宗鏡錄 21

English (machine translation) 21

Language: English

21.1

Compiled by Yanshou, Chan Master Zhijue, Abbot of Huiri Yongming Temple.

Now, all phenomena, ultimate and conventional, each have principle and phenomena, shared and distinct operational characteristics, with their karmic fruitions being distinct and clear. Why solely melt them away into oneself? Without entering this source, one fears falling into the view of emptiness.

21.3

Answer: Only when one grasps the root does one understand the branches; grasping the branches violates the source. If one does not contemplate the mind, dharmas have no place whence they come. If one merely cultivates conditioned practices of phenomena without penetrating the unconditioned nature of one's own mind, one becomes confused about phenomena and loses the source, and one's fruit reverts to birth and cessation. If one embodies the principle and practices phenomena, both are illuminated without mutual conflict. One only fears cultivating one-sidedly, whereby both principle and phenomena are lost. As the Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra says: 'Even if one were to build jeweled stupas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, it would not equal contemplating this sūtra for a single kṣaṇa.' Moreover, it is simply because the one mind is the source of the myriad practices that, based on this, one can arouse compassion of identical substance and transformation free of conditions. As the Awakening of Faith Commentary says: 'If one believes solely in the principle of emptiness of a single flavor, delight and revulsion are completely cut off. If one believes solely in phenomenal marks, the noble and the ordinary are vastly separated. Neither of these can arouse practice or cultivate progress. Now, by causing one to believe that the one mind is the source of both ordinary beings and sages, and that differences exist only due to delusion and awakening, one will certainly be able to arouse practice and cultivate progress toward the fruit of Buddhahood.' From this we know that the true mind does not maintain its self-nature, but ascends and descends in accordance with conditions, its fruits and retributions being distinct and clear. Furthermore, in following conditions it does not lose its self-nature: conditions are unreal and lack actuality, so object and wisdom are darkly tranquil. Therefore the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith says: 'What is called: although one contemplates that the self-nature of all dharmas is unborn, one simultaneously contemplates that through the combination of causes and conditions, good and evil karma and retributions such as suffering and pleasure are neither lost nor destroyed; and although one contemplates the karmic retributions of good and evil causes and conditions, one simultaneously contemplates that their nature is ungraspable.' If one says that karmic retribution is not lost, one must completely cultivate the myriad practices. If one says that the nature is ungraspable, one should know that there is only the one mind. Furthermore, at the beginning of the myriad practices, none precedes the five precepts. If practiced according to phenomenal marks, the retribution is among humans and gods. The Tripiṭaka Teaching only realizes impermanence; the Shared Teaching understands emptiness and lack of self-nature; the Distinct Teaching is sequential, so cause and effect are not interfused; only the Perfect Teaching contemplates the mind as endowed with the dharmadhātu. Therefore the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'Although one believes in distinct marks, if one does not believe in the one substance free of distinct marks, this is called incomplete faith. Because faith is incomplete, all one's moral precepts are also incomplete. Therefore, all one's extensive learning is also incomplete. What is meant by incomplete faith? If one has not understood that a single dharma is all dharmas, how could faith be complete? What is meant by incomplete precepts? If one does not yet know that the nature of the precepts is like empty space, how could the precepts be complete? What is meant by incomplete learning? If one has not heard that the Tathāgata constantly never preaches the Dharma, yet considers this complete extensive learning, how could learning be complete?' If one enters the mirror of the source, how could it cover merely precepts and goodness? Extending all the way to the fruitional virtues of all Buddhas and the myriad practices of bodhisattvas, there is not a single dharma that is not embraced. Thus in every thought-moment one understands clearly, and every dharma is consummate. Now, taking the five precepts as an example: the precepts arise from the mind, and the mind is established through the precepts. If the mind does not arise, it is the foundation of the four virtues and myriad practices. If the mind falsely arises, it becomes the root of the six destinies and three paths. Thus there is no goodness it does not gather, and no evil it does not take in. Therefore the Tiantai teaching says: 'These five precepts are also a Mahāyāna Dharma door. Condensing these five precepts into the three vehicles corresponds to the three non-lapses, the three non-protections, the three wheels of inconceivable transformation, the three mysteries, the three tracks, the three bodies, the three Buddha-natures, the three prajñās, the three nirvāṇas, the three wisdoms, the three virtues, and so forth—immeasurable threefold Dharma doors, horizontally and vertically boundless, equal to empty space and the dharmadhātu; it is also the inexhaustible treasury of Dharma doors, and also the samādhi of immeasurable meanings. To state the essence, it is all Buddha-dharmas.' The Tiantai Commentary on the Golden Light Sūtra says: 'The five precepts are the great taboos of heaven and earth. Above, they correspond to the five stars; below, they match the five sacred peaks; within, they constitute the five internal organs. Those who violate them offend heaven and clash with earth, destroying their own bodies.' First, regarding not killing: taking life is called phenomenal killing; not taking life is called phenomenal non-killing. In the interpretation of the Dharma door: analyzing dharmas is called killing in principle; embodying dharmas is called non-killing in principle. If one guards them with deliberate intent, like a horse fitted with a bridle or a cowherd holding a staff, the retribution is in the human realm for one hundred and twenty years, obtaining only the fleshy eye. If it is accomplished spontaneously by nature, like a river flowing into the sea, the retribution is in the six heavens, lasting at most 926,700,000,000 years, obtaining only the divine eye. If one further cultivates meditative precepts and the wisdom of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, and non-self, the retribution is in transformation, with a lifespan of seven hundred asaṃkhyeyas, obtaining only the wisdom eye. If one further cultivates the wisdom of permanence, impermanence, and so forth, the retribution is in the Lotus Treasury Ocean, receiving a dharmatā body, partially obtaining the five eyes, and partially obtaining eternal life; compared to a Buddha, one's faculties are still incomplete and one's lifespan reduced. If a person of the Perfect Teaching upholds the precept of phenomenal non-killing and also upholds the precept of non-killing in principle, without destroying the causes of the body, they constantly follow the single mark; without cutting off delusion and desire, they give rise to illumination and liberation; embodying the aggregates, realms, and