宗鏡錄 92.23

92.23

答。當上上機。若已達者。憑佛旨而印可。若未入者。假教理以發明。又若圓通之人。不俟更述。自覺聖智。無說無示。真如妙性。無得無聞。若闇昧之者。須假助成。因教理而照心。即言詮而體道。若宗明則教息。道顯則言空。絕待真心。境智俱亡矣。如是則方入宗鏡。深達玄門。真能聽佛說經。親談妙旨。可謂得諸法之性。徹一心之原。如首楞嚴經云。阿難。承佛悲救深誨。垂泣。叉手。而白佛言。我雖承佛如是妙音。悟妙明心。元所圓滿常住心地。而我悟佛現說法音。現以緣心允所瞻仰。徒獲此心。未敢認為本元心地。願佛哀愍。宣示圓音。拔我疑根。歸無上道。佛告阿難。汝等尚以緣心聽法。此法亦緣。非得法性。如人以手指月示人。彼人因指當應看月。若復觀指以為月體。此人豈唯亡失月輪。亦亡其指。何以故。以所摽指。為明月故。豈唯亡指。亦復不識明之與暗。何以故。即以指體為月明性。明暗二性。無所了故。汝亦如是。若以分別我說法音。為汝心者。此心自應離分別音。有分別性。譬如有客。寄宿旅亭。暫止便去。終不常住。而掌亭人。都無所去。名為亭主。此亦如是。若真汝心。則無所去。云何離聲無分別性。斯則豈唯聲分別心。分別我容。離諸色相。無分別性。如是乃至分別都無。非色非空。拘舍利等。昧為冥諦。離諸法緣。無分別性。則汝心性。各有所還。云何為主。釋曰。阿難言。而我悟佛現說法音。現以緣心允所瞻仰。徒獲此心。未敢認為本元心地者。阿難尚認緣心聽佛說法音。以為常住真心。取佛定旨。佛言。若執因緣心聽。只得因緣法。以法隨情變。境逐心生故。又定緣佛音聲是自心者。若說法聲斷時。分別心應滅。此心如客。不常住故。今時多迷自性本聞。但隨能所之聞。一向徇他聲流轉。此聲是對因緣所生法。非真實有。但因聲而立名字。因名字而有詮表。若旋復本聞。則脫聲塵之境。所脫之境既虛。能脫之名何立。則能脫所脫皆空。以強記多聞。是識想邊際。本非實故。若因聞見性。則多聞有助顯之功。若背性徇聞。則畜聞成邪思過誤。故文殊頌云。今此娑婆國。聲論得宣明。眾生迷本聞。脩聲故流轉。阿難縱強記。不免落邪思。豈非隨所淪。旋流獲無妄。阿難汝諦聽。我承佛威力。宣說金剛王。如幻不思議。佛母真三昧。汝聞微塵佛。一切祕密門。欲漏不先除。畜聞成過誤。將聞持佛佛。何不自聞聞。聞非自然生。因聲有名字。旋聞與聲脫。能脫欲誰名。一根既返原。六根成解脫。見聞如幻瞖。三界若空華。聞復瞖根除。塵消覺圓淨。故知若耳根歸本原。六根皆寂滅。以六根同一心故。何者。在眼曰見。在耳曰聞。若攝用歸根時。見聞如幻瞖。若攝境歸心時。三界若空華。則瞖滅塵消。覺圓心淨。如是解者。則是因指見月。藉教明宗者也。若執指為月。迷心徇文者。如經云。如人以手。指月示人。彼人因指。當應看月。若復觀指以為月體。此人豈唯亡失月輪。亦亡其指。夫三乘十二分教。如標月指。若能見月。了知所標。若因教明心。從言見性者。則知言教如指。心性如月。直悟道者。終不滯言。實見月人。更不存指。或看經聽法之時。不一一消歸自己。但逐文句名身而轉。即是觀指以為月體。此人豈唯不見自性。亦不辯於教文。指月雙迷。教觀俱失。故經云。此人豈唯亡失月輪。亦亡其指。又既亡其指。非唯不了自心之真妄。亦乃不識教之遮表。錯亂顛倒。莫辯方隅。猶鳥言空。如鼠云即。似形音響。豈合正宗。故經云。豈唯亡指。亦復不識明之與暗。何以故。即以指體為月明性。明暗二性。無所了故。所以證道歌云。吾早年來積學問。亦曾討疏尋經論。分別名相不知休。入海算沙徒自困。却被如來苦訶責。數他珍寶有何益。從來蹭蹬覺虛行。多年枉作風塵客。種性邪。錯知解。不達如來圓頓制。二乘精進勿道心。外道聰明無智慧。亦愚癡。亦小騃。空拳指上生實解。執指為月枉施功。根境法中虛揑怪。不見一法即如來。方得名為觀自在。是以若實真心。不逐他聲而起分別。湛然恒照。性自了故。如掌亭人。都無所去。云何離色離聲。無分別性。此須得旨。親見性時。方知離聲色諸緣。性。自常住。不假前塵。所起知見。則悟無始已來。皆是執聲為聞。而生顛倒。故文殊頌云。旋汝倒聞機。反聞聞自性。性成無上道。圓通實如是。若非色非空。都無分別。不見性之人。到此之時。全歸斷滅。便同外道拘捨離等。己眼不開。昧為冥諦。以冥寂闇昧無知。以為至極。從此復立二十五諦。迷真實心。成外道種。或有禪宗不得旨者。法學起空見人。多拂心境俱空。執無分別。將狂解癡盲。以為至道。然非離因緣求法性。滅妄心。取真心。對增上慢人。初學之者。不可雷同。應須甄別。如經云。離諸法緣無分別性。則汝心性。各有所還。云何為主。阿難言。若我心性。各有所還。則如來說妙明元心。云何無還。唯垂哀愍。為我宣說。佛告阿難。且汝見我。見精明元。此見雖非妙精明心。如第二月。非是月影。汝應諦聽。今當示汝無所還地。阿難。此大講堂洞開。東方。日輪昇天。則有明耀。中夜黑月。雲霧晦暝。則復昏暗。戶牖之隙。則復見通。牆宇之間。則復觀壅。分別之處。則復見緣。頑虛之中。遍是空性。欝𤊹之像。則紆昏塵。澄霽斂氛。又觀清淨。阿難。汝咸看此諸變化相。吾今各還本所因處。云何本因。阿難。此諸變化。明還日輪。何以故。無日不明。明因屬日。是故還日。暗還黑月。通還戶牖。壅還牆宇。緣還分別。頑虛還空。欝𤊹還塵。清明還霽。則諸世間一切所有。不出斯類。汝見八種見精明性。當欲誰還。何以故。若還於明。則不明時。無復見暗。雖明暗等。種種差別。見無差別。諸可還者。自然非汝。不汝還者。非汝而誰。則知汝心。本妙明淨。汝自迷悶。喪本受輪。於生死中。常被漂溺。是故如來。名可憐愍。故知一切眾生。即今見精明心。非定真妄。昧之則麁。明之則妙。只於八種不還之中。了了見性常住。云何隨境流轉。失本真常。永沒苦輪。常漂死海。大聖憐愍。非不驚嗟。阿難示起疑心。寄破情執。釋迦微細開演。直指覺原。可謂不易凡身。頓成聖體。現於生滅。顯出圓常。宗鏡前後明文。一一全證於此。又江西馬祖和尚。問亮座主。蘊何經業。對云。講三十本經論。師云。正講時將什麼講。對云。將心講。師云。心如工技兒。意如和技者。爭解講他經。對云。不可是虛空講也。師云。却是虛空講得。座主於言下大悟。遂下階禮拜。驀目汗流。師云。者鈍根阿師。用禮拜作什麼。其座主却迴本寺。語學徒言。某一生學業。將謂天下無人敵者。今日被開元寺老宿。一唾淨盡。我爾許多時。皆是誑謼汝。遂散學徒。一入西山。更無消息。又如有學士問馬祖和尚。如水無筋骨。能勝萬斛舟時如何。師云。我遮裏水亦無。舟亦無。說什麼筋骨。又學人問龍潭和尚。久嚮龍潭。及至到來。為什麼。龍亦不見。潭亦不見。師云。却是子親到龍潭。又俗官王常侍。問先洞山和尚。五十二位菩薩中。為甚麼不見妙覺菩薩。師云。却是常侍親見。所以智者大師。一生弘教。雖廣垂開示。唯顯正宗。如止觀中云。究竟指歸何處。言語道斷。心行處滅。永寂如空。又觀心論中云。復以傷念一家門徒。隨逐積年。看心稍久。遂不研覈問心。是以不染內法。著外文字。偷記注而奔走。負經論而浪行。何不絕語置文。破一微塵。讀大千經卷。若能如上聽法講經。提宗問答。方諧祖意。稱可佛心。如遇此機。可歸宗鏡。

Answer: It corresponds to the highest of superior capacities. If one has already attained, one verifies and certifies it by relying on the Buddha’s intent; if one has not yet entered, one draws on the teachings and principles to illuminate it. Furthermore, if one is a person of perfect penetration, one does not wait for further explanations: the noble wisdom of self-realization is beyond speech and indication; the wondrous nature of tathatā is beyond attainment and audition. If one is benighted and obscure, one must rely on assistance to accomplish it, illuminating the mind by means of teaching and principle, and experiencing the Way through verbal expressions. When the source is understood, the teachings cease; when the Way is manifested, words are emptied. In the peerless true mind, both object and cognition are extinguished. Only