[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › 14.7 # 宗鏡錄 14.7 宗鏡錄 14.7 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [14.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.7) 答。應成四句。一是佛。法性身無所不至故。經云。性空即是佛故。二非佛。絕能所覺為其性故。平等真法界。非佛非眾生故。三亦佛非佛。以法性身無自性故。四雙非。性與無性。雙泯絕故。經頌云。無中無有二。無二亦復無。三世一切空。是則諸佛見。二就相門有二。一情。二非情。真心隨緣。變能所故。然此二門。各分染淨。謂無明熏真如成染緣起。真如熏無明成淨緣起。染成萬類。淨至成佛。以修淨緣。斷彼染緣。方得成佛。依此二義。則生佛不同。於淨緣中。復有因果。因有純雜。果有依正。若約純門。隨一菩薩。盡未來際。唯修一行。一一皆然。若約雜門。萬行齊修。盡未來際。若約因門。盡未來際。常是菩薩。若約果門。盡未來際。常是如來。經云。為眾生故。念念新新。成等正覺。若雙辯門。盡未來際。修因得果。若約雙非。盡未來際。非因非果。便同真性。前之三門。雙具悲智。雙融心境。第三性相交徹門。曲有四門。一以性隨相。同第二門。二寄相歸性。同第一門。三雙存無礙。具上二門。依此則悲智雙運。性相齊驅。寂照雙流。成大自在。四互奪雙亡。則性相俱絕。沒同果海。無成不成。第四以性融相門。相雖萬差。無不即性。性德無盡。全在相中。以性融相。相如於性。令上諸門。皆無障礙。因果交徹。純雜相融。事事相參。重重無盡。今就性門四句之內。是即佛門。不取餘三。就相門中。約有情門。是淨非染。是果非因。是一分義。非此所用。就交徹門。佛則性相雙融。生則會相歸性。今經正約第四。以性融相。一成一切皆成。謂以佛之淨性。融生之染。以佛一性。融生之多。令多染生。隨一真性。皆如於佛。已成佛竟。非唯有情。會。萬類相。融為佛體。無不皆成。故肇公云。會萬物而成已者。其唯聖人乎。又云。故聖人空同其體。萬物無非我。以佛之性融於物性。同佛皆成。以物之性融佛之相故。令三業等於萬類。即今經意。而非餘門。故云隨門不同。今是成佛門也。頓教多同約性四門。終教即同性相交徹。始教有二門。幻有即空。同會相歸性。但唯心現。多同第二。小乘人天。皆同相門。由此有云。無情成佛。是約性相相融。以情之性。融無情相。以無情相。隨性融同有情之相。故說無情。有成佛義。若以無情不成佛義。融情之相。亦得說言。諸佛眾生不成佛也。以成與不成。情與無情。無二性故。法界無限故。佛體普周故。色空無二故。法無定性故。十身圓融故。緣起相由故。生界無盡故。為因周遍故。遠離斷常故。萬法虛融故。故說一成一切成也。非謂無情亦有覺性。同情成佛。若許此成。則能修因。無情變情。情變無情。便同邪見。是以性非巧拙。解有精麁。智妙而見在須臾。機鈍而悟經塵劫。所以古德云。夫佛體幽玄非即色蘊。亦不離色蘊。一異性空。真性自現。如密嚴經偈云。碎抹於金鑛。鑛中不見金。智者巧融鍊。真金方乃顯。分剖於諸色。乃至為極微。及析求諸蘊。若一若異性。佛體不可見。亦非無有佛。且如悟入宗鏡中。成佛不離一念。若前念是凡。後念是聖。此猶別教所收。今不動無明。全成正覺。故華嚴論云。如將寶位。直授凡庸。如夜夢千秋。覺已隨滅。傅大士白梁武帝云。今欲將如意寶珠。清淨解脫。照徹十方。光色微妙。難可思議。意欲施於人主。若受者。疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。故知若一念決定信受者。不間剎那。便登覺位。如維摩經云。維摩詰言。然汝等便發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心。是即出家。是即具足。又法華經云。爾時龍女。有一寶珠。價直三千大千世界。持以上佛。佛即受之。龍女謂智積菩薩尊者舍利弗言。我獻寶珠。世尊納受。是事疾不。答言。甚疾。女言。以汝神力觀我成佛。復速於此。故知一切含生。心珠朗耀。理無前後。明昧隨機。或因鬪而隱膚中。對明鏡而顯現。或因遊而沈水底。在安徐而得之。或處輪王髻中。建大功而受賜。或繫貧人衣裏。惺智願而猶存。宗鏡明文。同證於此。如是信者。究竟無餘。即是一念知一切法。是道場。成就一切智故。據此諸聖開示。心佛了然。設有抱疑退屈之者。雖未信受。若成佛之理。未曾暫虧。如人不識真金。認為銅鐵。銅鐵但有虛名。金性未曾暫變。如今執者。不知本是。却謂今非。亦匪昔迷。而方始悟。如上廣引。委曲證明。只為即生死中。有不思議性。於塵勞內。具大菩提身。以障重之人。聞皆不信。甘稱絕分。唯言我是凡夫。既不能承紹佛乘弘持法器。遂乃一向順眾生之業。背覺合塵。生死之海彌深。煩惱之籠轉密。所以遍集祖佛言教。頓釋群疑。令於言下發明。直見無生自性。方知與佛無異。萬法本同。始信真詮。有茲深益。 > Answer: It should be formulated in four propositions. First, it is the Buddha, because the dharmatā-kāya is omnipresent. As the sūtra states: 'The emptiness of nature is precisely the Buddha.' Second, it is not the Buddha, because its nature is to transcend both the subject and object of awakening; and because the impartial, true dharmadhātu is neither Buddha nor sentient beings. Third, it is both Buddha and not Buddha, because the dharmatā-kāya has no svabhāva. Fourth, it is neither, because both nature and lack of nature are equally obliterated and cut off. A verse in a sūtra says: 'Within non-existence there is no duality, / nor is there even non-duality. / All things in the three times are empty: / this is the vision of the Buddhas.' > > Second, regarding the approach through characteristics, there are two aspects: first, the sentient; second, the insentient. This is because the true mind, following conditions, transforms into subject and object. However, these two gates are each divided into defiled and pure: avidyā perfuming tathatā constitutes defiled dependent arising, while tathatā perfuming avidyā constitutes pure dependent arising. The defiled brings about the myriad varieties \[of beings\]; the pure culminates in the attainment of Buddhahood. By cultivating pure conditions and severing those defiled conditions, one then attains Buddhahood. According to these two meanings, sentient beings and the Buddha are distinct. Within pure conditions, there are furthermore cause and fruit. Cause has the pure and the mixed; fruit has the dependent and proper \[retributions\]. If taken through the approach of purity, any single bodhisattva, to the end of future time, cultivates only a single practice, and each and every one does likewise. If taken through the approach of mixture, the myriad practices are