宗鏡錄 38.7.3

38.7.3

"This is the dwelling place of those who know that all phenomena are unborn. This is the dwelling place of those who do not cling to any worldly existence. This is the dwelling place of those who do not cling to any cavernous abode. This is the dwelling place of those who take no delight in any village. This is the dwelling place of those who do not rely on any realm. This is the dwelling place of those who are free from all conceptualisation. This is the dwelling place of those who know that all phenomena are without intrinsic nature. This is the dwelling place of those who have severed all karmic actions of discrimination. This is the dwelling place of those who are free from all conceptualisation, citta, manas, and manovijñāna. This is the dwelling place of those who neither enter nor emerge from any path. This is the dwelling place of those who enter into all profound prajñāpāramitās. This is the dwelling place of those who are able, by expedient means, to abide in the universally facing dharmadhātu. This is the dwelling place of those who have extinguished all the fires of the kleśas. This is the dwelling place of those who, by higher wisdom, eliminate and sever all views, craving, and conceit. This is the dwelling place of those who bring forth and playfully disport in all dhyānas, liberations, samādhis, superknowledges, and clarities. This is the dwelling place of those who contemplate the realms of all bodhisattva samādhis. This is the dwelling place of those who peacefully abide in the presence of all Tathāgatas. This is the dwelling place of those who enter all kalpas with a single kalpa, and enter a single kalpa with all kalpas, yet without destroying their characteristics. This is the dwelling place of those who enter all kṣetras with a single kṣetra, and enter a single kṣetra with all kṣetras, yet without destroying their characteristics. This is the dwelling place of those who enter all phenomena with a single phenomenon, and enter a single phenomenon with all phenomena, yet without destroying their characteristics. This is the dwelling place of those who enter all sentient beings with a single sentient being, and enter a single sentient being with all sentient beings, yet without destroying their characteristics. This is the dwelling place of those who enter all Buddhas with a single Buddha, and enter a single Buddha with all Buddhas, yet without destroying their characteristics. This is the dwelling place of those who, in a single thought-moment, know all three times. This is the dwelling place of those who, in a single thought-moment, travel to all buddha-lands." And so on, until: "At that time, the youth Sudhana, having reverently circumambulated the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Maitreya to the right, addressed him, saying: 'I pray only that the Great Sage will open the door of the tower and allow me to enter.' Then the Bodhisattva Maitreya approached the tower, snapped his fingers, and made a sound; the door immediately opened, and he bid Sudhana enter. Sudhana was filled with joy, and once he had entered, it closed again. He saw that the tower was vast, boundless, and identical to empty space; and so on, until he saw his own body pervading all the towers, fully beholding various inconceivable, sovereign realms, the events of Maitreya's bodhisattva practice across three lifetimes, and the eight aspects of attaining enlightenment. At that time, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Maitreya drew back his spiritual power, entered the tower, snapped his fingers to make a sound, and said to Sudhana: 'Good son, arise! The nature of phenomena is like this. This is the manifestation brought forth by the convergence of the causes and conditions of a bodhisattva's wisdom knowing all phenomena. Such self-nature is like an illusion, like a dream, like a shadow, like an image; none of them are established.' And so on, until: 'Just as an illusionist creates various illusory events, which come from nowhere and go nowhere—though there is neither coming nor going, by the power of illusion they are clearly visible—those adornments are also just like this: they come from nowhere and go nowhere. Although there is neither coming nor going, by the power of habituated practice in inconceivable illusory wisdom, and by the power of past great vows, they are manifested in this way.'" Explanation: As for "snapping his fingers and making a sound, the door immediately opened": the moment when illumination first arises and one opens into seeing the nature is called "opening." As for "once he had entered, it closed again": what is awakened to is just as it originally was, not newly acquired; thus it says "closed again." Alternatively, it is said: when the Bodhisattva Maitreya snaps his fingers to make a sound and the door immediately opens, this clarifies that the sound carries the sense of shaking and awakening. Snapping the fingers carries the sense of removing dust. When dust vanishes and grasping is removed, the Dharma door opens of itself. When it says that after Sudhana entered, its door closed again, this is because the vanishing of delusion and the appearing of wisdom is called "opening"; yet wisdom has no inside, outside, or middle, no emerging and no entering, no delusion and no realization—this is called "closing again." Seeing that the tower is vast, boundless, and identical to empty space is the realm of wisdom. As for "such self-nature is like an illusion, like a dream, like a shadow, like an image; none of them are established": this summarizes all the aforementioned inconceivable and boundless realms of buddha-activity. Because the nature of tathatā naturally accords with conditions, even though it accords with conditions, it naturally returns to the nature. Because when it accords with conditions there appears to be manifestation—like viewing illusory phenomena, which exist without existing; like observing dream realms, which are seen without being seen; like a reflection in water, neither emerging nor entering; like an image in a mirror, neither inside nor outside—because of being natureless while according with conditions, the principle is not established. Because of according with conditions while being natureless, phenomena are not established. If both principle and phenomena are not established, then all phenomena are entirely unestablished; thus it says "none of them are established." It is merely manifested just so, and realized just so, clear and distinct, still identical to the mirror of the source, light and light interpenetrating, reflection and reflection mutually containing, like the ten profound gates, layer upon layer without end. Regarding the ten profound gates: the first is the gate of simultaneous complete correspondence. Master Zhiyan explained: "This is spoken with regard to correspondence without before or after. Each one of these ten profound gates possesses ten dharmas, simultaneously complete: first, teaching and meaning; second, principle and phenomena; third, realm and wisdom; fourth, practice and stage; fifth, cause and effect; sixth, dependent and primary [retribution]; seventh, substance and function; eighth, person and dharma; ninth, contrary and compliant; tenth, stimulus and response. Wherever there is one, it possesses these ten dharmas, all simultaneously complete. Now, taking simultaneous cause and effect as an example: if the Hīnayāna speaks of cause and effect, it transforms the cause to achieve the effect; only when the cause ceases is the effect established. If the Mahāyāna speaks of cause and effect, they can also be simultaneous, but this does not reveal the inexhaustible. It is like conditions for a house combining to form a house: cause and effect are established simultaneously, but other things are not established. Because causes have close and distant relations, what is established is finite. If the One Vehicle source explains simultaneous cause and effect, it adduces the distant conditions to enter the close; therefore, just as when a house is formed, all dharmadhātus are simultaneously formed. If a single dharma were unformed..."