樂邦遺稿 2.28

2.28

The Chuandeng lu records that Minister Wen Zao asked the Venerable Mi of Guifeng: 'When a person who has awakened to the principle and extinguished delusion generates no karma, when their single lifespan comes to an end, upon what does the numinous nature depend?' The Master answered: 'All sentient beings possess an awakened nature that is numinous and luminous, no different from that of a Buddha. It is merely because from beginningless time they have never understood this nature, falsely grasping at the mark of self, that emotions such as attachment and aversion arise. Creating karma in accordance with these emotions, they consequently transmigrate through kalpas of long duration. Yet the awakened nature within the body has never been born or died. If one can clearly awaken, this nature is itself the Dharmakāya; fundamentally free of arising, what dependence could it have? However, the habits of many lifetimes—joy, anger, sorrow, and delight—are subtle undercurrents that are difficult to eliminate at once; one must constantly remain vigilant. How could what is cultivated in a single lifetime equal the power and functioning of the Buddhas? One can only take empty stillness as the essence and not identify with the physical body; take numinous knowing as the mind and not identify with deluded thoughts. If deluded thoughts arise, do not follow them at all. At the time of approaching the end of life, karma will naturally be unable to bind one. Though the intermediate state exists, one's destination is free, lodging at will in the heavens or the human realm. If thoughts of attachment and aversion have already vanished, one will not receive a body of fragmented life and death; only the great wisdom of perfect awakening brightly and independently endures, which is called a Buddha.'