宗鏡錄 17.21

17.21

答。約本智發明。假稱名見。非眼所覩。唯證乃知。離見非見。方名真見。涅槃經云。菩薩實無所見。無所見者。即無所有。無所有者。則一切法。是以法性無所有。菩薩則無所見。與法理會。假稱為見。實非見也。真性湛然。非是見法。經云。不行見法。諸佛速與受記。則是離斷常二邊。即見自身清淨。見身清淨。即是見佛清淨。乃至見一切法。悉皆清淨。無非是佛。無非是法。以自心性無生。順物遍一切處故。若一微塵不是佛者。則成翳障。不入普眼之門。唯墮能所之見。大集經云。梵天問海慧菩薩言。善男子。汝今了了見佛法不。梵天言。佛法非色。不可覩見。汝云何言了了見佛法耶。一切諸法。悉不可見。夫了了者。即是佛法。無有二相。是以來同水月。散若幻雲。見猶夢形。聞如谷響。覺處即現。不從方來。迷處自無。不從此去。如圓覺經云。圓覺普照。寂滅無二。於中百千萬億不可說阿僧祇恒河沙諸佛世界。猶如空華。亂起亂滅。般若假名論偈云。如來法為身。但應觀法性。法性非所見。然亦不能知。法性者。所謂空性。無生性。此即諸佛第一義身。若見於此。名為見佛。經云。以見空性。名見如來。又法性之處。無有一物可名所知。由是彼智。亦不能知。又經言。大王。一切法性。猶如虛空。等與眾物。為所依止。而其體性。非是有物。亦非無物。能知此中。寂然無知。名為了知。名為知者。隨俗言說。信解無生之福。多於寶施。如有頌言。若人持正法。及發菩提心。不如解於空。十六分之一。是以解第一義空。方成般若。見無生自性。始了圓宗。以真空不壞業果。尊卑宛然。不同但空不該諸有。如大涅槃經云。有業有報。不見作者。如是空法。名第一義空。所以見性之時。性本離念。非有念而可除。觀物之際。物本無形。非有物而可遣。故云離念之智。等虛空界。如大乘千鉢大教王經云。是時普明菩薩。則證入毘盧遮那如來金剛法藏三昧三摩地。令一切菩薩。及一切有情眾生。同願修持。入此性淨真如法藏三昧真際觀。云何應得修入此觀。菩薩則當觀照心地。覺用心智。唯照心性。細細觀覺。覺照心體。見性無動。證覺不動。即能恒用。用觀體智。見性清淨。性自離念。離念無物。心等虛空。即證聖智。如如聖性。二俱澄寂。空同無體。性體虛靜。則是名為菩薩證入。真如法界性印。法藏真際觀門。故知法界性。即眾生心性。眾生心性。即虛空性。故大智度論云。復次舍利弗。菩薩摩訶薩。欲住內空．外空．內外空．空空．大空。第一義空．有為空．無為空．畢竟空．無始空．散空．性空．自相性諸法空．不可得空．無法空．有法空．無法有法空。當學般若波羅蜜。釋云。內空者。即內法。所謂內六入。眼耳鼻舌身意。眼空無我。無我所等。外空者。即外法。所謂外六入。色聲香味觸法。色空無我。無我所等。內外空者。即內外十二入。十二入中無我。無我所等。空空者。以空破內空。外空。內外空。破是三空。故名為空空。大空者。即十方空。東方無邊。故名為大。亦一切處有。故名為大。第一義空者。第一義名諸法實相。不破不壞故。是諸法實相亦空。何以故。無受無著故。若諸法實相有者。應受應著。以無實故。不受不著。若受若著。即是虛誑。有為空。無為空者。有為法。名因緣和合生。所謂五陰。十二入。十八界等。無為法。名無因緣。常不生不滅。如虛空。

