Eight Winds, and Closing the Water Contemplation
The final adornment completes a chain that began with a bowl of water on the ground before the practitioner: light from the jeweled ground becomes wind, and wind, the instant it stirs, becomes music that teaches the Dharma directly — no speaker required. The second of the sixteen contemplations closes here, having built an entire world from a single bowl of still water.
Wind From Light, and Music That Teaches
五、從八種清風下，至無我之音已來，正明光變樂音，轉成說法之相。即有其三。一明八風從光而出。二明風光即出即鼓樂發音。三明顯說四倒四真恒沙等法。讚云：「安樂國清淨，常轉無垢輪，一念及一時，利益諸群生。讚佛諸功德，無有分別心，能令速滿足，功德大寶海。」
六、從是為下，總結。上來雖有六句不同，廣明水觀竟。
Fifth, from "eight kinds of pure wind" down through "the sound of no-self," this makes plain that this light transforms into music, in turn becoming the very form of Dharma-teaching itself. There are three points within it. First, this makes plain that these eight winds emerge directly from this light. Second, this makes plain that, the moment this wind and light emerge, they at once strike up music and give forth sound. Third, this makes plain that this sound expounds the four inversions and the four truths, and teachings as numerous as the sands of the river.
A verse of praise says: "The Land of Peace and Bliss is pure and clean, forever turning the wheel free of every defilement; in a single thought, in a single moment, it brings benefit to every being; praising the Buddha's own manifold virtues, with a mind entirely free of discrimination, it is able to bring swift fulfillment — a great treasure-ocean of merit itself."
Sixth, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. Though the above has unfolded across six distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the water contemplation.
Tracing this entire contemplation from its opening to its close reveals a single unbroken chain of transformation: level water represents unbroken ground; that ground, once contemplated, is adorned with a jeweled banner beneath it; the ground's own jewels emit light; that light rises to become towers, pavilions, banners, and music in the sky; and now, finally, that same light becomes wind, and wind becomes teaching, the instant it moves. Nothing in this sequence required a speaker in the ordinary sense — the land itself, in its entire physical structure, is described as continuously instructing whoever perceives it. This closes the second of the sixteen contemplations, begun with nothing more elaborate than a bowl of water and a small white mark, and ending with an entire cosmology of self-teaching light.
Second Contemplation Complete
This closes Part 36, and with it the water contemplation, the second of the sixteen, in full — nine parts in all, from the bowl-of-water method through the ground's jeweled banners, the sky's towers, and finally wind transformed into teaching. Part 37 turns to the third contemplation, that of the ground itself (地想觀), which brings this entire visualized world — sun, water, ground, sky, and wind together — into a single, unified vision.
Continue to Part 37 — The Third Contemplation: The Ground Itself →