cultivated simultaneously to the end of future time. If taken through the approach of cause, to the end of future time one is always a bodhisattva. If taken through the approach of fruit, to the end of future time one is always a tathāgata. As the sūtra says: 'For the sake of sentient beings, in thought-instant after thought-instant ever new, they realize equal and correct awakening.' If taken through the approach of addressing both, to the end of future time one cultivates the cause and attains the fruit. If taken through the approach of negating both, to the end of future time there is neither cause nor fruit, which then accords with the true nature. The preceding three approaches completely possess both compassion and wisdom, and completely fuse citta and object. > > Third, the approach of the mutual penetration of nature and characteristics intricately contains four approaches: 1. Taking nature to follow characteristics: identical with the second approach. 2. Basing on characteristics to return to nature: identical with the first approach. 3. Both persisting without obstruction: possessing both of the above approaches. Relying on this, compassion and wisdom are operated in tandem, nature and characteristics proceed side by side, and quiescence and illumination flow together, accomplishing great mastery. 4. Mutual deprivation and dual obliteration: then nature and characteristics are both cut off, submerging identically into the ocean of the fruit, with neither attainment nor non-attainment. > > Fourth, the approach of harmonizing characteristics through nature: although characteristics are of ten thousand varieties, none is not identical with nature. The boundless virtues of the nature reside wholly within characteristics. When harmonizing characteristics through nature, characteristics are like the nature, causing all the above approaches to be free from obstruction: cause and fruit interpenetrate, pure and mixed fuse together, phenomenon and phenomenon intermingle, layer upon layer without end. > > Now, among the four propositions of the approach through nature, this is the approach of 'being the Buddha'; it does not take the other three. Among the approaches through characteristics, regarding the approach of sentient beings, it is pure and not defiled, fruit and not cause; it is a one-sided meaning and not what is used here. Regarding the approach of mutual penetration, for the Buddha, nature and characteristics are dually fused; for sentient beings, characteristics are gathered to return to the nature. Now, this sūtra is precisely concerned with the fourth: harmonizing characteristics through nature, wherein when one attains, all attain. That is, by means of the Buddha's pure nature, the defilement of sentient beings is harmonized; by means of the Buddha's one nature, the multiplicity of sentient beings is harmonized, causing the many defiled beings, following the one true nature, to all be like the Buddha, having already attained Buddhahood. It is not only sentient beings: gathering the characteristics of the myriad classes and harmonizing them into the Buddha's substance, there are none that do not all attain. Therefore Master Zhao said: 'Is it not only the sage who can gather the ten thousand things to form himself?' And he also said: 'Therefore the sage empties and unifies his substance, so that none of the ten thousand things is not oneself.' By harmonizing the nature of things with the nature of the Buddha, together with the Buddha they all attain. Because the nature of things is harmonized with the characteristics of the Buddha, the three karmic activities are made equal to the myriad classes. This is precisely the meaning of the present sūtra, and not the other approaches. Therefore it is said that they vary according to the approaches; this is now the approach of attaining Buddhahood. > > The Sudden Teaching mostly accords