Essentials of Calm and Insight
The *Mohe Zhiguan* in ten fascicles is divided into two major parts. The first two fascicles give a brief summary of the overall principles, and the remaining eight fascicles explain the practice in detail.
The first, concise section is further divided into five parts: Developing the Complete Mind, Cultivating the Complete Practice, Experiencing the Complete Fruit, Manifesting the Eight Teachings, and Returning to the Three Virtues.
1. **Developing the Complete Mind (Fascicle One):** This involves distinguishing the true complete mind from one-sided views by examining the Four Great Vows, the Four Noble Truths, and the Six Identities. * The **Four Great Vows** are the vows taken. * The **Four Noble Truths** are the grounds for these vows. * The **Six Identities** are the stages of realization. * Vows without a foundation are just wild wishes. A path that does not distinguish stages confuses ordinary beings and sages. * The vows are made based on the Truths: "Beings are limitless, I vow to save them" is based on the Truth of Suffering. "Afflictions are endless, I vow to cut them off" is based on the Truth of Origin. "Dharma doors are countless, I vow to know them" is based on the Truth of the Path. "Buddhahood is unsurpassed, I vow to realize it" is based on the Truth of Cessation. * The *Nirvana Sutra* expands the Four Truths into four levels, so the vows also have four aspects. Currently, we choose the complete over the one-sided. These complete vows encompass the previous three types of vows because they are all based on the Dharma Realm itself. From the Dharma Realm, perfect vows arise. * At the start of the path, the practitioner's mind pervades the Dharma Realm of afflictions, learns the entire Buddha-dharma, and attains the same realization as the Three Bodies of a Buddha (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya). * Once the Complete Mind is initiated, we must clarify what it is. Is it the beginning stage? Or the final stage? Is the beginning identical to the end? Or different from the end? To distinguish this, the teaching of the **Six Identities** (or Stages) is explained. 1. Identity in Principle 2. Identity in Name 3. Identity in Practice 4. Identity in Resemblance 5. Partial Identity 6. Ultimate Identity * These are called "Identities" because the beginning and end are identical in principle. They are "Six" to prevent confusion between the stages. Because the principle is the same, they are Identities. Because the phenomenal practice differs, they are Six. * Any scriptural phrase containing the word "identity" (e.g., "Samsara is identical to Nirvana") should be understood within the framework of these Six Stages. This ensures that the underlying principle is seen as the same from beginning to end, while the stages of attainment are not mixed up.
2. **Cultivating the Complete Practice** (Also Fascicle Two): This refers to the **Four Types of Samadhi** which encompass all practices. Without superior practice, the superior fruit is hard to reach. 1. **Constant Sitting Samadhi:** Based on the *Manjusri Asks* and *Manjusri Explains* Prajnaparamita Sutras. Also called the Single Practice Samadhi. It focuses solely on the Dharma Realm. The period is 90 days. 2. **Constant Walking Samadhi:** Based on the *Pratyutpanna Samadhi Sutra*. Also called the Buddha Presence Samadhi. When successful, one sees the Buddhas of the ten directions standing in the meditation room. Also a 90-day period. 3. **Half-Walking, Half-Sitting Samadhi:** Based on the *Lotus Sutra* and the *Vaipulya Sutra*. The *Lotus* period is 21 days. The *Vaipulya* has no fixed time. 4. **Neither Walking nor Sitting Samadhi:** Also called Following One's Own Mind. One contemplates thoughts as soon as they arise. The method is found in the *Invocation of Guanyin Sutra* and other Mahayana sutras. It can be applied to all four postures (walking, standing, sitting, lying down) and all activities, even busy or urgent ones. The practice of these four samadhis differs, but the principle is the same. Therefore, all equally employ the Ten Methods of Contemplation.
3. **Experiencing the Complete Fruit:** Through these practices, one attains the complete stage. The near goal is the first stage of the Ten Abodes (the Initial Abode), which is the Patience of Non-Arising. The ultimate goal is Marvelous Enlightenment, which is the Patience of Cessation. The functions of the first Abode are described in the *Avatamsaka Sutra*. It is not something one can casually claim to have realized. The details of the final stage are explained in the sutras.
