Closing the Sun Contemplation

"The third reason is that he wished sentient beings to come to recognize the manifold splendor, radiance, and adornment of Amitābha's own dependent and direct retribution — his own land and his own body — whose light, shining both within and without, surpasses this very sun a hundred thousand myriad times over. Should practitioners not yet know the light and appearance of that realm, they need only look upon the radiant form of this sun's own disc. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, in reverent recollection and constant remembrance, let them continually form this very understanding — and before long, their own mind shall attain settled concentration, and they shall behold that pure land's own blissful splendor directly. It is for this very reason that the World-Honored One first taught the contemplation of the sun's own form."

Third, from "you should now give rise to this contemplative thought" down through "resembling a suspended drum," this directly teaches the act of contemplation itself. This makes plain that, correcting one's own bodily bearing and facing directly toward the West, holding fast to the object and settling the mind upon it without wavering, everything one hopes for shall accordingly come to pass.

Fourth, from "having thus beheld the sun" down through "clearly and distinctly," this distinguishes the mark of the contemplation's own accomplishment. This makes plain that, fixing the mind and beholding the sun, restraining wandering thought and cutting off outer conditions, moment after moment without wavering, the pure mark thereby appears clearly and distinctly before one. Further, when the practitioner first beholds this sun within meditative absorption, they attain at once the bliss of samādhi itself, body and mind, within and without, melting together in a manner beyond ordinary description. At the very moment one beholds this, one must take great care to gather the mind and keep it settled, and must not allow the mind to rise up in eager grasping. Should a covetous thought arise, the very water of the mind is thereby stirred, and, the mind having been stirred, the pure object is thereby lost. It may waver, or grow dim, or turn black, or shift through blue, yellow, red, white, and other colors, unable to remain settled. Should this occur, one should reflect at once, saying to oneself: "This wavering and unsettled state of the object before me arises only because my own covetous mind has stirred into motion, causing the pure object to waver and vanish." Settling the mind at once in right mindfulness, and returning to where one began, the wavering mark is thereby removed, and the still mind reappears. Having thus recognized this very fault, one must never again allow such excessive, covetous thought to arise. In every contemplation that follows, the distinction between what is correct and what is mistaken, between success and failure, follows this very same principle. To contemplate the sun and behold the sun, mind and object corresponding to one another, is called correct contemplation. To contemplate the sun and fail to behold it, seeing instead some other, unrelated object, mind and object failing to correspond, is therefore called mistaken. This, then, is the darkened dwelling of this Sahā world, a place where nothing one encounters offers any true comparison — only the bright sun, unfolding its own radiance, can serve to point one's thought, from this great distance, toward the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Fifth, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. Though the above has unfolded across five distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the sun contemplation.