To See One Buddha Is to See Them All
Shandao pauses to admit something rare in this commentary: no account, however detailed, could fully capture this splendor. What follows instead is a chain of implication — behold this one body, and the buddhas of the ten directions become visible; behold that body, and the mind behind it, compassion itself, comes into view.
An Honest Admission: Words Cannot Capture This in Full
六、從其光相好已下，結少顯多，輒欲觀者難為周悉。七、從但當憶想已下，正明莊嚴微妙，出過凡境。雖未證目前，但當憶想令心眼見也。
Sixth, from "this light, these marks, and these excellences" onward, this concludes a brief account that nonetheless reveals a great deal — for anyone who wished to observe this in its entirety would find it difficult indeed to grasp completely.
Seventh, from "one should simply hold this in mind and visualize it" onward, this makes plain that this splendor is subtle and wondrous, transcending any ordinary realm entirely. Though it has not yet been directly witnessed before one's own eyes, one need only hold it in mind and visualize it, so that the mind's own eye comes to behold it.
The candor of "brief account that nonetheless reveals a great deal" — an explicit acknowledgment that even everything already described falls short of the full splendor — is worth noticing against the sheer accumulated detail of everything this fascicle has offered so far. Rather than continuing to elaborate further, Shandao redirects the practitioner toward the same principle already relied on throughout: sustained mental visualization, "holding it in mind," rather than exhaustive verbal description, is what actually closes the gap between what can be said and what can be seen.
From One Body to Every Buddha, and to the Buddha's Own Mind
八、從見此事者下，至攝諸眾生已來，正明功呈不失、觀益得成。即有其五。一明因觀得見十方諸佛。二明以見諸佛故結成念佛三昧。三明但觀一佛即觀一切佛身也。四明由見佛身故即見佛心也。五明佛心者慈悲為體，以此平等大慈普攝一切也。
Eighth, from "one who beholds this" down through "embraces every sentient being," this makes plain that this effort is never wasted, and that the benefit of this contemplation is thereby accomplished. There are five points within it. First, this makes plain that, through this contemplation, one comes to behold the buddhas of the ten directions. Second, this makes plain that, having beheld these buddhas, the samādhi of buddha-recollection is thereby accomplished. Third, this makes plain that to contemplate but a single buddha is itself to contemplate the bodies of every buddha at once. Fourth, this makes plain that, through beholding the Buddha's own body, one thereby beholds the Buddha's own mind as well. Fifth, this makes plain that the Buddha's own mind takes compassion as its very substance, and, through this same equal and universal great compassion, embraces every being without exception.
This fivefold sequence builds a single continuous argument, each point depending on the one before it: contemplating one buddha's body leads to beholding all buddhas, since (as Part 53 already established) every buddha realizes the same three bodies identically; beholding these buddhas accomplishes the samādhi of buddha-recollection itself; and beholding any buddha's own body means beholding that buddha's own mind, since body and mind, in this framework, are never truly separate. The final step closes the entire chain on the same note this fascicle keeps returning to: that mind, whichever buddha's it is, has compassion as "its very substance" — not an attribute added onto some more fundamental nature, but the nature itself, extended equally to every being without distinction.
Part 60 Complete
This closes Part 60. Part 61 completes the true body contemplation in full: the benefit of attaining the acceptance of non-arising through this very practice, and a striking piece of practical instruction — rather than attempting to hold every mark of the Buddha's body in mind at once, the practitioner is told to fix attention on a single mark, the white curl between the brows, and trust that every other mark will follow of its own accord.
Continue to Part 61 — Closing the True Body Contemplation →