, it belongs to the object of views. If craving and anger arise because of it, it belongs to the object of afflictions. If it brings illness or attracts demonic affairs, it is judged according to the particular event. If understanding arises clearly without marks of the other nine objects, this is only a first atmosphere of calming-and-contemplation. It has only the shared and distinct meanings and cannot be called both shared and distinct.

10. Are the Ten Objects Distinct in Ordered Detail?

Question: Are the ten objects truly distinct one by one in ordered detail?

Answer: The four establishments of mindfulness are distinct marks of the aggregates; contemplating the empty village is a distinct mark of the sense fields; contemplating no-self is a distinct mark of the elements; the five methods for settling mind are distinct marks of afflictions; the eight recollections are distinct marks of illness; the ten wholesome actions are distinct marks of karma; the five bindings are distinct marks of Māra; the six subtle gates are distinct marks of dhyāna; the path factors are distinct marks of views; impermanence, suffering, and emptiness are distinct marks of pride; the Four Truths and twelve links of dependent arising are distinct marks of the Two Vehicles; and the six perfections are distinct marks of bodhisattvas.

11. If All Five Aggregates Are Objects, Is There a Separate Contemplation?

Question: All five aggregates are objects. Is there a separate contemplation outside form and mind?

Answer: The inconceivable object and wisdom mean taking the aggregates themselves as contemplation. One may also distinguish them: the unwholesome and indeterminate five aggregates are the object, while wholesome five aggregates are contemplation. When contemplation matures fully, neither unwholesome nor indeterminate aggregates remain, only wholesome aggregates. Wholesome aggregates turn into aggregates of preparatory means; aggregates of preparatory means into uncontaminated aggregates; uncontaminated aggregates into aggregates of Dharma-nature, also called unequalled aggregates. Does this not distinguish aggregates as contemplation outside aggregates as object? Even the Lesser Vehicle is like this, much more inconceivable contemplation.

12. Should Aggregates of Retribution Also Turn?

Question: If aggregates are turned into contemplation, should aggregates of retribution also turn?

Answer: The Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Because form is pure, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are pure, and prajñā too is pure.” The Lotus Sutra says, “One’s complexion is bright and fair, and the six faculties are pure.” This is precisely the meaning. Although the aggregates turn, the object contemplated remains distinctly present〔and so forth〕.

13. The Ten Objects and the Five Divisions

Question: How do the ten objects correspond to the five divisions?

Answer: The five divisions judge the dhyāna that arises, while the ten kinds of arising are judged according to the object that arises; the two can now be correlated. If arising reaches the later objects sequentially or nonsequentially, this is the division of advance. If it remains within the first nine objects, the division of abiding. Intentional self-maintenance is the division of protection. Loss immediately after arising is the division of retreat. The division of penetration can be understood by illuminating principle. If one wishes to make five divisions within every object, this can be inferred by mind and need not be differentiated item by item.

The five divisions and ten objects are both Dharma-marks and can mutually possess each other’s meanings. The six identities and ten grounds, however, are differences in the depth of stages of practice and cannot be conflated by analogy.

14. Why Do Absence of Conditions and Thoughts Possess the Ten Dharma Realms?

Question: The intrinsic nature of thought is separated, and the intrinsic nature of conditions is likewise separated. Since there are neither conditions nor thoughts nor any number, why are the ten Dharma realms still possessed?

Answer: This is inconceivable: although markless, it can manifest marks, and contemplative wisdom remains distinctly present. Others explain the inconceivable by saying that Mount Sumeru can contain a mustard seed and a mustard seed Mount Sumeru, that a lotus can arise in fire, or that a person can cross the great sea; they call rare events inconceivable. The present explanation is that there is no mind, no thought, no one who travels, and no one who arrives. This inconceivable principle surpasses those rare events.

15. Do the Ten Dharma Realms Mutually Possess One Another in Cause or Result?

Question: When the ten Dharma realms mutually possess one another, is this in the cause or at the result?

