[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) › 78.7 # 宗鏡錄 78.7 宗鏡錄 78.7 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [78.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78.7) 答。理妙難觀。故有不知之說。旨微罕見。故發幢英之問。有天名曰幢英。問文殊師利。所言。本際。為何謂乎。文殊答曰。眾生之原。名曰本際。又問。眾生之原。為何謂乎。答曰。生死之本。為眾生原。又問。於彼何謂為生死本。答曰。虛空之本。為生死原。幢英於是抱玄音而輟問。始悟不住之本。若然。則因緣之始。可聞而不可明。可存而不可論。問。虛空有本乎。答無。問。若無有本。何故云虛空之本。為生死原。答。此猶本際之本。耳則於虛空無本。為眾本之宗。化表無化。為萬化之府矣。又凡亦是心。聖亦是心。以所習處下。不能自弘。則溺塵勞耳。若以心託事則狹劣。若以事從心則廣大。凡世人多外重其事。而內不曉其心。是以所作。皆非究竟。以所附處卑故耳。如搏牛之虻。飛極百步。若附鸞尾。則一翥萬里。非其翼工。所託迅也。亦如牆。頭之草。角裏之聲。皆能致其高遠者。所託之勝也。如入宗鏡。一一附於自心。則毛吞。巨浸。塵含十方。豈非深廣乎。 > Answer: The principle is subtle and difficult to contemplate; thus there is the statement of not knowing. The import is profound and rarely perceived; thus it prompted the question of Dhvajāgra. There was a deva named Dhvajāgra who asked Mañjuśrī, "Regarding the phrase 'the original limit' (pūrvakoṭi), what does it mean?" Mañjuśrī answered, saying, "The origin of sentient beings is called the original limit." Again he asked, "What does the origin of sentient beings mean?" \[Mañjuśrī\] answered, saying, "The root of saṃsāra is the origin of sentient beings." Again he asked, "Regarding that, what is meant by the root of saṃsāra?" \[Mañjuśrī\] answered, saying, "The root of empty space is the origin of saṃsāra." Thereupon Dhvajāgra embraced the profound teaching and ceased his questioning, having for the first time awakened to the root of non-abiding. If so, then the beginning of causes and conditions may be heard of but cannot be clarified; it may be retained but cannot be debated. Question: Does empty space have a root? Answer: No. Question: If it has no root, why say that the root of empty space is the origin of saṃsāra? Answer: This is like the root of the original limit. Empty space's having no root is the source of all roots; that which is beyond transformation having no transformation is the treasury of all transformations. Furthermore, an ordinary person is also citta, and an arya is also citta. It is only because the places they cultivate are base that they cannot expand themselves, and so they merely drown in defilements. If one relies upon things with citta, it becomes narrow and inferior; if one subordinates things to citta, it becomes vast. In general, worldly people mostly value external things and do not understand their own citta within. Therefore, what they do is never ultimate, merely because the places to which they attach are lowly. It is like a gadfly that attacks cattle: its flight reaches at most a hundred paces; but if it attaches itself to the tail of a luan-bird, it can soar ten thousand li in a single flight. This is not due to the skill of its wings, but to the swiftness of that to which it has attached. It is also like the grass atop a wall, or the sound from a horn: that they can attain such height and distance is due to the excellence of that to which they attach. If one enters the mirror of the source and attaches everything to one's own citta, then a single hair can swallow the vast ocean, and a single speck of dust can contain the ten directions. Is this not profound and vast? > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 78.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78.6) - [Next: 78.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78.8) - [Up: 78](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.78.7) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.78.7) · Pramāṇa