宗鏡錄 75.13

75.13

答。顯識經云。佛言。賢護。色有二種。一內。二外。內謂眼識。眼則為外。乃至身識為內。身則為外。賢護。如生盲人。夢見美色。手足面目。形容姝麗。便於夢中。生大愛悅。及睡覺已。冥無所見。乃至此生盲人。未曾見物。云何夢中而能見色。賢護白佛言。唯願開示。佛告賢護。夢見見者。名內眼所。是慧分別。非肉眼見。其肉眼所。以念力故。盲者夢中須臾而現。復以念力。覺而憶之。識之內色。亦復如是。故於所見唯識。聞嗅嘗觸亦然。見有境界。但是念慧分別。若離念慧分別。決定無有前塵毫末之相。

Answer: The Sūtra on the Manifestation of Consciousness says: 'The Buddha said: Bhadrapāla, form is of two kinds: internal and external. Internal refers to the eye consciousness; the eye is external. Up to the body consciousness being internal, and the body being external. Bhadrapāla, suppose a person blind from birth dreams of seeing beautiful forms, hands, feet, face, and eyes of exquisite beauty, and within the dream gives rise to great delight; but when awakened from sleep, all is dark and nothing is seen. Indeed, this person blind from birth had never seen an object: how could they see forms in a dream?' Bhadrapāla said to the Buddha: 'We only wish you to explain.' The Buddha told Bhadrapāla: 'That which sees in a dream is called the internal eye-sphere; it is discrimination by wisdom, not sight by the physical eye. As for the sphere of the physical eye, through the power of mindfulness, it momentarily appears in the dream of the blind person; and through the power of mindfulness, upon awakening they remember it. The internal form of consciousness is also like this. Therefore, what is seen is consciousness-only; hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching are likewise so. To see an object is merely the discrimination of mindfulness and wisdom; if one is free from the discrimination of mindfulness and wisdom, there is definitely not even the finest hair of an external object.'