念佛三昧寶王論

The latter volume contains seven sections concerning the mindfulness of the inception of awakening — that is, the recollection of the Buddhas of the past, wherein cause and effect are identical to one another.

14. Recollecting the Buddhas of the past: cause and effect are identical.

Question: The Buddha who is the object of recollection is the One who has exhausted the profound and reached the summit of sanctity, whose honored title is "Tathāgata"; yet the person capable of recollecting still dwells in the station of an ordinary worldling. How can such a one be equated with the One of Right Enlightenment?

Answer: The Samādhi-Sāgara Sūtra (Sea of Samādhi Sūtra) says: "The Buddha who is the object of recollection is like the lion-king who has already emerged from the womb, a metaphor for the fruit of Buddhahood. The person capable of recollecting the Buddha is like the lion-king still within the womb, a metaphor for the child of the Buddha. Though cause and effect differ, the majestic spiritual power that follows in succession is in no way different from the Buddha's!" The Dharma-Drum Sūtra says: The Medicine-King Tiêu Độc (Dispeller of Poison) fashioned a drum of medicine; one needed only to beat upon it to cause poisoned arrows to draw themselves out of their own accord, and the body to be restored as before.

If one hears the name of Śākyamuni, or hears the name of the bhikṣu Phương Quảng (Vaipulya) and gives rise to faith, this can cause the arrows of the three poisons within the body to be drawn out at once. Buddha Śākyamuni is a Buddha of the past and pertains to the fruit. The bhikṣu Phương Quảng is the cause.

That their extinguishing of transgressions is identical means precisely this: that they are one and the same.

In the Lotus Samādhi (Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Samādhi), volume five, it is said: "In the time of the Sui dynasty, on Mount Nam Nhạc (Nanyue), the Great Meditation Master Hành Tư (Huisi) had a disciple who served as a district magistrate, with the Dharma-name Đại Thiện (Great Virtue). At that time in Hoành Dương there was an interior official named Trịnh Tăng Kiểu, who did not believe in the Buddha nor keep a vegetarian diet.

He often gathered companies to hunt beasts. One day, having surrounded and captured ten deer, he summoned the magistrate and said to him: 'You are always called the Meditation Master Đại Thiện, possessed of the power of Great Loving-Kindness and Compassion — but how could you save this herd of deer?' At that moment the magistrate, together with several people beside him, with one voice recited a single phrase: 'Namo Meditation Master Đại Thiện.' Suddenly the herd of deer rose up from within the net, flew into empty space, and so escaped." In what way does this differ from the spiritual power of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Quán Thế Âm)?

If one does not believe the words of the sages, then reciting the Buddha's name in the wish to dispel demons and put an end to calamities is no different from gold that yet lies hidden within the ore.

15. Recollecting the Buddha with no-mind: the cultivation of phenomena and principle is identical.

Question: To recollect single-mindedly one direction is to recollect fully all the Buddhas of the three times — I have already heard this sublime meaning. But where there is recollection there is arising and ceasing; how can this compare with what the Sūtra of the Most Victorious King of Devas (Śreṣṭha-deva-rāja Sūtra) says: that the one who recollects the Buddha must employ a mind of no-recollection in order to attain good results? Does the import of cultivating this samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha accord with that "mind of no-recollection" above?

Answer: The principle of no-recollection is profound, deep, and sublime; many have strayed upon this road. If one does not investigate it with precision, one can scarcely avoid error. Here I shall employ both principle (lý) and phenomena (sự) to explain it clearly.

To speak of principle is to speak of the true reality of non-recollection. To speak of "being" and "non-being" — this very recollection is fundamentally non-recollection. Why so?

Because the Buddha is born from recollection, and the mind itself is the Buddha — as a blade cannot cut itself, as a finger cannot touch itself. The Buddha is not Buddha of itself, the mind is not mind of itself; how then could one establish mind apart from the Buddha, or establish Buddha apart from the mind? Since the Buddha is empty, the mind too is empty.

Thus the matter of recollecting the Buddha with no-mind is already made clear in its meaning. In the world people commonly say that recollecting the Buddha is to have recollection; but in my view recollecting the Buddha is non-recollection, and this cannot in any way be mistaken. Furthermore, recollection is itself emptiness — how could it be called "having recollection"?

It is not that recollection ceases into emptiness — how could that be called "non-recollection"? For the very nature of recollection is of itself empty; how could there be arising and ceasing within it? Again, the mind having no object of recollection is called "having no abode." The one who cultivates mindfulness of the Buddha realizes the mind that has no abode.

The mind that has no place of recollection issues from the root of non-abiding. The one who cultivates mindfulness of the Buddha establishes all dharmas, yet the mind has no object of recollection — thus recollection is itself emptiness. In this way, for the one who cultivates mindfulness of the Buddha, emptiness is precisely Recollection; this does not contradict the import of this Samādhi, for it manifests clearly the principle of the Middle Way.

The twofold quiescence is called "calming" (śamatha); the twofold illumination is called "contemplation" (vipaśyanā). If Concentration and Wisdom are not in equal balance, then it is not right reception (samāpatti); how then could it be called Samādhi? Here, to say "illumination that is ever quiescent" is precisely the mind of no-recollection; "quiescence that is ever illuminating" is the consummate station of this Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha.

Therefore this Samādhi can give rise to the Śūraṅgama Concentration and the Lion's Roar. The Sūtra of the Bodhisattva's Samādhi of Mindfulness of the Buddha has a verse that demolishes characteristics:

As when the dragon-king sends down the rain,
Moistening utterly all things.

The verse above makes clear that of the Six Perfections and the myriad practices, there is not a single dharma that is not the Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha.

Question: The gate of principle has now been explained. I pray you reveal the gate of phenomena, so that students of later ages may attain true non-recollection, practice the prajñāpāramitā, and open the gate of the most profound meditative concentration of the signless Great Vehicle. Would this not be of benefit?

Answer: Principle and phenomena are of equal benefit. Earlier I spoke of the principle within phenomena; now I shall speak of the phenomena within principle. The Mahāprajñā Sūtra (Sūtra of the Great Chapters) says: "For those of dull faculties, the Buddha taught that all dharmas are fundamentally empty and quiescent, whereby they gave rise to views of attachment.

For those of keen faculties, He taught that the Buddhas' marks and excellent features are like the lotus undefiled by mud." The venerable Subhūti, of the Lesser Vehicle ranks, understood Emptiness as foremost; at the Lotus Assembly he received the prediction of the title Tathāgata of Name-and-Marks (Danh Tướng Như Lai). For the venerable Subhūti, though understanding emptiness, yet understood non-emptiness. If the five sense-objects were emptiness, how could there be the title "Name-and-Marks" and the receiving of the Buddha's prediction?

Now, since the Buddha is born from the mind, therefore the Pratyutpanna Dharma comes from non-recollection, and the realm of the Buddha appears present before one. The practice of [the Bodhisattva] Never-Despising (Sadāparibhūta) in the Lotus, because of beholding the fourfold assembly and giving rise to the conception of them as Buddhas, swiftly accomplished the Dharma-body. The mind of no-recollection is the cutting-off of all confused conceptions.

If the one who recollects the Buddha simply contemplates well a single Buddha, this too is called no-recollection, because it cuts off all confused conceptions. The Mañjuśrī Prajñā Sūtra says: "It is like a person learning archery: practicing long, he becomes skilled, and thereafter, though without conscious intent, the arrows he looses all strike the target. If a person cultivates the Single-Practice Samādhi (Ekavyūha-samādhi), then in whatever direction a Buddha dwells, he turns toward it single-mindedly and exclusively recites the name; with each recollection succeeding the last, then within that very recollection he beholds the Buddhas of the three times." Therefore the Vaipulya Sūtra (Phương Đẳng) says: "Strive to recollect the Buddha;

do not let it cease, and the Buddha will appear." The Sūtra of the Samādhi of Seated Meditation says: "The Bodhisattva in seated meditation recollects nothing whatsoever, but recollects only a single Buddha: first recollecting the golden-gleaming form-body, next recollecting the lofty and great Buddha-body, on up to all the merits of the Dharma-body, recollecting them all in this same manner." One should know, then, that one does not take non-recollection to be no-recollection, for recollection is itself no-recollection.

