宗鏡錄 10.11

10.11

Answer: Although it is due to grasping at real existence, the semblance is nonetheless permanently not real. It is like a shadow which depends upon an object: the shadow is permanently not the object. In a mirror, the shadow appears, but the object does not appear. Because the object does not appear, it is called the 'empty mirror'. Because it can manifest shadows, it is 'causal perfuming'. The treatise says: 'Second is the mirror of causal perfuming, meaning that it is truly not empty. All worldly objective realms appear within it; they do not go out, do not enter, are not lost, and are not destroyed; they abide constantly in the one mind, because all dharmas are just the true nature. Furthermore, it cannot be defiled by any defiled dharmas; the substance of its wisdom is unmoved, fully endowed with the outflow-free, and perfumes sentient beings.' In explaining this, there are two meanings of the internal cause: first, it can act as the cause of manifesting dharmas; second, it acts as the cause of internal perfuming. Alternatively, the first is the meaning of 'cause', and the second is the meaning of 'perfuming'; hence it is called 'causal perfuming'. When it says 'truly not empty', this in general sets forth the substance of causal perfuming, meaning that it has its own substance and efficacy. In the first of the two causes, 'all worldly objective realms appear', clarifying that all dharmas, apart from this mind, have no separate essential nature—just as shadows can appear in a mirror. 'Do not go out' clarifies that the mind awaits perfuming to manifest all dharmas, and they do not spontaneously go out without perfuming. 'Do not enter' means that apart from the mind there is nothing capable of perfuming, so they do not enter from outside. 'Are not lost' means that although they do not go out from within nor enter from without, at the time of dependent arising their manifestation is not absent; hence it says 'are not lost'. 'Are not destroyed' means that the causal assemblage of all dharmas has no origin from which it arises and is not different from tathatā, so it cannot be destroyed—like shadows in a mirror which, caused by the mirror, cannot be destroyed. 'Constantly abide in the one mind' integrates the characteristics into the same substance. 'Defiled dharmas cannot defile it' is because its nature is pure. 'The substance of its wisdom is unmoved' is because originally there is no defilement, and now there is no beginning of purity; therefore the wisdom of original enlightenment has never moved. Furthermore, although it manifests defiled dharmas, it is not defiled by them; hence it says 'unmoved'—like reflections in a mirror changing along with the objects, yet the substance of the mirror itself has never moved. Again, [first] is the empty mirror, detached from the substance of all external objects. Second is the not-empty mirror, meaning its substance is not non-existent, being able to manifest the myriad images. Third is the pure mirror, meaning it has already been polished and is free from dust and defilement. Fourth is the mirror of enjoyment and use, meaning it is set in a high hall to be enjoyed and used by those who need it. The first two are purity by self-nature; the latter two are purity by separation from defilement. Moreover, the first two are spoken of with respect to the cause when hidden; the latter two are spoken of with respect to the fruit when manifest. Furthermore, the first two pertain to empty and not-empty; the latter two pertain to substance and function. As the Buddhabhūmisūtra says: 'Furthermore, Supratiṣṭhita, the mirror-like wisdom is like a round mirror upon which the reflections of myriad forms appear; just so, depending on the Tathāgata’s mirror of wisdom, the myriad images of the consciousnesses of objective realms in all āyatanas appear as reflections. The round mirror is used solely as a simile; you should know that the round mirror and the Tathāgata’s mirror of wisdom are completely equal. Therefore the mirror of wisdom is called the mirror-like wisdom. The Tathāgata’s great round mirror: a person of merit and pleasure hangs it in a high and elevated place without any shaking. Immeasurable sentient beings who come and go observe their own bodily gains and losses in it, in order to keep what is gained and discard all losses. Just so, the Tathāgata hangs the mirror-like wisdom, abiding in the pure dharmadhātu without interruption, and therefore it is without shaking, wishing to cause immeasurable and countless sentient beings to observe the defiled and the pure, in order to adopt the pure and discard all defilements. Furthermore, it is like a round mirror, exceedingly well polished and burnished, its reflection pure and without defilement, its radiance shining everywhere. Just so, with the Tathāgata’s mirror-like wisdom, because of the eternal departure from the defilements of all afflictive and cognitive obscurations upon the Buddha’s wisdom, it is exceedingly well polished and burnished; because it is held by relying on absorption (samādhi), its reflection is pure and without defilement; and because it performs works of benefit and joy for all sentient beings, its radiance shines everywhere. Furthermore, it is like a round mirror: depending on the conditions of original objects, various appearances of reflections arise. Just so, the Tathāgata’s mirror-like wisdom, relying on various conditions at all times, gives rise to various appearances of reflections of wisdom. Just as on a round mirror, reflections that are not one but manifold arise, yet on the round mirror there