The Eighth Contemplation of the Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra

Original text:诸佛如来。是法界身。入一切众生心想中。是故汝等。心想佛时。是心即是三十二相。八十随形好。是心作佛。是心是佛。诸佛正遍知海。从心想生。是故应当。一心系念。谛观彼佛。多陀阿伽度阿罗诃三藐三佛陀。

Explanation: This introduces the method of recollecting the Buddha through contemplating his image (buddhānusmṛti). Starting from the seventh contemplation, one practices contemplating the Buddha's image; once it is accomplished, the image of the Buddha naturally manifests within the mind—not something imagined, but an image that appears of its own accord. This is a meditative absorption (samādhi) state of the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā, in which body and mind abide in the samādhi of contemplating the Buddha's image, thereby seeing the mind and attaining realization. The seventh contemplation is contemplating the lotus seat upon which the Buddha sits; the eighth contemplation is contemplating the image of the Buddha. At first, one contemplates the image by means of intention; when the power of meditative concentration and the power of wisdom are both complete, the samādhi appears, and the image of the Buddha manifests itself before one, visible to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) but invisible to others. This image of the Buddha is an image with form and marks, a Buddha image possessing a body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha). Contemplating the Buddha's image means contemplating the Buddha's five-aggregate Sambhogakāya in order to realize the Buddha's Dharmakāya.

Therefore, when sentient beings think of the Buddha, the image of the Buddha appears within their minds. The Buddha image is recollected, thought of, and evoked through resonance by the minds of sentient beings; it is transformed and manifested by the minds of sentient beings. This Buddha image is the Dharmakāya of the Tathāgata as the dharmadhātu, possessing the five aggregates, the twelve sense fields, and the eighteen elements, complete with the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks. The image arises from the mind: whatever kind of mind there is, that kind of image appears; whatever kind of image appears, that kind of mind there is—mind and image are non-dual. If the thoughts of sentient beings are, moment after moment, the five desires and six sense objects—form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep—and moment after moment are affairs of the six realms, then sentient beings are the image of sentient beings undergoing birth and death in the six realms, mind consistent with image, mind in accord with the realm. When the minds of sentient beings are wholesome, the image and the realm are also wholesome; when the minds of sentient beings are unwholesome, the image and the realm are also unwholesome. By the same principle, when sentient beings think of the Buddha and recollect the Buddha, they are the Tathāgata Buddha with the thirty-two marks and eighty minor marks. It is precisely that the minds of sentient beings can become Buddha, and the minds of sentient beings are Buddha.

One of the Buddha's ten great epithets is "Perfectly and Omnisciently Knowing One" (samyak-saṃbuddha), meaning one who knows all dharmas correctly and without error, endowed with omniscient wisdom. When the Buddhas of the ten directions gather together and appear simultaneously, that is the ocean of the Perfectly and Omnisciently Knowing One. If sentient beings recollect the Buddhas of the ten directions, the ocean of the Perfectly and Omnisciently Knowing One arises from within their minds. For example, when the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha appears, the Buddhas of the ten directions will stand before one, the ocean of the Perfectly and Omnisciently Knowing One will arise, visible to one's own solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta) but invisible to others. All Buddhas are manifested by the thoughts of sentient beings; there is no Buddha outside the mind—outside the mind there is no Buddha, and apart from the mind there is also no Buddha. Therefore, sentient beings should with single-minded focus carefully contemplate that Buddha image, without scattered and confused thoughts, without mixing in worldly delusions. When one deludes about the world, the world appears and the Buddha does not appear. If one wishes to see the Buddha and awaken to the Path, one must single-mindedly recollect the Buddha and contemplate the Buddha.