宗鏡錄 100.45

100.45

答。解脫心者。本來自有。視之不見。聽之不聞。搏之不得。眾生日用而不知。此之是也。此乃直指。目擊道存。今古常然。凡聖共有。夫宗鏡所錄。皆是佛說。設有菩薩製作。法師解釋。亦是達佛說意。順佛所言。以此土眾生。皆以聞慧入三摩地故。須以音聲為佛事。顯示正義。破除邪執。非言不通。此有二義。一者約畢竟門。則實不可說。如起信論云。一切諸法。從本已來。離言說相。離名字相。離心緣相。又云。復次究竟離妄執者。當知染法淨法。皆悉相待。無有自相可說。是故一切法。從本已來。非色非心。非智非識。非有非無。畢竟不可說相。而有言說者。當知如來善巧方便。假以言說。引導眾生。得其旨趣者。皆為離念歸於真如。以念一切法。令心生滅。不入實智故。此是引導一切初發菩提心人。且令自利。理行成就。歸於實智。究竟指歸宗鏡矣。二者約方便門。是利他行。故云如來善巧方便。假以言說。引導眾生。又不可一向執發言為非。起念成過。何者以即言無言。即念無念。是知言言契道。念念歸宗。若分別門。不無二說。若畢竟門。言思絕矣。

[The Master] replied: "The liberated mind is originally present of itself. Look at it, and it is not seen; listen to it, and it is not heard; grasp at it, and it cannot be gotten. Sentient beings use it daily without knowing it—this is it. This is directly pointing [to it]: upon meeting the eye, the Dao is present; past and present it is ever so, common to ordinary beings and sages alike. Now, all that is recorded in this Mirror of the Source is what the Buddha taught. Even if there are compositions by bodhisattvas and expositions by Dharma masters, these too have penetrated the Buddha's intended meaning and accord with what the Buddha said. Because sentient beings in this realm all enter samādhi through the wisdom of hearing, one must use sound to perform the Buddha's work, revealing the correct meaning and shattering heterodox attachments. Without words, there is no communication. In this there are two meanings: First, in terms of the ultimate approach, it is truly ineffable. As the *Treatise on the Awakening of Faith* says: 'All dharmas from the beginningless past are free from the characteristics of verbal expression, free from the characteristics of names and letters, and free from the characteristics of mental conditioning.' It also says: 'Furthermore, regarding the ultimate freedom from deluded attachments, one should know that defiled dharmas and pure dharmas are all mutually relative and have no self-characteristics that can be spoken of. Therefore, all dharmas from the beginningless past are neither matter nor mind, neither wisdom nor consciousness, neither existent nor non-existent; their characteristics are ultimately ineffable. That there is verbal expression—one should know this is the Tathāgata's skillful means, provisionally employing speech to guide sentient beings. Those who grasp its import do so entirely to transcend thought and return to tathatā, because thinking of any dharma causes the mind to arise and perish, failing to enter real wisdom.' This is to guide all people who first generate the bodhi-mind, temporarily enabling them to benefit themselves, bring principle and practice to completion, return to real wisdom, and ultimately point the way back to the mirror of the source. Second, in terms of the approach of skillful means, it is the practice of benefiting others. Hence it is said that the Tathāgata, by skillful means, provisionally employs speech to guide sentient beings. Moreover, one must not unconditionally hold that uttering words is wrong and that giving rise to thoughts constitutes a fault. Why? Because right in words there are no words, and right in thoughts there are no thoughts. Thus one knows that word after word accords with the Dao, and thought after thought returns to the source. If viewed through the approach of differentiation, there are indeed two assertions; if viewed through the ultimate approach, words and thoughts are utterly severed."