Background

The Great Calm-Observation, Volume 1, Part 2, Page 1

The teaching has been outlined. Now we elaborate on it.

From the beginning, The Gradual Calm-Observation recognizes the True Spiritual Aspect of Reality¹. This Spiritual Aspect of Reality is difficult to understand. The gradual, sequential method makes it easier to practice.

First one takes refuge in the precepts of morality, rejecting falsehood and facing the truth. One calms the fire, the blood, and the sword², and reaches the three good paths³.
Next one cultivates meditative concentration. One calms the scattering networks of desire, and reaches into the path that is meditation of the realms of form and formlessness.
Next one cultivates non-affliction. One calms all attachments to the threefold realm⁴ and reaches the path of nirvana⁵.
Next one cultivates kindness and compassion. One calms all attachments to one's own personal realization and reaches the path of the Bodhisattvas⁶.
Finally, one cultivates the Spiritual Aspect of Reality. One calms the inclinations to extremes, and reaches the path of that which is ever remaining⁷.

This begins being shallow and ends being deep, and is the Gradual and Sequential Aspect of Calm-Observation.

2. The Indeterminate (Calm-Observation):

This is not divided into steps or ranks, or in terms of being gradual at first and sudden afterwards. Beginning and end, shallow and deep are each intermixed.

Some is practice, some is principle.
Some indicate the worldly method of teaching as being that of the highest significance, whereas some indicate the personal or therapeutic method of instruction as being that of the highest significance⁸
Some calm the sensory input of observation, and make this to be Calm.
Some illumine the calm, and make this to be Observation.

Therefore this method is called the Indeterminate Calm-Observation.

Question:
Skeptics point out that the Doctrine, the Object, and the Name⁹ are the same in the gradual & the indeterminate methods. How is it that they suddenly appear to be different?

Answer:
Actually, they are the same and they are not the same. They are not the same, and yet they are the same. In the gradual & sequential Calm-Observation, there are the six paths of good & evil, with each having three paths. There are also generally three kinds of non-affliction¹⁰. Altogether, this makes twelve kinds that are not the same¹¹. Because there are all of these spoken of, they are called ‘indeterminate’.

Question:
With the gradual & the indeterminate being similarly of the Great Vehicle, of the True Aspect of Reality, and called ‘Calm-Observation’, why are the different names of ‘gradual’ and ‘indeterminate’ distinguished?

Answer:
Actually, they are the same and they are not the same. They are not the same, and yet they are the same. In the gradual method, there are the nine paths that are not the same¹². In the indeterminate method, there are four ways that are not the same¹³. In all, there are thirteen that are not the same. Because there were all of these spoken of, they are called ‘not the same’. All of the noble teachers have made various distinctions and divisions from the one unconditioned spiritual reality¹⁴. This is the meaning here.

3. The Total, Sudden Method:

From the beginning, there is the True Aspect of Reality. One creates an Object¹⁵ that agrees with the middle way and is not without the absolute truth. Being focused on the Spiritual Realm¹⁶, and with the Spiritual Realm being in each single thought, each form and fragrance is not without the middle way. It is one’s own realm as well as that of the Buddha. In fact, it is also the realm of all living beings.

The aggregates of self¹⁷ and the senses¹⁸ are everywhere as they are, and so there is no suffering that may be discarded.
With there being ignorance and the dusts from one’s labors, so there is enlightenment¹⁹ Therefore there is no origination of suffering that may be detached from.
Extremes and falsehoods are within the bounds of truth, and so there is no path that may be cultivated.
With there being Life & Death²⁰, so there is Nirvana. Therefore there is no extinction that may be realized.

Without suffering or origination, there is no being of the world.
Without a path or extinction, there is no leaving the world.

There is simply one True Spiritual Aspect of Reality. Beyond the True Spiritual Aspect of Reality, nothing is distinguished.

The Nature of Spirituality²¹ is a serene tranquility called Calm.
It is serene and yet it is always illumined, and so it is called Observation.

Although we speak of there being a beginning and an end, they are inseparable and indivisible, and it is called The Total & Sudden Calm-Observation.

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Footnotes:

1. The True Spiritual Aspect of Reality: The perfect blending of the three truths and the middle way; the true understanding of reality and the absolute in the mundane.

2. The fire (of hell), the blood (of brutality), & the sword (of hunger): The three paths of evil

3. The three good paths: Asuras (personal demons, competitiveness), Humans (personality), Gods (heaven, joy)

4. The threefold realm: The threefold realm of desire, form & formlessness - the mortal realm of self-existence

5. The path of nirvana: Here, the realm of The Two Vehicles of the Small Vehicle of salvation – #1 Sravakas: Spiritual disciples that have heard the four truths and have aspired to personal liberation. #2 Pratyekabuddhas: Those awakened to the twelve-fold wheel of spiritual causality & conditions and have attained self-mastery.

6. The Bodhisattvas: those who, out of compassion, defer their own personal liberation in order to save others

7. The path of that which ever remaining: That is, the path of the Buddhas

8. This refers to the Buddha’s Four Methods of Teaching (S. The Four Siddhantas)
A. The Worldly Method, adapting to people’s wishes and desires
B. The Personal Method, finding opportunitites to encourage people’s good qualities and capacities
C. The Therapeutic Method, confronting evils and healing diseases
D. The Method of The Highest Significance, which directly leads to the awakening of enlightenment.

9. The Doctrine is the Great Vehicle (S. Mahayana) teaching of Buddhism. The Object of worship/observation is The True Spiritual Aspect of Reality. The Name of the practice is ‘Calm-Observation’.

10. The three kinds of non-affliction: The calming of the realms of desire, form & formlessness (the threefold realm of mortal existence in this world)

11. The twelve kinds that are not the same:
* 6 for good and evil (hell, brutality, hunger, assertiveness, personality, heaven in the realm of desire)
* 1 for meditation (on the realms of form & formlessness, beyond desire – higher realm of heaven)
* 3 for non-affliction (beyond the threefold realm, that is, of the 2 Vehicles of Sravakas & Pratyekabuddhas)
* 1 for the kindness & compassion (of the Bodhisattva)
* 1 for the True Spiritual Aspect of Reality (of the Buddha)

12. The nine paths that are not the same:
* The 6 paths of good & evil
* The path of meditation
* The path of non-affliction
* The path of the Bodhisattva

13. Four ways that are not the same: The Four Siddhantas or methods of instruction

14. The Nature of Spirituality: S. Dharmata

15. Object: An object or worship, or observation

16. The Spiritual Realm: S. Dharmadhatu - The realm of the human heart, the mind. The spiritual causality and conditions from the depths of hell up to the ultimate enlightenment

17. Aggregates of Self: The five aggregates (S. Skandhas) whose continuity create the ilusion of a seemingly independent self-existence #1 Material/physical form #2 Acts of will #3 Sensory feelings #4 Conceptualization #5 Consciousness

18. Senses: (S. Ayatanas) The six sense faculties:#1 The body #2 The tongue #3 The nose #4 The ears #5 The eyes # The thinking mind; And the six sense faculties: #1 Touch #2 Taste #3 Smell #4 Hearing #5 Sight #6 Elements of reality (dharmas)

19. Enlightenment: (S. Bodhi) awakening

20. Life & Death: (S. Samsara) The mortal realm of self-existence; Samsara

21. Nature of Spiritual Reality: The Nature of the Dharma, S. Dharmata

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