宗鏡錄 42.3

42.3

Answer: A sūtra says: 'Deeply believe in the Great Vehicle; do not repudiate cause and effect.' It also says: 'Enter deeply into dependent arising; cut off all wrong views.' Now, the purport of consciousness-only does not fall outside cause and effect. The characteristic of the correct cause is that, because consciousness transforms, all phenomena are able to arise, taking consciousness as the cause. The characteristic of the correct fruit is that, due to the seed-consciousness, the fruits of all discriminated phenomena-substances arise, as well as fruits of stages such as ripening. Therefore, from all buddhas above down to sentient beings below, all are encompassed by cause and effect. How could one repudiate them as nonexistent and fall into the net of heresy? It is solely because all non-Buddhists do not comprehend dependent arising, cling exclusively to naturalness (svabhāva), and repudiate cause and effect as nonexistent. Those of the two vehicles are one-eyed: they only realize one-sided emptiness, annihilate wisdom and reduce their bodies to ashes, and stay far removed from cause and effect. Bound by worldly karma, unlearned ordinary people are scorched by the fires of the five desires and cling to cause and effect; their [views] all turn into frantic intellectualizations. Failing to realize the substance of the perfect and eternal, they all turn their backs on the gate of the dependent arising of the dharmadhātu and are completely oblivious to the purport of prajñā's non-arising. Now, what we discuss as cause and effect takes solely the real mark as cause, and again uses the real mark as fruit. Simply because one comprehends the equal one mind, one never produces views of before and after or of simultaneity. If one can believe in and enter the one mind in this manner, all become perfect causes and wondrous fruits. As the Bhadrakalpika-samādhi-sūtra says: 'The fingers are long and auspicious; those who see them are delighted, and there is nothing that is not auspicious and beneficial. These are all the retribution of the one mind.' It also says: 'The radiance it emits leaves nothing unilluminated, bringing much peace and stability. This is the retribution of the one mind.' It also says: 'His majestic light is towering and sublime; the mark of the invisible crown is the retribution of the one mind.' A verse in the Kuśalamūlasaṃparigraha-sūtra says: / 'You should observe this mind: / thought-moment after thought-moment, it is constantly arising and ceasing, / like an illusion, possessing nothing, / yet able to obtain great retribution.' / Another verse says: / 'This mind is not within conditions, / nor is it apart from the manifold conditions; / it is neither existent nor nonexistent, / yet able to give rise to great fruits.' / A verse in the Prakaraṇāryavācā-śāstra says: / 'Because they are the fruits of that mind, / having arisen, they naturally cease; / later variation can be apprehended; / one should know that they cease in every thought-moment.' / The treatise says: 'Because all those conditioned forces are the fruits of the mind, as soon as their nature arises, apart from the conditions of cessation, they naturally cease and disintegrate. Furthermore, because variation can later be apprehended, one should know that all conditioned forces cease in every kṣaṇa.' Why should one know that all conditioned forces are fruits of the mind? The verse says: / 'The mind's perfuming is predominant; / samādhi's transformation is masterly; / the principle by which images arise; / and three kinds of holy teachings.' / The treatise says: 'By means of reasoning and holy teaching, it is proved that all conditioned forces have the nature of being fruits of the mind. "Reasoning" means that good and unwholesome phenomena perfume the mind; due to the predominant power of the karmic impressions (vāsanā), conditioned forces are thus able to arise. Moreover, in those who are free from meditative hindrances and whose minds are pure, all conditioned forces transform in accordance with the mind; due to the masterly power of their resolute intention, various transformations occur. Furthermore, due to the masterly power of the mind in samādhi, as they wish, images arise within the sphere of the meditative mind. This is called reasoning. "Holy teaching" refers to three kinds of holy words. As a verse in a sūtra says: / "The mind leads the world; / the mind's power provides protection; / once they have arisen in accordance with the mind, / all transform with mastery following it." / It also says: "Therefore, bhikṣus, you should skillfully concentrate and, according to correct principle, contemplate the mind," and so forth, as extensively explained. It also says: "Bhikṣus, you should know that what is called the city lord is none other than the aggregate of consciousness with grasping." These are called the holy teachings.' From this we know that blessing arrives following the mind, and disaster arises pursuing the mind, like an echo responding to a sound, like a shadow following a form. It is like Aniruddha offering a single meal to a pratyekabuddha: nectar constantly filled empty vessels, and golden men, even when exhausted through use, were born again. "Aniruddha" is translated here as "Without Poverty." The Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra says: 'In the decadent age of Puṣya Buddha, there was a famine. There was a pratyekabuddha named Ṛṣidatta who went begging, but