廬山蓮宗寶鑑 6.16

6.16

The six perfections are the six pāramitās of giving, keeping the precepts, patience, diligence, dhyāna meditation, and wisdom. If people who practice buddhānusmṛti exclusively cultivate samādhi and study the supramundane, they must reach the ultimate good. One must know that the six perfections and the ten thousand practices do not go beyond the one mind. Within the one mind, all dharmas are fully present, just as bathing in the great ocean has already made use of the waters of every river. It is like forming ten thousand kinds of incense into a single pill: if one burns that one pill, it possesses all fragrances. It is like a person searching for treasure who obtains the king of wish-fulfilling gems: all kinds of treasures arise without end. How is it known to be so? By grasping and upholding the single phrase "Amitābha Buddha," samādhi is attained. In a single thought, one accords with principle and all dharmas appear before one; the six perfections and the ten thousand practices are all completely fulfilled. With giving, the mind has no defiled attachment; with keeping the precepts, delusive conditions do not arise; with patience, both subject and object are forgotten; with diligence, the mind is without interruption; with dhyāna meditation, motion and stillness are both stilled; with wisdom, not a hairsbreadth is established. Thus from within one perfection emerge immeasurable perfections; within each perfection, it is like Indra's net. If one only knows that the one mind is fundamentally empty, the ten thousand practices will naturally be complete. Therefore, the eighty-four thousand Dharma-doors, the eighty-four thousand kinds of wisdom, and the eighty-four thousand merits are all born from the one thought of the mind of buddhānusmṛti. In the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, Bodhisattva Bhadraśrī says: "When disciples of the Buddha use their minds skillfully at all times, they obtain all superior and wondrous merits." It can truly be called: one nature completely penetrates all natures; one dharma universally encompasses all dharmas.