[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › 74.5 # 宗鏡錄 74.5 宗鏡錄 74.5 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [74.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74.5) 答。四相有二。一麁約果報而說。即生老病死。此亦四相。二細。即生住異滅。據惑業而論。如起信論中釋云。不覺心起。名為生。能見能現。妄取境界。起念相續。名之為住。執取計名。名之為異。造作諸業。名之為滅。雖即四相似分。俱是一心而轉。然世人多執住相。以為現見。今須推破。以顯真空。凡有一切住持境界。悉如夢中。似有非實。以隨心所現。外境本空故。心亦無生。念念不住。如大智度論云。佛說諸法。無有根本定實如毫釐許。所有。欲證明是事故。說夢中受五欲。譬如須菩提意。若一切法畢竟空。無所有性。今何以故。現有眼見耳聞法。以是故。佛說夢譬。喻。如人夢力故。雖無實事。而有種種聞見。瞋處喜處。覺人在傍。則無所見。如是凡夫人。無明顛倒力故。妄有所見。聖人覺悟。則無所見。一切法若有漏。若無漏。若有為。若無為。皆不實。虛妄故有見聞。又云。現在色亦無住時。若法後見壞相。當知初生時壞相已隨逐。微細故不識。如人著屐。若初日新而無有舊。後應常新。不應有舊。若無舊。應是常。常故無罪無福。無罪無福故。則世俗法亂。復次生滅相。常隨作法。無有住時。若有住時。則無生滅。夫受生死者。初因妄識造分別業。因茲有身。今先推此身。聚散非有。以身是積聚義。內外四大。假和合成。微細推窮。事無和合。以風火常舉。地水恒沈。一一大性。各無定體。風以動為性。乃附物而彰。真理不遷。湛然常寂。火以熱為性。未必皆燒。如雲中身內之火。何不焚爇。地以堅為性。且如銅鐵。遇鎔成水。剛柔不定。水以濕為性。因火即乾。又寒堅煖釋。凝流無體。各各既無。和合非有。如一狗無師子性。聚群狗而亦不成。似一盲不見於明。合眾盲而終不覩。寶藏論云。清虛之理。畢竟無身。既知身空。又執識煖息三事實有。能為生死成就命根者。台教云。此身無常。攬壽煖識三事而有身。身但假名。三事無常。無別身也。息之出入。計為壽命。息出不反。身如瓦礫。命寧可保。若煖氣持水。水潤於地。妄謂此身為常存者。火從緣生。緣散故即火滅。身便臭爛。業計妄識。剎那異趣。謂我常自在。業若纔斷。心即託生。身便散滅。大集經云。出胎。盛年。衰老。皆是業持。三事生滅。相續不斷。凡夫不了。妄取身相。不覺氣斷。三事分離。又如出入息。相續百千萬。出入息。一一息中。身不可得。剎那心識。次第生滅無量。一一剎那。身不可得。不臭不爛。三大成皮肉骨髓。一一驗之。虛假。身不可得。離此三事。無別有身。故知身命本空。生死恒寂。凡夫不了。枉入苦輪。命如風裏之殘燈。剎那磨滅。身似潭中之聚沫。倏爾消洋。所以經云。解無不生。了有不死。若了有空而無我。無我令誰生。解本無而不生。不生令誰死。唯持種本識。妙湛真心。體性圓明。寂然常住。處異生位。持無漏而常熏。至佛果門。續菩提而不斷。又心性本來。離生滅相。而有無明。迷自心性。由違心性離相寂靜故。能生起動四相。四相無明和合力故。能令心體生住異滅。經云。即此法身。為諸煩惱之所飄動。往來生死。名為眾生。起信論明。自性清淨心。因無明風動。四相流轉。唯一夢心。處夢之士。謂為前後。各隨智力淺深。分分而覺。大覺之者。知夢四相。唯一淨心。無有體性。可辯前後。故論云。四相俱時。無有自立。生住異滅。一心而轉。四相俱有為心所成。離一心外。無別自體。故言俱時而有。無有自立者。本來平等。同一本覺故。如般若燈論偈云。生死有際不。佛言。畢竟無。此生死無際。前後不可得。如般若經云。復次極勇猛。如涅槃無際。一切法亦無際。何者。生死以涅槃為際。涅槃以生死為際。既不得生死。亦不得涅槃。生死涅槃。既不可得。則一切法悉無際。如是但了本覺一心。念念契圓常之道。若逐無明散意。塵塵成生死之輪。得失在人。法無邪正。取捨任己。道絕昇沈。但自內觀。躡普門而頓入。唯當正眼。履一道以圓成。 > Answer: The four characteristics are of two kinds. The first is coarse, spoken of in terms of fruition and retribution: namely, birth, aging, sickness, and death; these are also four characteristics. The second is subtle: namely, arising, abiding, change, and cessation, discussed on the basis of delusion and karma. As explained in the Awakening of Faith: "The arising of the unconscious mind is called arising. Being able to see and being able to manifest, falsely grasping at realms and generating thoughts in succession, is called abiding. Holding fast and calculating names is called change. Creating various karmas is called cessation." Although the four characteristics seem distinct, they all turn from the one mind. However, worldly people mostly grasp at the characteristic of abiding, taking it to be what is presently seen. Now it must be refuted through investigation to reveal true emptiness. All realms that abide and are sustained are entirely like things in a dream: appearing to exist, yet not real. Because they are manifested in accordance with the mind, external objects are originally empty; the mind is also unarisen, not abiding from thought to thought. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "The Buddha taught that all dharmas have no fundamental, fixed reality even to the extent of a hair's breadth. Wishing to demonstrate this fact, he spoke of experiencing the five desires in a dream. For example, according to Subhūti's thought: If all dharmas are ultimately empty and devoid of any real nature, why now are there presently dharmas seen by the eye and heard by the ear? For this reason, the Buddha spoke the simile of a dream: just as by the power of a dream, although there are no real things, there are various sights and sounds, occasions for anger and occasions for joy, yet an awake person beside them sees nothing; so too, ordinary persons, by the power of avidyā and inverted views, falsely see things, whereas noble persons, being awakened, see nothing. All dharmas, whether with outflows or without outflows, conditioned or unconditioned, are unreal; because they are false, there are seeing and hearing." It also says: "Present matter also has no time of abiding. If a dharma is later seen to have the characteristic of destruction, one should know that when it first arose, the