Seven Sections of the Arising Occasion, and Where the Buddha Taught
Shandao maps the sūtra's entire dramatic backbone — the imprisonment of a king, an attempted matricide, a queen's grief and vision — into seven sections before working through the first of them: the ordinary opening formula every sūtra shares, given here an unusually careful reading of what "at one time," "the Buddha," and "place" are each actually doing.
Seven Sections of the Arising Occasion
二、就發起序中，細分為七：初、從一時佛在下，至法王子而為上首已來，明化前序。二、從王舍大城下，至顏色和悅已來，正明發起序禁父之緣。三、從時阿闍世下，至不令復出已來，明禁母緣。
四、從時韋提希被幽閉下，至共為眷屬已來，明厭苦緣。五、從唯願為我廣說下，至教我正受已來，明其欣淨緣。六、從爾時世尊即便微笑下，至淨業正因已來，明散善顯行緣。七、從佛告阿難等諦聽下，至云何得見極樂國土已來，正明定善示觀緣。上來雖有七段不同，廣料簡發起序竟。
Second, within the arising occasion, this divides further into seven sections: first, from "at one time the Buddha was" down through "the Dharma-prince as their foremost," this makes plain the preface before the teaching begins. Second, from "the great city of Rājagṛha" down through "their countenance grew calm and pleased," this makes plain the arising occasion's own condition of the father's imprisonment. Third, from "at that time Ajātaśatru" down through "never again to let her out," this makes plain the condition of the mother's imprisonment.
Fourth, from "at that time Vaidehī, having been confined" down through "together as his companions," this makes plain the condition of weariness with suffering. Fifth, from "I beg only that you explain at length for me" down through "teach me to attain right reception of it," this makes plain the condition of joyful aspiration for purity. Sixth, from "at that time the World-Honored One then smiled" down through "the true cause of pure karma," this makes plain the condition revealing the practice of dispersed goodness. Seventh, from "the Buddha said to Ānanda, listen carefully" down through "how could she see the land of Ultimate Bliss," this makes plain the condition showing the contemplative practice. Though the above has unfolded across seven distinct sections, this concludes the full analysis of the arising occasion.
This sevenfold division is the spine of everything Shandao covers across the rest of this fascicle — and worth reading as a plot summary before the story itself unfolds. A prophecy leads a prince to imprison his father (section 2); his fury turns against his mother as well, checked only by two loyal ministers (section 3); the queen, imprisoned and grieving, prays toward Vulture Peak (section 4); the Buddha appears to her and shows her every pure land in the ten directions, from which she chooses Amitābha's (section 5); he then teaches the practical foundation of "dispersed goodness" (section 6) before finally introducing the contemplative practice the sūtra's sixteen contemplations will spell out in full (section 7). Only after all of this does the sūtra's actual, formal teaching — covered in Fascicles 3 and 4 — begin at all.
"At One Time," "The Buddha," and Two Places He Taught
初、解化前序者。就此序中，即有其四。
初、言一時者，正明起化之時。佛將說法，先託於時處。但以眾生開悟，必藉因緣。化主臨機，待於時處。又言一時者，或就日夜十二時，年月四時等。此皆是如來應機攝化時也。言處者，隨彼所宜，如來說法。或在山林處，或在王宮聚落處，或在曠野塚間處，或在多少人天處，或在聲聞菩薩處，或在八部人天王等處，或在純凡若多一二處，或在純聖若多一二處。隨其時處，如來觀知不增不減，隨緣授法，各益所資。斯乃洪鐘雖響，必待扣而方鳴。大聖垂慈，必待請而當說。故名一時也。又一時者。阿闍世正起逆時，佛在何處？當此一時，如來獨與二眾在彼耆闍。此即以下形上意也。
故曰一時。又言一時者，佛與二眾於一時中在彼耆闍，即聞阿闍世起此惡逆因緣。此即以上形下意也。故曰一時。
二、言佛者。此即標定化主，簡異餘佛，獨顯釋迦意也。
三、從在王舍城已下，正明如來遊化之處。即有其二：一、遊王城聚落，為化在俗之眾。二、遊耆山等處，為化出家之眾。又在家者，貪求五欲相續是常。縱發清心，猶如畫水。但以隨緣普益，不捨大悲。道俗形殊，無由共住。此名境界住也。又出家者，亡身捨命，斷欲歸真。心若金剛，等同圓鏡。悕求佛地，即弘益自他。若非絕離囂塵，此德無由可證。此名依止住也。
First, explaining the preface before the teaching begins. Within this preface, there are four points.
