大方廣佛華嚴經願行觀門骨目 1.26

1.26

At that time Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Bodhiśīrṣa: "Son of the Buddha! The nature of the mind is one; why then are there various differences? Namely, good destinies and bad destinies, completeness or deficiency of faculties, identity or difference in birth, beauty or ugliness, suffering or joy. The mind does not know karma, karma does not know the mind; feeling does not know retribution, retribution does not know feeling; the mind does not know feeling, feeling does not know the mind; cause does not know condition, condition does not know cause; wisdom does not know the object, the object does not know wisdom." Bodhiśīrṣa replied: / "All phenomena have no operation, / nor do they possess intrinsic nature. / Therefore all of them / do not know one another. / Just as water in a river, / turbulent currents compete in rushing past, / each not knowing the other, / all phenomena are also like this. / Eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, / the mind, intellect, and all sense faculties— / through these there is constant transmigration, / yet there is no one that can move them. / The dharmatā is originally unproduced; / it appears as being produced, / yet herein there is nothing that can manifest, / nor is there any object manifested. / Whether real or unreal, / whether false or not false, / worldly or world-transcending, / there are only provisional verbal designations." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Dhanaśīrṣa: "Son of the Buddha! All sentient beings are not sentient beings. Why does the Tathāgata, in accordance with their times, life spans, bodies, practices and understandings, discourses, inclinations of mind, and expedients of contemplation (each phrased as 'in accordance with'), manifest his body among such sentient beings to teach and tame them?" Dhanaśīrṣa replied with a gāthā: / "Analytically contemplate the inner body: / herein, who is the self? / If one can understand in this way, / one will penetrate the existence or non-existence of a self." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Ratnaśīrṣa: "All sentient beings equally possess the four great elements, and are without self and without what belongs to a self. Why then is there experiencing of suffering and experiencing of joy, beauty and ugliness, internal and external, present retribution and future retribution? Yet in the dharmadhātu there is neither good nor bad." Ratnaśīrṣa said in a gāthā: / "Just as in a clear, bright mirror, / according to the object facing it, / the manifested images are each different, / the nature of karma is also like this. / Also, as in the womb, / all the faculties become fully complete, / their substance and appearance having no place from which they come, / the nature of karma is also like this. / Also, as in the hells, / with their various painful matters, / they all have no source from which they come, / the nature of karma is also like this." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Guṇaśīrṣa: "That which the Tathāgata awakens to is only a single Dharma; why then does he teach immeasurable dharmas, manifest immeasurable lands, transform immeasurable multitudes, utter sounds, display bodies, know minds, manifest supernatural powers, and shake the realms, and so forth (all phrased as 'immeasurable')?" Guṇaśīrṣa replied with a gāthā: / "Just as the nature of fire is one, / yet it can burn all things, / the flame being without discrimination, / the Dharmas of all Buddhas are like this. / Ocean waves, blowing wind, and rain on the earth are also like this. / Furthermore, just as the earth element is one, / yet it can produce various sprouts, / without the earth having any differences, / the Dharmas of all Buddhas are like this." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Netraśīrṣa: "The Tathāgata's field of merit is uniform and without difference; why then is it seen that the fruits and retributions of sentient beings' giving are not the same? Namely, various colours and forms, families and faculties, property and masters, retinues, official ranks, merits, and wisdom (all phrased as 'various'), yet the Tathāgata is impartial toward them without differing thoughts." Netraśīrṣa replied with a gāthā: / "Just as the great earth is one, / yet sprouts grow according to their seeds, / having neither hostility nor affection toward them, / the Buddha's field of merit is also like this. / It is also like water having a single flavour, / which differs according to the vessel, / and like a clear, bright mirror, / which manifests images according to colour. / Like agada medicine, / which can cure all illnesses (the following two lines are largely the same)." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Vīryaśīrṣa: "The Buddha's teaching is one; when sentient beings get to see it, why do they not immediately cut off all afflictions? Since their five aggregates, three realms, and three poisons have no differences, then is the Buddha's teaching either beneficial or not beneficial to sentient beings?" He replied: "It is due to the difference between diligence and indolence that there are various kinds." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Dharmaśīrṣa: "As the Buddha has taught, if there are sentient beings who receive and uphold the true Dharma, all can cut off all afflictions. Why then are there those who receive and uphold the true Dharma yet do not cut them off, but follow along with afflictions?" Dharmaśīrṣa replied: / "Like a person swept away by water, / who fears drowning yet dies of thirst; / failing to cultivate the Dharma, / being widely learned is also like this. / Like a person who prepares delicious food, / yet starves himself and does not eat; / like a person skilled in medicine and prescriptions, / yet unable to cure his own disease; / like a person counting others' treasures, / yet having not half a coin himself; / like a person born in a royal palace, / yet suffering hunger and cold; / like a deaf person playing music, / pleasing others but not hearing it himself; / like a blind person painting various images, / showing them to others but not seeing them himself (the following two lines are also the same)." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Matiśīrṣa: "In the Buddha's Dharma, wisdom is foremost; why then does the Tathāgata praise giving, morality, and even wisdom and the four immeasurable minds, yet in the end no one can achieve bodhi through only a single dharma?" Matiśīrṣa replied with a gāthā: / "The Buddha knows the minds of sentient beings, / whose natures and dispositions each differ; / according to what is appropriate to save them, / he teaches the Dharma as a remedy. / For the stingy, he praises giving, and so forth for all dharmas." / Mañjuśrī asked Bodhisattva Bhadraśīrṣa: "All buddhas attain emancipation through only a single path; why then do we now see buddha-lands differing?" Bhadraśīrṣa replied with a gāthā: / "Mañjuśrī, the nature of dharmas is ever thus: / the Dharma King has only a single Dharma; / all unhindered persons / escape birth and death by a single path. / The bodies of all buddhas / are only a single dharmakāya, / one mind, one wisdom; / powers and fearlessnesses are also like this. / All buddha-kṣetras / are completely adorned; / according to the differences in sentient beings' practices, / they are thus seen differently. / Buddha-kṣetras have no discrimination, / neither hatred nor love; / merely following sentient beings' minds, / they are thus seen to have distinctions." / The ten Chiefs then in turn asked Mañjuśrī: "We have finished speaking; the benevolent one should explain what the Tathāgata's realm is. What is the Buddha's realm, the cause of salvation, the entering wisdom, the Dharma explanation, the knowledge of realization, the manifestation and extent (all like the first phrase)?" Mañjuśrī also replied with ten gāthās: / "The profound realm of the Tathāgata / has an extent equal to empty space. / All sentient beings enter it, / yet in reality there is nowhere entered. / The profound realm of the Tathāgata / has supreme and wondrous causes / that could be constantly proclaimed for billions of kalpas, / yet still cannot be exhausted (the remaining nine are all answered with ultimate non-differentiation)." Due to these answers, by the Buddha's supernatural power, throughout the Sahā [world] and the ten directions to the exhaustion of empty space, all clearly saw ten kinds of differences: namely, differences of dharmas, karma, worlds, bodies and faculties, taking rebirth, the fruit of observing precepts, the fruit of breaking precepts, the fruit of lands (the following nine phrases are the same as the first).