宗鏡錄 68.29

68.29

答。鏡像水月。乾闥婆城。夢境幻事。第二月等。分明可見。豈實有耶。世間所見。皆無有實。云何以現證法是真。覺時所見。一切非真。是識所緣。如夢所見。夢心所見。決定非真。亂識所緣。如第二月。如是雖無真實法體。而能為境生現見心。因斯展轉。發生憶念。前後俱緣。非真有境。是故不可以生憶念。證法是真。法既非真。時如何實。

Answer: An image in a mirror, the moon in the water, a gandharva city, dream objects, magical illusions, a second moon, and the like are clearly visible; are they truly existent? What is seen in the world is entirely unreal; how can one take present direct perception to prove that dharmas are true? Everything seen when awake is not true, being the object of consciousness, just like what is seen in a dream. What is seen by the dreaming mind is definitely not true, being the object of a disordered consciousness, like a second moon. Thus, although they lack a real substance of dharmas, they can serve as objects to generate a mind of direct seeing; due to this, recollection successively arises, and both before and after take as objects an object that is not truly existent. Therefore, one cannot use the arising of recollection to prove that dharmas are true. Since dharmas are not true, how could time be real?