宗鏡錄 24.7.4

24.7.4

In a single kṣaṇa, there is the metaphor of the three characteristics: arising, abiding, and cessation. Furthermore, it is like the fragrant rice of the Buddha land of Fragrance Accumulation (Gandhahastin / Sarvagandhasugandhadharā). A sūtra says: 'For one endowed with the merits of inexhaustible morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation, the leftovers of what is eaten can never be exhausted.' Since the principle of the one mind's tathatā is inexhaustible, and by the function of perfuming that nurtures the fivefold dharmakāya, its own substance is empty of nature and an unconditioned, wondrous function—how could it ever be exhausted? It also says: 'If those who have not yet generated the aspiration for the Mahāyāna eat this rice, it is only digested once they generate the aspiration. If those who have already generated the aspiration eat this rice, it is only digested once they attain the anutpattikadharmakṣānti. If those who have already attained the anutpattikadharmakṣānti eat this rice, it is only digested once they reach the stage of being bound to one life [before awakening]. Just as there is a medicine called Superior Flavor: whoever takes it, all poisons in their body are eliminated, and only then is it digested. This rice is just like that: it eliminates all the poisons of the kleśas, and only then is it digested.' This is like the great bodhisattvas: although they cast off lives and take rebirth, in their subsequent bodies there are seeds within their consciousness. When the seeds encounter conditions, the fragrant rice arises again, continuous and unbroken, flowing up to the first bhūmi; then, generating the outflow-free mind, they sever delusion and realize the true, which is termed 'digestion'—it is not that the rice being consumed and destroyed is termed 'digestion.' Therefore, we know that for whoever eats this rice, what phenomenon is not digested? It also says: 'Bodhisattvas of that land enter the discipline upon smelling the fragrance, immediately obtaining the samādhi of the treasury of all virtues. For those who attain this samādhi, all merits of a bodhisattva are completely fulfilled.' Therefore, if one enters the dharmadhātu through fragrance, one's own body is itself the World of Multitudinous Fragrances, and one's own mind is itself the Fragrance Accumulation Tathāgata. Innumerable merits are perfected within the one mind; for one who awakens to and enters this, what need is there to seek externally? If it is thus for the sensory realm of fragrance, it is also the same for the eighteen dhātus: all are abodes of the spirit, and all are places for attaining the Way. As Ānanda said to the Buddha: 'It is unprecedented, World-Honoured One! This fragrant rice can perform Buddha-work.' The Buddha said: 'So it is, so it is, Ānanda. There are Buddha lands that perform Buddha-work through the light of the Buddha; some perform Buddha-work through bodhisattvas; some perform Buddha-work through emanations created by the Buddha; some perform Buddha-work through the Bodhi Tree; some perform Buddha-work through the Buddha's robes and bedding; some perform Buddha-work through food and drink; some perform Buddha-work through gardens, groves, and watchtowers; some perform Buddha-work through the thirty-two major marks and eighty minor signs; some perform Buddha-work through the Buddha's body; some perform Buddha-work through empty space, so that through this condition sentient beings can enter the practice of discipline; some perform Buddha-work through such metaphors as dreams, illusions, shadows, echoes, images in a mirror, the moon in water, or a mirage in the heat; some perform Buddha-work through sounds, spoken words, and written letters; and there are pure Buddha lands that perform Buddha-work through stillness, wordlessness, silence, lack of demonstration and discernment, and non-action and non-fabrication. In this way, Ānanda, all the deportment, movements, and actions of the Buddhas are nothing other than Buddha-work. Ānanda, there are these four māras and the eighty-four thousand doors of kleśas by which sentient beings are wearied; the Buddhas use precisely these dharmas to perform Buddha-work. This is called entering the dharma-door of all Buddhas. When a bodhisattva enters this door, if they see all pure and fine Buddha lands, they do not take delight in them, nor are they greedy or arrogant; if they see all impure Buddha lands, they do not feel distressed, nor are they obstructed or despondent. They merely generate a pure mind toward the Buddhas, with joy and reverence, [regarding it as] unprecedented. The merits of the Buddhas and Tathāgatas are equal; yet in order to teach and transform sentient beings, they manifest different Buddha lands. Ānanda, you see that the lands of the Buddhas are various, yet empty space is not various; likewise, you see that the physical bodies of the Buddhas are various, yet their unobstructed wisdom is not various.' Furthermore, in the Avataṃsakasūtra, the upāsikā Samantagambhīrāṭā attained the bodhisattva liberation-door of the inexhaustible treasury of blessings and virtue: she was able, from such a single small vessel, in accordance with the various desires and pleasures of sentient beings, to bring forth and fully satisfy them with various delicious foods and drinks, extending even to the east, where in worlds as numerous as the dust motes of ineffable-ineffable Buddha lands, all bodhisattvas bound to one life, having eaten her food, all sat in the bodhimaṇḍa under the Bodhi Tree, subjugated the realm of māras, and attained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. As in the east, so too in the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, the zenith, and the nadir. Furthermore, the householder Vidvān attained the liberation-door of the treasury of blessings and virtue that manifests at will: at that time, knowing that the assembly was universally gathered, the householder focused his mind for a moment and looked up into empty space; whatever they required all fell from space, completely satisfying the entire great assembly. Then he further expounded various dharmas for them: to those who were satisfied by receiving delicious food, he expounded the practices of accumulating various blessings and virtues, the practice of leaving poverty behind, the practice of knowing all phenomena, the practice of accomplishing the food of dharma joy and dhyāna delight, the practice of cultivating and perfecting all marks and signs, the practice of increasing and accomplishing that which is difficult to subdue, the practice of skillfully penetrating the unsurpassed food, and the practice of accomplishing inexhaustible great majestic power to subdue the adversaries of māra; to those who were satisfied by receiving fine drink, he expounded the Dharma for them, causing them to abandon attachment to birth and death and enter the flavor of the Buddha's Dharma, and so forth. Now, from within the upāsikā's vessel and from the householder Vidvān's empty sky, boundless delicacies emerged at will, and numerous fine foods rained down through focused mindfulness: all who came seeking had their needs met; those who received them fully realized the dharma-doors; and those who ate them all achieved the wondrous Way. It may indeed be said that there is not a single dust mote that does not fully possess Buddha-work, nor a single phenomenon that does not completely fulfill the orthodox source. Yet in accordance with the minds of sentient beings, corresponding to the measure of what they know, things manifest in following their karma, and what is seen differs: non-Buddhists see it as nature (svabhāva); ordinary beings see it as birth and death; śrāvakas see it as the four truths; pratyekabuddhas see it as conditioned origination; minor bodhisattvas see it as mere emptiness; great bodhisattvas see it as the Middle Way; and the Buddhas see it as the real mark. If one enters the mirror of the source, all views melt together. As for visible matter being Buddha-work: