宗鏡錄 43

English (machine translation) 43

Language: English

43.5 — 4 parts

43.1

Compiled by Yanshou, Chan Master Zhijue, Abbot of Huiri Yongming Monastery.

The First Patriarch came from the west transmitting only the Dharma of the one mind. When the Second Patriarch sought the agitated, conceptualizing citta and could not find it, he immediately knew that only the one true citta is perfectly accomplished and all-pervasive; right then the path of words and thoughts was severed, and Bodhidharma granted his seal of approval, whereupon the patriarchal seal came into great circulation down to the present day. Why do you attach to verbal explanations, running counter to your own school? The doctrinal study of the triyāna naturally has its stages and ranks.

43.3

Answer: In setting forth the source school earlier, the grand purport has already been solely raised. If one decisively enters with faith and correct understanding is free from error, then raising one case exemplifies all others, and the path of words and thoughts is cut off. Yet I observe that modern students remain solely within intellectual intention, largely attaching to verbal explanations; they merely say there are no dharmas outside citta, while thought after thought they constantly arise following objects; they only know how to speak of emptiness with their mouths, while step after step they constantly roam within existence. They merely bring up the general name of citta, while remaining ignorant of its subtle aspects of operation. If we discuss the immeasurable Dharma gates, speaking of them extensively could not be exhausted in an eternity of kalpas. What is recorded now is to establish the previous meaning; there is ultimately no other purport falsely laid out. This Dharma gate of the one mind is the root of the ordinary and the sacred. If one does not first clarify its aspects of operation, how can one deeply investigate its root source? Therefore, one must use the three pramāṇas to determine its correctness and falsehood, so that genuine cultivation is not haphazard; and use the four parts to establish its substance and function, so that correct principle is unmarred. Thereafter, through the ten causes and four pratyayas, one discriminates the places where defilement and purity arise; through the three retributions and five fruits, one discerns that to which the conventional and the ultimate return. Then one can reject the small, eliminate the heterodox, carve out sentiment, and shatter clingings. Thereupon Bodhisattva Dharmapāla’s correct doctrine became perfectly clear and was widely practiced in India, and the teaching was transmitted to this land. The sun of the Buddha sank and shone anew; the clouds of prajñā dispersed and arose again. Thus citta and objects blend in harmony, and self and other penetrate each other: neither one nor different, touching an object one accords with the source; neither existent nor empty, following conditions one joins with the Way. If one does not master the three pramāṇas, how can truth and falsity be distinguished? If one does not understand the four parts, substance and function are both lost. Therefore we know that vainly speaking the name of citta while being utterly blind to its subtle aspects of operation will ultimately not avoid being bound by the conditions of citta and objects and fettered by views of self and other. At present one's suspicions are unending; at the point of death, what crossing can one rely upon? Therefore prajñā is the talisman that escorts the spirit, able to make one unobstructed in birth and death at the end of life. It is only because people are blind without the eye of wisdom and unclear in teaching and contemplation that from the beginningless past they have been unable to penetrate and comprehend: defying direct perception, they lose the substance of their own citta; pursuing inference and fallacy, they mistakenly grasp external dust. All day long they use citta to grasp citta, and use illusion to take illusion as object—like a dog gnawing a dry bone, merely swallowing its own saliva; like an elephant's trunk taking water, only to wash its own body. Where there is definitively no external sphere, they construct remedies. Ever since receiving bodies and having consciousness, residing within the dust and toil of the three realms, they are like those with a fever who see ghosts, recognizing enemies where there are no enemies; or like cataracts producing flowers, giving rise to love where there is nothing to love. Falsely born and falsely dying, emptily affirming and emptily denying, they are completely unaware and cannot reflect even for a moment. If one still does not believe now, what further time is one waiting for? The ocean of saṃsāra is deep: without the boat of wisdom, one cannot cross it; the net of dust and toil is dense: without the blade of wisdom, it cannot be swept away. Its four parts, three pramāṇas, and numerous doctrinal approaches will be extensively analyzed below.

43.4

Question: The great import of the patriarchs and the buddhas values practice in citta; gathering meanings and following the letter only increases frivolous debate. Therefore Mañjuśrī reproached Ānanda, saying: “Using hearing to hold the buddhas’ teachings, / why not yourself hear your own hearing?” How does that compare to returning to the source in a single thought, deeply harmonizing with the bequeathed purport?