Answer: They mutually possess one another in both cause and result. Results are separated from one another and difficult to reveal, while causal minds communicate and are easy to know. For example, Maitrakanyaka aroused the Buddha-mind within the hell realm. Likewise, if an unpredicted bodhisattva slights one who has received prediction and does not generate remorse, there is no time of release from the resulting offense.

Consider further examples. Ordinary and noble beings both possess the five aggregates, yet one cannot say a noble being’s five aggregates are the same as an ordinary person’s. A buddha possesses five eyes; how could the Buddha-eye be explained in terms of the retribution of humans and gods? A buddha also possesses five practices: illness-practice corresponds to the four evil Dharma realms; infant practice to the human and heavenly realms; noble practice to the Two-Vehicle realms; brahmā practice to the bodhisattva realm; and heavenly practice to the Buddha realm.

16. Possessed through Making a Thought or Possessed Spontaneously?

Question: Does one thought possess the ten Dharma realms only when a thought is made, or does it possess them spontaneously and naturally?

Answer: Dharma-nature is originally so, not accomplished through fabrication, like one mote of dust originally possessing the positional divisions of the ten directions〔and so forth〕.

If so many principles have already been understood, why open another chapter called Proper Cultivation of Calming-and-Contemplation? Does the simultaneous arising of the three obstructions and four Māras mean that earlier practice went wrong? Why do the ten objects begin with aggregates, sense fields, and elements, and why do they both follow a sequence and crisscross one another? If one thought originally has no fixed mark, where do the ten Dharma realms appear from?

The treatise does not write proper cultivation as a pure state that can be entered only after every change has been left behind. It begins precisely when an object arrives. Torpor, distraction, afflictions, illness, karmic marks, demonic affairs, meditative concentration, views, and even objects close to the path can all become what is contemplated. The real dividing line is not whether an object is present, but whether practitioners can neither follow nor fear it and can investigate it with calming-and-contemplation—whether they can move from knowing principle to remaining oriented when an object actually appears.

Why Can Wondrous Understanding Not Yet Be Called Correct Practice?

The preceding six layers open wondrous understanding on the basis of scripture; only here is correct practice established on the basis of understanding. “Understanding” can point out the road but cannot walk it for someone. “Practice” can make one advance but cannot do without eyes. The treatise begins with two pairs of similes—oil and flame, eyes and feet—and establishes proper cultivation upon mutual support. Without oil, lamplight cannot continue; without flame, oil cannot display its illuminating function. Eyes without feet cannot arrive, while feet without eyes do not know the direction.

Practice and understanding are therefore not completed one at a time and then joined. Wisdom becomes pure within practice, and practice advances within wisdom. Illumination and moistening, guidance and penetration interweave, like two hands on one body rubbing one another and together cleaning that body. Proper cultivation does not leave wondrous understanding behind. It turns wondrous understanding into a force that can walk, illuminate, and cross the wilderness of birth and death.

This also explains why the treatise immediately discusses benefiting oneself and others. Only when one can open inwardly through obstructions and advance one’s own path can one outwardly master sūtras and treatises and awaken those who have not heard. One can shape oneself and also shape others. Giving Dharma does not hand over a collection of terms; it resembles opening gates and pouring out a treasury or relinquishing a wish-fulfilling jewel. Its light illuminates darkness, and its treasure relieves lack. Calming and contemplation are two wheels that carry a vehicle far; practice and understanding two wings that carry a bird high. Without either side, one cannot arrive.

Are Obstructions Racing to Arise a Regression or a Place to Work?

Once practice and understanding become diligent, the three obstructions and four Māras instead race to arise. This easily creates doubt: if cultivation is correct, why does torpor become heavier, distraction greater, and every object more distinct? The treatise does not first label the object success or failure. It establishes only two boundaries: do not follow, and do not fear. Follow an object and it carries one toward evil destinies; fear an object and fear obstructs correct Dharma.

