宗鏡錄 66.6

66.6

答。雖無作者。而有作業。以眾緣力。至於後世。相續不斷。但以識為種。能有厭求記憶等事。大涅槃經云。師子吼菩薩言。世尊。眾生五陰。空無所有。誰有受教。修集道者。佛言。善男子。一切眾生。皆有念心。慧心。發心。勤精進心。信心。定心。如是等法。雖念念滅。猶故相似相續不斷。故名修道。乃至如燈。雖念念滅。而有光明。除破闇冥。念等諸法。亦復如是。如眾生食。雖念念滅。亦能令飢者而得飽滿。譬如上藥。雖念念滅。亦能愈病。日月光明。雖念念滅。亦能增長草木樹林。善男子。汝言念念滅。云何增長者。心不斷故。名為增長。如淨名經偈云。雖無我無造無受者。善惡之業亦不亡。失善惡之業因。苦樂之果報。非有人我。能作能受。但是識持。因果不亡。如古師云。眾生為善惡而受其報者。皆由眾生心識。三世相續。念念相傳。如今世現行五蘊。猶前世識種為因。起今世果。今世有作業熏種。而為來世現行因。展轉相續為因果故。又善惡之業。皆由心識而起。謂前念造得善惡業。然此一念識雖滅。而後念心識生。既心識相傳不斷。即能任持善惡之業。而亦不亡。以由識持故。識論云。然有情類。身心相續。煩惱業力。轉迴諸趣。厭患苦故求趣涅槃。由此故知。定無實我。但有諸識。無始時來。前滅後生。因果相續。由妄熏習似我相現。愚者於中妄執為我。故知厭苦求樂。捨此生彼。則驗知無我。若定有我有體。則不能去來。隨緣起滅。以定有故。不可移易。只為識心。如幻無定故。乃有從凡入聖之理。厭妄求真之門。則不壞因緣。能含正理。

Answer: Although there is no agent, there is action. Through the power of multiple conditions, it reaches future lifetimes in continuous succession without interruption. Solely with consciousness as the seed, there can be such functions as revulsion, seeking, and recollecting. The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: 'Bodhisattva Siṃhanāda said: "World-Honoured One, the five skandhas of sentient beings are empty and have nothing at all. Who receives the teaching and cultivates the path?" The Buddha said: "Good son, all sentient beings have a mind of mindfulness, a mind of wisdom, an aspiring mind, an energetic mind, a faithful mind, and a concentrated mind. Although dharmas such as these perish from thought-moment to thought-moment, they still continue in unbroken succession through resemblance; therefore it is called cultivating the path. Furthermore, just as a lamp, although perishing thought-moment to thought-moment, nonetheless has light that dispels darkness, dharmas such as mindfulness are also like this. Just as the food of sentient beings, although perishing thought-moment to thought-moment, can still satisfy the hungry; just as superior medicine, although perishing thought-moment to thought-moment, can still cure illnesses; and just as the light of the sun and moon, although perishing thought-moment to thought-moment, can still cause grasses, trees, and forests to grow—good son, as to what you said about perishing thought-moment to thought-moment, how can there be growth? Because the mind is uninterrupted, it is called growth."' As a verse in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa says: 'Although there is no self, no maker, and no receiver, / The karma of good and evil is never lost.' [Though] the karmic causes of good and evil and the retributions of suffering and pleasure are lost [to an agent], there is no person or self capable of making or receiving them; consciousness alone upholds them, and cause and effect are not lost. As an ancient master said: 'That sentient beings perform good and evil and receive their retributions is entirely due to the citta and vijñāna of sentient beings continuing through the three periods of time, transmitted from thought-moment to thought-moment. Just as the active five skandhas of the present life take the consciousness-seed of the previous life as cause to produce the fruit of the present life, in the present life there is action that perfumes seeds to serve as the cause for the active [skandhas] of future lives, sequentially continuing as cause and effect. Furthermore, karmas of good and evil both arise from the citta and vijñāna. That is to say, the preceding thought-moment creates good or evil karma; then, although this one thought-moment of consciousness perishes, the succeeding thought-moment of citta and vijñāna arises. Since citta and vijñāna are transmitted without interruption, they can sustain the karma of good and evil so that it is not lost, precisely because it is held by consciousness.' The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiśāstra says: 'However, in sentient beings, body and mind continue, and through the power of defilements and karma they transmigrate through the various destinies; because they loathe suffering, they seek to proceed to nirvāṇa.' From this, it is known that there is definitely no real self; there are only the consciousnesses, which from beginningless time have perished before and arisen after in the succession of cause and effect. Due to false perfuming, the semblance of a self appears, and foolish people falsely cling to it as a self. Therefore, know that loathing suffering and seeking pleasure, abandoning this and being born in that, verifies that there is no self. If there were definitely a self possessing substance, it could not come or go, or arise and perish in accordance with conditions; because it would be definitely existent, it could not be altered. It is solely because the conscious mind is illusory and indefinite that there is the principle of entering the noble from the common, and the gate of loathing the false and seeking the true; thus, without destroying causes and conditions, it can encompass the correct principle.