[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) › 17.19 # 宗鏡錄 17.19 宗鏡錄 17.19 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [17.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17.19) 答。今明闡提不斷性德之善。遇緣善發。佛亦不斷性惡。機緣所激。慈力所熏。入阿鼻。同一切惡事化眾生。以有性惡。故名不斷。無復修惡。名不常。若修性俱盡。則是斷。不得為不斷不常。闡提亦爾。性善不斷。還生善根。如來性惡不斷。還能起惡。而是解心無染。通達惡際即是實際。能以五逆相而得解脫。亦不縛不脫。行非道而通佛道。闡提染而不達。與此為異也。何謂不達。以不了無性故。是以善惡諸法。皆以無性為性。此性。即是佛性。即無住本。即法性故。此善惡性。不可斷也。即今推自心性不可得。即無住處。能遍一切處。即善惡性也。性無善惡。能生善惡。善惡可斷。性不可斷。善惡同以心性為性。若斷性惡。則斷心性。性不可斷。所以闡提不斷性善。縱墮三塗。性善不減。性惡不增。直至成佛。性善不增。性惡不減。此性即法身也。猶如明鏡。本無好醜眾像。能現一切好醜眾像。像有增減。明淨光體。不增不減也。鏡本無像。故能現像。佛性無善惡。能現善惡。眾生不得性。但得善惡。為善惡所拘。不得自在也。性善不壞。故地獄發佛界善。性惡不壞。故佛能現六趣惡。又性者。即是善惡等諸法之性。遍十方三世眾生國土等。一切處。無有變異。不增不減。能現善惡凡聖垢淨因果等。從性而起。故云性善性惡。若善惡等。即無定相。隨緣搆習。如鏡中像。無體可得。若遇淨緣即善。若因染緣即惡。從修而得。故名修善修惡。若論性善。不唯闡提。若論性惡。不唯諸佛。以是善惡諸法之性故。即一切眾生。皆悉具有。一際平等。若覺了此性。即便成佛。故能示聖現凡。自在無礙。若論修善修惡。於上中下根。即不可定。隨修成之厚薄。任力量之淺深。得世間報而六趣昇沈。成出世果而四聖高下。以不了善惡之性故。為善惡業之所拘。而不自在。若見性達道。何道不成。則法法標宗。塵塵契旨。豈唯善惡二法。而得自在耶。 > Answer: We now clarify that the icchantika does not sever the good of inherent virtue; meeting conditions, good is activated. The Buddha likewise does not sever the evil of the nature; stimulated by conditions of capacity and perfumed by the power of compassion, he enters Avīci and shares in all evil matters to transform sentient beings. Because inherent evil exists, it is called unsevered; because cultivated evil is no more, it is called impermanent. If both cultivated and inherent were exhausted, that would be severed, and could not be called neither severed nor permanent. The icchantika is also like this: the good of the nature is unsevered, so he gives birth to good roots again; the Tathāgata's evil of the nature is unsevered, so he is still able to raise evil, yet with an understanding citta that is untainted, thoroughly realizing that the boundary of evil is precisely the limit of reality. He is able through the characteristics of the five heinous deeds to attain liberation, yet is neither bound nor liberated; practicing what is not the Path, he penetrates the Buddha-Path. The icchantika is tainted and does not comprehend; herein lies the difference. What does it mean not to comprehend? It is because he does not understand the absence of nature. Therefore, all good and evil phenomena take the absence of nature as their nature. This nature is precisely the Buddha-nature, precisely the unlocated root, precisely because it is the dharmatā. This nature of good and evil cannot be severed. Inquiring right now into the nature of one's own citta, it is unattainable; that is, having no abode, it can pervade all places—this is the nature of good and evil. The nature has neither good nor evil, yet can generate good and evil. Good and evil can be severed; the nature cannot be severed. Good and evil alike take the nature of citta as their nature. If one severs the evil of the nature, one severs the nature of citta. The nature cannot be severed; therefore, the icchantika does not sever the good of the nature. Even if falling into the three destinies, the good of the nature does not decrease, and the evil of the nature does not increase; straight through to Buddhahood, the good of the nature does not increase, and the evil of the nature does not decrease. This nature is precisely the dharmakāya. It is like a bright mirror: originally lacking all beautiful and ugly images, it can manifest all beautiful and ugly images. Images have increase and decrease, but the bright and pure luminous substance neither increases nor decreases. Because the mirror originally has no images, it can manifest images; Buddha-nature has neither good nor evil, so it can manifest good and evil. Sentient beings do not attain the nature; they only attain good and evil, and being constrained by good and evil, they cannot attain sovereignty. Because the good of the nature is not destroyed, from hell the good of the Buddha-realm is activated; because the evil of the nature is not destroyed, the Buddha can manifest the evil of the six destinies. Furthermore, 'nature' is the nature of all phenomena such as good and evil, pervading sentient beings, lands, and all places throughout the ten directions and the three times, without alteration, neither increasing nor decreasing, able to manifest cause and effect, defilement and purity, ordinary beings and sages, good and evil, and so forth. Arising from the nature, they are called the good of the nature and the evil of the nature. As for good, evil, and so on, they have no fixed characteristics, but are formed through habits following conditions—like images in a mirror, no substance can be found in them. If encountering pure conditions, they are good; if due to defiled conditions, they are evil. Obtained through cultivation, they are called cultivated good and cultivated evil. If we speak of the good of the nature, it is not exclusive to the icchantika; if we speak of the evil of the nature, it is not exclusive to the Buddhas. Because it is the nature of all phenomena of good and evil, all sentient beings possess it completely, equally in a single limit. If one awakens to and comprehends this nature, one immediately becomes a Buddha; therefore, one can manifest the sage or show the ordinary being with unimpeded sovereignty. If we speak of cultivated good and cultivated evil, among superior, middling, and inferior faculties, they are not fixed: according to the thickness or thinness of cultivated attainment, depending on the shallowness or depth of one's power, one obtains worldly retribution and rises or sinks in the six destinies, or accomplishes supramundane fruits, varying among the four sages. Because of not understanding the nature of good and evil, one is constrained by good and evil karma, without sovereignty. If one sees the nature and realizes the Way, what Way would not be accomplished? Then phenomenon after phenomenon marks the source, and dust mote after dust mote accords with the purport. How could one attain sovereignty only in the two phenomena of good and evil? > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 17.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17.18) - [Next: 17.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17.20) - [Up: 17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.17.19) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.17.19) · Pramāṇa