43.5.1

Answer: This is spoken for those who do not yet know; it is not said for those who already know. It is said for those who have not yet practiced; it is not spoken for those who have already practiced. If they are persons who already know and have already practiced, then traces of the mind are already extinguished—what need would there be for spoken words? Now, it is solely for beginners who do not yet know, whose own eye is unopened and whose perfect potential has not yet unfolded, that one must rely on the wisdom derived from hearing to assist their initial aspiration; and for those who have not yet practiced, who merely cling to derived comprehension and learn the words of the Great Vehicle, like bugs eating wood or like slaves counting coins. Even the dust-and-sand-like teaching gates are all meant for these two classes of people. Thereby seeing the truth, they practice as taught. Moreover, the radiance of wisdom is like the sun shining everywhere; the power of much learning is like oil fueling the light. Because sentient beings of inferior understanding have, from the beginningless past, suffered the blazing torments of boundless kalpas solely through straying from the path of right faith and losing the gate of wondrous wisdom, employing their minds wildly and behaving erratically—why then, being blind and devoid of the illumination of wisdom, should they conversely disparage the true radiance of wisdom, or, being impoverished and lacking the wealth of the Dharma, further cast aside the treasure trove of much learning? As the Avataṃsakasūtra says: 'If one wishes to liberate sentient beings and cause them to abide in nirvāṇa, one does not depart from the unhindered wisdom of liberation. The unhindered wisdom of liberation does not depart from the true awakening to all dharmas as they are. The true awakening to all dharmas as they are does not depart from the radiance of wisdom that acts without action and without arising. The radiance of wisdom that acts without action and without arising does not depart from the wisdom of decisive contemplation skillful in dhyāna. The wisdom of decisive contemplation skillful in dhyāna does not depart from skillful, extensive learning.' Therefore, it is through hearing that the citta is revealed, enabling one to distinguish the dhyāna of decisive contemplation; through dhyāna one initiates the wisdom of non-action and non-arising; through wisdom one penetrates the awakening to all dharmas as they are; through awakening one perfects the unhindered wisdom of liberation. All of these depend entirely on the initial power of much learning to achieve bodhi. If one departs from this Mirror of the Source, there is no other gate to attaining Buddhahood; even if one has something practiced, it all becomes the teachings of Māra and outsiders. A verse in the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: / 'To have wisdom without much learning / is to not know the true characteristic: / like in profound darkness / having eyes but seeing nothing. / To have much learning without wisdom / is also to not know the true characteristic: / like in broad daylight / having a lamp but having no eyes. / Much learning with sharp wisdom— / what such a one says should be accepted. / Having neither learning nor wisdom— / this is called an ox in human form.' / Now, one who has wisdom without much learning is compared to having eyes but seeing nothing in profound darkness: though possessing the eye of wisdom, one cannot comprehensively know the myriad dharmas—the dependent origination of the dharmadhātu, the perfuming of the various consciousnesses, and so forth—as if dwelling in profound darkness, utterly seeing nothing. For this reason, the true characteristic pervades all dharmas, and all dharmas are just the true characteristic; not a single dharma has ever departed from the dharmatā. If one does not comprehensively know all dharmas, by what means could one deeply penetrate the true characteristic? Hence it says: 'also to not know the true characteristic.' One who has much learning without wisdom is compared to having a lamp but having no eyes in broad daylight: though having much learning and retaining names and characteristics in memory, one lacks the true wisdom of personal realization; perfect understanding does not unfold, and one falls solely into avidyā; great faith is not established, vainly turning into wrong views. It is like