少室六門 1.119

1.119

Question: A layperson has a wife and children, and sexual desire is not eliminated; on what basis can they become a buddha?

Answer: One only speaks of seeing the nature, not of sexual desire. It is only because of not seeing the nature [that one is bound]. As long as one attains seeing the nature, sexual desire is originally empty and tranquil; it does not depend on cutting it off, nor does one delight in and cling to it. Why? Because the nature is originally pure. Although abiding in the physical body of the five aggregates, its nature is originally pure and cannot be defiled. The dharmakāya originally has no sensation: no hunger, no thirst, no cold, no heat, no illness, no conditioned affection, no relatives, no suffering or joy, no good or evil, no short or long, no strength or weakness. Originally, not a single thing can be obtained; it is only because of clinging to the causes of this physical body that there are appearances such as hunger, thirst, cold, heat, and epidemic illnesses. If you do not cling, you are free to act as you will, attaining great freedom within birth and death, turning all phenomena, matching the sage's supernatural powers, free and unhindered, nowhere not at ease. If the mind has doubt, it definitely cannot pass through any realm. Doing nothing is best; once you act, you cannot escape wandering in birth and death. If one sees the nature, even a caṇḍāla can become a buddha.