宗鏡錄 23.29

23.29

答。眾生不如是知。所以須化。故經云。俱同一性。所謂無性。大悲相續。救度眾生。隨門不同。種種有異。約成佛門。一切成也。同一無性。故得現成。妄性本虛。生元是佛。真性叵得。非今始成。故皆成也。物物無性。故成種智。證斯同體。而起大悲。一得永常。故云相續。只由不知無性故。教化不絕。雖現報化。法體不遷。如隨色之摩尼。眾相現而本體不動。似應聲之虛谷。群響發而起處無心。不著自他。豈見眾生之相。本非出沒。常冥大覺之原。華嚴經云。佛身無有生。而能示出生。法性如虛空。諸佛於中住。又頌云。無體無住處。亦無生可得。無相亦無形。所現皆如影。思益經云。大迦葉言。善男子。幻所化人。離於自相。無異無別。無所志願。汝亦如是耶。若如是者。汝云何能利益無量眾生。網明言。阿耨多羅三藐三菩提性。即是一切眾生性。一切眾生性。即是幻性。幻性即是一切法性。於是法中。我不見有利。不見無利。又云。網明菩薩白佛言。世尊。若有菩薩。希望功德利。而發菩提心者。不名發大乘也。所以者何。一切法無功德利。以無有對處故。若有眾生可度。而求功德之利。斯則心外見法。全不識心。何名發大乘心也。以絕待心。無對處故。如楞伽經云。佛語外道言。若能了達有無等法。一切皆是自心所見。不生分別。不取外境。於自處住。自處住者。是不起義。不起於何。不起分別。此是我法。非汝有也。我法者。即眾生心也。以不知不信故。自成疎外。有亦同無。所以祖師西來。只為直示眾生。令自知有。頓入凡聖平等真原。如勝天王般若經云。菩薩摩訶薩。行般若波羅蜜。得心微細。作是思惟。世間熾然大火之聚。所謂貪欲火。瞋恚烟。愚癡闇。云何當令一切眾生皆得出離。若能通達諸法平等。名為出離。如實知法。猶如幻相。善觀因緣。而不分別。是以若欲捨劣就勝。厭異忻同。欲令凡聖一倫。垢淨平等者。無有是處。但明宗鏡。萬法自齊。即究竟出離三界火宅義。亦是與諸子同住祕密藏義。如云。若夫以齊而齊不齊者。未齊矣。以齊而齊於齊者。未齊焉。余聞善齊天下者。以不齊而齊天下者也。何須夷嶽實淵。然後方平。續鳧截鶴。於焉始等。故知但了法法皆如。自然平等。則青松綠蕙不見短長。鵬翥蜎飛。自忘大小。如肇論云。是以經云諸法不異者。豈曰續鳧截鶴。夷嶽盈壑。然後無異哉。誠以不異於異故。雖異而不異耳。乃至經云。般若與諸法。亦不一相。亦不異相。信矣。莊子南華經云。長者不為有餘。短者不為不足。故鳧脛雖短。續之則憂。鶴脛雖長。斷之則悲。故性長非所斷。性短非所續。以明境智雖異而同。不待同而後同也。若能如上了達同異二門。或諸佛出世不出世。眾生可度不可度。乃至有無高下。皆絕疑矣。若執同則滯寂。若執異則兩分。迷此同異二門。皆智不自在。金剛辯宗云。以有鏡故。男女之像於中現。以有法身故。而能處處應現往。只緣鏡中本無像。所以能現男女像。佛身本無身。所以能現一切身。眾生機感。無緣之慈任運能應。若定有身。即為所礙。肇論云。佛非天非人。而能天能人耳。故一切菩薩。皆以無所得為方便。能入無量無邊塵勞幻網。以心外無法故。方成無所得慧。若心外有一毫所得。云何成無緣之慈。同體之化。以宗鏡明。故能廣照世間。觀生也。如石女之懷兒。觀住也。若陽焰之翻浪。觀異也。同浮雲之萬變。觀死也。猶狂華之謝空。是以深達無生。知皆無我。空生空滅。幻墜幻昇。愍彼愚迷。盲無慧目。遂乃發無能作之智照。開無所捨之檀門。秉自性空之戒心。具無所起之精進。圓無所傷之法忍。修無所住之禪門。了無身而相好莊嚴。達無說而縱橫辯說。遊戲性空之世界。建立水月之道場。陳列如幻之供門。供養影響之善逝。遍習空華之萬行。施為谷響之度門。降伏鏡像之魔軍。大作夢中之佛事。廣度如化之含識。同證寂滅之菩提。

Answer: Sentient beings do not understand in this way, which is why they must be transformed. Therefore a sūtra says: 'They all share one nature, namely no-nature. Great compassion continues unbroken, delivering sentient beings.' According to different approaches, there are various distinctions: viewed in terms of the approach of attaining Buddhahood, all have already attained it. Because they share one and the same no-nature, it is naturally accomplished. The delusive nature is originally empty; sentient beings are fundamentally Buddhas. The true nature cannot be grasped; it is not newly accomplished now. Therefore all are accomplished. Since each and every thing lacks a nature of its own, the knowledge of all aspects is accomplished. Realizing this identical substance, one gives rise to great compassion. Once attained, it is forever constant, hence it is said to 'continue unbroken.' Solely because they do not know no-nature, teaching and transforming them never ceases. Although the reward and transformation bodies are manifested, the substance of Dharma does not shift. Like a mani jewel responding to colors, manifold forms appear while its original substance does not move; like an empty valley echoing sounds, myriad reverberations ring forth while the place of their arising has no mind. Not clinging to self and other, how could one see the characteristic of sentient beings? Fundamentally there is no appearing or disappearing, constantly merging with the source of the Great Awakening. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'The Buddha's body has no birth, / yet is able to manifest birth; / the Dharma-nature is like empty space, / and the Buddhas abide within it.' It also says in verse: 'Without substance and without an abiding place, / also no birth can be found; / without characteristics and without form, / all that manifests is like a reflection.' The Viśeṣacintibrahmaparipṛcchā Sūtra says: 'Mahākāśyapa said: "Good man, a magically created person is free from self-characteristics, has no difference or distinction, and has no aspiration. Are you also like this? If you are like this, how can you benefit immeasurable sentient beings?" Jālinīprabha said: "The nature of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi is the nature of all sentient