宗鏡錄 39.11

39.11

答。此心法妙故。如神不可測。無依無住。非古非今。只是有而不可見聞。非是一向空寂。蘊無盡之妙用。不斷不常。具莫測之靈通。非隱非顯。古德云。因雖涅槃永寂。而智體不無。不爾。將何窮未來際。故知此之心神。凡聖之本。盡未來際。無有斷絕。諸佛常正念此法。祖師唯的指此宗。斯乃無相之真。真何有盡。無為之道。道何有窮。如幽谷之風。相續而微聲不斷。若洪鍾之響。隨扣而清韻常生。寶藏論云。唯道無根。靈照常存。唯道無體。微妙恒真。唯道無事。古今同貴。唯道無心。萬物圓備。釋曰。夫有根則有住。住即入於闇室。如穿針不見天。拾針不見地。無根則無住。如日月光明。照見種種色。乃靈照常存矣。夫有體則差別質礙。無體則一性常通。乃微妙恒真矣。夫有事則為相所局。無事則心地坦然。乃古今同貴矣。夫有心則分別各取。無心則逆順同歸。乃萬物圓備矣。既達此常住宗體。自然盡未來際。不休息佛業。即是佛後普賢。純是利他。無始無終無盡之行。所以寶性論。有自然不休息佛業。偈云。佛體如鏡像。如彼瑠璃地。人非不有聲。如天妙法鼓。非不作法事。如彼大雲雨。非不作利益。而地非不生。種種諸種子。如梵天不動。而非不純淑。如彼大日輪。非不破諸暗。如彼如意寶。而非不希有。猶如彼聲響。非不因緣成。猶如彼虛空。非不為一切。眾生作依止。猶如彼大地。而非不住持。一切種種物。以依彼大地。荷負諸世間。種種諸物故。依諸佛菩提。出世間妙法。成就諸白業。諸禪四無量。及以四空定。諸如來自然。常住諸世間。有如是諸業。一切非前後。作如是妙業。無生義云。若無有妙神。一向空寂者。則不應有佛出世。說法度人。故知本地有妙神。不空不斷。乃至師子吼言。佛性者。名第一義空。第一義空。名為智慧。智慧即是妙神。故云因滅。是色。獲得常住解脫之色。故知如中含有妙色。五陰常住不動。神不滅篇云。夫神者何耶。精極而為靈者也。精極則非封像之所圖。故聖人以妙物而為言。雖有上智。猶不能定。其體狀。窮其幽致。神也者。圓應無主。妙盡無名。感物而動。假數而行。感物而非物。故物化而不滅。假數而非數。故數盡而不窮。有情則可以物感。有識則可以數求。數有精麁故其性各異。智有明昧。故其照不同。推此而論。則知化以情感。神以化傳。情為化之母。神為情之根。情有會物之道。神有冥移之功。但悟徹者。反本。惑理者。逐物耳。乃至或聚散於一化。不思神道有妙物之靈。而謂精麁同盡。不亦悲乎。如火之傳於薪。猶神之傳於形。深惑者。見形朽於一生。便以為神情俱喪。猶覩火窮於一木。謂終斯都盡耳。故知緣謝形枯。真靈不墜。如薪盡火滅。火性常然。此緣雖滅於今生。彼緣復興於異世。故般若吟云。百骸雖潰散。一物鎮長靈。可謂真心湛然常住矣。如華嚴經云。知一切幻心所緣法無量故。佛子。如如意珠。隨有所求一切皆得求者無盡。意皆滿足。而珠勢力終不匱止。菩薩摩訶薩。亦復如是。入此三昧。知心如幻。出生一切諸法境界。周遍無盡。不匱不息。何以故。菩薩摩訶薩。成就普賢無礙行智。觀察無量廣大幻境。猶如影像。無增減故。佛子。譬如凡夫。各別生心。已生現生。及以當生。無有邊際。無斷無盡。其心流轉。相續不絕。不可思議。菩薩摩訶薩。亦復如是。入此普幻門三昧。無有邊際。不可測量。何以故。了達普賢菩薩普幻門無量法故。佛子。譬如難陀摩那斯龍王。及餘大龍。降雨之時。滴如車軸。無有邊際。雖如是雨雲終不盡。此是諸龍無作境界。又云。於一念中。盡知一切心非心地境界之藏。於非心處。示生於心。遠離語言。安住知慧。同諸菩薩所行之行。以自在力。示成佛道。盡未來際。常無休息。一切世間眾生劫數。妄想言說之所建立。神通願力。悉能示現。釋曰。盡知一切心非心地境界之藏者。識行於境。名之曰心。智行於境。名曰非心。故楞伽經云。得相者識。不得相者智。故知菩薩隨順妄緣。不捨世法。於方便中。悉能示現。隨增減劫。任長短緣。乘大願風。相續不斷。供佛利生。無有休息。如華嚴論云。十一地等覺位菩薩。以大慈悲心。行赴俗濟生之門。表自出世道滿。無更求解脫離染離淨之心。但以乘法性船。張大慈悲帆。以大智為船師。順本願風。吹諸波羅蜜網。常遊生死海。漉一切眾生有著之魚。安置無依普光明之智岸。常生一切幻。住萬行功德法界無礙寶堂。如下慈氏所居樓閣是。

Answer: Because this citta-dharma is wondrous, it is unfathomable like spirit; it is without reliance and without abiding, neither ancient nor modern. It simply exists yet cannot be seen or heard; it is not purely empty and quiescent. It contains inexhaustible wondrous function, neither severed nor eternal; it possesses incomprehensible numinous penetrations, neither hidden nor manifest. An ancient worthy said: 'Although the cause is forever quiescent in nirvāṇa, the substance of wisdom is not non-existent. Were it not so, by what means could one exhaust the bounds of the future?' Thus we know that this spiritual citta is the root of both ordinary persons and sages; exhausting the bounds of the future, it has no cessation. All buddhas ever correctly bear this dharma in mind; the ancestral masters exclusively and specifically point to this source. This is indeed the true nature of the signless—how could truth ever end? It is the Way of the unconditioned—how could the Way ever be exhausted? Like the wind in a deep ravine, continuous with its subtle sound unceasing; like the resonance of a great bell, continually producing a clear ring whenever struck. The Baocang lun says: 'Only the Way has no root, yet numinous illumination ever remains; only the Way has no substance, yet subtle wonder is constantly true; only the Way has no affairs, yet it is equally revered through antiquity and modernity; only the Way has no mind, yet the myriad things are completely provided.' Explanation: Where there is a root, there is abiding; abiding is entering a dark room, like threading a needle and not seeing the sky, or picking up a needle and not seeing the ground. Having no root, there is no abiding; like the light of the sun and moon illuminating and revealing all kinds of forms—this is 'numinous illumination ever remaining.' Where there is substance, there is differentiation and obstruction; having no substance, the one nature is ever penetrating—this is 'subtle wonder constantly true.' Where there is an affair, one is confined by characteristics; having no affairs, the citta-ground is vast and open—this is 'equally revered through antiquity and modernity.' Where there is a mind, there are discriminations and separate grasping; having no mind, the adverse and the favorable equally converge—this is 'the myriad things completely provided.' Having comprehended this substance of the source which is permanently abiding, naturally to the bounds of the future one does not rest from buddha-activity; this is Samantabhadra