宗鏡錄 2.11

2.11

Answer: This work merely collects the verbal teachings of the patriarchs, buddhas, and bodhisattvas; hence it is called a "record". Even when there are questions, answers, and explanations, they all rely on the general intention of past worthies to praise obliquely and encourage practice, elaborating the ultimate teaching. How could one presume to claim to "reveal and instruct" or falsely make assertions? Moreover, the orthodox source of the patriarchs and buddhas is the true nature of consciousness-only. As long as one has faith, one can teach others. If we speak of the path of cultivation and realization, all quarters say that one's accomplishment does not yet equal all the sages. However, that which is permitted in the teachings is that a bodhisattva at the initial stage can know it by inference, and it is also permitted to understand it according to the teachings: first entering through faith based on conceptual understanding through hearing, and later tallying with it thoughtlessly. If one enters the gate of faith, one immediately ascends to the patriarchal position. Now, this Mirror of the Source has been assembled, and its proofs are boundless; it penetrates according to every thought, and wherever the eye rests, all is it. Now, taking worldly affairs as an illustration within the realm of sentient beings: first, inferential knowledge; second, direct knowledge; third, knowledge based on the teachings. First, inferential knowledge: as with our present defiled body, every night there are dreams. The good and bad objects seen in dreams bring distinct grief and joy. Upon waking up, one is sleeping peacefully on the bed—how was any of it real? It was all the making of mental conception by the manovijñāna during the dream. Thus it can be known by inference that the things seen while awake are just like those in a dream, unreal. The objects of the three periods of past, future, and present are fundamentally the immediate nimittabhāga of the eighth, the ālayavijñāna, transformed solely by this fundamental consciousness. Present objects are discriminated by the distinct manovijñāna. Past and future objects are conceived by the isolated, scattered, dim manovijñāna. Although the realms of dream and waking are distinct, neither goes beyond the manovijñāna. Thus the principle of citta-only is illuminated by this analogy. Second, direct knowledge: this is clarity in confronting objects, not waiting for analogies to be set up. Furthermore, when seeing blue or white objects right now, the objects are fundamentally empty in themselves; they do not say, "I am blue; I am white." It is entirely the spontaneous discrimination of the intrinsic nature of the visual consciousness's darśanabhāga, which, together with the simultaneous distinct manovijñāna, conceptually discriminates them as blue or white. Conceiving them in the mind as form, and speaking of them in words as blue—all these are the false imputations of internal verbalization. Furthermore, because the six sense-objects are inert, their substances do not establish themselves, and their names do not call themselves. Since this is so for one form, it is the same for the ten thousand phenomena. All are devoid of intrinsic nature, and all are internal verbalization. Therefore it is said: "The ten thousand phenomena are fundamentally at peace, but people disturb themselves." Therefore, when the mind arises, the ten thousand objects all exist; where the empty mind arises, the ten thousand objects are all empty. Thus emptiness does not empty itself; it is empty because of the mind. Existence does not exist by itself; it exists because of the mind. Since they are neither empty nor existent, they are consciousness-only and citta-only. If not for the mind, where could the ten thousand phenomena lodge? Moreover, as for past objects, how were they ever existent? Where a thought arises, they suddenly appear before one. If the thought does not arise, the object never appears. These are all daily functions of sentient beings, which can be directly known without waiting for accomplishment; how could they require attainment through practice? Anyone with a mind can verify and know this. Therefore an earlier worthy said: "As for people of great faculties who know consciousness-only, they constantly observe their own mind, taking internal verbalization as the object. When they first begin this contemplation, although they have not yet become sages, to partially know internal verbalization is to be a bodhisattva." Third, knowledge based on the teachings: A sūtra says: "The three realms are citta-only; the ten thousand phenomena are consciousness-only." This is the fundamental principle realized and the authentic source that the teachings express. The details are in the text below, and sincere proofs are not just one. As the *Satyasiddhiśāstra* says, the Buddha spoke the words of the interior, exterior, and intermediate, and thereupon entered samādhi. At that time, five hundred arhats each explained these words. After the Buddha emerged from samādhi, they asked the World-Honoured One together, "Who hit upon the Buddha's intention?" The Buddha said, "None hit upon my intention." They further addressed the Buddha, "Since none hit upon the Buddha's intention, shall we not incur sin?" The Buddha said, "Although none hit upon my intention, each accords with the correct principle and is worthy of being sacred teaching; there is merit and no sin." If expounding the small vehicle's teaching of self-realization still accords with the correct principle, how much more so purely citing the One Vehicle and discussing only the Buddha's intention? The *Six Practices Dharma* says: "All people of great wisdom who wish to study the Way, without asking whether it is great or small, must rely on principle and teaching. If they see an expedient teaching, even though it was spoken by the Buddha, knowing that it is not true speech, they do not follow it. If they see an ordinary person speak what has principle, even though it is not the Buddha's speech, they practice in accordance with it. Because wise people studying the Buddha-Dharma well understand that the Tathāgata's teachings have the provisional and the real, when they explain the principle relying on the Buddha's real teaching, they surpass ordinary fools who erroneously grasp onto the provisional." Therefore, if a wise person speaks, although the person is an ordinary mortal, the Dharma is identical to the Buddha's. Just as pouring water from a pitcher into another pitcher: although the pitchers are different, the poured water is one and the same. Therefore, although an ordinary mortal has not exhausted the saṃyojanas, this does not hinder them from having understanding and being able to explain the real meaning. So long as one causes the mental factors that understand the