The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: "Use poison to attack poison." Now one uses recollection to cut off all recollections; when recollection has ripened to maturity, then without need of calculation it is yet accomplished, with no need to expend effort. It is like the master swordsman who skillfully wields the sword: he flings it high into the air and then, with the scabbard slung behind his back, catches it precisely without the slightest error.

The expert cook cuts meat upon a chopping-block lined with a thin cloth, yet never severs the cloth; the skilled dancer can make of his heels a music. All of this is achieved through ripened mastery. The Treatise on the Awakening of Faith says: One should know that though there is speech, there is no speaker that can be apprehended; though there is recollection, there is also no recollecter that can be apprehended — this is called according with True Suchness.

If one can depart from recollection, this is called entering into True Suchness. As for entering the station of no-recollection — only a Buddha can do so, for this is the ultimate station of Wondrous Enlightenment, because one has clearly realized the nature of the mind in its first arising. This first characteristic is named "no-recollection," and it is not something the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Stages can know.

At present, all people dwell in the station of the Ten Faiths; if they do not follow the Bodhisattva Aśvaghoṣa (Mã Minh) in entering non-speech from the place of being able to speak, in entering non-recollection from recollection — it is like one who wishes to build a hundred-storied tower without laying the foundation firmly: that it should topple over is, of course, a matter of course! The Śūraṅgama Sūtra clearly sets forth the Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha: "If the mind of a sentient being constantly remembers the Buddha and recollects the Buddha, then in the present or in the future he will surely behold the Buddha, not far from the Buddha,

and without borrowing expedient means he will of himself attain the opening-forth of the mind." Suppose a sentient being's mind has recollection — then he is very far from the Buddha; why does the sūtra say "not far"?

Why does it further say that, without need to borrow expedient means, the mind attains its opening-forth? This must be pondered with care!

16. When one comprehends the realm of the mind, deluded conceptions do not arise.

Question: When one does not comprehend (clearly understand) the mind and conditions, there are at once two kinds of deluded conception. Now, there still being the Buddha who is the object of recollection and the mind that is capable of recollecting — are these not two deluded conceptions?

Answer: The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra says: "Comprehend the mind and its realms, and deluded conceptions will at once not arise." This mind that does not arise is a mind that has departed far from the various subject-characteristics and object-characteristics. Now, the one who recollects the Buddha recollects the swastika of a thousand coils upon the Buddha's breast, and contemplates the blue eyes and the white tuft (ūrṇā) of the Buddha — all of these issue from within one's own mind; there is no Buddha that can be apprehended.

The condition being absent, how can the mind be apprehended? The subject-characteristic of recollection and the object-characteristic of the Buddha are of themselves already departed afar — then in what place do the two deluded conceptions abide? The former sages transmitted and received from one another, because they knew that deluded conceptions have no nature (no substantial reality).

Contemplating the true characteristic of the Buddha, and contemplating the Buddha's body, is likewise so: encountering objects, all is true; no mind, no Buddha; the principle of the Middle Way encompasses all — how then could there still be a Buddha that is the object of conditioning? It is like a smudge of ink upon one's face: the person who looks in the mirror loathes the ink-smudge and tries hard to wipe the smudge off the mirror — how could it ever be wiped away?

Matters of good and evil, right and wrong, within the mind are like ink-marks reflected in the mirror; not comprehending one's own mind, one keeps trying to wipe the mirror — how could it be wiped clean? One must wash the ink-mark from one's face, and then the surface of the mirror will have no smudge upon it. In this way, when one understands [that all arises] from the mind, then the myriad realms are all true.

Those who do not know grasp stones for jewels; understanding one's own mind, sentient beings are precisely Buddhas.

The layman Tề Hướng (Xiang Jushi) wrote a letter to the Meditation Master Huệ Khả (Huike), saying: A shadow arises from a form; an echo comes following a sound. To toy with the shadow and weary the form is not to know that the form is the root of the shadow; to raise the voice loud in order to stop the echo is not to know that the voice is the source of the echo. One who casts away afflictions to seek nirvāṇa is one who flees the form to seek the shadow.

One who departs from sentient beings to seek the fruit of Buddhahood is one who deliberately silences the voice to seek the echo. One should know, then, that delusion and awakening are one road, that folly and wisdom are not different. Where there is no name, one fabricates a name; and from that name, right and wrong are born.