sense fields, nothing is injured or destroyed; cause or fruit, they are neither born nor extinguished; perfecting wisdom, dwelling in the Land of Tranquil Radiance, their eternal lifespan is serene and clear, the five eyes are complete, and they attain mastery over the faculties and mastery over life, freely lengthening or shortening it as they will. This is called the ultimate upholding of the precepts, with all faculties complete and lifespan unreduced. How could a person of the Perfect Teaching merely uphold these precepts? There is only killing and only compassion; they also perform phenomenal killing, and also perform killing in principle. As when King Puṇyarāja killed five hundred brahmins, bestowing upon them the eyes to see the Buddha and a lifespan of ten kalpas. Furthermore, performing killing in the Dharma door means analyzing and purging defilements, purifying all kleśas, like a tree spirit breaking branches so as not to harbor hostile birds, or like the kalpa fire burning wood so that both ashes and charcoal vanish. Therefore the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'Kill the father of avidyā, slay the mother of craving and desire, sever the enemy of anuśayas, destroy the harmony of the aggregates, and cut off the body of the seven consciousnesses. If someone does this, they presently realize the dharmakāya.' This rebellion is itself obedience. Aṅgulimāla said: 'I vow to sever the aggregates, realms, and sense fields; I cannot uphold the precept of not killing. All afflictions are the seed of the Tathāgata; only when this seed is exhausted is one called a Buddha.' Perfecting the adamantine, wondrous dharmakāya, serenely responding to all, casting forms in the nine destinies, showing long or short lifespans as appropriate, employing deficient or complete faculties according to what beings perceive, they transform and deliver them. Second, regarding not stealing: taking what is not given is called phenomenal stealing; taking what is given is called phenomenal non-stealing. As for the Dharma door: as the Buddha said, 'Do not take other things'—this is called non-stealing in the Dharma door. When there is no one who gives bodhi, yet one takes bodhi, this is called stealing in the Dharma door. If one upholds precepts and creates karma seeking a desirable fruit, that fruit is impermanent and swiftly decays, and all is another's property; it is foul as dung fruit and harmful as poisoned food. A wise person should not seek it. Why earnestly drink bitterness and eat poison, injuring and destroying oneself? Can swirling suffering exceed the flow of existence? Hindered by the three obstacles, one is abandoned by the heaven of supreme truth. This is stealing, not non-stealing. Moreover, the two vehicles, using the wisdom of the four truths, contemplate the body, feelings, mind, and dharmas, feeling revulsion toward saṃsāra and joyfully seeking nirvāṇa; when the mind seeking nirvāṇa arises, that is taking another's property, taking realization at the wrong time, not waiting for the causes that have been taught; burnt seeds do not sprout; seeing suffering, cutting off origination, cultivating the path, and attaining cessation—this is not seeking the Dharma. Positing that there is nirvāṇa, they form a view of nirvāṇa. If one clings to emptiness, the Buddhas cannot save one. With a body three hundred yojanas tall but lacking both wings, one falls into the pit of the three unconditioned states, starved, emaciated, one's body breaking out in sores and ringworm—is this not poverty and distress? Furthermore, not seeing the Buddha, not hearing the Dharma, not entering the assembly—is this not being far removed from the heaven of supreme truth? This is still called stealing, not non-stealing. If a person of the Distinct Teaching advances from shallow to deep, abandoning one and taking another, coming and then coming again, going and then going again, all are disgraced by the marks of coming and going; this is also taking without being given. Taking and then abandoning is also poverty. Abandoning and then taking again, repeatedly going and taking, is distress itself. Not according with the heaven of supreme truth, one is far removed. This is still called stealing, not non-stealing. A person of the Perfect Teaching contemplates the true mark of dharmas: receiving is also not receiving; not receiving is also not receiving; both receiving and not receiving is also not receiving; neither receiving nor not receiving is also not receiving. Non-taking is bodhi, because it obstructs all taking. This dharma is equal, without high or low; because it is not high, there is no taking; because it is not low, there is no abandoning. One who contemplates thus contemplates the tathāgatagarbha, complete and without deficiency; it is the wish-fulfilling jewel, producing treasures at will; it is the asura lute, producing sounds at will; it is great wealth. Because of great wealth, there is no taking; this is the heaven of supreme truth, so one is not far removed. This is called the ultimate upholding of the precept of not stealing. A person of the Perfect Teaching also has stealing in the Dharma door: when there is no one who gives bodhi, yet one takes bodhi, like the ocean swallowing streams without blocking the myriad tributaries, like the earth bearing the four heavy burdens. All sentient beings are delivered, all kleśas are severed, all Dharma doors are known, and the Buddha path is completely accomplished. Third, regarding not engaging in sexual misconduct: physical union of male and female is called phenomenal sexual misconduct. In the interpretation of the Dharma door: if the mind is tainted by dharmas, that is lust. If one shuts and checks the seven branches, like an ape bound in chains, or like carrying a bowl of oil through a great crowd, severing and relinquishing pleasant touch, seeking future purity regarding the five desires—like trading in a market, or like exchanging copper coins for gold coins—this merely increases the matters of desire; it is not non-desire. If one severs the coarse, vile desires of the desire realm but craves the bliss of the dhyānas of the form and formless realms, like a frozen fish or a hibernating insect, falling into the long-life heavens, this is one of the difficulties; craving the taste of dhyāna is called the great fetter; this is being tainted by the dharma of desire, not non-desire. If one detests saṃsāra and loves nirvāṇa, abandoning it and going straight ahead, traversing the road without turning back, unaffected and unsubdued by any visible forms or sounds, like Mount Sumeru unshaken by the eight winds, yet upon hearing the superior, wondrous merits of a bodhisattva or the sound of the Kiṃnara's lute, Kāśyapa begins to dance, unable to contain himself, and when the vairambha wind arrives, he is broken like rotten grass—this is being tainted by desire, not being untainted by desire. If a bodhisattva hates saṃsāra like excrement, hates nirvāṇa like a hostile bird, abandons the two extremes, and fixes the mind on the Middle Way, giving rise to love for the dharma in accord with the path, this is called 'falling from the peak'; it is a bodhisattva caṇḍāla. Lacking skillful means, this wisdom is bound, unable to overcome enemies, and what one cultivates becomes devoid of the sharp blade of wisdom; this is being tainted by the dharma of desire, not non-desire. A person of the Perfect Teaching contemplates the three truths in one mind: as identical to emptiness, what could be defiled? As identical to the provisional, what could be purified? As identical to the middle, what could be an extreme? As identical to both emptiness and the