宗鏡錄 1.11

1.11

I respectfully submit: The true source is profoundly still; the ocean of awakening is clear and tranquil. It cuts off the beginnings of name and characteristic; it lacks the traces of subject and object. In the beginning, through unawareness, a stirred citta suddenly arose, becoming the origin of karmic consciousness and the fault of awakening clarity. Because of clarity, illumination was aroused, and the darśanabhāga abruptly emerged; following illumination, objects were established, and the nimittabhāga was laid out. Like a mirror reflecting images, sense faculties and body suddenly arose. Next, following conceptualization, the world became differentiated; subsequently, because of cognition, hatred and love became unequal. From this point on, beings abandoned the real and lost the nature, clinging to characteristics and following names. They accumulated the emotional defilements of stagnant attachment and forged the consciousness waves of continuity. They locked the true awakening in the night of dreams, sinking in delusion within the triple realm; they blinded the eye of wisdom upon dark crossroads, crawling within the nine abodes. Thereupon, they were entangled in the suffering of karmic bonds and lost the gate of liberation. Within that which has no body, they received bodies; toward that which has no destiny, they established destinies. In terms of their bases, they are divided into the twenty-five states of existence; in terms of direct retribution, they possess the twelve classes of living beings. All originate from the roots of emotion and thought, bringing about the distinctions of base and retribution. Upon the changeless sphere, they fruitlessly undergo saṃsāra; within the dharma that has no bondage, they spontaneously generate binding fetters. They are like spring silkworms spinning cocoons, or autumn moths flying into lamps: with the threads of false thoughts of dualistic views, they entangle the karmic substance of the mass of suffering; with the wings of avidyā, rāga, and craving, they throw themselves into the fiery wheel of birth and death. With echoes in valleys and vocal sounds, they discuss the beauty and ugliness of the four modes of birth; with the mirror of the conceptualizing citta, they manifest the forms and manners of the three existences. Thereafter, the winds of contrary and agreeable thoughts agitate the ocean of awakening; the waters of rāga, moha, and craving nourish the sprouts of suffering. Wholly complying with defilement, they know not how to return to the root; producing disordered views and understanding, they obscure their own citta; establishing illusory forms and sounds, they consider them external dharmas. From this, a single speck of dust contacting an object gradually becomes a lofty peak brushing the heavens; a drop of water raising a ripple ultimately becomes a ship-swallowing giant wave. Afterwards, when wishing to turn back to the beginning and return to the root, according to the differences in sharp and dull faculties, within the one realm of tathatā, the triyāna and five natures were opened: some see emptiness and realize the fruit; some comprehend conditions and enter reality; some undergo three asaṃkhyeya kalpas of cultivation and gradually perfect the gates of practice; some cultivate completely in a single thought and suddenly accomplish the Buddha path. Thus, realization differs, but the one nature is not distinct. Consequently, the names of ordinary beings and sages are formed, and the characteristics of the ultimate and conventional seem to divide. If one wishes to exhaust the subtle and penetrate the root, to investigate the purport and comprehend the source, then the fundamental nature is transcendent, ultimately tranquil and extinguished. It cuts off the difference between rising and sinking; it has no distinction of bondage and liberation. There is neither a person who remains in the world, nor one who passes into extinction. The two limits are equal; the one path is clear and empty. Consciousness and wisdom are both empty; name and substance are completely tranquil. Utterly void of anything that exists, there is only the one mind. One who comprehends it is called a person who sees the path; one who is benighted to it is titled the beginning of birth and death. Furthermore, there are those of heterodox roots and external lineages, of small wisdom and provisional capacities: failing to understand the etiology of the illness of birth and death, they do not know the root of views of person and self. They only desire to revile clamor and reject motion, to break characteristics and analyze dust. Although they are said to savor quietude and merge with emptiness, they do not realize they are burying the real and resisting awakening. It is like failing to discern the red cataract in one's eyes, and merely extinguishing the double glare on the lamp; or failing to fathom the illusory body within consciousness, and vainly fleeing the empty shadow in the midday sun. This is to exhaust the body and overwork the mind, wasting effort and relinquishing efficacy—no