The first and most fundamental, “contemplating the realm of the inconceivable” (kuan pu-k’o-ssu-i Ching, kanfukashigi kyō), is to discern that the present object of contemplation is identical with the true aspect of reality, that is, the threefold truth. This is the portion of the text that sets forth the “single thought-moment comprising three thousand realms.” Since explanations of this concept in English sources are few, and since it is important not only in the medieval Tendai context but to the discussion in chapter 6 of Nichiren’s thought, it is worth presenting here in some detail.

The “single thought-moment” indicates the briefest possible instant in the thoughts of ordinary worldings that arise from one moment to the next, while the “three thousand realms” indicates the whole of phenomenal reality. In explaining the structure of “one mind” being “three thousand realms,” Chih-i says:

“Now one mind comprises ten dharma realms, but each dharma realm also comprises ten dharma realms, giving a hundred dharma realms. One realm comprises thirty kinds of realms, hence a hundred dharma realms comprise three thousand kinds of realms. These three thousand are contained in a fleeting moment of thought. Where there is no mind, that is the end of the matter; but if mind comes into being to the slightest degree whatsoever, it immediately contains the three thousand.”

Although each “thought-moment” is here said to “contain” the three thousand realms, Chih-i is careful to make clear that, in his system, the mind is not prior to dharmas:

“One may say neither that the one mind is prior and all dharmas posterior nor that all dharmas are prior and the one mind posterior. … If one derives all dharmas from the one mind, this is a vertical relationship. If the mind all at once contains all dharmas, this is a horizontal relationship. Neither vertical nor horizontal will do. All one can say is that the mind is all dharmas, and all dharmas are the mind. Therefore, the relationship is neither vertical nor horizontal, neither the same nor different. It is obscure, subtle and profound in the extreme. Knowledge cannot know it, nor can words speak it. Herein lies the reason for its being called ‘the realm of the inconceivable.’ ace;” (Page 178-179)

The Mo-ho chih-kuan [Great Calming and Contemplation] explains the “threefold” aspect of this contemplation as follows. First is “entering [the insight of] emptiness from the [viewpoint of] the conventional”; that is, one contemplates the conditioned, dependent nature of all phenomena, which are without permanence or self-essence. From the perspective of this insight, all categories, hierarchies, and boundaries are collapsed; it is a discernment of ultimate equality. The discernment of all phenomena as empty frees one from attachment to desires and intellectual constructs and is said to correspond to the insight of arhats and bodhisattvas of the Tripiṭaka and shared teachings. Next is “entering [insight into] the conventional from [the discernment of] emptiness.” Having discerned the nonsubstantial, contingent nature of things, one cognizes their provisional existence as phenomena arising through dependent origination and is thus able to act in the world in a soteriologically effective way. This discernment reestablishes categories and distinctions, but without biased attachment or false essentializing; it is said to correspond to the wisdom of bodhisattvas of the separate teaching. Last is the “contemplation of the Middle Way that is the supreme meaning.” Here one contemplates phenomena as both empty and provisionally existing, discerning both aspects simultaneously. This is said to correspond to the wisdom of the Buddha and of the perfect teaching. This progression through the three contemplations of emptiness, conventional existence, and the middle described here is called the “sequential threefold contemplation” (tz’u-ti san-kuan, shidai sangan). However, Chih-i defines as superior the contemplation in which all three truths are discerned simultaneously; this is the “perfect and immediate calming and contemplation” (yüan-tun chih-kuan, endon shikan). (Page 177-178)

“Reversal” may be seen as a subset of correspondence and association; it denotes a case where the identification of two elements functions to invert their conventional meanings. The logic of original enlightenment itself entails precisely this sort of reversal. It proceeds not from cause (practice) to effect (realization) but from effect to cause. Thus, it inverts conventional notions of enlightenment as a linear process of cultivation culminating in eventual realization; rather, enlightenment is held to be inherent, and it is only when based upon this insight that cultivation is considered meaningful. Cultivation then becomes the expression of original enlightenment. It is because of this reversal of conventional perspective that original enlightenment thought has been referred to as representing a “Copernican revolution.” Reversal as an interpretive technique recapitulates this fundamental reversal at the heart of the notion of original enlightenment. (Page 164)

It is in connection with sacred geography that the political and ideological character of certain kanjin-style readings becomes most obvious. In a commentary on Chih-i’s Fa-hua wen chü (Words and phrases of the Lotus), Sonshun (1451-1514), a Tendai scholar-monk of the Kantō Eshin tradition, writes concerning Gṛdhrakūṭa (Eagle or Vulture Peak), the mountain where the Lotus Sūtra was said to have been preached:

[As for the tradition that] all Buddhas of the three time periods invariably dwell on this mountain when they expound the Lotus Sūtra: This mountain lies to the northeast of Rājagṛha [the capital of Magadha]. Because the Lotus Sūtra expounds the essential [teaching] that the worldly truth constantly abides, the Lotus is expounded in the direction of the demon gate, and prayers are offered [there] for the well-being of the Son of Heaven, so that the country may be at peace and the people happy. For this reason, [the temples on] Mt. T’ient’ai in the land of the T’ang and on Mt. Hiei in Japan were erected to the northeast of the ruler’s palace and revered as places of practice for the protection of the nation. … Those monks who dwell on Mt. Hiei even for a time should be understood as the assembly who hears the Dharma on Sacred [Eagle] Peak.

Here Sacred Eagle Peak, Mt. T’ien-t’ai, and Mt. Hiei are identified by virtue of all lying in a common direction, namely, northeast of the capital, and in a position to block the malevolent influences thought to originate from that direction. The equation of Mt. Hiei with the site of the Lotus Sūtra’s preaching is used to legitimize its authority as the major cultic center for rituals of nation protection. (Page 163)