西方合論 5.15

5.15

四、離即離非門者，永明曰：「若執言內力，即是自性；若言他力，即成他性；若云機感相投，即是共性；若云非因非緣，即無因性。皆滯閡執，未入圓成。」當知佛力難思，玄通𥤱測。譬如阿迦叔樹，女人摩觸，花為之出，是樹無覺觸，非無覺觸。菩薩摩訶薩不思議念觸，亦復如是。又如象齒，因雷生花，是齒非耳，云何有聞？若無聞者，花云何生？又若雷能生花者，諸物應有。菩薩摩訶薩不思議聲塵，亦復如是。又如勇士，疑石為虎，箭至沒鏃；箭非剋石，石非受矢，菩薩摩訶薩不思議精進，亦復如是。又如有人遠行，獨宿空舍，夜中有鬼，擔一死人，來著其前；復有一鬼，隨逐瞋罵云：「是我物！」先鬼言：「我自持來！」後鬼言：「實我擔來！」二鬼各執一手爭之。前鬼言：「此中有人可問。」後鬼即問：「是誰擔來？」是人思惟二鬼力大，妄語亦死，何若實語，即言：「前鬼擔來。」後鬼大嗔，捉此人手，拔斷著地；前鬼取死人一臂，附之即著，如是兩臂兩脚頭脅，舉身皆易。於是二鬼共食所易人身，拭口而去。其人思惟：「眼見我身，被鬼食盡，今此我身，盡是他肉。」即于一切時，作他身想，乃至五欲亦不貪著，是他身故，不應供養；乃至妻子，亦不生染，是他身故，不應有染；乃至種種訶斥苦辱，亦皆順受，是他身故，無復憍慢。後忽自計：「若是他者，不應有我；若非他者，他身現在。是中非他非非他，非我非非我；我亦不可得，他亦不可得，從本已來，恒自如是。」即時得知，一切法是我非我，皆為妄計。菩薩摩訶薩不思議觀力，見佛自他，亦復如是。又如貧人商丘開，信富者言，入火不燒，入水不溺，投高不折，乃至隨諸誑語皆得實寶物，而是貧人，無他術故。菩薩摩訶薩不思議貪欲，獲佛寶王，亦復如是。又如空谷隨聲發響，此響不從空來，不從谷來，不從聲來。若從空來者，空應有響；若從谷來者，應時時響；若從聲來者，呼平地時，此響亦傳；乃至非和合來，非因緣來，非自然來。菩薩摩訶薩不思議聲相，非來非去，亦復如是。又如幻人幻長者所愛馬，入小瓶中，瓶不加大，而馬跳躍如常，長者為設食已，馬繫柱如故。菩薩摩訶薩不思議幻法，變現佛剎，亦復如是。又如訶宅迦藥，人或得之，以其一兩，變千兩銅悉成真金，非千兩銅，能變此藥。菩薩摩訶薩不思議大丹，點穢成淨，亦復如是。又如有人得安繕那藥，以塗其目，雖行人中，人所不見。菩薩摩訶薩不思議藥力，於念念生中得無生身，亦復如是。又如無能勝香，若以塗鼓，其聲發時，一切敵軍皆自退散；又轉輪王有香名海藏，若燒一丸，王及四軍，皆騰虛空。菩薩摩訶薩不思議正念香，伏諸魔軍，超越三界，亦復如是。是故當知，念佛三昧不可思議！如普賢毛孔不可思議；如摩耶夫人腹不可思議；如淨名丈室不可思議；如具足優婆夷小器不可思議。何以故？一切法皆不可思議故。若有一毛頭許可思議者，即非法界性海。如上言心、言境、言有相、無相者，皆是思議法；若入此不思議解脫，即知一切分別念佛，皆為戲論。

