念佛三昧寶王論 2.23

2.23

對曰：「不也！若存所想之佛、能想之心，或避想佛，則以惡取空為無想者，則癡之甚也！吾今了佛皆從想生，無佛、無想，何癡之有？此乃觀空三昧，非邪見也。子又問：『理何在者？』夫至人冥真體寂，虛空其懷，雖復萬法並照，而心未甞有，則真智無緣，故無念為名；俗智有緣，故念想以生。又想不異空，空不異想，名第一義中道之理也，此顯法身矣；空即是想，名俗諦之理也，恒沙萬德，皆依俗諦，此顯報身矣；想即是空，名真諦之理也，破二十五有，得二十五三昧，常空常化，和光利物，此顯化身矣。是則以三觀，觀三諦、證三德、成三身，乃至十種三法，有何不可？而欲擯於清淨之想，取無想之想耶？塞於禪定門，而取成佛之閾耶？《楞伽》、《密嚴經》皆曰：『寧起有見如須彌』者，謂信有因果，存想念佛，生極樂淨國，故云寧起有也。『不起空見如芥子』者，謂撥無因果，謗于念佛，生阿鼻地獄，故云不起空也。吁可畏者，其在茲焉！」

I reply: “Not so! If one clings to a buddha who is visualized and a mind that visualizes, or if one avoids visualizing the buddha and thus takes an evil grasping of emptiness as ‘no-thought’, this is the height of delusion! Now I realize that all buddhas are born from thought; since there is neither buddha nor thought, what delusion could there be? This is the samādhi of contemplating emptiness, not a wrong view. You also ask: ‘Where does the principle lie?’ Now, the perfected person unites with the real, embodies stillness, and empties his bosom. Although all myriad phenomena are simultaneously illuminated, they never inhere in his mind; ultimate wisdom has no conditions, and so is named ‘unthinking’; conventional wisdom has conditions, and so thoughts and conceptions arise. Furthermore, thought is not different from emptiness, and emptiness is not different from thought; this is called the principle of the Middle Way in the highest sense, which reveals the dharmakāya. Emptiness is precisely thought; this is called the principle of conventional truth; the myriad virtues like sands of the Ganges all rely on conventional truth, which reveals the saṃbhogakāya. Thought is precisely emptiness; this is called the principle of ultimate truth; destroying the twenty-five states of existence and attaining the twenty-five samādhis, being constantly empty yet constantly transforming, softening its light to benefit beings—this reveals the nirmāṇakāya. Thus, by means of the three contemplations, one contemplates the three truths, realizes the three virtues, accomplishes the three bodies, and so forth up to the ten triads of dharmas; what could be impermissible about this? Why then would you wish to discard pure thought and grasp at the thought of no-thought? Why block the gate of meditative concentration and grasp at the threshold of becoming a buddha? Both the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Ghanavyūha Sūtra state: ‘Better to raise a view of existence as vast as Mount Sumeru.’ This means that by believing in cause and effect, holding thought and being mindful of the buddha, one is reborn in the pure land of Sukhāvatī; therefore it says ‘better to raise [a view of] existence.’ ‘Do not raise a view of emptiness as small as a mustard seed.’ This means that by rejecting cause and effect and slandering buddha-mindfulness, one is born in the Avīci Hell; therefore it says ‘do not raise [a view of] emptiness.’ Alas, what is truly to be feared lies right here!”