being in broad daylight: though there is the light of the sun, moon, and lamps, lacking eyes, by what means could one see? Even if one hears of the Tathāgata's treasure trove, chanting and reciting it throughout life without weariness of hearing and receiving, if one's own eye is not open, one merely counts another's treasures; if the eye of wisdom does not open, how can one distinguish the source of the teachings? Such a person, therefore, does not know the true characteristic. Only when both hearing and wisdom are complete does one reach the origin of the true characteristic. If one is devoid of both hearing and wisdom, like the eyes of cattle and sheep, how could one distinguish the boundaries of the general and specific, the nature and characteristics of the myriad dharmas? A bodhisattva learning prajñā must not accept the reproach of being an ox in human form; a great being continuing the Buddha Vehicle, would they willingly submit to the ridicule of a bug eating wood? If one is a wise person, one must reflect three times. Therefore, not knowing the jewel of the mind-Buddha, one willingly dwells in the toil of the dusts; but as soon as one hears the source of the inherent awakening, one immediately ascends to the noble stages. As the Xianjie dingyi jing says: King of Joy Bodhisattva sat in quiet meditation for seven days; having passed the seven days, he went to the Buddha and inquired: 'Practicing what samādhi can one completely penetrate the eighty-four thousand Dharma gates of the pāramitās?' The Buddha told King of Joy: 'There is a samādhi gate named Understanding the Root of All Dharmas. When a bodhisattva practices it, they are able to penetrate all the Dharma gates of the pāramitās.' As for 'all the Dharma gates of the pāramitās': the Buddhas have three hundred and fifty merits, each and every merit having the cultivation of the six pāramitās as its cause. Explanation: The 'root of all dharmas' is just the citta of sentient beings. If it accords with a virtuous citta, it accomplishes the gates of the six pāramitās; if it accords with an unvirtuous citta, it makes the paths of the three destinies. Treating a pleasant realm as a state of suffering is entirely made by the citta; dwelling in hell and transforming it into a heavenly hall is wholly shifted by the citta. Either attaining Buddhahood in an instant, or sinking for eternal kalpas, depends solely on the power of the very first thought. Therefore it is said: 'Dharmas have no fixed characteristic, but merely follow the human citta.' Like the tree that responds to heavenly thoughts, turning according to heavenly wishes, its transformation can be said to show immediate proof, cause and effect appearing before one's eyes. Without moving a hair's breadth, it comprehensively fathoms the dharmadhātu—just like viewing boundless space through the crack of a window, or seeing a thousand-li reflection in a foot-wide mirror. Possessing such a marvel, the deluded do not know it, like seeing gold and taking it for a snake, or mistakenly grasping a jewel as gravel. Therefore, a verse in the Ghanavyūhasūtra says: / 'Just as an exquisite jewel / is held in contempt by a rustic, / yet if used to adorn the royal crown, / it is borne on the king's head; / just so is the ālayavijñāna: / it is the pure Buddha-nature. / In the station of ordinary beings it is ever defiled; / in the fruit of Buddhahood it is constantly preserved. / Like fine jade in water, / entangled and covered by moss, / the ālaya dwells in saṃsāra, / obscured by vāsanās and unmanifest. / In this ālayavijñāna, / there are the manifested marks of the two graspings; / like a snake with two heads, / it goes along with whatever it desires. / The ālaya is also like this, / occurring together with various forms and characteristics; / all the worlds / grasp it and consider it to be form. / Those of bad judgment are confused, / falsely conceiving it as self and mine; / whether existing or non-existing, / it freely makes the world. / Although the ālaya manifests transformations, / its essential nature is always profoundly deep; / among all people devoid of wisdom, / none can awaken to and understand it.' / Therefore, if one can awaken and understand, one will immediately perceive the moving citta: the myriad objects and myriad conditions all arise from this. If the citta does not move, all affairs are tranquil; entering the gate of true reality, one abides.