obtained nothing from his empty bowl. A poor man saw him, felt sorrow and lamentation, and said: "Noble sir, can you accept barnyard millet?" He then offered what he was eating. Having eaten it, [the pratyekabuddha] performed eighteen transformations. Later, when [the man] was gathering millet again, a rabbit leapt and clung to his back, turning into a corpse. With no companion to help him remove it, he waited until dark to return home. As soon as it was laid on the ground, it turned into a golden man. Plucking its fingers, they grew back; using its feet, they emerged again. Evil people and evil kings wished to come and seize it, but saw only a dead corpse; yet his golden treasures were sufficient for the fruit of ninety kalpas. Hence he was named "Without Poverty." After he was born, his family estate overflowed and increased day and night. His parents wished to test him; they covered an empty vessel and sent it to him. Opening it to look, it was fully equipped with the hundred flavors. Before his gates, there were constantly twelve thousand people every day: six thousand borrowing, and six thousand repaying the price. After he went forth from household life, wherever he went, people rejoiced to see him; whatever he needed was no different from his own home.' Furthermore, it is like King Suvarṇavarṇa offering a single meal to a pratyekabuddha: later, throughout Jambudvīpa, for seven days it rained solely the seven jewels, and all the people permanently severed their poverty. One should know that these seven jewels did not come from elsewhere; they all emerged from the mind of that king's offering. The cause arose from within his own mind; the fruit did not arise in a different place. Like Aniruddha's golden man, it was self-made and self-received. Therefore, the blessed saw it as gold and jewels, while evil people viewed it as a dead corpse. Thus we know that transformation proceeds from the mind; external dust is indeterminate. Furthermore, just like the empty vessel before it was opened, in which nectar originally did not exist, it arose in accordance with his blessing, fully equipped with the hundred flavors. Wholesome and unwholesome spheres are all one's own mind. Hence the Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi says: / 'The sphere transforms following the karmic consciousness; / therefore it is said to be mind-only.' / Thus, there is not a single dharma that does not return to the mirror of the source. The above pertains to worldly cause and effect. Next, to discuss the cause and effect of the buddhas: as the Treatise on the Avataṃsaka says, revealing the buddha-fruit has three different types: First, forgetting words and cutting off practices, solely clarifying the unconditioned fruit of the dharmakāya. Second, accumulating cultivation from practice, where the fruit is first achieved after many kalpas when practice is fulfilled and merit completed. Third, at the time of initial aspiration, the fruit achieved through the substance and function following conditions at the first stage of the ten abodes. First, that which clarifies the unconditioned fruit of the dharmakāya by forgetting words and cutting off practice refers to sūtras such as the Nirvāṇa and the Non-Practice; it is the concealment of the body without manifestation, with the cessation of all affairs. It also says: 'The rākṣasa spoke to the boy of the Snow Mountains: / "All conditioned forces are impermanent; / they are phenomena that arise and cease. / Arising and ceasing having been extinguished, / tranquil extinction is bliss." / This is the unconditioned fruit, because it is not equipped with practices. Second, clarifying the fruit only after practice is accumulated and fulfilled over many kalpas refers, in the expedient teachings, to the buddha-fruit achieved when practice is cultivated to completion over three asaṃkhyeya-kalpas. Because this does not comprehend that ignorance and the twelve factors of existence are originally the wisdom of the dharmakāya, it suppresses them with the contemplation of emptiness, subduing currently active afflictions, and rejoices in a separate pure gate. Third, the fruit achieved by an ordinary person at the initial mind of the ten faiths through initial realization and practical application following conditions refers to the Avataṃsaka-sūtra. At the final mind of the ten faiths, by means of expedient samādhi, one comprehends that ignorance and the twelve factors of existence constitute principle, wisdom, and great compassion; one is thus endowed with Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra, the dharma-gate of the dharmadhātu of substance and function. Furthermore, as in the causal and fruitional teachings and practices set forth by the transformation buddha, in which all the merits must undergo three asaṃkhyeyas and are all produced through cultivation: cultivating the karma for the marks and signs for a hundred kalpas, lighting lamps to obtain light, not killing to obtain longevity, giving to obtain wealth, patience to obtain upright beauty—each cause and effect corresponds, similar and complete, yet one must apply various remedies before one can see the nature and attain buddhahood. With the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, this is not so. In a single thought-moment, one suddenly realizes the dharma-gate of the dharmadhātu. The nature and characteristics of body and mind are originally nothing but the dharma-substance. In activities