Closing Fascicle 3
Shandao closes this entire fascicle with a single sustained verse, retracing every one of the thirteen contemplations in compressed, elegant form — from the sun's own first light to a lotus flower held in mind at the very moment of death — before dividing the whole into two halves: the land itself, and the persons who dwell within it.
A Verse Retracing Every Contemplation
上從日觀下，至雜想觀已來，總明世尊答前韋提第四請云教我思惟正受兩句。
總讚云：「初教日觀除昏闇，想水成氷淨內心，地下金幢相映發，地上莊嚴億萬重，寶雲寶蓋臨空轉，人天音樂互相尋，寶樹垂瓔間雜果，池流德水注華中，寶樓寶閣皆相接，光光相照等無蔭，三華獨迴超眾座，四幢承縵網珠羅。稟識心迷由未曉，住心觀像靜坐彼，一念心開見真佛，身光相好轉彌多。救苦觀音緣法界，無時不變入娑婆，勢至威光能震動，隨緣照攝會彌陀。歸去來，極樂安身實是精，正念西歸華含想，見佛莊嚴說法聲。復有眾生心帶惑，緣真上境恐難成，致使如來開漸觀，華池丈六等金形。變現靈儀雖大小，應物時宜度有情，普勸同生知識等，專心念佛向西傾。」
Everything above, from the sun contemplation down through the miscellaneous contemplation, generally makes plain the World-Honored One's own answer to the queen's earlier fourth request, where she said: "teach me to contemplate, and teach me right reception" — these two phrases.
A verse of general praise says: "First he taught the sun contemplation, to dispel the mind's own darkness and confusion; then to visualize water becoming ice, purifying the heart within. Beneath the ground, golden banners cast their own reflected light; upon the ground, adornment rises a hundred million layers deep. Jeweled clouds and jeweled canopies turn and wheel through the sky; the music of gods and humans seeks each other out in answering strains. Jeweled trees hang with strings of pearls, their fruit intermingled among them; the ponds flow with virtuous water, pouring into the flowers there. Jeweled towers and jeweled pavilions all stand joined together, light upon light illuminating each other, leaving no shadow anywhere. The lotus throne alone turns apart, surpassing every other seat; its four banners bear curtains and nets strung with pearls.
"Beings whose own consciousness is deluded, not yet awakened, settle the mind and contemplate an image, sitting quietly before it — and, in a single thought-moment, the mind opens and beholds the true Buddha, his own bodily light and excellent marks growing ever more abundant. Avalokiteśvara, who rescues beings from suffering, pervades the entire Dharma-realm, never failing to transform himself and enter this very Sahā world. Mahāsthāmaprāpta's own majestic light is able to shake all things, illuminating and gathering beings according to their own conditions, uniting them with Amitābha.
"Return, then, return — the Land of Ultimate Bliss is truly where the body finds its rest; with right mindfulness, turn toward the West, and hold the lotus flower in mind — behold the Buddha's own splendor, and hear the sound of his own Dharma-teaching.
"Yet there remain sentient beings whose own minds still carry doubt, and who fear they cannot succeed in fixing thought upon so lofty and true an object — and it is for this very reason that the Tathāgata opened a gradual contemplation, the lotus pond, and a sixteen-foot golden form. Though this sacred appearance manifests and transforms at either scale, great or small, it responds to each being according to what is fitting for that very moment, liberating sentient beings — and so I broadly exhort all who share this same aspiration, and every fellow seeker, to hold the Buddha single-mindedly in mind, turning their own thought toward the West."
This verse functions as a kind of compressed table of contents in poetic form, tracing the fascicle's own structure in the order it was actually taught: sun and water opening the sequence with basic settledness of mind, the ground's own manifold splendor, the jeweled trees, ponds, and towers, the lotus throne's own singular prominence, and then — marked by an explicit turn from landscape to person — the image, the true body, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta. The verse's own closing movement mirrors exactly the pastoral concern already voiced in Part 68: not every practitioner can succeed at the most exalted scale, and so "the Tathāgata opened a gradual contemplation," ending not on the vastest vision described in this fascicle, but on the humblest one — a single lotus flower, held in mind, available to whoever needs it.
The Land Itself, and the Persons Within It
又就前請中，初、從日觀下，至華座觀已來，總明依報。二、從像觀下，至雜想觀已來，總明正報。上來雖有依正二報不同。廣明定善一門義竟。
《觀經》正宗分定善義卷第三
Further, within the queen's own earlier request, the first part, from the sun contemplation down through the lotus throne contemplation, generally makes plain the dependent retribution — the land itself. The second part, from the image contemplation down through the miscellaneous contemplation, generally makes plain the direct retribution — the persons themselves. Though the above has thus unfolded across these two distinct kinds of retribution, dependent and direct, this concludes the full explanation of the entire gate of the contemplative good.
Fascicle Three of the Contemplation Sūtra: The Meaning of the Contemplative Good, the Correct Teaching Proper
This closing division — seven contemplations of the land itself, from the sun through the lotus throne, followed by six contemplations of the persons who dwell within it, from the image through the miscellaneous teaching — offers a retrospective architecture for everything just translated across this entire fascicle. It also marks a natural turning point in the sixteen contemplations as a whole: dependent retribution (依報, the environment) has now been fully described, and direct retribution (正報, the beings themselves) has been fully described for Amitābha and his two great attendants. What remains, in the sūtra's own final three contemplations, is something different in kind again — no longer Amitābha's own realm or his own retinue, but the nine grades of rebirth available to ordinary beings like the reader themselves.
Fascicle 3 Complete
This closes Part 70, and with it Fascicle 3, Dingshan Yi (定善義, "the Meaning of the Contemplative Good"), in its entirety — 43 parts, covering all thirteen of Shandao's own detailed contemplations from the setting sun through a modest, sixteen-foot golden image, closing with this extended verse of praise. Fascicle 4, Sanshan Yi (散善義, "the Meaning of the Dispersed Good"), begins Shandao's commentary on the three blessings once more and the nine grades of rebirth — including his own famous teaching on the three minds (三心) that open the very first grade.