廬山蓮宗寶鑑 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

Exposition on the Correct Lineage of Buddhānusmṛti

Master Mingjiao said: 'When the Benevolent One bequeathed his teachings, he necessarily took Chan as the lineage and the Buddha as the patriarch. The patriarch is the great exemplar of his teaching; the lineage is the great tradition of his teaching. If the great tradition is not clarified, the world cannot unify its destination; if the great exemplar is not rectified, the world cannot verify what it realizes. That Buddhist students throughout history have competed to surpass one another with what they learned has been an affliction brought about by the lineage not being clarified and the patriarchs not being rectified. Yet it is not that their patriarchs and lineages were originally unclear or unrectified; rather, later scholars failed to thoroughly examine the sūtras and treatises to collate and correct them. Thus there are those bound by the scriptures who do not understand that the Buddha's subtle intent marvelously lies outside of words, and various Chan practitioners who do not recognize that what the Buddha expounded is generally found within the scriptural teachings. Constantly arguing right and wrong amongst themselves from ancient times to the present, when have they ever paused even briefly? I have once explored the Great Canon, collating both sūtras and historical records, and what is called the Chan school is indeed the mind of the Buddha and the patriarchs. When the Buddha spoke the teachings of the entire Great Canon, he never failed to take the mind as the essential principle. Alas, the faculties and capacities of sentient beings differ, so how could one elucidate it through a single method? Our Buddha set forth his conversion impartially; thus, matching the medicine to the illness, he merely administered it accordingly. Furthermore, regarding the method of buddhānusmṛti in the Pure Land school, there are the real and the expedient, the sudden and the gradual; all serve to reveal the real principle realized by the Tathāgata and to expand the original source of sentient beings' own nature, gathering all people through the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi to clarify the mind, see the nature, and enter the Buddha's wisdom. Someone may ask: "Can buddhānusmṛti clarify the mind, see the nature, and enter the Buddha's wisdom?" I say to him: "The mind is the essential principle of the myriad dharmas; if one takes hold of it within oneself, then what path cannot be accomplished? Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta realized the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas through buddhānusmṛti. Investigating his causal stage, he applied his efforts purely to buddhānusmṛti, thought after thought without interruption, fusing into one whole. Therefore it is said: 'Gathering in the six sense faculties, pure mindfulness continuously succeeding, obtaining samādhi—this is foremost.' For the Buddha is the mind; recollecting the Buddha is recollecting the mind, and mind and mind are not two. Since the mind is not two, then Buddha and Buddha are all alike; one thought penetrates through without prior or subsequent limits, and when the three periods of time are entirely severed, that is the true place of practice. In every dust mote it is displayed, and throughout all lands it is fully revealed; this is called entering the ocean of the Tathāgata's correct and universal knowledge, fully endowed with all the Tathāgata's knowledge of all modes. Such is roughly the purport of buddhānusmṛti. The ancestral master, Master Yuan, attained this samādhi, and with this samādhi instructed one hundred and twenty-three people to cultivate and realize it together, their thoughts concentrated and their mental activities stilled, reaching the ultimate. Our ancestor thus harboured far-reaching plans to greatly assist the multitude of beings; moreover, as the new sūtras had not yet arrived in the land of Jin, the nectar of the Chan teachings had never been heard in the realm, and people of the True-aspect school held