Twenty-Five Ways to Combine the Three Gates
Majestic Virtue Self-Mastery's chapter named the three methods; Eloquent Voice now asks how a single practitioner actually takes them up — one at a time, in sequence, or together? The sūtra answers with twenty-five distinct configurations of śamatha, samāpatti, and dhyāna, and Zongmi gives every single one its own name drawn from history, scripture, and image — a boat under sail that also ferries others across, a butcher's blade that never dulls, a dragon hidden in the sea, a wish-fulfilling jewel shining in every direction at once.
Eloquent Voice's Question
於是辯音菩薩在大眾中即從座起，頂禮佛足右遶三匝，長跪叉手而白佛言：「大悲世尊！如是法門甚為希有。世尊！此諸方便，一切菩薩於圓覺門有幾修習？願為大眾及末世眾生方便開示，令悟實相。」作是語已五體投地，如是三請終而復始。
爾時，世尊告辯音菩薩言：「善哉！善哉！善男子！汝等乃能為諸大眾及末世眾生，問於如來如是修習。汝今諦聽！當為汝說。」時，辯音菩薩奉教歡喜，及諸大眾默然而聽。
「善男子！一切如來圓覺清淨，本無修習及修習者；一切菩薩及末世眾生，依於未覺幻力修習，爾時便有二十五種清淨定輪。」
Then Eloquent Voice rose from his seat in the midst of the great assembly, bowed at the Buddha's feet, circled him three times to the right, knelt with palms joined, and said to the Buddha: "Greatly Compassionate World-Honored One — this teaching is truly rare. World-Honored One: among all these skillful means, in how many ways do bodhisattvas actually take up the gate of Perfect Enlightenment in practice? I ask that you skillfully explain this for the great assembly and for sentient beings of the final age, so that they may awaken to true reality." Having said this, he prostrated himself, all five limbs to the ground, and repeated this same request three times, beginning again each time it ended.
At that time the World-Honored One said to Eloquent Voice: "Excellent, excellent! Good sons — you are able to ask the Tathāgata, on behalf of the great assembly and sentient beings of the final age, about this practice. Now listen closely — I will explain it for you." Then Eloquent Voice, rejoicing to receive this teaching, fell silent together with the whole assembly, and listened.
"Good sons: the pure Perfect Enlightenment of every tathāgata is, at root, without any cultivation and without anyone who cultivates it. Yet all bodhisattvas and sentient beings of the final age, relying on the power of illusion while still unawakened, cultivate it nonetheless — and it is precisely then that there come to be twenty-five kinds of pure wheels of concentration."
Zongmi glosses "wheel" (輪) here by its function rather than its shape: a wheel grinds down what it turns against, and each of these twenty-five configurations is called a wheel because it is capable of grinding down whatever obstruction it is set against, letting right wisdom turn freely in its place. Eloquent Voice's own name fits the question precisely: "the Buddha reaches every kind of being with a single voice; though this gate as a whole teaches three methods together, they land differently, singly or combined, depending on who hears them, and this bodhisattva is the one able to discern how a single unified teaching lands twenty-five different ways." He divides the twenty-five into three single methods, twenty-one combinations woven from pairs and triples, and one final method that fuses all three without any sequence at all — twenty-five in total, structured, he notes, entirely around how the three basic gates from the previous chapter can be taken up in practice, one at a time or working together.
Three Solo Practices
「若諸菩薩唯取極靜，由靜力故永斷煩惱，究竟成就，不起于座便入涅槃，此菩薩者，名單修奢摩他。若諸菩薩唯觀如幻，以佛力故變化世界種種作用，備行菩薩清淨妙行，於陀羅尼不失寂念及靜諸慧，此菩薩者，名單修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩唯滅諸幻，不取作用，獨斷煩惱，煩惱斷盡便證實相，此菩薩者，名單修禪那。」
"If a bodhisattva takes up only the utmost stillness, and by the power of that stillness permanently cuts off affliction, bringing this to ultimate completion without ever rising from his seat before entering nirvāṇa — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates śamatha alone. If a bodhisattva contemplates only what is illusion-like, and, through the power gained from the buddhas, manifests every kind of transformative activity within the world, fully carrying out a bodhisattva's pure and wondrous practices, all without ever losing quiet mindfulness or the stilled forms of wisdom even within the dhāraṇī itself — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates samāpatti alone. If a bodhisattva extinguishes illusion alone, taking up no transformative activity at all, and independently cuts off affliction until affliction is entirely exhausted and true reality itself is thereby realized — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates dhyāna alone."
