Chapter 5. Calming and contemplation: An operating manual¶

At its opening, Calming and Contemplation establishes three gates for Tiantai's system of practice, each with an analogy: "Tiantai transmits Nanyue's three kinds of calming and contemplation: first, gradual; second, indeterminate; third, perfect and sudden. All are Mahāyāna, all take the real characteristic as their object, and all are called calming and contemplation. The gradual begins shallow and later becomes deep, like a staircase. In the indeterminate, before and after alternate, like a diamond jewel placed in sunlight. In the perfect and sudden, beginning and end are nondual, like one with supernormal powers soaring into the sky."¹ All three take the real characteristic as object; they differ in the shape of the path. A staircase is a monotonic succession of steps. The jewel in sunlight changes color with the illuminated face: its order can change and is nonmonotonic. Soaring has no differences of level. The whole of Great Calming and Contemplation establishes the third gate. Its own account says, "From the beginning one takes the real characteristic as object; on reaching any object, it is precisely the middle, with nothing that is not true and real"; "not one color or one scent is other than the middle way"; and even "birth and death are precisely nirvāṇa; there is no cessation to realize." It concludes: "Dharma-nature in stillness is called 'calming'; still yet constantly illuminating is called 'contemplation.'"¹ The two Chinese characters 止观 ("calming and contemplation") thus establish their own meaning through a pair of operating terms, stillness and illumination.

The system has three levels. Twenty-five preliminaries establish the resources for preparatory practice; ten objects establish what is contemplated; and the ten vehicles of contemplation establish the means of contemplating. Zhanran classifies the twenty-five preliminaries in a sentence: "They serve in common as remote preliminaries for the four teachings."² Fulfilling five conditions, censuring five desires, abandoning five hindrances, regulating five matters, and practicing five methods are distant preparations shared by the teachings; they are not part of proper cultivation. The map of proper cultivation consists of two lists: objects and vehicles.

Ten objects. The objects of contemplation are divided into ten: "Calming and contemplation is opened into ten: first, aggregates, elements, and sense bases; second, afflictions; third, illness; fourth, karmic signs; fifth, Māra's activities; sixth, meditative concentration; seventh, views; eighth, overweening pride; ninth, the two vehicles; tenth, bodhisattvas. All ten objects can cover and obstruct."³ The first object is always present: "First, contemplating the object of aggregates, sense bases, and elements means the five aggregates, twelve sense bases, and eighteen elements." It is the body and mind present now, an object of contemplation available to everyone. The other nine are contemplated when they arise. The form of the list deserves scrutiny. Illness, karmic signs, Māra's activities, views, and overweening pride are all listed as objects. The failure states of practice have all been written into the curriculum. Illness and Māra are not outside it; concentrations and views produced by practice likewise enter the list of what is contemplated. By making the pathology of its own practice an object to work on, the manual makes its curriculum comprehensive. Zhanran adds a note on stages: the ten objects "are all what is contemplated. Only if one can contemplate them does this count as proper practice. Thus the first eight lie only among ordinary persons; the last two are called preliminaries for noble ones."²

Ten vehicles. The means of contemplation are also divided into ten: "Contemplating the mind comprises ten dharma-gates: first, contemplating the inconceivable object; second, arousing a mind of loving-kindness and compassion; third, skillfully settling calming and contemplation; fourth, universally breaking down dharmas; fifth, discerning passage and blockage; sixth, cultivating the factors of the path; seventh, using antidotes to assist opening; eighth, knowing the sequence of stages; ninth, being able to endure patiently; tenth, having no attachment to dharmas." The text itself gives the logic connecting them: "Having oneself understood the wondrous object, one arouses a vow of compassion for others. Next one undertakes practice to fulfill the vow. Once vow and practice are skillful, nothing escapes the breakdown. Amid this universal breakdown, one precisely discerns passage and blockage, enables the path factors to advance, and also uses aids to open the path. One knows both one's own and others' stages on the path, patiently endures honor and disgrace within and without, and does not cling in attachment to the dharma of the middle way. Thus one can swiftly enter the bodhisattva stage."³ The first of the ten vehicles is precisely Chapter 3's main subject. Three thousand in one thought is theory in Chapter 3; here it is the object of contemplation. This school invites its metaphysical list onto the meditation cushion unchanged. Theory and operation complete a circuit within the same book, giving substance to the four Chinese characters 教观双美, "excellence in both doctrine and contemplation." The last vehicle, no attachment to dharmas, particularly deserves an entry. Attachment to the dharma of the middle way itself is also listed as the final obstruction to leave behind. At the exit, the manual guards against clinging to its own highest doctrine.

Four samādhis. On the side of practical forms, fascicle 2 establishes four gates: "There are many forms of practice. Briefly, four are given: first, constant sitting; second, constant walking; third, half walking and half sitting; fourth, neither walking nor sitting." The common name receives an exegetical definition: "They are collectively called 'samādhi,' meaning regulation, straightening, and stabilization. The Great Treatise says, 'A wholesome mind abiding unmoving in one place is called samādhi.' The dharma-realm is the one place. Proper contemplation can abide unmoving; the four practices serve as conditions. The contemplating mind is regulated and straightened through these conditions, hence the name samādhi."⁴ Sitting, walking, and their combinations exhaust the space of postures, while the fourth gate, neither walking nor sitting, gathers everything else. Zhiyi explicitly declares the parameters governing the relation of method and contemplation: "The methods of the four samādhis differ, but contemplation of principle is the same"; "methods are limited to three; contemplation of principle extends through all four."⁴ Posture is a parameter; contemplation of principle is a constant. Ritual form and contemplative practice are registered separately, using the same method of recording two columns side by side seen throughout this essay.