Answer: In terms of the illumination of fundamental wisdom, it is nominally called 'seeing'; it is not seen by the eye, but known only through realization. Only being free from both seeing and non-seeing is truly called seeing. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Bodhisattvas truly have nothing seen. That which is nothing seen is having nothing at all. That which is having nothing at all is all phenomena.' Therefore, as dharmatā has nothing at all, bodhisattvas have nothing seen. Meeting with the principle of phenomena is nominally called seeing; truly, it is not seeing. The true nature is tranquil and clear; it is not a phenomenon that is seen. A sūtra says: 'Not practicing the phenomenon of seeing, the Buddhas quickly confer prediction upon them.' This is being free from the two extremes of annihilation and permanence, immediately seeing one's own body as pure. Seeing the body as pure is precisely seeing the Buddha as pure, up to seeing all phenomena as entirely pure; there is nothing that is not the Buddha, nothing that is not Dharma. Because the nature of one's own citta is unarisen, it accords with things and pervades all places. If a single dust mote were not the Buddha, it would become an obstruction and veil, failing to enter the gate of the universal eye and merely falling into the view of subject and object. The Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: 'Brahmā asked Bodhisattva Sāgaramati, saying: "Good son, do you now clearly see the Buddha-Dharma?" Brahmā said: "The Buddha-Dharma is not form; it cannot be seen. How can you say you clearly see the Buddha-Dharma? All phenomena cannot be seen at all. That which is clear is precisely the Buddha-Dharma, without two characteristics."' Therefore, coming is like the moon in the water, dispersing like an illusory cloud; seeing is like a shape in a dream, hearing is like an echo in a valley. Where there is awakening, it is immediately manifested, not coming from any direction; where there is delusion, it naturally does not exist, not departing from here. As the Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment says: 'Complete enlightenment illuminates everywhere, quiescent and non-dual. Within it, hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of ineffable asaṃkhyeyas of Ganges sands of Buddha-worlds are like flowers in the sky, rising and ceasing in disorder.' A verse in the Prajñā-nāma-śāstra says: 'The Tathāgata takes Dharma as his body; one should only contemplate dharmatā. Dharmatā is not what is seen, nor can it be known.' Dharmatā is what is called empty nature and unarisen nature; this is precisely the supreme-meaning body of all Buddhas. If one sees this, it is called seeing the Buddha. A sūtra says: 'By seeing the empty nature, it is called seeing the Tathāgata.' Furthermore, in dharmatā, there is not a single thing that can be called an object of knowledge; hence that wisdom also cannot know it. Also, a sūtra says: 'Great King, all dharmatā is like space, equally serving as the support for all things, yet its substance and nature is neither an existent thing nor a non-existent thing. Being able to know that within this there is tranquil unknowing is called thorough knowing; calling it "one who knows" conforms to conventional speech.' The merit of having faith and understanding in the unarisen is greater than the giving of treasures. As a verse says: 'If a person maintains the correct Dharma and gives rise to the bodhicitta, it is not equal to one sixteenth of understanding emptiness.' Therefore, only when one understands supreme-meaning emptiness does prajñā become complete; only when one sees the unarisen self-nature does one comprehend the complete source. Because true emptiness does not destroy karma and fruit, the exalted and humble are distinct—unlike mere emptiness which does not encompass all existents. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: 'There is karma and there is retribution, yet an agent cannot be seen. Such empty Dharma is called supreme-meaning emptiness.' Therefore, at the time of seeing the nature, the nature is originally free from thought—it is not that there are thoughts that can be eradicated; when contemplating things, things are originally formless—it is not that there are things that can be expelled. Thus it is said that wisdom free from thought is equal to the realm of space. As the Mahāyāna Thousand-Bowl Great Teaching King Sūtra says: 'At that time, Bodhisattva Samantaprabha realized and entered the adamantine Dharma-treasury samādhi and samāpatti of Vairocana Tathāgata, causing all bodhisattvas and all sentient beings to vow together to cultivate, maintain, and enter this contemplation of the true reality of the samādhi of the naturally pure tathatā Dharma-treasury. How should one cultivate and enter this contemplation? The bodhisattva should contemplate and illuminate the ground of citta, being aware of using the wisdom of citta to solely illuminate the nature of citta, contemplating and being aware very subtly, being aware of and illuminating the substance of citta, seeing that the nature is motionless. Realizing and being aware of the motionless, one can then constantly function; functioning to contemplate the wisdom of the substance, one sees that the nature is pure. The nature is naturally free from thought; free from thought, there are no things; the citta is equal to space, immediately realizing noble wisdom. The noble nature of tathatā is both clear and quiescent; emptiness is identical with having no substance, and the substance of the nature is empty and tranquil. This is called the bodhisattva realizing and entering the seal of the nature of the tathatā dharmadhātu, the contemplation gate of the true reality of the Dharma-treasury.' Thus we know that the nature of the dharmadhātu is precisely the nature of sentient beings' citta; the nature of sentient beings' citta is precisely the nature of space. Therefore the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'Furthermore, Śāriputra, if a bodhisattva mahāsattva wishes to abide in internal emptiness, external emptiness, internal-and-external emptiness, emptiness of emptiness, great emptiness, supreme-meaning emptiness, conditioned emptiness, unconditioned emptiness, ultimate emptiness, beginningless emptiness, scattered emptiness, nature emptiness, emptiness of all phenomena of self-characteristic and nature, unattainable emptiness, non-phenomenal emptiness, phenomenal emptiness, and non-phenomenal-and-phenomenal emptiness, he should learn the prajñāpāramitā.' The commentary explains: 'Internal emptiness is internal phenomena, namely the six internal sense-bases: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The eye is empty, devoid of self and what belongs to self, etc. External emptiness is external phenomena, namely the six external sense-bases: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and phenomena. Form is empty, devoid of self and what belongs to self, etc. Internal-and-external emptiness is the internal and external twelve sense-bases; within the twelve sense-bases, there is no self and what belongs to self, etc. Emptiness of emptiness: using emptiness to break internal emptiness, external emptiness, and internal-and-external emptiness; breaking these three emptinesses, it is therefore called emptiness of emptiness. Great emptiness is the emptiness of the ten directions. The eastern direction is boundless, so it is called great; also, being present everywhere, it is called great. Supreme-meaning emptiness: supreme meaning is the true mark of all phenomena; because it is unbroken and indestructible, this true mark of all phenomena is also empty. Why? Because it is without acceptance and without attachment. If the true mark of all phenomena existed, it should be accepted and attached to; because it has no reality, it is neither accepted nor attached to; if accepted or attached to, it is deceptive. Conditioned emptiness and unconditioned emptiness: conditioned phenomena are called born of the combination of causes and conditions, namely the five aggregates, twelve sense-bases, eighteen realms, and so forth. Unconditioned phenomena are called having no causes and conditions, constantly unarisen and unceasing, like space.'