different from adding water to augment ice, or throwing firewood to increase a fire. How could they know that the double glare resides in the cataract, and the empty shadow follows the body? Remove the diseased eye, and the double glare naturally vanishes; still the illusory form, and the empty shadow must be extinguished. If one can turn the light around toward oneself, reverse the object, and contemplate the citta, the Buddha eye will be bright and the shadow of karma empty, the dharmakāya will appear and the traces of dust will cease. With the blade of wisdom of self-awakening, cut open the wish-fulfilling jewel within the entanglements; with the sharp point of prajñā in a single thought, sever the net of views amid the dust. This is the purport of exhausting the citta, the definitive explanation of comprehending consciousness: its words are concise yet its meaning is rich; its phrasing is substantive and its principle is reached. It exposes the barrier of doubt at the door of right wisdom, and weeds the grass of delusion at the plain of true awakening. It cures the deep malady that has penetrated the marrow, and clevers the stubborn clinging of entangled roots. Then object and self encounter the flame of the fire of wisdom, melting within the furnace of mind-only; names and characteristics approach the light of the sun of prajñā, dissolving into the ocean of the one real. This is the dharma of internal realization; how could it reside in written explanations? Cognition and understanding cannot exhaust it; seeing and hearing cannot reach it. Now, for those who have not seen, I expound the wondrous seeing of non-seeing; for those who have not heard, I cause them to enter the complete hearing of non-hearing; for those who do not know, I speak of the true knowing of non-knowing; for those who have not understood, I bring about the great understanding of non-understanding. It is hoped that, relying on the finger, they will see the moon, and having caught the rabbit, they will forget the trap; embracing the one, they will merge with the source, abandoning the explanation to examine the principle. Realizing that all things stem from oneself, they will clarify that wondrous awakening resides in their own person. This may indeed be called searching out the profound root, polishing the cavern of principle, paring out the bone and marrow of the Chan source, and hoisting the guideline of the net of teachings. Residual delusions and slight flaws are completely purified under hand; the profound source and wondrous purport are fully revealed upon a single thought. It can destroy the mountain of sevenfold conceit and forever block the road of the six decays. The heterodox paths of worldly toil all obey its summons; the demon armies of birth and death completely vanish without a trace. It manifests sovereign power and displays great majestic radiance; it shows the true jewel-gem, its function and use inexhaustible; it empties the secret treasury, providing universal succor without limit. It can be compared to burning ox-head candana among fragrances, grasping the black dragon's pearl among jewels, plucking the auspicious omen among flowers, shining forth divine light among illuminations, sipping milk-congee among foods, drinking ambrosia among waters, taking the nine-times refined elixir among medicines, and encountering a sacred king among rulers. Thus, the mountain of dharmatā is lofty, abruptly surmounting the height of all peaks; the ocean of sarpirmanda is vast, horizontally swallowing the waves of manifold streams. Like the moon rising in splendor, it outshines the constellations of the Hīnayāna; like the morning sun pregnant with radiance, it dispels the murky dimness of external paths. It is like a person destitute of the wealth of Dharma encountering a great heap of treasures; like one thirsty for ambrosia coming upon a cool pond. It is the god revered by sentient beings; it acts as the father of true compassion for bodhisattvas. For one afflicted with an incurable disease, it meets the Medicine King of Fair Vision; for one lost on perilous paths, it encounters a clear and penetrating good guide. Having long dwelt in a dark room, one is suddenly exposed to the brilliance of a precious torch; having constantly been naked, one suddenly receives the wondrous garment of celestial robes. Without seeking, one naturally obtains it; without effort, it is suddenly accomplished. Thus one should know: in immeasurable lands, its name is difficult to hear; across kalpas numerous as sands of dust, encountering its transmission and upholding is rare. Based on the causes and conditions above, it is titled the Mirror of the Mind. It manifests the one path, clear and empty, serving as a mirror; it fends off all heterodoxies, tolerating not a hair's breadth. Its wondrous substance is impartial; its perfect light is not external. The boundless ocean of meaning wholly falls within its glance; the appearance of all forms completely enters its illumination. This is the purport of the single taste of Caoxi, transmitted alike by all patriarchs; the