differing views, he ordered his disciples to cross the Congling mountains to welcome Chan masters from afar and investigate sūtra manuscripts. Therefore, Master Mingjiao's Chart Establishing the Patriarchs states: 'The Qin monk Zhiyan, in the kingdom of Kaśmīra, earnestly requested [Guṇa]bhadra to come together to the land of Huaxia to transmit the Chan teachings. He first arrived in Chang'an and later at Mount Lu, whereupon he brought forth the Chan Sūtra and translated it together with Master Yuan. When the translation was completed, Master Yuan wrote a preface for it. Bhadra once said to Master Yuan: "The ancestral masters who transmitted the Dharma in the Western Realm, descending directly from Mahākāśyapa, number twenty-seven in all. The twenty-sixth patriarch recently passed into extinction, whose name was Punyamitra. His disciple succeeding to his generation is called Prajñātāra, who is currently carrying out conversion in South India. Successively transmitting this lamp of wisdom, Dharmatrāta later became the twenty-eighth patriarch; I now explain this meaning according to what I have heard."' Hearing Bhadra's words, Master Yuan thus stated in his preface: 'Dharmatrāta was an outstanding figure of the Western Regions, the ancestral model of Chan instruction.' What the Baolin zhuan describes as Bhadra having spoken with Master Yuan about the number of generations of the various patriarchs who transmitted the Dharma is indeed corroborated in the Chan Sūtra. Therefore, Zhang Ye's preface to Master Yuan's stupa inscription states: 'The various sūtras on the mind and Chan emerged from Mount Lu. The master often said that the Chan teaching is subtle and refined, not to be transmitted unless one has the capacity, and that the single gate of buddhānusmṛti alone is supreme in merit and easy of progress. Guiding them through śamatha-vipaśyanā and focusing them through pure karma, this avails of practice to concentrate the spirit, and accumulates habit to transform the nature; entering into the Tathāgata's inexhaustible Dharma gate truly proceeds from this.' Thus, when this teaching of the Pure Land reached Great Master Zhizhe of Tiantai, he then demonstrated the three contemplations realizing the one mind, generally marshaling the essential practices of the triyāna, universally gathering the capacities of the five spiritual families, directly conferring the true wealth of contemplative practice, and causing awakening and entry into the Tathāgata's knowledge and vision. Hence we know that the essential point of buddhānusmṛti is indicated by the Guan jing. This sūtra takes the pure realm of the Buddha land as its essential principle, the wondrous practice of contemplative wisdom as its aim, the real-aspect Amitābha as its substance, and eradicating evil and generating good as its function; from this we know that immeasurable merits jointly adorn it, diverse superior practices converge upon it, and discourse, questions, and answers delineate and distinguish it, like the multitude of stars revolving around the North Star, or the myriad streams flowing eastward to the sea. Therefore, Vaidehī suddenly realized the non-arising [of dharmas] without passing through the stages, and those of the five rebellious acts ascending to Sukhāvatī upon reciting the name for ten thoughts is precisely that which is subsumed by the round and sudden teaching. This Dharma gate of the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi—expedient and real, sudden and gradual, subjugating and gathering, awakening and delusion—completely encompasses everything, converging in the true lineage, like a cart having wheels or a bird having wings; the cause for entering the path may be called ultimate, may be called exhaustive. Therefore, collecting the methods of right absorption and demonstrating those essential principles of practice, it illumines the eyes of the mind and points directly to the root source, in the hope that those practicing buddhānusmṛti will clarify their lineage without obscuring their patriarchs. If a single phrase matches the capacity, the Mind-only Pure Land is revealed!"