43.5.2

without discrimination. As a verse in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra says: / 'Whenever there is movement and turning of the mind, / these are all worldly conventions. / When arising and turning no longer occur, / one sees that the world is one's own mind. / What comes is the arising of events; / what goes is the ceasing of events. / Knowing coming and going as they truly are, / one no longer generates discrimination.' / Furthermore, if one clings to the view that the sūtras and treatises are useless, this turns out to render the holy ones' efforts completely in vain. Then the śrāvakas of superior virtue in the Western Land would have compiled the canon to no purpose, and why would the bodhisattvas of great expedient manifestation in this land have bothered to translate the sūtras? It would be like a person afflicted with a chronic disease having no need for wondrous medicine, or like someone lost on a perilous road having no use for a guide. A skilled physician will never treat a healthy person, nor will a guide lead someone who already knows the way. How could delicious delicacies be urged upon someone who is already full? Rare and precious gems will not necessarily move the mind of a person of integrity. Seeing or not seeing rests entirely on knowing in the mind; practicing or not practicing concerns only the secret [intention] of the intellect. Truly, I would not dare to hinder people of the highest capacity on account of myself. It is solely with the single mind of repaying the Buddha's kindness that I have briefly compiled and recorded this according to the teachings. Like the view through a narrow tube, it cannot measure the sky of meaning; like stolen light through a crack in the wall, how could it aid the sun of the Dharma? Now, obeying the benevolent injunction, the teachings contain explicit statements: naturally, a śramaṇa must possess the three kinds of giving. Among the three kinds of giving, the gift of Dharma comes first. The nature, characteristics, and extent of the mind-kings of these eight consciousnesses—from the supreme sages above down to the ordinary beings below—when investigated thoroughly from root to branch, are completely present in all. It is only in clarity and delusion that gain and loss seem to be divided. The sages comprehend it, turning it into the wondrous function of tathatā and establishing doors of Buddha-deeds to the end of future time. Sentient beings are deluded about it, turning it into kleśas and defilements, producing deeds of birth-and-death from beginningless time. In daily life, because they do not recognize it, they cannot distinguish between mind-kings and mental factors; how could they know inner defilement and outer defilement? It is like a person with eyes situated inside a dark room, or like one born blind dwelling amidst a treasure trove. Lacking the light of prajñā, by what means can one distinguish the real and recognize the false? Wanting the scrutiny of the eye of wisdom, how could one discern gems and search out pearls? Consequently, they take the false to be true and cling to permanence as annihilation. Doing what should not be done, they throw themselves onto the wheel of false suffering; thinking what should not be thought, they accumulate inverted bad karma. This is solely because they have not encountered transcendent companions of the Way and have not heard the unsurpassed, perfect exposition. Giving free rein to their own dispositions and indulging their own self-centered inclinations, they seize upon the temporary pleasure of a single lifetime, accumulating the lingering catastrophes of ten thousand kalpas. Day after day, hour after hour, they are unknowing and unaware; from birth to old age, they neither reflect nor contemplate. Born together with avidyā, they die together with avidyā. Going from one dark room, they cast themselves into another dark room; emerging from one wheel of suffering, they enter another wheel of suffering. Transgressing births through kalpas, they never have a day of rest. In this body and in other lives, when will there be a time of liberation? The original intent of the Mirror of the Source is precisely for this reason. Therefore, illuminating it like a mirror, what phenomenon is not made clear? Returning to it like the ocean, what river does not flow into it? If a room has been dark for a thousand years, breaking it requires only a single lamp; if there have been beginningless defilements, illuminating them requires only a single contemplation. Having faith and entering into this complete exposition and its principle, one's spirit remains unperturbed; clearly understanding the dharma-door of manifest reality, one does not exhaust one's mental power. If one still does not believe, one embraces confusion in vain. I earnestly charge future worthy ones not to lose the benefit of the Dharma. Therefore, a verse in the Lotus Sūtra says: / 'Not seeking the Buddha of great power, / nor the Dharma that cuts off suffering, / they deeply enter into various wrong views, / seeking to abandon suffering through suffering. / For the sake of these sentient beings, / I give rise to the mind of great compassion.' / Because they do not rely on the power of the vast majesty of genuine awakening and the power of the majestic virtue of the Dharma of mindful one mind, they grasp phenomena outside the mind, forming various wrong views. Taking arising and ceasing as the cause, they take arising and ceasing as the fruit. Originally seeking to escape birth-and-death, they instead multiply birth-and-death. For the sake of such beings, great compassion is aroused to pull out their false suffering. Because birth-and-death is the root of all suffering, even if one lives for a hundred years, it is still like a kṣaṇa: like a long wave flowing eastward, like the setting sun leaning to the west, like a spark struck from a stone, like a swift steed passing a crevice, like a faint lamp in the wind, like hanging dew on the tip of grass, like a decaying tree overhanging a cliff, like a flash of lightning that dazzles the eye. If one does not encounter the vast practice of the true Dharma, then one sinks down for ten thousand kalpas, born in vain and dying for nothing. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: / 'Furthermore, when a bodhisattva cultivates the contemplation of death, he observes this lifespan as constantly surrounded by countless enemies, diminishing from moment to moment without any increase, like a mountain torrent that cannot stop, and also like morning dew whose momentum does not last long; like a convict heading toward the execution ground, drawing closer to death with every step; like cattle and sheep being led to the slaughterhouse.' / Bodhisattva Kāśyapa said: 'World-Honoured One, how does a wise person contemplate destruction moment by moment?' / 'Good son, suppose four men, all skilled in the art of archery, gathered in one place and each shot an arrow toward one direction, all thinking: "Our four arrows will be released together and will fall together." Then suppose another person thought: "Before these four arrows fall, I can catch them all at once with my hands." Good son, could such a person be called swift or not?' / Bodhisattva Kāśyapa said: 'Yes, World-Honoured One.' / The Buddha said: 'Good son, an earth-walking ghost is swifter than this man. A flying ghost is swifter than an earth-walking ghost. The Four Heavenly Kings are swifter than a flying ghost. The sun and moon devas are swifter than the Four Heavenly Kings. The devas of firm swiftness are swifter than the sun and moon. The lifespan of sentient beings is swifter than the devas of firm swiftness. Good son, in a single breath and a single blink of an eye, the lifespan of sentient beings undergoes four hundred arisings and ceasings. If a wise person can contemplate life like this, this is called being able to contemplate destruction moment by moment. Good son, a wise person contemplates life as bound to the King of Death. If I can escape such a King of Death, then I will forever cut off impermanent lifespan. Furthermore, a wise person contemplates this lifespan as like a large tree overhanging a steep riverbank; also like a person who has committed a heinous crime and, when subjected to execution, finds no one to have pity on him; like a lion king when severely famished; also like a venomous serpent when inhaling a great wind; and like a thirsty horse when jealously guarding water.'

