宗鏡錄 35.6

Answer: It is simply the citta-characteristics of all ordinary beings and sages that are layer upon layer, and the citta-nature that is inexhaustible. This citta is vast; this citta is consummate and interfused; this citta encompasses all; this citta is esoteric. If there were no such one mind as the source, then among the gates of the teaching not a single dharma could arise, and the buddhas would not have a single word to speak. Having wholly returned to the purport of the citta, having extensively prepared the faculties of faith, consummate understanding being already complete, and not the slightest doubt arising, one must not rely solely on spoken words; the secret lies in practice in the citta. Simply use the water of concentration to secretly clarify, and the lamp of wisdom to shine ever more brightly. If one solely adheres to the texts to seek principle, clinging to the teachings to talk about the source, it is like entering the sea to count the grains of sand or looking up at the sky to number the stars: in the end one never sees it directly, and strays ever farther from the Way. An ancient said: 'Like heaven and earth thundering all day long, it does not equal the true principle.' Therefore, the student discards the texts to grasp the principle, sitting upright and stilling the feelings, beholding directly with the eye of the citta. This is called dwelling exclusively on a single object, cultivating the superior cause of concentration. Furthermore, as for the meaning of the Consummate Teaching: root and branch are interfused; principle and phenomenon are unobstructed. When speaking of the true and the false, ordinary beings and sages are luminously interpenetrating; when speaking of the dharmadhātu, principle and phenomenon distinctly contain each other. In a single verse on the Buddha's vision and knowledge, it is revealed without omission; in a single chapter on the Great Nirvāṇa, its substance and function are thoroughly exhausted. As the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: 'There is no tathatā outside of wisdom for wisdom to enter, nor is there wisdom outside of tathatā that can realize tathatā.' It also says: 'There is no slight dharma that abides together with dharma.' Because when one adduces citta to subsume the object, there is no object outside of citta; when one adduces the object to subsume citta, there is no citta outside of the object. Because the nature has no duality of characteristics—characteristics are precisely nature—characteristics are interfused along with nature, and along with any one [characteristic], all are subsumed. Thus, outside nature there are no characteristics, so what dharma is not interfused? Within principle phenomena are established, so what gate cannot be entered? It can be described as bodhi wherever the eye touches, consummate realization in a single thought. Therefore, the Anantanirdeśa-sūtra says: 'Innumerable meanings are born from a single dharma; that single dharma is what is called signlessness.' The ancients said: 'This is the meaning of emergence.' The Lotus Sūtra says: 'Ultimately arriving at the stage of all-knowledge'; this is the dharma of gathering in. Thus the ten thousand transformations of the triyāna are born from the true characteristic, and ultimately return again to the one true characteristic. Thus beginning and end are not separated from the one mind; root and branch both abide in their proper positions. As the Lotus Sūtra says: 'In citta and characteristic, [they] personally believe; entering and exiting without difficulty.' One can thereby know the estate of the Mahāyāna, inheriting the stage of the buddha-lineage. Furthermore, initially the one produces the innumerable; later, the innumerable returns to the one. Now, the innumerable is not innumerable, and the one is also not one: this is precisely the realization of the Lotus Samādhi. Furthermore, the reason past virtuous ones designated it the 'Ocean of Teaching' is that it contains all dharmas, analogized to the great ocean: laterally it has no bounds, joining the sky in a single hue; empty space penetrates to the bottom of the ocean, and the ocean reflects empty sky. This is the Consummate Teaching: comprehensively subsuming all teachings to return to the true, all are utterly empty and pure; principle and phenomenon are unobstructed, like the mutual reflection of form and emptiness: form does not obstruct emptiness, and emptiness does not obstruct form. Virtues and functions are layer upon layer, being solely luminous and solely profound; endowed with the ten profound gates, layer upon layer without end, which is phenomenon-and-phenomenon non-obstruction. Like the ten virtues of the ocean mutually pervading, the