3.3

Determining and Clarifying the Principle and Substance

3.4

Ci'en's Tongzan states: 'The past virtuous masters of this land comprehensively classified the sūtras and treatises into four schools: first, the school establishing nature; second, the school refuting nature; third, the school refuting characteristics; and fourth, the school revealing the real. The Nirvāṇa, Avataṃsaka, Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, and so forth reveal the meaning of the true and real middle way, hence abandoning the conjured city to return to the treasure trove, and so on; thus, the Amitābha-sūtra is of the fourth school. Classifying the teachings according to the texts, there are only three teachings. Inferring the schools by category, there are eight schools: first, the school where both self and dharmas exist; second, the school where dharmas exist but there is no self; third, the school where dharmas have no going or coming; fourth, the school where the present combines the provisional and the real; fifth, the school where conventional truth is false and ultimate truth is real; sixth, the school where all dharmas are nominal only; seventh, the school where ultimate truth is entirely empty; and eighth, the school where the perfectly real accords with principle. Therefore, the Avataṃsaka and the Amitābha-sūtra are subsumed by the eighth school.'

3.5

Elder Li's Huayan helun: The Expedient and Real, Principle and Substance of the Ten Kinds of Pure Lands

3.6

Now, the surging ocean of wisdom is vast and boundless, its shores impossible to fathom; the overflowing true source is immense and wide, its margins rarely to be found. The Vairocana dharmadhātu gathers all substances and characteristics within the dust and sands; the wondrous gate of the broad and wide accommodates the pure and defiled mutually interpenetrating into the limitless. Merely following the functions of karma presently cultivated, the realms seen differ, causing the sacred realms to vary and their bases to be unfixed. Some provisionally divide the Pure Land into another realm and point to the defiled realm in Sahā; some regard this place as a transformed display and show the higher realms as the true reward. Mañjuśrī arrives dwelling in the Golden World of the eastern realm, and Avalokiteśvara arrives residing in the Western Wondrous Land of Peace and Joy. Since such expedient forms are each distinct, those who are just beginning have no definite faith to rely upon. Now, by briefly harmonizing the various gates so that those beginning practice have something to rely upon, ten kinds are roughly set forth to establish a guiding compass.

3.7

First, the Pure Land of the Amitābha-sūtra. This is for that portion of ordinary beings who grasp at characteristics and do not yet believe in the real principle of the emptiness of dharmas, causing them to remember and think exclusively without shifting their thoughts. Because of their exclusive sincerity, their minds become partially pure and they attain birth in the Pure Land. This is expedient, not yet real.

3.8

Second, the Pure Land of the Guan Wuliangshou jing. This is for that portion of sentient beings who do not yet believe in the real principle of the emptiness of dharmas and take pleasure in wondrous physical characteristics, causing their minds to imagine and contemplate those physical forms; because the contemplation is accomplished, they are born in the Buddha land. This is expedient, not real.

3.9

Third, the Pure Land of the Vimalakīrti-sūtra. The Buddha pressed his toe to the earth and added his spiritual power, causing it to appear temporarily and then vanish. This is a true reward land, but its breadth and narrowness are not fully expounded. It is real, but not yet broad.

3.10

Fourth, the Pure Land of the Brahmajāla-sūtra. Although it speaks of a single great king of flowers with a thousand petals, and atop each petal are a hundred billion transformation buddhas converting sentient beings in a hundred billion sets of four continents, yet because those thousand petals and that king of flowers are not broadly seen by bodhisattvas of the triyāna, it partially displays the reward realm without achieving full perfection. This is expedient, not yet real.

3.11

Fifth, the Pure Land of the Maheśvara Heaven. The Tathāgata sits there upon a lotus seat and accomplishes equal and perfect enlightenment as the true reward, while the one who accomplishes equal and perfect enlightenment in the bodhimaṇḍa of the kingdom of Magadha in this Jambudvīpa is a transformation. This is for bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings of the triyāna who have not yet eliminated defilement and purity; for them it is said that this Jambudvīpa and the six heavens are outflows of the desire realm. Because that Maheśvara Heaven of the higher realm is free of outflows, in their minds defilement and purity, this and that, are not yet forgotten. This is of the expedient teaching, not yet the real exposition.

3.12

Sixth, the Pure Land indicated in the Nirvāṇa-sūtra. The Tathāgata has a true reward Pure Land in the west past Buddha lands as numerous as the sands of twenty-two Ganges rivers; for a portion of bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings of the triyāna who have not yet eliminated defilement and purity, it is said that this trichiliocosm is entirely a defiled land, and the Tathāgata's reward realm Pure Land is expediently posited in the west. This is expedient, not real.

3.13

Seventh, the Pure Land of the three transformations in the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka. For bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings of the triyāna who have not yet eliminated defilement and purity, it is said that the various devas and humans are moved and placed in other lands. This is expedient, not real.

3.14

Eighth, the Pure Land indicated at the Vulture Peak assembly. This guides bodhisattvas of the provisional teachings among the triyāna who have not yet eliminated defilement and purity, causing them to know that this land is itself defiled and itself pure; the assembly believes it to be acceptable, but cannot see it for themselves. This is real, not expedient.

3.15

Ninth, the Mind-only Pure Land. Personally realizing that one's own mind in its very substance lacks mental nature, with only true wisdom not thinking of purity or defilement, matching truth and following nature, the mind free of obstacles and free of greed and delusion, relying on great compassion and wisdom to bring peace and joy to sentient beings. This is a real Pure Land. Because oneself is pure, it causes others to be pure as well; therefore the Vimalakīrti-sūtra states: 'In accordance with their pure minds, the Buddha land is pure. If one wishes to attain a pure land, one should purify one's mind.' This is a real Pure Land.

