宗鏡錄 64.21

64.21

答。此火非是目連神通之火。即是帝釋心中火。故法華經云。貪著所愛。則為所燒。既以貪著之心。遂見宮殿焚爇。及悟無常之事。則貪欲之火潛消。所以即見堂殿宛然。無有灰煙之色。以目連為增。上緣故。自見被燒。然則堂本不燒。故知迷悟唯心。隱顯在己。例餘見聞。悉亦如是。又經云。惡從心生。反以自賊。如鐵生垢。消毀其形。樹繁華果。還折其枝。蚖蛇含毒。反害其驅。方知無始已來。至于今日。四威儀內。十二時中。皆是將心取心。以識緣識。畢竟內外無有一塵。為對為治。可取可捨。堪嗟世俗迷倒之人。背覺合塵。日用心行。損他害彼。潤己資身。並是自陷自傷。不知不覺。未窮此旨。物我難忘。直了斯宗。自他無寄。

Answer: This fire was not the fire of Maudgalyāyana's supernatural powers; it was the fire in Śakra's mind. Therefore the Lotus Sūtra says: "Grasping and craving what one loves, one is thereby burned." Since with a mind of greedy attachment he subsequently saw the palace incinerated, once he awakened to the matter of impermanence, the fire of greedy desire silently dissolved away. Therefore he immediately saw the hall and palace standing as before, without the color of ashes or smoke. Because Maudgalyāyana served as the sovereign condition, he saw himself being burned; however, the hall was fundamentally not burned. Thus we know that delusion and awakening are only mind; concealment and manifestation rest with oneself. All other instances of seeing and hearing are also like this. Furthermore, a sūtra says: "Evil arises from the mind, and conversely harms oneself; just as rust forms on iron and destroys its shape, or a tree heavily laden with flowers and fruits snaps its own branches, or a viper holding venom harms its own body." Only now do we know that from beginningless time down to the present day, throughout the four deportments and during the twelve periods of the day, it has all been using mind to grasp mind, using consciousness to take consciousness as object. Ultimately, internally and externally, there is not a single particle of dust as an opposite or an antidote that can be grasped or abandoned. How lamentable are the deluded, inverted people of the world! Turning their backs on awakening to join with dust, in their daily mental actions they injure others and harm those beings, enriching and sustaining their own bodies; all of this is entrapping and injuring themselves without knowing or realizing it. Not having plumbed this purport, self and objects are difficult to forget; once one directly realizes this source, self and other have nowhere to lodge.