宗鏡錄 67.3

67.3

答。法執難亡。更是微細。以法執為本。人執為末。所以法愛不盡。皆為頂墮之人。圓證涅槃。猶是我見之者。如圓覺經中。淨諸業障菩薩白佛言。大悲世尊。為我等輩。廣說如是不思議事。一切如來因地行相。令諸大眾。得未曾有。覩見調御。歷恒沙劫。勤苦境界。一切功用。猶如一念。我等菩薩。深自慶慰。世尊。若此覺心。本恒清淨。因何染污使諸眾生。迷悶不入。乃至佛言。善男子。一切眾生。從無始來。妄想執有我人眾生。及與壽命。認四顛倒。為實我體。由此便生憎愛二境。於虛妄體。重執虛妄。二妄相依。生妄業道。有妄業故。妄見流轉。厭流轉者。妄見涅槃。由此不能入清淨覺。非覺違拒。諸能入者。有諸能入。非覺入故。是故動念。及與息念。皆歸迷悶。何以故。由有無始。本起無明。為己主宰。一切眾生。生無慧目。身心等性。皆是無明。譬如有人。不自斷命。是故當知。有愛我者。我與隨順。非隨順者。便生憎怨。為憎愛心養無明故。相續求道。皆不成就。善男子。云何我相。謂諸眾生心所證者。善男子。譬如有人百骸調適。忽忘我身。四支絃緩。攝養乖方。微加針艾。則知有我。是故證取。方現我體。善男子。其心乃至證於如來。畢竟了知清淨涅槃。皆是我相。善男子。云何人相。謂諸眾生心悟證者。善男子。悟有我者。不復認我。所悟非我。悟亦如是。悟已超過一切證者。悉為人相。善男子。其心乃至圓悟涅槃。俱是我者。心存少悟。備殫證理。皆名人相。善男子。云何眾生相。謂諸眾生心自證悟所不及者。善男子。譬如有人作如是言。我是眾生。則知彼人說眾生者。非我非彼。云何非我。我是眾生。則非是我。云何非彼。我是眾生。非彼我故。善男子。但諸眾生。了證了悟。皆為我人。而我人相所不及者。存有所了。名眾生相。善男子。云何壽者相。謂諸眾生心照清淨。覺所了者。一切業智。所不自見。猶如命根。善男子。若心照見一切覺者。皆為塵垢。覺所覺者。不離塵故。如湯消氷。無有別氷。知氷消者。存我覺我。亦復如是。善男子。末世眾生。不了四相。雖經多劫。勤苦修道。但名有為。終不能成一切聖果。此我法二執。經論偏治。助業潤生。順情發愛。於六七識上。妄起端由。向根塵法中強為主宰。固異生之疆界。為煩惱之導師。立生死之根原。作眾苦之基址。壞正法之寶藏。違成佛之妙宗。塞涅槃之要津。盲般若之智眼。障菩提之大道。斷解脫之正因。背覺合塵。無先於此。如上廣引。破斥分明。願斷疑根。頓消氷執。則正修有路。功不唐捐。一念證真。全成覺道。