characteristic of destruction was already pursuing it; because it is subtle, it is not recognized. Just like a person wearing clogs: if on the first day they are new and without any wear, then later they should always be new and should not become worn. If there were no wear, they would have to be permanent. If permanent, there would be neither demerit nor merit; and without demerit and merit, conventional dharmas would fall into disorder. Furthermore, the characteristics of arising and cessation constantly accompany created dharmas, having no time of abiding; if there were a time of abiding, there would be no arising and cessation." Now, those who undergo birth and death initially create differentiating karma through false consciousness, and on account of this they possess a body. Now let us first investigate this body: gathering and dispersing are non-existent. Because "body" means an accumulation, a temporary combination of the internal and external four great elements. Investigating minutely, in reality there is no combination: wind and fire constantly rise, while earth and water constantly sink; each of the great natures lacks a fixed substance. Wind has movement as its nature, manifesting only by attaching to objects; the true principle does not shift, but is clear and constantly tranquil. Fire has heat as its nature, but does not necessarily burn everything: as with the fire in clouds or within the body, why does it not burn? Earth has hardness as its nature, yet copper and iron, upon being melted, become liquid; hard and soft are not fixed. Water has moisture as its nature, but dries up because of fire; furthermore, cold hardens it while warmth melts it, so congealing and flowing lack \[fixed\] substance. Since each individually does not exist, their combination is also non-existent: just as a single dog lacks the nature of a lion, and gathering a pack of dogs will still not make one; or just as a single blind person does not see the light, and combining a crowd of blind persons will never see it in the end. The Baowang lun says: "The principle of pure voidness is ultimately without a body." Having understood that the body is empty, if one then grasps at the three things of consciousness, warmth, and breath as really existing and capable of accomplishing the life-faculty for birth and death, Tiantai teachings say: "This body is impermanent; grasping the three things of lifespan, warmth, and consciousness, there is a body. 'Body' is merely a provisional designation; the three things are impermanent, and there is no separate body." The entering and exiting of the breath is calculated as lifespan; if the breath goes out and does not return, the body is like rubble—how could life be preserved? If warmth sustains water and water moistens the earth, and one falsely considers this body to be permanent, \[know that\] fire arises from conditions, and when conditions disperse, the fire ceases and the body then rots and stinks. Karmically calculated false consciousness shifts in an instant to a different destiny, yet one claims, 'I am always autonomous'; if karma is barely severed, the mind immediately takes rebirth and the body disperses and perishes. The Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: "Emerging from the womb, prime of life, and aging are all sustained by karma. The arising and ceasing of the three things continue without interruption. Ordinary people, not understanding, falsely grasp at bodily characteristics, unaware that when the breath is cut off, the three things separate." Furthermore, just as the in-and-out breaths continue by hundreds of thousands, in each single breath the body cannot be apprehended. The momentary mind-consciousness arises and ceases sequentially without measure, yet in each single moment the body cannot be apprehended. Not stinking and not rotting, the three elements form skin, flesh, bones, and marrow; examining them one by one, they are false and empty, and the body cannot be apprehended. Apart from these three things, there is