after buddhahood, purely benefiting others, an endless practice without beginning or end. Therefore, the Ratnagotravibhāga has 'the naturally unceasing buddha-activity.' A verse states: 'The Buddha's substance is like an image in a mirror, / like that ground of lapis lazuli; / a human being is not without sound, / like the devas' wondrous drum of the Dharma, / not failing to perform Dharma-affairs; / like that great cloud and rain, / not failing to bring benefit, / and the earth does not fail to bring forth / all kinds of seeds; / like the Brahmā King remaining unmoved / and yet not failing to ripen [beings] fully; / like that great solar disc / not failing to destroy all darkness; / like that wish-fulfilling jewel / not failing to be rare; / just like that echo / not failing to be accomplished through causes and conditions; / just like that empty space / not failing to serve as a support / for all sentient beings; / just like that great earth / not failing to sustain / all kinds of things. / Because, relying on that great earth, / all worldly things of various kinds are borne, / relying on the bodhi of the buddhas / and the supramundane wondrous Dharma, / all pure karmas are accomplished, / the dhyānas, the four immeasurables, / and the four formless attainments. / The tathāgatas naturally / ever abide in all worlds; / they have such activities as these, / none of which occur in sequence, / performing such wondrous activities.' The Wusheng yi states: 'If there were no wondrous spirit, and it were purely empty and quiescent, then no buddha should appear in the world to preach the Dharma and deliver people. Therefore we know that the fundamental ground possesses wondrous spirit, not empty and not severed.' Furthermore, the Siṃhanāda says: 'Buddha-nature is called the emptiness of ultimate truth; the emptiness of ultimate truth is called wisdom. Wisdom is precisely the wondrous spirit.' Therefore it is said: 'Because [defiled] rupa is extinguished, one obtains the rupa of permanent liberation.' Thus we know that within suchness there is contained wondrous rupa; the five skandhas are permanently abiding and unmoving. The Shen bumie pian states: 'Now, what is spirit? It is the culmination of the subtle essence that becomes numinous. Being the culmination of subtle essence, it is not something that images can depict; therefore, the sage spoke of it as a wondrous thing. Though one may possess superior wisdom, one still cannot fix its substance and form or exhaust its profound import. As for spirit, it responds universally without a master; its subtlety is consummate and without name. It moves upon stimulation by things, and operates by means of [phenomenal] measures. Stimulated by things, it is not a thing; therefore things transform while it is not destroyed. Operating by means of measures, it is not a measure; therefore measures are exhausted while it is not ended. Where there is feeling, it can be stimulated by things; where there is consciousness, it can be sought through measures. Measures have the refined and the coarse, and thus their natures differ; wisdom has the bright and the dark, and thus its illuminations are not the same. Deducing from this, we know that transformation is stimulated by feeling, and spirit is transmitted through transformation. Feeling is the mother of transformation; spirit is the root of feeling. Feeling has the way of joining with things; spirit has the efficacy of unseen transition. Only those who have thoroughly awakened return to the root; those who are deluded about the principle merely pursue things.' Furthermore: 'Some undergo gathering and dispersion in a single transformation, without considering that the way of the spirit possesses the numinous nature of wondrous things, and asserting that both refined and coarse perish together—is this not lamentable? Just as fire is transmitted through firewood, so is spirit transmitted through physical form. The deeply deluded see the form decay in a single lifetime and assume that both spirit and feeling are lost, just as seeing fire exhausted on a single log of wood leads one to think it is entirely ended.' Thus we know that though conditions cease and the form withers, the true numinous nature does not fall away; just as when firewood is consumed and the fire is extinguished, the nature of fire is ever burning. Though these conditions are extinguished in the present life, those conditions will arise again in a different world. Therefore, the Bore yin states: 'Though the hundred bones crumble and scatter, one thing remains perpetually numinous.' This may indeed be called the true citta, pellucid and permanently abiding. As the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'Because one knows that the dharmas conditioned by all illusory cittas are limitless, O son of the Buddha, just as with a wish-fulfilling jewel, whatever is sought is obtained, the seekers are limitless and their wishes are all satisfied, yet the power of the jewel is never depleted or halted; the bodhisattva-mahāsattva is also like this: entering this samādhi, knowing that citta is like an illusion, bringing forth the realms of all dharmas, all-pervading and inexhaustible, without depletion or rest. Why? Because the bodhisattva-mahāsattva has accomplished the wisdom of Samantabhadra's unobstructed practice, observing the limitless and vast illusory realms as like images, without increase or decrease. O son of the Buddha, it is like ordinary persons separately generating thoughts—those already arisen, presently arising, and yet to arise are without boundary, unsevered and inexhaustible; their flow of citta continues without interruption, inconceivable. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is also like this: entering this samādhi of the universal gate of illusion, which is without boundary and immeasurable. Why? Because of completely comprehending the limitless dharmas of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra's universal gate of illusion. O son of the Buddha, it is like when the dragon king Nanda-Mānasvin and the other great dragons send down rain, the drops are like cart axles, without boundary; though it rains like this, the clouds are never exhausted—this is the unconditioned realm of the dragons.' It also says: 'In a single thought, one completely knows the storehouse of realms of all citta and non-citta grounds; in places that are non-citta, one demonstrates the arising of citta. Free from language, abiding peacefully in wisdom, matching the practices performed by all bodhisattvas, through the power of mastery one demonstrates the realization of the Buddha Path, without rest to the bounds of the future. The kalpa counts of all worldly sentient beings, established by false imaginations and spoken words—by the power of supernormal faculties and vows, one is able to manifest all of them.' Explanation: To 'completely know the storehouse of realms of all citta and non-citta grounds' means: consciousness operating upon objects is called 'citta'; wisdom operating upon objects is called 'non-citta.' Therefore the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'That which grasps characteristics is consciousness; that which does not grasp characteristics is wisdom.' Thus we know that bodhisattvas, according with false conditions, do not abandon worldly dharmas; in the midst of skillful means, they can manifest all things. Following kalpas of increase and decrease, adapting to long and short conditions, riding the wind of great vows, continuing without interruption, they make offerings to buddhas and benefit sentient beings without rest. As the Huayan lun says: 'Bodhisattvas in the equal enlightenment stage of the eleventh ground, with great compassion, practice the gate of approaching the secular to rescue living beings, demonstrating that their own supramundane path is fulfilled, with no further citta seeking liberation or parting from defilement and purity. They only ride the ship of the dharmatā, hoist the sail of great compassion, take great wisdom as the helmsman, and, following the wind of their original vows, cast the net of the pāramitās, ever roaming the ocean of birth and death, netting all attached fish of sentient beings, and placing them on the shore of wisdom of non-reliant universal radiance; they constantly generate all illusions and dwell in the unobstructed jewel hall of the dharmadhātu of myriad practices and virtues, like the pavilion where Maitreya resides below.'