are no reflections, and this round mirror is without movement or activity; just so, upon the Tathāgata’s mirror-like wisdom, reflections of wisdom that are not one but manifold arise, yet upon the mirror-like wisdom there are no reflections of wisdom, and this mirror of wisdom is without movement or activity. Furthermore, it is like a round mirror, neither united with nor separated from the myriad reflections, because it does not accumulate them, yet manifests those conditions. Just so, the Tathāgata’s mirror-like wisdom is neither united with nor separated from the manifold reflections of wisdom, because it does not accumulate them and does not disperse and lose them.' The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: 'If one can listen to and receive this Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, one can fully know the profound meaning and flavor of all vaipulya Mahāyāna scriptures. It is like a man or woman who, in a bright, clean mirror, sees their bodily form clearly and distinctly. The mirror of the Mahānirvāṇa is also like this: when bodhisattvas hold it, they can clearly see the profound meaning of the Mahāyāna scriptures.' It also says: 'What is called the Itivṛttakasūtra? Up until the time of Kanakamuni Buddha, it was named the Dharma Mirror.' From this we know that the ancient Buddhas all designated this as a mirror, because the myriad meanings of the teachings and dharmas, and the myriad conditions of the ultimate and conventional, without exception appear within it. The Venerable Ding of Tiantai, in his Commentary on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, says: 'Prajñā is none other than the unsurpassed leader, the knowledge of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), named the bright and clean mirror of Mahānirvāṇa. This mirror, illuminating one, illuminates all. Because it illuminates the middle, it is a mirror. Because it illuminates the ultimate, it is clean. Because it illuminates the conventional, it is bright. Because it is bright, images are luminous and the provisional appears. Because it is clean, flaws are exhausted and the true is revealed. Because it is a mirror, its substance is complete and the middle is revealed. The three wisdoms are attained in the one mind, hence it is called the bright and clean mirror. Because it encompasses all dharmas, it is praised as the leader. Because it is the treasury of Buddha-wisdom, it is called the virtue of prajñā.' From this we know that all sages designate the mind as a mirror, exhausting its subtlety therein. The Mahāyāna Thousand-Bowl Sūtra says: 'Carefully contemplate the objective realm of the mind and illuminate the nature of the mind: only illuminating and only clear, only illuminating and only pure; gazing everywhere across the ten directions, encompassing the entire dharmadhātu, brightly luminous and tranquil, without any obstacles.' Therefore a prior virtuous one said: 'This nature of tathatā is like a bright mirror; the myriad images all appear within it.' Furthermore, all myriad dharmas have two [aspects]: first, all are like a bright mirror containing clear luminosity, because they are formed by the one mind; second, they are manifested by conceptual discrimination, because they are like reflections. By the first meaning, they are that which can manifest; by the second meaning, they are that which is manifested. Therefore all dharmas are mutually mirrors and images to each other, like mirrors mutually illuminating each other without destroying their original characteristics. A sūtra says: 'Though distant and near objects are both manifested as reflections, the reflections do not become distant or near according to the objects.' Moreover, as when the sun and moon are seen in rivers and springs, [the waters] are that which can manifest; if rivers and springs are taken as that which is manifested, the long rivers and flying springs enter the mirror, and their emergence is the appearance of that which is manifested. When ascending a tower holding a mirror, the entire band of the Yellow River enters the mirror, and a thousand-fathom waterfall is seen within a foot across. In a poem by Right Vice Director Wang [Wei], it says: 'Through the window, clouds and mists arise upon one’s robes; / Rolling up the screen, mountain springs enter into the mirror.' This clearly shows that they are what is manifested. When the mirror of the mind is hung high, there is no dharma it does not contain; like the vast clarity of the emptiness of nature, into which door would it not enter? Therefore Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said: 'I have heard that using copper as a mirror, one can straighten one's clothes and hat; using antiquity as a mirror, one can know the rises and falls; using people as a mirror, one can know gains and losses. Now, using the mind as a mirror, one can illuminate the dharmadhātu.' Furthermore, a bright mirror only illuminates the physical form, not the mind; it only illuminates arising and ceasing, not non-arising; it only illuminates the mundane, not the supramundane; where there is physical form, it illuminates, but where there is no form, it does not illuminate. As for the mirror of the mind, it thoroughly covers the ground of nature, penetrating to the source of the mind; it completely understands non-arising, extensively clarifies the ultimate and the conventional, inspects both existence and non-existence, and penetrates both the hidden and the manifest. Superiority and inferiority are far apart, with only a slight resemblance in simile. As the Chapter on the Conduct and