When torpor appears, contemplate it so that darkness can become clear. When distraction appears, calm it so that scattering can become still. One does not first expel torpor and distraction completely and only then begin calming-and-contemplation. They are precisely where calming-and-contemplation works. A pig rubbing against a golden mountain, many streams entering the sea, fuel intensifying fire, and wind enlarging the kalā-gurula insect all turn resistance into a condition for exertion: friction need not harm the gold; streams are not outside the sea; fuel entering fire increases its force; and wind makes what it meets grow.

The treatise immediately calls contemplation a vajra able to cut the battle formation of afflictions, and calls the feet firm and powerful, able to cross the wilderness of birth and death. The key is not imagining an object as an enemy army outside cultivation, but making calming-and-contemplation capable of investigating it. If one seeks only a mind where nothing ever happens, an object’s arrival brings alarm and doubt. Knowing beforehand that strange transformations can be contemplated, the inner mind can remain settled like empty space.

Who Can Hear Calming-and-Contemplation, and Who Can Teach It?

Proper cultivation tests not only the listener but the teacher. A swift horse enters the correct road upon seeing the whip’s shadow; this is sharp capacity able to receive. In one where poison has entered deeply and the original mind is lost, absence of confidence prevents Dharma from entering the hand. Without the hook of hearing Dharma, one cannot understand even after listening; without the eye of wisdom, one cannot distinguish true and false. Vessel, confidence, hearing, and wisdom are not decorations. They decide whether Dharma heard can become correct practice.

Weariness with the world does not necessarily mean knowing the road. Some savor an inferior vehicle and cling to branches and leaves, like a dog that begs only from laborers; some take a monkey for Śakra and gravel for the bright pearl. Outwardly all appear to seek the path, but they may mistake what they honor. These similes do not mock a lack of learning. They ask whether practitioners possess the eyesight to distinguish root from branch and bright pearl from gravel.

The teacher’s danger is just as real. Some dhyāna practitioners guard one track alone and do not penetrate others’ capacities. Although obstacles and difficulties have ten thousand roads, they use only one medicine of milk. At the first unusual mark, they immediately judge it the path. Unsuitable as vessels and lacking the ability to shape others, they become blind and lame persons leaning on one another, teacher and disciple falling together on a night road. Proper cultivation therefore also includes the discipline of not judging objects rashly. When one cannot recognize persons, Dharmas, obstructions, or difficulties, greater decisiveness in speech does not necessarily bring greater benefit.

Why Open the Contemplated into Ten and Place Aggregates, Sense Fields, and Elements First?

The objects faced by calming-and-contemplation open into ten: aggregates/sense fields/elements, afflictions, illness, karmic marks, demonic affairs, meditative concentration, various views, overbearing pride, the Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas. All can cover and obstruct calming-and-contemplation, but they are not ten eternally isolated worlds. This ordered map first answers a practical question: when objects arise in confusion, how does a practitioner know what is being faced?

Aggregates, sense fields, and elements stand first for two reasons: they are presently manifest, and they accord with the scriptural course that often begins contemplation from the physical body. When the remaining nine do not arise, there is no such object to contemplate. Aggregates and sense fields are present at every moment and never leave. Receiving a body means carrying the burden of five aggregates; contemplative practice need not wait for a special experience and can begin from the body and mind before one’s eyes.

The treatise uses a closed boat moving downstream to show what happens without contemplation. Sitting inside the cabin, one feels at rest and does not know the water is carrying the boat rapidly. Only when turning back upstream does one perceive the rush of the current. Contemplating the aggregates is the same. Ordinarily, five aggregates and four elements combine while afflictions and illness move hidden and unnoticed. As illumination and examination begin, the force previously latent appears level by level.

Thus, contemplating the result of aggregates stirs the cause of afflictions; contemplating body and mind together makes illness arise disproportionately; powerful calming-and-contemplation stirs past karma; the movement of wholesome and unwholesome karma attracts demonic affairs; crossing demonic affairs makes meditative concentrations race to arise; if a contemplative factor within dhyāna produces wrong wisdom, various views arise; quieting views without knowing one’s depth produces overbearing pride that takes nonattainment for attainment; once views and pride are still, past Lesser Vehicle habituation may arise; and remembering the original vow without falling into emptiness may make a bodhisattva object of preparatory means arise. This describes, according to the text, how ten objects can follow one another; it does not declare that everyone must experience them according to a table.

