起信論疏筆削記 3.23

3.23

In "Furthermore, pervading..." below, the fourth is pervading all things. Though all things are many, they do not exceed the boundaries of the six dusts; so long as they can generate understanding in sentient beings, they are the substance of the teaching—how could it reside solely in sound, names, sentences, and phonemes? Hence the Vimalakīrti-sūtra states: "There are those who perform Buddha-work by means of light; there are those who do so by means of the bodhi tree, clothing, and bedding, even up to the eighty-four thousand gates of affliction. Sentient beings consider them toil and distress, but the Buddhas use these very dharmas to perform Buddha-work." The Laṅkāvatāra states: "Mahāmati, it is not in all Buddha-lands that the Dharma is taught through speech; there are Buddha-realms where gazing directly without blinking, with no spoken words from the mouth, or even where moving the body is called teaching the Dharma, and so forth." Furthermore, in the Xiangji world, eating fragrant rice manifests samādhi; in the Land of Ultimate Bliss, listening to the wind in the branches brings right mindfulness to fulfillment. Silk strings and bamboo flutes can convey the mind; meeting eyes can preserve the Way. Since both speech and silence, looking and blinking, are all teachings, then seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are entirely listening. If one can indeed grasp the Dharma and accord with the spirit, why must it rely on spoken words? As in the Śūraṅgama-sūtra, where the twenty-five sages attained perfect penetration, each through one gate among the eighteen realms and the seven great elements. Here, the six dusts are still discussed in terms of cognitive objects; the rest should be understood accordingly. Tiantai stated: "Hands not holding a scroll, one is constantly reading the sūtras; mouth with no sound of words, one chants all the scriptures everywhere; the Buddha does not preach the Dharma, yet one constantly hears the pure sound; mind not deliberating, it illuminates the entire dharmadhātu everywhere." These all convey this meaning.