non-dual source of the Crane Forest, expounded in common by all sūtras. It can be called the deep storehouse of myriad virtues, the profound source of all sages, the jewel-king of the single word, the prime ancestor of all conscious spirits. Consequently, objects separated from the citta are void in both expression and principle; dust that is identified with consciousness possesses authority in explanation and measurement. The sāgaramudrā of the one mind standardizes the perfect source; the wisdom lamp of the eight consciousnesses illuminates and dispels heterodox darkness. Truly, it is called the spiritual mansion of sentient beings, the doctrinal source of the ten thousand dharmas. Its transformations are without limit; its coiling and unfolding are sovereign. It manifests traces in response to conditions, assuming names according to objects. All Buddhas embody it and call it sambodhi; bodhisattvas cultivate it and term it the practice of the six pāramitās. Sāgaramati transforms it into water; the Nāga maiden offers it as a jewel; the goddess scatters it as flowers of non-attachment; the good friend seeks it as a wish-fulfilling gem. Pratyekabuddhas awaken to it as the twelvefold dependent origination; śrāvakas realize it as the four truths and the emptiness of persons. Heterodox paths seize it and make it a river of wrong views; ordinary beings cling to it and make it an ocean of birth and death. Discussing its substance, it wondrously accords with ultimate principle; regarding phenomena, it deeply tallies with right conditions. However, although it marks the general gate of the dharmadhātu, one must discern the distinct purports of the ekayāna. The diverse meanings of nature and characteristics are completely penetrated by the Great Awakening; the layered gates of identity and entry are wondrously reached only by sarvākārajñatā. Yet because faculties are weak and lack discernment, and learning is scant and hard to make comprehensive, people do not know that the two gates of nature and characteristics are the substance and function of their own citta. If they possess function but lose the eternal substance, it is like having waves without water; if they attain substance but lack the gate of wondrous function, it is like having water without waves. Moreover, there has never been water without waves, nor has there ever been a wave that was not wet. Because waves penetrate the source of water, water exhausts the tips of waves; just as nature exhausts the surface of characteristics, and characteristics reach the origin of nature. One must know that substance and function accomplish each other, and nature and characteristics mutually reveal one another. Now I shall explain the general and distinct in detail, and broadly distinguish similarity and difference, investigating the root source of the one dharma, and searching out the origin and end of manifold conditions. Then it can be called the Mirror of the Source to inspect the subtle and obscure: with no single dharma escaping its form, the thousand differences are universally unified. Thereupon, I have compiled extensive doctrines and gathered essential texts, spreading them out within one hundred fascicles, and gathering them into the one mind. This can cause the inconceivable ocean of teachings to become fully clear from thought to thought, as easy as pointing to one's palm; and the inexhaustible true source to be seen by the eyes and tallied with from mind to mind. It is like having a divine jewel in hand, forever ending one's outward pursuit; like the shade cast by the tree of awakening, completely eliminating shadows and traces. Obtaining the true jewel within the spring pond, one finds that gathering gravel was entirely mistaken; recovering one's original head before the ancient mirror, the mad mind abruptly rests. It can deeply extract the thorn of views, and forever cut off the root of doubt; without exerting a single hair's breadth of effort, it fully opens the jewel treasury; without using the strength of a kṣaṇa, it suddenly acquires the profound jewel. It is called the great field of tranquil extinction of the ekayāna, the true araṇya, the place of correct practice. This is the realm of the Tathāgata's own arrival, the Dharma gate where all Buddhas originally abide. Therefore, I universally urge later worthies to carefully grant it their profound inspection, so that their wisdom will exhaust the ocean of nature, and their learning will penetrate the true source. This consciousness and this citta are uniquely honored and uniquely supreme. This consciousness is that which is realized by all Buddhas of the ten directions; this citta is that which is expounded by the teachings of an entire generation. Uniquely honored: it is that to which doctrine, principle, practice, and fruit return; uniquely supreme: it is that toward which faith, understanding, realization, and entry tend. The worthies relied on it in explanation, treatises arising in a thousand chapters; the sages embodied it to widely propagate, discourses achieving the four unhindered eloquence. Therefore, plucking