provisional, what could be the middle? Because it is identical to emptiness, there is no love for self, person, the sixteen views, or the dependent and primary [retributions]. Because it is identical to the provisional, there is no love for emptiness, signlessness, or wishlessness. Because it is identical to the middle, there is no love for the Buddha, bodhi, turning the wheel of the Dharma, or delivering sentient beings. The three truths being pure is called ultimate purity. Only the Buddha alone possesses the pure precepts; all others are called defilers of the precepts. A person of the Perfect Teaching also has a Dharma door of tainted love: as with the woman Vasumitrā, humans saw a human woman, gods saw a goddess; those who saw her immediately attained the samādhi of seeing the Buddha; those who held her hand attained the samādhi of reaching the Buddha; those who kissed her attained the samādhi of supreme love; those who embraced her attained the samādhi of dark accord. It is also like the bodhisattva who walked in the realm of Māra without defilement, transforming into immeasurable bodies to engage with immeasurable devīs, causing them all to generate the bodhimind; and furthermore, first drawing them in with desire, and later causing them to enter the Buddha's wisdom. This is desire that is non-desire, using desire to stop desire, like using a wedge to drive out a wedge, or using sound to stop sound. Fourth, regarding not lying: as for the Dharma door, it is claiming to have attained what one has not attained. Foolish ordinary beings, amidst inferior suffering, randomly give rise to notions of pleasure, erect the banner of arrogance, beat the drum of self-aggrandizement, cling to existence and dispute with non-existence, cling to non-existence and dispute with existence, give rise to the sixty-two views, destroy the wisdom eye, do not see the real, fully possess the four verbal faults, and regarding the Trāyastriṃśa heaven, like yellow leaves in saṃsāra, consider them true gold; regarding their own sphere of non-conceptualization, they mistakenly calculate it to be nirvāṇa. If this is not lying, what is lying? The two vehicles compete in clinging to rubble, carrying it out with joy, giving rise to the notion of extinction. When birth has not truly been exhausted, how could they attain extinction? Giving rise to the notion of peace and bliss, when what was to be done is not yet accomplished, how could they attain tranquility? In truth, they have not yet attained all liberation; claiming to have attained what they have not attained, is this not lying? For persons of the Distinct Teaching, the Buddha taught the true mark through four gates; clinging to the single existence, they are obstructed from the other three gates, and even clinging to neither existence nor non-existence, they fail to interfuse existence and non-existence. Now, regarding the true mark: the path of words is cut off, the place of mental activity is extinguished. How can one use words to name the wordless? How can one use numbers to count the countless? Is this not lying? A person of the Perfect Teaching contemplates in accord with reality and speaks in accord with reality. Contemplating in accord with reality means not contemplating internally, up to not contemplating apart from inside and outside, nor contemplating with non-existence; they attain this wisdom. Speaking in accord with reality means all is real, up to neither real nor not real, and so forth; all such are called the reality of dharmas. The sūtra says: 'All Buddhas speak real words'—that is, using the sound of the Buddha path to cause all to hear. A person of the Perfect Teaching also has a Dharma door of lying: speaking of a cart where there is no cart to entice playful children, or speaking of joy where there is no joy to stop a crying baby. If there are sentient beings who gain benefit through false words, the Buddha also speaks falsely. Furthermore, saying 'I am lustful Śrī,' or 'I am a god, I am a human,' when in truth he is neither god nor human, is using falsehood to draw out falsehood, causing them to attain non-falsehood. Fifth, regarding not drinking alcohol: in the interpretation of the Dharma door, delusion and inverted views are called alcohol. Now, alcohol is unwholesome, the root of all evils. Drinking alcohol invites madness; non-Buddhists and the like are examples of this; this is worldly drunkenness. The Great Sūtra says: 'From the past until now, beings have constantly been intoxicated by sounds and sights, transmigrating through birth and death.' Humans and gods of the three realms all share this drunkenness. The alcohol of avidyā has not yet been vomited out by the two vehicles; they are like people suffering from intermittent fever. The Great Sūtra cites their drunken return: in the world there is no permanence or bliss, yet they speak of self and purity; the Tathāgata is truly self and purity, yet they speak of impermanence and [suffering]. Like that drunkard who sees the sun and moon spinning, this is the drunkenness of the two vehicles. Bodhisattvas have not yet exhausted avidyā and do not see clearly, like viewing a painted image at night; like a drunkard who dimly sees the road. Kāśyapa said: 'From this time backward, all of us were called people of wrong views.' This is the drunkenness of bodhisattvas. A person of the Perfect Teaching practices the practice of the Tathāgata, is endowed with the nature of kleśas, and is able to know the Tathāgata's secret treasury; although possessing a fleshy eye, it is called the Buddha eye; what is seen is never seen again. Thus the active defilements and residual habit-energies of the five abodes are simultaneously eliminated without remainder. Since the dharma of alcohol has been removed, what could there be to be drunk on? A person of the Perfect Teaching also has a Dharma door of drinking alcohol: Aṅgulimāla said, 'Holding the flask of true emptiness, filled with the wine of the true mark, transforming through the five destinies, proclaiming and roaring.' Prasenajit being drunk turned into greater kindness; Queen Mallikā drinking was declared by the Buddha to be upholding the precepts. Entering a tavern, one establishes one's own resolve and also establishes the resolve of others. One who finds its gate acts properly whether moving with or against the grain; one who loses its handle cuts their hand while wielding the knife. From this we know that those who can take dust-like defilements and kleśas as Buddha-work have seen all dharmas as the true mark. In the true mark of the one mind, seeing no worldly faults, troubles, or obstructive dharmas, what is there to abandon? Seeing also no supramundane superior, noble, or wondrous dharmas, what is there to grasp? Merely for the sake of those who have not entered the gate of the true mark, who see various distinctions between ordinary beings and sages and give rise to delight and revulsion, one complies with their capacities, accords with their actions, and guides them with skillful means, causing them all to enter this single boundary of equality, free of dispute and loss, the Dharma door of self-realization, ultimate, eternal bliss. Such instructions do not fail previous capacities. Understanding the prescription behind the elbow is like reaching into one's pouch for a jewel. This is truly the supreme exposition, completely encompassing beginning and end; opening the gate of great giving, who comes before or after? Attaining the marrow of one's own dharmakāya, reaching the source of the wisdom ocean of the one mind: the initial 'A' already gathers the boundless, and beyond 'Kṣa' there are no words that can be spoken.

