廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.12

10.12

古德云：「在胎為身、處世名人，在眼曰見、在耳曰聞、在鼻嗅香、在舌談論、在手執捉、在足運奔，遍現俱該沙界、收攝在一微塵。識者知是佛性，不識喚作精魂。」比來有等愚人，不知佛理，潛吾教中，專以傳受為宗，妄說六門見性，指四大色身以為佛體，自立三十六關、七十二信，揑合怪事誑惑善人，妄謂這邊肉動某人來、那裏疼痛某事至，吉凶禍福，言是先知。愚者得聞，將謂佛法靈感，傾心諦信布施供養，傳此邪言，切切記心未嘗暫捨。殊不知一真佛性清淨湛然，為有妄身乃有妄識，蓋覆本性不見光明，一念心空名為悟道。故《楞嚴》云「知見立知即無明本，知見無見斯則涅槃。」是故祖師立教，但以念佛三昧為正宗，未嘗有毫髮許實法繫綴於人。何期蚩蚩薄俗迷宗昧旨，棄忠孝而不履、背仁義而不修，假蓮宗之名、行差別之法。貪求冥感，以奇怪惑人，則有邪魔魍魎附人身體，撓亂正信盡遭魔攝。可不悲哉！大凡修淨業人，善察邪正本分，究心確辦信誠憶佛念佛，願生淨土慎勿他求。智覺壽禪師云：「莫摘枝苗，須搜祖禰。豁爾而無明頓開，湛然而情塵自洗。」可謂直截根源佛所印，摘葉尋枝我不能。

An ancient master of virtue said: 'In the womb it is the body; in the world it is called a human. In the eyes it is called seeing; in the ears it is called hearing. In the nose it smells fragrances; on the tongue it speaks; in the hands it grasps; on the feet it runs. Manifesting everywhere, it covers the sands of worlds; drawn together, it resides in a single speck of dust. Those who recognize it know it is the Buddha-nature; those who do not recognize it call it the spirit-soul.' Recently, there are fools who do not understand Buddhist principles and stealthily infiltrate our teaching, taking esoteric transmission as their sole doctrine, falsely preaching that the six gates see the nature, pointing to the four-element physical body as the Buddha-body, and fabricating thirty-six passes and seventy-two signs. Concocting bizarre matters, they deceive and confuse good people, falsely claiming that a twitch of flesh on this side means someone is coming, or an ache over there means something is about to happen, asserting that they have foreknowledge of good and bad fortune, calamity and blessing. When the foolish hear this, they assume it is the efficacious responsiveness of the Buddhadharma, whole-heartedly believing it, making donations and offerings, transmitting these heterodox words, and keeping them earnestly in mind without ever letting them go for a moment. Little do they know that the one true Buddha-nature is pure and serene; it is only because there is a false body that there is false consciousness, which covers over the original nature so that its radiance is not seen. When a single thought-moment of mind is empty, that is called awakening to the Path. Therefore, the *Śūraṅgama-sūtra* says: 'To establish cognition within knowing and seeing is the root of fundamental ignorance; when knowing and seeing are free from seeing, that is nirvāṇa.' For this reason, the patriarchs established the teaching taking solely the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi as the orthodox doctrine, never binding people with even the slightest hair of real phenomena. Who would have expected that these ignorant commoners, straying from the school and blind to its tenets, would abandon loyalty and filial piety instead of practicing them, turn their backs on benevolence and righteousness instead of cultivating them, and, under the guise of the Lotus School, practice disparate dharmas? Greedily seeking unseen responses and confusing people with the bizarre, heterodox demons and monstrous spirits possess their bodies, disturbing their correct faith so that they are entirely captured by māras. Is this not tragic! In general, those who cultivate pure karma must properly discern heterodoxy and orthodoxy as their primary duty, investigate the mind, firmly resolve in sincerity to remember the Buddha and practice buddhānusmṛti, and vow to be born in the Pure Land, taking care not to seek anything else. Dhyāna Master Zhijue Shou said: 'Do not pick at the branches and sprouts; you must seek out the ancestral root. Open wide, and fundamental ignorance will be instantly cleared; serene, and the dust of passions will wash itself away.' This can truly be called: 'Directly cutting through to the root is what the Buddhas seal; / picking leaves and seeking branches is not for me.'