Similar Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Mulamadhyamakakarika, Abhidharmakośakārikā, Golden Light Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra | ||
The Móhē zhǐguān (摩訶止観, Mo-ho chih-kuan, Great śamatha-vipaśyanā) is a major Buddhist meditation text composed by the Chinese Tiantai patriarch Zhiyi (538–597 CE). The voluminous Mohe Zhiguan was the first originally Chinese comprehensive Buddhist meditation text and was very influential in the development of Buddhist meditation in China.
Outline
The text consists of seven chapters in ten fascicles. The focus of the Mohe Zhiguan is the practice of samatha (止 zhǐ, calming or stabilizing meditation) and vipassana (觀 guān, clear seeing or insight). Zhiyi teaches two types of zhiguan - in sitting meditation and 'responding to objects in accordance with conditions' or practicing mindfully in daily life. Zhiyi uses quotes from all the Buddhist sutras available in China at the time, and tries to include all doctrines into his meditation system. Zhiyi divides his meditation system into three major sets, the 'Twenty-five skillful devices', the 'Four samādhis' (sizhǒng sānmèi 四種三昧) and the 'Ten modes of contemplation'. The twenty five skillful devices are preparatory practices which include keeping the five precepts, being in a quiet place, adjusting food intake and posture as well as restraining desire in the five senses and restraining the five hindrances. The four samadhis are designed for beginners who wish to practice meditation intensively. They are:
After the meditator has practiced the four samadhis, he then moves on to contemplating the 'ten objects':
- Contemplating the skandhas, ayatanas and dhātus. By itself this part takes up one fifth of the entire book.
- Kleshas
- Illness
- The karmic marks
- Demonic forces appearing in one's mind
- Various forms of dhyāna which might be distracting
- False views
- Overwhelming pride
- Śrāvaka-hood or the idea that Pratyekabuddha-hood is the ultimate goal (instead of full Buddhahood)
- The idea that Bodhisattva-hood is the ultimate goal
The core of the exposition is taken up by the skandhas, ayatanas and dhatus, which are to be contemplated in ten "modes":
- Contemplating objects as inconceivable.
- Arousing compassionate thoughts (bodhicitta), vowing to save all beings
- Skillful means for easing one's mind.
- The thorough deconstruction of dharmas, the seeing of dharmas as being empty frees one of all attachment.
- Knowing what penetrates and what obstructs the path.
- Cultivating the steps to the path (the thirty seven aids to nirvana)
- Regulating through auxiliary methods.
- Knowing the stages of development in the path.
- Peace through patient recognition.
- Avoiding passionate attachment to dharmas.
The concept of the three truths is a key element in Zhiyi's exposition of the practice of contemplation. Zhiyi's "perfectly integrated threefold truth" is an extension of Nagarjuna's Two truths doctrine. This "round and inter-inclusive" truth is made up of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle way between the first two, a simultaneous and integral affirmation of both. Contemplating a mental moment with regard to this truth or "threefold contemplation within one moment of mental activity" (yixin sanguan) is seen as the highest form of contemplation and as the ultimate form of realization. It leads to universal salvation (du zhongsheng) because through the transformation of oneself, one can therefore transform others.