宗鏡錄 37.21

37.21

答。性該始終之際。體非起盡之緣。體遍迷悟之中。性非解惑之事。又云。夫心原本淨。無為無數。非一非二。無色無相。非偏非圓。雖復覺知。亦無覺知。若念未念。四運檢心。畢竟叵得。豈可次第不次第偏圓觀耶。猶如虛空。等無有異。此之心性。畢竟無心。有因緣時。亦得明心。既有論心。即有方便正觀之義。譬如虛空。亦有陰陽時雨。心亦如是。雖無偏圓。亦論漸頓。若觀心具有性得三諦。性得三觀。及一切法無前無後。無有次第。一念具足十法界法。若觀心非空非有。則一切從心生法。亦非空非有。如是等一切諸法。在一心中。當知觀此心原。與如來等。若作如此圓觀。其人行住坐臥。皆應起塔。生如來心。如此觀心。名觀佛心也。輔行記云。心造即是心具。故引心造之文。以證心具。華嚴經偈云。心如工畫師。造種種五陰。一切世界中。無法而不造。如心佛亦爾。如佛眾生然。心佛及眾生。是三無差別。若人欲求知。三世一切佛。應當如是觀。心造諸如來。不解今文。如何消偈心造一切。三無差別。言心造者。不出二意。一者約理。造即是具。二者約事。不出三世。三世又三。一者過造於現。過現造當。如無始來。及以現在。乃至造於盡未來際。一切諸業。不出十界。百界。千如。三千世間。二者現造於現。即是現在同業所感。逐境心變。名之為造。以心有故。一切皆有。以心空故。一切皆空。如世一官。所見不同。是畏是愛。是親是怨。三者聖人變化所造。亦令眾生變心所見。並由理具。方有事用。今欲修觀。但觀理具。俱破俱立。俱是法界。任運攝得權實所現。

Answer: Its nature spans the boundaries of beginning and end; its substance is not the conditions of arising and ceasing. Its substance pervades delusion and awakening; its nature is not the affairs of liberation and perplexity. It is also said: The source of citta is originally pure, unconditioned, and beyond reckoning; it is neither one nor two, without color and without form, neither partial nor perfect. Though there is awareness and cognition, there is also no awareness or cognition. Examining citta through the four movements of thought—whether a thought has arisen or not—it is ultimately unfindable. How then could there be contemplation by stages or not by stages, partial or perfect? It is like empty space, equal and without differentiation. This nature of citta is ultimately without mind. When there are causes and conditions, it can also illuminate the mind. Since there is discourse on mind, there is also the meaning of provisional and correct contemplation. Just as in empty space there are also the yin and yang [seasons] and timely rains, the mind is also like this: though free of partial and perfect, gradual and sudden are also spoken of. If one contemplates that the mind possesses the naturally acquired three truths, the naturally acquired three contemplations, and all dharmas without before or after and without sequence, then in a single thought-moment the dharmas of the ten dharmadhātus are fully present. If one contemplates that the mind is neither empty nor existent, then all dharmas born from the mind are also neither empty nor existent. All such dharmas are within the one mind; you should know that contemplating this source of citta is equal to the Tathāgata. If one performs such a perfect contemplation, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, a stūpa should be erected for that person, and they generate the mind of the Tathāgata. Such contemplation of the mind is called contemplating the mind of the Buddha. The Fuxing ji says: 'Mind-creation is precisely mind-possession.' Thus it cites the text on mind-creation to prove mind-possession. A gāthā in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: / 'The mind is like a skilled painter, / creating the various five skandhas; / in all the worlds, / there is no dharma that it does not create. / As is the mind, so also is the Buddha; / as is the Buddha, so are sentient beings. / The mind, the Buddha, and sentient beings— / these three have no differentiation. / If someone wishes to know / all the Buddhas of the three periods of time, / they should contemplate in this way: / the mind creates all the Tathāgatas.' / If one does not understand this text, how can one resolve the verse's 'mind creates all' and 'the three have no differentiation'? That the mind creates does not exceed two meanings: first, in terms of principle, creating is precisely possessing; second, in terms of phenomena, it does not exceed the three periods of time. The three periods of time again have three aspects: first, the past creates the present, and the past and present create the future; as from beginningless time, as well as the present, up to the end of the future, all karmas do not go beyond the ten realms, the hundred realms, the thousand thusnesses, and the three thousand worlds. Second, the present creates the present; that is, what is felt by common karma in the present. The mind transforms according to the object, and this is called 'creating'. Because the mind exists, all exists; because the mind is empty, all is empty. It is like a single official in the world: what is seen varies—it is feared, it is loved, it is close, or it is hostile. Third, what is created by the transformations of the holy beings also causes the transformed minds of sentient beings to perceive it. All of these depend on possession in principle before there can be phenomenal functions. Now, if one wishes to cultivate contemplation, one merely contemplates possession in principle: both refuting and establishing together, all are the dharmadhātu, naturally encompassing that which is manifested by the provisional and the real.