ocean of citta contains all, profound and vast without limit. Therefore, the Dhāraṇī-sūtra of the Lord of the Country's Realm says in a verse: 'A single syllable expounds all dharmas; / for many kalpas there is no end. / Each and every syllable-gate is likewise so: / this is dwelling in the ground of the jewel-casket mantra.' Master Daosheng's commentary on the Lotus Sūtra says of the passage: 'A single hair of goodness, / raising a hand or bowing the head, / all have already realized buddhahood'—saying: 'Nothing is not an outflow of the Buddha; this is the purport of Nirvāṇa. Even non-Buddhist texts are also an outflow of the Buddhadharma; how much more so the internal dharma!' Because teachings great and small all flow from the Tathāgata's great compassion. From this we know that there is not a single dharma that does not emerge from the source of citta and emptiness of nature, like water coming forth from a source, or clouds coming forth from empty space. Because the Tathāgatas of the ten directions realize citta to become buddhas, the Buddha is simply citta; and all the ten thousand goods, ten thousand virtues, compassion, wisdom, vows, and practices without exception flow forth from this. Furthermore, to discuss the five teachings in terms of the Essay on the Golden Lion: First, although this lion is a dharma of causes and conditions, arising and ceasing from thought to thought, there is in truth no lion to be found. This is called the dharma of foolish persons, which is the Śrāvaka Teaching. Second, precisely these conditioned dharmas are each devoid of own-nature, being thoroughly nothing but empty. This is called the Initial Teaching of the Mahāyāna. Third, although it is thoroughly nothing but empty, it does not obstruct the illusory dharmas from remaining distinctly present; conditioned arising is illusory existence, and both characteristics are simultaneously maintained. This is called the Final Teaching of the Mahāyāna. Fourth, precisely these two characteristics of lion and gold mutually negate each other and both vanish; conceptual graspings do not persist, neither having any power; emptiness and existence are both extinguished; the path of words and speech is severed, and there is nowhere for the citta to lodge. This is called the Sudden Teaching of the Mahāyāna. Fifth, precisely this dharma in which feelings are exhausted and substance is exposed blends into a single whole; its great functions profusely arise, its arising inevitably being wholly the true; the ten thousand images are multifarious, intermingling without disorder; all is the one, identical in having no nature; the one is all, causes and effects distinctly apparent; power and function mutually subsume, folding up and unfolding with complete freedom. This is called the Consummate Teaching of the Ekayāna. This is called the Supreme Yāna. Next, Tiantai establishes the four teachings: First, the Tripiṭaka Teaching, which clarifies the principle of the four noble truths of arising and ceasing through causes and conditions; its primary teaching is the Hīnayāna, while incidentally converting bodhisattvas. Second, the Pervasive Teaching, which the three kinds of persons receive in common, clarifying the four true truths of unarisen causes and conditions that are empty as they are; it is primarily for bodhisattvas, and incidentally extends to the two vehicles; its teaching, principle, wisdom, elimination of defilements, practice, stages, cause, and effect are all empty, realized by the three kinds of persons in common. Both the Tripiṭaka and Pervasive teachings fail to recognize the permanently abiding true citta, and both take the cessation of the citta as the ultimate fruit. Third, the Distinct Teaching, which is a designation for what is not shared, clarifying the principle of the immeasurable four noble truths of nominal designations through causes and conditions; it concerns the conversion of bodhisattvas and is not shared with the two vehicles. As for its difference in teaching, it fully expounds Buddhadharmas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, distinctively for bodhisattvas; as for its difference in principle, the storehouse consciousness contains principles of conventional truth numerous as the sands of the Ganges, extending to its wisdom, elimination of defilements, practice, stages, cause, and effect, all of which are distinct from the phenomena of the other three teachings. Although it knows the principle that the one mind is inexhaustibly non-empty, it is not yet complete in the present, still awaiting sequential arising; it clings to the pedagogical path without interfusion, and establishes distinctions based on graduated stages. Fourth, the Consummate Teaching.

