Background

The Great Calm-Observation, Volume 1, Part 1, Page 3

With this ‘Calm-Observation’, the Wise One of T’ien T’ai taught the approach to the Dharma that he practiced in his own life. Light filled up the room when he presented his two pupils that had practiced the Confession of the Lotus Sutra and invoked the Dharani¹. He succeeded his Dharma Master² and lectured on the golden letters of Prajna³. The Ch’en and the Sui Dynasties honored his school as the Teacher of the Emperor and he passed away in peaceful meditation, having attained the five levels of discipleship⁴.

So the Lotus Sutra says:
"Even if each and every person in four hundred thousand million countries is given the seven precious things⁵ and made to attain the six spiritual penetrations⁶, it will not even remotely be like the person that first accepts and rejoices in this Sutra."
How much more is this so for one that has attained all five levels of faith⁷?

The Lotus Sutra says:
"The messenger⁸ of the One That Has Come is the servant of The One That Has Come, doing the work of The One That Has Come⁹."

The Great Nirvana Sutra says:
"This is the first of the Bodhisattva Stages one may rely upon¹⁰."

The Master Chi-Che¹¹ served under Nan-Yueh¹². The virtue of Nan-Yueh's practice was inconceivable. He spent ten years only chanting the Sutra, seven years practicing the ‘Confession of the Universal Way’¹³ and ninety days always seated in meditation¹⁴. In a single instant, he totally realized all approaches to the Dharma, great and small, and inspired a clear and penetrating understanding.

Nan-Yueh served under the Meditation Master Hui-Wen¹⁵. As eminent as any in the world, he walked alone along the Yellow and Huai Rivers during the reign of Kao-Tsu of the Northen Ch’i Dynasty. His approach to the Dharma was not understood in the world, just as people that walk upon the earth and share in the heavens do not recognize their elevations and depths. The Master Hui-Wen relied upon the explanations of the Great Discourse for his mental discipline, which was Nagarjuna's teaching. In the passing down of the Treasury of the Dharma, Nagarjuna was the 13th Master.

The Wise One's Discourse on Observing the Mind says:
“I owe my life to the Master Nagarjuna.”
This verifies that he was the most eminent of all the Patriarchal Masters.

Question:
Skeptics say that the Nagarjuna’s Discourse on the Mean breaks down and dissolves all elements of reality¹⁶ into emptiness whereas ‘Calm-Observation’ builds up and establishes a reality. How can they be the same?
Answer:
In fact, there were seventy schools in India that commented upon the Discourse on the Mean¹⁷. One should not only accept the commentary of ‘The Blue Eyed One’¹⁸ to the exclusion of all other interpreters in one’s understanding of Nagarjuna’s teaching.

And Nagarjuna’s Discourse on the Mean says:
     "Causality and conditions produce all things¹⁹,
       I teach that they are empty,
       that they are called by temporary names,
       and that they signify the middle way²⁰."

T’ien T’ai transmitted Nan-Yueh’s 3 kinds of Calm-Observation:
1. That which is gradual & sequential
2. That which is indeterminate, and
3. That which is total & sudden

All of these are of the Great Vehicle,
All are connected to the True Spiritual Aspect of Reality, and
All are equally called Calm-Observation²¹.

1. The gradual Calm-Observation is shallow at first and deep afterwards.
    It is like ascending a ladder.
2. In the indeterminate Calm-Observation, the beginning and the end are intermixed.
    It is like a diamond, placed in the sun.
3. In the total & sudden Calm-Observation, the beginning and end are inseparable.
    It is like a magician taking off into the sky.

For the three kinds of capacities of living beings, these three approaches to reality are taught, and these three illustrations are cited.

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Footnotes:

1. See The Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra, which was Chih-I’s own liturgical practice of Buddhism. It is also referred to and outlined in Volume 2 of this work. The Dharani is the incantation or subject of mental concentration (Samadhi) that is embraced over and over, and contains the essence of the Buddha Dharma.

