The Image Contemplation Begins
Vaidehī asked only about Amitābha. The Buddha answers by invoking every buddha at once — because, Shandao explains, all buddhas realize their own three bodies identically, and any single one of them, seated in one unmoving place, is nonetheless able to appear directly within a practitioner's own mind the instant that being wishes to behold him.
Why Contemplate the Buddha at All?
八、就像觀中，亦先舉，次辨，後結。即有其十三。一、從佛告阿難下，至次當想佛已來，正明結前生後。言所以者何者，是其問也。所以須想佛者何。
Eighth, within the image contemplation, the text likewise first raises the matter, next distinguishes it in detail, and finally concludes it. There are thirteen points in all.
First, from "the Buddha told Ānanda" down through "you should next contemplate the Buddha," this makes plain the conclusion of what precedes, and the opening of what follows. As for "for what reason": this is itself a question — for what reason must one contemplate the Buddha at all?
Why "All Buddhas" When Only Amitābha Was Requested
二、從諸佛如來下，至心想中已來，正明諸佛大慈，應心即現，有斯勝益故勸汝想之。問曰：「韋提上請，唯指彌陀。未審如來今總舉諸佛，有何意也？」答曰：「欲顯諸佛三身同證，悲智果圓等齊無二。端身一坐影現無方，意赴有緣時臨法界。言法界者，有三義：一者心遍故解法界。二者身遍故解法界。三者無障礙故解法界。正由心到故身亦隨到，身隨於心，故言是法界身也。言法界者，是所化之境，即眾生界也。言身者，是能化之身，即諸佛身也。言入眾生心想中者，乃由眾生起念願見諸佛，佛即以無礙智知，即能入彼想心中現。但諸行者，若想念中、若夢定中見佛者，即成斯義也。」
Second, from "the buddhas and tathāgatas" down through "within the very mind and thought of sentient beings," this makes plain that the great compassion of every buddha responds to the mind directly, appearing at once — and, since this brings so excellent a benefit, you are exhorted to contemplate it.
Question: "Vaidehī's own earlier request pointed only to Amitābha specifically. It is not yet clear why the Tathāgata now raises up all buddhas together — what is the meaning of this?"
Answer: "This is meant to reveal that every buddha's own three bodies are realized identically, their compassion and wisdom, their own fruit, perfectly equal, without the slightest difference between them. Seated upright, remaining in but a single place, their own reflection nonetheless appears everywhere without limit, their own intent reaching wherever karmic affinity exists, arriving at that very moment throughout the entire Dharma-realm. As for 'Dharma-realm': this carries three meanings. First, it is understood as the Dharma-realm because the mind itself pervades everywhere. Second, it is understood as the Dharma-realm because the body itself pervades everywhere. Third, it is understood as the Dharma-realm because it is entirely free of obstruction. It is precisely because the mind arrives that the body likewise arrives there with it — the body following the mind — and hence it is said to be 'a body of the Dharma-realm.' As for 'Dharma-realm': this is the very object of transformation, that is, the realm of sentient beings themselves. As for 'body': this is the very body capable of transformation, that is, the body of every buddha. As for 'entering within the very mind and thought of sentient beings': this comes about because sentient beings themselves give rise to the thought and wish to behold the buddhas, and the Buddha, through his own unobstructed wisdom, knowing this at once, is thereby able to enter directly into that very mind of contemplative thought and appear there. Whenever any practitioner beholds the Buddha, whether within contemplative thought or within a dream or meditative absorption, this very meaning is thereby accomplished."
Shandao's threefold definition of "Dharma-realm" — as mind pervading everywhere, as body pervading everywhere, and as freedom from obstruction — quietly resolves what could otherwise read as a genuine contradiction: how can a buddha be "seated upright, remaining in but a single place" and simultaneously appear "everywhere without limit"? His answer locates the resolution not in the buddha's own physical body dividing or multiplying, but in mind arriving first, with body simply following: "the body following the mind." This groundwork matters directly for what this contemplation is actually asking the practitioner to do — not to imagine a buddha traveling from some distant location, but to recognize that the moment a being sincerely wishes to behold a buddha, that buddha's own unobstructed wisdom already knows it, and is already present within that very wish.
Part 53 Complete
This closes Part 53. Part 54 continues with the detailed method for visualizing the thirty-two marks of the Buddha's own body — and arrives at one of the most consequential and frequently misread passages in this entire commentary: "the mind itself creates the Buddha; the mind itself is the Buddha," together with Shandao's own explicit warning against a specific philosophical misreading of it.
Continue to Part 54 — "The Mind Itself Creates the Buddha" →