宗鏡錄 42.5.1

42.5.1

Answer: Although Patriarch Aśvaghoṣa formulated the single phenomenon of mind-only, he opened up the two gates of tathatā and arising-and-ceasing. Bodhidharma pointed directly to the one mind, and established the four practices of according with conditions without obstruction. Upon examination, the source is fundamentally without difference, yet it receives names according to people. Therefore it is said: The patriarch's sudden awakening and direct entry is called the Chan source; the fundamental root of the fruitional virtues of all buddhas is called the buddha-nature; the source cavity of the bodhisattva's myriad practices is called the mind-ground; the place where sentient beings' transmigration arises is called the storehouse consciousness; that upon which the myriad phenomena rely is called the dharmatā; that which can give birth to prajñā is called the ocean of wisdom. One must not rigidly fixate on the one or cling to the many, giving rise to various emotional views. Thus the Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtra states: "The dharmatā is profoundly deep and immeasurable." "Immeasurable" does not mean there is a separate phenomenon named "immeasurable." Vairocana pervades all places; all phenomena are buddhadharma. "Profoundly deep" also does not mean there is a separate phenomenon named "profoundly deep." Reaching phenomena, it is true; there is nothing that is not the real mark. It may be called the many within the one, which, precisely when preserved, is utterly extinguished; and the one within the many, which, while folded, also unfolds. As the Avataṃsakasūtra says: "The bodhisattva mahāsattva knows that the three realms are mind-only and the three periods of time are mind-only, yet fully comprehends that this mind is immeasurable and boundless: this is the matchless abode." Furthermore, a former worthy said: "Although words cannot speak it, yet without words there would be no means to transmit it. Therefore the sage speaks all day yet has never spoken." Because he speaks all day, he does not sever the mind of upāya; and because he has never spoken, he does not lose the nature of prajñā. By means of upāya, he does not contravene the gate of great transformation; by means of prajñā, he sees no traces of words and forms. Furthermore, a sūtra says: "The buddhas always rely on the two truths to preach the Dharma. If one does not attain the conventional truth, one cannot attain the ultimate truth." Because fully comprehending that the conventional lacks self-nature is itself the gate of the real, why pursue objects and follow emotions, arbitrarily generating divergent views, restricting the distances of directions and corners, or fixing the shallowness and depth of vessels' capacities? It is like an inchworm traversing a twig: setting down its front legs before advancing its rear legs; or like a foolish monkey finding a tree: letting go of a high branch to grasp a low branch. If one can remove the vessel and contemplate space, square, round, long, and short will naturally vanish of themselves. Knowing that the mind is the objective realm, how could there be high or low, right or wrong? Moreover, within the gate of the conventional truth, there are eighty-four thousand afflictions of worldly toil. Among the vain thoughts of ordinary persons, the single phenomenon of birth-and-death is the greatest. Because there is birth-and-death, mind and objective realm arise together; if there is no birth-and-death, person and phenomena are both tranquil. Therefore know that understanding must reside in the present day; one cannot procrastinate. Now, bound by karma in the four modes of birth, with bodies dwelling in the nine realms of existence, those who obtain a human body are like dust on a fingernail, while those who lose a human body are like the soil of the great earth. Dwelling in the realms of the three evil paths, one is forever buried for dust-eon durations. Residing in the four formless heavens, one is perpetually submerged in the factors of absorption. Even if one is temporarily born among humans, there are a thousand kinds of hindrances and difficulties: either one's faculties are dull and difficult to awaken, or one's faculties are sharp but one believes in false views; either one's physical vessel is incomplete, or obstructions and hindrances are all heavy. In all such cases, they cannot be transformed, and have no way to realize the real. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states: "One should know that a human body is difficult to obtain, and a buddha's world is difficult to encounter. Favourable opportunities are easy to pass by; once one falls into the difficulties, it can never be cured. If one falls into the hells, being roasted, slaughtered, and cut to pieces, how could one be taught and transformed? If one falls among animals, mutually harming one another, they also cannot be transformed. If one falls among hungry ghosts, tormented by hunger, thirst, and burning heat, they also cannot be transformed. If one is born in the heaven of long life, tens of millions of buddhas pass by, yet because of attachment to the taste of meditative absorption, one remains completely unaware. Those born in Parthia and various frontier lands all have foolish human bodies and cannot be taught and transformed. Even if born in the central kingdom, either their six sense faculties are incomplete, or their four limbs are deficient; or they are blind, deaf, mute, and dumb; or they do not understand right principle; or sometimes their six sense faculties are complete and all faculties are sharp and clear, yet they are deeply attached to wrong views, saying there are no sins and blessings—they cannot be taught and transformed." Therefore it is said that favourable opportunities are easy to pass by, and one falls into the difficulties. Even if free from the difficulties, one's afflictions and karma are deep, and one is still scorched by the fires of the eight sufferings and thrown into disorder by the five turbidities. Now, the suffering spoken of is immeasurable: either the three sufferings, the five sufferings, the eight sufferings, up to the one hundred and ten sufferings of the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra, and the sufferings of the eighty-four thousand afflictions of worldly toil. None go beyond the suffering of saṃsāric wandering, the suffering of conditioning, and so forth. Yet ordinary persons gladly dwell in them, never becoming aware of them. As a verse in the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya states: "Just as a person is not aware / of a single eyelash placed on the palm, / but if placed upon the eye, / it causes extreme pain and unease; / so the ordinary person is like the palm of the hand, / unaware of the conditions of the suffering of conditioning, / while the wise are like the eye: / the eyelash produces extreme aversion and dread." Therefore know: regarding the suffering of birth, old age, sickness, and death, who can escape it? The four mountains constantly come to press upon humanity. As a former worthy said: "Thus the worthy and the unworthy, the mighty and the frail, are alike subjected to the four shifts; not a single one escapes. Brahma kings and Śakra, the poor and base, Yao and Shun, Jie and Zhou, the Three Sovereigns and the Four Perils—all together return to the dust and ashes, and all serve as the bases for suffering." As for the eight sufferings: The suffering of birth is the cause for the accumulation of all sufferings, the root of receiving bodies in the six destinies. It is like eating fruit found in excrement, or partaking of the root of a poisonous tree; like reaching for ambrosia and falling into a pit, or buying fine food and incurring death. Merit and Darkness—the two maidens follow one another; a master of wisdom accepts neither of them. The Abhidharmasamuccaya states: "The suffering of birth is because it is that upon which all sufferings depend; because it is pressed and tormented by all sufferings. For nine or ten months one dwells in the womb as if in a pit of foul excrement, constantly enduring various sufferings such as cold and heat. Between the stomach and the bowels, it is as if pressed between two mountains. When approaching the birth canal, the suffering is unbearable. Suddenly emerging and blown upon by the wind, it is like being cut by knives and pricked by awls, so that one cries out involuntarily, abandoning and forgetting all previous activities. This is called the suffering of birth. The suffering of old age is the suffering due to the transformation of time. One's body becomes heavy, the sense faculties become dull and clouded, the skin sags and wrinkles, one walks hunched and bent, sleeping and dining are uneasy, one groans when rising and sitting, the breath pants in reversal, whatever one does is sluggish, one is held in contempt by others, worldly sentiments grow ever more intense, while worldly affairs all cease. This is called the suffering of old age. Furthermore, the aged forget like infants, and become deranged as if possessed by ghosts, having a physical form that is frail, decaying, and withered."