宗鏡錄 23.41

23.41

Answer: Because each and every form is mind-only, there is no phenomenon outside the mind. How could it be that mind alone is extinguished while form still remains? The Buddha merely predicts sentient beings, which subsumes the insentient. For example, an illusion requires an illusory mind; with the mind present within the illusion, it can uphold illusory phenomena. If that mind is extinguished, the illusory phenomena vanish along with it. Therefore, one only extinguishes the mind, and does not separately extinguish the phenomena. The form and mind of sentient beings are also like this; all are like illusory characteristics. All external objects arise from the illusory mind; how could the mind be extinguished while illusory form remains? Thus, when sentient beings receive the prediction, the insentient are also likewise. Therefore, the insentient do not require a separate prediction. The standard of the Profound Meaning states: 'As for the true Buddha, from the initial generation of the mind he directly embodies the one true dharmadhātu, entirely identical with the ancient Buddhas. His characteristics exhaust the three time periods, fully manifesting in a single dust mote. The ocean of nature is boundless, interior and exterior cannot be found. Having faith in this Dharma is called generating the mind. The mind having no different thoughts is called realization. Having realized and accomplished, one is named a Buddha, definitely without local direction. Furthermore, a person who enters the first dwelling of the round teaching has a mind identical with the dharmadhātu, and his spirit has no local direction. What need has he of heavenly garments and heavenly thrones, or of the fourfold assembly surrounding him? Establishing kalpas, lands, and names to bestow predictions of attaining Buddhahood is done to guide those who have not yet generated the mind, causing them to yearn for it. If one is attached to bodies and lands, sentiments are not yet exhausted.' Therefore, the Treatise on the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'At the time of first generating the mind, one immediately accomplishes right awakening; within the limit of a single kṣaṇa, one obtains all of this Dharma. It is not permitted that there be another time outside the limit of a kṣaṇa; one should know that [otherwise] it would not be the fundamental Dharma.' If someone, within the Buddha Dharma, sees a Buddha attain the path and forms views based on the extension or brevity of kalpa measures or places, his faith is not yet established, not to mention cultivating the path. For those who understand, it is fundamentally obtained in full; those dwelling in delusion submerge themselves in saṃsāra. It also says: 'Whatever realms are seen and Tathāgata names [heard] are all phenomena understood by one's own mind's Buddha-fruit. If one's own mind does not understand, even face to face there will be no time of seeing.'