The ten objects extend from an ordinary person’s direct retribution to the noble person’s preparatory means. Aggregates and sense fields are always manifest; the other nine await arising. The first eight are relatively distant from the correct path and require deep protection; the final two lie near paths of preparatory means but still require contemplation. Near does not mean arrived; distant does not mean unable to return. All ten remind the practitioner that an object’s name alone cannot place one in a completed stage.

If There Is a Sequence, Why Can It Also Be Nonsequential?

The treatise begins from a forked road: without understanding the objects’ mutual arising, one resembles a person standing where many roads meet and not knowing which to follow. It lists ten gates: sequential/nonsequential, mixed/unmixed, complete/incomplete, intentional/unintentional, accomplished/unaccomplished, beneficial/nonbeneficial, lasting/nonlasting, difficult/not difficult, repeated/not repeated, and the three obstructions/four Māras. These are gathered as nine pairs and seven singletons.

Sequence can be discussed from Dharma, cultivation, and arising. Dharmas have an order from shallow to deep. Cultivation may inherit study from the past or proceed sequentially in this life. Arising may follow the order of cultivation. Nonsequence is likewise discussed from all three sides. In arising, order is unfixed: a bodhisattva object may appear before the object of aggregates and sense fields. In cultivation, whichever object has greater force is cultivated first. From the standpoint of Dharma itself, eye, ear, nose, tongue, aggregates, sense fields, and elements are all gates of quiescence and all the Dharma realm, with no need to abandon one and take another.

The crucial point is that sequence and nonsequence do not cancel each other. In how objects appear, earlier and later can be distinguished. Yet because every Dharma remains within the Dharma realm, no Dharma waits outside it to be arranged. Afflictions, illness, karma, Māra, dhyāna, views, pride, Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas can each be contemplated in the present. If one grasps that a later object may be touched only after an earlier object has been completely handled, the powerful object actually present will instead be neglected.

Contemplating illness first when ill or afflictions first when they are strong does not mean changing roads arbitrarily. It means “cultivate whichever is strong first.” Proper cultivation therefore possesses a map while also watching the road conditions. It neither denies distinctions among the ten objects nor freezes those distinctions into a single timetable.

What Exactly Do the Nine Pairs and Seven Singletons Distinguish?

Mixed and unmixed distinguish whether objects arise one by one in clear detail or several crisscross, occur together, and overlap. Complete and incomplete distinguish whether all ten are numerically present and can be examined successively as general/particular and horizontal/vertical. Levels, grades, and factors of dhyāna can reveal completeness or lack in vertical and horizontal directions. The treatise lists them repeatedly so that “complete” does not remain vague praise.

Intentional and unintentional distinguish whether an object arises from intentional cultivation or by itself without intention. Each object can form four alternatives according to Dharma, and interweaving them before and after yields thirty-six statements. Accomplished and unaccomplished no longer ask only about number; they ask whether one object is ultimately accomplished from beginning to end. If it starts and abruptly disappears, lacks grades, and remains indistinct in each part, one cannot call it accomplished merely because it “arose.”

Beneficial and nonbeneficial most directly break judgments made from names. An unwholesome Dharma may deepen clarity and stillness when it arises; a wholesome Dharma may damage stillness and illumination. There are also four situations: increasing stillness while damaging illumination, damaging stillness while increasing illumination, increasing both, and damaging both. Benefit is not automatically guaranteed by an object’s name; harm is not directly decided by its name. One must return to whether calming-and-contemplation has become clearer and stiller.

Difficult/not difficult distinguish ease or difficulty in the arising of wholesome and unwholesome objects. Lasting/not lasting distinguish an object that remains without receding from one that vanishes as it arises. Repeated/not repeated distinguish the same object arising once and stopping from arising again and again. These gates do not encourage collecting objects; they prevent mistaken acceptance and rejection. An object’s good or evil, duration, difficulty, or number of appearances cannot alone decide the conclusion. It must still be investigated by calming-and-contemplation so that mind does not stagnate.

