[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt) › 14.3.3 # 宗鏡錄 14.3.3 English (machine translation) 14.3.3 - **Language:** English ### [14.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3.3) These three bodhisattvas spoke thus because they thoroughly understood provisional designations. Hence we know that all phenomena, mundane and transmundane, are merely provisional designations established from citta. If one can thoroughly realize that all are equal, one will know that all phenomena, mundane and transmundane, do not exceed provisional designations, and provisional designations do not exceed the nature of tathatā. As the \*Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra\* says: "At that time Subhūti (Shanxian) addressed the host of devas of the desire and form realms, saying: 'All you devas say that I, Subhūti, am a true disciple of the Buddha who is born following the Tathāgata. Why is Subhūti born following the Tathāgata? It is because he is born following the tathatā of the Tathāgata. Why is that? The tathatā of the Tathāgata has no coming and no going; Subhūti's tathatā also has no coming and no going. Therefore it is said that Subhūti is born following the Tathāgata. The tathatā of the Tathāgata is just the tathatā of all phenomena; the tathatā of all phenomena is just the tathatā of the Tathāgata. Such tathatā has no nature of tathatā, nor does it have any nature of non-tathatā. Subhūti's tathatā is also like this. Therefore it is said that Subhūti is born following the Tathāgata.'" In explanation: If the tathatā of the Tathāgata is just the tathatā of all phenomena, then it is not Subhūti alone who is born following the Tathāgata; even all sentient beings of the dharmadhātu are all born following the Tathāgata. Why? Because the tathatā of the Tathāgata is just one's own tathatā. That "such tathatā has no nature of tathatā" is because this tathatā is the ultimate within conventional speech and cannot be posited either. Thus it is said: "To call it 'thusness' (ruru) is already an alteration." Since there is no nature of tathatā, neither is there any nature of non-tathatā. Thoroughly realizing this, one attains the ultimate tathatā. The \*Yanyi jing\* says: "At that time Śāriputra asked the monks, 'Venerables, for what reason do you speak such words as: "Only now have I gone forth under the six teachers"?' The monks said: 'Venerable Śāriputra, from now on, the six teachers and all Buddhas are equally of one characteristic, with neither increase nor decrease. Venerable Śāriputra, we now know that all teachers are not different; in going forth there is nothing to distinguish, therefore we speak of going forth.' Śāriputra said: 'Venerables, for what reason do you say: "From now on, the Buddha is not my venerated one"?' The monks said: 'Venerable Śāriputra, from now on, I am naturally bright, blazing with clarity, not relying on any other illumination. I take refuge in myself, not taking refuge in anything else; taking refuge in oneself is one's own veneration, therefore we say: "The Buddha is not my venerated one." Why is that? I am not apart from the Buddha; the Buddha is not apart from me.' Up to Śāriputra saying: 'Venerables, why do you say that from now on you speak of there being no karma?' The monks said: 'Venerable Śāriputra, from now on, we know that all discourse is ultimate nirvāṇa. Therein there is no taming and no non-taming. For this reason we say: "I speak of there being no karma."'" The \*Tathāgatagarbhasūtra\* says: "The World-Honoured One addressed Vajramati, saying: 'Good son, with the Buddha-eye I observe that within the kleśas of desire, anger, and delusion of all sentient beings, there is the Tathāgata's knowledge, the Tathāgata's eye, and the Tathāgata's body, seated cross-legged, dignified and unmoving. Good son, although all sentient beings are in the various destinies, within their bodies of kleśa there is the tathāgatagarbha, constantly undefiled, complete with virtuous characteristics, no different from me.'" The \*Laṅkāvatārasūtra\* says: "The tathāgatagarbha is pure by its own nature, transforms into the thirty-two characteristics, and enters into the bodies of all sentient beings." In the 'Entry into the Dharmadhātu' chapter of the \*Huayan jing\*, the householder Veṣṭhila, having attained the bodhisattva liberation of the dharma gate of the limit of non-parinirvāṇa and constantly making offerings to the Buddha-stūpa of the Candana Seat, addressed Sudhana, saying: "When I opened the gate of the stūpa of the Candana Seat Tathāgata, I attained the samādhi named Inexhaustible Lineage of the Buddhas. Good son, thought-moment after thought-moment I enter this samādhi, and thought-moment after thought-moment I am able to know all immeasurable and extraordinary matters... up to: Good son, I have only attained this liberation of the limit of non-parinirvāṇa attained by bodhisattvas. As for the bodhisattva mahāsattvas, with the wisdom of a single thought-moment they universally know the three times; in a single thought-moment they universally enter all samādhis; the sun of the Tathāgata's wisdom constantly illuminates their minds; regarding all phenomena they have no discrimination; they understand that all Buddhas are entirely equal; the Tathāgata and I and all sentient beings are equal and without duality; they know that all phenomena are pure by their own nature, without mentation and without movement or change, yet are able to universally enter into all worlds free from all discriminations, abiding in the Buddha's dharma seal, entirely able to awaken the sentient beings of the dharmadhātu." Furthermore, a verse says: "Just as the objective realm of citta has no limit, / So too is the objective realm of all Buddhas. / Just as the objective realm of citta arises from the mind, / The realm of the Buddhas should be observed in the same way." The \*Lotus Sūtra\* says: "Thus it is: since I attained Buddhahood, it has been extremely long, my lifespan is immeasurable asaṃkhyeya kalpas, constantly abiding and not destroyed." Some have doubts, saying: "Since he attained the Way so long ago and has constantly been teaching here, who then were the Buddhas in the interim—Dīpaṅkara, Vipaśyin, Śikhin, and the others—who attained the Way, entered extinction, and preached the Dharma to deliver sentient beings?" An ancient commentary explains: "The preaching in the interim of Dīpaṅkara and the other Buddhas attaining the Way and entering extinction—all such are skilful distinctions made through wisdom and expedient means, speaking of other Buddhas; it is not that there are those Buddhas apart from my body." A commentary on the \*Diamond Sūtra\* says: "That there is a Buddha inside the bodies of sentient beings is not esoteric; that there is one outside their bodies is also not esoteric; up to: that there is neither one inside their bodies nor outside their bodies, neither not-inside nor not-outside—all these are not esoteric. That sentient beings are themselves \[the Buddha\]—hence it is called esoteric." The \*Baozang lun\* says: "Not dismissing a single phenomenon, not obtaining a single phenomenon, not cultivating a single phenomenon, not realizing a single phenomenon: nature-pure and divinely genuine—can this be called the Great Way? The Genuine One therefore observes the whole world comprehensively: there is none who is not a true person. Who can grasp this principle to be of the same peerage?" The Tiantai teaching says: "Simply observe that the sentient beings of the ten dharmadhātus are themselves the Buddha. In the ten dharmadhātus, between the aggregates of sentient beings and the aggregates of the Buddha, there is not the slightest difference of a hair or a mustard seed. The Buddha activities of the three times are the four bodily postures of sentient beings." - [Previous: 14.3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3.2) - [Next: 14.3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3.4) - [Up: 14.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3) ## Linked texts (1) - [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.14.3.3) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.14.3.3) · Pramāṇa