The White Path, and Two Voices Calling
The parable's own final correspondence names its two most important figures directly: the voice from the eastern bank is Śākyamuni himself, sending the traveler forth even after his own final nirvāṇa; the voice from the western bank is Amitābha, calling him onward by the very power of his own vow.
A Pure Mind, Arising From Within Greed and Anger Themselves
言中間白道四五寸者，即喻眾生貪瞋煩惱中能生清淨願往生心也。乃由貪瞋強故，即喻如水火。善心微故，喻如白道。又水波常濕道者，即喻愛心常起，能染污善心也。又火焰常燒道者，即喻瞋嫌之心，能燒功德之法財也。
As for the white path lying between them, four or five inches wide: this represents that, even from within sentient beings' own greed and anger and afflictions, a pure mind aspiring toward rebirth is nonetheless able to arise. It is precisely because this greed and anger are so strong that they are represented as the water and the fire; and it is precisely because this good mind is so slight that it is represented as the white path. Further, as for the water's own waves constantly dampening the path: this represents that the mind of craving constantly arises, able to defile and pollute this good mind. Further, as for the fire's own flames constantly burning the path: this represents that the mind of anger and aversion is able to burn away the very treasure of one's own merit and virtue.
The white path's own narrowness — only four or five inches, against rivers a hundred paces wide — is not incidental to the image but its whole point: this pure aspiration is never described as replacing or overpowering greed and anger, only as coexisting alongside them, perpetually threatened, requiring constant, careful attention to sustain. That the path's own waters and flames are named directly as "the mind of craving" and "the mind of anger and aversion" rather than external dangers confirms what Part 82 already established — the entire landscape of this parable, rivers included, is a map of the practitioner's own interior life, not a journey through any literal terrain.
Two Honored Ones: One Sending Forth, One Calling Onward
言人行道上直向西者，即喻迴諸行業直向西方也。言東岸聞人聲勸遣尋道直西進者，即喻釋迦已滅後人不見，由有教法可尋，即喻之如聲也。言或行一分二分群賊等喚迴者，即喻別解別行惡見人等，妄說見解迭相惑亂，及自造罪退失也。言西岸上有人喚者，即喻彌陀願意也。言須臾到西岸善友相見喜者，即喻眾生久沈生死，曠劫淪迴迷倒自纏，無由解脫。仰蒙釋迦發遣指向西方，又藉彌陀悲心招喚。今信順二尊之意，不顧水火二河，念念無遺，乘彼願力之道，捨命已後得生彼國，與佛相見，慶喜何極也。
As for the person walking upon this path, heading directly toward the West: this represents dedicating every one of one's own karmic practices, directed straight toward the West. As for hearing, from the eastern bank, a person's own voice urging him to seek out the path and advance directly westward: this represents that, though Śākyamuni has already entered final nirvāṇa and can no longer be seen, his own teaching still remains, able to be sought out — and this is represented by that very voice.
As for walking perhaps a portion of the way, or two portions, when the bandits call out to turn back: this represents those of separate understanding, separate practice, and deviant views, who falsely proclaim their own views and understanding, causing mutual confusion, and who thereby create their own offenses and fall away from the path. As for the person upon the western bank calling out to him: this represents Amitābha's own vow-intent.
As for reaching the western bank in but a moment and meeting there with his own good friend in joy: this represents that sentient beings, having long sunk within birth and death, drifting and turning across boundless kalpas, deluded, inverted, and bound by their own selves, have no way at all to attain liberation on their own — but, looking up in reliance upon Śākyamuni, who sends them forth and points them toward the West, and further relying upon Amitābha's own compassionate heart, calling them onward, they now, believing in and according with the intent of these two honored ones alike, pay no heed to these very rivers of water and fire, holding this thought without interruption, moment after moment, and, riding upon the very path of that vow's own power, once this present life is relinquished, attain rebirth in that very land, there to behold the Buddha face to face — their own joy and delight beyond all measure.
This closing identification — Śākyamuni's own voice sending the traveler forth from behind, Amitābha's own voice calling him onward from ahead — became known in later Pure Land tradition as the teaching of "two honored ones, one dispatching and one summoning" (二尊二河白道), and it resolves something the parable left implicit until now: the traveler was never relying on his own courage alone. His own resolve to step onto the path mattered, but it was framed on both sides by a teacher urging him not to remain where he stood and a Buddha promising protection at the place he was headed. Shandao's own closing phrase, "their own joy and delight beyond all measure," deliberately echoes the same phrase closing the parable's narrative telling in Part 82 — a note the entire commentary, dense with argument since the opening of the deep mind, is finally permitted to land on without qualification.
Part 83 Complete
This closes Part 83, and with it the parable of the two rivers and the white path in full. Part 84 closes the third mind, and all three minds together, with Shandao's own final summary of what dedication and vowing actually requires — and his own striking claim that these three minds, properly understood, secretly govern every one of the contemplative practices already translated across the whole of Fascicle 3.
Continue to Part 84 — Closing the Three Minds →