宗鏡錄 18.13

18.13

Answer: First, it is that sentient beings whose faculties are ripe perceive them manifest from their own minds. Second, it is the original vow from the causal stage of the bodhisattvas. However, the realm of all buddhas is vast and boundless; it is not known by affective consciousness, but can only be comprehended by seeing the nature. Therefore, the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'Child of the Buddha! How should a bodhisattva-mahāsattva know the realm of the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Perfectly Complete Enlightened One? Child of the Buddha! With unobstructed and unhindered wisdom, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows that the realm of all worlds is the realm of the Tathāgata. He knows that the realm of all three periods of time, the realm of all lands, the realm of all dharmas, the realm of all sentient beings, the realm of the non-differentiation of tathatā, the realm of the non-obstruction of the dharmadhātu, the realm of the boundlessness of reality-limit, the realm of the immeasurability of empty space, and the realm of the non-realm are the realm of the Tathāgata. Child of the Buddha! Just as the realm of all worlds is immeasurable, the realm of the Tathāgata is also immeasurable. Just as the realm of all three periods of time is immeasurable, the realm of the Tathāgata is also immeasurable. Up to: just as the realm of the non-realm is immeasurable, the realm of the Tathāgata is also immeasurable. Just as the realm of the non-realm exists nowhere, so too the realm of the Tathāgata exists nowhere. Child of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva should know that the realm of citta is the realm of the Tathāgata. Just as the realm of citta is immeasurable and boundless, without binding and without liberation, the realm of the Tathāgata is also immeasurable and boundless, without binding and without liberation. Why is this? Because in such-and-such ways of conceptual thinking and discrimination, such-and-such immeasurable manifestations appear.' Therefore, know that the ordinary and the holy have no boundary, and citta and objects share one origin. The true has no nature yet is revealed precisely through characteristics; characteristics have no substance yet are established based on the true. Hence it is said: 'The body of wisdom is vast and empty, taking all myriad forms to constitute its substance; the myriad forms have no shape, taking the body of wisdom to equalize their substance.' Furthermore, if discussed in terms of the gate of transformation and manifestation, this is the power of the compassionate vows from the causal stage of all buddhas, causing sentient beings whose faculties are ripe to perceive them manifest from their own minds. The buddhas within the minds of sentient beings respond and manifest without end; the sentient beings within the minds of all buddhas have boundless capacities and conditions. Therefore, the dharmakāya has no image, yet forms upon encountering resonance; its wondrous response has no fixed direction, leaving traces at a single thought. Through comprehending equality, it answers the hopes of the multitude like a maṇi jewel; through reaching selflessness, it accords with all capacities like a celestial drum. An ancient verse says: 'The Buddha is the Buddha within the minds of sentient beings; according with one's own capacity, there is no separate entity. If you wish to know the origin of all buddhas, awaken to the fact that your own avidyā is originally Buddha.' As the Buddhabhūmisūtra says: 'Manifesting according to what sentient beings delight in, because the equal dharma-nature is completely perfected.' The commentary explains: 'According to the differences in the physical bodies of the Tathāgata that sentient beings delight in seeing, the Tathāgata manifests such physical bodies. Although the Tathāgata abides in the state free from conceptual elaboration, due to the sovereign power of the wisdom of equality, the purified consciousness associated with the great round mirror wisdom manifests subtle and wondrous physical bodies of lapis lazuli and the like, causing the wholesome roots of sentient beings to mature, and their own minds to transform to resemble such physical characteristics—which they take to be seeing the Tathāgata's body outside their own minds. As a sūtra states: "Due to the power of the Tathāgatas' compassionate wholesome roots, there is manifestation, causing the minds of devas and humans to transform and perceive the Tathāgata's body as gold-colored and so forth." And as a sūtra states: "If the immeasurable sentient beings to be transformed should see the color of lapis lazuli and maṇi jewels, the Tathāgata is able to manifest without hindrance various colors of lapis lazuli and maṇi jewels, causing their own minds to also transform in this way," and so on at length. In such manifestation, the physical characteristics of all Tathāgatas are equal; such equality is precisely the dharma-nature, and is therefore called the equal dharma-nature. This means that all Tathāgatas, in accordance with the physical forms and characteristics that the sentient beings to be transformed delight in seeing, simultaneously and in the same place manifest diverse