四明尊者教行錄 5.46

5.46

[I, Zhili,] respectfully take this moment during an interval in lecturing and repentance practice to write this letter in reply to the Palace Library Supervisor and Great Donor, in accordance with the doctrinal teaching and contemplation of our school. I respectfully received your genuine letter, graciously bestowing weighty words urging that, upon completing this repentance retreat, I should remain further to give lectures and instruction. Respectfully receiving your noble purpose, I ought properly to alter my former resolution. Yet because my wholehearted dedication has long inclined toward this gate, my humble aspiration cannot alter its course. Furthermore, an auspicious time is difficult to encounter, and superior matters are easily missed. Thus, wishing for now to fulfill my longtime aspiration, I am unable respectfully to obey your strict injunction.

As for your stating that [I, Zhili,] have thoroughly penetrated the ultimate intent of the threefold contemplation, this praises me excessively. You also stated that the Land of Bliss fundamentally arises as a manifestation of expedient means, and that cultivating the Way requires forgetting longing and aversion; truly, these are correct words. Yet that I now yearn for the Pure Land and especially detest this afflicted body also has its reason, which I venture to set forth below.

As for the threefold contemplation in a single mind, though I have not thoroughly penetrated it, how could I dare not rely upon it? For more than forty years, I have searched out its traps and snares (means of transmission), studied its advances and retreats; yet my spiritual capacity being dull, I have lacked the means to realize it. Nevertheless, regarding its portals and safeguards, its active application and appropriate times, I have traveled much therein and have a slight familiarity with them. Now, having been graced by your request for a reply, it is difficult to keep my mouth closed. I coarsely set forth the general outline, hoping you will grant your evaluation.

As for the threefold contemplation, a single thought is empty, provisional, and middle. Its widespread propagation began with the Tathāgata; its subtle awakening was recently brought forth by Zhizhe. It arises entirely from the nature, and truly is not achieved through cultivation; thus, within a single mind, there are distinctly three functions. What is called 'empty' means that all things are empty; that is, the threefold contemplation completely manifests the function of shattering marks. 'Provisional' means that all things are provisional; that is, the threefold contemplation completely illumines the efficacy of establishing phenomena. 'Middle' means that all things are the middle; that is, the threefold contemplation completely constitutes the essence that transcends duality. In this way, although shattering marks throughout the whole day, all phenomena are established; although establishing phenomena throughout the whole day, the finest dust must be completely eliminated; although transcending duality throughout the whole day, the two truths blaze forth brightly. Therefore, when prajñā speaks of emptiness, the eighty Dharma gates are revealed; when Vimalakīrti establishes phenomena, the views and attachments of the triple world are all forgotten; when the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka speaks of the one vehicle, the marks of the world are permanently abiding. All this is because the threefold contemplation is mutually identical, causing nothing of the various phenomena to be omitted. Therefore, three is not three, and one is not one; they are not entered sequentially, nor are they contemplated as parallel or separate. They cannot be sought through existence or nonexistence, nor can they be grasped as middle or extremes. Thus it is said: not parallel and not separate, neither vertical nor horizontal. Because the three and the one are perfectly interfused, and cultivation and nature are merged into stillness, how could the discriminating mind measure it? What speech could express it? Hence it is forcedly indicated as the inconceivable, subtle contemplation. Speaking is non-speaking; without speaking, it speaks.

When one can understand this, one illuminates all objects with this contemplation; one guides all practices with this contemplation; one accomplishes all affairs with this contemplation; one expounds all teachings with this contemplation. For those who cultivate this contemplation, subject and object must be forgotten, grasping and rejecting thereby extinguished. Thus true suchness is without thought; approaching it, the mind ceases. Explaining and showing it all day long is no different from wordlessness. Abandoning this, one will surely be the same as the hordes of Māra; departing from this, one has not yet surpassed the non-Buddhists. Hence Nāgārjuna said: 'Except for the true mark of all phenomena, all the rest is the work of Māra.' Kāśyapa said: 'Before hearing the Mahāparinirvāṇa, all are wrong views.' How great is the subtle doctrine of the threefold contemplation in a single mind! Therefore, what [I, Zhili,] seek in being born in Sukhāvatī and what I desire in dying by burning to ashes relies on this threefold contemplation to dispel those hundreds of negations.

