廬山蓮宗寶鑑 10.6

10.6

The fundamental nature of true suchness is the one true, unfeigned substance before one's parents gave birth to one, termed one's original face. The Chan school calls it the treasury of the true Dharma eye; the Lotus School calls it the Amitābha of one's own nature; Confucius called it the principle of Heaven; the Great Changes calls it the Great Ultimate (taiji). Although the names differ, in truth they are the same fundamental nature of true suchness. This nature is empty yet luminous, tranquil yet marvelous, sharing the same root with Heaven and Earth, and the same origin with the myriad things; it does not decay through kalpas of dust, nor does it shift when worlds are destroyed. People are unable to let its self-so truth be free, but are bound to the substance formed by the combination of earth, water, fire, and wind. Just when taking form, it is already darkened in its originally pure substance by yin blood and turbid qi. When born, the delusion of the six dusts and five desires benights its originally existent natural truth. Therefore, the Buddha taught eighty-four thousand Dharma gates, all of which guide people to turn back from falsehood and return to truth. As for that which is a shortcut and easy to practice, there is only the single gate of buddhānusmṛti. Those who cultivate it find their minds undistracted, and samādhi manifests before them; this is to recover their fundamental nature. Today there is a class of people who do not investigate Buddhist principles, but instead usurp Daoist methods of self-cultivation and conflate them with the Lotus School, falsely saying that qi is the master, teaching people to circulate essence and transport qi, fatiguing their muscles and bones, fruitlessly expending body and mind, willingly suffering bitterness and hardship, ultimately with nothing accomplished. I have observed that Zhang Ziyang of the Daoist school said: 'Essence, qi, and spirit are the primordial essence, primordial qi, and primordial spirit that precede Heaven and Earth. Primordial essence is not the essence of lewdness; primordial qi is not the qi of respiration; primordial spirit is not the spirit of thoughts and deliberations.' Foolish people do not understand this meaning; mistaking an urn for a bell, their eyes are neither clear about the principle nor comprehending of correct guidance. They mislead those pure and faithful scholars into constantly contriving upon this stinking bag of skin, benighting the one true Buddha-nature, and falsely claiming that this is cultivation. How lamentable! I universally advise fellow practitioners that they must be extremely careful, investigating the mind through buddhānusmṛti to open awakening to the true source. If one sees it clearly and on one's own, with phenomenon after phenomenon manifesting before one, this is termed seeing the nature and achieving Buddhahood. If there is a single thought's deviation, the difference is like Heaven and Earth.