43.5.3

“…just as when a great evil ghost gives rise to wrath, so too is the King of Death of sentient beings. Good sons, if a wise person can practice such contemplation, this is called cultivating and accumulating the perception of death. Good sons, the wise person further contemplates: ‘Now that I have left home, even if I should gain a lifespan of seven days and seven nights, during this time I ought to diligently cultivate the Path, uphold and protect the prohibitive precepts, expound the Dharma to teach and transform, and benefit sentient beings.’ This is called a wise person cultivating the perception of death. Further, taking seven days and seven nights as too long: ‘If I gain six days, five days, four days, three days, two days, one day, one hour, or even the space of an out-breath and an in-breath, during this time I ought to diligently cultivate the Path, uphold and protect the prohibitive precepts, expound the Dharma to teach and transform, and benefit sentient beings.’ This is called a wise person skillfully cultivating the perception of death.” Furthermore, in the Liang dynasty there was an eminent monk. In response to an imperial invitation to a hundred venerable elders to test those who possessed the Path, when they were invited to the court gate, one hundred armored soldiers were fully deployed, with flags and banners dazzling in the sun, to frighten the hundred elders. Ninety-nine of them were startled and fled; only one elder was without fear. The king asked the master, “Why are you not afraid?” The monk replied, saying, “What is there to fear? From the time I was first born as an infant, moment by moment, thought by thought, I have already been dying.” Therefore we know that the painstaking mind of all buddhas and the vowed resolve of the bodhisattvas in saving sentient beings are poignant like this. One must mutually warn and spur each other on, and must not dilly-dally and procrastinate even for a moment. Moreover, taking birth within the triple realm, one has not escaped the place of death; freshly born, freshly perishing, revolving in saṃsāra thought by thought. Even granted the glory of the five desires of the Heavenly Lord or the wealth of the seven treasures of a wheel-turning king, when good fortune arrives and fate aligns, the delight is only momentary; when retribution is exhausted and conditions end, the sorrow and grief are long-lasting. When things reach their extreme, they reverse; cause and effect requite each other. Bound within karma, who can be exempt? Therefore the *Dharmadhātu Admonition* says: “Do not say there is no fear; its disaster boils like a cauldron. Do not say there is no harm; its disaster lasts long.” How could that compare to returning to the origin in a single thought, perpetuating and magnifying the buddha-seed, not forgetting to benefit creatures thought by thought, and according with the Path step by step? In ultimate convergence, nothing takes precedence over the Mirror of the Source. Therefore the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* says: “Sons of the Buddha, this bodhisattva-mahāsattva further gives rise, toward all sentient beings, to the mind of benefiting, the mind of bringing peace and happiness, the mind of loving-kindness, the mind of compassion, the mind of sympathetic pity, the mind of gathering in, the mind of safeguarding, the mind of regarding them as oneself, the mind of a teacher, and the mind of a great teacher. He conceives this thought: ‘Sentient beings are pitiable, falling into wrong views, evil wisdom, evil desires, and the dense forest of evil destinies. I ought to cause them to abide in right view and practice the true path.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings discriminate between that and this, destroy each other, and their quarreling, contention, anger, and hatred flare unceasingly. I shall cause them to abide in unsurpassed great loving-kindness.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings are insatiably greedy in grasping, seeking only wealth and profit, sustaining their lives through wrong livelihood. I shall cause them to abide in the Dharma of right livelihood through pure bodily, verbal, and mental karma.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings constantly follow the three poisons; various kleśas flare up on account of them, and they do not understand or resolve to seek the skillful means for the essentials of escape. I shall cause them to extinguish the great fire of all kleśas and place them in the cool, refreshing state of nirvāṇa.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings are covered by the heavy darkness of moha and the thick film of false views; thus entering the dense forest of obscurations, they lose the light of prajñā, travel along the perilous paths of the wilderness, and give rise to various evil views. I shall cause them to attain the unobstructed, pure eye of wisdom, to know the true characteristic of all dharmas, and not to follow the teachings of others.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings are upon the perilous path of birth and death, about to fall into hells, animals, and hungry ghosts, entering the net of evil views, confused by the dense forest of moha, following false paths, and carrying out inverted practices. They are just like blind people who have no guide; regarding what is not the path of essential escape as the path of essential escape, they enter the realm of Māra, are gathered in by evil bandits, accord with the mind of Māra, and stay far away from the intention of the Buddha. I shall pull them out from such perils and difficulties and cause them to abide in the fearless City of Sarvajñā.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings are submerged by the waves of a great torrent, entering the stream of desire, the stream of existence, the stream of avidyā, and the stream of views, swept along by the whirlpool of birth and death, drifted and turned by the river of craving, surging and rushing swiftly without leisure to observe; they are pursued without relent by thoughts of sensual desire, thoughts of malice, and thoughts of harm; the rākṣasa of personality view grasps them therein and brings them forever into the dense forest of craving and desire; toward what they crave, they give rise to deep attachment, dwelling on the highlands of pride and settling in the villages of the six sense bases, with no good savior and no one capable of ferrying them across. I shall give rise to the mind of great compassion toward them, rescue them by means of all roots of goodness, cause them to be free from calamities and afflictions, to be tranquil and free from defilement, and to abide on the treasure island of all wisdom.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings are in the prison of the world, full of many afflictions, constantly harboring love and hatred, naturally giving rise to grief and dread, bound by the heavy shackles of greedy desire, and covered and obstructed by the dense forest of avidyā; within the triple realm, none can get out on their own. I shall cause them to be forever free from the three existences and abide in unobstructed great nirvāṇa.’ He further conceives this thought: ‘All sentient beings grasp at a self, make a cavernous dwelling of the aggregates, do not seek deliverance, rely upon the empty villages of the six sense bases, give rise to the four inverted practices, are troubled and afflicted by the four great poisonous serpents, and are murdered by the hostile bandits of the five aggregates, suffering immeasurable pain. I shall cause them to abide in the supreme place of non-attachment—namely, extinguishing all obstacles and abiding in unsurpassed nirvāṇa.’” Therefore, as the above sūtra says: “I shall cause them to abide in right view and practice the true path”; and further says: “place them in the cool, refreshing state of nirvāṇa”; and further says: “cause them to know the true characteristic of all dharmas and not to follow the teachings of others”; and further says: “cause them to abide in the fearless City of Sarvajñā”; and further says: “abide on the treasure island of all wisdom”; and further says: “cause them to abide in the supreme place of non-attachment.” Hence we know that sentence by sentence, all point back and return to the Mirror of the Source. Why is this?