Where there is no principle, one fabricates a principle; and from that principle, disputation arises. One should know that the illusory and the conjured are not true — then who is right and who is wrong? The false and the unreal have no substance — then which one "is" and which one "is not"?

One should thus realize that gain has no place of gaining, and loss has no place of losing. Is this meaning correct or not?

The Meditation Master Huệ Khả replied with a verse:

To speak this true Dharma accords with reality;
Conjoined with the sublime principle, how should it differ?
The deluded man sees the maṇi-jewel as tile and brick;
Once awakened, he sees it is the true pearl indeed.

Ignorance and wisdom — neither is different;
Know that the myriad dharmas are wholly Suchness.
You have already demolished the two view-attachments;
I write out the import here within this letter.

Contemplate that oneself and the Buddha are not different —
What need is there to go seeking after it at all?

These two eminent gentlemen, in accordance with the Great Master Bodhidharma (Đạt Ma), applied their minds rightly to the Dharma; both were recollecting the Dharma-body Buddha of the Middle Way, the foremost truth. Certainly one cannot have no-recollection apart from recollection, nor have no-birth apart from birth. If one departs [from these] and sets up something separate, then one clearly does not understand that affliction is itself nirvāṇa, that sentient beings are themselves the Buddhas.

How could one encounter tile and brick and regard them as the true pearl? If apart [from these] not one thing can be attained, then recollecting the Buddha is truly non-recollection, and rebirth [in the Pure Land] is truly no-birth — this meaning is clear. When the autumn sky is crystal-clear and the moon emerges from the clouds, how could one be the same as the fool who deliberately stares at his fingertip and does not look upon the moon's face?

It is truly to be lamented!

17. One who would seek the path of Buddhahood should seek his own mind.

Question: The Vimalakīrti Sūtra (Duy Ma) says: "Sentient beings who would seek the path of Buddhahood should seek their own mind." Why, then, instead of seeking one's own mind, does one go seeking a Buddha outside? Does this not contradict the import of the sūtra?

Answer: I have always maintained: it is not that there are dharmas outside the mind, nor that there is a mind outside dharmas. The Land of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhāvatī) and the World-Honored Amitābha are precisely your own mind; not apart from all the mind-conceptions of sentient beings — this is precisely the import of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Moreover, the mind of sentient beings constantly dwells in three states:

1. Dwelling in the wholesome state — cultivating the Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha — this is the utmost good among all good things.

2. Dwelling in the unwholesome state — called the three poisons and the various evils.

3. Dwelling in the neutral (avyākṛta) state — wherein the mind does not abide in peace, conditioning neither good nor evil.

Although in principle there are three, to speak in accordance with principle, [the matter] rests only upon the utmost good.

The sūtra says: "Grasping at a self is defilement; not grasping at a self is purity," because one does not understand that the essence of the Dharma-nature is fundamentally without stinginess and greed. If, contrary to the Dharma-nature, one performs no giving — or, even performing giving, one naturally grasps and abides in the act of giving and so cannot truly give — is this not defilement? If a person is able to understand clearly and to accord with the Dharma-nature, performing giving without any characteristic of giving, well according with the principle — is this not purity?

The unwholesome and the neutral run contrary to the Dharma-nature and cannot be compared with the utmost good. The Buddha told the Most Victorious King of Devas: "When the great Bodhisattvas study the dharma of Prajñāpāramitā and cultivate the perfection of dhyāna, they should contemplate their own minds: in what state are they acting? If it be a wholesome state, then they encourage and strive in cultivation, like the lotus flower without the least speck of defiling dust; if it be an unwholesome dharma, then they must not dwell in it even momentarily." Thus, what accords with principle is to practice the wholesome mind and to dwell within the wholesome state.

Clearly, mindfulness of the Buddha is liberation within the mind. If one does not cultivate according to this dharma of liberation, this is called delusion, and one must sink and drift through countless kalpas. For one who is awakened, realizing the path is as easy as turning over one's palm; the method of practicing meditation is like a bright mirror, and the practitioner who acts in accord with principle will attain consummate fullness.