4. **Manifesting the Eight Teachings:** Having attained this stage, one manifests as a Buddha with the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks. One appears in the bodies of the ten realms. One adapts to the capacities of beings, using the four types of Teaching (Tripitaka, Shared, Separate, Complete) and the four types of Method (Sudden, Gradual, Secret, Variable). This benefits beings throughout the five periods of the Buddha's teaching career.
5. **Returning to the Three Virtues:** When the conditions for teaching are exhausted, it is fitting to return to the Three Virtues. What are these? The Secret Treasury. The *Nirvana Sutra* says, "I have placed my children in the Secret Treasury, and soon I too will dwell within it myself."
From the third fascicle onward, the practices are explained in detail. This elaborates on the previous five points to make their practice easier. It includes: * Explaining the Name of Calming and Insight (*Zhi Guan*) * Distinguishing the Essence of Calming and Insight * Clarifying how this Essence encompasses all dharmas * Judging which dharmas are complete and which are one-sided. These four topics are all in the third fascicle.
Next comes the preparation for the main practice, found in the fourth fascicle. This consists of the **Twenty-Five Methods** organized into five categories:
1. **Cultivating the Five Conditions:** a. Enough food and clothing (to sever hopes). b. Pure precepts (to sever the causes of evil paths). c. A quiet, calm place (to avoid noisy distractions). d. Cessation of all involvements (to abandon miscellaneous tasks). e. Relying on good spiritual friends (to have a source of guidance). The text explains both the factual and the *principle* aspects for each condition.
2. **Renouncing the Five Desires:** These are sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and tactile objects. Both one's personal body and the environment produce these five. They create a desire-pursuing mind in the practitioner, so they must be renounced. The text explains renunciation on both the factual and principle levels.
3. **Abandoning the Five Hindrances:** Once the conditions are met and desire is renounced, one can enter contemplation. If the contemplation is not yet mature, five dharmas will obscure the mind. They are: craving, anger-wrath, sloth-torpor, restlessness-remorse, and doubt. Because they arise in the context of contemplation, they can be much stronger than usual. They damage the qualities of stillness (Calming) and illumination (Insight), and must be abandoned upon recognition. The text explains abandonment on both factual and principle levels.
4. **Harmonizing the Five Factors:** Even after abandoning the hindrances, if one cannot enter the state properly, it may be due to the disharmony of five factors. * For the sitting period, these are the body, breath, and mind. Body should be neither tight nor slack. The breath should be neither rough nor slippery. The mind should be neither sinking nor floating. * Outside of sitting, these are sleep and food. Sleep should be neither uncontrolled nor indulgent. Food should be neither too full nor too hungry.
5. **Practicing the Five Dharmas:** Even with the previous four categories complete, one must have these five to be a true practitioner. a. **Desire/Aspiration:** One must seek and yearn for the path. b. **Mindfulness/Recollection:** One must remember and hold onto it. c. **Diligence:** One's effort must be continuous. d. **Skillful Wisdom:** One needs adaptability in one's methods. e. **One-Pointedness:** One must focus without seeking anything else. With these skillful means in place, the main practice of Contemplation can be achieved.
**What is the Main Practice of Contemplation?** It consists of Ten Methods. Without these ten, one's practice is like a broken donkey cart. Furthermore, although all ten are complete, constant, and round, practitioners have three different levels of capacity. The highest capacity needs only one method. The middle capacity needs two or seven. The lowest capacity needs all ten.