Fourth, regarding the gate of being free from identity and free from difference, Yongming said: “If one grasps and asserts inner power, that is production from self-nature; if one asserts other-power, that becomes production from other-nature; if one says the capacities and the response meet, that is production from common nature; if one says it is neither cause nor condition, that is production without a cause. These are all obstructive attachments that have not entered complete perfection.” One should know that the Buddha's power is difficult to conceive, its profound efficacy hard to fathom. For example, when a woman touches the aśoka tree, flowers burst forth for her; this tree is without sensation of touch, yet not without sensation of touch. The inconceivable touch of mindfulness of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas is also like this. Again, it is like the flowers that grow on elephant tusks on account of thunder: the tusk is not an ear, so how could it hear? If it has no hearing, how could flowers grow? Furthermore, if thunder could produce flowers, they ought to appear on all things. The inconceivable sound-dust of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas is also like this. Again, it is like a brave warrior who mistook a stone for a tiger, and his arrow penetrated to the fletching; the arrow could not conquer the stone, nor could the stone receive the arrow. The inconceivable vigor of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas is also like this. Again, it is like a person traveling far who lodged alone in an empty house. In the night there was a demon carrying a dead man, who came and set it before him. There was another demon following closely behind, shouting in rage: “That is my possession!” The first demon said: “I brought it myself!” The second demon said: “Truly it was I who carried it!” The two demons each grabbed an arm and fought over it. The former demon said: “There is a person here who can be asked.” The latter demon then asked: “Who carried it here?” The person reflected: “The two demons are extremely powerful. If I tell a lie I will die; how much better to speak the truth!” So he said: “The former demon carried it.” The latter demon was greatly enraged, seized the person's arm, tore it off, and threw it to the ground. The former demon took one arm of the dead man and attached it, and it immediately adhered. In this manner both arms, both legs, the head, and the torso—his entire body was exchanged. Thereupon the two demons together ate the exchanged human body, wiped their mouths, and departed. The person reflected: “With my own eyes I saw my body completely eaten by the demons. Now this body of mine is entirely the flesh of another.” Thereupon at all times he regarded it as another's body: even toward the five desires he had no greedy attachment, thinking, “Since it is another's body, it should not be indulged”; even toward his wife and children he gave rise to no defilement, thinking, “Since it is another's body, it should not be defiled”; even toward various reprimands, bitter insults, and humiliations, he accepted them all submissively, thinking, “Since it is another's body, there is no more arrogance.” Later, he suddenly reasoned to himself: “If it is another's, there should be no ‘I’; if it is not another's, another's body is present now. Herein it is neither another nor not another, neither I nor not I; ‘I’ also cannot be found, and ‘another’ also cannot be found. From the very beginning, it has always been like this.” He immediately realized that all phenomena being “I” or “not I” are merely false conceptualizations. The inconceivable power of contemplation of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, seeing the self and other of the Buddha, is also like this. Again, it is like the poor man Shangqiu Kai, who believed the words of the rich man: he entered fire without being burned, entered water without drowning, and jumped from high places without breaking a bone; even according with various deceitful words, he obtained real treasures. And yet this poor man had no other art. The inconceivable desire of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, obtaining the king of buddha-jewels, is also like this. Again, it is like an empty valley producing an echo in response to a sound: this echo does not come from the emptiness, does not come from the valley, and does not come from the sound. If it came from the emptiness, the emptiness should always have an echo; if it came from the valley, it should echo at all times; if it came from the sound, when one shouts on level ground, this echo should also carry; nor does it come from combination, nor from causes and conditions, nor from nature. The inconceivable characteristics of sound of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, neither coming nor going, are also like this. Again, it is like an illusionist who conjured the elder's beloved horse into a small jar: the jar did not become larger, yet the horse pranced as usual; after the elder prepared food for them, the horse was tied to the post as before. The inconceivable illusory methods of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, transforming and manifesting buddha-lands, are also like this. Again, it is like the haṭaka medicine: if a person obtains it, with one ounce of it he transforms a thousand ounces of copper entirely into real gold; it is not that the thousand ounces of copper can transform this medicine. The inconceivable great elixir of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, transmuting the defiled into the pure, is also like this. Again, it is like a person who obtains the añjana medicine and applies it to his eyes: though he walks among people, people do not see him. The inconceivable power of the medicine of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, attaining an unproduced body in thought-moment after thought-moment of birth, is also like this. Again, it is like the unconquerable incense: if it is smeared on a drum, when its sound rings out, all enemy armies retreat and disperse of their own accord; again, the wheel-turning king has an incense named Ocean Treasury: if one pellet is burned, the king and his fourfold army all soar into the empty sky. The inconceivable incense of right mindfulness of bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, subduing the demonic armies and transcending the traidhātuka, is also like this. Therefore one should know that the samādhi of buddhānusmṛti is inconceivable! It is inconceivable like the pore of Samantabhadra; inconceivable like the womb of Lady Māyā; inconceivable like the ten-foot room of Vimalakīrti; inconceivable like the small vessel of the upāsikā Guṇavati. Why is this? Because all phenomena are inconceivable. If there were even a hair's breadth that could be conceived, it would not be the nature-ocean of the dharmadhātu. What was spoken of above as mind, as object, as with-characteristics, and as without-characteristics—these are all conceivable phenomena. If one enters this inconceivable liberation, one knows that all discriminative buddhānusmṛti is entirely conceptual proliferation.