with the four approaches regarding nature. The Final Teaching is identical with the mutual penetration of nature and characteristics. The Initial Teaching has two approaches: illusory existence being identical with emptiness is identical with gathering characteristics to return to nature; but manifestation solely through citta mostly accords with the second. The Hīnayāna, humans, and devas all accord with the approach of characteristics. From this it is said: the attainment of Buddhahood by the insentient is based on the mutual fusion of nature and characteristics. By means of the nature of the sentient, the characteristics of the insentient are harmonized; by means of the characteristics of the insentient, following the nature they are harmonized and made identical with the characteristics of the sentient. Therefore it is said that the insentient has the meaning of attaining Buddhahood. If one uses the meaning that the insentient does not attain Buddhahood to harmonize the characteristics of the sentient, one may also say that Buddhas and sentient beings do not attain Buddhahood. This is because attainment and non-attainment, the sentient and the insentient, have no dual nature; because the dharmadhātu is boundless; because the Buddha's substance is all-pervading; because form and emptiness are non-dual; because dharmas have no fixed nature; because the ten bodies are completely fused; because dependent arising depends mutually; because the realm of sentient beings is inexhaustible; because serving as cause is pervasive; because it is far removed from annihilation and permanence; and because the ten thousand dharmas are empty and fused. Therefore it is said that when one attains, all attain. It does not mean that the insentient also possesses an awakening nature and attains Buddhahood along with the sentient. If such attainment were admitted, then it could cultivate causes: the insentient would become sentient, and the sentient would become insentient, which would then be identical with wrong view. > > Therefore, the nature is neither clever nor clumsy, but understanding has the refined and the coarse. When wisdom is wondrous, seeing occurs in a mere instant; when capacity is dull, awakening traverses kalpas as numerous as dust motes. Therefore an ancient worthy said: 'The Buddha's substance is profound and mysterious; it is neither identical with the form aggregate nor apart from the form aggregate. The natures of identity and difference being empty, the true nature reveals itself.' As a verse in the Ghanavyūhasūtra says: 'Pound and grind gold ore, / and within the ore gold is not seen. / When the wise skilfully smelt and refine it, / only then does the true gold appear. / Analyze all forms / even down to the subtlest atoms, / and dissect and seek the aggregates / as of an identical or different nature: / the Buddha's substance cannot be seen, / yet nor is it that the Buddha does not exist.' > > Furthermore, when one awakens and enters into the Mirror of the Source, attaining Buddhahood is not apart from a single thought. If the prior thought is ordinary and the subsequent thought is noble, this is still subsumed under the Separate Teaching. Now, without moving avidyā, it entirely becomes correct awakening. Therefore the Huayan Treatise says: 'It is like directly bestowing the precious throne upon an ordinary commoner; it is like a night dream of a thousand autumns, which upon waking instantly vanishes.' Mahāsattva Fu said to Emperor Wu of Liang: 'Now I wish to take the wish-fulfilling jewel—pure and liberated, illuminating the ten directions, its colors subtle and inconceivable—and desire to bestow it upon the sovereign of men. If you receive it, you will swiftly attain anuttarā samyaksambodhi.' Therefore we know that if in a single thought one resolves to faithfully accept it, without the interval of a kṣaṇa one ascends the