**Ten Methods for the Main Practice**
1. **Contemplating the Unthinkable Realm (For the highest capacity):** This establishes the object and subject of contemplation. * The **Object** contemplated is the five aggregates, the twelve sense bases, and the eighteen sense realms. Fundamentally, they boil down to form and mind. Form is created by mind, so all form is essentially mind. Therefore, the sutra says, "The three realms are nothing but mind." * This creating mind itself contains all dharmas, be they conditioned, unconditioned, neither, causes, results, or neither. * Another sutra says, "Mind, Buddha, and beings are not different." Beings possess this principle. Buddhas have realized it. Both those who have realized and those still at the level of principle are equal in their fundamental nature. * This mind is all-encompassing: One mind contains all minds. One particle contains all particles. One mind contains all particles. One particle contains all minds. One particle contains all worlds. So does each world in a particle. Dharams, particles, worlds, and bodies all exist yet have no inherent nature. * This nature, being without essence, changes according to conditions and causes different forms. So my body, mind, world, and particles pervade all places. The same is true for Buddhas and all beings. The bodies and lands of each Being are eternally the same. So there is no conflict in Mind, Buddha, and beings being different. Their difference lies in the conditions that are pure or impure. These conditions are, in their nature, empty yet not non-existent. * [Note: The terms for the Three Contemplations are found in the *Garland Sutra*, and the terms for the Three Truths are found in the *Benevolent King Sutra* and others.] * Contemplating in this way is called "Contemplating the Mind's Nature." The nature is unchanging despite following conditions. The mind follows conditions without losing its nature. * The *Nirvana Sutra* says, "The ability to contemplate the mind's nature is called Supreme Concentration. 'Supreme Concentration' means the Ultimate Truth. The 'Ultimate Truth' means Buddha Nature. 'Buddha Nature' means Vairocana." * This Vairocana nature possesses the Three Buddha Natures. Because Vairocana is all-pervading, these Three Buddhas are also all-pervading. Thus the Three Buddhas (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, Nirmanakaya) are present in a single moment of thought. Because the Three Buddhas are pervasive, that moment of thought is also pervasive. * Contemplating in this way is to contemplate afflictions, and also to contemplate the Dharma Body. To contemplate the Dharma Body is to contemplate the Three Bodies, the moment of thought, the Treasury of the Ocean-Seal Samadhi, Thusness, True Reality, all beings, one's own body, emptiness, and the Middle Way. * Therefore, this wondrous realm is the root of all dharmas. This wondrous contemplation is the source of all practices. This is what separates the complete path from the one-sided, limited, deviant, or non-Buddhist. This is why it is the first of the ten methods. * A person of high capacity uses this single contemplation to encompass everything horizontally and vertically. They instantly recognize that all appearances are without marks, yet in their midst. This immediately destroys ignorance and reaches the first stage of abiding. If not, they are still at the stage of inner or outer commoners. The previous metaphor says it is "lofty, vast,... and reaches the place of enlightenment."
**For those of middle capacity who do not yet realize, subsequent methods are used.**
2. **Arising the Compassionate Mind:** If contemplating the realm does not lead to understanding, one must strengthen their vow. From beginningless time, beings have made and forgotten their great resolutions. Now, contemplating but not realizing the principle, one must re-make the vow. * "Saving limitless beings" because Samsara is Nirvana. * "Cutting off endless afflictions" because afflictions are Enlightenment. * "Knowing countless Dharma doors" here, one turns confusion into wisdom. * "Realizing unsurpassed Buddhahood" because becoming is cessation. * Contemplating in this way leads to sudden great awakening. One understands the object being contemplated and enters the rank of ordinary and holy beings. This was compared to "spreading the canopy" etc. If one still does not enter, it is because the mind is not settled.
3. **Settling the Mind:** This has a general and a specific aspect. * Generally: The Dharma Realm is that which is settled. Stillness-Illumination is what settles it. If one knows afflictions and Samsara are fundamentally pure (Stillness), and fundamentally empty (Illumination), these are the Dharma Realm. The essence (body) of this realm is the thing being settled. Its function (moving out of confusion) is Stillness-Illumination. The essence and function are not two, and the Three Virtues are perfectly equal. * Specifically: Even after settling, if one is still more confused or scattered than before, it is because of different habits. Therefore, one must guide one's mind according to its natural tendencies. Some need to hear (study), some to think, some to be still, some to be illuminated. This follows what is pleasant, what treats their faults, and what leads to the ultimate. There is no single path. The metaphor compares this to the "Dan pillow inside the cart."
4. **Pervasively Destroying Dharmas:** All teachings, whether simple or complex, begin with the teaching of non-arising. Here we start by using the gate of Non-Arising to destroy all confusions. Then we use this gate to enter other gates, destroying horizontally and vertically to recognize the universal essence of the Dharma. This is compared to being "fast as the wind." This gate is extremely vast.
