廬山蓮宗寶鑑 4.2

4.2

The Buddha is created from the mind; the Way relies on humans to propagate it. In propagating the Way, there is nothing more essential than buddhānusmṛti. Buddhānusmṛti is precisely rectifying the mind; because the mind is rectified, it can accord with the Way. The ultimate source of the Way is called the Buddha. “Buddha” means awakened: all sentient beings possess this nature of fundamental awakening; yet because of an error in a single thought, they are unawakened. Chancellor Pei said: “Those who all day long are fully awakened and yet have never been fully awakened are sentient beings; that which is fully endowed with complete awakening and abides in sustaining complete awakening is the Tathāgata.” Therefore, the Bhagavat attained the Way in Magadha, spoke of existence and discussed emptiness, observed capacities and dispensed teachings; beyond all methods, he separately opened the single gate of buddhānusmṛti, severing the root source of the multitude of sufferings and serving as the essential road to enter the stream of sages. Thus the sūtra says: Passing from here to the west over a hundred thousand kotis of Buddha-lands, there is a world named Sukhāvatī, and in that land is a Buddha named Amitābha. In that realm there are no three poisons and eight difficulties, but rather the myriad wondrous adornments of the seven jewels. Taking the Dharma as body and the host of sages as companions, if one can sincerely and faithfully make vows and take refuge in that land, one will immediately attain rebirth, transcend beyond the three realms and nine existences, and realize the unexcelled wondrous Way of all Buddhas. These words are not deceptive. Ever since the great teaching flowed eastward, it flourished through Fotudeng. From Deng, Dao'an was obtained, and within [Dao]'an's gate was Master Yuan: his precepts like jewels, his doctrine like an ocean, with the posture of a dragon and the brilliance of a phoenix; thereupon, the foundational order of the doctrinal gate was henceforth fully prepared. The master composed poems on the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi to personally encourage others; at that time, the worthy of the Jin admired the master’s virtue, vied to hasten to the place of right awakening to investigate this Way together. His fame stirred emperors and kings, and his Way was honored throughout the age: Dao'an of Vast Virtue praised him as his top disciple, and Kumārajīva joined with him as an eminent friend; the breadth of his knowledge and capacity singularly surpassed past and present. As for speaking out boldly for the sake of the Way, acting as a patriarchal master for ten thousand generations, and extending abundance to humans and devas—that was Master Yuan. In the Sui there was Zhiyi; in the Wei there was Tanluan; in the Tang there was Shandao—they greatly revitalized the school's style. In the Song there was Master Tan, who annotated the Ambrosia, and Xingchang, who formed the society. Cijue encouraged practice; Dhyāna Master [Yongming Yan]shou fused the ten thousand good deeds into a common return; Master Yuanzong condensed the various sūtras to compose the repentance [rituals]; they broadly provided expedients and thoroughly exhausted compassion. Therefore, our patriarch wished to cause the sentient beings of the great earth to see the Amitābha of their own nature, realize the Mind-only Pure Land, and universally awaken to the wondrous Way of bodhi; he thus established the four characters “Universal Awakening to the Wondrous Way” (Pujue Miaodao) as the contemplation of the definitive lineage. These four characters are a single mirror that thoroughly illuminates boundlessly, sharing a single essence and function. How do we know it is so? To sum it up, it is like a person's single body, having head, eyes, hands, and feet as its functions, which have never been a single entity that could be divided. Unless one’s vows are vast and compassion profound, who could win the trust of the world and later generations? I venture to discuss it thus: Equality across the realm of sentient beings is named “Universal” (pu); wisdom penetrating this principle is named “Awakening” (jue); virtuous function without bound is named “Wondrous” (miao); that which the thousand sages tread is named “Way” (dao). Moreover, “Universal” is the essence of one's own mind pervading the ten directions; “Awakening” is the function of one's own mind illuminating with wisdom and free from delusion; “Wondrous” is the practice of one's own mind benefiting beings according with their capacities; “Way” is the principle of one's own mind penetrating centrality and correctness. This Way is that which the Buddhas of the sands of the Ganges have verified; this Way is that which the ancestral masters through the ages have attained; those reborn in the Pure Land throughout the ten directions have already learned this Way; future practitioners should also learn this Way. Furthermore, all Buddhas and bodhisattvas manifest in the world as great guides, each having compassionate vows never to abandon sentient beings, appearing as kings, ministers, generals, chancellors, lay practitioners, and magistrates, leaving the world or remaining at home, operating contrary [to conventions] or according with transformation—there are none who do not awaken these people by means of this Way. The myriad spirits of the three realms, from limitless kalpas down to the present day, have come and gone in the six destinies like ants revolving upon a millstone, with no means of escape. The Buddhas and patriarchs, pitying them, established expedients to guide them, causing them to head toward that to which I head. That to which I head is neither the six destinies nor the three vehicles; it is the destination of the Tathāgata's