摩訶止觀 觀業相境

When signs of good and evil unseen in ordinary life suddenly appear during calming-and-contemplation, it is easy to imagine that one has received some special confirmation. Zhiyi first asks something else: after the sign appears, where does your mind go?

A wholesome sign does not necessarily aid the path. If it gives rise to craving and arrogance, contempt for others, or pursuit of reputation and gain, a wholesome sign can turn into a great obstruction. Nor must an unwholesome sign drive one from the path. If it gives rise to shame, repentance, the severing of evil, and cultivation of good, what was an obstruction instead becomes a condition for advance. Direction is determined not only by what one sees, but by whether one grasps it afterward.

The treatise therefore lists retributive result, habitual cause, their sequence, simultaneous arising, and indeterminate arising, then unfolds good and evil through the six perfections and six obscurations. Yet the finer the lists become, the more emphatic the warning. One sight cannot decide a case, and an intense feeling cannot replace renewed testing. To judge signs publicly for another person, one must also have undergone actual verification oneself and received a teacher's oral instructions. When fine judgment is impossible, the safest path is not to guess. Know generally that the sign is an obstruction, do not grasp it, and apply mind directly to contemplation of principle.

Great-Vehicle equality does not mean closing one's eyes to good and evil. Precisely because the mirror-substance is pure, myriad images can appear; precisely because ultimate meaning remains unmoved, all characteristics of Dharmas can be skillfully distinguished. Distinguishing good and evil without being defiled by either, and seeing transgression and merit without abiding in either, is the genuine clarity of the equal mirror.

Finally, Zhiyi carries karma into the ten modes. Sought throughout past, present, and future, karma has no fixed intrinsic nature, and neither agent nor recipient can be obtained. Yet the world still distinguishes good and evil through conventional names; emptiness does not cancel cause and result. One then contemplates the direct and dependent retributions of the ten realms within the karma of one thought, generates compassion toward opposition and loving-kindness toward accord, and proceeds until one does not falsely claim noble stages, patiently endures every obstruction, does not produce attachment to Dharma, and naturally flows into coolness.

What contemplating karmic signs truly seeks is not a pair of eyes more skilled at seeing extraordinary signs, but a mind that signs cannot carry away: good and evil remain distinct, and cause and result are not obscured; when a sign comes, illuminate it, and when it goes, do not pursue it. With every seeing, return the path to calming-and-contemplation.

Why Calming-and-Contemplation Makes Karmic Signs Appear

Fourth is contemplating the object of karmic signs.

Since beginningless kalpas, practitioners have created much wholesome and unwholesome karma. Some of it has already produced retribution; some has not. When mind is ordinarily employed in an undisturbed way, these signs do not appear. Now that one cultivates calming-and-contemplation, various former karmas are stirred, so wholesome and unwholesome signs appear.

Someone may object: since the Great Vehicle teaches that all is equal, what signs remain to discuss? This is not so. Precisely because the equal mirror-substance is pure, the images of various karmas can appear. The Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra says that when a bodhisattva is about to realize the ten grounds, various signs first appear. The Āgamas say that when the first fruit is about to be realized, a snake with eighty-eight heads dies before the practitioner. Both Great- and Small-Vehicle texts say much about signs. The Lotus Sūtra further speaks of deeply penetrating the signs of transgression and merit and illuminating the ten directions throughout; transgression and merit are precisely unwholesome and wholesome karma. The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra says that one does not move within ultimate meaning, yet skillfully distinguishes all characteristics of Dharmas. Thus an objection to karmic signs based on equality cannot stand.

The explanation of karmic signs has four parts: first, the causes and conditions through which signs arise; second, the actual arising of karmic signs; third, discerning whether wholesome and unwholesome signs are obstructions; fourth, cultivating calming-and-contemplation in relation to the karmic object.

Internal and External Causes and Conditions for the Arising of Signs

The causes and conditions through which signs arise are internal and external.

The internal causes and conditions consist in using calming-and-contemplation to examine one's own mind. As mind gradually becomes bright and pure, it illuminates various forms of good and evil. Sometimes calming is used to stop evil just as evil is about to cease, and contemplation to contemplate good just as good is about to arise. Sometimes calming is used to stop evil, yet evil instead arises through quiescence; contemplation is used to contemplate good, yet good instead ceases through illumination. Immeasurable karmic signs all emerge from calming-and-contemplation, just as when a mirror is polished bright, myriad images naturally appear.

The external causes and conditions consist in buddhas constantly responding to all beings through loving-kindness and compassion. Beings cannot see this only because they lack responsive faculties. Through the power of calming-and-contemplation, beings can evoke buddhas to display wholesome and unwholesome meditative concentrations, and various karmic signs thereby appear, like someone holding up a garland for the assembly to see. When inner cultivation of contemplation and the outer response of buddhas unite, this is called “internal and external causes and conditions.”

Understanding this meaning enables one to distinguish transgression and merit finely, making black and white clear and preventing their confusion. One can thereby become a teacher of the Vaipulya Dharma gate and discipline others. Yet this passage is now only examining mind and cultivating calming-and-contemplation so that karma subsides, practice succeeds, and one single-mindedly takes up the path. Why make circuitous and intricate distinctions concerning every sign?

Six Ways in Which Karmic Signs Appear

Second is the actual appearance of karmic signs. Their arising has no fixed order; the following sequence is arranged only for convenience in speaking. Wholesome signs are explained first and arise in six ways.

First, only a sign of retributive result appears. Second, only a sign of habitual cause appears. Third, the retributive-result sign appears first and habitual-cause mind afterward. Fourth, habitual-cause mind appears first and the retributive-result sign afterward. Fifth, habitual cause and retributive result appear simultaneously. Sixth, their order is indeterminate. When various karmic signs appear, they interweave and intermingle in myriad forms. Only by recognizing these six meanings can one distinguish them without error.

What are habitual cause and habitual result? Abhidharma masters say that habitual cause is the homogeneous cause and habitual result is the dependent result. “Habitual” also means continuity. Seeds of the same class produce one another in sequence: a later thought arises in continuation of the preceding thought. The preceding thought is cause and the later thought is result. This applies to the three natures—wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate. Other treatise masters speak of habitual continuity only in relation to good and evil, not in relation to indeterminate dharmas.

What are retributive cause and retributive result? These are discussed across different lifetimes. The habitual causes and habitual results just described can all become causes that draw forth a later life and are therefore collectively called retributive causes. Because this cause draws forth a later result, it is named in terms of “retribution.” Receiving a body in a later life among the five paths of hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, and devas is the retributive result.

Within the body of retribution in this very life, good and evil arise again and continue in sequence as habitual cause and habitual result. Viewed collectively from the standpoint of the preceding life, this habitual continuity in the present life is a result. Viewed from the standpoint of the following life, the same habitual continuity is a cause.

The numerical-analysis school says that receiving the bodies of pigeons and sparrows as retribution is a retributive result, while abundant sexual desire is a habitual result. The treatise school says that both the pigeon's body and abundant sexual desire are retributive results; sexual desire arises from craving, and craving is the habitual result. One may also say that afflictions arising in the present life are habitual causes, while karma produced through the afflictions is a retributive cause; afflictions arising in a later life are habitual results, while the pain undergone is a retributive result.