Zongmi gives each of these three its own name, describing the flavor of practicing one method in isolation rather than its formal content. The first he calls settling the turbid, stilling the function (澄渾息用觀): a mind is like water muddied by the movements it makes, and this practice simply lets everything settle until nothing more stirs, right through to nirvāṇa itself. The second he calls the butcher wielding his blade freely (庖丁恣刃觀), after the famous cook in the Zhuangzi whose knife, after nineteen years of butchering oxen, remains as sharp as the day it was forged because it only ever moves through the natural gaps — the bodhisattva engages the world through illusion-like activity in exactly this way, taking up every task without ever being worn down by any of them. The third he calls sound emerging unobstructed from a resonant instrument (呈音出礙觀), the same image the previous chapter used for dhyāna itself: affliction is extinguished the way a struck bell's own sound passes freely through the surrounding air, meeting no obstruction anywhere.
Seven Combinations Starting From Stillness
「若諸菩薩先取至靜，以靜慧心照諸幻者，便於是中起菩薩行，此菩薩者，名先修奢摩他、後修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以靜慧故證至靜性，便斷煩惱，永出生死，此菩薩者，名先修奢摩他、後修禪那。若諸菩薩以寂靜慧，復現幻力種種變化度諸眾生，後斷煩惱而入寂滅，此菩薩者，名先修奢摩他、中修三摩鉢提、後修禪那。若諸菩薩以至靜力斷煩惱已，後起菩薩清淨妙行度諸眾生，此菩薩者，名先修奢摩他、中修禪那、後修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以至靜力心斷煩惱，復度眾生建立境界，此菩薩者，名先修奢摩他、齊修三摩鉢提、禪那。若諸菩薩以至靜力資發變化，後斷煩惱，此菩薩者，名齊修奢摩他、三摩鉢提，後修禪那。若諸菩薩以至靜力用資寂滅，後起作用，變化世界，此菩薩者，名齊修奢摩他、禪那，後修三摩鉢提。」
"If a bodhisattva first takes up the utmost stillness, and then, with that still, wise mind, illuminates all that is illusion-like, thereby taking up a bodhisattva's practice from within that stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates śamatha and afterward cultivates samāpatti. If a bodhisattva, through that still wisdom, realizes the very nature of utmost stillness, and thereby cuts off affliction and permanently escapes birth-and-death — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates śamatha and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the wisdom of quiescent stillness, then manifests the power of illusion in every kind of transformation to bring sentient beings across, and only afterward cuts off affliction and enters quiescent extinction — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates śamatha, in the middle cultivates samāpatti, and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the power of utmost stillness, has already cut off affliction, and only afterward takes up a bodhisattva's pure and wondrous practices to bring sentient beings across — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates śamatha, in the middle cultivates dhyāna, and afterward cultivates samāpatti. If a bodhisattva, through the power of utmost stillness, cuts off affliction in the mind while also bringing sentient beings across and establishing their circumstances — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates śamatha and cultivates samāpatti and dhyāna together, side by side. If a bodhisattva, through the power of utmost stillness, draws on it to bring forth transformation, and only afterward cuts off affliction — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates śamatha and samāpatti together, side by side, and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the power of utmost stillness, uses it to draw on quiescent extinction, and only afterward takes up transformative activity to transform the world — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates śamatha and dhyāna together, side by side, and afterward cultivates samāpatti."
Zongmi names all seven of this cluster, each image chosen to fit stillness's placement first in the sequence: piloting a boat while also ferrying others across (運舟兼濟觀) for stillness followed by illusion-work, since settling the mind is what makes it possible to carry others at all; a calm sea reflecting a clear sky (湛海澄空觀) for stillness followed directly by quiescence, water and sky mirroring each other once all waves have settled; Maheśvara's three eyes (首羅三目觀) for the three methods taken up one after another in full — stillness, then illusion, then quiescence — after the three-eyed form of that great god, seeing everything at once; the three dots cultivated together (三點齊修觀), after the Sanskrit letter i written as three dots that are neither identical nor separable, for stillness, then quiescence, then illusion; the character 品, one stroke above two (品字單雙觀) for stillness alone at the head with illusion and quiescence paired beneath it; one foot, two heads (獨足雙頭觀), after a mythical creature with two faces sharing a single body, for stillness paired with illusion from the very start, quiescence joining only afterward; and the fruit falls, then the flower blooms (果落華敷觀) for stillness paired with quiescence from the start, illusion-work following only once that fruit has already ripened.
