十不二門 1.7

1.7

4. As for the gate of the nonduality of cause and effect: since the mental cause of sentient beings fully possesses the three tracks, this cause becoming fruition is called the three nirvāṇas. Cause and effect do not differ; beginning and end are one in principle. If so, since the virtues of the cause are already complete, why does one not abide in the cause? It is only due to delusion regarding the cause that each [being] regards it as real. If one understands the real nature of delusion, it abides solely in the cause; therefore, when this cause is investigated for a long time, the manifestation of the cause is named fruition. Simply because cause and effect are one in principle, this one principle is used as the cause; when the principle becomes manifest, the name of fruition no longer exists—how could the designation of cause still remain? Once cause and effect are obliterated, the nature of principle naturally disappears; it is solely due to intimacy or distance from the wisdom of obliteration that delusion comes to be thick or thin. Because delusion is thick or thin, the three afflictions are forcibly distinguished, and the six identities are opened in meaning to designate the shallowness or depth of wisdom. Therefore, just as in a dream one strives with effort, and when emptiness is named afflictions are severed, so when the illusory cause is fulfilled, the mirror-image fruition is perfected. Although emptiness and image are identical in meaning, emptiness is void and the image is real. Because the image is real, it accords with the principle fundamentally possessed; because emptiness is void, delusion is transformed into nature. Thus, 'not two yet two' establishes the difference of cause and effect; 'two yet not two' means that beginning and end are one in substance. If one considers the cause to be distinct from the fruition, the cause is also not a cause; only when one comprehends that the fruition derives from the cause can the cause attain the fruition. Therefore, the three thousand [realms] in principle are equally named ignorance, and when the three thousand are perfected as fruition, they are all called permanence and bliss. The three thousand remain unchanged, so ignorance is precisely illumination; the three thousand are simultaneously permanent, being both substance and function. This is accomplished through the gate of the nonduality of cultivation and nature.