Mohozhiguan ("Great Calming and Contemplation"), this is to be practice by means of the Ten Vehicles of Contemplation. But the "Four Samadhis" discussed in the same work are fundamentally also a means of contemplation of principle by means of the Ten Vehicles. The difference is that the Four Samadhis practice these Ten Vehicles in a way that also involves the assistance of ritual and physical practices of the body and of speech. This is especially true of the first three, the Samadhi of Constant Sitting, of Constant Walking, and of Half-Sitting, Half-Walking, all of which use phenomenal practices in order to assist one in the contemplation of principle.

　　Thus the important role played by the Ten Vehicles of Contemplation in the Mohozhiguan is evident; we may even say that the Ten Vehicles are the soul of the entire work, and that the practice and realization of the Perfect and Sudden Calming and Contemplation is to be accomplished by means of these Ten Vehicles.

　　For this reason, this essay approaches the study of the Perfect and Sudden Calming and Contemplation by examining the Ten Vehicles. The first of them, the "Contemplation of the Realm of Inconceivability," is the center of our study, because the other nine methods of practice

  

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天台圆顿止观之修证──就十乘观法而论

中华佛学学报第十五期（2002.07）

are, we may say, inseparable from the contemplation of the Realm of Inconceivability. Even when one reaches the stage of realization, it is this wisdom and object described in this Realm of Inconceivability, which is manifested, with the other nine methods being merely expressions of this same realm from various different angles. From this it is evident that the practice of the Perfect and Sudden Calming and Contemplation in Tiantai is inseparable from the Ten Vehicles of Contemplation, and the same is true even for the stage of its realization. This is why this essay examines the Perfect and Sudden Contemplation from the perspective of the Ten Vehicles of Contemplation.

 

Key words:

1.

Ten Vehicles of Contemplation

 

2.

Six Stages of Identities