Seven Combinations Starting From Illusion
「若諸菩薩以變化力種種隨順而取至靜，此菩薩者，名先修三摩鉢提、後修奢摩他。若諸菩薩以變化力種種境界而取寂滅，此菩薩者，名先修三摩鉢提、後修禪那。若諸菩薩以變化力而作佛事，安住寂靜而斷煩惱，此菩薩者，名先修三摩鉢提、中修奢摩他、後修禪那。若諸菩薩以變化力無礙作用斷煩惱故，安住至靜，此菩薩者，名先修三摩鉢提、中修禪那、後修奢摩他。若諸菩薩以變化力方便作用，至靜寂滅，二俱隨順，此菩薩者，名先修三摩鉢提，齊修奢摩他、禪那。若諸菩薩以變化力種種起用資於至靜，後斷煩惱，此菩薩者，名齊修三摩鉢提、奢摩他，後修禪那。若諸菩薩以變化力資於寂滅，後住清淨無作靜慮，此菩薩者，名齊修三摩鉢提、禪那，後修奢摩他。」
"If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation, accords with every kind of circumstance and thereby takes up utmost stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates samāpatti and afterward cultivates śamatha. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation, meets every kind of state and thereby takes up quiescent extinction — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates samāpatti and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation, carries out the Buddha's own work, and then abides in quiescent stillness and cuts off affliction — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates samāpatti, in the middle cultivates śamatha, and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation's unobstructed activity, cuts off affliction and thereby abides in utmost stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates samāpatti, in the middle cultivates dhyāna, and afterward cultivates śamatha. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation's skillful activity, accords equally with both utmost stillness and quiescent extinction — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates samāpatti and cultivates śamatha and dhyāna together, side by side. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation's every activity, draws on it toward utmost stillness, and only afterward cuts off affliction — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates samāpatti and śamatha together, side by side, and afterward cultivates dhyāna. If a bodhisattva, through the power of transformation, draws on it toward quiescent extinction, and only afterward abides in pure, unconditioned meditative stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates samāpatti and dhyāna together, side by side, and afterward cultivates śamatha."
Zongmi's names for this cluster mostly draw on figures who moved from wide, active engagement into stillness — fitting illusion-work's placement first each time: first the martial, then the civil (先武後文觀), after King Wu of Zhou casting his weapons into farm tools once conquest was complete; task complete, retiring from office (功成退職觀) for illusion followed by quiescence; the illusionist dissolves his own trick (幻師解術觀) for illusion, then stillness, then quiescence, the performer undoing the very spell he cast; the divine dragon hides in the sea (神龍隱海觀) for illusion, then quiescence, then stillness, unlimited activity finally settling into concealment; Nāgārjuna penetrates to the true (龍樹通真觀) for illusion paired equally with stillness and quiescence, after the legend that Nāgārjuna first mastered worldly arts widely before entering the true vehicle; Śāṇakavāsa displays a sign (商那示相觀), after the teacher of Upagupta who first used spiritual power to subdue a disciple's pride before both entered stillness together, for illusion paired with stillness before quiescence follows; and Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū's silent repose (大通宴默觀), after the buddha in the Lotus Sūtra who taught widely for ages before withdrawing into silent meditation, for illusion paired with quiescence before stillness follows.