The three obstructions and four Māras gather the ten objects again. Aggregates/sense fields and illness can be discussed as the obstruction of retribution; afflictions, views, and pride as the obstruction of affliction; karma, Māra, dhyāna, the Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas as the obstruction of karma. The four Māras are those of aggregates, afflictions, death, and the heavenly being. “Māra” means both taking body and life and grinding down calming-and-contemplation, turning clarity dark and stillness scattered. Though names differ, what is distinguished remains how calming-and-contemplation becomes covered, blocked, and taken away.

Why Do Objects Arise, and Why Must They Not Be Judged Lightly?

The treatise locates the cause of the ten objects’ mutual arising in past and present lives. When gradual, sudden, or indeterminate seeds from the past encounter the rain of cultivation in this life, they may arise sequentially, nonsequentially, or in a mixed fashion. Whether the number cultivated in the past was complete affects whether arising in this life is complete. Whether one previously realized or only cultivated without realization bears on whether present arising is accomplished. A strong past cause can arise without awaiting present cultivation; a strong present condition waits for cultivation before arising.

Benefit and harm, duration and brevity, likewise differ according to the strength of causes and conditions and whether skillfulness or poison is mixed in. When a past cause and present condition are both skillful and dedicated toward the higher path, present arising benefits. When poison is mixed among the causes and conditions, it may harm. A weak cause is brief; a strong cause lasts. Ease or difficulty in wholesome objects corresponds to the lightness or heaviness of obstruction, while ease or difficulty in unwholesome objects corresponds to sharp or dull capacity. Some objects come to say farewell, some to make themselves known; some arise once and never recur, while others recur again and again.

Because transformations are this subtle, the treatise issues an especially weighty warning: essential oral instructions are needed; one must weigh with wisdom and not rely only on one’s own mind to judge right and wrong incorrectly. “Be circumspect, be diligent, take it seriously” does not tell one to fear every object. It prevents a temporary feeling, one mark of arising, a wholesome or unwholesome label, or personal preference from being rushed into a judgment of cultivation and realization.

Why Do the Sixteen Questions First Press Shared and Distinct?

If Dharmas are as numerous as dust and sand, why fix the objects at only ten? The treatise answers with the great earth producing many sprouts. Ten is adopted so as to be neither too broad nor too abbreviated and to make the meaning easy to understand. Ten does not compress all Dharmas into ten entities. It provides a numerical Dharma that can be distinguished, spoken, and contemplated.

The questions that follow ask repeatedly: if each of the ten objects has its own name, why can they also share names? Aggregates and sense fields can connect through afflictions, illness, karma, Māra, dhyāna, views, pride, the Two Vehicles, and bodhisattvas. Every other name can likewise embrace other objects from the sides of cause, result, function, and inclusion. Even practitioners can share names: one who has not aroused the mind may still be called a bodhisattva; from classes of śrāvakas, persons in different objects can likewise be included together.

But sharing does not erase differences. Impermanence may be shared while its inverted marks differ; the meaning of contamination may be shared while the meaning of existence differs; the meaning of one-sidedness may be shared while that of truth differs. Aggregates, sense fields, and elements are both the basis for receiving a body and the beginning of contemplative wisdom and therefore alone have both shared and distinct meanings. The latter nine receive names according to different marks that arise and each have shared and distinct meanings separately. Although afflictions seem a cause of the body, they belong to another life in the sequence. Although illness seems a bodily basis, it does not arise constantly, and sūtras and treatises do not make it the beginning of contemplation. Neither can therefore be judged like the aggregate object.

Understanding arising within aggregates and sense fields also need not be established as another object. If the understanding is grasped, it returns according to the event to views; if it generates craving or anger, to afflictions; if it attracts illness or Māra, each is judged according to the event. If understanding arises brightly without marks of the nine objects, it remains an atmosphere of calming-and-contemplation within aggregates and sense fields. Names follow the object’s mark, not the practitioner’s urge to name an experience.

