Ten objects
ten objects
[十境] (Jpn jikkyo )
Also, ten objects of meditation. Objects of meditation set forth by T'ient'ai (538-597) in his Great Concentration and Insight as part of a comprehensive system of meditation to perceive the truth of life and all phenomena. One begins meditation on the ten objects after completing twenty-five preparatory exercises.
The ten objects are
(1) the phenomenal world that exists by virtue of the five components (form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness), the interactions between the six sense organs and their corresponding six objects, and the six consciousnesses arising from those interactions,
(2) earthly desires,
(3) sickness,
(4) karmic effect,
(5) diabolical functions,
(6) attachment to a certain level of meditation,
(7) distorted views,
(8) arrogance,
(9) attachment to the two vehicles, and
(10) attachment to the state of the bodhisattva.
Meditation on the first of the ten objects is the basis for meditations on all the other nine. Among the constituents of the first object, particular importance is attached to the fifth of the five components: consciousness, or mind. Through meditation on the component of consciousness, one tries to perceive the truth of three thousand realms in a single moment of life.