Therefore the Tathāgata, examining all the samādhis, [found that] only the Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha is the king among all dhyāna dharmas. Apart from this, dhyāna with duality all pertains to the concentration of ordinary worldlings. But the Jewel-King Samādhi (Tam Muội Bảo Vương) does not abide in the characteristics of high and low, false and right, birth-and-death and nirvāṇa, affliction and bodhi, purity and confusion — on up to the accomplishing of right enlightenment, the deliverance of sentient beings, and sitting upon the place of awakening — in none of these is there anything attained.

All such characteristics cannot be abided in. Even the Middle Way is to be cast off, how much more the two extremes! The Sūtra of All Dharmas Being Without Practice (Chư Pháp Vô Hành) says in verse:

Sitting upon the place of awakening, nothing is attained;
If nothing is attained, then nothing is —
Brightness and ignorance are of one same characteristic.
To know it thus — this is the World-Honored One.

18. Using the three karmas to make offerings is the emblem of reverence.

Question: Of the contemplation-gate of Samādhi I have now heard the profound and subtle place. But as for using the three karmas to make offerings — when the Buddha has already entered final nirvāṇa, is the merit as great as when the Buddha was yet present in the world?

Answer: To make offerings to the sea of the dharma-realm is, among the myriad practices, [foremost]: the one who purifies the three karmas is in every case said to make offerings. If one discourses on merit from the standpoint of phenomena, it is already very great; how much more so when one makes offerings by way of principle — then the merit is measureless. To speak of principle: the practitioner contemplates that all dharmas, whether permanent or impermanent, are alike without any place of attainment.

Standing before an image of the Buddha, broadly adorning it and making offerings, the merit and virtue are likewise the same as when the Buddha was yet present in the world; using flowers and incense filling all the realms to make offerings, the merit is measureless. Therefore at the Lotus Assembly, the [Bodhisattva] Medicine-King (Bhaiṣajyarāja) burned his arm as an offering, presenting it before the Jeweled Stūpa of the Buddha Pure-and-Bright (Tịnh Minh); his golden body radiated light illuminating all ten directions — this was precisely the Bodhisattva Gladly-Seen (Sarvasattva-priyadarśana).

People of the present day merely calculate according to their own minds, which is owing to the habit-energies of stinginess, greed, and indolence; or being far from the place of flowers and trees, they show no reverence, contravening all the rites of reverent offering — and this issues from a mind of arrogant pride deep and thick. Although the Buddha has manifested the characteristic of extinction, in truth He is not extinguished.

It is like Đinh Lan (Ding Lan) of old: when his mother died, he took wood and carved an image of his mother; he fanned her in the heat and warmed her in the cold, treating her as if yet living — this is still recorded in the green annals of history, and even now people of the world still praise it without cease.

In the days when the Tathāgata was yet present in the world, His bodily marks were majestically adorned and subtly wondrous; whoever encountered Him gave rise at once to the intention toward the path. The Tathāgata has now hidden Himself away like the moon behind a screen of dim clouds; the people of the world no longer behold His true countenance, and only the scriptures remain handed down. Therefore those who, standing before His image, give rise to the supreme and utterly sincere intention to offer up even a single sprig of flowers are also few; and those who, remembering that the Buddha yet ever abides in the world, ever give rise to a mind of constant offering are also very rare indeed.

The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: "Even a person who with utmost sincerity offers up to the Buddha a single sprig of flowers will surely attain rebirth in the Pure Land of the Immovable." Thus, to offer a single stick of incense, a single sprig of flowers, a single lamp, a single strain of music, on up to things to eat and drink — wholeheartedly offering them up to the Buddhas of the three times — is the wondrous cause of rebirth in the Pure Land, and is [the practice of] the primordial sages; how could one make light of such a thing?

There are certain mad and foolish persons who, grasping at "mind," declare: I offer flowers within the mind, I offer up lamps within the mind, I burn incense within the mind, I pay homage to the Buddha within the mind — in what way do these differ from the apes that dance and posture to deceive people, telling lies that there is a tamarind tree laden with much fruit over yonder, so that travelers in the sun may relieve their thirst?

There are even those who hold that one need only wear robes within the mind and eat rice within the mind — but how shall this fill the belly and warm the body? Surely one will fall into unbroken misery and distress. Therefore one must employ the Six Perfections and the myriad practices to shatter that mind which grasps at emptiness.

