宗鏡錄 61.23

61.23

答。諸佛凡敷教跡。不為已知者言。祖師直指人心。只為未明者說。今之所錄。但示初機。令頓悟圓宗。不迂小徑。若不得宗鏡之廣照。何由鑒自性之幽深。匪因智慧之光。豈破愚癡之闇。如臨古鏡。妍醜自分。若遇斯宗。真偽可鑒。豈有日出而不照。燃燈而不明者乎。故華嚴記中。述十種法明。法即是境。明即是心。以智慧明。照二諦法。故云法明。雖然法無成破。此屬第一義門中。且教自有開遮。寧無善巧方便。如大涅槃經云。高貴德王菩薩品。因瑠璃光菩薩欲來放光。佛問於文殊。文殊初入第一義。答云。世尊。如是光明。名為智慧。智慧者。即常住之法。常住之法。無有因緣。云何佛問。何因緣故有是光明。廣說無因緣竟。末後云。世尊。亦有因緣。因滅無明。則得熾然阿耨多羅三藐三菩提燈。是知因教明宗。非無所以。從緣入道。終不唐捐。方便之門。不可暫廢。又夫宗鏡中。纔說一字。便是談宗。更無前後。以說時有異。理且無差。如智度論云。先分別諸法。後說畢竟空。然但說之前後。法乃同時。文不頓書。空非漸次。

Answer: Whenever the Buddhas lay out the traces of teaching, they do not speak for those who already know; when the ancestral masters directly point to the human mind, they speak only for those who are not yet clear. What is recorded here merely instructs beginners, causing them to suddenly awaken to the perfect source and not take detours on lesser paths. If one does not obtain the broad illumination of the Mirror of the Source, by what means could one perceive the subtle depths of one's own nature? Were it not for the light of wisdom, how could one destroy the darkness of ignorance? Like facing an ancient mirror, beauty and ugliness are naturally distinguished; if one encounters this source, the true and the false can be discerned. How could the sun rise without shining, or a lamp be lit without giving light? Therefore, the Huayan Commentary describes ten kinds of illumination of dharmas: 'dharmas' refers to the objective realm, and 'illumination' refers to the mind. Illuminating the dharmas of the two truths with the illumination of wisdom is called 'illumination of dharmas'. Although in dharmas there is no establishing and no destroying—which pertains to the gate of the ultimate truth—the teaching itself has opening and restricting; how could it be without skillful means? As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says in the chapter on Bodhisattva Noble Demeanour King: because Bodhisattva Vaiḍūryaprabha was about to come and emit light, the Buddha questioned Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī at first entered the ultimate truth and answered: 'World-Honoured One, such light is called wisdom. Wisdom is an eternally abiding dharma. An eternally abiding dharma has no causes or conditions. Why did the Buddha ask by what causes and conditions there is this light?' Having broadly explained the absence of causes and conditions, at the very end he said: 'World-Honoured One, there are also causes and conditions. Because ignorance is extinguished, the lamp of anuttarasamyaksaṃbodhi is ablaze.' From this we know that clarifying the source by means of teaching is not without reason. Entering the Way through conditions is never in vain; the gate of skillful means must not be abandoned even for a moment. Furthermore, in the Mirror of the Source, as soon as a single word is spoken, it is already discussing the source, with no before or after. Because there is a difference in the time of speaking, the principle remains without discrepancy. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'First discriminate all dharmas, and later speak of ultimate emptiness.' However, it is only the expounding that has before and after; the dharmas are simultaneous. The text is not written all at once, but emptiness is not gradual.