Six identities. Perfect and sudden practice compresses the doctrinal staircase into one step, but the staircase of stages is rebuilt on the spot. These are the six identities. The text states why they are established: to block misreading in two directions. "If wisdom and faith are complete, one hears that a single thought is precisely so. Through faith one does not slander; through wisdom one does not fear. Beginning and end are both so. Without faith, one pushes the realm of the noble ones high above oneself, beyond one's share of wisdom. Without wisdom, one arouses overweening pride, claiming to equal the Buddha. Beginning and end are both wrong. For this reason one must know the six identities: identity in principle, identity in name, identity in contemplative practice, identity in resemblance, identity in partial realization of truth, and ultimate identity. These six identities begin with the ordinary and end with the noble. Beginning with the ordinary removes doubt and timidity; ending with the noble removes pride and arrogance."⁵ The cell of identity in principle stands before hearing the teaching: "Identity in principle means that one thought of mind is precisely the principle of tathāgatagarbha. 'Suchness' (如) means that it is precisely empty; 'treasury' (藏) means that it is precisely provisional; 'principle' (理) means that it is precisely the middle. The three knowledges are complete in one mind." Identity in name begins with hearing: "Although there is identity in principle, one does not know it in daily use … like the eyes of cattle and sheep, which do not understand directions."⁵ The Chinese character 即 ("is precisely") connects all six stages. The analogy of a poor person's treasure brings them together: someone has treasure at home but does not know it; it is pointed out, dug for, approached, opened, and taken in full.⁵ Two formal features deserve an entry. First, the identity expressed by 即 preserves horizontal sameness, while the six stages preserve vertical sequence: a teaching of a single step supplies itself with six stages. Second, the clauses at the two ends form a pair. Without faith, one pushes the noble realm far above oneself; without wisdom, one claims equality with the Buddha. Both ends are closed against abandoning oneself and falsely claiming the perfect. This scheme belongs specifically to the perfect teaching. The text adds its own note: "In perfectly contemplating dharmas, all are spoken of in terms of the 'six identities.' Thus, applying the perfect meaning to all dharmas, we use the six identities throughout to judge stages."⁵

A sample passage. Fascicle 7 preserves a complete example of the manual in operation: moving through conditions and facing objects, it runs all ten vehicles on the single activity of walking. "When lifting or lowering the foot, the foot is a material dharma. Matter is moved by mind, going from here to there." It recognizes the five aggregates in walking and establishes the inconceivable object: "One aggregate, element, or sense base is all aggregates, elements, and sense bases; one and many, neither one nor many, do not obstruct one another. This is called 'the inconceivable object in walking.'" It then passes vehicle by vehicle through compassionate vows, settling the mind in concentration and wisdom, universally breaking down the three delusions, discerning passage and blockage, the path factors, antidotes, stages, patient endurance, and freedom from attachment to dharmas. It concludes with "the ten practices accomplished" and "riding this precious vehicle straight to the place of awakening." The final sentence names the point: "Lifting and lowering the foot come from within the place of awakening; the Buddha's dharmas are fully present."⁶ The ten vehicles are a procedure that can be run in full on any object, not ten articles of doctrine. The chosen sample is walking.

Two comparisons follow. In relation to the account of dhyāna in Essay 13, the gradual gate of meditation inherits the old staircase of four dhyānas and nine attainments. Perfect and sudden calming and contemplation declares that one takes the real characteristic as object from the beginning and that beginning and end are nondual: the doctrinal staircase is compressed into one step. This step is a real transformation in the history of religious practice. Its philosophical quality depends on Chapter 2's judgment of perfect integration, while its compensating apparatus on the side of stages is the six identities above. In relation to the transformation of the basis in Essay 20, Yogācāra's operational outcome is a rewriting of the warehouse, the decrease and increase of seeds. Tiantai's operational outcome is disclosure in the present thought, with all three thousand available to be checked off at once. On one side, mechanisms are rewritten; on the other, contemplation returns the entire question of mechanisms (Chapter 3's delivery audit). Both operate at E2, but do different business: two theories of practice.

One sentence aligns this with the theorem. The vocabulary of the whole of Calming and Contemplation consists entirely of terms of operation and process: object, contemplation, vehicle, stage, preliminaries, and analytical distinctions. Here is another fulfillment of the preservation theorem on the side of practice. "Is precisely" statements such as "birth and death are precisely nirvāṇa" are secure when read as the language of perfect and sudden practice. If read as declarations of ontological identity, they join the case on the status of the middle truth in Chapter 2 and are handled together. Zhiyi also leaves a general note on the use of these statements. Emptiness, existence, and the middle way can each be a verbal starting point: "Here the 'middle way' is raised as the verbal starting point. Precisely as the middle, it is the extremes." Each verbal starting point contains the others. The conclusion is a warning: "Do not cling to the words and harm the perfect, misrepresenting the noble one's intent."⁷ The four Chinese characters 守语害圆, "cling to the words and harm the perfect," can serve as Tiantai's local expression of this book's criterion of resistance to reformulation: the fault is clinging to words, and the responsibility is the reader's. Reserved for a full exposition are the operational details of each of the ten objects, an item-by-item study of the twenty-five preliminaries, the rituals of the four samādhis and the various repentance practices, and a table matching the six identities to the fifty-two stages.

References¶