5. **Recognizing Penetration and Obstruction:** Even knowing that Samsara and afflictions are obstructions, and Nirvana and Enlightenment are penetration, one must also recognize when penetration itself becomes obstrucion. This obstruction must be broken. When faced with an obstruction, the 'thief' must not be allowed to remain. If a thief becomes a general, he cannot be destroyed. One must constantly examine each moment. Stillness and Illumination cannot be attached to, as this is obstrucion. This is like "the Dan pillow outside the cart."
6. **Harmonizing the Thirty-Seven Aids to Enlightenment:** After pervasively destroying through a gate, if the principle remains unclear, the thirty-seven factors must be applied step by step. This begins with the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. * Body: One contemplates the body (form). One sees a single materiality is all materiality, all is one. This is the triple discernment of non-duality. * Feeling, Mind, and Dharmas: The same method applies. The other six sets of the Thirty-Seven Aids are similarly applied. This is like having a "great white ox," etc. These six points (steps 1-6) are the main practice.
7. **Using Aids to the Path as an Antidote:** The *Nirvana Sutra* says afflictions are many, and there are many gates of cure. Those who don't believe in this method of antidotes have not truly understood the main practice. Whether one attains the way or not depends on whether worldly evil is helping principle-level evil to obscure the principle's good. * The principle's good is the Dharma Realm's constant abiding. * Worldly good is generousity, morality, etc. * Principle evil is subtle ignorance. * Worldly evil is the six heavy obstructions (greed, etc.). * Six worldly evils (greed, broken precepts, anger, laziness, delusion, wrong views) need to be treated with the six perfections (or the ten good deeds). Once worldly evil is removed, the principle good becomes clear. * If one practices only the main contemplation but worldly evil is heavy, they will not succeed. Thus, one must use these 'aids' like servants to help the main practice (the White Ox Cart). If not, the cart will fall over. This is represented by "many servants and guards."
8. **Knowing the Stages of Attainment:** Those of low capacity, not understanding these two (main and aid), may develop pride, thinking they equal a Buddha. "Not attained claiming attainment," "not realized claiming realization." This is a grave fault. * All Buddhas of past, present, and future have clearly delineated stages. One must know the stages of ordinary beings, sages, and Buddhas to avoid confusing them. The metaphors in the *Lotus Sutra* about "traveling in the four directions" refer to the four dwellings: heaven, ordinary being, sage, and Buddha.
9. **Enduring the Unendurable:** A beginner practitioner of the Sudden-Complete path enters the stage of external commoners. External fame, internal obstruction, or both are so strong they block progress. One must be patient, unmoved by these, to enter the stage of internal commoners (the Stage of Resemblance). If one stays unmoved and attached to this, it becomes 'dharma-love.'
10. **Renouncing Attachment to the Doctrine:** Having attained the resemblance stage, one has certain powers. But attachment to this stage is a "fall from the summit." It is not the same as the etc 'fall' of a lesser vehicle. To go further, one must leave this love behind and enter the "Bronze Wheel" stage (the Ten Abodes). From there, one's bodies and lands manifest in a hundred worlds, one is bound for liberation, and one benefits beings in the four lands.
From the beginning of the fifth fascicle to the end of the seventh fascicle, the main practice is explained, from the first thought of the beginning practitioner to the first stage of the Abodes.
From the eighth fascicle onward, the text clarifies the **Arising of Past Conditioning in Post-Contemplation Practice.** If one does not realize the path using the ten methods above, they will likely encounter the arising of past conditions while contemplating the aggregates. These ‘arising states’ include:
* Afflictions (strong arising) * Illness (physical imbalance) * Karmic signs (residual karma) * Demonic activities * Meditative experiences (dhyana) * Views (deviant views) * Overweening pride * Lesser vehicle tendencies (Sravaka/Pratyekabuddha) * Bodhisattva tendencies within the three derivative vehicles
The text explains the characteristics of these states and how to apply the tenfold contemplation to