If one sees only various images while sitting in meditation, this is the appearance of a retributive-result sign. Because it comes from a past cause, it can also be called a retributive cause from the side of cause. It may also become a subsequent cause and condition drawing forth future retribution, so the names of cause and result can be borrowed from one another. This passage, however, classifies the seen sign simply as a retributive-result sign.

If one sees no image at all while sitting, but a particular inclination suddenly arises in mind, this is the appearance of a habitual cause. Because this mind can draw forth a later result, it can also be called a habitual result from the side of that later result. Because it answers to a past cause, the names of cause and result may again be used interchangeably. This passage, however, classifies the directly arising mind simply as a habitual cause.

Wholesome Signs: Each of the Six Perfections Has Six Modes of Habit and Retribution

Wholesome signs are many. For now they are discussed through the six perfections of giving, moral discipline, patient endurance, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom.

When signs of giving appear, a practitioner may suddenly see while sitting an excellent field in which merit can be planted: images of the Three Treasures of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha; noble assemblies and persons of great virtue; or parents, teachers, monastics, and virtuous people accepting one's offerings. One may see people worthy of compassion and relief accepting offerings. One may simultaneously see fields of reverence and fields of compassion that do not accept offerings, yet all respond with joy. One may see no field of merit either accepting or refusing, but only implements of giving arrayed in order and filling one's view. One may see no gift, but only a pure land. Some signs indicate the retribution of giving in this life and some the retribution of giving in past lives. One may also see a person who practices giving well approach and praise giving and relinquishment. All such events are appearances of retributive results.

Next, a practitioner may see no sign at all, but suddenly wish to practice giving: reverently offering to the Three Treasures, parents, teachers, and monastics; grieving over impoverished beings and wishing to relieve them; or penetrating the Dharma gate of giving with exceptional clarity of personal understanding. All such minds are appearances of habitual causes.

The mind of giving may arise first and a retributive sign afterward; the retributive sign may appear first and the mind of giving afterward; both may appear simultaneously; or their order may be indeterminate. These are understood through the six preceding meanings.

When signs of moral discipline appear, there are likewise six meanings. A practitioner may see the ten preceptors, robes and bowl, ordination platform, and formal procedure, and feel joy and affection; or may not see these, but see one's own clothing clean and orderly and one's deportment surpassing that of others. One may also see a person who constantly maintains moral discipline, with radiant face and tranquil bearing, approach and praise it. These are appearances of the retributive result of moral discipline.

One may see none of these signs, but suddenly form the intention to maintain moral discipline and declare that the precepts are pure and that nothing among the classes of rules is impossible to uphold. One may wish to correct people who break precepts and return them all to practice in accord with Dharma. Or one may personally understand Vinaya texts and master the divisions of discipline. This is the appearance of the habitual cause of moral discipline. Arising first, afterward, simultaneously, or intermingled can all be understood through the six meanings.

When signs of patient endurance appear, one may see a patient person or see oneself performing acts of patient endurance; see one's own body upright and pure, with hands and feet beautifully ordered in a way rarely found in the world; or see an upright and patient person approach and praise patient endurance. This is its retributive-result sign. One may instead directly produce a patient mind and understand the Dharma gate of patient endurance. This is the appearance of its habitual cause. Arising first, afterward, simultaneously, or intermingled can all be understood through the six meanings.

When signs of diligence appear, one may see a diligent person or see the diligent deeds one performs; see oneself full of strength, physically robust, courageous, and powerful; or see someone constantly diligent who never wastes day or night approach and praise diligence. This is its retributive-result sign. One may instead see no sign but produce a diligent mind, sparing neither body nor life during the first, middle, and last watches; or one may deeply penetrate the Dharma gate of diligence. This is its habitual-cause sign. Arising first, afterward, simultaneously, or intermingled can likewise be understood through the six meanings.

Signs of meditative concentration are explained extensively under the later object of meditative concentration; signs of wisdom are explained extensively under the object of bodhisattvas. Since habitual causes and retributive results within each of the six perfections have six modes, so do all wholesome dharmas. Careful inquiry makes them clearer over time. There is no need to say more here, nor may one speak at will. Only after personally receiving oral instructions may one make extensive distinctions according to one's knowledge.

Owing Property to the Three Treasures: Cultivating the Path and Repaying the Debt

Teachers of the Vaipulya teachings transmit the rule that if one has owed property to the Three Treasures, one must repay it when this karmic sign appears. Great Master Nanyue said that if one possesses property, repayment is certainly good; if one possesses none and would therefore abandon the practice, running about in every direction to seek it, further discrimination is required.

There are two levels of meaning here. The number of beings' past transgressions is truly incalculable, and debts owed to the Three Treasures are not limited to one item. Arhats first directly cultivate the path and realize the result, without even enough leisure to repay all karma beforehand; hence they are said to resist their debts. If practitioners abandon the place of practice in order to repay property, beg in every direction, and pass several years amid disturbance and confusion, would this not instead become demonic affairs?

Repayment may now be deferred, but one must establish resolve with certainty, cultivate the true Dharma of the buddhas, and unfold repayment through the two meanings of “accomplishment” and “establishment.”

“Accomplishment” means waiting until afflictions have been broken and patient endurance concerning nonarising realized. After reaching the stage of the Dharma-body, one extensively makes offerings to all Three Treasures and returns into birth and death to repay all beings. At that point a bodhisattva is no longer called one who resists debts.

“Establishment” means waiting until one's cultivated effort becomes manifest and complete, reputation and conduct become established, and the appropriate retribution naturally arrives, then repaying the Three Treasures. This is not owing a debt without any intention to repay it. One merely limits begging for immediate needs and waits for meritorious practice to become established. Is this not good?

Yet if one has already abandoned the practice and left the place of practice, repayment is definitely required. One may neither read and recite nor listen and study, nor conduct private or communal business; one must find a means of obtaining property and repay the debt. This explanation agrees with the Upāsaka Precepts Sūtra. The scripture means that a person who owes property to the Three Treasures but is single-mindedly cultivating the path and seeking the first fruit through arhatship need not repay it then; one who does not study the path should repay it immediately. If an arhat uses the Buddha's property, there is no offense.

Unwholesome Signs: Each of the Six Obscurations Also Has Six Modes

Next are unwholesome signs. Evils are extremely numerous; for now they are discussed through the six obscurations. Each obscuration likewise has the six preceding meanings.

When signs of the obscuration of stinginess appear, one may see the Three Treasures, teachers, monastics, and parents gaunt, naked and exposed, or dressed in tattered clothing; see them hungry and exhausted and monasteries empty and desolate; or see every kind of property guarded, sealed, and tightly locked. This reverses the preceding signs of giving: before, one rejoiced when facing property; here, on seeing a beggar, one becomes angry and abusive over it. The earlier objects were implements of giving; the present objects are implements of stinginess and craving. One may also see a stingy and covetous person approach. This is the appearance of the retributive result of the obscuration of stinginess. In full, it too has six forms, understood according to the preceding pattern〔and so forth〕.