As for your saying that the realm of the Land of Bliss is a manifestation of expedient means by the King of Awakening: since the sūtras and treatises take the teaching of the Pure Land to be a superior expedient, this verifies that it is the Tathāgata's skillful expedient function. Yet the designation 'expedient' is not restricted, and the principle of reality also penetrates it; it must be distinguished so that one knows what to reject and what to take up. Expedients outside the essence must be shattered, while expedients within the essence must be cultivated. Principle divorced from phenomena is coarse; reality identical to expedients is subtle. Thus the Hīnayāna has no talk of other buddhas, whereas the Great Teaching speaks of oceans of lands. This is because the mind-nature is universally pervasive, and the dharmadhātu has no outside. Because the principle is ultimate, it makes phenomena vast; because the lotus is great, one realizes the pond is deep. Lands are like Indra's net of pearls, appearing endlessly layer upon layer, only then revealing the principle of Quiescent Light. Bodies are like heavenly delicacies, their retributions differing from one another, thereby expressing the nature of Vairocana. How could it be that the Land of Bliss is not included within mind-only? Therefore, within the tathāgatagarbha, nirvāṇa is fully complete; it manifests according to conditions and is known according to capacity. Since it can manifest hells and heavenly palaces, could it not create defiled realms and pure lands? Although the original nature possesses them, they are illuminated by the mind. Amitābha, with unconditioned compassion, took the Land of Bliss; Śākyamuni, with the eloquence of delight in speech, revealed the gate of rebirth. These are both skillful expedients to gather those sinking varieties of beings, causing those who fear falling back not to regress, and enabling those unaccustomed to contemplation to contemplate the Pure Land. The marks of expedients are many; for now, I briefly discuss these two.

Thus the Awakening of Faith says: 'Beginners learning the right faith of the Mahāyāna, because in this land they do not constantly meet buddhas, fear that their resolve of faith may fall back. They should know that the Tathāgata has a superior expedient to gather and protect the resolve of faith: they should only single-mindedly contemplate the true suchness dharmakāya of Amitābha Buddha of the World of Utmost Bliss, and they will ultimately attain rebirth and abide in the correct determination.' Therefore, as for single-mindedly contemplating the true suchness dharmakāya, how could it differ from Mahāyāna right faith? Because one relies on that buddha as the object, one can thereby be drawn to be born in the pure realm; this is the Tathāgata's skillful expedient. Furthermore, the Sūtra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life says: 'Ordinary beings' mental thoughts are frail and inferior; not having attained the divine eye, they cannot see far. The buddhas, the tathāgatas, have extraordinary expedients to enable them to see.' This is the spiritual power of Śākyamuni and the vow-mind of Amitābha; if someone contemplates attentively, they will surely be able to see. This is also the extraordinary, subtle expedient of the King of Awakening.

Since this skillful expedient is discussed from the standpoint of the perfect [teaching], it is neither two nor different from the subtle expedient of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. Therefore, all devas and humans, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, phenomenological-perfection bodhisattvas, and gradually cultivating great beings, filling the world in numbers equal to the sands of the Ganges, exhausting their thoughts and reckonings, cannot comprehend it; only a buddha together with a buddha can fathom it to the end; only perfect faith and perfect understanding can put it into cultivation. Although [I, Zhili,] have dull faculties, I have undeservedly received the perfect teaching; not departing from the present thought, I vow to reach that realm, hoping that immediately as a lowly ordinary being I may step onto [the stage of] non-retrogression. Furthermore, I have heard that those who formed a karmic connection in the time of the Buddha Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū have already passed dust-mote kalpas and still abide in the stage of śrāvakas; all because of falling back from the Great [Vehicle], they have spent such a long time. Śāriputra, at the sixth mind, fell back into the five paths—how much more so for leisurely students of Buddhism! This is because in this land one frequently encounters conditions for retrogression; hence it is said: 'Fish eggs, āmra flowers, and bodhisattvas' initial generating of the resolve: these three things are numerous in the causal stage, but when it comes to bearing fruit, they are few.' If one seeks rebirth in Sukhāvatī, then even on ordinary ground one can rely on superior conditions, and as soon as one attains rebirth, there is never any retrogression. Hearing of this benefit, how could one not yearn and seek it? Thus I take the threefold contemplation in a single mind as the boat, and use the five repentances during the six periods of the day as the oars, seeking to go to the Pure Land of mind-only and wishing to see the Amitābha of the original nature. Thereafter, I will exercise great compassion of identical substance to cross over the sentient beings of the dharmadhātu. Following the Buddha's skillful expedients to seek rebirth in the Land of Bliss—this is the general outline of my intention.

