宗鏡錄 16.5

16.5

答。畢竟空門。理無眹迹。分別之道。事有開遮。妄心者。從能所生。因分別起。發浮根之暫用。成對境之妄知。若離前塵。此心無體。因境起照。境滅照亡。隨念生塵。念空塵謝。若將此影事而為佛身。既為虛妄之因。只成斷滅之果。真心者。湛然寂照。非從境生。含虛任緣。未嘗作意。明明不昧。了了常知。舒之無蹤。卷之無迹。如澄潭瑩野。明鏡懸空。萬像森羅。豁然虛鑒。不出不入。非有非無。斯則千聖冥歸。萬靈交會。信之者。徹大道之原底。體之者。成常住之法身。祖佛同指此心而成於佛。亦名天真佛。法身佛。性佛。如如佛。亦非離妄。妄無體故。亦非即真。真非即故。真妄名盡。即離情消。妙圓覺心。方能顯現。又以本具故。方能開示。故云如來正覺心。與眾生分別心。契同無二。為開示悟入之方便。是以若眾生心與諸佛心各異。如何說開。只為契同。方垂方便。如藏中無寶。徒勞掘鑿。只為有寶。不廢人功。但發信心。終當見性。故云我為汝保任此事。終不虛也。所以云。摩尼珠。人不識。如來藏裏親收得。六般神用空不空。一顆圓光色非色。如是的指。何用別求耶。故心丹訣云。茫茫天下虛尋覓。未肯迴頭自相識。信師行到無為鄉。始覺從來枉施力。所以華嚴論云。以無明住地煩惱。便為一切諸佛不動智。一切眾生。皆自有之。只為智體。無性無依。不能自了。會緣方了。故知一切眾生。皆是佛智。不得了緣。無由覺悟。了即成佛。如大品經云。有菩薩初發心。即坐道場為如佛。所以龐居士偈云。心若如。神自虛。不服藥。病自除。白蓮華。如意珠。無勞覓。莫驅驅。智者觀財色。了了如幻虛。衣食支身命。相勸學如如。時至移庵去。無物可盈餘。又古人云。一丸療萬病。不假藥方多。

Answer: In the gate of ultimate emptiness, principle has no signs or traces. In the way of differentiation, phenomena have opening and restriction. The deluded citta is produced from subject and object, and arises due to differentiation. It gives rise to the temporary function of the superficial sense faculties, and accomplishes the deluded cognition confronting sense objects. If separated from external dust-objects, this citta has no substance. Arising illumination due to sense objects, when sense objects perish, illumination vanishes. Following thoughts, dust arises; when thoughts are empty, dust ceases. If one takes these shadowy occurrences to be the Buddha-body, since they are a false and deluded cause, they will only produce the result of annihilation.
The true citta is clear and bright, quiescent and illuminating, not produced from sense objects. Containing emptiness and according with conditions, it has never engaged in intention. Bright and unobscured, clearly and constantly aware, when stretched out it leaves no footprints, and when rolled up it leaves no traces. Like a clear pool reflecting the wild plain, or a bright mirror suspended in the sky, the myriad forms spread out in profusion, yet it openly and emptily reflects them, neither exiting nor entering, neither existent nor non-existent. This is where the thousand sages secretly return, and where the myriad spirits converge. Those who have faith in it penetrate the source and bottom of the Great Path; those who embody it accomplish the permanent dharmakāya. The ancestors and Buddhas jointly point to this citta and thereby accomplish Buddhahood. It is also called the innately true Buddha, the dharmakāya Buddha, the nature Buddha, and the tathatā Buddha.
It is neither apart from delusion, because delusion has no substance; nor is it identical with truth, because truth is not an identity. When the designations of truth and delusion are exhausted, and the sentiments of identity and departure are extinguished, the wondrously complete awakened citta can then be revealed. Furthermore, because it is inherently possessed, it can then be opened and revealed. Therefore it is said: 'The Tathāgata's right awakened citta and the discriminative citta of sentient beings accord and are identical without duality; this is the skillful means for opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering.' Therefore, if the cittas of sentient beings and the cittas of all Buddhas were each different, how could one speak of opening? Only because they accord and are identical does one bestow skillful means. If there were no treasure in the storehouse, digging and excavating would be in vain; only because there is a treasure is human effort not wasted. If one only generates faith, one will ultimately see the nature. Therefore it is said: 'I guarantee this matter for you; it will never be in vain.'
Hence it is said:
'The maṇi jewel, people do not know; / Within the tathāgatagarbha it is personally retrieved. / Six kinds of divine functions are empty and not empty; / A single round light is form and not form.'
With such direct pointing, what need is there to seek elsewhere? Therefore the Secret of the Citta-Elixir says:
'Vastly beneath heaven they search in vain, / Unwilling to turn their heads and recognize it themselves. / Trusting the master to travel to the land of non-action, / Only then does one realize that one has always wasted effort.'
Therefore the Treatise on the Avataṃsaka says: 'The kleśas of the ground of avidyā are immediately the unshakeable wisdom of all Buddhas. All sentient beings possess it inherently of themselves. It is only because the substance of wisdom has no nature and no support that it cannot comprehend itself; only by meeting conditions does it comprehend.' Thus we know that all sentient beings are the Buddha's wisdom; without obtaining the conditions for comprehension, they have no way to be awakened. When comprehended, they immediately become Buddhas. As the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra says: 'There is a bodhisattva who, upon first generating the citta, immediately sits at the place of awakening and is like a Buddha.' Therefore Layman Pang's verse says:
'If the citta is like tathatā, the spirit is naturally empty. / Without taking medicine, the disease is naturally removed. / The white lotus flower, the wish-fulfilling jewel: / No need to labor in search, do not scurry about. / The wise observe wealth and sex, / Clearly understanding them to be like illusions and emptiness. / Food and clothing support the body and life; / Mutually we encourage studying suchness. / When the time comes, move the hut away; / There are no things left over.'
Also the ancients said: 'A single pill cures ten thousand diseases; there is no need for many prescriptions.'