念佛三昧寶王論 3.13

3.13

I reply: "The *Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra* says: 'Use a wedge to extract a wedge'; a common proverb says: 'Set a thief to catch a thief.' Now, in using mindfulness to stop mindfulness, what could be amiss? Moreover, when mindfulness becomes practiced and mature, it completes itself without deliberation and requires no effort! It is like the sword dancer who flourishes his sword, suddenly flinging it into the blue clouds and catching it on the back of his scabbard without ever missing; or Cook Ding dismembering an ox, where the movement of his blade found only emptiness, its sound harmonising with the Dance of the Mulberry Forest. Is this not a clear illustration of mindfulness when mature? Therefore the *Awakening of Faith* says: 'If one knows that although there is speaking, there is no one who can speak nor anything that can be spoken; and although there is mindfulness, there is no one who can be mindful nor anything that can be minded—this is termed "accordance." If one is free from mindfulness, this is termed "attaining entry."' 'Attaining entry' refers to the suchness samādhi! Furthermore, the stage of no-mindfulness resides in wondrous enlightenment, for it means thoroughly comprehending the characteristic of the mind's initial arising. Yet speaking of knowing this initial characteristic—the so-called 'no-mindfulness'—is not even known by bodhisattvas of the ten grounds. But people today have not yet stepped onto the ten faiths, yet they fail to rely on the Great Being Aśvaghoṣa to enter from speaking into non-speaking, and from mindfulness into no-mindfulness. Truly, one fears that admiring a towering terrace while scorning the accumulation of earth, or seeking the collar by turning the skirt upside down—how could that ever succeed? The *Sūtra of the Foremost Śūraṅgama of All Bodhisattvas' Myriad Practices Crowned by the Great Buddha* says: 'The Dharma Prince Mahāsthāmaprāpta, together with fifty-two bodhisattvas of his same order, immediately arose from their seats, bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "I recall that in the past, kalpas ago as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, there was a buddha who appeared in the world named Boundless Light. Twelve tathāgatas succeeded one another in a single kalpa; the final buddha was named Outshining the Light of Sun and Moon. That buddha taught me the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi. Suppose there are two persons: one focuses solely on remembering, while the other focuses solely on awaiting. If these two persons meet, it is as though they did not meet; if they see each other, it is as though they did not see each other. But if both remember each other, and their mutual remembering and mindfulness run deep, then even from life to life they will be like form and shadow, never straying apart. The tathāgatas of the ten directions are compassionate toward sentient beings and mindful of them just as a mother remembers her child. If the child runs away, though she remembers, what does it avail? If the child remembers the mother just as the mother remembers the child, mother and child across successive lives will not be separated or far apart. If the minds of sentient beings remember the Buddha and are mindful of the Buddha, in the present or in the future they will certainly see the Buddha! They will not be far from the Buddha; without relying on expedient means, their minds will naturally open, just as one scented with incense retains a fragrance on their body—this is named 'Adornment with Fragrance and Light.' In my original causal stage, with the mind of buddha-mindfulness I entered the forbearance of non-arising. Now in this realm, I gather practitioners of buddha-mindfulness and lead them to return to the Pure Land. The Buddha asks about complete penetration: having no preference, I gather in all six sense faculties, maintain pure mindfulness in unbroken succession, and attain samādhi—this is foremost."'"