宗鏡錄 35.2

35.2

Now, the expounding of this Dharma gate is an expounding without beginning or end; it has no fixed location, nor any temporal division. Because at the time that has no time, principle is without interruption; and at the place that has no place, the expounding pervades the ten directions. In this way, all Buddhas, by nature of phenomena, constantly turn this inexhaustible wheel of Dharma in inexhaustible worlds, causing all sentient beings to return to the source and revert to the origin, to the end of future time, without resting. The Huayan Commentary says: “When the citta is merged with the ultimate Way, antiquity and modernity are fused into one; the dharmadhātu is unborn, and divisions of time are originally absent. Hence a sūtra verse states: ‘The Buddhas attained bodhi, / Truly not counting the days.’” It also says: “Regarding the substance through which this Perfect Teaching's Dharma gate integrates conditions into reality, there are two aspects: First, gathering the branches into the root, because the sacred teachings flow forth from truth, they are not different from truth. Second, integrating characteristics to reveal nature: all those differentiated teachings and phenomena, being without nature due to arising from conditions, are just tathatā. Therefore, illusory characteristics are originally exhausted, and the true nature is originally manifest. The Tathāgata’s words are entirely in accordance with suchness. Hence the Vajrasamādhi-sūtra says: ‘That which is spoken by me is speech of meaning, not words; that which is spoken by sentient beings is speech of words, not meaning.’ Furthermore, regarding the substance of the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena: although all teachings and phenomena in their entire substance are truth, this does not obstruct the distinct manifestation of phenomenal characteristics such as the twelve divisions; although tathatā in its entire substance constitutes everything, this does not obstruct its single flavor of tranquil impartiality. Now, the one vehicle and three vehicles, one nature and five natures—in terms of capacity there are three, but with respect to the Dharma there is one; in terms of new perfuming there are five, but in original existence there are not two. If one enters principle and brushes both aside, then both three and one perish. If viewed according to the Buddha’s converting forms, then he can be three and he can be one. Therefore, though they contend in grasping right and wrong, the realized are without dispute. Although the five divisions of the Mahāsaṃnipāta differ, they do not depart from the fundamental origin of the dharmadhātu. In the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, each speaks of the cause of the body; the Buddha approves that none is not the correct teaching. The capacity addressed by this Mirror of the Source is subsumed by the Perfect Teaching; thus, being addressed to perfect faculties, it encompasses both the great and the small. Hence a former worthy said: ‘The ocean of teachings is vastly deep, containing all with nothing outside; form and emptiness shine upon each other, and virtuous functions are manifold. Speaking of its horizontal inclusion: the five teachings down to humans and devas, there is none that it does not encompass; only then does its depth and breadth become manifest. It is like the hundred rivers not containing the great ocean, while the great ocean inevitably contains the hundred rivers. Although it contains the hundred rivers, they share the single salty flavor; hence any single drop is vastly different from the hundred rivers. The preceding four teachings do not subsume the Perfect, but the Perfect inevitably subsumes the four. Although it subsumes the four, the Perfect threads through them; therefore, even the ten virtues and five precepts are subsumed by the Perfect Teaching.’ Now, according to the Mirror of the Source: if, regarding the teachings, one speaks solely based upon the one mind, then what teaching is not citta, and what citta is not teaching? The general discerning of all sūtras takes the true dharmadhātu of the one mind as substance. The twelvefold division of teachings spoken by the Tathāgata flows forth directly from within the citta of great compassion; the citta of great compassion flows from subsequent wisdom (pṛṣṭhalabdha-jñāna); subsequent wisdom flows from fundamental wisdom (mūla-jñāna); fundamental wisdom flows forth from the pure dharmadhātu. That is the fundamental origin, having nowhere further from which to flow. There is no phenomenon that exists apart from the dharmadhātu. A verse in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: ‘Never has there been a single phenomenon / That could be apart from the dharmatā.’ This is the origin of delusion and awakening for all sentient beings. If one were not deluded about this, one would not become deluded, because there would be no inverted grasping or transmigrating in birth and death; if one did not awaken to this, one would not become awakened, because there would be no cultivation according to Dharma or realization of the ultimate fruition. Therefore, the one mind of tathatā is the basis of both delusion and awakening. Now, the foundation for establishing the teachings does not go beyond mental discourse; it is evaluated by thought and expounded through speech. Hence Master Ji said: ‘The ultimate principle is clear and tranquil; debates over right and wrong cease their words. Prajñā is profound and abstruse; sentiments of oneness and difference end their deliberation.’ Because sentiments and deliberations cease, it is neither consciousness nor citta; because words and debates end, it is neither sound nor speech. The Dharma is not sound or speech, yet speech pervades dust motes and sands; principle is without consciousness or citta, yet citta encompasses the dharmadhātu. That citta encompasses the dharmadhātu means that non-citta acts as citta; that speech pervades dust motes and sands means that non-speaking serves as speaking. In non-citta acting as citta, citta opens into two kinds; in non-speaking serving as speaking, speech comprises two gates. That citta opens into two kinds means: first, the gate of citta arising and ceasing; second, the gate of citta as tathatā. To explain the gate of arising and ceasing: it is just that the cycling through the three realms is entirely illusory consciousness, and the settling of the four modes of birth is entirely the deluded citta. Glory and disgrace pass as swiftly as a spark from a flint; antiquity and modernity rush by faster than a bouncing ball. This is the gate of arising and ceasing. To explain the gate of tathatā: it is just that the pure amala-vijñāna is as clear and serene as empty space; the bright pearl of the Buddha-nature is as brilliant as the luminous moon. Although concealed and revealed differ, within the skin it is ever brighter; though the conditions of defilement and purity diverge, the dharmakāya remains tranquil and still. This is the gate of tathatā. As for speech comprising two gates: first, when great capacities receive the Dharma, the teaching expounds the full vehicle; second, when small sages hear and contemplate, the canon opens the half-character. Reverend Shenkai said: ‘As for the reason teachings arise: the Tathāgata’s lifelong preaching of Dharma was intended to cause sentient beings to awaken to the Buddha’s vision and knowledge. The Buddha’s vision and knowledge is the so-called impartial true mind. All phenomena are non-dual; the non-dual Dharma is the true nature. The substance of the true nature is free from existence and free from non-existence, neither arising nor ceasing. Principle is inherently and ever true, not revealed by contemplative wisdom; the Way is constantly manifest, truly without obscuration or veil.’ Impartial true mind: in the Faxiang school, the true is wisdom, and using wisdom to realize the true, the three vehicles are without distinction; this is the citta of the true, a genitive compound (tatpuruṣa). In the Faxing school, the true is citta; their substance is the same and their names differ; the true mind is impartiality, an appositional compound (karmadhāraya). Hence a sūtra says: ‘The true treasure of Nirvāṇa—sentient beings enter it through various gates.’ The various gates are what can lead into it, but that which is entered is solely the one Way. It also says: ‘The gates spoken of in the sūtras differ: sometimes letters are the gate, as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra clarifies the gate of forty-two letters; sometimes contemplative practice is the gate, as the Śāstra clarifies that the bodhisattva cultivates the three samādhis taking the real mark of all phenomena as the object; sometimes wisdom is the gate, as the Lotus Sūtra says: “The gate of their wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter”; sometimes principle is the gate, as the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā-sūtra says: “Clarifying the unproduced Dharma, without coming and without going, is just the Buddha.”’ Relying on the teaching-gate one penetrates contemplation; relying on the contemplation-gate one penetrates wisdom; relying on the wisdom-gate one penetrates principle. If principle is the gate, where further does it lead? The gates of teaching, contemplation, wisdom, and so forth all rely upon principle. If that which relies is a gate, how could that which is relied upon not be a gate? Although there is nowhere to lead, it ultimately and universally penetrates—this is the marvelous gate. Thus the gate of all marvels is that upon which the one true mind relies. The Avataṃsaka-sūtra says: ‘For example, when the sun rises, it first illuminates the high mountains.’ The sun is an analogy for the Buddha; the light is an analogy for the expounding of the teaching. The sun is unconditioned compassion: not rising, it rises; responding to the stimulation of sentient capacities, not shining, it shines. Expounding the Avataṃsaka is like the high mountains; expounding the Vaipulya is like mealtime; expounding the Prajñā is like mid-morning; expounding the Lotus is like midday; expounding the Nirvāṇa is like the flat ground. If great bodhisattvas receive the light of prajñā, it is the function of all phenomena. People of the two vehicles, since they lack this function, are like a seven-day-old infant: if looking at the sun's disc, its eyes lose their sight, because avidyā is entirely present, forfeiting the light of all-knowledge. The dark realization of heterodox practitioners is like walking at night, because they have not yet received the illumination of the correct teaching. The bodhisattva’s benefiting of others is like midday, performing tasks and exercising active service. Yet flat ground and high mountains equally receive the sunlight; small faculties and great vessels both partake of the teaching’s light. In terms of that which illuminates, there is neither shallow nor deep; with respect to that which is illuminated, before and after naturally divide. It is like the equal bestowing of the great cart, or a single rain universally moistening; the Way is beyond beginning and end, and principle is without partiality. If one attains the light of the one vehicle of the Mirror of the Source, the impartial great wisdom, it benefits both self and others, without any distinction whatsoever. Hence the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: ‘For example, suppose someone smears a great drum with fresh poison, and strikes it in the midst of a crowd to produce sound; even if they have no desire in mind to hear it, if there are any who hear it, both near and far all die; only one person is excluded who does not die an untimely death, namely the icchantika.’ To break the delusion of avidyā the moment one hears it is called dying near; when hearing it brings no immediate benefit but creates a cause for future lives, it is called dying far. The Mohe zhiguan explains: ‘The correct cause of the citta-nature of all sentient beings is compared to milk. Hearing the Dharma of the revealing cause is called applying poison. The correct cause is uninterrupted, just as the four subtle elements of milk remain constant, even though the five flavors change. Therefore, the poison follows the four subtle elements, killing in every flavor. The citta-nature of sentient beings is also like this: the correct cause is indestructible, and the poison of the revealing cause, according to whether the correct is relaxed or urgent, takes effect everywhere. It may take effect through principle, through teaching, through practice, or through realization. As when a pratyekabuddha of sharp faculties whose faculties have ripened appears in an age without a Buddha and naturally attains awakening: taking effect through principle is like this. When wholesome roots have been planted for long, even if one does not hear the Perfect Teaching in this life, the poison of the revealing cause spontaneously takes effect. If one attains awakening upon hearing the Avataṃsaka like the sun illuminating the high mountains, this is taking effect through teaching. If upon hearing one contemplates, and through contemplation attains awakening, this is taking effect through contemplative practice. If at the stage of the purity of the six faculties one advances to break avidyā, this is taking effect through resemblance realization. If upon the path of seeing (darśanamārga) one reduces rebirths, this is also taking effect through realization.’ Now, relying on the Huayan, five teachings are established; Tiantai establishes four teachings, up to eight teachings. For now, regarding the Huayan establishing five teachings on the one mind, discussing them in terms of consciousness: First, as in the Hīnayāna teaching, there are only the six consciousnesses; as for the ālaya, it attains only its name. Second, the Initial Teaching of the Mahāyāna attains only one portion of the meaning of arising and ceasing; because its true principle cannot yet penetrate substance, it only says that it is motionless and does not produce phenomena. Third, the Final Teaching of the Mahāyāna: with respect to this ālaya, it attains the common substance of principle and phenomena; the non-arising-and-ceasing and arising-and-ceasing are united, neither identical nor different. This is because it accepts that tathatā accords with conditions to produce phenomena. Because the pure phenomena perfumed by the ālayavijñāna and the defiled phenomena capable of perfuming are each distinct, they are not identical. Because that which perfumes and that which is perfumed are made solely by the one mind and there is nothing else, they are not different. The Initial Teaching is spoken with respect to the gate of distinction in phenomenal characteristics; the Final Teaching is spoken with respect to the gate of mutual accommodation between substance and characteristics, being the true mind of the ultimate truth. That is to say, based on the nature of the tathāgatagarbha, the various destinies and so forth exist. Fourth, the Sudden Teaching: all phenomena are solely the one true mind; differentiated characteristics are exhausted; it is free from speech and beyond deliberation, ineffable. Because all characteristics of defilement and purity are exhausted, and there are no two phenomena that could be comprehended, it is ineffable. This is like the entry into the gate of non-duality shown by Vimalakīrti. Fifth, the Perfect Teaching: spoken with respect to that which arises from the dharmadhātu of the round and bright sea of nature; it is solely the nature of the one dharmadhātu. Arising as mind, it is endowed with the ten virtues.”