少室六門 1.91

1.91

問。如溫室經說。洗浴眾僧。獲福無量。此則憑於事法。功德始成。若為觀心可相應乎。答。洗浴眾僧者。非世間有為事也。世尊甞為諸弟子。說溫室經。欲令受持洗浴之法。其溫室者。即身是也。所以燃智慧火。溫淨戒湯。沐浴身中真如佛性。受持七法。以自莊嚴。當日比丘聰明上智。皆悟聖意。如說修行。功德成就。俱登聖果。今時眾生莫測其事。將世間水。洗質礙身。自謂依經。豈非誤也。且真如佛性。非是凡形煩惱塵垢。本來無相。豈可將質礙水洗無為身。事不相應。云何悟道。若欲身得淨者。當觀此身。本因貪欲不淨所生。臭穢駢闐。內外充滿。若洗此身求於淨者。猶如洗塹。塹盡方淨。以此驗之。明知洗外非佛說也。是故假世事。比喻真宗。隱說七事供養功德。其事有七。云何為七。一者淨水。二者燃火。三者澡豆。四者楊枝。五者淨灰。六者蘇膏。七者內衣。舉此七事。喻於七法。一切眾生由此七法。沐浴莊嚴。能除毒心無明垢穢。其七法者。一者淨戒。洗蕩愆非。猶如淨水濯諸塵垢。二者智慧。觀察內外。猶如燃火能溫淨水。三者分別。簡棄諸惡。猶如澡豆能淨垢膩。四者真實。斷諸妄想。猶如楊枝能消口氣。五者正信。決定無疑。猶如淨灰摩身障風。六者柔和。忍辱甘受。猶如蘇膏通潤皮膚。七者慚愧。悔諸惡業。猶如內衣遮醜形體。如上七法是經中祕密之義。皆是為諸大乘利根者說。非為少智下劣凡夫。所以今人無能解悟。竊見今時淺識。唯知事相為功。廣費財寶。多傷水陸。妄營像塔。虛役人夫。積木疊泥。圖青畫綠。傾心盡力。損己迷他。未解慚愧。何曾覺悟。見有為則勤勤愛著。說無為則兀兀如迷。且貪現世之小慈。豈覺當來之大苦。此之修學。徒自疲勞。背正歸邪。誰言獲福。但能攝心內照。覺觀外明。絕三毒永使銷亡。閉六賊不令侵擾。自然恒沙功德。種種莊嚴。無數法門。一一成就。超凡證聖。目擊非遙。悟在須臾。何煩皓首。真門幽祕。寧可具陳。略述觀心。說其少分。而說偈言。

Question: As the Wen Shi Jing (Sūtra on the Bathhouse) states, bathing the Saṅgha obtains immeasurable blessings. Here, merit is brought about only by relying on concrete matters. How can this correspond to contemplating the mind?
Answer: Bathing the Saṅgha is not a conditioned, worldly affair. The World-Honoured One once taught the Wen Shi Jing for his disciples, intending them to accept and uphold the method of bathing. The 'bathhouse' is the body itself. Thus, one lights the fire of wisdom, warms the water of the pure precepts, and bathes the tathatā-Buddha-nature within the body, accepting and upholding seven methods to adorn oneself. The monks of that day were endowed with keen faculties and superior wisdom; all awakened to the sage's intent, practiced in accordance with the teaching, accomplished merit, and together attained the holy fruition. Today's sentient beings do not fathom these matters; applying worldly water to wash their physical bodies, they claim to rely on the sūtra—how could this not be an error? Furthermore, the tathatā-Buddha-nature is not a mortal form or the dust and defilement of affliction; originally it is without marks. How could one use physical water to wash the unconditioned body? The matter does not correspond; how could one awaken to the Way? If you wish to purify the body, you must contemplate that this body is originally born from the impurities of greedy desire, filled and packed with stench and filth inside and out. If you wash this body seeking purity, it is like washing a ditch: only when the ditch is exhausted would it be pure. Testing it by this, one clearly knows that washing the exterior is not what the Buddha taught. Therefore, worldly affairs are used as an analogy for the true principle, implicitly speaking of the merits of seven items of offering. There are seven items. What are the seven? First, pure water; second, kindled fire; third, bath-powder; fourth, tooth-sticks; fifth, pure ash; sixth, ghee-ointment; seventh, inner garments. These seven items are presented as metaphors for seven dharmas. Through these seven dharmas, all sentient beings bathe and adorn themselves, able to eliminate the defilement of the poisonous mind and ignorance. The seven dharmas are: first, pure precepts, which wash away offenses, just as pure water washes off all dust and defilement; second, wisdom, which observes inside and out, just as kindled fire warms pure water; third, discernment, which selects and casts away all evils, just as bath-powder cleanses grease and dirt; fourth, truthfulness, which cuts off all false thoughts, just as tooth-sticks eliminate foul breath; fifth, right faith, which is resolute and without doubt, just as pure ash rubbed on the body blocks the wind; sixth, gentleness, which patiently endures and gladly receives, just as ghee-ointment softens the skin; seventh, shame and conscience, which repents of all evil karmas, just as inner garments cover the unsightly body. The seven dharmas above are the secret meaning in the sūtra, spoken entirely for those of the Mahāyāna with keen faculties, not for ordinary people of meager wisdom and low inferiority. Therefore people of today cannot understand or awaken. I observe that those of shallow knowledge today recognize only concrete forms as merit: squandering wealth, harming life on water and land, vainly building statues and stūpas, uselessly toiling laborers, piling wood and stacking mud, painting in blue and green, exhausting mind and effort, harming oneself and deluding others. Having no sense of shame, when could they ever awaken? Seeing the conditioned, they are avidly attached; hearing of the unconditioned, they are blank as if lost. Greedy for the small benevolence of the present world, how could they realize the great suffering of the future? Such cultivation is futile toil. Turning away from the right and returning to the heterodox, who says one obtains blessings? If only one can collect the mind to illuminate within, with insight clearly perceiving outside, permanently putting an end to the three poisons, and closing off the six thieves so that they do not invade, then naturally merits numerous as the sands of the Ganges, various adornments, and countless Dharma-gates will each be accomplished. Transcending the ordinary and realizing the sage is visible right before one's eyes and not distant; awakening is in an instant, why trouble oneself until old age? The true gate is profound and secret; how could it be fully described? I have briefly set forth contemplation of the mind, speaking a small part of it. And so a gāthā is spoken: