廬山蓮宗寶鑑 2.25

2.25

The ancestral master [Hui]yuan's Preface to the Chan Scripture says: "Without wisdom, Chan cannot exhaust its quiescence; without Chan, wisdom cannot deepen its illumination. Chan and wisdom refer to illumination and quiescence. They assist each other: illumination is not separate from quiescence, and quiescence is not separate from illumination. Responding, they travel together; answering, they head toward the same destination." Cizhao said: "Quiescent yet constantly illuminating, illuminating yet constantly quiescent. Constantly quiescent and constantly illuminating is called the Constant Quiescent Light." When a person who recites the Buddha's name wishes to investigate Chan and see their nature, they need only rely on this method: in a quiet room, sit upright with a straight body, sweep away conditioned burdens, cut off emotional defilements, keep the eyes wide open without clinging to external realms, and do not abide in internal stillness; turn the light around to illuminate, and internal and external are both quiescent. Then intimately and continuously raise the recitation 'Namo Amitābha Buddha' three to five times, turn the light around to look at oneself, and say: "Seeing one's nature, one becomes a Buddha; ultimately, which one is my original nature Amitābha?" Then again illuminate and watch closely: from where does this single thought currently raised arise? Having seen through this single thought, again see through who this is that is watching closely. 〇 Investigate for a good while, then raise the recitation 'Namo Amitābha Buddha' again, and watch closely like this again. Investigate like this, working urgently without letting there be any interruption. Clear and unclouded, like a hen brooding on an egg, raise it, observe it, and investigate it like this without restriction in all four postures. Suddenly, while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, upon hearing a sound or seeing a form, one is suddenly and completely awakened, directly seeing the Amitābha of one's original nature. Inside and outside, body and mind, all are penetrated and shed at once; the entire universe and great earth is itself the West, and all myriad phenomena are nothing other than oneself. In stillness there is no illumination omitted; in movement there is no departure from quiescence. Thereafter, one gives rise to loving-kindness and exercises compassion to guide the unawakened; with compassion and wisdom perfectly fused, one enters non-purposive action, attains birth in the highest grade called the Land of True Reward and Adornment, and obtains all-aspect knowledge. It may be called: 'The moon in the empty realm over the eternal emerald pool; only after scooping again and again does one come to know it.'"