The fault of words that point only to the mind's grasping at emptiness is as grievous as this; one cannot but be careful. The yogācāra contemplation of practice, even in exclusive contemplation, also constantly employs phenomena, taking characteristics as emblems, not grasping that there is "only mind," ever offering up flowers and incense as offerings throughout the six periods without fail.

19. The mutual retribution of believing in and rejecting the offering of signless flowers.

Question: Flowers are phenomena; where, then, lies the principle? Those who believe and those who do not believe — what retribution do they undergo?

Answer: Flowers are principle. In ancient times there was a prince named Without-Fear (Vô Sở Úy, Abhaya) who took a single sprig of lotus and offered it to the Buddha Jewel-Store (Ratnagarbha). The Buddha said: "You have pressed the lotus into empty space; now I bestow on you the name Seal-of-Empty-Space (Hư Không Ấn).

In the future you shall become a Buddha, your world named Flower, and your Buddha-title Lotus-Honored (Liên Hoa Tôn)." Since the flower can be pressed into empty space, then the flower is not a flower. Because the flower is not a flower, therefore the flower is a world, and the flower is a Buddha. In the Sūtra of the Great, Vast Universal Dhāraṇī it is said: "There was a bhikṣu named Pure-Life (Tịnh Mạng), abiding in right view, who took a sprig of flowers and offered it to the Buddha.

The bhikṣu Dharma-Practice (Pháp Hạnh), abiding in false view, having attained the fourth dhyāna, always held the Prajñā Honored-Emptiness to be supremely excellent, and disparaged the Dharma-master Pure-Life for offering flowers to the Buddha. For that single word of disparagement, he underwent the retribution of being without a tongue for sixty thousand lifetimes. Even on attaining Buddhahood, he still underwent retribution, dwelling within a world of the five turbidities.

That bhikṣu Dharma-Practice was no stranger — he was none other than the Buddha Śākyamuni." The Buddha taught: People of little understanding, within my Dharma grasp at the two view-attachments, esteeming the principle of emptiness and slighting the reality of phenomena; when their lives come to an end they fall into the hells, passing through a hundred thousand kalpas. One who would cultivate the Prajñāpāramitā and attain Great Bodhi must study the King Kāśika (Ca Thi Ca), practicing the conduct of a Bodhisattva who relinquished his cherished body, giving as alms his head, his eyes, his marrow, and his brain.

Was he then foolish and lacking in wisdom, who wished to cultivate fully the six dharmas of the Pāramitās? If one grasps the principle of Emptiness as correct and holds all other matters to be wrong, this is the karma of Māra. How could one falsely take obstinate emptiness to be true emptiness?

The retribution of being without a tongue is something one brings upon oneself. That the Tathāgata Himself adduces His own error of a former lifetime is because He wishes sentient beings to see the cart ahead overturn, so that the cart behind may take warning and turn aside.

A single sprig of flowers such as this — and all images, whether of wood and clay or of silk and bamboo, all the scriptures, the shaven heads of monks and nuns, the abiding of the Triple Gem, the study of Precepts, Concentration, and Wisdom — whether they be a field of merit or not a field of merit, all must be revered, all entered into within the sea of the dharma-realm, employing the three karmas to make offerings. The Lotus Sūtra has a verse:

Even down to a single small sound —
All have already accomplished the Buddha-path.

20. The myriad goods, returning to the same source, all become Samādhi.

Question: One who offers an ever-bright lamp attains rebirth in the heavenly palace of Sun-and-Moon; one who offers flowers, incense, banners, and canopies, no different from [offering] a lamp, truly attains the merit of rebirth in the heavenly realms — why, then, does it say that all alike accomplish Buddhahood?

Answer: When the sovereign emperor goes on tour, he brings with him a thousand officials and ten thousand chariots; the lowly and the attendants all bear the character "Imperial" (Ngự) and carry the Imperial Staff (Thiên Trượng). If anyone violates the Imperial Staff, they may be put to death. When the carriage returns to the palace and each person goes back to his own station, then if one [still] invokes the character "Imperial," he too will be executed.

