廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.22

10.22

The "Parable" chapter of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra says: "If there are sentient beings who hear the Dharma from the Buddha, the World-Honoured One, accept it in faith, and diligently and vigorously seek all-knowledge, Buddha-knowledge, spontaneous knowledge, and unmastered knowledge, they are like those children who, to seek the ox-carts, came out of the burning house." Thus we know that sentient beings are likened to the children, the three realms are likened to the burning house, and the triyāna is likened to the three carts. The Tathāgata, seeing that sentient beings in the three realms could not escape, expounded the teachings of the triyāna to lead them away from suffering. This is like the children playing in the burning house, whom the elder led out by means of the three carts. There are some foolish people who falsely invent a dialogue where Mañjuśrī asks the Buddha, claiming that nature is the ox-cart, mind is the sheep-cart, and thought is the deer-cart. They also say that the ox-cart carries the wondrous Dharma, the sheep-cart carries the lotus flower, and the deer-cart carries the sūtras. What is called the supreme taste of clarified butter, cherished by the world, turns into poison when encountered by such people! Now, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra is the king of all dharmas, protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas; how could it be discussed so recklessly? Who would have thought that heterodox teachers with errant views would take the false as true and the true as false, proclaim the Dharma as non-Dharma and non-Dharma as the Dharma, deceiving people, slandering the Buddha, and defaming the Dharma? Do they not incur the great crime of the five heinous deeds? The sūtra says: "If anyone slanders this scripture, know that this person will enter the Avīci Hell for a full kalpa; when the kalpa ends, they will be reborn there again. Thus they will cycle on for countless kalpas; emerging from hell, they will fall into the animal realm. Such is the retribution incurred for slandering this scripture." Pondering this carefully, how deeply grievous it is! I dare to address my companions of the Way with sincere and earnest words: if you open, display, awaken to, and enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision within your own mind, this mind will be pure like a blossoming lotus flower—this is called the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-samādhi. Those who awaken to this principle ride the great white ox-cart out of the burning house of the three realms. Moreover, have you not seen Chan Master Fada presenting a verse upon seeing the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch: "I recited three thousand rolls of the sūtra, / But at Caoxi, a single phrase extinguished them all. / Not having understood the world-transcending aim, / How could the madness of repeated lives cease? / Sheep, deer, and oxen are provisionally set up; / The beginning, middle, and end are well proclaimed. / Who knew that within the burning house / It was originally the king among teachings?" Thereupon, the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi, spoke a verse to verify it, saying: "When the mind is deluded, it is turned by the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka; / When the mind is awakened, it turns the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. / Reciting it long without understanding oneself / Makes one an enemy of the meaning. / With no thought, thought is right; / With thought, thought becomes wrong. / If one can understand like this, / One constantly rides the white ox-cart." This is it. If there are those who cling to delusion and do not awaken, bringing about their own ruin, there is nothing I can do for them.