and applications, movement and stillness are both equal. Giving rein to unconditioned wisdom, that is the buddha. For all buddha-dharmas, it should be thus: without long or short, from beginning to end, ultimately, phenomena are all like this. In the one true dharmadhātu, giving rein to the activities of phenomena, all are fully endowed with virtuous functions numerous as the sands of the Ganges, being immediately cause and immediately fruit. Because of this universal-gate dharmadhātu, all obstacles of principle and wisdom are naturally absent; there are no separate remedies, no separate cultivation, and no separate severance. One does not see transformation; transformation and non-transformation have no different nature or characteristics. Contemplating all universally, there is nothing that is not a dharma-gate, nothing that is not liberation. It is merely because one's own mind forcefully produces attachment, and because of manifold affairs, sinking into the stream of suffering, that the Sage was labored to preach various distinctions; and in the places where he preached, attachment was produced anew. For this reason, the Sage's teachings differ: either gradual or sudden, responding to various capacities. The sudden exposition taught in this sūtra is what people of the perfect vehicle can bear to receive. If one cannot bear to receive it, one must joyfully cultivate it, ultimately flowing back and residing entirely in this ocean. Therefore, other teachings put cause first and fruit afterward; they are not like this teaching, where cause and effect are simultaneous. Because within the wisdom-ocean of the dharma-nature, cause and effect are ungraspable; because within what is ungraspable, cause and effect are simultaneous without obstruction. Cause and effect that can be grasped have before and after; whatever can be grasped is impermanent and not the ultimate teaching. If cause were first and fruit afterward, the cause would not be established, and therefore the fruit would also be destroyed. Because phenomena of dependent arising are not continuous, they would be annihilated, and neither self nor other would be established. It is like counting one coin: without counting the subsequent coins, without the latter two, the one is also not established. Because a kṣaṇa is not continuous, the cause and effect of a kṣaṇa are destroyed; because many kalpas are not continuous, the cause and effect of many kalpas are destroyed. Only when waiting to count the subsequent coin is the former 'one' first established. Cause and effect are also like this: they must await one single time; when there is no interval between them, cause and effect are first established. If that were so, it would be like counting two coins simultaneously: with neither before nor after, which would be one and which two? Like holding up two fingers, which would be cause and which fruit? As with the two fingers, wherever the mind counts is the cause, and what is counted afterward is the fruit. If there is before and after, then there is an intermediate; there is still a kṣaṇa of interruption, and where there is interruption, cause and effect are not established. If they are simultaneous, like holding up two fingers with neither first nor last, which would be cause and which fruit? Neither would be established either. Cause and effect being simultaneous in this Avataṃsaka-sūtra is free from both such cause and effect of before and after, as well as the clinging to simultaneous conceptual measurements, and the clinging to cause and effect through false discriminations of existence and nonexistence, together and not together, permanent and impermanent. Simply comprehending that the dharma-substance is not something established and not bound by cause and effect is called cause and effect; it is not the false discrimination of simultaneity, before, and after established by sentiment. If it is like this, how does it differ from the gradual teaching spoken in the Laṅkāvatāra? This is not so. Within the Laṅkāvatāra, it solely discusses breaking down characteristics; merely seeking to reveal the principle without attachment, it does not discuss dependent arising. As for the dharmadhātu of dependent arising, the dharmadhātu is neither established nor broken down; one merely knows and comprehends that phenomena are thus. Therefore, the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: 'First show similar things; afterward bestow the truth.' It also says: 'One who apprehends characteristics is consciousness; one who does not apprehend characteristics is wisdom.' In this sūtra, there are no provisional dharmas; all dharmas are completely true. Purely true without falsehood, there is no longer any similarity, nor the preservation of truth or preservation of falsehood. The sūtra says: 'The realm of sentient beings is itself the realm of buddhas.' As Mañjuśrī integrates practice with principle, and Samantabhadra integrates principle with practice, the substance and function of the two thoroughly penetrate each other to form the one true dharmadhātu. Before and after encompass each other; within each and every chapter, they mutually subsume one another. Before and after thoroughly penetrate, and text and meaning further encompass; within one dharma-gate, many dharmas are contained. Therefore, a verse of the sūtra says: / 'Within many dharmas, it is one dharma; / within one dharma, it is manifold.' / Now, this mind is the metropolis of