觀心論 1.6

1.6

答曰：末世數寶貧人，本不預此言。若禪坐觀行之者，但安心鼻隔、不淨、安般，此亦面牆，何可論道？諸有觀心入道得定、生倒解，辯說無窮，自謂人間之寶，豈知邪慢熾然也。今作此問，若句句不知，何得未得謂得、未證謂證？《法華．勸持品》佛說：「此人難可化度。」又〈常不輕品〉：「威音王如來去世之後，如此人類甚多非一。」復次傷念：「一家門徒隨逐積年，看心稍久遠，遂不知如此研窮問心。是以，不染內法，著外文字，偷記注奔走，負經論而浪行。何不施語言置文，破一微塵，讀大千經卷？念此迷徒隨逐累載，空無所獲脫，一旦冥目，誰復示之？以是因緣，悲切轉至，故作斯論也。」

Answer: The poor people of the final age who count others' treasures are not the primary subject of these words. If those who sit in meditation and practice contemplation merely steady their minds on the nasal septum, the impure, and ānāpāna, this too is like facing a wall—how can one discuss the path? All those who contemplate the mind, enter the path, and obtain concentration produce inverted understandings, speak with boundless eloquence, and consider themselves treasures of the human world; how can they know that their improper pride blazes fiercely? Now I pose these questions: if they do not know them sentence by sentence, how can they claim to have attained what they have not attained, and claim to have realized what they have not realized? In the Lotus Sūtra, in the chapter 'Encouraging Devotion', the Buddha said: 'Such persons are difficult to transform and save.' Also, in the chapter 'Bodhisattva Never Disparaging': 'After the Tathāgata King of Majestic Sound passed away, people of this kind were very numerous, not just one.' Furthermore, I grieve in thought: 'The disciples of my own lineage have followed me for accumulated years; observing the mind for a rather long time, they still do not know how to investigate and question the mind like this. Consequently, not dyeing themselves in the internal Dharma, they cling to external letters, steal notes and run about, carrying scriptures and treatises, wandering aimlessly. Why do they not discard words and set aside texts, break open a single mote of dust, and read the scripture scrolls of the great trichiliocosm?' Thinking of these deluded disciples who have followed me for successive years, gaining nothing in vain—if suddenly their eyes should close in death, who would show it to them again? Because of these causes and conditions, grief and distress have arrived all the more intensely, and therefore I compose this treatise."