beings. The nature of all sentient beings is the illusory nature. The illusory nature is the nature of all dharmas. In these dharmas, I see neither benefit nor non-benefit."' It also says: 'Bodhisattva Jālinīprabha addressed the Buddha, saying: "World-Honoured One, if there is a bodhisattva who aspires to the benefit of merit and generates the bodhicitta, this is not called generating the Great Vehicle. Why is this? All dharmas have no benefit of merit, because there is no counter-abode. If there are sentient beings to be delivered and one seeks the benefit of merit, this is seeing dharmas outside the mind and completely failing to recognize the mind. How could this be called generating the mind of the Great Vehicle? Because with the mind of absolute transcendence, there is no counter-abode."' As the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'The Buddha said to the non-Buddhists: "If you can thoroughly understand that dharmas such as existence and non-existence are all seen by one's own mind, do not produce discrimination, do not grasp external objects, and abide in your own place. To abide in one's own place means not giving rise. Not giving rise to what? Not giving rise to discrimination. This is my Dharma, not what you possess."' 'My Dharma' is simply the mind of sentient beings. Because they do not know it and do not believe it, they alienate themselves from it, so that even though it exists, it is the same as non-existent. Therefore, the Patriarch came from the West solely to point directly to sentient beings and make them realize what they have of themselves, abruptly entering the true source where ordinary persons and sages are equal. As the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra of the Heavenly King Suvikrānta says: 'When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practices the prajñāpāramitā, his mind becomes subtle and he reflects thus: "The worldly realm is a blazing mass of great fire—namely, the fire of lust, the smoke of anger, and the darkness of delusion. How shall I cause all sentient beings to attain liberation? If one can penetrate the equality of all dharmas, that is called liberation. Knowing dharmas as they truly are is like an illusory appearance; observing causes and conditions skillfully, yet without discrimination."' Therefore, if one wishes to discard the inferior and approach the superior, detesting difference and rejoicing in identity, desiring to place ordinary persons and sages in the same rank and make defilement and purity equal, there is no such possibility. Simply clarifying the mirror of the source, the ten thousand dharmas naturally become uniform: this is the meaning of ultimate liberation from the burning house of the three realms, and also the meaning of abiding together with the children in the secret storehouse. As it is said: 'If one uses uniformity to make uniform what is not uniform, it is not yet uniform. If one uses uniformity to make uniform what is already uniform, it is not yet uniform. I have heard that he who is good at making all under heaven uniform makes all under heaven uniform by means of what is not uniform.' Why must one level the peaks and fill the chasms before there is flatness, or lengthen the duck's legs and shorten the crane's before they are equal? Hence we know that simply realizing that each and every dharma is 'suchness,' there is natural equality; then the green pine and the green fragrant-grass show no shortness or length, and the soaring roc and the flitting fly naturally forget greatness and smallness. As the Zhao lun says: 'Therefore, when the sūtras say that all dharmas are not different, how could it mean lengthening the duck's legs and shortening the crane's, or leveling the peaks and filling the ravines, and only then having no