Answer: Attachment to dharmas is difficult to eliminate and is even more subtle. Attachment to dharmas is the root, and attachment to a person is the branch. Therefore, when love of dharmas is not exhausted, [practitioners] all become those who fall from the peak; even those who perfectly realize nirvāṇa are still those with a view of a self. As in the Sūtra of Perfect Awakening, Bodhisattva Purifier of All Karmic Hindrances addressed the Buddha, saying: "O World-Honoured One of Great Compassion, you have extensively expounded for us such inconceivable matters, the characteristics of the causal practices of all Tathāgatas, causing the great assembly to attain what they had never had before, beholding the Tamer, whose painstaking realms over kalpas numerous as the sands of the Ganges and whose total functions are like a single thought. We bodhisattvas deeply rejoice. World-Honoured One, if this mind of awakening is originally and eternally pure, by what defilement are sentient beings caused to be deluded, distraught, and unable to enter?" Down to where the Buddha said: "Good sons, all sentient beings, from beginningless time, have falsely conceptualized and grasped a self, a person, a sentient being, and a life span, taking the four inversions to be the real substance of the self. From this, they immediately give rise to the two states of hatred and love. Over a false and unreal substance, they repeatedly grasp at what is false and unreal. The two falsehoods rely on each other, producing the path of false karmic deeds. Because of false karma, they falsely perceive transmigration; those who loathe transmigration falsely perceive nirvāṇa. Because of this, they are unable to enter pure awakening. It is not that awakening rejects and opposes those capable of entering; rather, that there are those capable of entering means they have not entered by means of awakening. Therefore, both the stirring of thought and the cessation of thought return to delusion and distraction. Why is this? Because there is the beginningless, fundamentally arisen avidyā acting as their own master. All sentient beings are born without the eye of prajñā, and the nature of their bodies and minds is entirely avidyā. It is just as when a person does not take their own life. Therefore, you should know that towards what loves oneself, one complies; towards what does not comply, one gives rise to hatred and resentment. Because the mind of hatred and love nourishes avidyā, though one continually seeks the Way, none achieve success. Good sons, what is the characteristic of a self? It refers to what is realized in the minds of sentient beings. Good sons, it is like a person whose hundred joints are well-attuned, suddenly forgetting their own body; but when the four limbs are slack and sluggish, or regimen and care are mismanaged, the slight application of needle or moxibustion makes them know there is a self. Therefore, only when grasping what is realized does the substance of the self appear. Good sons, even if their mind realizes the Tathāgata and ultimately understands pure nirvāṇa, this is all the characteristic of a self. Good sons, what is the characteristic of a person? It refers to what sentient beings comprehend in their minds regarding realization. Good sons, having comprehended that there is a self, one no longer identifies with the self. That which is comprehended is not the self, and the comprehension is also like this. Comprehension having surpassed all that is realized, this is entirely the characteristic of a person. Good sons, even if their mind perfectly comprehends that nirvāṇa is entirely the self, as long as the mind retains a slight comprehension that fully exhausts the realized principle, this is all called the characteristic of a person. Good sons, what is the characteristic of a sentient being? It refers to what is not reached by the realization and comprehension of the minds of sentient beings. Good sons, it is like someone making this statement: 'I am a sentient being.' Then one knows that when that person speaks of a 'sentient being,' it is neither self nor other. Why is it not the self? 'I am a sentient being,' so it is not the self. Why is it not other? 'I am a sentient being,' so it is not another's self. Good sons, sentient beings' understanding realization and understanding comprehension are all [the characteristics of] a self and a person; that which is not reached by the characteristics of a self and a person, yet where there remains something understood, is called the characteristic of a sentient being. Good sons, what is the characteristic of a life span? It refers to what the mind of sentient beings illuminates as pure and what is understood by awakening, which cannot be seen by any karmic cognition, just like the life faculty. Good sons, if the mind illuminates and sees all that awakens, it is all dust and defilement; for that which awakens and that which is awakened do not depart from dust. Just as when hot water melts ice, there is no separate ice to know that the ice has melted; retaining a self that awakens to the self is also like this. Good sons, sentient beings of the final age do not understand the four characteristics. Though they cultivate the Way painstakingly for many kalpas, it is merely called conditioned [action], and in the end they cannot accomplish any noble fruit." These two attachments to self and dharmas are specially treated in the sūtras and śāstras: they assist karma and moisten rebirth, comply with feelings and generate love, falsely arise from the sixth and seventh consciousnesses, and forcefully act as a master among the dharmas of faculties and dusts. They solidify the boundaries of ordinary beings, serve as the guide of kleśas, establish the root source of birth-and-death, and make the foundation of all sufferings. They ruin the treasure store of the true Dharma, go against the wondrous source of achieving Buddhahood, block the essential crossing to nirvāṇa, blind the wisdom eye of prajñā, obstruct the great path of bodhi, and sever the correct cause of liberation. In turning one's back on awakening and aligning with dust, nothing comes before these. As widely cited above, the refutations are distinct and clear. May you sever the root of doubt and suddenly dissolve the icy attachments; then there will be a path for correct cultivation, your efforts will not be in vain, and realizing the real in a single thought, you will entirely accomplish the path of awakening.