characteristics, causing their minds to transform and manifest in this way to perform beneficial and joyful acts. Just as when the shared-characteristic seeds in the ālayavijñāna of sentient beings mature, each transforms and manifests characteristics of worlds and so forth, being similar in the same place without hindering one another—this is also like that. As with physical characteristics, so too with other matters. Because of this manifestation, through the perfection of prior practice as described above, the equality-nature wisdom is fully accomplished, surpassing all realms of the buddhas.' The Jñānālokālaṅkārasūtra says: 'Mañjuśrī asked: "What are the characteristics of non-arising and non-ceasing?" The Buddha answered: "Non-arising and non-ceasing is precisely the Tathāgata. Mañjuśrī! Just as the great earth is made of lapis lazuli, and the palaces, furnishings, and the like of Śakra's Vaijayanta reflect within it; the people of Jambudvīpa, seeing the reflections of the palaces upon the lapis lazuli ground, press their palms together in worship, burn incense, scatter flowers, and make the vow: 'May I be born in such palaces! I shall disport myself like Śakra and the others.' Those sentient beings do not know that this ground is merely the reflections of palaces, and so they practice giving and uphold the precepts, cultivating all merits in order to obtain the karmic fruit of such palaces. Mañjuśrī! Such palaces in reality have no arising or ceasing; because the ground is pure, the reflections appear within it. Those reflections of palaces both exist and do not exist, neither arising nor ceasing. Mañjuśrī! Sentient beings seeing the Buddha is also like this: because their minds are pure, they see the Buddha's body. The Buddha's body is unconditioned, neither arising nor ceasing, neither beginning nor ending, neither form nor non-form, neither visible nor invisible, neither worldly nor otherworldly, neither mind nor non-mind. Because the minds of sentient beings are pure, they see the body of the Tathāgata, scatter flowers, burn incense, and make various offerings, making the vow: 'May I attain such a physical body!' They practice giving and uphold the precepts, performing all merits in order to attain the subtle and wondrous body of the Tathāgata. Thus, Mañjuśrī, the supernatural power of the Tathāgata appears in the world to bring great benefit to sentient beings, like a shadow and like a reflection, seen in accordance with sentient beings."' It also speaks of metaphors such as the sunlight unintentionally shining everywhere, the maṇi jewel unintentionally raining treasures, and the valley echo lacking reality. The lapis lazuli ground and the like illustrate the mind of sentient beings; the reflections illustrate the Buddha's body. Furthermore, the Avataṃsaka has the metaphor of the maṇi jewel reflecting according to what meets it: the maṇi manifesting color illustrates the body of self-enjoyment having its fundamental color, yet without distinctions of blue, yellow, and so forth; the distinctions of blue, yellow, and so forth are reflected and generated in accordance with capacities. Furthermore, if space is used as a metaphor for the Buddha's body, it is the dharma-nature body: because space has no characteristics, it neither increases nor decreases according to directions; because the dharmakāya has no form, it does not display fine or coarse [features] dependent upon reward or transformation [bodies]. As the 'Ten Samādhis' chapter of the Avataṃsaka says: 'Child of the Buddha! Just as empty space is not diminished inside a hole in a mustard seed eaten by an insect, nor is it expanded within countless worlds, the bodies of all buddhas are also like this: when seen as large, they do not increase; when seen as small, they do not decrease.' All the above comparisons illustrate seeing the Buddha. However, the metaphor of the mirror image is the most intimate. When the real object faces the mirror, the image is seen in the mirror; the image is the image of the object. When the receptive capacity faces the land, the Buddha is seen in the land; the Buddha is the Buddha of the mind. Therefore, the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'Transformed buddhas arise from a mind of veneration.' Furthermore, the general meaning of all metaphors is that substance has no arising or ceasing, yet does not obstruct arising and ceasing. Like 'non-form' referring to substance, and 'not non-form' referring to function, then the dharma[kāya] and reward [body] are of one limit, substance and function are without difference; both converge in the unborn, together returning to the mirror of the source. Furthermore, if one grasps [the Buddha] by form and sound, one is practicing a wrong path; if one grasps by departing from form and sound, one cannot avoid nihilistic extinction. An ancient commentary states: 'As the Avataṃsaka verse says: "The physical body is not the Buddha, nor is voice either; yet not apart from form and voice is the Buddha's supernatural power seen." If based on the expedient teachings, in the four propositions of original object and image, substance and function are differentiated. If based on this source, all four propositions are function, because one knows that all dharmas