principle to contemplate, this initial contemplation of the principle is different from that of other ordinary people. If one contemplates the emptiness of persons, one is of the two vehicles; if one contemplates the emptiness of phenomena, one is a bodhisattva. Therefore the *Mahāyānasaṃgraha* says: "One who first cultivates contemplation is an ordinary bodhisattva." Proven by this passage, a beginner studying contemplation, although they have not severed the saṃyojanas, is already a bodhisattva. Because they can understand the principle identical to the Great Sage, when they speak, it accords with the principle, and each and every [statement] can be relied upon. The *Ratnakaraṇḍakasūtra* says: "Just as the chick in the egg of the kalaviṅka bird king produces the exquisite sound of the kalaviṅka before its beak has appeared, so too the bodhisattvas in the egg of the Buddha-Dharma, though they have not destroyed the view of self or escaped the three realms, can still produce the exquisite sound of the Buddha-Dharma, namely, the sound of the practice of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. When the kalaviṅka enters a flock of peacocks, it never calls out; only when it returns among kalaviṅka birds does it call out. If a bodhisattva enters among all the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, they never expound the inconceivable Dharma of all buddhas; only when they come among the assembly of bodhisattvas do they expound it." Proven by this passage, although faults are not yet exhausted on the stage of ordinary beings, this does not hinder profound understanding; whenever one speaks what has principle, it can all be accepted in faith. However, whenever ordinary beings speak what has principle, it is all due to past habituation, not begun in present study. If it were not for past habituation, even studying into old age, one would merely repeat others' words while oneself remaining confused about the principle. Because of confusion about the principle, although one possesses many words, not understanding the provisional and the real, whatever one speaks contradicts the principle. If one understands the principle, without discriminating between the venerable and the young, one simply seeks the Way, not worldly affairs; one relies on the Dharma, not on the person. For example, when Śāriputra saw Aśvajit and sought the Dharma from him, Aśvajit answered with a verse: "I am young in years, / and my study has just begun. / How could I proclaim the ultimate truth / and expound the Tathāgata's meaning at length?" Śāriputra said, "You may speak the essentials in brief." Thereupon he spoke the verse: "All phenomena arise from causes and conditions; / of these phenomena, [the Buddha] speaks the causes and conditions. / Of these phenomena, the causes and conditions cease; / the Great Master has spoken thus." Śāriputra attained the first fruit upon hearing it just once; when he transmitted it to Maudgalyāyana and spoke it again, [Maudgalyāyana] attained the Way. By this it is known that wise people seeking the Dharma only value another's virtue and are not ashamed to approach an inferior; they are not like ordinary fools whose arrogance makes them exalt themselves, who, though knowing another is superior, are too ashamed and unwilling to learn. That ordinary beings have been unable to enter the Way from beginningless time is mostly due to being unable to seek the Dharma because of this. Therefore, all foolish people who are confused about the real teaching and cannot awaken by themselves should solely seek out virtue. For those who are confused about the principle, although they possess worldly wisdom, if they lack superior friends, they are constantly confused about the Way. As the *Suvikrāntavikramiparipṛcchā-prajñāpāramitāsūtra* says: "Just as a person born blind cannot see colors, so sentient beings blinded by kleśas cannot see the Dharma. Just as a person with eyes cannot see colors without external light, so a practitioner, though possessing wisdom, cannot see the Dharma without a good friend." By this it is proven that although a person has wisdom, if they cannot awaken by themselves, they must have a good friend. Therefore the *Fu fazang jing* says: "A good friend is the complete cause and condition for attaining the Way." The Buddha himself encouraged people to pursue good friends, rather than clinging to foolishness and letting a lifetime pass in vain. For this reason, the buddhas left instructions merely commanding us to rely on the Dharma and not on the person, to rely on the meaning and not on the letter. Bodhisattvas even transformed their bodies into animals to expound the Dharma for people, displaying this wonder to make listeners accept it in faith and cause them all to awaken to the Way and enter the equal Dharma. How could they cause people to give rise to notions of superior and inferior in their minds? Therefore the *Exposition of the Meaning of the Huayan* raises the objection: "This principle is subtle and esoteric, known only at the ultimate stage. Why should ordinary sentiments presumptuously pry into the great teaching?" It explains: "Relying on the teachings and principles, the sacred teachings permit it. The *Nirvāṇasūtra* says: 'An ordinary mortal bound with saṃyojanas can know the secret treasury of the Tathāgata.' The verse in the 'Vairocana Chapter' says: 'Just as by relying on the sunlight / one can see the solar orb in turn, / so by the Buddha's light of wisdom / one sees the path traversed by the Buddha.' That is, relying on the Buddha's teachings, one can understand the teachings." Now in this Mirror of the Source, from beginning to end, the teaching-light of the Buddha's wisdom is cited to reveal the traces of the path traversed by the Buddha. If one believes deeply, then by means of the light of the mind of sentient beings, one sees the traces of the practice of sentient beings. If one objects that ordinary beings should not know this, this is simply the person of wrong views and lack of faith. Therefore the *Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra* says: "If someone says, 'I am different and the Buddha is different,' you should know that this person is a disciple of Māra." It also says: "One who sees clearly knows that all phenomena are devoid of dual signs." It also says: "Contemplating all phenomena as equal is called the Buddha." Therefore a student asked National Teacher Zhong: "'When the Tathāgata speaks of prajñā, it is not prajñā; this is named prajñā.' Since 'is' and 'is not' are both exhausted, what is prajñā?" He answered: "That which can see the non-name is prajñā." The student asked: "Did the Buddha also speak thus?" He answered: "Past and present do not differ; when attained, the thousand buddhas have an equal mind and the ten thousand sages share the same track."