Contemplation: Never Despise

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your contemplation:

At that time, the fourfold assembly
Was becoming attached
To its own interpretation of the Dharma.
The Bodhisattva Never Despise
Would go to them and say:
I do not belittle you;
Practice the path
And you will all become Buddhas.

from The Lotus Sutra, chapter 20, as recited at Tendai Buddhist Institute.

Contemplation: To Enter Nirvana

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your contemplation:

To enter into Nirvāna. When we look at the lion and the gold, the marks of both are exhausted. At this point, the passion-desires no longer arise even though beauty and ugliness are displayed before one's eyes. The mind is tranquil like the sea; all disturbing and delusory thoughts are extinguished, and there are no compulsions. One emerges from bondage and is free from all hindrances. The source of all suffering is forever cut off, and this is called entering into Nirvāna. 

 From Fazang's Treatise on the Golden Lion , courtesy of The Zen Site. 

Contemplation: Wisdom of Bodhi

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your contemplation:

To achieve the perfect Wisdom of Bodhi. "Bodhi," in the Chinese language, means the Way [Tao] or Enlightenment. This is to say that when we look at the lion, we see at once that all conditioned things, without going through the process of disintegration, are from the beginning in a state of quiescent non-existence. By being free from both clinging and detachment, one can follow this path into the ocean of omniscience [sarvajña]; therefore it is called the Way. To comprehend the fact that from the very no-beginning all illusions are in reality non-existent is called Enlightenment.

 from Fazang's Treatise of the Golden Lion, courtesy of the Zen Site.

Contemplation: Embrace the Six Forms

After reviewing the guidelines for practice, take the following as your contemplation:

To embrace the Six Forms. The lion represents the character of wholeness, and the five organs, being various and different, represent diversity. The fact that they are all of one dependent-arising represents the character of universality. The eyes, ears, and so on remain in their own places and do not interfere with one another; this represents the character of particularity. The combination and convergence of the various organs makes up the lion; this represents the character of formation. The fact that each organ remains at its own position represents the character of disintegration.

From Fazang's Treatise of the Golden Lion, courtesy of The Zen Site.