21.4

Question: Precepts are guidelines and standards entirely based on phenomenal characteristics; their general outline was established in Vinaya texts such as the Four-Part Vinaya. Now, in this Mirror of the Source, why are they called foremost among all the gates of myriad practices?

21.5

Answer: The reason for the myriad practices is in every case to accord with the real and reveal the fundamental. If one violates the real and pursues the derivative, one does not understand the source of the teachings. All sentient beings originally possess the vinaya of their own nature. To those of dull faculties, it is gradually demonstrated through phenomenal characteristics; for those of superior capacity, it is directly clarified from the perspective of the nature. As Master Fu said: "Observing the vinaya originally serves to curb the arising mind; / Now that I have no mind, I surpass the vinaya rules." The Śūraṅgama[sūtra] says: "Observing or violating [precepts] merely restrains the body; / Where there is no body, what could be restrained?" For faculties such as these and teachings such as these, why would precepts be needed, since they already know of themselves that each possesses the precept of the Buddha-nature? However, for ordinary people at the initial stage of practice and bodhisattvas emerging from emptiness into phenomenal engagement, phenomenal characteristics are also not destroyed; both prohibitive and intrinsically unwholesome precepts are equally observed. Because the roots of the beginner's self-cultivation are inferior, principle and phenomena must assist each other; because the long-practicing adept's transformation of others must be complete, provisional and real must both be prepared. Furthermore, whether ordinary people, the two vehicles, bodhisattvas, or Buddhas—all who uphold precepts do so through the arising of the one mind. Ordinary people completely fail to realize that the precept causes of defilement and purity arise from their own mind, and that the precept fruits of offense and blessing are to be experienced by their own mind. Although followers of the two vehicles know that [precepts] are transformed by the mind, they cling to external sense objects as existing. Although provisional and lesser bodhisattvas do not cling to external objects as truly existent and abide in the emptiness of lacking self-nature, they do not at all comprehend that the external is fundamentally free of emptiness and is entirely transformed by one's own mind. Great bodhisattvas truly comprehend consciousness-only: emptiness and existence are both extinguished; yet because their avidyā is not exhausted, their merits are not yet complete, and their practice of principle is still deficient, they still abide on the causal stages. Buddhas, then, fully realize the true nature of vijñaptimātra, free from thought and purely clear. Therefore the sūtra says: "Only the Buddha alone upholds the pure precepts; all others are called precept-breakers." As stated in the Six Practices Method: "Next, clarifying the distinctions among people's minds regarding the precepts, there are six differences. First, clarifying the coarse ordinary person who gives rise to offenses relying on the precepts: this refers to a foolish person who, though physically observing the precepts, does not know to inspect their own mind and furthermore does not guard their speech. Regarding themselves as capable, they disparage others and break the precepts. Due to this evil speech, they ruin others' reverence and faith, which turns into sinful karma, and they will be born in the evil destinies. Next, clarifying the ordinary person who observes the precepts in body and speech but has not yet learned contemplative wisdom: they merely accomplish meritorious practices. Next, clarifying the suparamundane path precepts of the two vehicles: when people of the two vehicles contemplate the emptiness of the person, they depart from the ordinary delusion of a self, and this accomplishes the path precepts. Next, clarifying the small bodhisattvas of the Mahāyāna: with the wisdom of contemplating the emptiness of characteristics, when their minds are pure and clear, they depart from the offense of grasping at characteristics, and this is called a precept. Next, clarifying the great precepts of the great bodhisattvas of the Mahāyāna: contemplating mind-only, fundamentally there is no external form; with no form to destroy, the emptiness of characteristics is also non-existent; they depart from the fault of grasping at characteristics, and this is therefore called a precept. This differs from the precepts of small bodhisattvas: although [the latter] depart from attachment to existence, they still attach to the characteristic of emptiness. These great bodhisattvas know that emptiness is also empty; there being no emptiness to attach to, they realize the great emptiness. Thus the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'Destroying all phenomena so they are all empty, only emptiness remains, and one grasps at its characteristic and attaches to it. Great emptiness means: destroying all phenomena into emptiness, emptiness is also empty.' Based on this textual evidence, attachment to emptiness is a fault; those of great faculties depart from it, and this is called a precept. Next, clarifying the Buddha's precepts: realizing mind-only, free from thought and constantly pure, with the defilements of avidyā exhausted, this constitutes the Buddha's precepts. It is only because the Buddha's mind is fully endowed with all merits and free from all faults that it is called a precept. Although great bodhisattvas are endowed with merits, because their avidyā is not