宗鏡錄 26.7

26.7

Answer: "This faith is originally neither existent nor non-existent. Because it is not existent, sentient beings are sunk in delusion. Because it is not non-existent, upon encountering conditions it arises at once. If it were said to be definitively non-existent, what could be generated? If it were said to be definitively existent, why rely on causes and conditions?" However, what was explained above is stated in terms of the causes and conditions of delusion and awakening. If we discuss this faith, one must not believe in any dharmas, and only then can it become faith. Nor is it neither existent nor non-existent. Why? Because sentient beings are unawakened: seeming to be deluded yet not deluded, because their true nature does not sink, it is not not existent; with a single thought returning to the origin: seeming to be awakened yet not awakened, because it is not newly attained, it is not not non-existent. Therefore it is said: "Faith arising from one's own citta still has faith in one's own citta." Furthermore, why is this citta difficult to believe? Because the Tathāgata's substance of original awakening is the very citta of sentient beings. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas cannot see it, because the Tathāgata's substance of original awakening is free from the characteristics of seeing. One should know that the citta of sentient beings is subtle and dense, and likewise cannot be seen. The Large Sūtra says: "When the Buddha observes the citta of sentient beings, the five eyes cannot see it, because it is devoid of the characteristics of self, other, grasper, and grasped." An ancient poem says: "Though the sea dries up, its bottom is finally seen; / When a person dies, one still does not know their mind." It also says: "Acquaintances fill the world; / How many can truly know one's heart?" For this reason, the profound purport of the Mirror of the Source, the wondrous gate of the one mind, cannot be observed without great wisdom, and cannot be believed without great faculties. Observing it, one immediately equals the Buddha's wisdom; believing it, one immediately enters perfect penetration. One need only have earnest resolve without doubt, and its accomplishment will surely be attained. As Guanzi said: "Where profit lies, though it be a mountain of a thousand fathoms, there is nowhere men will not climb; beneath a deep spring, there is nowhere men will not enter. Merchants ply their trade, doubling their journeys day and night, continuing through darkness, not considering a thousand li far, because profit lies before them. Fishermen go out to sea, the ocean water a hundred fathoms deep, braving the surging waves and gushing currents, staying out night after night, because profit lies in the water." These are merely the worldly resolves of striving bitterly in pursuit of profit. If one firmly seeks the supreme Way, forgetting fatigue morning and evening, not seeking outward with an empty mind and purified thoughts, sitting quietly in a secluded room, folding the hands and calming the spirit—the profit lies in the citta. Just as where profit lies, in seeking it one never fails to obtain it, how much more so with the Way lying in the citta—by believing in it, there is nothing one does not attain! Hence we know that words of exemplary instruction must not be cast aside even for a moment; they can be carved into bone, written upon the sash, dyed into the spirit, and perfumed into consciousness. Thus King Zhuang of Chu made light of a state of a thousand chariots while esteeming a single word from Shenshu; Fan Xian looked down on ten thousand mu of fields while valuing a brief remark from a boatman. If those who establish families and found states still made light of valuables and esteemed words, how much less could one treat lightly or neglect the Mirror of the Source, where under its words one accords with the unproduced, and hearing it one accomplishes the Great Way!