43.5.4

If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is right view, because it is free from inversions. The *Laṅkāvatārasūtra* says: “Seeing dharmas outside the mind is called heterodoxy.” If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is nirvāṇa, because it is free from birth and death. A treatise says: “When there are dharmas outside the mind, there is the cycle of birth and death; if one understands the one mind, birth and death are severed forever.” If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is the true characteristic, because it is free from falsehood. The *Lotus Sūtra* says: “Only this one thing is real; the other two are not true.” If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is the City of Wisdom, because it is free from moha. The *Viśeṣacintibrahmaparipṛcchāsūtra* says: “Being ignorant regarding the aggregates, dhātus, and āyatanas, one yet wishes to seek bodhi; the aggregates, dhātus, and āyatanas are precisely it; apart from these, there is no bodhi.” If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is the treasure island, because it possesses the wealth of the Dharma. The *Huayan Treatise* says: “Where is the treasure island? It is precisely the minds of sentient beings.” If one awakens to one’s own citta, that is the supreme place of non-attachment, because it is free from the characteristic of abiding. If one posits dharmas outside the mind, then attachment arises wherever one is. The *Lotus Sūtra* says: “Pulling out sentient beings from their greedy attachments in all places.” The *Vajracchedikā-sūtra* says: “If a bodhisattva practices giving with a mind that does not abide in dharmas, it is like a person with eyes when the sunlight shines brightly, seeing various colors.” Thus we know that when the eye of the mind is opened and clear, the sun of wisdom shines everywhere, the light engulfs the myriad phenomena, and the dharmadhātu is completely illumined. How could there still be even a single fine speck of dust to serve as an obscuration? In this way, then, the empty mind is unmoved and complete with the six pāramitās. Why is this? If one does not see a single speck of dust, there is nothing to grasp; if there is nothing to grasp, there is also nothing to give: this is the meaning of giving (dāna), this is the meaning of great renunciation. Therefore a sūtra says: “To have nothing to give is named giving.” In this way, stinginess and giving are of the same kind, and taking and abandoning are equal; if one does not return to the Mirror of the Source, by what could this be determined? As the song of Master Yibo says: “In stinginess there is giving; in giving there is stinginess; not apart from the internal, the external, and the middle. There is neither stinginess nor giving; quiet and deserted, there is nothing to grasp.” Also, the *Song of Awakening to the Way* says: “In silence there is speaking; in speaking there is silence; the gate of great giving opens without obstruction. If someone asks me what source I understand, I report that it is the power of mahāprajñā.” Furthermore, if one does not see a single speck of dust, there is neither upholding nor violating [precepts]; therefore it is said: “If you seek precepts for the three poisons, when will the sores and wounds heal? Disgraceful conditions are like turtle hair; a mind of endurance cannot be found. The mind of energetic striving does not arise; there is no dharma to serve as a remedy. Internal and external minds do not arise; concentration and distraction both have nowhere to lodge.” All enter anutpattikadharmakṣānti; all become gates of prajñā.