exhausted, they are not the same as the Buddha. Therefore the Buddha's pure precepts differ from the causal [stages]." Although the six kinds of upholding precepts discussed above differ in superiority and inferiority, all are created by the one mind. Because ordinary people and lesser practitioners do not comprehend mind-only, they realize emptiness and grasp at characteristics: those who grasp at characteristics accomplish the defilements of offenses and blessings; those who realize emptiness turn away from the gate of perfect constancy. If one enters the Mirror of the Source, the virtue of the precepts is naturally accomplished, and one is not moved by the various conditions of emptiness and existence; how could this not be foremost? Since the Dharma of precepts is like this, the myriad practices are likewise so. Therefore the Huayan Treatise says: "The Hinayana precepts are a school of emotional existence; they were initially formulated by the Tathāgata for the ordinary person's generation of karma, stating 'this should be done' and 'this should not be done,' speaking of the good and unwholesome. Establishing the teachings in this way does not represent true existence. Such a teaching of existence merely takes the ordinary person's erroneous sentiments as a point of reference, restraining all evils across the board by curbing them through the teachings so as to cause them to be born among humans and devas. For this reason, the Precept Preface says: 'If one wishes to be born in the heavens / Or among humans, / One should always protect the feet of precepts / And not let them be damaged.' Sentient beings generate conditioned karma, which is false and lacks real virtue; hence being born among humans and devas is impermanent, false, and unreal. Having not yet attained the dharmakāya and the wisdom-body, this is not the school of true existence; it is provisionally the school of emotional existence, serving as the teaching of guidelines and standards in the Hinayana." In the Avataṃsakasūtra, upholding the precepts is not like this. The sūtra says: "Is the body the brahma-conduct? Are bodily actions and the four deportments, up to the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, the ten assemblies, the seven obstructions, the preceptor, the karma master, the platform, and so forth the brahma-conduct? When one thus attentively contemplates seeking the brahma-conduct, it is completely unattainable; therefore it is called pure brahma-conduct." As spoken in the Chapter on Brahma-Conduct: one who practices such pure conduct is called one who upholds the precept of the Buddha-nature, because they attain the Buddha's dharmakāya, and even at the moment of first generating the mind [of bodhi], they immediately accomplish right enlightenment. Because they uphold the precept of the Buddha-nature, they are equal in substance with the Buddha; principle and phenomena are equal, merging into the true dharmadhātu. Upholding the precepts like this, one does not see one's own body as capable of upholding the precepts, nor does one see another's body as having broken the precepts; it is not the practice of an ordinary person, nor is it the practice of a worthy or sage. One does not see one's own body generating the bodhicitta, nor does one see the Buddhas accomplishing equal, right enlightenment. If good, evil, or existence—if even the slightest phenomenon could be apprehended—it is not called pure conduct. One should contemplate in this way: such a nature precept is the dharmakāya. The dharmakāya is the Tathāgata's wisdom; the Tathāgata's wisdom is right enlightenment. Therefore, it is unlike the Hinayana, which involves grasping and rejecting. However, although there is no grasping or rejecting, in the two gates of principle and practice, full cultivation is not neglected. As Master Hanshan's poem says: "The five peaks are ground to powder, / Mount Sumeru is a one-inch hill; / The great ocean is a single drop of water, / Drawn into my mind-field, / Growing the seeds of bodhi / That cover the god of gods. / To report to those who admire the Way: / Be cautious not to circle around the ten entanglements." Although the nine saṃyojanas and ten entanglements are by nature empty and quiescent, beginners must first depart from them. For this reason, regarding the profound sūtras spoken by the Buddhas, they first admonish that they must not be spoken before newly aspiring bodhisattvas, fearing that their habitual seeds are heavy and will give rise to active manifestations, and also observing that those of shallow faculties and fleeting faith will fail to understand them. As the Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra says: "The Buddha taught that the nature of lust, anger, and delusion is liberation itself." And further: "Without severing lust, anger, and delusion, neither being conjoined with them." Therefore it is said: for those who grasp it [literally], the Way is hidden; for those who approach it obliquely, it is revealed. If one generates emotional relish and attachment toward lust, anger, and delusion, grasping their phenomenal occurrence, then the Way is hidden; if one approaches them with proper contemplation and comprehends their nature, then the Way is revealed. Although one comprehends them, one does not attach to them; hence it is said: "neither being conjoined with them." Only bodhisattvas of long cultivation whose faculties are mature can achieve the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena. As the verse of a former worthy says: "Long planting good roots deep, / Meeting dust, the dust does not invade. / It is not that dust does not invade, / But naturally that I am without mind."

