宗鏡錄 23.35.3

23.35.3

Faith is accomplished only when one has faith that within the cause there is conformity with all the fruit-dharmas of the Buddhas without the slightest discrepancy. Having developed this faith, one progresses in cultivation through concentration and wisdom, traversing the ten abodes, the ten practices, the ten dedications, the ten grounds, and the eleventh ground. Days, months, years, and kalpas pass without any temporal change; the dharmadhātu remains as originally it was; the immovable wisdom-Buddha remains as of old; and one perfects the ocean of sarvākārajñatā, teaching and transforming sentient beings. Cause and fruit do not shift; time and kalpas do not change: only then is faith perfected. If one posits that an asaṃkhyeya [kalpa] has a fixed, substantial existence, that is [the view of] an ordinary person. For both ordinary persons and sages, the paths, times, and kalpas undergo shifting changes; if there were a Buddha outside the mind, faith would not be accomplished. Furthermore, as the Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment says: 'Bodhisattva Vajragarbha said to the Buddha: "World-Honoured One, if sentient beings originally are already Buddhas, why then is there all this avidyā? If all this avidyā originally belongs to sentient beings, by what cause and condition does the Tathāgata again say that they originally are already Buddhas? If the heterogenous beings in the ten directions originally completed the Buddha path and later gave rise to avidyā, when will all Tathāgatas again generate all the kleśas? We only pray that, not forsaking your unhindered great compassion, you will open the secret treasury for all bodhisattvas." […] And the Buddha said: "Good sons, all worlds—beginning and end, arising and cessation, before and after, existence and non-existence, gathering and dispersal, starting and stopping—moment by moment in succession, cycling and returning, all kinds of grasping and rejecting, are all saṃsāra. To explain complete enlightenment without having exited saṃsāra causes that nature of complete enlightenment to become identical with transmigration. If one would escape saṃsāra [in this way], that is impossible. It is like moving the eyes: it can make clear water appear to shake; or like fixing the gaze: a whirling fire [brand appears as a wheel]. Clouds racing makes the moon seem to move; a boat traveling makes the shore seem to shift. It is just like this. Good sons, before those whirlings have ceased, it is impossible even for those objects themselves to be seen as stationary; how much less with an impure citta that cycles through birth and death, which has never been purified: when contemplating the Buddha's complete enlightenment, how could it not also whirl and turn? Therefore, you give rise to three doubts. Good sons, it is like a cataract illusion falsely seeing flowers in the sky: if the cataract illusion is removed, one cannot say: 'Now that this cataract has ceased, when will all cataracts arise again?' Why is this? Because cataracts and flowers are two phenomena that are not mutually dependent. Nor can one say, when the sky-flowers cease in the sky: 'Sky, when will sky-flowers arise again?' Why is this? Because the sky originally has no flowers, and they are not a matter of arising and cessation. Birth-and-death and nirvāṇa are identical to arising and cessation; wonderful enlightenment illuminates all, free from flowers and cataracts. Good sons, you should know that empty space is neither temporarily existent nor temporarily non-existent; how much less so the Tathāgata's complete enlightenment, which accords with and is the equal original nature of empty space! Good sons, it is like smelting gold ore: the gold does not come into existence because of the smelting; once it has become gold, it does not become ore again; though an infinite time passes, the nature of gold is not destroyed. One should not say that it was originally not perfected. The Tathāgata's complete enlightenment is also just like this."' Therefore we know that the wonderful citta of complete enlightenment is like the nature of empty space; birth-and-death and nirvāṇa are the characteristics of sky-flowers. The diseased eye is not without arising and cessation; but how could the true nature ever have existence and non-existence? Like gold hidden in ore: the gold does not exist because of the ore, nor is it obtained through smelting, yet it must be accomplished through smelting. When deluded, it is like unpurified gold; when enlightened, it is like a treasure already formed. True gold is immovable, yet defilement and purity are suddenly distinguished; the wonderful nature suffers no loss, but delusion and enlightenment are experienced of themselves. Therefore the Sūtra on the Inconceivable Realm of the Buddha says: 'At that time, Subhūti also asked: "Great Being, in which ground do you definitely abide? Do you abide in the ground of the śrāvakas, the ground of the pratyekabuddhas, or the ground of the Buddhas?" Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva said: "Venerable one, you should know that I definitely abide in all grounds." Subhūti said: "Great Being, do you then also definitely abide in the ground of ordinary persons?" He answered: "Just so. Why? The nature of all dharmas and of sentient beings is precisely the definitive correct state. I constantly abide in this correct state; therefore I say that I definitely abide in the ground of ordinary persons." Subhūti asked again: "If all dharmas and sentient beings are precisely the definitive correct state, why establish differences among the grounds, saying that this is the ground of ordinary persons, this is the ground of pratyekabuddhas, and this is the ground of Buddhas?" Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva said: "Venerable one, it is like in the world, where by means of verbal convention ten directions are established in empty space, saying: 'This is the east, this is the south,' and so on up to 'This is above, this is below.' Although empty space has no differences, yet the directions have such various differences. This is also like that. Within the definitive correct state of all dharmas, the Tathāgata uses skilful means to establish the grounds, saying: 'This is the ground of ordinary persons, this is the ground of śrāvakas, this is the ground of pratyekabuddhas, this is the ground of bodhisattvas, and this is the ground of Buddhas.' Although the correct state has no differences, yet the grounds have distinctions."' Therefore Tiantai says: 'The four teachings are like four points in empty space. Although the four points are distinct, they do not disrupt the nature of empty space.' However, with respect to these grounds, only upon reaching the ultimate ground can principle and practice be completely exhausted. As the Bodhisattva Jewel Necklace of Original Actions Sūtra says: 'Buddha-son, the forty-second ground is called the wonderful enlightenment ground of the quiescent citta, permanently abiding in the single characteristic, foremost and boundless, pure and tranquil like empty space. Sarvākārajñatā illuminates and penetrates non-arising. The beginning and end of the truths of existence are exhausted only by the Buddha. Sentient beings' root has a beginning and an end, which the Buddha also illuminates completely. Up to all kleśas and all sentient beings' karmic retributions: the Buddha's single-thought-moment of citta measures and exhausts their source. All Buddha-lands, all Buddha-causes, and all bodhisattvas' spiritual transformations are also known in a single thought-moment at one time, abiding beyond the inconceivable two truths, solitary and non-dual.' From this we know that one first attains the fundamental source and only then refines and polishes it. When refining and polishing, one does not lose the root of the Way, like an expert goldsmith who does not lose a single grain. Within the perfect and gradual, how could stages be absent? From the conditioned one reaches the unconditioned; due to the forbearance of sentient beings one achieves the forbearance of dharmas. Perfect interpenetration does not destroy the sequential arrangement;