The ten objects nevertheless have distinct marks in ordered detail. The four establishments of mindfulness, empty village, and no-self separately mark aggregates, sense fields, and elements. The five methods of settling mind correspond to afflictions; eight recollections to illness; ten wholesome actions to karma; five bindings to Māra; six subtle gates to dhyāna; path factors to views; impermanence, suffering, and emptiness to pride; Four Truths and twelve links to the Two Vehicles; and six perfections to bodhisattvas. Sharing prevents the ten objects from sealing one another off; distinction prevents contemplative methods from becoming an undifferentiated mass. Both shared and distinct, and neither shared nor distinct, keep those two sides from hardening into an impasse.

If Object and Contemplation Are Nondual, Are Causal and Resultant Boundaries Erased?

The final six questions push the problem deeper. Since the five aggregates are all objects, is there a separate contemplation outside form and mind? The treatise answers that the aggregates themselves are contemplation. Unwholesome and indeterminate five aggregates may be called the object, and wholesome five aggregates contemplation. Once contemplation matures, wholesome aggregates turn into aggregates of preparatory means, then uncontaminated aggregates, then aggregates of Dharma-nature. Contemplation does not make another thing apart from the aggregates, nor are aggregates forever only obstruction.

Do aggregates of retribution also turn? The treatise answers with the purity of form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness, and prajñā, as well as a bright, fair complexion and purified six faculties. Although aggregates turn, the object of contemplation remains distinctly present. Turning does not extinguish the object; it changes the relation between object and contemplation.

The ten objects can correspond to the five divisions: arising through to a later object is advance, remaining within the first nine abiding, intentional self-maintenance protection, loss as soon as an object arises retreat, and penetration attainment. But the possibility of correlating Dharma-marks does not mean all stages can be conflated. The six identities and ten grounds have depths and shallows; distinctions of stages are not cancelled because the ten objects include one another.

If the nature of thoughts is separate and the nature of conditions likewise separate, and there are no conditions, thoughts, or number, why are the ten Dharma realms still possessed? The treatise first sets aside rare events such as Sumeru containing a mustard seed, a lotus arising from fire, and a person crossing the sea, then speaks of no mind, no thought, no one traveling, and no one arriving. The inconceivable is not merely an impossible event somehow occurring. Principle does not fall within agent and object, yet contemplative wisdom remains distinctly present.

Do the ten Dharma realms mutually possess one another in cause or result? The treatise answers that both cause and result possess one another, but causes communicate and are easy to know while results are separated and difficult to reveal. Maitrakanyaka can arouse the Buddha-mind in a hell object; an unpredicted bodhisattva who slights one already predicted can form grave offense. Ordinary and noble beings both possess five aggregates, but noble aggregates are not thereby identical to ordinary ones. A buddha possesses five eyes and five practices, but the Buddha-result cannot be explained directly through human or heavenly retribution. These examples clarify why separated results are difficult to reveal, not that results entirely fail to possess one another.

The final question asks whether one thought possesses the ten Dharma realms only when a thought is deliberately made, or spontaneously. The answer is extremely brief: Dharma-nature is originally so and is not accomplished by fabrication, like one mote of dust inherently possessing the divisions of the ten directions. Along its entire course through ten objects, nine pairs, and sixteen questions, proper cultivation does not finally divide the world into more compartments. It lets practitioners meet any object without leaving Dharma-nature, confusing cause and result, or ceasing calming-and-contemplation.

Through the Eye of the Fuxing

Zhanran first judges the entire passage as concluding the preceding and generating the following. The preceding six layers together accomplish wondrous understanding, and here practice is established on the basis of understanding. Correct practice means that ten Dharmas unite to form the vehicle and are regulated and investigated within every object. Gains and losses in persons and Dharmas then proceed first through cultivating oneself and later transforming others, first attainment and later loss. The opening similes are therefore not scattered exhortations but the complete introduction to proper cultivation.

