廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.10

10.10

The teaching says: 'The Bhagavans of the ten directions, / The consummate sūtras, / The Mahāyāna Bodhisattva-Saṅgha— / Their merit is inconceivable.' As for the Three Jewels, there are three kinds: First is called the Three Jewels of Identical Essence: the principle of True Suchness, with one's own nature awakening, is called the Buddha Jewel; its virtuous functions and regulatory norms, with one's own nature being upright and true, are called the Dharma Jewel; its movement free of dispute and conflict, with one's own nature being pure, is called the Saṅgha Jewel. Second is called the Supramundane Three Jewels: the dharmakāya, saṃbhogakāya, and nirmāṇakāya responding and appearing according to each kind [of being] are the Buddha Jewel; the expressed tenets of the six perfections and the conditioned arising of the four truths are called the Dharma Jewel; the bodhisattvas of the ten grounds, the four directions, and the five fruits are called the Saṅgha Jewel. Third is called the Worldly Three Jewels of Continuous Abiding: clay niches and sculpted images are called the Buddha Jewel; yellow scrolls and red rollers are called the Dharma Jewel; shaved heads and dyed robes are called the Saṅgha Jewel. Those who take refuge in them evoke the protection of the devas; those who make offerings to them obtain immeasurable fields of merit. Nowadays, there are heterodox fools who, lacking understanding, falsely fabricate the *Zhenzong miaoyi jing* and foolishly assert that essence is the Buddha Jewel, breath is the Dharma Jewel, and spirit is the Saṅgha Jewel. As this is handed down and practiced from one to another, it leads those who enter the gate of goodness to believe their heterodox teachings and fail to revere the Three Jewels; this is truly lamentable. If one does not revere the worldly Three Jewels, one darkens one's own mind; if one darkens one's own mind, one loses one's fundamental nature—how then could the Three Jewels of Identical Essence and the Supramundane Three Jewels ever be attained? To cheat oneself would still be one thing, but to cheat others as well can be described as branching off from the upright path of humans and devas, blinding the upright eyes of humans and devas, obscuring the true teaching of cause and effect, and corrupting the pure custom of concentration and wisdom—nothing could be worse than this. The Buddha said that if any sentient being does not take refuge in the Three Jewels, they will fall into the three wretched paths for eternal eons. How much more so when our Master Cizhao compiled the scriptures into a repentance ritual, enabling practitioners to rely on the profound and wondrous meaning of the Mahāyāna sūtras, so that from their present body until the Buddha-body, they take refuge on behalf of all sentient beings in the dharmadhātu in the Ever-Abiding Buddha, take refuge in the Ever-Abiding Dharma, and take refuge in the Ever-Abiding Saṅgha! Once good people of correct faith have heard this, and having heard it, recite and pay homage to it, they should certainly respect themselves and have faith in themselves. This very mind of reverence and faith is uprightly capable of drawing near to the Buddha Path. Whenever you see any Buddha image, give rise to the thought that it is the Tathāgata; whenever you see any holy teaching, give rise to the thought that it is difficult to encounter; whenever you see any monk, give rise to the thought that he is a patriarch. Bow to them and make offerings to them without slighting or deceiving them, adorning yourself with the Buddha's adornment. In this way, the Three Jewels of One Essence are fully complete in Mind-only. If one instead clings to base views, obscures the root, foolishly believes in heterodox teachings, and misleads later generations with doubts, bringing about one's own sinking and eternal drowning in the wretched destinies—whose fault is that?