When signs of breaking moral discipline appear, one may see images of the Three Treasures, monastic teachers, elders, and parents with their heads severed, and may also see what the text calls the ground sinking and not prevailing; another edition reads the graph for “prevailing” as “rising,” and the precise syntax remains unsettled. One may see one's body split open and suffer the pain of whipping and beating; see one's own body and head separated and monasteries scattered and ruined; see parents revile one and the Three Treasures rebuke one; see a butcher fond of killing approach; or see evil birds and venomous insects crawl along one's body and head. These are retributive signs of the obscuration of anger. They also have six meanings, understood according to the preceding pattern〔and so forth〕.

One may see impure feces and urine, corpses, or foul substances blocking the road, or deep water cutting across the path so one cannot proceed. One may see a former sexual partner displaying impure signs, filthy and shameful; see foul places on one's own body; see a person of abundant sexual desire approach and speak of heedlessness; or see animals or people copulating. These are retributive signs of sexual transgression and likewise have six meanings〔and so forth〕.

One may see the place of something stolen in this life, with its owner approaching in anger and abuse, binding and pressing one to recover it; or see an adept thief approach and urge one to steal. These are retributive signs of stealing; the six meanings follow the preceding pattern〔and so forth〕.

One may see parents, monastic teachers, or outsiders disputing and calculating, harboring venomous anger, sowing discord in various ways, and slandering one; or see a person who frequently commits verbal offenses approach. These are retributive-result signs of the four verbal transgressions of false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, and frivolous speech. They too have six forms〔and so forth〕.

One may see a drunk person vomiting and collapsed amid disorder, or see one's own body heavy and obscured. These are retributive-result signs of drinking alcohol and likewise have six meanings. All the foregoing belong to retributive-result signs of the obscuration of broken moral discipline. The remaining four obscurations can be understood in the same way and therefore are not recorded in detail〔and so forth〕.

From the side of inner habitual causes, pain within mind is a habit of killing; heaviness within mind is a habit of stealing; agitation within mind is a habit of sexual desire. When all three are present together, this is a habit of the equal division.

Are Wholesome and Unwholesome Signs Ultimately Obstructions?

Third is discerning the different ways in which wholesome and unwholesome signs become obstructions. Four alternatives can be established: originally not obstructive but later becoming obstructive; originally obstructive but later becoming nonobstructive; both the obstructive and nonobstructive sides ultimately becoming obstructive; and both sides ultimately becoming nonobstructive.

Originally not obstructive but later becoming obstructive means that someone first produces a wholesome sign and is then very joyful, but afterward develops craving and arrogance and belittles others. Relying on this sign of realization as a basis for pride, the person gradually becomes attached to reputation, gain, and support. Faults multiply; in the end, the mind of the path retreats, correct Dharma is destroyed, precepts are abandoned, one returns to lay life, and no evil remains undone. When a wholesome sign that was initially no obstruction later creates an immense evil obstruction, is this not “the nonobstructive becoming obstructive”?

Originally obstructive but later becoming nonobstructive means that someone first produces an unwholesome sign, then feels shame, conscience, and fear, diligently repents that evil karma, severs the mind of continuation, and never commits the offense again. The person further cultivates every good and finally accomplishes the great matter. When something begins from obstruction and later becomes nonobstructive, is this not “the obstructive becoming nonobstructive”? Both sides ultimately obstructing and both ultimately not obstructing can be understood accordingly〔and so forth〕.

If a wholesome sign appears just before that good is about to cease, the cessation of good indicates that evil will arise; this is the nonobstructive becoming obstructive. If an unwholesome sign appears just before that evil is about to cease, the cessation of evil indicates that good will arise; this is the obstructive becoming nonobstructive. If both the obstructive and nonobstructive sides ultimately do not obstruct, good does not cease and evil does not arise. If both sides ultimately obstruct, evil does not cease and good does not arise. This analysis begins from good, calling good nonobstructive and evil obstructive, and establishes the four alternatives accordingly.

From the standpoint of the true truth, all the foregoing good and evil are obstructions. Thus the Sūtra on Purifying Karmic Obstructions says that all evil is obstruction and all good is also obstruction. From the standpoint of the provisional truth, the good and evil established by the true truth are again wholly obstructive. From the standpoint of the Middle Way, the good and evil established at the provisional truth are again wholly obstructive. Advancing layer by layer in this way, obstruction has no end.

Intrinsic Good and Evil, Nonmanifest Good and Evil, and Testing for Māra

When habitual-cause minds of good and evil arise, they are comparatively easy to recognize. When signs of wholesome and unwholesome retributive results arise, they are difficult to determine.

When a wholesome retributive sign supports a wholesome habitual-cause mind and the two appear in correspondence before and after, it is generally a sign of intrinsic good. When it suddenly arises alone, it is generally a sign of nonmanifest good. When an unwholesome retributive-result sign supports an unwholesome habitual-cause mind and the two correspond before and after, it is generally intrinsic evil. When habitual mind arises without the support of a retributive sign, it is generally evil created by violating nonmanifest moral discipline.

Furthermore, when wholesome or unwholesome retributive-result signs suddenly arise alone, one may provisionally judge them in terms of nonmanifest karma, but their meaning remains difficult to clarify and signs of Māra can easily become mixed in. To distinguish them, examine them carefully through the ten dharmas of emptiness, brightness, good, evil, and the rest. If they fall into excess or deficiency, they are signs of Māra. Only if they belong to neither may they be nonmanifest signs.

They can also be tested by three characteristics: remaining for a long time, returning again and again, and damaging the mind of meditative concentration. These three indicate signs of Māra. Only in their absence may a sign be judged nonmanifest.

Again, when an unwholesome sign appears angrily the first time, returns more gently the second, and on the third appearance instead seems joyful—or when one awakens after another's admonition or the sign is expelled by another—this should be understood as the unwholesome sign approaching cessation.

May One Judge Signs for Other People?

If one's aspiration is genuine, wisdom and understanding are clear, and one can recognize each sign distinctly without error, one will not be deluded by the various obstructions. Directly applying mind to contemplation of principle will instead increase clarity. If one's cultivation has strength to spare, one may distinguish the gate of karma. Once personally penetrating it with freedom, one may also teach others.

If one cannot distinguish each karmic sign in minute detail, it is enough to know generally that it is an obstruction, grasp no sign, and directly apply mind to contemplation of principle. Karma then cannot impede one.

If one originally lacks a mind of understanding, forms an intention that is deviant, crooked, and partial, and develops craving and attachment after seeing these signs, Māra gains an opening, enters, and indicates good and bad fortune. People then cling to one another, trading signs for property and food, and after death fall into the ghost path. If this is not ghostly dhyāna, what would ghostly dhyāna be?

To correct oneself and then correct others, one must genuinely master this meaning. Only after personally undergoing actual verification and receiving oral instructions from a teacher may one explain it publicly. One must not recklessly promote oneself or rashly make pronouncements of cold and heat. The calamity thereby incurred will be immense. Take this deeply to heart! Take this deeply to heart! Later students must be cautious!