3.16

Tenth, the Pure Land where Vairocana resides. That is, residing in the lotus Buddha lands of the ten Buddha lands, defilement and purity are completely embraced, with neither defilement nor purity, and without characteristics of high or low, this or that, self or other. Every single Buddha land fills the dharmadhātu without mutual obstruction or separation. Briefly speaking of the lands of the dust motes of the ten Buddhas, it is so that one knows that inexhaustible Buddha lands do not depart from a single dust mote; because there is neither great nor small, no limits are established. Therefore, taking the Dharma as the realm, there are no limits or boundaries; the ocean of characteristics is pure and mixed, physical forms layer upon layer. This is a real Pure Land, not subsumed under the expedient.

3.17

Discourse on Practicing Buddhānusmṛti and Investigating Chan in Pursuit of the Essential Purport

3.18

Chan Master Cijue Ze said: 'Buddhānusmṛti does not hinder investigating Chan; investigating Chan does not hinder buddhānusmṛti. Although the Dharma has two gates, in principle they are identical. People of superior wisdom do not cling to the two truths in whatever they undertake; people of inferior wisdom each take one side, and therefore, lacking harmony, they stir up many disputes. Thus, Chan investigators refute buddhānusmṛti, and buddhānusmṛti practitioners refute Chan investigation. Both cases stem from grasping the real and slandering the expedient, or grasping the expedient and slandering the real; both prepare [their way to] hell before attaining the fruits of the Way. One must know that capacities are deep or shallow, and each finds what is fitting. For example, how could a field farmer open a treasury? How could a treasury-opener farm the fields? If you make a field farmer open a treasury, it is like a lame person climbing a mountain; if you make a treasury-opener farm the fields, it is like pressing a freeborn person into servitude—in the end there is no accord. It is better that the farmer for now farms his own fields, and the treasury-opener for now opens his own treasury; each following their inclination, all attain their heart's content. Therefore, buddhānusmṛti and Chan investigation each seek their own essential principle; though streams and mountains differ, the clouds and moon are the same.' It can truly be said: everywhere green willows can tether a horse, and before every home a gate leads to Chang'an.

3.19

The Pure Land Is Not an Expedient Teaching for Dull Capacities

3.20

Dharma Lecturer Tiantai Sifan long dwelt on Mount Linping. His understanding and practice were clear and rigorous, and he penetrated deeply into the source of doctrinal contemplation and nature and characteristics. Whenever he conversed back and forth with literati, his answers and explanations in response to their questions were brilliantly clear. One day, Controller Zheng asked: 'What is clarified in the teachings is mindfulness of Amitābha Buddha and wishing to be born in the Pure Land. This was an expedient teaching set forth solely for dull capacities. Those of superior faculties who suddenly awaken directly transcend and enter the Buddha stage at once; why would they rely on another Buddha's Pure Land?' The master said: 'Earlier worthies of our school rebuked this view, saying: "While the Buddha was in the world, Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra, and after the Buddha's passing, Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna, as well as Great Master Zhizhe and Chan Master Zhijue in this land, all aspired to be reborn in the Pure Land. Could they have been of dull capacities? If this is taken to be an expedient teaching, what then would be considered real? Formerly Sun Xinlao also had doubts about this; through meeting with Yang Cigong and Wang Minzhong in debate, he then settled these doubts and had faith that this Pure Land is not an expedient device of the sages, but the true tenet of the perfect and real. Focusing one's mindfulness on that Buddha, one will surely be born in the Pure Land—these are indeed real words according with nature, not an expedient teaching."'

3.21

Chan Master Zhenxie Liao's Essentials of the Pure Land School

3.22

Amitābha is not apart from the minds of sentient beings: these three are without distinction. Sukhāvatī is universally present everywhere: citing one embraces all. It is like the net of a thousand jewels in Lord Śakra's palace: the light and reflections of a thousand jewels all enter into a single jewel, and the light and reflection of a single jewel universally enter into a thousand jewels. Although jewel and jewel mutually pervade, this jewel cannot become that jewel, and that jewel cannot become this jewel; mingled without confusion, separate without division, each universally manifests yet has no fixed location. Amitābha's Pure Land is one among the thousand jewels; the hundred thousand Buddha lands are a single Buddha land, each being one among the thousand jewels. The sages' skillful means show people to be solely mindful of Amitābha Buddha; this points directly to one jewel among the thousand jewels. Seeing one Buddha, one immediately sees the Buddhas of the ten directions, and also sees the sea of atom-like lands of sentient beings of the nine realms; the ten periods of past and present are suddenly perfected in a single seal, and there are completely no remaining dharmas.

