宗鏡錄 19.3.1

19.3.1

Answer: If one views with the eyes of sentient beings, one sees only that the realm of sentient beings is in surplus; if one views with the Buddha eye, one knows then that the realm of the buddhas leaves nothing outside. Thus we know that the delusive wind of avidyā easily stirs the ocean of citta, while the true nature of original enlightenment is in a long slumber, hard to awaken. Therefore the Śūraṅgamasūtra states: 'The spiritual faculty of your citta is completely clear and has never for a moment been dim; yet those who are deluded look directly at it and do not know it.' It is like fine jade submerged in mud, burying its own high value; or like pure gold mixed with gravel, vainly hiding its radiance. As the Lotus Sūtra says: 'Formerly, wishing to make you attain peace and bliss, indulging freely in the five desires, on a certain year, month, and day, I tied a priceless jewel inside your clothing. It is present even now, yet you did not know it, toiling in hardship, sorrow, and affliction to seek a livelihood—this is utter folly! You may now take this jewel to trade for whatever you need, and you may always have your wish fulfilled, lacking nothing.' Thus we know that original enlightenment is eternally accomplished, and the jewel in the clothing is never lost. Were it not for the complete and sudden teaching, how could one directly understand one's own citta? Therefore the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment says: 'Because enlightenment is accomplished, you should know that bodhisattvas are not bound by phenomena, nor do they seek liberation from phenomena; they do not detest saṃsāra, nor do they covet nirvāṇa; they do not revere keeping the precepts, nor do they loathe violating the prohibitions; they do not value long practice, nor do they belittle those who have not learned. Why is this? Because all is enlightenment.' From this we know that all sentient beings are accomplished in original enlightenment. Because of non-enlightenment, they identify with enlightenment that accords with defilement, see superior and inferior realms, and give rise to minds of attraction and revulsion, merely following delusion to transmigrate in saṃsāra, suddenly blind to true enlightenment. Yet it is due to enlightenment that there is non-enlightenment; if there were no truth, delusion would have nothing on which to rely—just as smoke does not rise without fire. Moreover, enlightenment depends on non-enlightenment, like gold that conforms to vessels, which still awaits the vessels to be revealed, because phenomena can reveal principle. Therefore, truth alone cannot stand, and delusion alone cannot be formed. That truth alone cannot stand is because the fruit of buddhahood is unproduced; that delusion alone cannot be formed is because it would have nothing on which to rely. As a former master's verse says: / 'The realm of all sentient beings is of golden color; / Pure, stainless, its wisdom indestructible. / The precious jewel is naturally inside the inner clothing, / Yet one merely wishes to remain forever impoverished outside the gate. / The pure precious vehicle halts at the crossroads; / Mañjuśrī guides, and Samantabhadra assists. / The plump white ox is exceedingly strong; / In a single thought it roams everywhere, without unfolding or rolling up. / Such a precious vehicle they refuse to enter, / Only taking pleasure in standing before the gate in bitter toil; / Unaware that their own bodies are always within it, / When sent up, they constantly say, "I fall short."' / A verse in the Avataṃsakasūtra says: / 'If one wishes to seek all-knowledge / And swiftly accomplish unsurpassed bodhi, / One should, with a pure and wondrous mind, / Cultivate and practice the conduct of bodhi.' / Another verse says: / 'Just as in a rich and fertile field, / What is planted must flourish and grow, / So it is with the pure mind-ground, / Which brings forth all buddha-dharmas.' / From this we know that among the buddhas of the ten directions, there is not a single buddha who did not attain buddhahood by having faith in this citta; among the twenty-eight patriarchs, there is not a single patriarch who did not become a patriarch by seeing this nature. Those who nowadays hear this yet do not become patriarchs or buddhas do so entirely because their faith falls short and their seeing is not definite. They merely learn their words and do not illuminate their citta; they merely cling to their understandings and do not fathom their Dharma. Why is this? Because faith is itself the Way. A sūtra says: 'Faith is the source of the Way, the mother of merits.' Seeing is free of doubt; thus a sūtra says: 'When one sees the truth of suffering, the habit [of craving] is also eliminated'—how much more so for the active realms outside the mind! Only by entering the mirror of the source does one realize past errors; when the light of the citta penetrates, the remaining blemishes naturally disappear. The 'Manifestation' chapter of the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'O sons of the Buddha, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know that in their own citta, in thought after thought, there is always a buddha accomplishing right enlightenment. Why is this? Because all buddha-tathāgatas accomplish right enlightenment without departing from this citta. Just as it is with their own citta, the citta of all sentient beings is also like this: in all of them there are tathāgatas accomplishing equal and right enlightenment, vast and pervasive, nowhere absent, not departing and uninterrupted, without cessation, entering the inconceivable Dharma-gate of skillful means.' An ancient commentary says: 'There are two aspects to attaining buddhahood without departing from this citta: First, the body and mind of sentient beings are themselves what is realized by the Buddha; therefore, the Buddha realizes the substance of sentient beings and uses the function of sentient beings. Second, it is completely identical to the nature of the Buddha's bodhi; the one nature is without difference. This means that the fruit of the other lies within my cause, because by means of my cause the fruit of the other is accomplished; hence it is called entering the inconceivable Dharma-gate of skillful means.' Therefore, those who do not grasp the meaning think in terms of 'sentient beings'—this is inadmissible; even if they think in terms of 'buddha', this is also inadmissible. Being identical is inadmissible, and not being identical is also inadmissible. One should purify the eye of wisdom and not grasp at any conceptual sentiments. The sūtra says: 'O sons of the Buddha, if you rely on this knowledge, nothing obscure will remain unfathomed.' The Nirvāṇasūtra says: 'That which has a self within the twenty-five states of existence is called the "self" by virtue of being naturally real, meaning that the substance of all dharmas is real. All sentient beings possess the tathāgatagarbha, which can serve as the cause of buddhahood; this is called possessing the buddha-nature. Just as among all forms there is the nature of emptiness, so it is not only sentient beings that possess the correct nature of the Tathāgata: among all dharmas there is the nature of peace and bliss.' Therefore it is said: 'If one views with the physical eye, there is no truth that is not conventional; if one views with the Dharma-eye, there is no conventionality that is not true.' It is also said: 'The dharmakāya transmigrating through the five destinies is called "sentient beings".' However, the dharmakāya is simply tathatā. Transmigrating through the five destinies is simply according with conditions. The name 'sentient beings' is the meaning of distinction. Furthermore, because according with conditions is itself unvarying, it eliminates distinctions to make the substance empty, and thus the branches are quieted; because the emptiness of substance is distinct, it eliminates the unvarying to make it accord with conditions, and thus the root is quieted. Since the whole root becomes the branches, the root then becomes hidden; since the whole of the branches becomes the root, the branches then vanish. Thus, when tathatā accords with conditions to become sentient beings, it never loses its true substance; hence it causes sentient beings to be not sentient beings. When sentient beings, empty in substance, are identical to the dharmakāya, sentient beings are never absent; hence it is not the dharmakāya. Therefore, both are mutually extinguished. Since both are mutually extinguished, truth and delusion are equal, without any difference. Therefore it is said: 'The dharmakāya, which is not existent in according with conditions, is eternally established without being different from phenomena; sentient beings, who are not non-existent in quiescence, are always manifested without being different from truth.'