As for your statement: 'If longing and aversion remain, then love and hatred arise. Once the mind of grasping and rejecting sprouts, views of subject and object appear'—the characteristics of generating faults are truly as you have said. The conditions for establishing virtue shall now be briefly explained. Longing and aversion, grasping and rejecting, can both produce faults and accomplish success; hence Aśvaghoṣa established them as the foundation of initial awakening, Zhizhe called them the gradual path to the Pure Land, Vimalakīrti took views and affections as attendants, and Mañjuśrī took greed and anger as functions. All these depend on the person who employs them, and there is a method for riding them. Furthermore, sentient beings have dwelt in this sahā world for vast kalpas, greedy for coarse, base forms and sounds, attached to inferior environments and bodies; having no thought of aversion and renunciation, they only increase the conditions of bondage. Even if they cultivate and perfume [their minds], rarely do they succeed. Because the phenomena of this land have many obstacles, practice of the Way is difficult to achieve. Therefore the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Those who obtain a human body are like the soil on a fingernail; those who lose a human body are like the soil of the great earth.' For this reason, the buddhas pity these sentient beings, and through the merit of vows and practices they establish pure lands, causing them to give rise to longing and admiration to serve as the cause of taking birth; and with distressing words, they describe the defiled marks to cause them to feel aversion and disgust, completing the resolve for transcendence. If not for this mind, initial practice cannot be accomplished. Therefore, without aversion and renunciation, there is no way to abandon this [world]; without giving rise to longing and seeking, one has no part in being born there. The principle of taking birth takes affection as its condition. Beginning from the initial mind down to equal awakening, as long as transformative change has not ended, longing and aversion cannot be forgotten; how much more so for the initial practice! Now in seeking the Pure Land, I do not seek for the body to experience various pleasures or for the mind to be tainted by subtle sense objects; it is only that I wish to rely on those pure conditions to quickly increase the superior Way. For there, lifespan is limitless, and the environment is spontaneous; there are no women or defective sense organs. Although holy ones and ordinary beings dwell together, there is no name of evil destinies; although śrāvakas are boundless, they are free from the view of clinging to reality. Amitābha is the good guide, Avalokiteśvara is the superior friend, those in the stage of one life remaining are exceedingly many, and the holy ones of the ten stages are countless. The wind chanting through the jeweled leaves and the ripples moving in the golden canals all produce subtle sounds, completely explaining the ultimate principle. Since there is neither agreeable nor disagreeable, greed and anger are permanently stilled; whatever is seen or heard all aids quiescent illumination, and all abide in the correct determination—the merit lies in this. If people even now seek to participate in gardens of the common sort, how could one not wish to be born in that jeweled realm? One need only know that the Pure Land is mind-only, and the defiled realm is identical to nature; then aversion is non-aversion, and longing is non-longing. In this way, primary and auxiliary are cultivated together, and understanding and practice are both exercised, according with the Buddha's correct teaching and not one's own biased feelings.

