宗鏡錄 12.5

12.5

答。因凡立聖。聖本無名。從俗顯真。真元不立。並依世俗文字。對待而生。文字又空。空亦無寄。若是上機大士。胡假名相發揚。對境而念念知宗。遇緣而心心契道。如大智度論云。如經說。師子雷音佛國。寶樹莊嚴。其樹常出無量法音。所謂一切法畢竟空。無生無滅等。其土人民。生便聞此法音。故不起惡心。得無生法忍。當此之時。何處有三寶名字。但了無生之旨。自然一體。三寶。常現世間。若取差別之名。即失真常之理。但了一切法。無自性。則一切處佛出世。無一法而非宗。如先德云。佛出世者。今如來出現。全以塵無性。法界緣起。菩提涅槃。以為如來身也。此身通三世間。是故於一切國土。一切眾生。一切事物。一切緣起。一切業報。一切塵毛等。各各顯現菩提涅槃等。為佛出世也。若一處不了。即不成佛。亦不出現。何以故。由不了處。仍是無明。是故不成佛。不出現也。是以諸佛出世。知機知時。俯為下根。示生減劫。空拳誘引。黃葉提撕。若上上機人。則諸佛不出不沒。故經云。有佛無佛。性相常住。華嚴經頌云。如心諸佛爾。如佛眾生然。心佛與眾生。是三無差別。只是一法。名別理同。何者。覺此無依無住絕待不思議心不動時。入十信之初。號不動智佛。不覺此絕待真心。不守自性隨緣差別時。名法身。流轉五道。號曰眾生。但有迷悟之名。不離一心之體。更有何法而作凡聖名字為差別乎。如文殊般若經云。佛言。佛法無上耶。文殊答。無有一法如微塵許名為無上。又經云。如世尊說此法時。無有菩薩得是三昧諸陀羅尼門。亦復無彼諸佛所說語言句義。乃至不說一文字句。無人聽聞。無人得解。無人成佛。如此等法。是實言者。於後末世。五百歲時。此經法門弘閻浮提。遍行流布。熾然不滅。是真實語。

Answer: The sage is established in relation to the ordinary; the sage is originally nameless. The true is revealed through the conventional; the true is fundamentally unestablished. Both arise in mutual dependence upon worldly words and letters. Words and letters are themselves empty, and emptiness also has nothing to adhere to. If it is a person of superior capacity, why would they rely on names and characteristics to illuminate it? Confronting objects, with every thought they know the source; encountering conditions, with every thought they accord with the Way. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'As the sūtra explains, the buddha-realm of Lion's Thunder is adorned with jewel trees. These trees constantly emit immeasurable voices of the Dharma, namely, that all phenomena are ultimately empty, non-arising and non-ceasing, and so forth. When the people of that land are born, they immediately hear this Dharma voice, and so they do not give rise to evil thoughts and attain the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas.' At such a time, where are there the names of the Three Jewels? Merely by comprehending the principle of non-arising, spontaneously the Three Jewels are of one essence and ever-present in the world. If one grasps at differentiated names, one loses the principle of the true and eternal. If one merely comprehends that all dharmas are without self-nature, then in all places buddhas appear in the world, and there is not a single dharma that is not the source. As a previous master said: 'That buddhas appear in the world means that now the Tathāgata's appearance entirely takes the lack of nature in dust motes, the dependent origination of the dharmadhātu, and bodhi and nirvāṇa as the Tathāgata's body. This body pervades the three worlds. Therefore, in all realms, all sentient beings, all things, all dependent origination, all karmic retributions, and all dust motes and hairs, bodhi and nirvāṇa and so forth are each manifested as a buddha appearing in the world. If in one place one does not comprehend this, then one does not become a buddha, nor does [a buddha] appear. Why is this? Because that place not comprehended remains avidyā; therefore one does not become a buddha, nor does [a buddha] appear.' Therefore, when the buddhas appear in the world, knowing the capacity and knowing the time, they condescend for those of lesser faculties, manifesting birth in a kalpa of decrease, enticing with an empty fist and warning with yellow leaves. For persons of the highest capacity, the buddhas neither appear nor disappear. Hence the sūtra says: 'Whether there is a buddha or no buddha, the nature and characteristics abide constantly.' A verse in the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'As is the mind, so are the buddhas; as are the buddhas, so are sentient beings. Mind, buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without differentiation.' It is merely one dharma; the names differ, but the principle is the same. What is this? When one awakens to this unreliant, unstaying, non-relative, inconceivable mind in its unmoving state, entering the beginning of the ten faiths, it is called the Buddha of Unmoving Wisdom. When one does not awaken to this non-relative true mind, and failing to maintain its self-nature it differentiates in accordance with conditions, it is called the dharmakāya transmigrating in the five destinies, designated as 'sentient beings.' There are only the designations of delusion and awakening, which are never apart from the substance of the one mind. What other dharma is there to make differentiated names of ordinary and sacred? As the Mañjuśrīprajñāpāramitāsūtra says: 'The Buddha said: "Is the Buddha-Dharma supreme?" Mañjuśrī replied: "There is not a single dharma as small as a fine dust mote that can be called supreme."' Furthermore, a sūtra says: 'As when the World-Honoured One preached this Dharma, there was no bodhisattva who attained these samādhis and gateways of dhāraṇī, nor were there the words, phrases, and meanings spoken by those buddhas, up to not speaking a single word or phrase, with no person listening, no person understanding, and no person becoming a buddha. If such teachings as these are true words, then in the future Latter Age, after five hundred years, this sūtra and Dharma gateway will be propagated in Jambudvīpa, circulating everywhere, blazing and unextinguished. These are true words.'