Closing the Lotus Throne Contemplation
This entire throne, Shandao insists at last, did not simply appear — it exists because of a specific vow, made long ago by a specific monk. The contemplation closes on its own twofold benefit, removing offense and securing rebirth, completing the longest single contemplation in this fascicle after the jeweled trees.
Not Spontaneous, But Vowed: A Monk's Own Resolve
十六、從佛告阿難下，至比丘願力所成已來，正明華座得成所由。
十七、從若欲念彼佛者下，至自見面像已來，正明重顯觀儀，如前次第住心，不得雜亂也。
Sixteenth, from "the Buddha told Ānanda" down through "accomplished through the power of a monk's own vow," this makes plain the very reason this lotus throne came to exist at all.
Seventeenth, from "should one wish to hold that Buddha in mind" down through "behold one's own reflected face," this makes plain the repeated revealing of the manner of this contemplation — settling the mind in the same sequence as before, and never allowing confusion to arise.
This point returns, briefly but pointedly, to the same source already established for the trees, the ground, and every other adornment of this land: nothing here is spontaneous or automatic. The throne exists specifically "through the power of a monk's own vow" — a plain reference to the monk Dharmākara, whose forty-eight vows, undertaken across countless past kalpas, became the causal foundation for the entire Land of Ultimate Bliss. Even the seat Amitābha now occupies traces back to a deliberate, historical act of resolve, not a natural feature of some already-existing paradise.
Two Benefits, and Closing the Contemplation
十八、從此想成者下，至生極樂世界已來，正明結觀成相，即有二益。一明除罪益。二明得生益。
十九、從作是觀者下，至名為邪觀已來，正明辨觀邪正相。斯乃華依寶地，葉間奇珍，臺瑩四幢，光施佛事。上來雖有十九句不同，廣明華座觀竟。
Eighteenth, from "when this contemplative thought is accomplished" down through "reborn in the World of Ultimate Bliss," this makes plain the conclusion, the mark of this contemplation's own accomplishment, and carries with it two benefits. First, this makes plain the benefit of removing offense. Second, this makes plain the benefit of attaining rebirth.
Nineteenth, from "one who forms this contemplation" down through "this is called mistaken contemplation," this makes plain the distinguishing of the mark of what is correct from what is mistaken in this practice. This, then, is a flower resting upon a jeweled ground, rare treasures set among its petals, a platform gleaming with its four banners, light performing the Buddha's own works. Though the above has unfolded across nineteen distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the lotus throne contemplation.
Shandao's own closing summary — "a flower resting upon a jeweled ground, rare treasures set among its petals, a platform gleaming with its four banners, light performing the Buddha's own works" — compresses nineteen points of dense visual detail into a single sentence, a technique used consistently at the close of each major contemplation to give the practitioner something compact to hold in mind once the elaborate, step-by-step visualization has been completed. This closes the seventh of the sixteen contemplations, second only to the jeweled trees in length and detail — and, notably, the throne is still empty. Amitābha himself has appeared standing beside it, but has not yet been contemplated directly. That contemplation comes next.
Seventh Contemplation Complete
This closes Part 52, and with it the lotus throne contemplation, the seventh of the sixteen, in full — spanning Parts 47 through 52. Part 53 turns to the eighth contemplation, that of the image (像觀) — the visualization of a golden image of the Buddha seated upon this very throne, and Shandao's own careful clarification of what "the mind itself creates the Buddha" actually means, distinguishing it sharply from a doctrine he calls a serious misreading.
Continue to Part 53 — The Image Contemplation Begins →