First, the one produces the immeasurable: this clarifies the doctrine and principle of the inconceivable conditioned arising and the non-active four noble truths. It correctly expounds the Middle Way: namely, all dharmas are the perfect principle, without bias. As for the perfection of wisdom: when one is accomplished, all are accomplished. As for the perfection of eradication: without eradication, there is eradication. As for the perfection of practice: one mind is completely endowed with the myriad practices. As for the perfection of stages: one stage is completely endowed with all stages. As for the perfection of causes: it doubly illuminates the two truths, naturally flowing into the ocean of sarvajñā. As for the perfection of fruits: it is the wondrous awakening and inconceivable fruit of the three virtues. That is, a single moment of mind is perfectly endowed with the dharmadhātu. Explaining the four teachings in terms of contemplating the mind: the Commentary on Vimalakīrti says, 'Now we only discuss the operation and function of the mind itself, recognizing that all doctrinal gateways arise from the contemplative practice of the initial mind. Since the four teachings subsume all scriptural teachings, if in a single moment the contemplation of the mind is distinct and clear, and one can discern the mind produced by the conditioned arising of a single moment of avidyā, the fourfold eloquence being evident, then the overarching purport of all scriptural teachings is thoroughly understood in terms of contemplating the mind.' Regarding this, there are four points: First, explaining the characteristics of the Tripiṭaka teaching in terms of contemplating the mind: this is contemplating the arising and ceasing of the mind produced by conditioned arising in a single moment, analyzing the conventional to enter emptiness. In terms of the portal of contemplation, it gives rise to all the Tripiṭaka teachings. If one enters the Way by contemplating the four noble truths of arising and ceasing, this is the Sūtra Piṭaka. Thus the Ekottarika-āgama says: 'The Buddha addressed the monks: "What is called 'all dharmas' is just one dharma. What is this one dharma? The mind is this one dharma. Apart from the mind, there are no dharmas at all."' The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'From the Sūtra of Turning the Dharma Wheel up to the Mahāparinirvāṇa, the Sūtra Piṭaka was compiled.' This is merely explaining the four noble truths in terms of the arising and ceasing of the mind, which is the meaning of 'dharmas returning to the root of dharmas.' Contemplating the mind gives rise to all the Vinaya Piṭaka: when the Buddha instituted the precepts, he asked the monks, 'With what mind did you do it?' If one did it with intention, that is a violation of the precepts. Because there is violation, there is keeping [the precepts]. If one did it unintentionally, it is not called a violation. The sense of violation being unestablished, keeping is not spoken of. Therefore, the precepts arise from gravity of mind; without mind, precepts do not arise. As for saying that the Abhidharma Piṭaka arises from the mind: the brief exposition in four fascicles is named the Abhidharmahṛdaya (*Heart of Abhidharma*). Dharmatrāta's intermediate exposition is named the Samyuktābhidharmahṛdaya (*Miscellaneous Heart of Abhidharma*). That they distinguish the Abhidharma's incomparable teachings in this way is entirely in terms of the mind: discerning all states of mind and mental factors, all dharmas are incomparable. Second, explaining the shared teaching in terms of contemplating the mind: contemplating that all dharmas are produced by the mind's conditioned arising, when the mind is empty, then all dharmas are empty. This is embodying the conventional to enter emptiness. All practices, stages, causes, and fruits explained in the shared teaching arise from this. Third, explaining the distinct teaching in terms of contemplating the mind: contemplating that what is produced by the mind's conditioned arising is conventional designation, completely endowed with all the sands-of-the-Ganges Buddha-dharmas. Relying on the avidyā-ālayavijñāna, it discerns the immeasurable noble truths. All practices, stages, causes, and fruits explained in the distinct teaching arise from this. Fourth, explaining the perfect teaching in terms of contemplating the mind: contemplating that what is produced by the mind's conditioned arising is completely endowed with all dharmas of the ten dharmadhātus, without