宗鏡錄 24.7.3

24.7.3

…[I] also see you, as well as the saṅgha of monks and all the bodhisattvas. Why is this? Hearing the sūtra, the citta believes without doubt; to awaken to this clear and pure citta of faith is precisely to see the Buddha. When the mental factor (caitta) of prajñā is distinct and clear, that is seeing Śāriputra. When all mental factors are distinct and clear, that is seeing the assembly of monks. When the citta of loving-kindness and compassion is pure, that is seeing the bodhisattvas. Venerable Huangbo said: 'All buddhas and all sentient beings are solely the one mind; there is no other dharma besides it. The awakened citta is it: this one mind alone is the Buddha; to see this citta is to see the Buddha. The Buddha is precisely the citta; the citta is precisely sentient beings; sentient beings are precisely the Buddha; the Buddha is precisely the citta. When being a sentient being, this citta does not decrease; when being a Buddha, this citta does not increase. Just awaken to the one mind, and there is not the slightest dharma to be obtained; this is the true Buddha. Mañjuśrī corresponds to the principle of true emptiness without obstruction; Samantabhadra corresponds to the inexhaustible practice that transcends characteristics. What all great bodhisattvas represent, everyone possesses; it is not separate from the one mind. To awaken to it is it. If one can only be without citta (mind-less), that is the ultimate. If practitioners of the Way do not immediately become without citta, though they practice for accumulated kalpas, in the end they will not accomplish the Way. It is not as good as recognizing one's own fundamental dharma right under the words. This dharma is citta; outside of citta there is no dharma. Cut off all deliberation; hence it is said: "The path of speech is cut off, and the place of citta's movement is extinguished." This citta is the fundamentally pure Buddha. The squirming and crawling beasts are of one identical substance with buddhas and bodhisattvas; it is only because of false thoughts and discrimination that they create various karmic fruits. On the fundamental Buddha there is truly not a single thing: open, unobstructed, tranquil, brilliantly wondrous, peaceful and joyful—nothing more. Just recognize the fundamental citta in seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing; yet the fundamental citta does not belong to seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, nor is it separate from seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. Simply do not generate views on seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing, nor seek the citta apart from seeing, hearing, perceiving, and knowing. It is neither identical nor separate, neither abiding nor attached. When worldly people hear the path that all buddhas transmit the citta-dharma, they assume that apart from citta there is another dharma that can be realized and attained, and thereupon use citta to seek dharma, not knowing that citta is dharma and dharma is citta. One cannot use citta to further seek citta; passing through thousands of kalpas, there will never be a day of attainment. It is not as good as being without citta right now, which is the fundamental dharma.' Even leaving the household does not go beyond the ground of a single thought-moment of citta. Thus, the gāthā of Venerable Xiangyan says: 'Always seeking to leave the household, / yet not understanding the name "leaving the household." / Rising and sitting are just ordinary; / there is nothing superior in the least.' Because outside of citta there is no separate dharma of leaving the household, what superior realm could there be to seek? Therefore, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra says: 'Without benefit and without merit: this is called leaving the household.' Thus, Ānanda had not awakened to this source, but merely looked upon the Tathāgata's superior characteristics and sought to leave the household bodily; he subsequently repented, saying: 'Although my body has left the household, my citta has not entered the Way.' The Tiantai teachings state: 'Contemplate the single thought-moment of citta as pure like empty space, unobstructed by the shackles of the two extremes; equal great prajñā, without abiding and without attachment: this is called leaving the household. Sustaining the dharmakāya and the life of wisdom by oneself through the middle contemplation is called being a mendicant (bhikṣu). Contemplating the five abiding kleśas as bodhi is called destroying evil. All extremes and inversions being nothing other than the Middle Way is scaring Māra.' The verse of Tiantai Shide says: 'Non-anger is keeping precepts; / purity of citta is leaving the household. / My nature unites with yours; / all dharmas are without difference.' For someone who has left the dust, the citta does not depend on things; hence a sūtra says: 'Leaving the household is unconstrained and vast, just like empty space.' Master Zhi's song says: 'Under the words, seeking nothing, without a location, / for the time being is called a home-leaver.' Therefore, a predecessor of virtue said: 'If you have awakened to this matter, just wear clothes and eat food in accord with the times, moving freely at ease.' Therefore, one knows that this matter is known only to oneself; there are no other skillful means. Hence it is said: 'Every drink and every peck has its assigned portion.' How could it not be that awakening to citta is leaving the household, not attained through external affairs? It is also said: 'Contemplating that within each citta, both king and factors are fully present. For the sake of accomplishing contemplation, the mind-king and mental factors assist each other to attain awakening. Either one enters the Way through the factor of samjñā (conception), or one enters the Way through the factor of chanda (desire); according to what is appropriate, the mind-king and mental factors attack together, transforming and taking the cittas of dusty afflictions to perform Buddha-work. When one performs this contemplation without awakening, the contemplative practice is like milk. If one brings forth uncontaminated contemplative practice, it is like curd. If one shatters the delusions as numerous as sands of dust, it is like raw and cooked butter. If the contemplation shatters avidyā, it is like ghee. When reaching ghee, the work of the king and factors is complete.' A gāthā in the Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra says: 'When the Tathāgata contemplates sentient beings / who are established in the Dharma, / because their citta can know citta, / they are true Buddha-sons.' Therefore, it is said that they are born from the Buddha's mouth, born by transformation from the Dharma. Because they know citta, all dharma-gates are as if in the palm of their hand; for those who do not yet know, they provide skillful explanations to cause them all to believe and enter. Within this Mirror of the Source, there is not a single dharma that is not a Buddha-work. Regarding eating and drinking as Buddha-work, the Commentary on Vimalakīrtinirdeśa says: 'One who is equal with respect to dharmas is also equal with respect to food. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra says: "All dharmas tend toward flavor; this tendency is unsurpassable. Since flavor is still unobtainable, how could there be tending or non-tending?" Now it says that all dharmas tend toward flavor, and flavor is food. One should know that food is the inconceivable dharmadhātu. Because food contains and embraces all dharmas, all dharmas do not go beyond the dharmadhātu of food. If food exists, all dharmas exist. If food does not exist, all dharmas do not exist. Now, because food is inconceivable, it is not even seen as existent; how could there be tending? It is not even seen as non-existent; how could there be non-tending? If, in contemplating food, one sees neither tending nor non-tending, this is the Middle Way samādhi, called the food of true Dharma-joy and dhyāna-delight. Being able to thoroughly penetrate the dharmas of tending and non-tending is illuminating both of the two truths, obtaining the food of Dharma-joy and dhyāna-delight of the two-truths samādhi: this is called equality of food. That all dharmas are also equal means that all dharmas tend toward the skandhas, āyatanas, and dhātus, up to sarvākārajñatā. Because the skandhas, āyatanas, dhātus, and sarvākārajñatā are unobtainable, how could there be tending or non-tending? And that they are fully and distinctly endowed with tending and non-tending means that all dharmas possess the principle of the three truths, as explained in the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa.'