3.23

Master Jishi Shows the Real View of the Pure Land

3.24

Those who do not cultivate pure karma say: 'We let our minds roam in dhyāna absorption and awaken to the true lineage of the nature.' Or, hearing the Pure Land spoken of, they invariably say: 'The Pure Land is Mind-only; since my mind is already pure, the land is pure—what need is there to seek a separate place of rebirth?' Jishi said: 'Furthermore, the Vimalakīrti-sūtra says: "The Tathāgata pressed the earth with his toe, and saw that the Sahā realm was entirely adorned and pure, yet the assembly did not see it; only Brahma Śikhin was able to know it." Can those today who speak of awakening to the nature see the Pure Land like Brahma Śikhin? Moreover, dwelling in humble and lowly rooms, you will surely envy grand mansions and high halls; eating husked millet and goosefoot soup, you will surely envy fine delicacies and supreme tastes; wearing tattered robes and coarse hemp, you will surely envy silk damask and light gauze. If you say that when the mind is pure the land is pure, then there is no need for such distinctions. Furthermore, when facing the sufferings of old age, illness, and death, and the adversities of the worldly realm, your facial expression is the same as that of the unawakened. In that case, your mouth chants words of "when the mind is pure the land is pure", while your body is bound by the afflictions and suffering of the defiled land; this is self-deception at its extreme. If not so, one should surely have faith in the teachings and revere principle, and accordingly cultivate towards the Pure Land.'

3.25

Vinaya Master Dazhi Shows the Non-duality of Principle and Phenomena in Buddhānusmṛti

3.26

The master once composed a preface to the Pure Land Collection for Dharma Master Cihui Wen, which said in brief: 'From past to present, those who study Buddhism are mostly confused about principle and phenomena. They say that in principle not a speck of dust is established, while speaking of phenomena all phenomena are arrayed in profusion. Congealing the mind to dwell in quiescence is principle, while moving into activity and undertaking practice is phenomena. They then cite the ancient saying: "The ground of ultimate reality does not admit a single speck of dust; within the gate of Buddha-activities not a single dharma is abandoned." This is indeed setting up principle and phenomena in opposition, with emptiness and existence running alongside each other. I once changed these words, saying: "The ground of ultimate reality does not lack a single speck of dust; within the gate of Buddha-activities not a single dharma remains." Why so? Because ultimate reality is endowed with all dharmas—how could it lack a single speck of dust? Because the gate of Buddha-activities is free from all marks—how could a single dharma remain? Only in this way can one see that principle and phenomena are one suchness, and emptiness and existence are non-dual.'

3.27

Dharma Master Wen's Preface to Pure Practice: Essentials of Buddhānusmṛti

3.28

Now, understanding the mindful mind within no-mind, and recognizing the non-thought within thought, neither existence nor non-existence is dwelled upon; how could subject and object remain? Thus thought after thought is perfectly luminous, and mind after mind is empty and quiescent. If one is ignorant of this essential principle, then every dharma becomes a wart; if one truly tallies with its tenet, then every gate opens onto the marvelous. Now, without violating ultimate reality, perfect cultivation can be demonstrated, allowing those carrying heavy loads to distant places to obtain rest for their shoulders, and those drifting in the delusive ford to swiftly ascend to the other shore. In seeking rebirth in the West, nothing precedes the contemplation gate of buddhānusmṛti. For those who cultivate pure karma, I have briefly gathered the broad outlines of the sūtras and treatises to compose the Dharma Gate of Western Pure Practice, demonstrating what they cultivate so that they may attain its purport. For those who behold this text yet are still unable to give rise to faith and practice, in the delirium of madness they leap into a privy, with only a single hair showing, and though one wishes to reach down to save them, there is nothing that can be done.

3.29

Precious Mirror of the Lotus School of Mount Lu, Fascicle Three: The Correct Lineage of Buddhānusmṛti (End)

Linked texts (1)

廬山蓮宗寶鑑 — Classical Chinese