Someone asks: since Dharma-protecting spirits guard the place of practice, how can hostile creditors enter and disturb it?

The answer: guardian spirits certainly exist. They resemble scouting officers on patrol in a worldly army: they are responsible only for inspection and cannot prevent a genuine karmic debt. When a creditor presses for repayment of property, that is not something they can stop. Former karma pursuing a debt and exacting retribution should be understood through this simile.

Furthermore, complete discussions of the names, teachings, substance, and characteristics of the various karmas can be found in the Abhidharma and the Chengshi Lun. Complete methods for breaking karma through contemplation can be found in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Each of the two schools has strengths and deficiencies. The present intent differs from both. It is enough to make good and evil clear and prevent their confusion at the level of phenomena. Extensively distinguishing karmic signs obstructs the correct path. Merely breaking karma while wholly failing to understand how the factors of the path, correct practices, and assisting practices are mediated leaves the method incomplete. The present calming-and-contemplation does not seek elaborate breadth in distinguishing karmic signs, but has ample scope in applying contemplation.

Cultivating the Ten Modes of Contemplation in Relation to the Karmic Object

Fourth is cultivating calming-and-contemplation in relation to the karmic object. It has ten meanings.

First is the conceivable karmic object. Karma that evokes retribution in the three evil paths has upper, middle, and lower grades; karma that evokes retribution in the three wholesome paths also has upper, middle, and lower grades. Unmoving karma further evokes retribution in the form and formless realms. These karmas bring forth body and consciousness; beings then become deluded about form and mind and produce the four inversions of permanence, happiness, self, and purity, so birth and death continue unbroken.

Now contemplate that karma has no fixed karmic nature, preventing inversion and delusion from arising until the outflows and afflictions are exhausted. This is a śrāvaka's contemplation of karma. To contemplate that karma exists because of ignorance, that volitional formations exist because of ignorance, name and form because of volitional formations, and so forth through aging and death; and to know ignorance so that grasping and existence no longer arise, and with the cessation of ignorance the formations cease—this is a pratyekabuddha's contemplation of karma. To contemplate karmic activity as illusion, illusion itself as empty, and emptiness itself as nirvāṇa is a Shared-Teaching contemplation of karma. To contemplate karma as the great earth, able to produce various sprouts, so that the dharmas of all ten Dharma realms arise from karma is a Distinct-Teaching contemplation of karma. All these belong to the conceivable object and are not the Perfect contemplation employed in this passage.

First Mode: The Karma of One Thought Is the Inconceivable Object

The inconceivable object is explained from the scripture's statement “deeply penetrating the signs of transgression and merit.” Transgression means the three evil paths; merit means the three wholesome paths. Understanding karmic signs of the three evil paths but not those of the three wholesome paths of humans and devas does not count as deep penetration. Penetrating both good and evil is deep penetration.

Merely knowing wholesome and unwholesome karmic signs as good and evil is likewise not deep penetration. Going further, both good and evil can be called evil from the standpoint of attachment, while separation from both good and evil can be called good from the standpoint of liberation. This is deeper. Yet penetrating the good and evil of humans and devas remains on the side of birth and death, while penetrating the Two Vehicles' separation from good and evil remains on the empty side of nirvāṇa. Neither extreme is deep penetration; if one grasps the two extremes, both are again evil, so this is still not deep penetration.

Bodhisattvas of the Distinct Teaching first penetrate shallow levels of the two extremes and then gradually enter more deeply, so this is called deep penetration. Yet the Distinct Teaching's gradual depth is still not the deepest meaning of the Perfect Teaching. The Perfect Teaching penetrates profound karma within shallow and immediate karmic signs; only this can truly be called “deeply penetrating the signs of transgression and merit and illuminating the ten directions throughout.”

Such deep penetration neither circuitously and intricately distinguishes the three realms to exhaustion nor passes beyond karmic signs to fall directly into the extreme of emptiness. This is precisely the preceding meaning.

Contemplate one thought as it arises: it immediately contains the ten realms, called the ten directions. The ten directions are the dependent retribution; the ten realms are the direct retribution. Without dependent retribution there is no direct retribution. Once direct retribution exists, the hundred dharmas of nature, characteristic, beginning, end, and the rest are present; these can also be called the hundred directions. All these dharmas are the karma of one thought. Thus “one karma is all karma.”

The Avataṃsaka Sūtra raises a question: since mind-nature is one, why can it produce various karmas? It answers with the simile of the earth: although the earth is one, it can produce various sprouts. When the earth receives rain, poisonous and medicinal sprouts flourish together. Now when the ground of Dharma-nature receives the rain of practicing the path, sprouts of wholesome and unwholesome karma contend to arise within one thought. Karma is called the Dharma realm, the place where all dharmas converge; hence it is called the inconceivable object.

Second Mode: Arousing Loving-Kindness and Compassion through Deep Penetration of the Karmic Object

Having deeply penetrated the karmic object and known that good and evil together converge upon one thought, one arouses loving-kindness and compassion.

From the standpoint of the conventional truth, the principle of transgression and merit has no fixed opposition or accord. Opposing causes and conditions becomes transgression; according with causes and conditions becomes merit. Name and form, and all obstructive material things spoken of conventionally, likewise have no fixed opposition or accord. Stealing them becomes transgression and creates karma of the three evil paths; giving them becomes merit and creates karma of the three wholesome paths. A bodhisattva deeply penetrates that the conventional has no fixed opposition or accord, generating compassion for those who oppose and loving-kindness for those who accord.

From the standpoint of the true truth that is immediately empty, there is no path for speech and no fixed opposition or accord. Opposing immediate emptiness becomes the outflowed karma of the six paths; according with immediate emptiness becomes the outflow-free karma of the Three Vehicles. A bodhisattva deeply penetrates that immediate emptiness has no fixed opposition or accord, generating compassion for those who oppose and loving-kindness for those who accord.

From the standpoint of the truth of the Middle Way, the Middle Way likewise has no fixed opposition or accord. Opposing the Middle Way falls into the two extremes of outflowed and outflow-free karma; according with the Middle Way becomes the karma of the Middle Way, neither outflowed nor outflow-free. In this treatise, the Lotus Sūtra's words “obtained through karma cultivated over a long time” are used to indicate this level of karma. A bodhisattva deeply penetrates that the true mark of the Middle Way has no fixed opposition or accord, generating compassion for those who oppose and loving-kindness for those who accord.

In genuine deep penetration, only the mind of one thought has no fixed opposition or accord; there are no three separate and mutually isolated distinctions. There is likewise only the loving-kindness and compassion of one thought, without anyone first or last. This is called the genuine mind of awakening.

Third Mode: Skillfully Settling the Mind

Settle mind upon the emptiness of karma: good accords and evil ceases. The cessation of evil is called calming; the accord of good is called contemplation. Settle mind upon the provisionality of karma: again evil ceases and good accords. Settle mind upon the Middle of karma: again evil ceases and good accords. Because good accords, it is called contemplation; because evil ceases, it is called calming. This is skillfully settling the mind while contemplating karma.

