摩訶止觀 5.85

5.85

Furthermore, nine kinds are distinguished: the form and mind of a single lifespan are called the five aggregates of karmic retribution; neutral perception and sensation are the indeterminate five aggregates; those that give rise to views and attachments are the two defiled five aggregates; those that activate bodily and verbal karma are the wholesome and unwholesome two five aggregates; transformation and manifestation are the artisanal five aggregates; people with the five wholesome roots have the expedient five aggregates; those who realize the four fruits have the outflow-free five aggregates. Diverse varieties such as these all originate from the mind. The Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra states: 'Like the hand of a painter painting the five colors: black, blue, red, yellow, white, and dazzling white.' The painting hand is a metaphor for the mind; the black color is a metaphor for the aggregates of hell; the blue color is a metaphor for ghosts; red is a metaphor for beasts; yellow is a metaphor for asuras; white is a metaphor for humans; dazzling white is a metaphor for devas. These six kinds of aggregates are confined entirely within the realms of rebirth. If one relies on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra: 'The mind is like a skilled painter, painting the various five aggregates.' Within the realms of rebirth and beyond the realms of rebirth, among all worlds, there is nothing that is not created from the mind. The form and mind of the mundane world can scarcely be exhausted, how much less the supramundane—how could the mind of an ordinary person know it? An ordinary person's eyes are clouded with cataracts; they cannot even see what is near, so how could they see what is far? Throughout vast kalpas of repeated rebirths, they have not seen even a single corner within the realms of rebirth, how much less the outermost hem beyond the realms? Like a thirsty deer chasing a mirage or a mad dog biting at thunder, what possibility is there of attaining it? Even if one awakens to the Hinayana, it is ultimately not the Great Path. Therefore the Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra states: 'Those of eternalist views say that different thought-moments are severed; those of annihilationist views say that a single thought-moment is severed.' Both fall into the two extremes and do not accord with the middle way. How much more so after the Buddha's decease, when later people's faculties become increasingly dull, clinging to names and raising disputes, mutually declaring right and wrong, all falling into mistaken views! Therefore Nāgārjuna refuted the five aggregates as identical or different, simultaneous or sequential: all are like mirages, phantoms, echoes, and transformations, completely unobtainable. How could one cling further to whether the king and factors are simultaneous or at different times? Yet all aggregates and sense fields within and beyond the realms arise from the mind. The Buddha told the bhikṣus: 'One dharma encompasses all dharmas, which is the mind.' The treatise says: 'In all worlds there are only name and form; if you wish to contemplate truly, you should only contemplate name and form.' The mind is the root of delusion; its meaning is as follows. If one wishes to observe, one must strike at its root, just as cauterizing an illness requires locating the acupuncture point. Now we must abandon the ten-foot measure to focus on the one-foot measure, and abandon the one-foot measure to focus on the one-inch measure: setting aside the four aggregates of form and the rest, we contemplate solely the consciousness aggregate. The consciousness aggregate is the mind.