Seven Combinations Starting From Quiescence
「若諸菩薩以寂滅力而起至靜，住於清淨，此菩薩者，名先修禪那、後修奢摩他。若諸菩薩以寂滅力而起作用，於一切境寂用隨順，此菩薩者，名先修禪那、後修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以寂滅力種種自性安於靜慮，而起變化，此菩薩者，名先修禪那、中修奢摩他、後修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以寂滅力無作自性起於作用，清淨境界歸於靜慮，此菩薩者，名先修禪那、中修三摩鉢提、後修奢摩他。若諸菩薩以寂滅力種種清淨而住靜慮，起於變化，此菩薩者，名先修禪那，齊修奢摩他、三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以寂滅力資於至靜，而起變化，此菩薩者，名齊修禪那、奢摩他，後修三摩鉢提。若諸菩薩以寂滅力資於變化，而起至靜清明境慧，此菩薩者，名齊修禪那、三摩鉢提，後修奢摩他。」
"If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction, gives rise to utmost stillness and abides in purity — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates dhyāna and afterward cultivates śamatha. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction, gives rise to activity, according, within every circumstance, with both quiescence and function together — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates dhyāna and afterward cultivates samāpatti. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction's own manifold nature, settles into meditative stillness and only then gives rise to transformation — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates dhyāna, in the middle cultivates śamatha, and afterward cultivates samāpatti. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction's unconditioned nature, gives rise to activity, and the pure state that results returns again to meditative stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates dhyāna, in the middle cultivates samāpatti, and afterward cultivates śamatha. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction's manifold purity, abides in meditative stillness and gives rise to transformation from within it — such a bodhisattva is called one who first cultivates dhyāna and cultivates śamatha and samāpatti together, side by side. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction, draws on it toward utmost stillness, and gives rise to transformation from within it — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates dhyāna and śamatha together, side by side, and afterward cultivates samāpatti. If a bodhisattva, through the power of quiescent extinction, draws on it toward transformation, and gives rise from within it to the clear, luminous wisdom of utmost stillness — such a bodhisattva is called one who cultivates dhyāna and samāpatti together, side by side, and afterward cultivates śamatha."
Zongmi's names for the final cluster mostly draw on scenes of stillness or emptiness that turn out, on closer inspection, to be already luminous or active: the jeweled brightness, the sea of emptiness (寶明空海觀), after the Śūraṅgama Sūtra's image of entering the Tathāgata's own bright treasury of emptiness together, for quiescence followed by stillness; empty space's wondrous function (虛空妙用觀) for quiescence followed directly by illusion-work, activity arising from what looks, at first, like bare emptiness; Śūnyatā-deva manifests through meditation (舜若呈禪觀), the god of empty space who becomes momentarily visible only when struck by sunlight, for quiescence, then stillness, then illusion; Kāśyapa, "drinker of light," returns to absorption (飲光歸定觀), after Mahākāśyapa's own path from realization through the display of spiritual powers back into meditative stillness, for quiescence, then illusion, then stillness; Prabhūtaratna Buddha displays spiritual powers (多寶呈通觀), after the ancient buddha in the Lotus Sūtra whose stupa emerges to help the assembly, for quiescence paired equally with stillness and illusion; the bodhisattvas springing up from below (下方騰化觀), after the same sūtra's assembly emerging from beneath the earth, for quiescence paired with stillness before illusion-work follows; and Indra's net jewel containing transformation (帝心含變觀), the jewel that reflects every other jewel in the net while itself remaining still, for quiescence paired with illusion-work before stillness follows.
The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: All Three Fused as One
「若諸菩薩以圓覺慧圓合一切，於諸性相無離覺性，此菩薩者，名為圓修三種自性清淨隨順。善男子！是名菩薩二十五輪，一切菩薩修行如是。」
"If a bodhisattva, through the wisdom of Perfect Enlightenment itself, perfectly fuses everything together, so that no nature or characteristic is ever apart from the nature of awakening — such a bodhisattva is called one who perfectly cultivates the pure accord of all three methods' own natures at once. Good sons: these, then, are the twenty-five wheels of the bodhisattvas; every bodhisattva's practice comes down to just these."
This final, twenty-fifth configuration Zongmi names the wish-fulfilling jewel's perfect cultivation (如意圓修觀): such a jewel radiates light in every direction at once, on contact, without needing to shine first in one direction and only afterward in another — unlike all twenty-four configurations before it, none of which, whatever their sequence, involve genuinely simultaneous, undivided practice of all three methods together. He is careful about what "fused" means here: it is not that stillness, illusion-work, and quiescence are practiced in extremely rapid alternation, but that from the vantage of Perfect Enlightenment's own wisdom, the three were never actually three separate methods requiring sequencing at all — a single act of settled awareness, from this height, already is stillness, already includes engagement with illusion for the sake of others, and is already quiescent, with no seam between them to be crossed. This is why the wording shifts here, from "first," "afterward," or "together, side by side" — the vocabulary of sequence used in all twenty-four prior entries — to simply "fused" (圓合), the one configuration in the list that names, rather than a possible order of practice, the dissolving of order itself.