the dharmadhātu; there is no dharma it does not encompass. Not only do the cause and effect of ordinary people and sages, but even contrary and favorable, good and evil, return together. If in every instance one awakens to it as one's own mind, then affair after affair is nothing other than the correct principle. As the sūtra says: 'Devadatta is inconceivable; the actions and deeds he cultivated were all identical to the Tathāgata's. The group of six bhikṣus were not truly depraved and evil; the practices they performed were all identical to the Buddha's conduct.' There are those who cultivate good and receive their fruit in hell, and people of evil deeds who receive their retribution in the heavens. If one does not comprehend these texts, then the contrary and the favorable branch off in different directions; how could beauty and ugliness be transformed alike? Now, within the initial chapter, the main source has already been related. If a person has the highest capacity, upon hearing once they awaken to a thousand [things]; these are all understandings born of past habituation, innate knowledge. If one has middle or lower faculties, one must rely on guidance and be helped into activation by another before awakening to the consummate. For this reason, I have subtly and minutely compiled this work. Therefore it is said: 'If there is a single speck of dust where one is not clear, ignorance still remains here,' because where one is not clear serves as an obstruction. How much more so within the sense-doors of one's own body and during daily practical use, where there are immeasurable urgent dharma-gates, yet one is completely unenlightened about a single one! It is like a person blind from birth who eats food of a hundred flavors every day: although they get to eat it, how can they distinguish the dishes? If you say there is no distinction, yet they get to eat it daily; if you say there is a distinction, if asked, they do not know at all. If one wishes to explain for those who have not understood, on what can one rely to analyze it? It merely results in deceiving oneself and conversely falling into ignorance. When one's own eyes have not opened, how can one treat the eyes of others? For this reason, Sudhana first met Mañjuśrī, already understood fundamental wisdom, and entered into the stream of holy wisdom; only then did he visit spiritual friends everywhere to seek the path of discriminating wisdom and train in the bodhisattva's gates of practice. Meeting the king Anivartana's illusion-like dharma-gate, and seeing the brahmin Jayoṣmīya's liberation of the inexhaustible wheel, he was still bewildered about the source and lost the purport, being at a loss when facing the object. Thus we know that the Buddha-Dharma is mysterious and subtle, not to be reached by shallow wisdom. Why should one use a mosquito's legs with the intention of fathoming the bottom of the vast ocean, or use a spider's silk wishing to suspend the wondrously high Mount Sumeru? Increasing my shameful countenance, I must express repentance. Therefore, the ocean of prajñā is broad: only those who enter it realize its boundlessness; the mountain of dharma-nature is high: only those who ascend it know its towering steepness. Prostrating myself, I reflect that since the Great Hero responded to the world, all the sages have expounded it; down to the beginning of the semblance dharma, there were the five hundred treatise masters such as Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna who vastly propagated the supreme teaching; and in the middle of the semblance dharma, there were again the ten great bodhisattvas such as Dharmapāla and Dignāga who extensively explained the profound sūtras, distinguished the tenets of emptiness and existence, and established the principle of consciousness-only. All of them were the thousand buddhas of the Bhadrakalpa, the Śākyamunis of the ten kṣetras, fulfilling together the aspiration of their original vows and jointly assisting the unconditioned transformation. Why should I hold a firefly's light to compete with the sun's chariot, or carry a cloth drum to approach the gate of thunder? Disregarding my own limited learning, I shrink back, ashamed of my inferior understanding. How could a cow's footprint be compared in measure to the great ocean? How could rotting grass share equal glory with the spiritual cedar? My holding this treatise now is for the sake of those who will become vessels of the Dharma and deeply love and rejoice in the Great Vehicle. As the Mahāratnakūṭa-sūtra says: 'The Buddha said: "If there are good men and good women who seek great benefit and believe in my teaching, in the later defiled and turbid world, at the time of extreme concealment, when good people are hard to find, having heard such profound teachings at that time, one should speak them for those who accord with principle, not for those who do not accord with principle; speak them for believers, not for non-believers." Now I also speak for those who accord with principle, not for those who do not accord with principle; I speak for believers, not for non-believers.' Furthermore, those who know it and love it value it like pearls and gems; those who do not know it and do not love it disdain it like mud and dirt. Respectfully contemplating scholars who probe the mystery, I hope they will receive the Buddha's words, deeply entrusted; and may the worthy who admire the Way follow together the ancestral intention.