rank of awakening. As the Vimalakīrtisūtra says: 'Vimalakīrti said: "If you just give rise to the mind of anuttarā samyaksambodhi, this is itself leaving home, this is itself full ordination."' Also, the Lotus Sūtra says: 'At that time the dragon girl had a precious jewel, worth the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, and held it to offer to the Buddha. The Buddha immediately accepted it. The dragon girl said to Bodhisattva Prajñākūṭa and the Venerable Śāriputra: "I offered the precious jewel and the World-Honoured One accepted it; was this swift or not?" They answered: "Extremely swift." The girl said: "With your spiritual power watch me attain Buddhahood; it is swifter even than this."' Therefore we know that for all sentient beings, the jewel of citta shines brilliantly; in principle there is no before and after, but brightness and obscurity follow capacity. In some cases, because of a fight it is concealed within the flesh, and is revealed before a clear mirror; in some, through swimming it sinks to the bottom of the water, and is obtained when one is calm and patient; in some, it resides in the topknot of a cakravartin, and is bestowed for accomplishing great merit; in some, it is tied within a poor man's garment, and still remains when his wish of wisdom is awakened. The clear texts of the Mirror of the Source together testify to this. > > One who has faith like this is completely without remainder: this is in a single thought knowing that all dharmas are the bodhimanda, because of accomplishing sarvākārajñatā. Relying on these instructions of the sages, citta and Buddha are clearly understood. Even if there are those who harbor doubts and fall back, though they have not yet faithfully accepted it, the principle of attaining Buddhahood has never for a moment been deficient. It is like someone who does not recognize true gold and takes it to be copper or iron; copper and iron have only empty names, while the nature of the gold has never for a moment changed. Those who cling to views nowadays do not know what is originally so, but conversely say that it is wrong now; nor was there past delusion such that one is only now beginning to awaken. The extensive citations above provide detailed and thorough proof, simply because right within birth-and-death there is an inconceivable nature, and within defilements one possesses the great bodhi-kāya. Because those with heavy obstructions hear this and none believe, being content to declare that they have no share and only saying 'I am an ordinary person,' they are unable to succeed to the Buddha vehicle and maintain the vessel of the Dharma. Consequently they completely accord with the karma of sentient beings, turning their backs on awakening to join with dust; the ocean of birth-and-death becomes ever deeper, and the cage of kleśas grows ever tighter. Therefore, the spoken teachings of the patriarchs and Buddhas have been gathered everywhere to suddenly resolve all doubts, causing people to be enlightened upon the words and directly see their own unproduced nature. Only then do they know that they are not different from the Buddha, and that the ten thousand dharmas are originally identical; only then do they believe that the true teaching has this profound benefit. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 14.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.6) - [Next: 14.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.8) - [Up: 14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.7) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (2) - [妙法蓮華經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.saddharmapundarika*zh-kumarajiva.4.98) — Classical Chinese - [添品妙法蓮華經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.sanskrit.mahayanasutra.saddharmapundarika*zh-jnanagupta.4.80) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.7) · Pramāṇa