True Regardless of Size
The final point of doctrine in this fascicle's thirteen contemplations: scale is never a measure of truth. Whether Amitābha manifests vast beyond comprehension or modestly, sixteen feet tall, his light and marks remain unchanged, and his own two attendants scale to match him precisely.
A Body That Moves Without Obstruction, True at Any Size
六、從阿彌陀下，至丈六八尺已來，正明能觀所觀佛像雖身有大小，明皆是真。即有其三。一明彌陀身通無礙，隨意遍周。言如意者，有二種：一者如眾生意，隨彼心念皆應度之。二者如彌陀之意，五眼圓照六通自在。觀機可度者，一念之中無前無後，身心等赴三輪開悟，各益不同也。二明或現大身或現小身。三明身量雖有大小，皆作真金之色，此即定其邪正也。
Sixth, from "Amitābha" down through "sixteen feet, or eight feet," this makes plain that, though the image both contemplating and being contemplated may vary in size, it is entirely true and real regardless. There are three points within it. First, this makes plain that Amitābha's own body moves without any obstruction whatsoever, extending everywhere according to his own will. As for "according to will," this carries two meanings. The first is according to sentient beings' own will — responding to whatever thought arises in their own mind, he is bound to liberate them accordingly. The second is according to Amitābha's own will — his five eyes perfectly illuminating all things, his six supernatural powers entirely unobstructed. Observing which beings are ready to be liberated, in a single thought-moment, without any before or after, his body and mind together arrive through the three modes of action, awakening each being — the benefit differing according to each one's own need. Second, this makes plain that he may manifest a great body, or he may manifest a small body. Third, this makes plain that, whether his own bodily size is great or small, it invariably takes on the color of true gold — and this alone fixes what is correct and what is mistaken in this practice.
This point closes the doctrinal thread begun back in Part 68: size was never the variable that determined authenticity. What Shandao offers here as "what fixes what is correct and what is mistaken" is not scale at all, but the color of true gold, remaining constant "whether his own bodily size is great or small." A sixteen-foot image, contemplated correctly, is exactly as true as the immeasurable body described in the true body contemplation — the difference lies entirely in what the practitioner's own mind is able to hold, never in what is actually being beheld.
Attendants That Scale to Match, and Two Distinguishing Marks
七、從所現之形已下，正明身雖大小有殊，光相即與真無異。八、從觀世音菩薩已下，正明指同前觀。佛大侍者亦大，佛小侍者亦小。九、從眾生但觀首相已下，正明勸觀二別。云何二別？觀音頭首上有一立化佛，勢至頭首之上有一寶瓶。
十從此二菩薩已下，正明彌陀、觀音、勢至等宿願緣重，誓同捨惡等至菩提，影響相隨遊方化益。十一、從是為下，總結。上來雖有十一句不同，廣解雜想觀竟。
Seventh, from "the form thus manifested" onward, this makes plain that, though his own bodily size may differ, his own light and marks remain entirely identical to the true form regardless.
Eighth, from "Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva" onward, this makes plain, pointing back, that this follows the same pattern as the earlier contemplations — when the Buddha manifests a great body, his attendants likewise manifest a great body; when he manifests a small body, his attendants likewise manifest a small body.
Ninth, from "sentient beings need only contemplate the mark upon the head" onward, this makes plain the exhortation to contemplate the two distinguishing marks. What are these two distinguishing marks? Avalokiteśvara bears upon the crown of his own head a standing transformation-buddha; Mahāsthāmaprāpta bears upon the crown of his own head a single jeweled vase.
Tenth, from "these two bodhisattvas" onward, this makes plain that Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta share a weighty karmic affinity from past vows, having sworn together to cast off evil and attain bodhi equally, their presence following one another like an echo, roaming throughout every realm to benefit and transform beings.
Eleventh, from "this, then, is" onward, this gathers together the general conclusion. Though the above has unfolded across eleven distinct points, this concludes the full explanation of the miscellaneous contemplation.
The two head-marks that distinguish the attendants — a standing buddha for Avalokiteśvara, a jeweled vase for Mahāsthāmaprāpta — offer a practical, memorable way to tell the two apart when their bodies otherwise share so many identical proportions and colors, as established back in Part 64. The closing point, that all three figures "share a weighty karmic affinity from past vows," having "sworn together to cast off evil and attain bodhi equally," retroactively reframes everything described across the true body, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta contemplations — not three independent beings who happen to occupy the same land, but a single ancient commitment, undertaken jointly, now manifesting as three distinct forms working in concert.
Thirteenth Contemplation Complete
This closes Part 69, and with it the miscellaneous contemplation, the thirteenth and final contemplation described in this fascicle, in full — spanning Parts 68 through 69. Part 70 closes Fascicle 3 in its entirety, with Shandao's own extended summary verse tracing every contemplation from the sun through this final teaching, and the formal colophon marking the end of the Meaning of the Contemplative Good.
Continue to Part 70 — Closing Fascicle 3 →