宗鏡錄 40.13.3

40.13.3

…[if they do not] return to [the source], all previous practices, samādhis, and various disciplines are all impermanent and do not constitute superior good, because they are not yet ultimate. As the sūtra says: 'The Buddha said: "Good sons, although one may cultivate all the concentrations of the various sūtras, if one has not heard such a Great Nirvāṇa Sūtra, all declare that everything is impermanent. Having heard this sūtra, although one may have kleśas, it is as though one has no kleśas, and one is immediately able to benefit all humans and devas. Why is this? Because one clearly understands that one's own body possesses Buddha-nature; this is called permanent. Furthermore, good sons, just as all streams return to the ocean, so all concentrations and samādhis of the various sūtras return to the Mahāyāna Great Nirvāṇa Sūtra. Why is this? Because it ultimately and skillfully explains the existence of Buddha-nature."' Therefore, as soon as one knows there is Buddha-nature, understanding and practice naturally accord with one another. It is like knitting a net ultimately to catch fish, or packing provisions because one must march forward. As it is said: 'If there is only understanding without practice, it is like a dry sand well that provides no moisture; purely empty and unreal, it is like a rainless cloud in the sky.' Therefore, this record is entirely for cultivating the bodhisattva path and fulfilling the gate of Samantabhadra. Consequently, I have broadly gathered the golden texts of definitive meaning and the bequeathed teachings of past worthies, causing all to believe and accord, and to correspond with the Dao, encompassing beginning and end, and benefiting both self and others. Because the nature of the one mind of tathatā is inexhaustible, to act in accordance with this nature is naturally so, without deficiency or cessation. It naturally completes all wisdom, all compassion, all samādhis, all supernatural powers, all vows and practices, all causes and effects, all principle and phenomena, all provisional and real, all progressive stages, and all complete interpenetration. Therefore the Huayan lun says: 'The sūtra explains that the Bodhisattva of the Cloud of Dharma Ground, according to the power of citta's thought, whether vast or subtle, self and other mutually entering, one and many, great and small, mutually interpenetrating, has supernatural powers, virtues, and functions at free command, because they are all accomplished according to the thoughts of one's own citta. Just as the functional realms of all sentient beings are all formed by the clinging karma of their own cittas, and the retributive fruits of good and evil among humans, devas, narakas, animals, and hungry ghosts are entirely created in reliance on citta; so too the Bodhisattvas of the Ten Grounds, by the power of the great wisdom of the unconditioned dharmakāya, according to whatever they think in their citta, are completely sovereign in all ten directions simultaneously, and all know and see them. Taking the wisdom of universal illumination as their substance, because the substance of wisdom has no reliance, it accords with the nature and pervades the dharmadhātu, equal to the measure of empty space, filling the worlds of the ten directions. Through the wisdom of naturelessness, its great function follows thought; through the non-forgetful wisdom, all is accomplished according to thought; through possessing the universal and particular, identity and difference, integration and disintegration are simultaneously performed; through the sovereign wisdom of vast and narrow, great and small, its transformational power is unhindered; through the wisdom that shares the same substance with all sentient beings, it can transform all sentient beings' realms purely into pure land lands; through the non-dual wisdom of self and other, one body produces many bodies, and many bodies produce one body; through the wisdom beyond measure in which the dharmakāya has neither large nor small, it can broadly contain Buddha lands in a single pore; through the boundless and directionless wisdom that equals empty space, it manifests and appears in a single thought, filling the ten directions without coming or going; through the echo-like wisdom, it can respond like an echo, manifesting directly to equal the responses of sentient beings; through possessing this complete and consummate wisdom of merit, it constantly dwells in marvelous lands and always co-dwells with all sentient beings, yet unless by the power of a noble one's empowering sustainment, sentient beings cannot see it.' As the Huayan jing says: 'Disciples of the Buddha, it is like a person who places a maṇi jewel into colored garments: though the maṇi jewel takes on the color of the garments, it does not abandon its own nature. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is also like this: having accomplished wisdom and taken it as the jewel of citta, contemplating all-knowledge, it universally and clearly appears, yet they do not abandon the various bodhisattva practices. Why is this? Because the bodhisattva-mahāsattva makes great vows to benefit all sentient beings, to liberate all sentient beings, to serve all Buddhas, to adorn and purify all worlds, to comfort sentient beings, to deeply enter the sea of Dharma, to manifest great sovereignty in order to purify the realms of sentient beings, to give to sentient beings, to universally illuminate the world, and to enter the boundless Dharma doors of illusory transformation, without retreating or turning back, without fatigue or weariness. Disciples of the Buddha, it is like empty space supporting all worlds: whether becoming or abiding, it has no weariness or fatigue, no weakness or decay, no dispersal or destruction, no change or difference, no diversity, and does not abandon its own nature. Why is this? Because the self-nature of empty space is inherently so. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva is also like this: establishing immeasurable great vows, liberating all sentient beings, their citta knows no weariness. …Furthermore, disciples of the Buddha, with this the bodhisattva-mahāsattva reveals the undifferentiated nature of all Tathāgatas. This is the unhindered gate of skillful means; this can give birth to assemblies of bodhisattvas; this Dharma is exclusively the realm of samādhi; this can courageously enter sarvajñatā; this can disclose and display all gates of samādhi; this can unhinderedly enter all lands; this can tame all sentient beings; this can abide at the limit of non-sentient beings; this can reveal all Buddha dharmas; this has nothing to attain in any realm. Although at all times expounding and revealing, it is constantly free from delusional conceptualisation; although knowing all dharmas are devoid of doing, it can manifest all actions; although knowing all Buddhas are devoid of dual marks, it can display all Buddhas; although knowing there is no rūpa, it expounds various rūpas; although knowing there is no vedanā, it expounds various vedanās; although knowing there is no saṃjñā, it expounds various saṃjñās; although knowing there is no saṃskāra, it expounds various saṃskāras; although knowing there is no vijñāna, it expounds various vijñānas; constantly turning the Dharma wheel to reveal everything to all; although knowing that dharmas are unborn, it constantly turns the Dharma wheel; although knowing that dharmas have no differences, it explains the various differential gates; although knowing that all dharmas have no arising and ceasing, it explains all characteristics of arising and ceasing; although knowing that all dharmas are neither coarse nor subtle, it explains the coarse and subtle characteristics of all dharmas; although knowing that all dharmas have no superior, middle, or inferior, it can proclaim the supreme Dharma; although knowing that all dharmas cannot be expressed in words…'