accumulation, neither vertical nor horizontal, the inconceivable principle of the Middle Way and the two truths. All practices, stages, causes, and fruits explained in the perfect teaching arise from this, like the bright jewel on the crown of a cakravartin. Thus, the four teachings all arise from a single moment of the mind of avidyā. The repeated citations above from the Avataṃsakasūtra, clarifying that crushing a fine particle of dust yields a sūtra scroll of the great trichiliocosm, have their intended meaning here. Furthermore, in terms of sudden, gradual, indeterminate, and esoteric, combining these with the preceding four teachings establishes eight teachings in total. First, the sudden teaching: as in the Avataṃsaka, where there is no śrāvaka vehicle; hence it is called sudden. Second, the gradual teaching: namely the Tripiṭaka, Vaipulya, and Prajñā, gradually leading into the perfect teaching. Third, the indeterminate teaching: meaning one voice, diverse understandings; or preaching the great and attaining the small fruit, or preaching the small and attaining the great path; hence it is called indeterminate. Fourth, the esoteric teaching: this has two kinds: 1. the overt-esoteric, meaning being in the same assembly but hearing differently, without attaining the path, their fruits mutually unknown; hence it is called esoteric; 2. the secret-esoteric, which only the Buddhas can realize, secretly causing sentient beings to attain awakening, impossible to point out. Combining these with the preceding four teachings forms the eight teachings. Furthermore, the teachings are divided into five flavors. The Treatise says: Kātyāyanīputra's clarifying the limits and fulfillment of the six pāramitās is the seasoning of sentient beings of mixed blood into milk. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: the bodhisattva's giving rise to the mind in accord with sarvajñā is the desire to season milk into curd. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: the bodhisattva's giving rise to the mind to disport in spiritual penetrations and purify Buddha-lands; and as in the Vimalakīrti, those who attain the inconceivable liberation are all able to transform their bodies and ascend the seats, yet can also accept humbling and being rebuked—this is the desire to season curd into butter and bring it to clarified butter. The Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā says: the bodhisattva's giving rise to the mind, immediately sitting beneath the tree of the Way, realizing right awakening, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and delivering sentient beings is seasoning clarified butter into ghee. This is opening one from one to guide capacities suited for curd and butter, and later gathering the one back to the one to mature the assembly suited for ghee. Ultimately there is no separate dharma; there is only unfolding and rolling up, origin and trace mutually subsuming, capacity and response darkly coalescing. Furthermore, they are divided into half-letter and full-letter teachings: the Hīnayāna is the half; the Mahāyāna is the full. Also, the triyāna is the half; the ekayāna is the full. As the Nirvāṇasūtra explains the half-word and the full-word, when the half-word is spoken, the half-word is manifest and the full-word is hidden. When the full-word is spoken today, the full-word is manifest and the half-word is hidden. This is speaking of the hidden and manifest according to conditions. It is also like the Chapter on the Parable of the Moon: here one sees a half [moon], elsewhere one sees a full [moon], yet the nature of that moon fundamentally has neither waxing nor waning; seen according to conditions, there is increase and decrease. This is spoken within the Mahāyāna tradition. As Dharma Master Zhiyan discerns based on the Huayan ekayāna tradition: without waiting for speaking or not speaking, it is constantly half and constantly full, with no separate times for hidden and manifest. Like the nature of that moon, it is constantly full and constantly half; increase and decrease share no separate course. This is precisely identical to the Dharma gate recorded in the Mirror of the Source: hidden, it is the one mind without marks; manifest, it displays the forms of the myriad dharmas. Without destroying before and after, it is simultaneous; constantly abiding in one limit, yet it has before and after. When it should unfold, it rolls up; when it should roll up, it unfolds. Therefore we know: illuminate the mind through the teaching.