2. His Dharma Master (Teacher) was Nan-Yueh

3. Prajna: Spiritual Insight

4. The Five Levels of Discipleship (in the Practice of Faith, from the Lotus Sutra): 1. Upon hearing the Sutra, accepting & rejoicing in it with faith 2. Reading and reciting (chanting) it 3. Teaching it 4. Practicing observation of it 5. Spiritual transformation through one’s own practice & the influence of others

5. Seven Precious Things: Indicative of great material wealth; Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, agate, carnelian, and amber.

6. Six Spiritual Penetrations: Indicative of great spiritual wealth;
     A. The Divine Eye (that sees what others cannot see)
     B. The Divine Ear (that hears what others cannot hear)
     C. The ability to penetrate the minds of others
     D. The ability to see past lives
     E. The ability to be or to go anywhere at will - 'spiritual feet'
     F. The ability to penetrate & extinguish all afflictions

7. The Five Levels of Discipleship in the Practice of Faith, explained in the Lotus Sutra:
     A. Upon hearing it, accepting & rejoicing in it
     B. Reading and reciting (chanting) it
     C. Teaching of it it others
   D. Practicing observation of it, and
     E. Transformation through one’s own practice & the influence of others

8. The Messenger: the Bodhisattva

9. The One That Has Come: (S. Tathagata) the most exalted of the Ten Titles of the Buddha – Literally the one that has come as have all the Buddhas, the one that has come down from the infinite absolute reality and become manifest for the sake of humanity (and so also returns back to that absolute spiritual reality)

10. The (Four) Bodhisattva Stages one may rely upon: 1. The five levels of discipleship (in the Practice of Faith) as well as the purity of the six senses 2. The Ten Abodes of Inspiration 3. The Ten Practices of Virtue and The Tenfold Turning Over of Spiritual Merit 4. The Ten (Final Bodhisattva) Stages & the Universal Awakening - The first is the Practice of Faith and the last three are the Practice of the Dharma & The 42 Stages

11. Chi-Che: ‘The Wise One’, Chih-I

12. Nan-Yueh: Chih-I’s spiritual teacher

13. The Confession of the Universal Way (S. Vaipulya): The liturgical practice of Nan-Yueh, explained in some detail in Volume 2 of this work, and more elaborately in Chih-I’s Fang-Teng San-Mei Hsing-Fa, based on The Sutra on the Dharani of the Universal Way (Vaipulya Dharani Sutra).

14. Always Seated in Meditation: This Meditation is also explained in Volume 2 of this work

15. Hui-Wen: Nan-Yueh’s spiritual teacher

16. Elements of reality: S. dharmas, elements spiritual reality

17. Discourse on the Mean: (S. Mulamadhyamika Karika, C. Chung-Lun): Important work by Nagarjuna

18. The Blue Eyed One: The author of a well-known commentary on Nagarjuna’s Discourse on the Mean (it could refer to Pingala orVimalaksa, butprobably was Aryadeva) – This commentary emphasized the nature of emptiness (sunyata) and breaking through (refuting the self-existence of) all elements of reality (dharmas).

19. All things: All elements of reality (S. dharmas). More specifically, this refers to the realm of our mortal existence in this world of Life & Death; good & evil, happiness & suffering (heaven & hell), karma & retribution (cause & effect), etc.; - the spiritual realm of this world and its living beings.

20. The Three Truths: The Three Truths are decribed as:
     A. Emptiness or transcendence - beyond independent self-existence
     B. That which is temporary or provisional
     C. The significance of the middle way)
These truths are subject to innumerable interpretations and levels of comprehension. The cultivation of the Three Truths is a fundamental component of The Great Calm-Observation. Although these Three Truths can be theoretically understood separately, when the Three Truths have been cultivated completely (‘The Totally Blended Three Truths’) they are comprehended simultaneously (‘The Three Truths of the Single Mind’). They are only properly understood in the context of observing the causality of one’s own heart and the conditions of the spiritual life.

21. The Great Vehicle is the doctrine or teaching; The True Spiritual Aspect of Reality is the object of worship or observation and Calm-Observation is the name of its actual practice

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