Fruit That Contains Entire Universes
The jeweled tree contemplation reaches its own culmination: fruit whose light transforms into a canopy revealing an entire trichiliocosm within, and, further still, every pure land of the ten directions visible inside it at once. The practice then closes with something notably down-to-earth — a precise, step-by-step order for observing all of this without becoming lost.
Fruit Containing an Entire Trichiliocosm
八、從涌生諸果下，至亦於中現已來，正明果有不思議德用之相。即有其五。一明寶果生時自然涌出。二明借喻以標果相。三明果有神光化成旛蓋。四明寶蓋圓明內現三千之界，依正二嚴種種相現。五明十方淨土普現蓋中，彼國人天無不覩見。又此樹量彌高，縱廣彌闊，華果眾多，神變非一。一一樹既然，遍滿彼國所有諸樹之果眾多，盡皆如此。應知。一切行者，行住坐臥，常作此想。
Eighth, from "gushing forth, all manner of fruit" down through "and also appears within it," this makes plain that this fruit possesses the mark of inconceivable virtue and function. There are five points within it. First, this makes plain that these jeweled fruits, when they arise, spring forth entirely of their own accord. Second, this makes plain the use of analogy to mark out the appearance of this fruit. Third, this makes plain that this fruit possesses a spiritual light that transforms into banners and canopies. Fourth, this makes plain that within this jeweled canopy's own perfect radiance, the entire trichiliocosm appears, its dependent and direct retribution, its manifold adornment, every mark manifesting there in full. Fifth, this makes plain that the pure lands of the ten directions appear universally within this very canopy, and there is not a single being, whether human or heavenly, within that land who fails to behold them. Further, these trees rise ever higher, spread ever wider, their flowers and fruit ever more numerous, their spiritual transformations never merely one. As each and every tree is thus, so too are all the fruits of every tree throughout that entire land, filling it completely — every one of them exactly the same. This should be understood. Let every practitioner, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, constantly form this very contemplative thought.
The progression across this eightfold breakdown moves from the concrete (fruit springing forth of its own accord) to the nearly unimaginable (an entire trichiliocosm, and then every pure land of the ten directions, visible inside a single piece of fruit) without any indication that the practitioner should find this escalation strange. Shandao's own closing note, that "every one of them" — every tree, every fruit, throughout the entire land — displays this same property, suggests the point is not any single spectacular object but a pervasive quality of the land itself: every part contains, in some sense, the whole.
A Precise Order: Root to Canopy, Never Confused
九、從見此樹已下，至分明已來，辯觀成相。即有其三。一明結觀成相。二明次第觀之，不得雜亂。三明一一起心住境。先觀樹根，次想莖枝乃至華菓，次想網宮，次想童子瓔珞，次想葉量華菓光色，次想旛蓋廣現佛事。既能一一次第觀之者，無不明了也。
十、從是為下，總結。斯乃寶樹連暉，網簾空殿，華分千色，果現他方。上來雖有十句不同，廣明寶樹觀竟。
Ninth, from "having beheld these trees" down through "clearly and distinctly," this distinguishes the mark of the contemplation's own accomplishment. There are three points within it. First, this makes plain the conclusion, the mark of this contemplation's own completion. Second, this makes plain that one must contemplate this in proper sequence, and must not allow confusion to arise. Third, this makes plain that, each and every time, one gives rise to this thought and settles it upon its own object: first contemplating the tree's own root, next visualizing its trunk and branches, on through to its flowers and fruit, next visualizing the net and its palaces, next visualizing the youths and their strings of pearls, next visualizing the measure of the leaves and the light and color of the flowers and fruit, and next visualizing the banners and canopies broadly manifesting the Buddha's own works. Once one is able to contemplate each and every one of these, in proper sequence, there is nothing that fails to become clear and distinct.
Tenth, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. This, then, is jeweled trees linking their own radiance together, nets and curtains hanging before palaces in the sky, flowers dividing into a thousand colors, fruit revealing realms beyond this very one. Though the above has unfolded across ten distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the jeweled tree contemplation.
After nine points describing splendor of almost overwhelming scale, this closing method is strikingly modest: root, then trunk and branches, then flowers and fruit, then the net and palaces above, then the youths and their pearls, then the leaves' own colors, then finally the banners revealing the Buddha's own works — a fixed, linear order, moving bottom to top, that a practitioner can actually follow. Shandao's own insistence that this sequence must not be allowed to fall into confusion echoes the same discipline established back in the sun contemplation: however vast the object of contemplation becomes, the practice itself remains a matter of sustained, orderly attention rather than an overwhelming flood of imagery taken in all at once. This closes the fourth and longest of the sixteen contemplations so far — ten points, the richest single contemplation encountered in this fascicle.
Fourth Contemplation Complete
This closes Part 42, and with it the jeweled tree contemplation, the fourth of the sixteen, in full — the longest contemplation yet, spanning Parts 39 through 42. Part 43 turns to the fifth contemplation, that of the jeweled ponds (寶池觀): eight ponds of water possessing eight distinct virtues, flowing from a wish-fulfilling jewel and giving voice, in their own rippling sound, to the Dharma itself.
Continue to Part 43 — Eight Ponds, Eight Virtues →