21.6

Question: The dharmakāya is formless, and the true land is like space; both are the one mind, with no separate support or supported. Why, then, do the teachings extensively discuss bodies and lands?

21.7

Answer: It is solely based on the nature and characteristics of one's own mind that the designations of "body" and "land" are distinguished: the meaning of the characteristics of one's own mind is called "body," and the meaning of the nature of one's own mind is called "land." [As stated in] the Commentary of Qingliang.

21.8

Question: Are the dharma-nature body and land distinct or not distinct? If they are distinct, they are not called dharma-nature, because the nature has no duality; if they are not distinct, there would be no supported or support.

21.9

Answer: The varied explanations across sūtras and treatises are gathered up into roughly ten kinds of dharmakāya: First, according to the Buddhabhūmiśāstra, solely the pure dharmadhātu is taken as the dharmakāya, and the dharmatā is likewise taken as its land. Although the nature is of one single flavor, two distinctions are made following the characteristics of body and land. The [Mahāprajñāpāramit-]opadeśa says: "Within sentient beings it is called buddha-nature; within non-sentient things it is called dharmatā." Object and subject are provisionally spoken of, yet in reality there is no difference. The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiśāstra says: "Although the substance of this body and land has no difference, they belong to the Buddha and to the Dharma, because their natures and characteristics differ." That is to say, dharmatā belonging to the Buddha is the dharmatā-body; dharmatā belonging to the Dharma is the dharmatā-land. Since the nature follows differences in characteristics, it is stated thus. As for saying now that it is 'like empty space,' the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhiśāstra says: "Neither this body nor this land is subsumed under form. Although their size and measure cannot be spoken of, yet following phenomenal characteristics their measure is boundless, just as empty space pervades all places." Therefore, the phrase 'like empty space' is a metaphor shared by both body and land. Second, or great wisdom alone is taken as the dharmakāya, and the realized tathatā is the dharmatā-land. Thus Asvabhāva's Mahāyānasaṃgrahopanibandhana says: "Because immaculate, unimpeded wisdom is the dharmakāya." If so, why is it said that the characteristic of the body is like empty space? Because the substance of wisdom is unimpeded, the same as empty space. Third, both wisdom and suchness are taken as the dharmakāya. In Paramārtha's translation of the Mahāyānasaṃgraha and in the Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra, both state: "Because only suchness and the wisdom of suchness remain alone, they are named the dharmakāya." In this case, the body contains both suchness and wisdom, while the land is solely suchness. Fourth, both object and wisdom are extinguished to form the dharmakāya. A sūtra says: "The tathāgata's dharmakāya is neither mind nor object," and the land likewise follows this. Based on this meaning, all the discourses say that the tathāgata's body and land are not two. This relies on the words of truth, revealing that there is neither subject nor object; only then is it said to rely on the truth, completing the meaning of being like space. Fifth: The above four propositions are combined into one unimpeded dharmakāya; whichever one is spoken of, it holds true, and the land is also like this. Sixth: The above general and particular five propositions mutually fuse and displace each other, extinguishing these five explanations into a transcendent state with nothing to adhere to, which is taken as the dharmakāya; the land is also like this. The above are discussed purely with respect to object and wisdom. Seventh: Universally subsuming the fivefold [dharmakāya], the compassion and vows, and so on, none of the virtues practiced as numerous as sands of the Ganges are not subsumed within this dharmakāya. Because conditioned virtues produced by cultivation must realize the principle, they harmoniously integrate without impediment; this very great substance of tathatā realized is the dharmatā-land. Based on this meaning, body and land are completely distinct. When it is now said that the body has characteristics, that refers to the virtues; when it is said to be like empty space, that refers to the nature of the body. The Avataṃsakasūtra says: "Understand that the Tathāgata's body is not like empty space, because it is perfected by all virtues and immeasurable marvelous dharmas." Eighth: Universally gathering the reward and transformation [bodies], none of the form-characteristics and virtues are not subsumed within this dharmakāya. Therefore, in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the thirty-two marks and so forth are all subsumed by the dharmakāya. Also, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra says: "The wondrously pure dharmakāya / Is endowed with the thirty-two marks." Yet there are three meanings: First, because the marks are identical to suchness, they return to the principle-dharmakāya. Second, because they are manifested by wisdom, they belong to the wisdom-dharmakāya. Third, because the marks themselves are entirely dharmas of virtue, they are named the dharmakāya. The land upon which they depend then encompasses both nature and characteristics, purity and defilement without impediment: "My land here is pure, yet you do not see it; sentient beings see it burning, but the pure land is not destroyed." Form is identical to suchness; characteristics are identical to non-characteristics. Phenomena and principle of body and land mutually support each other, admitting of four propositions in all: First, the form-body relies on the form-characteristic land. Second, the form-body relies on the dharmatā-land. Third, the dharmakāya relies on the dharmatā-land. Fourth, the dharmakāya relies on the form-characteristic land. The above is still common to the various Mahāyāna teachings. Ninth: Universally subsuming the three kinds of worlds, all become one great dharmakāya, because it is endowed with the ten buddhas; the three bodies and so on are all subsumed within the wisdom-and-right-enlightenment here, and the land is also like this. Manifesting the universal body from the body that is like space—in what is it not complete? This belongs solely to the Avataṃsaka. Tenth: Above, the provisional and the real were distinguished, and only the ninth was attributed to this sūtra; if one relies on mutual fusion and the