The officials and the attendants are the same [persons], yet their responsibilities and standing differ from one period to another. Flowers, canopies, incense, and lamps that do not accord with the import of the Lotus Sūtra are but the merit-rewards of the heavenly palace. Now, encountering the Jewel-King Samādhi is like a person possessing the King's Imperial Staff: though he offers but a single flower, he has already accomplished the Buddha-path.

This is dependent-arising from the seed of Buddhahood; naturally, the resulting fruit of Buddhahood is everywhere plainly evident — as birds returning to Mount Sumeru all become of one same color, as the myriad rivers flow into the great ocean, no longer reckoned under their separate names. Therefore the Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra (Đại Bảo Tích) says: "Mañjuśrī, at the Universal Gate (Samantamukha) Assembly, gathered together all the devas, dragons, the eight classes of beings, the denizens of the hells, the beasts, and forms, sounds, scents, and so forth.

All dharmas became Samādhi, just as a single strand of hair contains the great ocean, and a single mustard-seed contains the whole of Mount Sumeru. This is not owing to the spiritual power of the hair and the mustard-seed, but to the power of the nature of the right cause." One should know, then, that one sees with the eyes and walks with the feet: if one sees aright, one walks aright; if one sees awry, one walks awry.

The depth and shallowness of Māra and of the Buddha are both grounded in the place of seeing and knowing. As one practice is thus, so are the myriad practices.

The Lotus Samādhi is the very Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha, which the Tathāgata called the Victorious Concentration; for the Jewel-King Samādhi is the treasury of radiant light, the jewel that dispels transgressions, the lamp that illumines false views, the guide for the deluded, the golden seal of the Prince, the storehouse of treasure for the poor, the Emptiness-Samādhi, the Holy Samādhi, the dhāraṇī, true contemplation, the supremely victorious contemplation, the Samādhi of contemplating the Dharma that dispels evil karma.... One should know, then, that Teaching, Principle, Practice, and Fruit, and the eighty-four thousand dharmas of the Pāramitās, are all but other names for this Samādhi of mindfulness of the Buddha.

If a person understands this Samādhi, then to offer a single sprig of flowers is to make offerings throughout the lands of all the Buddhas of the three times. To recollect a single Buddha is in essence to penetrate through to the Buddhas of the future — as one who takes the great earth for his target: what arrow could fail to strike it? If one is not thus, then one contravenes the import of the Viśeṣacintā Sūtra (Tư Ích), which reproaches [those who] fear emptiness, cast off emptiness, fabricate emptiness, and grasp at emptiness!

The Section of Dissemination

The guest said: When the excellent physician has departed, he yet leaves behind his precious books; when the merchant travels afar, he yet leaves behind his pure gold. The sublime treasures of the former Worthies and Sages are such that anyone may have a share in their inheritance. Your disciple is poor in the Way and dull in learning, yet wishing to know the Samādhi, I hoped to hear of the lofty and the truly ultimate.

The hidden imports that have been set forth are the precious seal of the right Dharma — motion and stillness illuminating together, principle and phenomena interfused, each mind being true, every contact with things bringing growth. With a single utterance of "Namo," all accomplish the Buddha-path; with a single snap of the fingernail one swiftly realizes Bodhi; without need to weary one's strength one attains the import of the Lotus; the dimmed eye has its film cleared away by the golden lancet.

The meaning of these twenty chapters your disciple had never before heard. I rejoice greatly to see that sentient beings, by means of this, may wash clean the defilement of their transgressions and come to roam upon the land of jeweled adornment — what good fortune could equal this? Your disciple vows that within this very lifetime I may receive the prediction of the rank of the ghee [of perfect Dharma], and may know that the Buddhas of the future are the sentient beings of the present.

Your disciple bows his head and prostrates before the Stūpa of Prabhūtaratna (Đa Bảo), and toward the Saṅgha of the Lotus; I too contemplate throughout the ten directions and recollect fully the three times, and kneeling on one knee with palms joined, I speak this verse, saying:

With single mind I remember and recollect the Buddhas of the past,
And together remember the World-Honored Ones of the age to come,
And all the Taming-and-Guiding Masters of the present,
Studying fully the words of Dharma these Honored Ones expound.

There is not a single Buddha in the past,
Nor in this present age, nor in the age to come;
There is only this great Dhyāna, pure and clean —
The Buddha speaks neither of realization nor of speaking.