the rare and elevating the extraordinary, refining the subtle and penetrating the obscure, it solely raises the grand guideline and broadly spreads the right net, scooping up the capacities of the five vehicles and ascending to the heaven of ultimate truth. Extensively attesting to this source, its benefit is inexhaustible: thus the true Dharma abides long, destroying the heterodox forest of non-Buddhists; it can broadly succor sentient beings, blocking the disordered ruts of the Hīnayāna. Then nothing heterodox is not rectified, and whatever is false is entirely empty. Because of benefiting oneself, the source of the virtue of wisdom is brought forth; because of benefiting others, the acts of the virtue of grace are established. Because the virtue of wisdom is accomplished, compassion arises in conditionless transformation; because the virtue of grace is accomplished, pity embraces the mind of identical substance. Because of identical substance, the mind arises as no-mind; because of conditionlessness, transformation becomes great transformation. Since the mind arises as no-mind, what joy is not granted? Since transformation becomes great transformation, what suffering is not gathered in? When what joy is not granted, the sharp and dull are viewed alike; when what suffering is not gathered in, enemies and kin are universally saved. Consequently, the three grasses and two trees all return to the luxuriant growth of the single ground; the scorched sprouts of heterodox seeds equally receive the moistening of the one rain. This is indeed the utmost good and utmost beauty, peerless and matchless; it can be said to encompass all causal gates and exhaust the fruit-ocean. Thus, aspirants who first arouse bodhi and persons who newly seek prajñā clearly know the origin of becoming a Buddha, suddenly complete without hindrance; and clearly recognize the road home, advancing directly without doubt. If one departs from this to cultivate otherwise, following other false understandings, it is like milking a horn to get milk, or climbing a tree to catch fish: in vain one passes through three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, ultimately without a single attainment. If one relies on this purport, faithfully accepts, and broadly upholds it, it is like a swift boat following the current without any hindrance; further meeting the advantage of a favorable wind, and adding the effort of oars and sculls, one will swiftly reach the jewel city and suddenly ascend the shore of awakening. It can be said that the provisions are easily prepared, and the fruit of the path is first accomplished: donning Kāśyapa's robe of supreme practice, sitting on Śākyamuni's seat of the emptiness of dharmas, ascending to the pavilion of Maitreya and Vairocana, and entering the dharmadhātu body of Samantabhadra. It can cause a hired base servant to fully inherit the elder's family estate, and suddenly cause the small fruit sunk in emptiness to immediately receive the Tathāgata's prediction. There has never been a gate that does not lead to this path; there must be no dharma that does not accord with this source. Past kings of awakening became Buddhas through this; future great beings rely on this to realize reality. Then what single Dharma gate is not opened? What single principle is not manifested? Not a single form is not samāpatti; not a single sound is not a dhāraṇī gate. Tasting one flavor, all turns into sarpirmanda; smelling one fragrance, all enters the dharmadhātu. Windy branches and moonlit shoals can both transmit the mind; misty isles and cloudy groves all convey the wondrous purport. Step by step, one treads the golden realm; thought by thought, one smells the fragrance of campaka. Scooping a handful of the great ocean, one has already obtained the hundred rivers; arriving at Sumeru, all is of the same color. Brilliantly opening the eyes that contemplate images, all return to their own source; quietly guiding the mind that seeks the jewel, all return to the original dharma. Thereupon, the heterodox mountains drop their heights, and the ocean of suffering stills its waves. The raft of wisdom moves smoothly because of it; the wondrous peak rises high through it. Now, having examined the great intent of patriarchs and Buddhas and the orthodox source of sūtras and treatises, I have pruned away verbose text and sought out only the essential purport. Temporarily setting forth questions and answers and broadly citing proofs, I hold up the one mind as the source and illuminate the ten thousand dharmas like a mirror. Compiling the profound meanings of ancient compositions and summarizing the complete explanations of the precious treasury, I jointly make them known, calling this a "Record." It is divided into one hundred fascicles, broadly in three sections: first, establishing the orthodox source to serve as the destination; second, setting forth questions and answers to eliminate doubts; third, citing true explanations to accomplish complete faith. With this wondrous good, universally bestowed upon sentient beings, may we together repay