Explaining the teachings by means of the mind: everything spoken by the buddhas is one's own mind. The Fuxing ji cites a verse from the Avataṃsaka-sūtra: / "The buddhas fully know / That everything turns according to mind. / If one can understand in this way, / That person truly sees the Buddha." / The Ratnagotravibhāga says: "A person of supernormal powers saw the disappearance of the Buddha's Dharma, and concealed the scrolls of scriptures of the great trichiliocosm within a single speck of dust." Also, the Avataṃsaka says: "Excellent, excellent! How is it that the Tathāgata is present within the body yet [sentient beings] are unaware?" Therefore, it is clear that the objects of the four noble truths and the twelve links of dependent origination, and the eighty-four thousand dharma-gates, do not go beyond the one mind. If one grasps this meaning, then the eight years of broadly expounding the Lotus [Sūtra] are present in a single thought-moment; passing through fifty kalpas—how could that stir a single kṣaṇa? By analogy, an entire lifetime of adapting to capacities resides within the nature of the mind; the buddha-deeds of the ten directions are vividly before one's eyes. Even up to the three virtues of nirvāṇa, they reside within the one mind; thus an entire vast scripture is fully marked upon one's own heart. Boundless dharmas of the teaching are gathered into a single kṣaṇa. Thousands of branches and ten thousand leaves share the one root as their source; numerous texts and all sūtras without exception expound the one dharma. As cited above, the passages on the five flavors, the eight teachings, the half and the full, and so forth, although they classify and judge the teachings of a whole lifetime, are nevertheless all harmoniously gathered into the one mind and entirely comprehended by the one principle. Divided, yet not many; gathered, yet not one; dispersed, yet not different; united, yet not identical. Dharma-doors numerous as the sands of the Ganges and inexhaustible purports all appear within the mirror of the source of the One Vehicle's perfect teaching. Therefore, an ancient worthy said: "Match it to the mind, and thereafter take it as dharma. In the mind it is dharma; expressed in words it is teaching. Dharmas have their own characteristics (svalakṣaṇa) and common characteristics (sāmānyalakṣaṇa); the teachings have negative definition (apoha) and positive presentation." Therefore we know that although they are divided in terms of phenomena, in terms of principle they are always united. Even when opened into dharma-gates numerous as the sands of the Ganges, they ultimately do not depart from the purport of the one mind. If skillful means are opened and revealed from within the one mind to constitute the traces of the teachings, one cannot fix their provisionality and reality, or their temporal sequence of earlier and later, because these are a period of skillful means employed by the Tathāgata to adapt to capacities. One must not secretly give rise to a fixed interpretation and thereby deviate from the true Dharma. As the Fahua xuanyi says: In terms of the mutual completion of the five flavors and the half and full: if one merely discusses the five flavors, it is like the southern masters, who grasped only the skillful means; if one merely discusses the half and full, it is like the northern masters, who grasped only the reality. Now we clarify that the five flavors are not separated from the half and the full, and the half and the full are not separated from the five flavors. When the five flavors possess the half and full, there is understanding of skillful means through wisdom; when the half and full possess the five flavors, there is understanding of wisdom through skillful means. Provisional and real travel together like the two wings of a bird. Although traveling together, activity and concealment find their proper place: in the Avataṃsaka, the sudden and full family business of the Great Vehicle explains only the one reality without needing skillful means; it is solely full and not half, which in the gradual [sequence] corresponds to fresh milk. The guest laborer of the Tripiṭaka is merely skillful means; it is solely half and not full, which in the gradual [sequence] corresponds to curd. In the Vaipulya's reproaches and admonitions, the half and full stand opposite each other, using the full to rebuke the half; in the gradual [sequence] this corresponds to raw butter. In the Great Chapter's (Prajñāpāramitā) taking charge of the teaching, it carries the half to discuss the full: the half applies generally to the three vehicles, while the full applies uniquely to the bodhisattvas; in the gradual [sequence] this corresponds to clarified butter. In the Lotus Sūtra's bequest of property, it discards the half to explain the full: if there were no half-word skillful means to mature the dull-witted, there would also be no full-word revealing of the Buddha's knowledge and vision; in the gradual [sequence] this corresponds to ghee. That the Tathāgata earnestly praised skillful means was because the half possesses the efficacy of completing the full; this was his intention. Next, distinguishing them in terms of contemplation: the Yogācāra school establishes two kinds of contemplation; the Huayan school establishes four contemplations; the Tiantai teaching establishes three contemplations; and the gate of Samantabhadra establishes ten contemplations. As for the two contemplations of Yogācāra: first, the contemplation of mind-and-consciousness-only; second, the contemplation of the reality of tathatā. The Scripture on Skillful Means for Progressing Toward the Great Vehicle says: "If one cultivates faith and understanding based on the realm of the one reality, one should practice two kinds of paths of contemplation: first, the contemplation of mind-and-consciousness-only; second, the contemplation of the reality of tathatā. As for practicing the contemplation of mind-and-consciousness-only: at all times and in all places, following all actions produced by body, speech, and mind, one should observe them all and know that they are consciousness-only. Even regarding all objective realms, if the mind turns toward them in thought, one should observe and know them all, not letting the mind engage in neutral conditions without self-awareness. In thought-moment after thought-moment, one should observe everything: following whatever conditioned thoughts the mind has, one should make the mind follow those thoughts and cause the mind to know itself. Having known, [one realizes that] it is the inner mind itself that produces ideations and thoughts, not that all objective realms possess thought or conceptual distinction. That is, the inner mind itself produces views such as long and short, good and bad, right and wrong, gain and loss, decline and prosperity, existence and non-existence, and countless thoughts, while all objective realms have never had thought or given rise to conceptual distinction. One should know that all objective realms are themselves devoid of conceptual thought; therefore they are intrinsically neither long nor short, neither good nor bad, up to neither existing nor non-existing, separated from all characteristics. Observing all dharmas in this way, they are produced solely from mental ideation. If separated from the mind, not a single dharma or characteristic could see itself as having distinctions." As for the contemplation of the reality of tathatā: contemplating that the nature of mind is without arising and without ceasing, not abiding in seeing, hearing, perceiving, or knowing, forever free from all thoughts of conceptual distinction. As for the four contemplations of Huayan: this is based on the dharmadhātu of tathatā of the one mind; in terms of the distribution and perfect interpenetration of principle and phenomena, four kinds of dharmadhātu are established. In correspondene to these dharmadhātus, there are four kinds of gates of contemplation. As for these four gates of contemplation, dharmas are originally like this, so one contemplates in accordance with the dharmas, hence it is called 'contemplation': 1. The contemplation of phenomena, which means that delusion and awakening, cause and effect, defilement and purity are distinct. 2. The contemplation of principle, which means that self and dharmas are both empty, equal in a single characteristic. 3. The contemplation of the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena, which means that they pervade each other, conceal and reveal, complete and appropriate each other, unobstructed at the same time. 4. The contemplation of the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena, which means that observing phenomenal dharmas are merged through principle, they are mutually identical and mutually interpenetrating, endlessly layered without limit. If one relies on this unobstructed contemplation of the one mind, thought-moment after thought-moment is the Huayan dharmadhātu; thought-moment after thought-moment is the Vairocana dharmadhātu. The sūtra says: "If one accords with such practice of contemplation, one does not give rise to dualistic understanding regarding dharmas, and all buddhadharmas swiftly appear before one." As for the three contemplations of the Tiantai teaching: The Meaning of the Three Contemplations says: "A tube of three inches ensures the seasonal vapors do not decay; a gnomon of one foot can measure the morning sun. From this we know that for those who grasp the Way, could it ever be far away?"

The three contemplations are the wondrous gate that penetrates to principle. Now in clarifying this meaning, we borrow these as metaphors. Looking up to the distant traces of the Buddha's Dharma, its spiritual efficacy is vast and expansive. Seeking this is not far off; it is entrusted to the one mind. Grasping its origin, it synthesizes the three wisdoms. If one employs provisional skillful means to bring about distinctions, they converge back to the one path, tranquil and doubly illuminating. The names of the three contemplations come from the Yingluo jing. The sūtra says: "Entering emptiness from the provisional is called the contemplation of the two truths. Entering the provisional from emptiness is called the contemplation of equality. Doubly illuminating the two truths, mind after mind is tranquil and ceased, naturally flowing into the ocean of sarvajñā."