Fourth Mode: Pervasively Breaking through Dharmas

Pervasively breaking through Dharmas first presents the positions of two schools. Abhidharma masters say that after karma subsides and ceases, it enters the past, where the rope of possession binds it to the practitioner so that retribution will be received in the future. Chengshi masters say that karma passes from the present into the future and receives retribution there.

Now contemplate this karma. If karma is in the past, the past has already subsided and ceased; how could karma still exist? If karma is in the future, the future does not yet exist; how could karma exist? If karma is in the present, the present never remains for even a thought. A thought that has passed belongs to the past; one that has not arrived belongs to the future. Arising, it immediately ceases—what can be called the present?

If one says that karma exists while something is presently departing and is therefore called present, one must ask further: is the time of departure karma, or is the departing agent karma? Does the time of departure depart, or does the departing agent depart? Since the present is unobtainable, karma too is unobtainable.

Seeking and examining in this way throughout past, present, and future, searching everywhere horizontally and vertically, no wholesome or unwholesome karma can be obtained; all is ultimately pure. Yet the world still uses conventional names in language to distinguish wholesome and unwholesome karma. One must not hear a name and assume that it has a fixed substance. Why? Cultivation of contemplation originally seeks true meaning, not false names. A false name has no intrinsic nature; although one provisionally distinguishes it, this resembles pointing a finger into empty space. Within karma there is neither a fixed agent nor a fixed recipient. The three truths of empty, provisional, and Middle are all quiescent. This is pervasively breaking through Dharmas.

Fifth Mode: Discerning Passage and Obstruction

Within the four alternatives—karma, non-karma, both karma and non-karma, and neither karma nor non-karma—clearly recognize suffering and accumulation in each. Within every thought, further understand path and cessation distinctly. When this is achieved with examined certainty, it is passage. The exact meaning of the source graphs 終不蟲字 remains to be determined. This is discerning passage and obstruction.

Sixth Mode: Regulating the Factors of the Path

The Chengshi masters say that when mental karma arises alone, it has not yet become karma. Mind receives real dharmas; perception distinguishes provisional names; formations move together with the object. Only then is mental karma accomplished, so mind, perception, and formations can be unfolded as three establishments of mindfulness. Bodily and verbal karma belong to form and correspond to the establishment of mindfulness of body.

Abhidharma masters say that the mind-king and mental factors arise simultaneously. The mind-king is the establishment of mindfulness of mind; the mental factor of feeling is the establishment of mindfulness of feeling; perception and all remaining mental factors belong to the aggregate of formations and therefore form the establishment of mindfulness of dharmas. Mind-king and mental factors arise in dependence on the form body, so the form body is the establishment of mindfulness of body. Whether one teaches simultaneous or sequential arising, both can be correlated with the four establishments of mindfulness.

Now contemplate that this karma possesses the five aggregates of the ten Dharma realms and therefore possesses all four establishments of mindfulness. Forms of the same class within all karma are the establishment of mindfulness of body; this body cannot be fixed as either pure or impure. The four aggregates of feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness of the same class unfold as the other three establishments of mindfulness. These three cannot be fixed as suffering or happiness, self or nonself, permanence or impermanence. They are therefore the nirvāṇa of the twin trees, neither one-sidedly flourishing nor one-sidedly withered, and unfold through the three liberations. These are the factors of the path.

Seventh Mode: Counteraction as an Aid to the Path

In counteraction as an aid to the path, one should recollect the thirty-two marks and other attributes of the Buddha's response-body, and also recollect the immeasurable merits of the Buddha's recompense-body, together breaking unwholesome karma of habitual cause. Recollecting the Buddha of Dharma gates can break habitual causes; recollecting the thirty-two marks can break retributive results〔and so forth〕. Recollecting the Buddha of Dharma gates further assists in breaking unwholesome karma of retributive result. Through the power of recollecting the Buddha, unwholesome karmic obstructions are transformed and one can enter the gate of nirvāṇa.

Eighth through Tenth Modes and the Retribution of the Three Bodies

While cultivating this contemplation, do not falsely claim the stages of higher noble ones. One should patiently endure various internal and external obstructions so cultivation remains unhindered. If only a state resembling the path has arisen, it is not yet genuine understanding and one must not produce attachment to Dharma. When attachment to Dharma does not arise, one naturally moves without stagnation and naturally flows into the cool ground.

This Great-Vehicle tenfold contemplation can obtain immeasurable pure, outflow-free retribution, obtain unsurpassed retribution, and obtain sovereign karma. Ultimately deeply penetrating transgression and merit without defilement is called “pure” and is the Dharma-body. Returning to the origin and source, with wisdom's illumination perfected to the utmost, is called “unsurpassed” and is the recompense-body. Extending bodily forms into the nine paths and manifesting according to the universal gate is called “sovereign” and is the response-body.

These three bodies are the Great Vehicle's lofty and broad great road, proceeding directly to the place of awakening. The remainder is as previously explained〔and so forth〕.

Why do things unseen in ordinary life suddenly appear while one cultivates calming-and-contemplation? Is what appears wholesome or unwholesome, a former cause or a later result, an aid to the path or an obstruction? If what one sees truly relates to past karma, may a practitioner use signs to judge people and predict good or bad fortune? If all dharmas are equal, on what basis can signs of good and evil be established?

Zhiyi does not avoid these questions. He first acknowledges that karmic signs appear, then distinguishes in sequence the causes and conditions of their arising, the levels of habit and retribution, the types of good and evil, and the reversals through which signs do or do not obstruct. Yet he does not let the reader stop at distinguishing signs. By the end of the passage, karmic signs have been carried into the ten modes of contemplation: first seeing a sign, then not grasping it; first distinguishing good and evil clearly, then seeking karma throughout the three times and finding it unobtainable; finally concluding with the three forms of retribution—pure, unsurpassed, and sovereign.

This path is carefully measured. It neither dismisses signs as delusion in a single stroke nor raises them into authorities that may govern cultivation. Signs may be examined and karma must be distinguished, but the path cannot be surrendered to signs.

Why the Equal Mirror Still Reflects Good and Evil

At the outset, the treatise raises an objection: since the Great Vehicle teaches equality, what signs remain to discuss? Its reply begins precisely from equality. Because the substance of the mirror is pure, various images can appear. Rejecting every sign on the grounds of equality would be like denying that a stainless mirror contains images.

Zhiyi then cites scriptural evidence from both Great and Small Vehicles. When bodhisattvas are about to realize the ten grounds, signs arise first. When practitioners are about to realize the first fruit, the sign of a snake first perishes. The Lotus Sūtra speaks of deeply penetrating the signs of transgression and merit; the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra of not moving within ultimate meaning while skillfully distinguishing all characteristics of Dharmas. Together, these witnesses answer one question: immovability and distinction do not cancel one another. If equality could be established only by failing to see differences, it would not yet be the equality capable of illuminating transgression and merit.

