The Third Contemplation: The Ground Itself
The third contemplation gathers sun, water, and the pure land's own ground into a single unified vision, and Shandao supplies a precise, six-stage account of how a scattered, ordinary mind actually arrives at something indistinguishable from samādhi. The exhortation that follows turns unexpectedly direct: what does it actually mean to repay the Buddha's own kindness?
Six Stages, From Scattered Attention to Samādhi
三、就地想觀中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其六。一、從此想成時者，正明結前生後。二、從一一觀之下，至不可具說已來，正明辨觀成相。即有其六。一明心標一境，不得總雜觀之。二明既專一境，境即現前，既得現前必令明了。三明境既現心，閉目開目守令莫失。四明身四威儀晝夜常念，唯除睡時憶持不捨。五明凝心不絕即見淨土之相，此名想心中見，猶有覺想故。六明想心漸微，覺念頓除，正受相應證於三昧。真見彼境微妙之事，何由具說。斯乃地廣無邊，寶幢非一，眾珍曜彩，轉變彌多。是以勸物傾心，恒如對目。
三、從是為下，總結。
Third, within the ground contemplation, the text likewise first raises the matter, next distinguishes it in detail, and finally concludes it. There are six points in all.
First, from "when this contemplative thought is accomplished" onward, this makes plain the conclusion of what precedes, and the opening of what follows.
Second, from "observing each and every one of these" down through "cannot be set forth in full," this makes plain the distinguishing of the mark of the contemplation's own accomplishment. There are six points within it. First, this makes plain that the mind should be fixed upon a single object, and must not contemplate a confused mixture of objects all at once. Second, this makes plain that, once one's attention is fixed upon a single object, that object shall appear before one — and once it has appeared, one must cause it to become perfectly clear and distinct. Third, this makes plain that, once the object has appeared in the mind, one must guard it whether the eyes are open or closed, and never allow it to be lost. Fourth, this makes plain that, in every one of the body's four postures, day and night alike, one should hold this contemplation constantly in mind, ceasing only during sleep, yet never once relinquishing it. Fifth, this makes plain that, when the mind remains fixed without interruption, one beholds directly the mark of the pure land — and this is called "seeing within contemplative thought," since some trace of conscious mental construction still remains. Sixth, this makes plain that, as this contemplative thought gradually grows subtle, conscious mental construction is thereupon suddenly removed, and right reception corresponds directly, bearing witness to samādhi itself. As for the truly wondrous matter of beholding that realm directly, how could this ever be set forth in full? For that ground is vast without limit, its jeweled banners not merely one, its many treasures shining and shifting in ever greater profusion. It is for this very reason that beings are exhorted to turn their whole heart toward it, holding it always before their own eyes, as though gazing upon it directly.
Third, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion.
The six-stage account here quietly resolves a question the water contemplation left open: the earlier practice diagnosed whether a practitioner's mind was settled or scattered, but did not fully specify what settling into completion actually looks like. This passage supplies that answer as a genuine sequence, not a single threshold: fixing the mind on one object, waiting for that object's own clear appearance, guarding it through open and closed eyes alike, sustaining it across every waking posture, and only then arriving at the crucial distinction between "seeing within contemplative thought" — where some deliberate mental effort still persists — and the further stage where that effort itself falls away and "right reception corresponds directly" with samādhi. The fifth stage matters because it names something a practitioner might mistake for the goal but is not: a vivid, deliberately constructed vision is real progress, but is still, in Shandao's own account, one step short of where this practice is actually headed.