difference? It is truly because they are not different within difference; therefore, though different, they are not different.' Further, the sūtra says: 'Prajñā and all dharmas have neither a single characteristic nor different characteristics.' This is truly reliable. The Nanhua jing of Zhuangzi says: 'What is long is not in surplus; what is short is not deficient. Therefore, though the duck's legs are short, lengthening them causes grief; though the crane's legs are long, cutting them causes sadness. Thus, what is naturally long is not to be cut, and what is naturally short is not to be lengthened.' This clarifies that though object and wisdom are different, they are identical; they do not wait to become identical before they are identical. If one can comprehend the two approaches of identity and difference as stated above, then whether Buddhas appear in the world or do not appear, whether sentient beings can be delivered or cannot be delivered, and even whether there is existence or non-existence, high or low, all doubts will be completely cut off. If one clings to identity, one stagnates in quietude; if one clings to difference, one splits into two. Being confused about these two approaches of identity and difference, in both cases wisdom lacks sovereignty. The Jingang bianzong says: 'Because there is a mirror, the images of men and women appear within it; because there is the dharmakāya, it can respond, manifest, and go everywhere. Solely because there are fundamentally no images in the mirror, it is able to manifest the images of men and women. The Buddha's body fundamentally has no body, so it is able to manifest all bodies.' According to the capacities and responses of sentient beings, causeless compassion spontaneously responds. If there were definitively a body, it would be an obstruction. The Zhao lun says: 'The Buddha is neither heavenly being nor human, yet can be a heavenly being and can be a human.' Therefore, all bodhisattvas take non-attainment as their expedient means, able to enter the illusory net of boundless defilements. Because there is no dharma outside the mind, one can accomplish the wisdom of non-attainment. If outside the mind there were the least trace of anything to be attained, how could one accomplish causeless compassion and identical-substance transformation? Because the mirror of the source is clear, it can broadly illuminate the world. Observing birth is like a barren woman conceiving a child; observing abiding is like the surging waves of a mirage; observing change is like the myriad transformations of floating clouds; observing death is like wild flowers withering into the sky. Therefore, deeply penetrating non-birth, knowing that all are without self, empty birth and empty cessation, illusory falling and illusory rising, sympathizing with those deluded fools who are blind without the eye of wisdom, one then generates the illumination of wisdom without a maker, opens the dāna gate of non-relinquishment, upholds the precept mind of the emptiness of self-nature, possesses the vigor of non-arising, perfects the forbearance of dharmas without injury, cultivates the dhyāna gate of non-abiding, realizes no-body yet is adorned with major and minor marks, penetrates wordlessness yet possesses comprehensive eloquence, roams playfully in the world of the emptiness of nature, establishes a bodhimaṇḍa of the water-moon, arranges offerings like an illusion, makes offerings to the Sugata who is like an echo, practices extensively the myriad deeds of sky-flowers, acts out the delivery-gates of valley echoes, subdues the māra army of mirror-images, performs on a grand scale the Buddha-work within a dream, delivers broadly the sentient beings who are like magical creations, and together realizes the bodhi of tranquil cessation.