right awakening. Those who have attained the Way to which I head also use this Way to transform those who have not yet reached it, bringing them to this destination. This is like a single lamp lighting hundreds of thousands of lamps, continuing the flame and sharing the radiance, blazing in the present and illuminating the ancient. This principle of buddhānusmṛti is the method of rectifying the mind, rectifying the host of beings and returning them to the right path. As it is transmitted successively without end, it is therefore called the inexhaustible lamp. How could the doctrine of Universal Awakening to the Wondrous Way be mere words? It means that everyone can become a Buddha, regardless of whether one is monastic or lay, regardless of whether faculties are sharp or dull, with no distinction between this and that, no high or low, equal in a single nature alone. Gaining it constitutes awakening, losing it constitutes delusion—they are merely a single principle. Through delusion one becomes an ordinary being, through awakening one becomes a sage; for the deluded, phenomena are separated, but principle is not separated; for those who have lost it, they lose it themselves, but nature is not lost. Hence we know that those who cultivate the buddhānusmṛti-samādhi are rectifying their minds. When this mind is rectified, the nature accords with principle; having attained nature according with principle, the six dusts cannot defile it, and the myriad conditions cannot move it. Moving and functioning within the single emptiness, solitary and still in the domain of ten thousand transformations, without moving from one's fundamental place one roams the ten directions, transcending to the ground of Sukhāvatī, ascending to the hall of Quiet Radiance, dwelling on the summit of the mountain of nirvāṇa, and having an audience with the unexcelled Dharma King. How consummate is the meaning of Universal Awakening to the Wondrous Way and the rectification of the mind! For those who do not know this meaning, where can effort be applied, and where can wisdom be generated? They are like blind people, ignorant of the light of the sun and moon, walking into great perils; how can one recount the ditches and trenches into which they fall? Alas! The holy age is far removed, and people mostly hold erroneous interpretations. Although it is the right path, they all fall into heterodox sects; mediocre and confused sorts are nothing more than conscious beings, which causes the multitude of heterodoxies to deceive and confuse, and various factions to blaze up together. Right and wrong arise like swarming bees, prattling about emptiness and existence, cutting off empty space and disparaging each other. Some cling to phenomenal aspects and refuse to relinquish them; some follow conforming conditions without self-awareness; some guard withered wood and call it concentration; some rely on cleverness and call it wisdom; some rush down unprincipled paths and call it capability; some borrow the power of ghosts and spirits and call it supernatural penetration; some are unrestrained in body and mind and call it unhinderedness; some transmit secretly mouth to ear and call it an esoteric formula; some cling to the characters “Universal” and “Awakening” of our school; some proclaim the characters “Wondrous” and “Way” of other schools. These all privately steal this mirror to enter those heterodox realms, resulting in its being obscured by dust and filth, dimming the school's essence; although they obtain the name of this mirror, they do not obtain its function. Little do they know that Cizhao had a profound intention in establishing these four characters; the confused do not know this and, clinging to them, lose the proper measure. Furthermore, there are those who claim that staying at home is the teaching of Amitābha, while leaving home is the teaching of Śākyamuni; they venerate themselves as patriarchs, cling to doctrines as sects, harbor the grasping mind of self and other and encounter obstructions at every turn, being constrained by biased, heterodox, and inferior understandings, affirming themselves and denying others. If we, as descendants of the Buddhas and patriarchs, cannot shatter their attachments and dispel their confusions, how can we unveil the wisdom sun in the darkened thoroughfare? My heart aches for the hanging-in-the-balance of the Buddhas' and patriarchs' wisdom-life even more than having flesh sliced from my own body; mindful of repaying the deep grace of the Buddhas and patriarchs, I find no peace in sleeping or eating; mindful of the Buddha’s children across all quarters taking mistaken paths in cultivation, it is no different from being hung upside down. Although I cannot reach even one ten-thousandth of the ancients, yet this mind is not deceitful. I have constantly applied myself earnestly to this: respectfully examining the biographies of eminent monks, searching everywhere for the true traces of earlier sages, investigating their source, selecting their reality, and compiling whatever principle warrants and whatever phenomena exist. What was lacking I supplemented, what was redundant I cut out, what was concealed I illuminated, and what was broken I linked together, hoping that cultivators of pure karma a thousand years hence will reflect on the Way through these words and drink water while knowing its source, recognize the legacy of ancient sages and embody the standard of former masters, continue and exalt the Buddha's lineage, broadly illuminate the fine teachings, perpetuate the wisdom-life endlessly, and transmit the true lamp perpetually. Was it not said earlier that the four characters are a single mirror that thoroughly illuminates boundlessly? May those who embody this Way be careful not to neglect it!