What "Repaying the Buddha's Own Kindness" Actually Means
四、從佛告阿難下，至說是觀地法已來，正明勸發流通隨緣廣說。即有其四。一明告命。二明勸持佛語，廣為未來大眾說前觀地之益。三明簡機，堪受堪信欲得捨此娑婆生死之身八苦、五苦、三惡道苦等，聞即信行者，不惜身命急為說之。若得一人捨苦出生死者，是名真報佛恩。何以故？諸佛出世種種方便勸化眾生者，不欲直令制惡修福受人天樂也。人天之樂猶如電光，須臾即捨，還入三惡長時受苦，為此因緣但勸即令求生淨土，向無上菩提。是故今時有緣相勸誓生淨土者，即稱諸佛本願意也。若不樂信行者，如《清淨覺經》云：「若有人聞說淨土法門，聞如不聞，見如不見，當知此等始從三惡道來，罪障未盡，為此無信向耳。佛言：『我說此人未可得解脫也。』」此經又云：「若人聞說淨土法門，聞即悲喜交流身毛為竪者，當知此人過去已曾修習此法。今得重聞即生歡喜，正念修行必得生也。」
四、明正教觀寶地以住心也。
Fourth, from "the Buddha told Ānanda" down through "expound this method of contemplating the ground," this makes plain the exhortation to promulgate and transmit this teaching, spreading it broadly according to circumstance. There are four points within it. First, this makes plain the issuing of this command. Second, this makes plain the exhortation to uphold the Buddha's own words, expounding widely, to the great assembly of beings still to come, the benefit of this contemplation of the ground already given. Third, this makes plain the distinguishing of capacities: for those able to receive and believe this teaching, who wish to cast off this body bound to birth and death within this Sahā world, with its eight sufferings, its five sufferings, and the sufferings of the three evil destinies — for anyone who hears this teaching and believes it at once, one should, without begrudging even one's own life, urgently expound it to them. Should even a single person, through this, cast off suffering and escape birth and death, this alone is called a true repayment of the Buddha's own kindness. Why is this so? Because when the buddhas appear in the world, employing every manner of skillful means to exhort and transform sentient beings, their intent was never merely to have beings restrain evil and cultivate merit so as to receive the pleasures of gods and humans. The pleasures of gods and humans are like a flash of lightning, relinquished in but a single instant, after which one falls back into the three evil destinies to suffer there for a long span of time. It is for this very reason that beings are exhorted only to seek rebirth in the pure land, directing themselves toward unsurpassed bodhi. Hence, whoever in this present age, sharing this same karmic affinity, exhorts others to vow rebirth in the pure land, thereby accords with the very intent behind every buddha's own original vow. As for those unwilling to believe and practice this teaching, the Sūtra of Pure Enlightenment says: "Should there be a person who hears this teaching of the pure land expounded, and yet hears it as though not hearing it, sees it as though not seeing it, one should know that such a person has only just come from the three evil destinies, their own obstruction of offense not yet exhausted — and it is for this very reason that they have no faith to turn toward it at all. The Buddha said: 'I say of this person that they cannot yet attain liberation.'" This same sūtra further says: "Should a person hear this teaching of the pure land expounded, and, upon hearing it, feel grief and joy intermingled, the very hairs of their own body standing on end, one should know that this person has, in some past life, already cultivated this very teaching. Now, hearing it once more, they give rise at once to joy — and, holding fast to right mindfulness and practicing accordingly, they shall without fail attain rebirth there."
Fourth, this makes plain the direct teaching of contemplating the jeweled ground, so as to settle the mind upon it.
Shandao's own definition of "true repayment of the Buddha's own kindness" — bringing even a single person to escape birth and death — is stated with a plainness that cuts through everything ornate in the surrounding text about jewels and light. His explicit rejection of a lesser goal is worth pausing on: the buddhas' teaching was never meant merely to have beings "restrain evil and cultivate merit so as to receive the pleasures of gods and humans," since even those pleasures are "like a flash of lightning," followed by a long return to suffering. This passage also supplies a rare piece of psychological diagnosis — the person who hears this teaching and feels nothing, "as though not hearing it," is not simply unpersuaded but is read as still carrying unexhausted karmic obstruction from the three evil destinies, while the person whose "hairs stand on end" at hearing it is read as recognizing something practiced in some past life. The response to teaching itself becomes, in this reading, a kind of diagnostic in its own right.
Part 37 Complete
This closes Part 37. Part 38 completes the ground contemplation in full: the specific benefits this practice brings — including its power to erase offenses accumulated across many kalpas — and a striking account of beings reborn but still confined within an unopened lotus, waiting for their own doubt to be resolved before they can emerge.
Continue to Part 38 — Closing the Ground Contemplation →