宗鏡錄 9.9

9.9

答。大智圓明。覩纖毫而觀性海。真原朗現。一塵之處以眺全身。萬法顯必同時。一際理無前後。何以故。由此一塵虛相。能翳於真。即是染也。由塵相空無所有。即淨也。由於塵性本體同如。即是真也。由此塵相緣生幻有。即俗也。由於塵相念念遷變。即是生死也。由觀塵生滅相盡。空無有實。即涅槃也。由塵相大小。皆是妄心分別。即煩惱也。由塵體本空。緣慮自盡。即菩提也。由塵相體無遍計。即小乘法也。由塵性無生無滅。依他似有。即大乘法也。如是略說。若具言之。假使一切眾生懷疑。各異。一時同問如來。如來唯以一箇塵字而為解釋。宜深思之。經頌云。一切法門無盡海。一言演說盡無餘。依此義理故。名一塵出生無盡遍也。所言即者。現今平等。故此一心法門。如鏡頓現。不待次第。如印頓成。更無前後。一見一切見。一聞一切聞。不俟推尋。若待了達而成。皆為權漸。若能觀於心性之一。則是一道甚深。即正道之一。是唯一之一。千佛同轍。今古不易之一道也。亦云一路涅槃門。亦云一道出生死。又名大佛頂首楞嚴王具足萬行。十方如來一門超出。妙莊嚴路。猶如百華共成一蜜。故知萬法同會斯宗。若諦了之。一切在我。昇沈去住。任意隨緣。示聖現凡。出生入死。變化難測。運無作之神通。隱顯同時。闡如幻之三昧。是非冥合。逆順同歸。語默卷舒。常順一真之道。治生產業。不違實相之門。運用施為。念念而未離法界。行住坐臥。步步而常在其中。若不信之人。對面千里。如寒山子詩云。可貴天然物。獨一無伴侶。促之在方寸。延之一切處。汝若不信受。相逢不相遇。如明達之者。寓目關懷。悉能先覺。若未遇之子。可以事知。舉動施為。未甞間斷。如蔡順。字君仲。以孝聞。順少孤。養母。常出求薪。有客卒至。母望順不還。乃嚙其指。順即心動。棄薪馳歸。跪問其故。母曰。有急客來。吾嚙指以悟汝耳。又唐裴敬彝。父為陳王典所殺。敬彝時在城。忽自覺。流涕不食。謂人曰。我大人凡有痛處。吾即不安。今日心痛。手足皆廢。事在不測。遂歸覲。父果已死。又唐張志安。居鄉閭稱孝。差為里尹。在縣忽稱母疾急。縣令問。志安曰。母有疾志安亦病。志安適患心痛。是以知母有疾。令拘之。差人覆之。果如所說。尋奏高表門閭。拜為散騎常侍。