Drawing Lots Before the Twenty-Five Wheels
「若諸菩薩及末世眾生依此輪者，當持梵行，寂靜思惟，求哀懺悔，經三七日，於二十五輪各安標記，至心求哀，隨手結取，依結開示，便知頓漸。一念疑悔，即不成就。」
"If bodhisattvas and sentient beings of the final age wish to rely on these wheels, they should keep pure conduct, reflect in quiet stillness, and seek forgiveness through repentance for three sets of seven days. They should then set out a marker for each of the twenty-five wheels, and, with utterly sincere intent, seeking with all their heart, reach out and take hold of one at random. Whichever marker is drawn will disclose, of itself, whether one's path is to be sudden or gradual. But if even a single thought of doubt or regret arises, the practice will not come to completion."
Zongmi treats this closing instruction as entirely practical: write out each of the twenty-five configurations by name on its own slip, set them out in the practice hall, and, after three weeks of repentance meant to clear away obstruction sincere enough to make the outcome trustworthy, draw one at random rather than choosing by personal preference. The logic, he says, is that a practitioner still bound by ordinary delusion is generally not well positioned to judge which of the twenty-five best fits their own capacity — sincere supplication and a drawn lot are offered as a more reliable guide than self-selection would be, provided the three weeks of repentance are genuine and the drawing is free of any residual doubt about the outcome, which is exactly what the closing warning against "a single thought of doubt or regret" is meant to guard against.
In Verse
辯音汝當知， 一切諸菩薩，
無礙清淨慧， 皆依禪定生。
所謂奢摩他， 三摩提禪那，
三法頓漸修， 有二十五種。
十方諸如來， 三世修行者，
無不因此法， 而得成菩提；
唯除頓覺人， 并法不隨順。
一切諸菩薩， 及末世眾生，
常當持此輪， 隨順勤修習，
依佛大悲力， 不久證涅槃。
Eloquent Voice, you should know:
every bodhisattva's
unobstructed, pure wisdom
is entirely born from meditative concentration.
This is what is meant by śamatha,
samāpatti, and dhyāna —
these three methods, cultivated suddenly or gradually,
come to twenty-five kinds.
The tathāgatas of the ten directions,
practitioners of all three times,
none of them fail to rely on this method
in order to accomplish bodhi —
excepting only those of sudden awakening,
and those whose own dharma does not accord with it.
Every bodhisattva,
and sentient beings of the final age,
should constantly uphold these wheels,
according with them and diligently practicing —
and, relying on the Buddha's power of great compassion,
will, before long, realize nirvāṇa.
Zongmi flags the verse's line "excepting only those of sudden awakening, and those whose own dharma does not accord with it" as having no prose counterpart at all, and offers two ways to read it: either as naming practitioners of such sharp capacity that the entire structured apparatus of twenty-five wheels is unnecessary for them — the very people already described in Samantabhadra's chapter as needing "no further skillful means" once illusion is simply known — or as naming, in the second half of the line, those at the opposite extreme, so lacking in the necessary conditions that no configuration of practice will yet take hold. Read either way, the exception does not undercut the wheels themselves; it simply marks the outer edges of an apparatus built, deliberately, for the very wide range of practitioners standing between those two extremes.
Part 8 Complete
This closes Part 8: Eloquent Voice's question about how the three methods combine, and the Buddha's answer — twenty-five configurations of śamatha, samāpatti, and dhyāna, each named by Zongmi after a figure, image, or scene that captures its particular shape, from a boat under sail to a bell's unobstructed sound to the wish-fulfilling jewel that needs no sequence at all. Part 9 turns to a different kind of obstruction entirely: Purifier of All Karmic Hindrances asks about the four subtle marks of self that persist even in a practitioner who has genuinely realized a great deal.
Continue to Part 9 — Purifier of All Karmic Hindrances, and the Four Marks of Self →