are precisely the self-nature of mind. Therefore, the original object and the reflected image are also one's own mind; all horizontal and vertical dharmas do not go beyond the mind-nature. As in the Prajñā[pāramitā], understanding form to be prajñā runs through all dharmas. First, running through the five skandhas, it says: "Understanding form to be prajñā, all dharmas tend toward form. Form is still unobtainable; how could there be tending or non-tending?" Running through all dharmas in this way, it is always so. The sense of prajñā seems to be that the nature of all dharmas is not different from the nature of form, hence all tend toward form. Form being unobtainable corresponds to the emptiness of dharma-nature; since there is nothing tended toward, how could there be that which tends? In the sense of Master Zhiyi: "All dharmas tend toward form" is the provisional contemplation; "Form is still unobtainable" is the empty contemplation; "How could there be tending or non-tending?" is the Middle Way contemplation. Now we only need the first line, taking the nature of form as the reliance of all dharmas: because nature encompasses universally, all tend toward form. Thus within a single form, all dharmas are fully present—this is the meaning of non-obstruction, because any single dharma encompasses the dharmadhātu. If one can understand in this way, then whenever there is seeing and hearing of any realm whatsoever, none is not the Buddha's appearance in the world. As the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: 'At that time in the assembly there was a bodhisattva named Hui Ju, who addressed the Buddha: "World-Honoured One! When birth, old age, sickness, and death appear in the world, that is precisely the Buddha's appearance. When avidyā and craving appear, that is precisely the Buddha's appearance. When rāga, dveṣa, and moha appear, that is precisely the Buddha's appearance. When all nets of doubt and kleśas appear, that is precisely the Buddha's appearance. Why is this? If such dharmas did not appear in the world, by what cause would the Buddha appear in the world?" The Buddha said: "Excellent, excellent! Good man, it is truly as you have said." At that time Bodhisattva Sāgaramati said: "World-Honoured One! If there are those who do not see such dharmas, at that time does the Tathāgata appear in the world or not appear in the world?" [The Buddha said:] "Good man! When a bodhisattva first generates the bodhicitta, he truly does not know such dharmas; therefore, I expound them for him. Good man, there are four kinds of bodhisattvas: first, those who first generate the mind of bodhi; second, those who practice the path of bodhi; third, those who are firm and irreversible in bodhi; fourth, those who will succeed to the Buddha's place in one lifetime. The bodhisattva who generates the mind sees the physical characteristics of the Buddha, and having seen them, immediately generates the mind of bodhi. The bodhisattva who practices sees the Buddha endowed with all wholesome dharmas, and having seen this, immediately generates the mind of bodhi. The irreversible bodhisattva sees the Tathāgata's body and all dharmas as completely equal. The bodhisattva of one lifetime does not see any merits of the Tathāgata or any dharmas. Why is this? Because the eye of wisdom he has attained is distinctly pure, because he has severed the two views, and because his wisdom is purified. If one does not see purity, does not see impurity, and does not see neither purity nor impurity, this person is able to clearly see the Tathāgata."' Furthermore, an ancient virtuous one explaining the Tiantai Śamatha and Vipaśyanā said: 'Merely realize that one thought of one's own mind is the dharmadhātu; the buddhas of the ten directions and all sentient beings share the same non-abiding, originally taking the one dharmadhātu as body and as land. There is neither that nor this, neither root nor abiding place, neither cultivation nor non-cultivation, neither realization nor non-realization, neither ordinary nor holy. Sentient beings merely claim themselves to be ordinary, uncultivated, and unrealized due to entanglement in false thoughts; they call the Buddha holy, cultivated, and realized. Cultivation and realization, ordinary and holy, are forcefully established by sentient beings themselves; in the state of Buddhahood, there are no such names at all. What all buddhas see is that the ordinary and holy bodies of all sentient beings are the Buddha's dharmakāya; all lands are the Buddha's lands; all dharmas are the Buddha-dharma; all minds are the one mind. Searching to the utmost of the ten directions and the three periods of time, there is not the slightest bit—whether of form or of mind—that is not the Buddha-principle. The realm of wisdom is brilliantly luminous, universally pervading the dharmadhātu; there has never been a single thing, [yet] body and mind are tranquil, without anything to perform. Since the Buddha-mind is like this, my learning the Buddha's wisdom and using the mind as the Buddha does is precisely the luminous stillness of śamatha and vipaśyanā. The Buddha's manifestation is precisely my mind's manifestation; manifestation and non-manifestation are merely reflected images upon the mirror of one's own mind.'