Moreover, the Contemplation Sūtra states that the cause for rebirth in the superior grade requires subtle understanding of the Mahāyāna, cultivating the six perfections in addition, and also encouraging sentient beings. Therefore [I, Zhili,] now use the threefold contemplation to discipline the mind, and the five repentances to assist the Way. Furthermore, fearing that pure causes may not yet be complete, I make an oath to end my life, hoping to rely on this final powerful condition to make it a determinate karma for rebirth. Furthermore, 'if one does not burn the body, arm, or finger, one is not an ordained bodhisattva'—the precept in the Brahma's Net is clear. Moreover, burning and abandoning body, life, and wealth is the true Dharma offering—the text of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka is resplendent. In the Śūraṅgama, burning a single stick of incense repays all past debts; a wheel-turning king gouging his body for a thousand lamps achieves the subtle fruit. Thus we know that whether in initial stages or later ranks, whether superior holy ones or lowly ordinary beings, all may advance in practice, and all manifest the ultimate teaching. If one only acts with right understanding, one naturally avoids wrong cultivation. Because one knows that the nature of fire is truly empty, how could there be a mark of an agent of burning? What is burned naturally ceases to exist. Furthermore, knowing that the Buddha's essence is perfectly subtle, how could there exist a person who is offered to? Then the one who offers is also still. Once the twofold subject and object are both extinguished, all merits are accomplished; this is called the Dharma gate of ascetic practice. In the so-called samādhi of firelight, the pure realms of the four lands suddenly manifest in this mind, and the bodhimaṇḍas of the buddhas are all revealed in this place. Merely following what is vowed, rebirth is surely fulfilled. Thus Zhizhe said: 'The mind in samādhi at the moment of death is itself the Pure Land; the moment a thought arises is the time of rebirth in the Pure Land.' Abandoning the defiled body in this way, when the defilement is exhausted, what principle is not manifested? Grasping the Pure Land in this way, when reaching the source of extreme purity, what delusion is not dispelled? For this reason, Vaidehī, longing for the place of pure karmic retribution, immediately realized the non-arising [of dharmas]. Sattva, abandoning the body of boils and disease, was said to seek eternal bliss. This grasping and rejecting, and non-grasping and non-rejecting, are not two in essence, and their functions are simultaneous; they obtain the names of three kinds of Dharma gates: the gate of grasping, the gate of rejecting, and the gate of neither grasping nor rejecting. They are also the Dharma gates of the three poisons, complete with all dharmas. Thus the Sūtra of Non-Practice says: 'Greed is itself the Way, and anger and delusion are likewise so. Within these three dharmas, all merits are complete.' Mañjuśrī said: 'I am the Śrī of greed, I am the Śrī of anger, I am the Śrī of delusion.' Thoroughly grasping this intent, then the threefold contemplation in a single mind guides all practices and accomplishes all affairs. Because all phenomena are empty, rejecting defilement is exhaustive; because all phenomena are provisional, grasping purity leaves nothing behind; because all phenomena are the middle, there is neither grasping nor rejecting. These three dharmas are verified together by all tathāgatas and cultivated in common by all bodhisattvas; therefore [I, Zhili,] now abandon the defiled body and yearn to seek the Pure Land, venturing respectfully to emulate them.

Now, cultivating the mind has ten thousand practices, and entering the Way has many gates; one follows what delights and what is appropriate, cultivating and awakening accordingly. How would I dare use a measuring tube to delimit the great void? Yet because [I, Zhili,] have maintained this aspiration since my youth, and am now aged and decrepit, having experienced many affairs and conditions, this mind constantly appears before me, and facing objects it increases even more. Believing this arises from a past vow, how would I dare not respectfully fulfill it? In recent years I have established a bodhimaṇḍa, and the assembly of faithful have jointly prepared the offering implements; the provisions and conditions for three years are roughly complete. The practice and vows of several monks happen to be the same as this. Encountering you, Palace Library Supervisor, who know my name and examine this from beginning to end, I venture to ask you to condescend to be our donor and turn the wheel of power, so that this bit of good may be accomplished and our pure vows fulfilled; and thereafter, protect our doctrinal school so that it may be widely propagated, causing those who have not heard to hear, and those who have not awakened to awaken. Furthermore, I hope that after your merits in assisting governance are achieved, and when your centenarian retribution is full, you will seek rebirth in the World of Utmost Bliss according to your vow; I hope that we may meet together in one place, jointly recount past causes, jointly transform living beings, and jointly ascend to the Great Awakening.

[I, Zhili,] have never had literary learning, being originally a rustic monk. My speech is crude and superficial, and my revelation of principle is loose and slipshod. Having read your previous letter stating: 'Meticulously cultivate the rules of repentance to reach original purity,' and your next letter stating: 'The Pure Land is not empty; it was verified by earlier buddhas,' I respectfully consider that you, Palace Library Supervisor, deeply penetrate how ascetic practice can reach the source, and also know that the pure realm fundamentally is identical to principle; you merely wished [me, Zhili,] to broadly cite the vehicle's teachings to show it secondarily to those who have not yet heard. Thus I have ventured to rely on our school and briefly set forth my foolish views. Desecrating your noble hearing, I cannot endure my trembling apprehension. Respectfully concluding.