This is the topic of the instructor who teaches devas and humans. The third meditation practitioner has no predetermined habit. His or her Buddhist intelligence has reached the ultimate stage, and thus he or she has neither desire for the past nor expectation for the future; he or she uniquely takes the present as the standard for further steps of improvement. This is why he or she reaches acute awareness of the meditative nature. He or she clearly sees all living beings, who have births and metamorphoses at certain times and in certain places. They tend only to live together, from their inner feelings to their outer lives. They look and talk together; they are intimate and then leave one another. Their bodies and faces change and changed by happiness, sadness, fortune, and misery. These changes result from error, and thus there is the dharma metamorphosis.
Those of the third meditation say, “Your metamorphosis occurs in conformity with your mind and nature.” In all the three thousand great worlds, on every land and plane, from devas to dragons, humans, the Ghost King, demons, flying creatures, sea creatures, all kinds of ground animals, and millions and millions of other species, there are uncountable living beings, and all of them have their own particular minds and natures. They act, walk, stand, lie, sit, and gesture in accordance with their own races; and in accordance with their races’ gestures, they talk, roar, or hum-ha to communicate with each other. They’re intimate, loving, and living together; they share joyfulness and favors with one another. It is no different with the human world: we live together in cities, we are happy, dancing, singing, enjoying together, fighting together, and arguing together. When we are in agreement, we consider it to be right; but when in disagreement, we consider it wrong. The hearing and seeing of every land or plane that is in both harmony and disharmony is contrary to those of the secondary meditation practitioners. This is because the practitioners of the third meditation use enlightenment to see the forms. All others use the forms to see the forms, so they have difficulty recognizing the form’s enlightenment.
The practitioner of the third meditation attests authentically and examines his or her own body on the basis of the nourishment of the meditative intelligence. He or she discusses and clearly is aware of the mind-nature’s erroneousness on the place of dharma metamorphosis, and he or she therefore says,
It is wonderful! The virtuous level of erroneousness is terrific! I just realized it! When I (my body) am standing in front of people, standing in public, they all admire me and call me the Buddhist Superior. But at that moment, no one ultimately knows my mind and nature. At that moment, my whole body is metamorphosing into the deity of evils or playing the scene of the phantom invader, the Ghost King, or the demon. And who can see and recognize me in order to obtain a thorough realization?
The third meditation practitioner continues,
I have thoroughly realized the dharma metamorphosis. When I began metamorphosing into the Buddha, I was not happy. At the stage of being transformed into a phantom or ghost, I was not afraid. I usually metamorphose while my mind and nature are still pure. I consider metamorphosis to be a meal that is adequate in aromatic flavors and tastes. Therefore, my mind is not hesitant, my thoughts are not entangled, and my consciousness is self-confident in each present moment. Consequently, I am ultimately aware of everything, because I myself was used to metamorphose into everything.
I never enjoy being out through contemplative meditation, but I am used to metamorphosis, and that is out through contemplative meditation naturally. I don’t recognize the place of entering through contemplative meditation. However, I illuminate the eternal-still-miraculous light, and this becomes naturally entered through contemplative meditation. To me, no place is authentic or false because I am used to going in and out of lands and planes. In one place there is fullness, and yet there is emptiness in another; there is plenty in some places and deficiency in others; therefore, there is a subject of matter taken here and a course given there. For that reason, I have never thought of the practice as a wish of mine; I’m only afraid of practicing by tripping into intransigence.
This third meditation practitioner has almost completed the prajñā intelligence, which passes on to the transcendent level of meditative intelligence. He or she can reach this perfect accomplishment because he or she has relied respectfully on Tathagata by effortful deeds of his or her vows, and thus is called the instructor of devas and humans.
