觀心論疏 2.21

2.21

Answer: It is simply because of not knowing to contemplate the mind that the ice of the eighty-four thousand defilements congeals and forms. If one is able to exercise contemplative wisdom, illuminating and understanding it, it immediately melts, giving forth the water of the eighty-four thousand pāramitās. Yet ice and water have never been different; how could understanding and delusion have separate essences? Because [people] do not understand, [the treatise] shows the mind's various faults, causing them to know their offenses and surely reform them, swiftly eliminating and forgetting delusions; and it shows the mind's dharma-doors, causing them to recognize merit without forgetting, diligently cultivating and practicing them. For this reason, it contemplates external delusions with respect to the mind. Furthermore, the mind is a single dharma, easy to contemplate; whereas the myriad dharmas and myriad objects shift with external things and the intent, making them difficult to illuminate.