Answer: When great wisdom is completely illumined, one gazes upon a minute tip of hair and contemplates the ocean of the nature; when the true source is brightly manifested, from the locus of a single particle of dust one looks upon the entire body. When the ten thousand dharmas manifest, it is necessarily simultaneous; in the one limit of principle, there is neither before nor after. Why is this? Because this illusory characteristic of a single particle of dust can obscure the real, it is defilement. Because the characteristic of dust is empty and without anything existing, it is purity. Because the original substance of the nature of dust is identical to tathatā, it is the real. Because this characteristic of dust is dependently originated and illusory existence, it is the conventional. Because the characteristic of dust changes from moment to moment, it is saṃsāra. Because through contemplation the characteristics of arising and ceasing of dust are exhausted and are empty without reality, it is nirvāṇa. Because the large and small characteristics of dust are all discriminations of the deluded mind, they are kleśas. Because the substance of dust is originally empty and cognitive deliberation naturally ends, it is bodhi. Because the substance of the characteristic of dust is devoid of the imagined [nature], it is the Hīnayāna Dharma. Because the nature of dust is unarisen and unceasing, and exists resembling [reality] through other-dependence, it is the Mahāyāna Dharma. This is an abridged explanation. If spoken of fully, even if all sentient beings harbored disparate doubts and simultaneously questioned the Tathāgata, the Tathāgata would explain them all using only the single word "dust." One should ponder this deeply. A sūtra verse says: / "The inexhaustible ocean of all dharma-gates / Is expounded in a single word without remainder." / In accordance with this principle, it is called "a single particle of dust produces inexhaustibility ubiquitously." What is called "identity" means equality in the present moment. Therefore, this one-mind dharma-gate, like a mirror, manifests suddenly without waiting for stages; like a seal, it is formed suddenly, with no before and after. In one seeing, all is seen; in one hearing, all is heard, without awaiting analytical search. If one must wait for complete understanding to achieve it, all of that belongs to provisional and gradual [teachings]. If one can contemplate the oneness of the nature of the citta, it is the one path that is extremely profound, namely the one of the correct path, the one that is unique and sole—the one path that the thousand Buddhas have shared, unchanging throughout past and present. It is also called the one path of the gate to nirvāṇa; it is also called the one path that transcends saṃsāra. It is further named the great-Buddha-uṣṇīṣa King Śūraṅgama replete with the ten thousand practices, the single gate through which the tathāgatas of the ten directions transcend, the wondrously adorned path, just as a hundred flowers together produce a single honey. Thus we know that the ten thousand dharmas converge in this source. If one clearly understands it, everything rests with oneself: ascending, sinking, departing, or remaining, one acts at will according to conditions. Manifesting as a sage or appearing as an ordinary person, exiting birth and entering death, one's transformations are difficult to fathom. Operating unconditioned spiritual powers, concealing and revealing occur simultaneously; expounding the illusion-like samādhi, right and wrong darkly merge. Adversity and favor return to the same [source]; speech, silence, unfolding, and gathering always accord with the path of the One Reality. Managing livelihoods and productive enterprises does not violate the gate of the real mark. Operations and actions, moment to moment, never depart from the dharmadhātu; walking, standing, sitting, and reclining, step by step, one is always within it. If someone does not believe, though face-to-face, they are a thousand miles apart. As the poem by Master Hanshan says: / "Precious is the natural thing, / Alone and without companion. / Contract it, and it is in a square inch; / Extend it, and it is in all places. / If you do not believe and accept it, / Though you meet face-to-face, you will not encounter it." / For one of clear understanding, whatever meets the eye concerns the citta, and they can perceive everything in advance. For those who have not yet encountered it, it may be known through events: their movements and actions have never been interrupted. For example, Cai Shun, whose courtesy name was Junzhong, was renowned for filial piety. Shun was orphaned young and supported his mother, often going out to gather firewood. A guest arrived abruptly; when the mother looked for Shun and he had not returned, she bit her finger. Shun's citta was immediately moved; he dropped the firewood and rushed back, kneeling to ask the reason. The mother said, "An urgent guest arrived, and I bit my finger simply to make you realize it." Again, in the Tang dynasty, Pei Jingyi's father was killed by King of Chen's administrator. Jingyi was in the city at the time, when he suddenly felt it himself; shedding tears, he could not eat, and said to people, "Whenever my father suffered pain anywhere, I felt uneasy. Today my chest aches and my hands and feet are both incapacitated; an unforeseen event must have occurred." He then returned home to pay his respects, and his father was indeed already dead. Again, in the Tang dynasty, Zhang Zhi'an was praised for filial piety in his village and was assigned as a village head. While in the county seat, he suddenly claimed that his mother was critically ill. The county magistrate asked him, and Zhi'an said, "When my mother is ill, Zhi'an is also sick. Zhi'an just suffered heart pain, and therefore knows his mother is ill." The magistrate detained him and sent someone to verify it, and it was indeed as he had said. Soon he memorialized the throne, which raised high markers at his gate and appointed him as Sanqi Changshi.