觀心論疏 4.6

4.6

Question: How can the sinful mind of an ordinary person possess the ten suchnesses of the buddha's pure dharma realm? If this meaning is clarified, then the ten suchnesses of the other realms can be known. Answer: It is truly a difficult matter to practice, just as you have asked. Therefore, the arising of the Lotus teaching took this precisely as the great matter, simply because sentient beings possess the knowledge and vision of the ten suchnesses of the buddha dharma realm. Yet sentient beings are inherently endowed with it in principle while confused by emotion, drunk on fundamental ignorance; possessing it, they do not see it, and hence are called unawakened. There is a priceless jewel within the inner garment; now pointing out the jewel tied there is why it is called the great matter. What is this? It is because [the Buddha] appeared in the world to cause sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the path of the knowledge and vision of the buddhas. If sentient beings did not have the knowledge and vision of the buddhas, what would there be to open and awaken to? If the poor woman had no hidden store, what would there be to show her? The Buddha took this as the great matter; how could it be easily understood? As the meaning of the perfect teaching was explained previously, that can be applied to explain this. To explain further in brief: The sūtra says: “All sentient beings are themselves the appearance of bodhi”; does this not mean that sentient beings possess the buddha's such appearance? The sūtra says: “All sentient beings have the buddha nature”; does this not mean that sentient beings possess the buddha's such nature? The sūtra says: “Affliction is bodhi”; does this not mean that sentient beings possess the buddha's four suchnesses of such power, such function, such causes, and such conditions? The sūtra says: “Birth-and-death is nirvāṇa”; does this not mean that sentient beings possess the buddha's three suchnesses of such substance, such effect, and such retribution? The sūtra says: “The mind of all sentient beings is the thirty-two marks and eighty secondary signs; this mind is the buddha, and this mind becomes the buddha.” It also says: “The mind, the buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without distinction.” These prove that sentient beings possess the root and branch ten suchnesses of the buddha dharma realm; the clear passages can be seen. The sūtra's parables of the poor woman's hidden store, the strongman's forehead jewel, the gem in the inner garment, and the lapis lazuli in the water are all metaphors for this. Thus, that the human dharma realm possesses the ten suchnesses of the buddha dharma realm is already clear in meaning. That the human dharma realm possesses the ten suchnesses of the two vehicles, bodhisattvas, and the six destinies across the eight realms can be known by inference; there is no need to speak of it further. Therefore the sūtra says: “In the bodies of sentient beings there are poisonous herbs, and there is also the wondrous king of medicines.” The ten suchnesses of the six destinies' dharma realms are the poisonous herbs in the body, while the ten suchnesses of the four noble ones' dharma realms are the king of medicines.