宗鏡錄 98.22

98.22

顒禪師有問。涅槃明。眾生即佛性。佛性即眾生。但以時異。有淨不淨。未審非情亦是眾生不。答。經云。文殊問金色女。汝身有五陰。十二入十八界不。女言。如我身有五陰十二入十八界。梵網經云。一切地水。是我先身。一切火風。是我本體。又依正二身。互相依立。華嚴經云。一切法無相。是則佛真體。經明。若計靈智之心是常。色是敗壞無常者。則外道斷常之見。華嚴明。眾生界即佛界。佛界即法界。法界之外。更無別法。乃至萬法雖異。其體常同。若不迷於所同。體用。常無有二。無二之旨。蓋出世之要津。一念相應。不隔凡成聖矣。

Dhyāna Master Yong was asked: "The Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] clarifies that sentient beings are precisely the Buddha-nature, and the Buddha-nature is precisely sentient beings, differing only in time as pure or impure. I wonder whether insentient things are also sentient beings?" He replied: "A sūtra says: Mañjuśrī asked the Golden Woman, 'Does your body possess the five skandhas, the twelve āyatanas, and the eighteen dhātus?' The woman said, 'As my body possesses the five skandhas, twelve āyatanas, and eighteen dhātus...' The Brahmajāla Sūtra says: 'All earth and water are my past bodies; all fire and wind are my fundamental substance.' Moreover, the two bodies—the supported [environment] and the supporting [sentient being]—rely on each other and are established mutually. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'All dharmas are without characteristics; this is the true substance of the Buddha.' A sūtra clarifies that if one calculates that the mind of luminous wisdom is permanent while matter is perishable and impermanent, this is the non-Buddhist view of annihilation and permanence. The Avataṃsaka clarifies that the realm of sentient beings is precisely the realm of the Buddhas, and the realm of the Buddhas is precisely the dharmadhātu; outside the dharmadhātu, there is no other dharma. Even though the ten thousand dharmas differ, their substance is eternally identical. If one is not deluded about that which is identical, substance and function are eternally not two. The principle of non-duality is indeed the essential ford for leaving the world. When a single thought corresponds, without any interval the commoner becomes a sage."