thus does one enter the mirror of the source and penetrate deeply the profound gate, truly able to listen to the Buddha expounding the sūtras and intimately discussing the wondrous principle, which may be called attaining the nature of all dharmas and penetrating the origin of the one mind. As the Śūraṅgamasūtra says: ‘Ānanda, having received the Buddha's compassionate deliverance and profound instruction, wept, clasped his hands, and addressed the Buddha, saying: “Although I have received such wondrous sounds from the Buddha and awakened to the wondrously luminous mind, which is originally the fully complete, eternally abiding ground of the mind; yet as I awaken to the sounds of the Dharma presently spoken by the Buddha, I currently look up to it with faith by means of the mind that conditions objects. Having merely obtained this mind, I do not yet dare to acknowledge it as the original ground of the mind. May the Buddha take pity on me and proclaim the complete sound to uproot my doubts, so that I may return to the unsurpassed Way.” The Buddha told Ānanda: “You and the others still listen to the Dharma with a mind that conditions objects, so this Dharma is also conditioned; you have not attained the nature of dharmas. It is like a person pointing to the moon with a finger to show it to someone; that person ought to see the moon by means of the finger. If he instead looks at the finger and takes it to be the substance of the moon, this person not only loses the orb of the moon, but also loses his finger. Why is that? Because he takes the pointing finger to be the bright moon. Not only does he lose the finger, but he also does not know light from darkness. Why is that? Because he takes the substance of the finger to be the bright nature of the moon, and thus understands nothing of the two natures of light and darkness. You are also like this. If you take the mind that discriminates the sound of my preaching the Dharma to be your mind, this mind should naturally possess a discriminating nature apart from the discriminated sounds. For instance, suppose a traveler stops overnight at an inn; he pauses briefly and then leaves, never staying permanently. But the manager of the inn goes nowhere at all; he is called the master of the inn. This is also like that. If it were truly your mind, it would go nowhere. How could it lack a discriminating nature apart from sound? In this way, not only does the mind that discriminates sound lack a discriminating nature apart from forms when it discriminates my appearance, but even when all discrimination is completely absent, neither form nor emptiness—which Kauśika and others obscurely took to be the primal matter (pradhāna)—apart from all conditioned dharmas, it has no discriminating nature. Then the natures of your mind each have that to which they return; how can it be the master?”’ The commentary says: Ānanda said, ‘Yet as I awaken to the sounds of the Dharma presently spoken by the Buddha, I currently look up to it with faith by means of the mind that conditions objects. Having merely obtained this mind, I do not yet dare to acknowledge it as the original ground of the mind.’ Ānanda still recognized the mind that conditions objects when listening to the sounds of the Buddha's preaching, mistaking it for the eternally abiding true mind and taking it as the Buddha’s definitive meaning. The Buddha said that if one listens clinging to the mind of causes and conditions, one only obtains dharmas of causes and conditions, because dharmas change according to emotions and objects arise following the mind. Furthermore, if one insists that the mind conditioning the Buddha’s voice is one’s own mind, then when the sound of the Dharma being preached ceases, the discriminating mind should be extinguished; this mind is like a guest, because it does not stay permanently. Nowadays, many are deluded about the original hearing of their own nature, merely following the hearing of subject and object and constantly pursuing other sounds in transmigration. These sounds are dharmas produced in response to causes and conditions; they do not truly exist. Names are established merely because of sounds, and expressions exist because of names. If one turns around and returns to the original hearing, one casts off the realm of sound-dust. Since the realm that is cast off is already empty, how can the name of that which casts off be established? Then both that which casts off and that which is cast off are empty, because powerful memory and much learning are merely the boundary of consciousness and conceptualization, not originally real. If one sees the nature by means of hearing, then much learning has the merit of helping to reveal it; if one turns one's back on the nature and pursues hearing, accumulating learning turns into the fault of erroneous thinking. Therefore Mañjuśrī's verse says: ‘Now in this Sahā world, / the treatises on sound find clear proclamation. / Sentient beings are deluded about their original hearing; / following sound, they therefore transmigrate. / Even though Ānanda has a powerful memory, / he cannot avoid falling into erroneous thoughts. / Is it not from following what is submerged? / Reversing the flow, one attains the non-delusive. / Ānanda, listen attentively: / Relying on the Buddha's majestic power, / I proclaim the King of Vajra, / the wondrous, inconceivable, / true samādhi of the Mother of Buddhas. / You hear dust-mote Buddhas' / secret gates of all kinds; / if the outflow of desires is not first eliminated, / accumulating hearing becomes an error. / Bringing hearing to bear on the Buddhas, / why not hear your own hearing? / Hearing does not arise naturally; / it has a name due to sound. / Turning hearing back, it is detached from sound; / what name could be given to that which is detached? / Once one sense-faculty returns to its source, / all six faculties attain liberation. / Seeing and hearing are like illusory cataracts; / the three realms are like flowers in the sky. / When hearing returns, the root of the cataract is eliminated; / when dust dissolves, awareness is completely pure.’ Therefore we know that if the ear faculty returns to its original source, all six faculties become extinguished and calm, because the six faculties share the same one mind. Why is that? In the eye it is called seeing, and in the ear it is called hearing. When one absorbs function and returns it to the faculty, seeing and hearing are like illusory cataracts; when one absorbs objects and returns them to the mind, the three realms are like flowers in the sky. Then the cataracts are extinguished and dust dissolves, awareness is complete and the mind is pure. One who understands in this way is one who sees the moon by means of the finger and clarifies the source by relying on the teachings. As for clinging to the finger as the moon, deluding the mind and pursuing the texts, it is as the sūtra says: ‘It is like a person pointing to the moon with a finger to show it to someone; that person ought to see the moon by means of the finger. If he instead looks at the finger and takes it to be the substance of the moon, this person not only loses the orb of the moon, but also loses his finger.’ The twelve divisions of teachings of the three vehicles are like the finger pointing at the moon. If one can see the moon, one clearly knows what is being pointed out. If one clarifies the mind through the teachings and sees the nature through words, one knows that verbal teachings are like a finger, and the mind-nature is like the moon. One who directly awakens to the Way never gets stuck in words; one who truly sees the moon no longer preserves the finger. If, when reading the sūtras and listening to the Dharma, one does not resolve them all back into oneself, but merely follows the lines, sentences, and collection of names, that is looking at the finger and taking it to be the substance of the moon. This person not only fails to see his own nature, but also fails to distinguish the scriptural texts. Deluded about both finger and moon, both teaching and contemplation are lost. Therefore the sūtra says: ‘This person not only loses the orb of the moon, but also loses his finger.’ Furthermore, having lost the finger, he not only fails to understand the true and the false of his own mind, but also does not recognize the refutations and expressions of the teaching. Confused and inverted, he cannot distinguish direction: like a bird speaking of emptiness, or a rat uttering ‘identical’, resembling a form's echo—how could this accord with the correct source? Therefore the sūtra says: ‘Not only does he lose the finger, but he also does not know light from darkness. Why is that? Because he takes the substance of the finger to be the bright nature of the moon, and thus understands nothing of the two natures of light and darkness.’ Thus the Zhengdao ge says: ‘In my early years, I accumulated learning; / I also searched the commentaries and investigated the sūtras and treatises. / Discriminating names and characteristics without rest, / I vainly exhausted myself counting the sands entering the sea. / Then I was severely rebuked by the Tathāgata: / what benefit is there in counting another's treasures? / Looking back on my stumbling, I realize it was a vain pursuit; / for many years, in vain I was a traveler in the wind and dust. / Their lineage is wrong, / their understanding is mistaken; / they do not grasp the Tathāgata’s perfect and sudden code. / The two vehicles are diligent, but lack the mind for the Way; / non-Buddhists are clever, but lack wisdom. / They are also foolish, / and also childishly ignorant; / upon an empty fist and pointing finger, they generate real conceptions. / Clinging to the finger as the moon, they exert effort in vain, / creating phantom delusions among faculties, objects, and dharmas. / Not seeing a single dharma is indeed the Tathāgata; / only then is one entitled to be called Avalokiteśvara.’ Therefore, if it is the true mind, it does not pursue other sounds to give rise to discrimination; serenely and constantly illuminating, its nature is inherently clear. Like the manager of the inn, he goes nowhere at all. How could it lack a discriminating nature apart from forms and sounds? This requires obtaining the core meaning: only when intimately seeing the nature does one know that apart from sounds, forms, and all conditions, the nature is inherently eternally abiding and does not rely on the knowledge and views produced by external dusts. Then one awakens to the fact that from beginningless time, all [delusions] came from clinging to sound as hearing and thereby generating inversion. Therefore Mañjuśrī's verse says: ‘Reverse the organ of your inverted hearing, / turn hearing back to hear your own nature: / when the nature is accomplished, it is the unsurpassed Way; / perfect penetration is truly like this.’ If it is neither form nor emptiness, entirely devoid of discrimination, a person who does not see the nature will, upon arriving here, completely fall into annihilation. He then becomes like the non-Buddhist Gośālika and others: his own eyes not opened, he obscurely takes it to be the primal matter (pradhāna), regarding gloomy, dark, and oblivious nescience as the ultimate. From this, he further establishes twenty-five principles, losing the real mind and becoming of non-Buddhist stock. Or there may be those in the Chan school who have not attained the core meaning, or people studying the Dharma who give rise to the view of emptiness: many brush away both mind and object as completely empty, clinging to non-discrimination and taking wild understanding and blind ignorance to be the ultimate Way. Yet, seeking the nature of dharmas is not apart from causes and conditions; extinguishing the false mind to grasp the true mind is for those of excessive pride and beginners—one must not equate them indiscriminately, but must make distinctions. As the sūtra says: ‘Apart from all conditioned dharmas, it has no discriminating nature. Then the natures of your mind each have that to which they return; how can it be the master?’ Ānanda said: ‘If the natures of my mind each have that to which they return, then why does the wondrously luminous original mind spoken of by the Tathāgata have nothing to which it returns? Please have pity and explain it to me.’ The Buddha told Ānanda: ‘Now as you look at me, the essence of seeing is luminous and original. Although this seeing is not the wondrous, essence-luminous mind, it is like a second moon, not a reflection of the moon. You should listen attentively; I shall now show you the ground of no-return. Ānanda, when this great lecture hall opens wide to the east and the orb of the sun ascends into the sky, there is bright radiance. In the middle of the night during the dark moon, when clouds and fog are murky and dark, it is dim and gloomy again. Through the gaps of doors and windows, one again sees open passage. Between walls and eaves, one again observes obstruction. Where discrimination occurs, one again sees conditions. In the midst of stubborn voidness, emptiness is everywhere pervasive. In the phenomenon of dense haze, turbid dust gathers. When clear weather disperses the mists, one again observes purity. Ānanda, look at all these changing characteristics; I will now return each to its original source. What are the original sources? Ānanda, of these changes, light returns to the orb of the sun. Why? Without the sun there is no light; the cause of light belongs to the sun, and therefore it returns to the sun. Darkness returns to the dark moon, open passage returns to doors and windows, obstruction returns to walls and eaves, conditions return to discrimination, stubborn voidness returns to empty space, dense haze returns to dust, and clear brightness returns to fine weather. Everything that exists in all the worlds does not go beyond these categories. As for the luminous nature of the essence of seeing by which you see these eight kinds [of things], to what would you have it return? Why? If it returned to light, then when there is no light, you would no longer see darkness. Although light, darkness, and the like have various differences, seeing has no difference. Whatever can be returned naturally is not you; that which cannot return to anything from you, if not you, what is it? Thus know that your mind is originally wondrous, luminous, and pure. You delude and confuse yourself, losing the original and undergoing transmigration, constantly adrift and drowning in birth and death. Therefore the Tathāgata calls you pitiable.’ Thus we know that the essence-of-seeing luminous mind of all sentient beings at this very moment is neither definitively true nor false: when obscured, it is coarse; when illuminated, it is wondrous. Simply within these eight kinds of non-return, one clearly sees that the nature is eternally abiding. Why follow objects in transmigration, lose the original true constancy, sink forever in the wheel of suffering, and drift perpetually in the ocean of death? That the Great Sage took pity on this is indeed something to lament and marvel at! Ānanda manifested the arising of doubts in order to smash emotional clinging; Śākyamuni subtly expounded, pointing straight to the source of awakening. It can be called not changing one's ordinary mortal body yet suddenly becoming a noble body; revealing the perfect and constant right within arising and ceasing. The passages throughout the Record of the Mirror of the Source all verify this completely. Furthermore, Venerable Mazu of Jiangxi asked Lecture Master Liang: ‘What sūtras and treatises do you specialize in?’ He replied: ‘I lecture on thirty sūtras and treatises.’ The Master said: ‘Right when you are lecturing, what do you use to lecture?’ He replied: ‘I use the mind to lecture.’ The Master said: ‘The mind is like a leading actor, and the intention is like a supporting actor. How can they understand lecturing on those sūtras?’ He replied: ‘It cannot be empty space lecturing, can it?’ The Master said: ‘Yet it is empty space that can lecture.’ At these words, the lecture master was greatly awakened. Thereupon he descended the steps and bowed, sweat pouring over his forehead. The Master said: ‘What is this dull-rooted ācārya doing making bows?’ The lecture master returned to his monastery and said to his disciples: ‘Throughout my life's studies, I thought that no one in the world was my match. Today, with one spit, the old elder of Kaiyuan Monastery has wiped it all away clean. All this time, I have been deceiving you.’ Thereupon he dismissed his disciples, entered the Western Mountains, and was heard from no more. Also, a scholar once asked Venerable Mazu: ‘Just as water has no sinews or bones, yet can carry a boat of ten thousand bushels, what about it?’ The Master said: ‘Here I have neither water nor boat; what sinews and bones are you talking about?’ Also, a student asked Venerable Longtan: ‘I have long admired Longtan (Dragon Pool), but now that I have arrived, why do I see neither dragon nor pool?’ The Master said: ‘Yet you have arrived at Dragon Pool in person.’ Also, the lay official Attendant Wang asked the former Venerable Dongshan: ‘Among the fifty-two stages of bodhisattvas, why do we not see the bodhisattva of Wondrous Awakening?’ The Master said: ‘Yet the Attendant sees him in person.’ Therefore, the Great Master Zhiyi propagated the teachings throughout his life: though he broadly gave instructions, he only revealed the correct source. As he says in the Zhiguan: ‘To what does the ultimate point back? The path of words is cut off; the realm of mental activities is extinguished; it is eternally tranquil like space.’ And in the Guanxin lun he says: ‘Furthermore, pained at heart for the disciples of our school: they have followed along for years and observed the mind for quite a while, yet they have failed to examine and interrogate the mind. Consequently, untainted by the inner Dharma, they cling to external words and letters, running about stealing notes and comments, wandering in vain carrying sūtras and treatises. Why not cut off speech and set aside texts, break open a single mote of dust, and read the great thousandfold scrolls of sūtras?’ If one can listen to the Dharma, lecture on the sūtras, uphold the source, and engage in questions and answers as described above, one will only then harmonize with the patriarchs' intent and accord with the Buddha's mind. Encountering this capacity, one can return to the mirror of the source.