Contemplating karmic signs therefore does not set up a separate substance of good and evil outside Great-Vehicle equality. It first requires practitioners to acknowledge that when calming-and-contemplation gradually grows bright, karma performed over immeasurable kalpas but not yet requited may appear through signs. It then requires them not to confuse black and white when signs appear. The first step is not to explain every image, but to guard both poles: there are signs to distinguish, yet ultimate meaning does not move through their distinction.

Where Signs Come From, and Why Every Sign Need Not Be Pursued

Signs arise through internal and external causes and conditions. Internally, calming-and-contemplation examines mind; as mind gradually becomes bright and pure, good and evil are illuminated. Sometimes calming stops evil and evil is about to cease, while contemplation contemplates good and good is about to arise. Sometimes evil arises through stillness and good ceases through contemplation. These four changes already warn practitioners that one cannot infer from a single surface movement that calming invariably destroys evil or contemplation invariably produces good.

Externally, buddhas constantly respond to all beings through loving-kindness and compassion, but beings cannot see them because they lack responsive faculties. Through the power of calming-and-contemplation, buddhas display wholesome and unwholesome meditative concentrations, and karmic signs appear like someone holding up a garland for the assembly. Internally there is the polishing of a mirror; externally the display of a garland. Both describe how signs become visible.

Yet Zhiyi immediately draws the discussion back. The ability to distinguish transgression and merit finely, preventing confusion between black and white, may indeed suffice to discipline others. What matters here, however, is examining mind through calming-and-contemplation so karma subsides, practice succeeds, and one single-mindedly takes up the path. This turn is crucial. The treatise devotes great space to distinguishing karmic signs, yet before that distinction begins it says one need not circuitously pursue every sign. The value of distinguishing signs lies in not being deluded by them. If the distinction itself obstructs taking up the path, the tool has already become an obstruction.

Why Seeing an Image and Suddenly Producing a Thought Must Be Distinguished

When karmic signs actually appear, they have no fixed order. Six patterns are listed for clarity: only a retributive-result sign; only a habitual-cause mind; retribution first and habit afterward; habit first and retribution afterward; habit and retribution together; and an indeterminate sequence. Myriad signs arise in uneven and interwoven ways. The six patterns are not a temporal ladder, but a map for distinguishing their entanglement.

Habitual cause and habitual result are first explained through sequential continuity. A later thought continues the preceding one: the preceding thought is cause and the later thought result. Retributive cause and retributive result are explained through drawing forth across lifetimes: what can draw forth a body in one of the five paths in a later life is a retributive cause, while the body later received is a retributive result. Good and evil again arise within the present body. Viewed from the preceding life, they can be called result; viewed toward the following life, cause. The four names are not four fixed things, but must be seen according to sequence, past and present, and the direction of what they draw forth.

Applied to signs arising in seated meditation, the treatise gives a direct boundary: merely seeing various signs while sitting is classified as a retributive-result sign; seeing no sign but suddenly producing a thought is classified as habitual cause. The names of both may be borrowed from one another in relation to a preceding cause or later result, yet this passage retains an operational point of decision: what is seen belongs to retribution, what arises as mind belongs to habit. This boundary prevents one from conflating a seen image with an arisen thought, and prevents the possible interchange of names from erasing the immediate distinction.

The six perfections then unfold the six patterns of arising. In giving, one may see fields of merit or compassion, implements of giving, pure ground, or a giver; or one may see nothing but suddenly produce a mind of offering and relief. In moral discipline, one may see the ten teachers, robes and bowl, platform, pure deportment, or a keeper of precepts; or one may directly produce the mind of upholding discipline, correcting others, and mastering Vinaya. Patient endurance and diligence likewise each include seeing signs and producing thoughts. Arising before, afterward, together, and in intermixture further unfolds each perfection into several possibilities. Meditative concentration is deferred to the object of meditative concentration and wisdom to the object of bodhisattvas. This does not mean they fall outside the six perfections; the present passage simply does not explain them extensively here.

Why the Many Signs of Good and Evil Cannot Become a Chart of Fortune

Unwholesome signs are likewise explained through the six obscurations. The obscuration of stinginess reverses the signs of giving: teachers and kin appear gaunt, clothes tattered, people hungry and exhausted, monasteries desolate, property sealed away, or a stingy person appears. Under signs of broken moral discipline, bodily and verbal transgressions and drinking are listed: severed heads, split bodies, evil birds and venomous insects crawling over the body; impure, foul substances blocking the road and deep water cutting across it; the owner of stolen goods pressing a claim; verbal offenders slandering; a drunk person collapsed in vomit; and one's own body sunk in torpor. Inner pain, heaviness, and agitation are further connected respectively with habits of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.

These powerful images invite extraction into a chart that reads one sight as proof of one deed, but the treatise itself forbids that reading. Every obscuration still possesses the six meanings of retribution, habit, sequence, simultaneity, and indeterminacy. The listed signs are examples, not a one-to-one code matching an appearance to a transgression. By the section on discernment, even whether wholesome or unwholesome signs become obstructive depends on subsequent conduct of mind and cannot be decided from their first appearance alone.

The discussion of property owed to the Three Treasures makes this restraint concrete. Some say that repayment is required as soon as a sign appears. Nanyue instead asks whether someone without property should abandon practice and run everywhere in search of it. The treatise does not cancel the debt; it distinguishes cultivating the path from abandoning it. If one resolves to cultivate, repayment can be unfolded through accomplishment and establishment: after realizing patient endurance concerning nonarising, one makes extensive offerings; or one repays when meritorious practice, reputation, conduct, and retribution have become established. If one has left the place of practice and abandoned cultivation, one must seek property and repay at once. Karmic debt is real, and so is cultivating the path; neither may be crudely flattened by the formula that the appearance of a sign invariably demands one action.

How a Wholesome Sign Becomes an Evil Obstruction, and an Unwholesome Sign a Wholesome Condition

Discernment first establishes four alternatives: the nonobstructive becoming obstructive; the obstructive becoming nonobstructive; both sides becoming obstructive; and both sides becoming nonobstructive. These begin not as abstract doctrine, but as actual changes in practitioners.

When a wholesome sign first appears, it need not obstruct. Yet if practitioners develop craving and arrogance through it, belittle others, make the sign of realization a basis for pride, and gradually become stained by reputation and gain until mind retreats, Dharma is damaged, precepts abandoned, and evil committed, the original wholesome sign has become a great obstruction. When an unwholesome sign first appears, it is an obstruction. Yet if practitioners respond with shame, conscience, and fear, diligently repent, sever the mind of continuation, cease offending, and cultivate every good, the original unwholesome sign instead becomes a condition for accomplishing the path.

The direction of wholesome and unwholesome signs is therefore not determined by appearance alone. A wholesome sign appearing as good is about to cease may portend the arising of evil; an unwholesome sign appearing as evil is about to cease may portend the arising of good. If good does not cease and evil does not arise, both sides are nonobstructive. If evil does not cease and good does not arise, both obstruct. A judgment asking only whether the appearance is good or evil has failed to ask the most important question: after seeing it, where does this mind go?