inclusion of the common teaching, synthesizing the previous nine meanings into a single collective proposition, this is called the unimpeded body and land of the Tathāgata. Furthermore, the unimpededness of the lands has ten kinds in all. The various teachings speak of lands as being either merely impermanent or mind-transformed, principle and phenomena being vastly separated, and the one and the many not being fused; therefore we must now explain their unimpededness. First, the unimpededness of principle and phenomena: That is, fully identical with the true nature, yet the characteristics of the realm are vividly distinct. A sūtra verse says: "The ocean of worlds of the Lotus Treasury / Has no difference from the dharmadhātu, / Because its adornments are completely pure." Second, the unimpededness of formation and decay: That is, formation is identical to decay, decay is identical to formation, and so forth. Third, the unimpededness of breadth and narrowness: Without destroying characteristics, they universally pervade. A sūtra verse says: "Substance and characteristics are fundamentally without difference, / Universally pervading immeasurable lands," and so forth. Fourth, the unimpededness of mutual entry: A sūtra verse says: "Entering the ten directions with a single seed-realm, / The ten directions enter one without remainder." This is also the unimpededness of the one and the many. Fifth, the unimpededness of mutual identity: The sūtra says that immeasurable worlds are identical to a single world. Sixth, the unimpededness of the minute: A sūtra verse says: "Pure king-jewels spread like clouds, / Brilliantly displaying the reflections of the buddhas," and so forth. Seventh, the unimpededness of concealment and revelation: That is, the defiled and pure of different types are distinct in concealment, revelation, and so on, because they are seen differently. Eighth, the unimpededness of repeated appearance: That is, within a dust mote, one sees all realms; within the dust motes of a realm, one sees realms likewise, endlessly layer upon layer, like Indra's net. Ninth, the unimpededness of host and companions: Wherever there is a single world, it must have all worlds as its retinue. A sūtra verse says: "In the practices Vairocana performed in the past, / Diverse oceans of realms were all purified." Diverse realms are the retinue. Tenth, the unimpededness of the three periods of time: Because they are fused in a single thought-moment. The above kinds of unimpededness are all the one mind. If different dharmas were to intermix, they could not be fused and subsumed. As the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: "The Buddha said: 'Good son, how does a bodhisattva purify his own land like the lands of the buddhas? If a bodhisattva knows that all dharmas have neither land nor non-land, reach everywhere yet have neither reaching nor non-reaching; if a bodhisattva sees dharmas confronting the six sense faculties and knows they are all the Buddha-Dharma, and also does not see that ordinary dharmas and the Buddha-Dharma are different, forming this thought: "All these dharmas are the Buddha-Dharma, because the Buddha-Dharma reaches everywhere. All dharmas and the Buddha-Dharma are merely provisional designations; they are neither dharmas nor non-dharmas. Therefore we should not grasp at them. Because one's own land is pure, one knows that the lands of all buddhas are pure. This is equal to the equality of dharmas. The realm of the eye is the Buddha-realm; the realms of ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, and dharmas are the Buddha-realm. I should not distinguish higher from lower." When a bodhisattva acts in this way, reaching the place of the equality of all dharmas, this is the bodhisattva purifying his own land like the lands of the buddhas.'" Then one knows that host and companion, dependent and primary [retribution], are not apart from the five aggregates. That the five aggregates are empty in nature is equality itself. Furthermore, seeing that dharmas arise from conditions, one knows that the land is manifested by the mind. Because the land is manifested by the mind, it exists yet is empty; emptiness is the dharmatā, from which the myriad dharmas arise. Seeing the source of dharmatā is true wisdom. For this reason, the lands of other-enjoyment of the buddhas, following differences in faculties, are seen differently. Therefore the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra says: "My pure land is never destroyed, / Yet sentient beings see it burned away." An ancient master said: "It is like a person seeing water where a hungry ghost sees fire, or a hungry ghost seeing fire where a person sees water; it is also like a rākṣasa palace and a human palace being in the same place without seeing each other. The land of other-enjoyment is also like this." As for the land of self-enjoyment, it is universally all-pervading, neither identical to the three realms nor apart from the three realms. As for the dharmatā-land, arising and ceasing are ever thus. Therefore we know that the buddha-lands are inconceivable and cannot be viewed through notions of existence and extinction, defilement and purity. Furthermore, ancient masters explained three meanings: First, since the self-nature body and land are both what is realized, it is clear that their substance is identical, like the space of a single room. Second, self-enjoyment is like the light of a thousand lamps, together pervading a room. Third, the two lands of other-enjoyment and transformation directly testify to what was said before; they are also similarly named the same, yet are seen differently according to capacity. As the Śūraṅgamasūtra says: "Manifesting according to karma" means that in accordance with the karmic fruit of sentient beings, all can be manifested. For example, when Śākyamuni appeared in the world, the land was narrow and small, and the ocean waters swelled; when Maitreya descends to be born, the world will be vast and broad, and the waters of the four great oceans will decrease. When bodhisattvas are in the assembly, there are no mounds or pits; when śrāvakas are among them, it is full of filth and evil. Thus we know that response and manifestation arise in accordance with all sentient beings; broadness or narrowness, purity or defilement, are all produced by the mental capacity of sentient beings, while the buddha-fruit is unconditioned. Master Yu said: "The mind is what the buddhas realize to be the dharmakāya; the object is what the buddhas realize to be the pure land. Thus both are what is realized, and wisdom is the realizing subject." The Ci'en Commentary says:

21.10

"Question: What is taken as the substance of the pure land?"

21.11

"Answer: According to the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, the consciousness-only wisdom is taken as its substance—for the Buddha and bodhisattvas, the consciousness-only wisdom is taken as its substance. That is, the Vajracchedikā-prajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'Wisdom practices consciousness-only penetrations; / In this way one takes the pure land.' According to the Buddhabhūmiśāstra, the Buddha's sovereign, untainted mind is taken as the substance; it is not that apart from the Buddha's pure mind there is separate real form, and so on, of a pure mind. It also says: 'Form and so on are precisely what is induced by the Buddha's pure mind; apart from the Buddha's own mind, there is nothing else capable of inducing them.' Thus provisionally designated and real forms are not apart from the Buddha's pure mind. Because this very pure mind can manifest provisionally designated and real forms, the sūtra says: 'Blue form with blue light, yellow form with yellow light,' and so forth. Tiantai's Commentary on the Amitāyurdhyānasūtra says: 'Now, the Land of Bliss compared to the realm of suffering, gold and jewels compared to mud and sand, the lotus pond seen from the prison of the womb, the jewel trees compared to the thicket of brambles—truly these stem from the mind distinguishing defilement and purity, so that the rising and sinking of the two lands are seen; practice opens into good and evil, so that the coarseness and subtlety of the two directions are observed. This is illustrated by: when the shape is straight, the shadow is upright; when the source is turbid, the stream is murky... and thus it can be called subtle practice and marvelous contemplation, the essential method of the ultimate path.' This sūtra takes contemplation of the mind as its source, and true characteristic as its substance. The Record says: '"Marvelous contemplation and the ultimate path": although karmic practices are numerous, contemplation of the mind is taken as the essential method. When a single thought-moment arises in the mind, the pure land is vividly present; the unconditioned substance is as it is, hence it is called subtle practice. The three contemplations of one mind are all empty, provisional, and middle; although subject and object are divided, they mutually illuminate the inconceivable. The essential point of the object lies in the mind-source, which is the merit of contemplation. Horizontally universal and vertically exhaustive, equal and without duality. The cause of the three contemplations is rounded, and the fruit of the three virtues is fulfilled, all brought to completion through the essential meaning of the mind; hence it is called the essential method of the ultimate path.' Master Sengzhao said: 'The myriad things and myriad forms are all accomplished by the mind. Because the mind has highs and lows, mounds and hills are born.' He also said: 'The buddha-land is ever pure; how could it wait to be transformed before being adorned? It merely transforms what the multitude sees.' Therefore, sentient beings seeing it as earth, stone, mountains, and rivers are all shadows arising from their own karma; for bodhisattvas it is purely marvelous wisdom, which is the doing of true wisdom. Apart from the minds of ordinary beings and sages, there are no real or conventional objects. As the Treatise on the Avataṃsaka says: 'This Avataṃsakasūtra illuminates the gate of the dharmadhātu of conditioned arising; principle and phenomena are not two, no condition is not calm, and no phenomenon is not real. The worlds of the ten directions are one sea of true nature; great wisdom is universally round, serving as the realm of the lands. Totally they form the ocean of nature, forming the one true dharmadhātu; it is not that there are sentient and non-sentient, which are merely spoken according to karma. As the purely true realm within the Avataṃsaka, they are totally wisdom. Bodhisattvas of the ten abodes take wisdom as their land; bodhisattvas of the ten practices take gnosis as their land; bodhisattvas of the ten dedications and ten grounds take the marvelous as their land. They do not speak of the differing views of sentient and non-sentient, because the Avataṃsakasūtra reveals the fundamental Dharma, differing from the provisional teachings of the triyāna, where non-sentient and sentient exist with arising and ceasing.'"

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