no other body. Therefore, know that body and life are originally empty, and birth and death are ever tranquil. Ordinary people, failing to understand, vainly enter the wheel of suffering. Life is like a dying lamp in the wind, destroyed in an instant; the body is like gathered foam upon a pool, dissolving away in a moment. Hence the sutra says: "Understanding non-existence, nothing arises; comprehending existence, nothing dies. If one comprehends that existence is empty and devoid of self, with no self, who is caused to arise? If one understands that it is originally non-existent and unarisen, being unarisen, who is caused to die?" There is only the basic consciousness holding seeds, the wondrous, tranquil true mind, whose substance and nature are perfectly luminous, quiet, and constantly abiding. Abiding in the station of ordinary beings, it holds the untainted and is constantly perfumed; reaching the gate of buddhahood, it continues bodhi without end. Furthermore, the nature of mind is originally free from the characteristics of arising and cessation; yet avidyā exists, deluding one's own mind-nature. Because it runs contrary to the mind-nature's tranquility that is free from characteristics, it can generate and activate the four characteristics. By the combined power of the four characteristics and avidyā, it can cause the substance of the mind to undergo arising, abiding, change, and cessation. A sutra says: "This very dharmakāya, tossed and drifted by all the kleśas, comes and goes in birth and death, and is called sentient beings." The Awakening of Faith explains that the inherently pure mind, moved by the wind of avidyā, revolves through the four characteristics as a single dreaming mind. Those residing in the dream regard them as before and after, and according to the shallowness or depth of their cognitive power, they awaken part by part. Those of great awakening know that the four characteristics in the dream are solely the one pure mind, devoid of any substantial nature by which before and after could be distinguished. Therefore the treatise says: "The four characteristics exist simultaneously without self-standing; arising, abiding, change, and cessation turn as the one mind." The four characteristics all exist as creations of the mind; apart from the one mind, they have no separate self-substance. Hence it is said that they exist simultaneously; that they "have no self-standing" means that they are originally equal, being identical with the one original awakening. As a verse in the Prajñāpradīpaśāstra says: "Does birth and death have a limit? / The Buddha said: Ultimately none. / This birth and death has no limit; / Prior and subsequent cannot be apprehended." As the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra says: "Furthermore, Extremely Valiant One, just as nirvāṇa is limitless, all dharmas are likewise limitless. Why? Birth and death has nirvāṇa as its limit, and nirvāṇa has birth and death as its limit. Since neither birth and death can be apprehended, nor can nirvāṇa be apprehended; and since birth and death and nirvāṇa cannot be apprehended, all dharmas are completely limitless." Thus, if one only realizes the one mind of original awakening, thought by thought accords with the path of the perfect and eternal. If one pursues the scattered thoughts of avidyā, dust by dust becomes the wheel of birth and death. Gain and loss lie with the person; dharmas have neither crooked nor straight. Adoption and rejection are left to oneself; the Way transcends rising and falling. Merely observe within yourself, step through the universal gate and enter suddenly; only apply the correct eye, and tread the single path to achieve full perfection. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 74.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74.4) - [Next: 74.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74.6) - [Up: 74](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.74.5) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.74.5) · Pramāṇa