The treatise further discusses obstruction layer by layer through the true, provisional, and Middle. Viewed from a later layer, the good and evil established at the preceding one may remain obstructive; thus obstruction has no end. This does not cancel good and evil. It prevents practitioners from sealing any attained understanding as the final point. Signs can obstruct and good can obstruct; even attachment to truth can obstruct. Cultivation is not completed merely by replacing its object with something loftier.

The Most Dangerous Moment Is Thinking One Already Knows How to Judge Signs

The arising of a habitual-cause mind is comparatively easy to recognize; the arising of a retributive-result sign is difficult. If a wholesome retributive sign supports wholesome mind and corresponds with it before and after, it can generally be judged intrinsic good; if it arises alone, nonmanifest good. If an unwholesome sign and mind support one another, it can generally be judged intrinsic evil; if an unwholesome habit arises without supporting sign, evil that violates the nonmanifest precepts. Yet the treatise does not let this preliminary judgment become a verdict. It instead says the principle is difficult to understand and easily mixed with Māra, so the ten dharmas and three characteristics must test it again.

The three characteristics are remaining a long time, returning repeatedly, and damaging the mind of meditative concentration. Possessing them marks a sign of Māra; only in their absence may a sign be judged nonmanifest. One may also observe three transformations in an unwholesome sign: anger on first appearance, calmness on the second, and joy on the third. Awakening through admonition or expelling the sign likewise indicates that the evil is about to cease. The layering of these conditions shows precisely why a sign cannot be judged from one glance, one moment, or one feeling.

Those able to distinguish finely may directly carry mind into contemplation of principle without becoming deluded by obstructions. Only if their practice has strength to spare do they distinguish the gate of karma and also teach others. Those unable to make minute distinctions still have a safe path: know generally that the sign is an obstruction, do not grasp it, and directly contemplate principle. Karma then cannot impede them. The true danger is not inability to judge finely, but lacking wise understanding, forming a deviant and partial intention, becoming attached on seeing signs, and letting Māra gain an opening so that people rely upon purported fortune and misfortune and exchange them for property and food.

The treatise therefore places two requirements upon public judgment of signs: one must personally have undergone actual verification and also have received oral instructions from a teacher. It then uses the spirits guarding the place of practice as a simile. Such spirits resemble military scouts: they can observe but cannot prevent a genuine karmic debt. No external protection turns former karma into something one need not face. Nor can any sign authorize an untested person to install oneself as a teacher.

Why Karmic Signs Need Not Be Distinguished Extensively, but Contemplation Must Be Complete

The names, teachings, substance, and characteristics of karmas can be sought extensively in the treatises, and contemplations that break karma have their own authoritative works. The present treatise, however, says its intent differs from both schools. It is enough to prevent confusion between good and evil at the phenomenal level so one can take up the path. Extensive distinction instead impedes the correct path. Yet if one merely says that everything is broken without knowing how the factors of the path and correct and assisting practices regulate one another, the method remains incomplete.

This creates an apparently paradoxical arrangement. The section on karmic signs lists examples repeatedly, then says it does not seek elaboration; the section on contemplation simply follows ten meanings in sequence, yet says its application has ample scope. The answer lies in the center of gravity. Signs are listed not to establish an endless science of signs but to carry practitioners safely into the gate of contemplation. Contemplation does not interpret the signs yet again; it changes the practitioner's relation to karma.

Thus the fourth section first lists the conceivable karmic object: the three evil paths, the three wholesome paths, unmoving karma, a śrāvaka's contemplation that karmic nature is empty, a pratyekabuddha's contemplation of the cessation of ignorance and formations, the Shared Teaching's contemplation of karma as illusion and immediately empty, and the Distinct Teaching's contemplation of karma as earth producing sprouts. Each has a definite contemplative method, yet none is the final contemplation employed here. Zhiyi turns from them toward deeply penetrating profound karma precisely within immediate, shallow karmic signs, neither intricately distinguishing the three realms nor passing beyond karmic signs directly into the extreme of emptiness.

How the Karma of One Thought Becomes the Dharma Realm without Erasing Transgression and Merit

The inconceivable object begins from “deeply penetrating the signs of transgression and merit.” Penetrating only the three evil paths but not the three wholesome paths of humans and devas is not deep. Fixing good and evil simply as good and evil is not yet deep either. Human and deva good and evil remain at the extreme of birth and death; the Two Vehicles' separation from good and evil remains at the empty extreme of nirvāṇa. Grasping either extreme is not genuine deep penetration.

Perfect contemplation does not leave shallow and immediate karmic signs to seek profound karma elsewhere. Contemplate one thought as it arises: it possesses the ten realms. The direct retribution of the ten realms and dependent retribution of the ten directions require one another, and nature, characteristic, beginning, end, and the other dharmas are present accordingly. All this is the karma of one thought, hence “one karma is all karma.” “All” is established in the ten realms' direct and dependent retributions and the hundred dharmas possessed within one thought.

The simile of earth producing sprouts returns here. The earth is one yet can produce poisonous and medicinal sprouts. When the ground of Dharma-nature receives the rain of practicing the path, sprouts of wholesome and unwholesome karma compete to arise in one thought. Karma is called the Dharma realm because it is where all dharmas converge. Poisonous and medicinal sprouts still each unfold according to their nature, just as wholesome and unwholesome karmic sprouts compete within one thought. Calling karma the Dharma realm does not erase the signs of transgression and merit.

Loving-kindness and compassion arise from this. The principle of transgression and merit has no fixed opposition or accord, yet becomes transgression or merit according to causes and conditions. Conventional name and form can be stolen, becoming unwholesome karma, or given, becoming wholesome karma. Opposing immediate emptiness becomes the outflowed karma of the six paths; according with it becomes the outflow-free karma of the Three Vehicles. Opposing the Middle Way becomes karma at the two extremes of outflowed and outflow-free; according with it becomes karma that is neither outflowed nor outflow-free. Having no fixed opposition or accord does not mean there is no opposition or accord. Precisely because good and evil form through conditions, bodhisattvas generate compassion toward opposition and loving-kindness toward accord.

Why Breaking Karma Does Not Deny Cause and Result

When mind is settled upon the emptiness, provisionality, and Middle of karma, evil ceasing is in each case calming and good according is contemplation. Pervasively breaking through Dharmas then asks where karma abides among the three times. If in the past, the past has subsided; if in the future, the future does not yet exist; if in the present, thoughts never remain. What has departed belongs to the past and what has not arrived remains future; what arises immediately ceases, so what can be called present? Asking again about the time of departure and the departing agent makes both karma and governing subject unobtainable.

Examined throughout the three times, all wholesome and unwholesome karma is ultimately pure. Yet the treatise immediately supplies the other side: the world continues to distinguish wholesome and unwholesome karma through conventional names in language. One may not hear a name and grasp it as real, nor cancel the establishment of good and evil because names lack intrinsic nature. What is broken is fixed intrinsic nature and fixed agency and reception, not all language of cause and result.