First, as for what is meant by "at one time": this makes plain the very time at which the teaching first arose. When the Buddha is about to speak the Dharma, he first relies on a particular time and place — for sentient beings can only be awakened through some actual causal condition, and the teaching-lord, meeting the occasion, must wait for the right time and place. And further, "at one time" may refer to any of the twelve double-hours of the day and night, or any of the four seasons of the year — all of these are simply times when the Tathāgata, responding to capacity, gathers beings in and transforms them. As for "place": the Tathāgata speaks the Dharma wherever suits the occasion — sometimes in mountains and forests, sometimes in a royal palace or a village, sometimes in a wilderness or among graves, sometimes where many or few gods and humans gather, sometimes where śrāvakas and bodhisattvas gather, sometimes where the eightfold division of gods and nāgas and their kings gather, sometimes where the assembly is entirely, or mostly, ordinary beings, and sometimes where it is entirely, or mostly, sages. Whatever the time and place, the Tathāgata perceives and knows it without adding or subtracting anything at all, and, according with the occasion, imparts the teaching, so that each benefits according to what he actually needs. It is like a great bell: however loud it may ring, it must first be struck before it sounds at all. The great sage extends his compassion, but he, too, must wait to be asked before he speaks — hence it is called "at one time." And further, "at one time" also means this: at the very time Ajātaśatru was giving rise to his own act of rebellion, where was the Buddha? At this same time, the Tathāgata was, on his own, together with his two assemblies, at Vulture Peak — this is using what happens below to give shape to what is meant above.
Hence it is said, "at one time." And further, "at one time" also means this: the Buddha, together with his two assemblies, was, at this same time, at Vulture Peak, and it was there that he heard of Ajātaśatru's own act of evil rebellion arising — this is using what happens above to give shape to what is meant below. Hence it is said, "at one time."
Second, as for what is meant by "the Buddha": this simply marks out and fixes the identity of the teaching-lord, distinguishing him from every other buddha, making plain that this refers to Śākyamuni alone.
Third, from "in the city of Rājagṛha" onward, this makes plain exactly where the Tathāgata traveled and taught. There are two such places: first, he traveled through the royal city and its villages, to teach the lay assembly there; and second, he traveled to Vulture Peak and similar places, to teach the monastic assembly there. And further, as for those still at home: they crave and pursue the five desires without cease, and even should they give rise to a pure mind, it is like painting on water — it leaves no lasting mark. Yet the Buddha, according with each occasion, benefits them universally, never once abandoning his great compassion. Since the monastic and the lay differ so greatly in form, they cannot dwell together at all — this is called "dwelling according to circumstance." And further, as for the monastics: having let go of body and life itself, having cut off desire and returned to the truth, their minds are like diamond, equal to a perfect, round mirror. Aspiring to the very ground of buddhahood, they thereby benefit both themselves and others at once. Were it not for their complete separation from the world's own noise and dust, this virtue could never be realized at all — this is called "dwelling in reliance."
Shandao's double reading of "at one time" is a small but telling piece of narrative craft: the same four characters, he argues, work in two directions simultaneously, foreshadowing the events about to unfold — the Buddha, calmly present at Vulture Peak, unaware yet inseparable from the very moment his own distant kingdom is about to descend into patricide and near-matricide. "Using what happens below to give shape to what is meant above" is Shandao's own name for this technique: a plain opening formula, on his reading, is already doing narrative work before the story it introduces has even begun. His division of "place" into two — the royal city for laypeople, the mountain for monastics — sets up a distinction he will return to across the rest of this fascicle: the sūtra's own drama unfolds entirely within the first setting, among people fully entangled in worldly life, precisely the audience this whole commentary has already insisted, across Fascicle 1, the Contemplation Sūtra was written for.
Part 8 Complete
This closes Part 8: the seven-section map of the sūtra's entire narrative, and the first three of the four points in "the preface before the teaching begins" — time, the Buddha's own identity, and the two places he taught. Part 9 completes this preface with its fourth and final point: the full assembly gathered to hear the teaching, śrāvakas and bodhisattvas alike, including Shandao's own account of why so many of the Buddha's listeners are introduced as former followers of heterodox paths.
Continue to Part 9 — The Assembly, and Why Heterodox Teachers Are Named →