The individual correlations of oil/flame and eyes/feet, and which among the four similes reveals calming or contemplation, are all expressly judged in the Fuxing; the treatise itself gathers them under mutual support of practice and understanding. Zhanran also reads “darkness itself becoming clear, scattering itself becoming still” as the general outline for stilling and illuminating the nine objects. Although he separately explains vajra-contemplation as the work of understanding and powerful feet as the virtue of practice, the text’s intent remains their mutual support.

Where the treatise abbreviates “open calming-and-contemplation into ten,” Zhanran supplies “open what calming-and-contemplation contemplates into ten.” From principle the substance is one; from phenomena the objects are ten. Because the aggregate object possesses both present manifestation and scriptural basis, it must stand first; the remaining nine await arising. At “the five aggregates combine with the four elements,” he expressly records a suspected error and proposes that it should read “aggregates combine with the four divisions.” This is the commentator’s textual doubt; the wording of the base text must still be preserved unchanged.

The ten objects have a sequence of arising at the level of textual presentation, but no fixed sequence in their mutual arising. In explaining the nine pairs and seven singletons, Zhanran clarifies that the seven singletons are the three obstructions and four Māras joined as the final pair. He further limits the Dharma, cultivation, and arising of sequential/nonsequential to distinguishing marks generated by past habituation; they do not import the three modes of calming-and-contemplation cultivated in the present into this passage. Crisscrossing, simultaneous, and overlapping respectively mean mutual interchange, like kinds arising together, and arising one after another. Complete/incomplete concerns only number, while accomplished/unaccomplished separately asks whether the substance of one object has both beginning and end.

Benefit and harm likewise have conditions. One must examine the weight of the object from past habituation and the purity or mixture of present contemplative power. If, once an object arises, contemplation is no longer cultivated and one relies upon the object to attain something by itself, original benefit can become harm. Gathering the ten objects under the three obstructions follows convenience of name and the predominance of a particular obstruction; it does not mean each object possesses only one. Māra includes both meanings of taking away and grinding-distortion. As for how object-marks are judged, Zhanran returns to the treatise’s warning concerning oral instructions: when one’s own path-wisdom and Dharma-eye are insufficient, one must rely upon teaching-texts and predecessors and must not use ordinary feeling to judge lightly and mislead later people.

There are sixteen rounds of private analysis. The first ten accomplish the four alternatives of shared and distinct. The six beginning with “the five aggregates are all objects” concentrate on accomplishing the inconceivable meaning. That mind within the four mental aggregates can itself become contemplation clarifies the identity of object and wisdom. That aggregates of retribution also turn clarifies that the faculties produced can turn with contemplation. The five divisions and ten objects can correspond, but stages of practice cannot be forced into correspondence.

Within the shared/distinct questions and answers, the Fuxing uses the aggregate object’s two meanings—basis of body and beginning of contemplation—to explain why it alone is both shared and distinct. Afflictions belong to a cause in a past life, while illness does not arise constantly, and they therefore cannot be judged the same way. When understanding arises among aggregates and sense fields without marks of the other nine objects, it remains the aggregate object. If it is lucid and ungrasped, it is only the atmosphere just before entry into contemplative practice. The ten objects’ ordered distinction is established according to the different treatments used for each; their divisions do not disappear because they can share and include one another.

On the question of “markless yet marked, contemplative wisdom distinctly present,” Zhanran first distinguishes an explanation of inconceivability based only on rare events as still incomplete, then clarifies object and wisdom from the nature of one thought and function arising in accord with principle. This step is the commentator’s explicit judgment. The treatise’s own answer stops with no mind, no thought, no one traveling, no one arriving, and principle surpassing phenomena. The two layers must not be combined into one original statement.

In the final two questions, Zhanran explains “causes shared, results separated” more strictly. One thought as causal mind possessing ten is easy to understand; the result of each realm also individually possesses ten without becoming confused or intermixed with the others. In “Dharma-nature is naturally so,” “naturally so” is another name for “by nature.” This is neither external fabrication nor a merely vague claim about contemplating mind, but contemplation of what is inherently possessed. Thus every judgment of Zhanran illuminates a joint after the treatise’s question and answer; none is rewritten as wording Zhiyi himself stated verbatim.