This also explains why discerning passage and obstruction, the factors of the path, and aids to the path follow pervasive breaking. If declaring karma empty were sufficient, there would be nowhere further to go. Precisely because emptiness does not end the discussion, practitioners still recognize suffering, accumulation, path, and cessation within karma, non-karma, both, and neither; contemplate the five aggregates of the ten realms as the four establishments of mindfulness; and rely on recollection of the Buddha to help break unwholesome karma of habitual cause and retributive result. The unobtainability of karma and transformation of unwholesome karmic obstruction stand together on one path of cultivation.

From Not Falsely Claiming Noble Stages to Naturally Flowing into Coolness

The final three modes are brief, but contain all the dangers of judging signs discussed earlier. While cultivating contemplation, one first does not falsely claim the stages of higher noble ones. Faced with inner and outer obstructions, one patiently endures them so practice remains unhindered. When only a state resembling the path has arisen, one does not treat it as genuine understanding and does not develop attachment to Dharma.

These three steps answer the first appearance of karmic signs. Seeing a wholesome sign does not mean realization; encountering an unwholesome sign does not mean retreat from the path; possessing a state resembling the path does not justify attachment. From the mirror first polished to reveal myriad images through the final nonarising of attachment to Dharma, the whole passage asks not how extraordinary signs are, but whether mind can avoid being carried away by them.

When attachment to Dharma does not arise, one proceeds spontaneously without stagnation and naturally flows into the cool ground. The pure, unsurpassed, and sovereign forms of retribution obtained through the ten contemplations correspond respectively to the Dharma-, recompense-, and response-bodies. Ultimately deeply penetrating transgression and merit without defilement is purity. Returning to the origin and source, with the illumination of wisdom perfectly complete, is unsurpassed. Extending bodily forms into the nine paths and manifesting through the universal gate is sovereignty.

Only here does the full arc of contemplating the object of karmic signs become visible. It begins with the appearance of wholesome and unwholesome former karma, passes through distinguishing, testing, and releasing attachment to signs, and ends not in a more accomplished art of reading signs but in making every karmic sign an object of the ten modes. It deeply penetrates transgression and merit without becoming stained by either and can extend bodily forms into the nine paths for the benefit of beings. One who truly passes through karmic signs is not a person able to judge everything, but one who still knows where the place of awakening lies, no matter how signs appear.

Through the Eye of the Fuxing

The reading above follows the four sections and ten modes of Zhiyi's treatise itself. Zhanran's Fuxing further illuminates several joints easily confused, preventing sign, karma, and contemplation from being inverted into one another.

First, Zhanran explains the polished-mirror simile through sunlight and myriad images. Calming-and-contemplation is like light; karmic signs are like images. Light makes images visible; it does not newly produce or extinguish them. The four alternatives—calming stopping evil as evil ceases, contemplation contemplating good as good arises, and the rest—describe practitioners seeing signs of the arising and cessation of good and evil. They do not mean that calming-and-contemplation manufactures good and evil at that moment. Internal and external causes and conditions cannot be split into an either-or choice: although wording may name the stronger side, in principle internal and external must unite. Cultivation of contemplation reveals the responsive capacity; buddhas reveal their response.

Second, the six ways in which signs arise extend through the subsequent wholesome and unwholesome classes. The first two are the separate arising of retributive result and habitual cause; the middle two their mutual arising; the fifth their simultaneous arising; the sixth their intermixture. That each perfection and obscuration does not repeat all six later does not mean the remaining patterns have vanished. The four names also admit two vantage points. When first discussed through habitual continuity and drawing forth results, although there are four names, they can be embraced by three meanings. When distinguished anew across lifetimes, each of the four names has four meanings. Compressing these two levels into one fixed chart of cause and result loses the treatise's usage of mutually viewing former and later lives.

Third, Zhanran narrowly defines what is explained in detail under the obscuration of broken moral discipline. Three bodily and four verbal acts form the seven branches of intrinsic precepts; drinking is merely one example selected from many prohibitory precepts. The remaining four obscurations are known by analogy. This outline prevents readers from mistaking the treatise's examples for a complete inventory of the six obscurations. The preliminary judgment of intrinsic and nonmanifest good and evil likewise cannot serve as certainty: mutual support and isolated arising are only initial distinctions, still requiring renewed testing through the ten dharmas and three characteristics. The stronger an appearance, the less one may skip the later tests.

Fourth, “personal verification through practice” does not mean realization of a noble stage. It means only that one has personally experienced the arising of such a sign and can test another's case against one's own experience. Only when this is joined with a teacher's oral instructions may one speak publicly. Zhanran says directly that judging another person's signs is truly difficult. This prevents the treatise's requirement of master and verification from becoming a claim to noble realization. It also permits those unable to distinguish signs in minute detail to return safely to direct contemplation of principle. Skill in reading signs has never been a certificate of entry into the path.

Fifth, the same simile of earth and sprouts functions differently in the Distinct and Perfect Teachings. In the earlier use, karma resembles earth and the ten realms various sprouts; producer and produced remain distinct. In the latter, the ground of Dharma-nature intrinsically possesses productive nature, and both producer and produced are none other than the Dharma realm. The karma of one thought is inconceivable not merely because there are many sprouts, but because earth, rain, poisonous sprouts, and medicinal sprouts never leave the Dharma realm. This reading also preserves good and evil: a poisonous sprout remains poisonous, yet no sprout can be expelled beyond the Dharma realm.

Sixth, the horizontal and vertical dimensions of pervasively breaking through Dharmas do not refer vaguely to making an exhaustive search. Zhanran treats comparison among the three times as vertical, then the comparison within each time between time and governing agent as horizontal. The question concerning the “departing agent” directly touches the governing self. At the factors of the path, the preceding Chengshi and Abhidharma passages present only two schools' correlations with the four establishments of mindfulness. Only when the treatise begins its own contemplation of the five aggregates of the ten realms does it directly enter the Perfect contemplation of the non-activating four establishments of mindfulness. The cited treatises and the Tiantai contemplation each retain their layer; their consecutive placement does not fuse them into one account.

Seventh, recollection of the Buddha as an aid to the path must be allocated distinctly according to habitual cause, retributive result, good, and evil. The Buddha of Dharma gates, marks and excellences, and merits each has its treatment. The final sentence speaks only of the transformation of unwholesome karmic obstruction, but Zhanran warns that in general both good and evil can obstruct; the text speaks from evil only because karma of the six obscurations is grave. This corresponds exactly to the preceding wholesome sign that later becomes a great obstruction. Good and evil are not finally decided by their initial names; one must still see whether they impede contemplative practice.

The mirror of the Fuxing repeatedly reduces the possibility of misjudgment: calming-and-contemplation reveals signs but does not manufacture karma; internal and external causes and conditions cannot be taken one-sidedly; none of the six meanings may be omitted; the four names cannot be confused across levels; the nonmanifest cannot escape testing; personal verification cannot be inflated into a noble stage; breaking karma cannot be reduced to one declaration of emptiness; and aids to the path cannot lose the distinction between good and evil. Karmic signs deserve examination but not attachment. Good and evil must be distinguished, but appearance alone cannot decide them. What ultimately leads people beyond signs remains the ten-mode calming-and-contemplation.