The Great Calm Observation, Volume 1, Part 3, Page 10

The Great Calm Observation, Volume 1, Part 3, Page 10

This one teaching has many different understandings and its meaning is difficult to clarify. Therefore it is now taught in term of the verse in The Discourse on the Mean¹.

A. The Doctrine of Birth & Extinction

The Discourse on the Mean says:
"Causality and conditions produce all things, I teach that they are empty"…
Having already spoken of causality and conditions producing all things, how is it that emptiness is attained? It is necessary to analyze causality thoroughly and this way understand emptiness, and also speak of emptiness itself being empty.

It says:
"They are called by temporary names"…
Only existing as false and tenuous concepts that do not stand alone by themselves, the many temporary relationships that one attains depend upon other conditions to remain and so they are temporary. However, this is not the temporary existence that offers provisionality to reality².

It says:
"They also have the significance of the Middle Way"…
In being free from the extremes of finality and permanence, it is called the Middle Way. However, this is not the Middle Way of the Buddha Nature.

When one understands like this, although the three terms³ are themselves empty, identity with emptiness is not attained, much less identity with that which is temporary or the mean. This is the meaning of the Four Truths of Birth and Extinction.

B. The Dictrine Without Birth or Extinction

When there is the “Causality and conditions that produce all things", it is not necessary to break through them and extinguish them because in embodying them there is identity with emptiness. One does not attain identity with that which is temporary or the mean. Upon establishing that which is temporary and the mean, everywhere they enter into emptiness. How is this? All things everywhere are empty, and so they without an owner or a self. That which is temporary is also empty because it is only temporarily established and given. The mean is also empty as are the two extremes of finality and permanence. These three turns of speech, although different, all conform with and enter into emptiness. Neither retreating into the analysis of the Two Vehicles nor advancing into the Specific or the Total Doctrines, they all share the idea of emptiness like the three beasts⁴ that all crossed the river.

C. The Limitless Doctrine

When one reasons that there is identity with emptiness, that which is temporary, and the mean, there is winding road of the three kinds, with each of them being different.

The three statements of The Discourse on the Mean are all empty:

Emptiness is without a self, and so it is empty,
That which is temporary is an unreal hypothesis, and so it is empty,
The mean is without extremes, and so it is empty.

The three statements of The Discourse on the Mean are all temporary:

In similarly having names, they are all temporary.

The three statements of The Discourse on the Mean are all the mean:

Emptiness is the mean in terms of the absolute,
That which is temporary is the mean in terms of one’s capacity, and
The mean is the mean in terms of reality.

Therefore together they are the mean.

This is grasping the Specific Doctrine but falling short of the Total Doctrine.

D. The Innate

When one reasons that there is identity with emptiness, that which is temporary, and the mean, although they are three, they are one. Although they are one, they are three. These aspects are not contradictory.

The three kinds are all empty, and so beyond the ways of words and conceptualization.
The three kinds are all temporary, and so are only names and terms.
The three kinds are all the mean, and so are the aspects of reality.

Although only calling it emptiness, is it complete with that which is temporary and the mean. Upon awakening to emptiness, there is awakening to that which is temporary and the mean. The others are also like this.

One must know that upon hearing a single Teaching, there arise the various kinds of understanding, there are established various kinds of vows, and there are the various inspirations of the Bodhi mind. This is also possible to understand.

5. – 10. Other Ways of Inspiring the Bodhi Mind

5.   Travelling to the various Pure Lands
6.   Seeing various multitudes
7.   Seeing the cultivation of various practices
8.   Seeing various kinds of extinction
9.   Seeing various kinds of transgressions, and
10. Receiving various kinds of suffering, etc.,

In each of the above, one may inspire the Bodhi mind. Examples of these are possible to understand and it is not necessary to narrate upon them further.

Next Page Outline Home Page

1. The verse from the Discourse on the Mean (S. Mula Madhyamika Sastra) that succinctly explains The Four Doctrines:
"Causality & conditions produce all (spiritual) things" - The Doctrine of the Three Baskets
"I teach that they are empty (of self)" - The General Doctrine
"They also have temporary names" - The Specific Doctrine
"And they also have the significance of the middle way" - The Total Doctrine

2. The temporary existence that offers provisionality to reality: All things in existence are temporary, but they are only provisional when they reveal reality.

3. The three terms: Emptiness, that which is temporary, and the mean; The Three Truths

4. The three beasts: This comes from The Mahaparinirvana Sutra. The rabbit, the horse, and the elephant - All three beasts crossed the river with varying degrees of depth. The rabbit skimmed the surface, like the Sravaka. The Horse was much deeper, like the Pratyekabuddha. Only the elephant had his feet firmly on the ground, like the Bodhisattva.

Copyright Policy - Contact the Author at pj@tientai.net

Since July 9, 2001

FastCounter by bCentral