Vows of Samantabhadra in the Avataṃsakasūtra says, when the Brahmin praised King Amṛta for the youth Sudhana, the verse said: 'My lord is supremely upright and majestic; / He curbs anger and admonishes all desires. / His mind is like a pure, bright mirror, / Reflecting things without any partiality. / A bright mirror only reflects physical forms, / Not discerning mental thoughts; / My king’s mind-mirror is pure, / Penetrating down to the source of the mind.' A prior virtuous one said: 'Like a great maṇi jewel mirror hung shining in empty space, all forms of the ten directions appear at once, yet this mirror’s nature is pure light without any reflections. The dharmakāya of all Buddhas is also like this: limpid, pure, and without reflections. Due to past unwearying great compassion, following sentient beings' karmic conditions and different responsive capacities, it universally manifests all physical-body samādhis, so that sentient beings who hear or see it never fail to receive benefit.' All Buddhas take the outflow-free vajra-mind as their body, universally appearing in all realms of sentient beings; yet, being covered by kleśas and habitual tendencies, there is no substance that is not manifest. Like the lamp light not extinguished within a clean vase, it is called the tathāgatagarbha, also called the treasury of virtues, and also called the inexhaustible treasury. What all the patriarchs collectively transmit is the pure, self-realized noble wisdom of all Buddhas, the marvelous mind of tathatā, which is not what can be obtained from worldly texts. Why? Because unimpeded liberation is the one true dharma-nature, not shared in common with the mundane or supramundane. A sūtra says: 'Incomparable is bodhi, for it cannot be analogized.' If one awakens to this true dharma-nature, this person can completely know that the Buddhas of the three periods of time and all sentient beings are of the same dharmadhātu, originally equal, constant, and unchanging. Because all Buddhas at all times are detached from the characteristics of contemplation, a sūtra verse says: 'With mind purified, one has already crossed all dhyānas.' Therefore, because the mind is pure, a single beam of light shines and myriad thoughts are completely dissolved—like hanging a lamp in a dark room, or seeing the sun through dense clouds. As an ancient virtuous one’s verse says: 'How could one know that the place where one thought receives light / Is where the confusion of billions of kalpas is extinguished at this moment?' Therefore it is said: Because the Dharma has the capacity of responsive illumination, it is compared to a mirror; because the teaching has the meaning of being transmissible, it is analogized to a lamp. It can be called having the moon of wisdom enter one's bosom, or holding the numinous pearl in one's hand; penetrating the dharmadhātu, there is nothing it does not reflect. The Treatise on Talent and Destiny says: 'The mind penetrates like a precious mirror.' The commentary says: 'The mind reflects things, omitting none of the various kinds; penetrating the dark and the bright, it is identical to a precious mirror.' Again, Zhuangzi says: 'The mind of the realized man is like a mirror.' Moreover, if mundane mirrors can still illuminate a person's liver and gallbladder, how could the mind-mirror of the numinous terrace not thoroughly reflect them? In antiquity, the Qin palace used jade as a mirror to illuminate all the courtiers, and their livers, gallbladders, and internal organs were all fully manifested. Therefore an ancient said: 'Unless one travels the great ocean, one has not seen the wonder of the sun boiling the waters; unless one gazes up at Mount Tai, one has not beheld the form reaching to the clouds.' If one has not approached the mirror of the source, how could one know one's own mind, vastly encompassing empty space in its substance, and limpidly containing myriad images in its reflections? Those who do not enter through faith cannot fathom its height and depth. Therefore Master Zhenjue's song says: 'The mind-mirror is bright, / Reflecting without impediment, / Vastly pure and penetrating throughout the sands of realms; / The myriad images, densely arrayed, appear as reflections within it; / The round radiance of the one nature is neither internal nor external.' Therefore, relying on these four kinds of empty mirror meanings from the Awakening of Faith, we then extensively record the patriarchs and teachings to manifest the one mind and verify and accomplish the mirror of the source. Therefore the treatise says: 'There is a dharma that can awaken the root of faith in Mahāyāna.' 'There is a dharma' refers to the dharma of the one mind; if a person can understand this dharma, they will surely awaken a vast root of faith. Once the root of faith is established, one enters the Buddha path. Because of accomplishing the Buddha path, one is detached from the two active manifestations. What are the active manifestations? First is the active manifestation of ordinary beings, which is saṃsāra, accomplishing defiled affairs; second is the active manifestation of the two vehicles, which is nirvāṇa, losing affairs of benefit and joy. Though bondage and liberation differ, both are confused about the mirror of the source. Now, accomplishing the Buddha path, one is free from the two active manifestations, completely realizes the one mind, and possesses Mahāyāna practice. Because of great wisdom, one does not abide in saṃsāra; because of great compassion, one does not abide in nirvāṇa, acting as a single radiance and serving as a ferry across myriad paths.