43.6

Question: The great purports of our source are known as soon as a thought is raised. Why wait to expound and display them, exhausting the spirit in writing and composing?

43.7

Answer: All activities are nothing other than the work of the Buddha; all are capable of awakening to the Way, and all are entryways. Therefore, in the Buddha-land of Samantabhadra, staring with fixed eyes serves as the work of the Buddha; in Jambudvīpa, sounds serve as the work of the Buddha; up to mountains, seas, pavilions, terraces, clothing, food, drinks, speech and silence, motion and stillness—in their distinct characteristics and activities, when each and every one brings forth the source, all enter the dharmadhātu. One simply accords with conditions to realize the wondrousness of the substance, and confronting objects, recognizes the mind; even seeing forms and hearing sounds can both bring realization of the fruit. Fluttering flowers and clinking bracelets are all entirely capable of lodging the spirit. As a treatise says: There was a king who observed fluttering flowers and moving leaves, thereby attaining the state of a pratyekabuddha. As for the clinking bracelets, a meditation sūtra says: A king ordered palace women to massage his body; because the clinking of their bangles and bracelets was noisy, he had them gradually reduce the bracelets until only one remained, whereupon there was no more sound. Through reflecting that this sound arose from causes and conditions, he was awakened as a pratyekabuddha. It is also like the monkey who saw a pratyekabuddha sitting in meditation; later in another place, seeing various non-Buddhists practicing various austerities, it taught the non-Buddhists to sit cross-legged, hold their mouths with their hands, and close their eyes. The non-Buddhists sighed in admiration, saying, 'There must be a superior teaching [here].' The non-Buddhists accepted the instruction, and all realized the state of a pratyekabuddha. Thus we know that as long as one follows the teaching and practices—relying on the Dharma and not on persons—there is none who does not realize the fruit. Only those who lack faith are excluded, whom even a thousand Buddhas cannot save. As the Avataṃsakasūtra says: Faith is like hands; if a person has hands, upon reaching a place of rare treasures, they gather them at will. If they lack hands, they come away empty-handed with nothing obtained. In the same way, those who enter the Buddhadharma have hands of faithful mind, gathering the treasures of the Dharma of the Way at will. If they lack a faithful mind, they obtain nothing in emptiness. As the ancients said: 'A person without the Way is like a cart without an axle; a cart without an axle cannot be harnessed, and a person without the Way cannot proceed.' It is also said: 'The gentleman has no close associates who do not share the same Way.' How could one solely adopt a slighting attitude of emptiness and not diligently seek the ultimate Way? This Record of the Mirror of the Source is a collection of rare treasures, able to obtain the unexcelled great bodhi Dharma-jewel of all Buddhas and all inconceivable merits; hence it is a pure collection, for it is free from the defilements of the sixty-two wrong views and the turbidities of the eighty-four thousand kleśas. It can fulfill all the wishes of sentient beings and purify the minds of all sentient beings. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: This prajñāpāramitā is not attached even to ultimate emptiness, nor is it attached to the inconceivable; therefore it is named a pure collection. At that time, Subhūti should have thought: This prajñāpāramitā is a collection of rare treasures, able to fulfill all the wishes of sentient beings—namely the happiness of this present world, the happiness of nirvāṇa, and the happiness of anuttarāsamyaksaṃbodhi. Yet foolish people again wish to destroy it. This prajñāpāramitā is a pure collection, like a wish-fulfilling jewel without blemish or impurity, further like empty space without dust or defilement. Prajñāpāramitā is ultimately a pure collection; yet people themselves give rise to the causes and conditions of wrong views, wishing to create obstacles and destroy it. For example, a person with cataracts in their eyes sees a wondrous rare treasure and calls it impure. Thus we know that flowers in the sky arise from diseased eyes, while the sky is originally without flowers; wrong views arise from a deluded mind, while the Dharma is originally without views. Furthermore, if with an evil mind of disbelief one wishes to disparage and destroy the correct meaning of prajñā in the Mirror of the Source, one will only bring upon oneself the sin of slander; how could the wondrous purport suffer any loss? It is like a person parrying a spear with their bare hand: they only injure their own hand, while the spear suffers no damage. Indeed, when prajñā is spoken of, the blessing is great, but slandering it also incurs profound sin. If one follows emotional sentiments and understands erroneously, up to and including disbelief and the like, all constitute slander. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: I now speak the Viyākaraṇa Treatise for the śrāvaka disciples and others—namely, that the Tathāgata remains constantly without changing. If anyone says that the Tathāgata is impermanent, how could that person's tongue not fall to the ground? If one can possess right faith and a perfect understanding without deviation, then every realm and all of space will be equally a wondrous realization. In the Śūraṅgama assembly, the Buddha told Ānanda: The Tathāgatas of the ten directions, practicing on each of the eighteen dhātus, all attained the consummation of unexcelled bodhi; between them there is neither superior nor inferior. It is only that you are inferior, unable to consummate sovereign wisdom among them; therefore I proclaim [this] to make you enter deeply through a single gate. Entering one without falsity, those six cognitive faculties are purified simultaneously. Thus, Kauṇḍinya was awakened to the Way through sound; Upaniṣad was awakened to the Way through form; the youth Gandhavat was awakened to the Way through scent; up to Ākāśagarbha Bodhisattva who was awakened to the Way through empty space. Thus we know that one's own nature pervades all places; all are paths of entry. How could it be confined to a single gate, so that one exclusively relies on the ignorance of a gnat and conversely relies on the capacity of a wren? Moreover, the Dharma has neither slowness nor swiftness, but views have shallowness and depth; each gate of obstruction depends on its own lightness or heaviness. Thus Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī's verse says: / In returning to the origin, the nature is not two; / Yet expedient means have many gates. / The nature of the sage is unobstructed everywhere; / Conforming or reversing are all expedient means. / When beginners enter samādhi, / Slowness and swiftness are not of the same order. / Within this Record of the Mirror of the Source, all are the inconceivable Dharma-gates of great majestic virtue of the Buddhas of the ten directions. Like the blazing disc of the sun, how could it be looked upon by an infant? Like a high and lofty Dharma-seat, it cannot be mounted by the short and base. Only Mañjuśrī the great personage, Samantabhadra the eldest son, and those of the highest faculties can be capable of this. As the Huayan lun says: King Prabhāsa entered the samādhi headed by the bodhisattva's great compassion, manifesting the beneficial sovereignty of the functioning of his compassionate mind in order to let later practitioners emulate it, so as to clarify that unattached wisdom enters into the minds of all sentient beings, having the same substance with them without a different nature. The sentient and the insentient are completely identical in substance. Due to the karma induced by entering this samādhi, he caused all sentient beings, as well as forests and gushing springs, to all flow toward him, all lower their branches, and all bow their heads; yakṣas and rākṣasas all ceased their evils. This clarifies that wisdom follows all sentient beings, having the same function with them in one single nature without duality. Just as an earthly monarch possesses compassion toward people, dragon spirits submit in obedience, and phoenixes gather and qilin soar; how much more so with humans—how could they not turn to him in reverence? How much more so for this King Prabhāsa, whose wisdom penetrated the true origin, whose practice equaled the dharmadhātu, who was headed by a compassionate mind, whose spirit united with all sentient creatures, who shared the same light with all things, and who served as the root and branch of all existence! Like a mani jewel sharing the color of an object while its original color is not violated; like sage wisdom having no mind of its own, taking the mind of things as its mind without violating things. This clarifies that the great compassionate mind of identical substance functions together with things, manifesting a physical body before them to cause them to be enlightened. Therefore, mountains, plains, and all grasses and trees all turned toward the king in homage; ponds, pools, springs, wells, and rivers and oceans all surged, overflowed, and poured before the king—because in the realm of wisdom and great compassion, the Dharma inherently functions like this. If it were a realm transformed by the emotional consciousness of sentient beings, sentient beings could not do this. Just as the realms within the Lotus Treasury World all perform the work of the Buddha because they are the realm of wisdom and not produced by emotion, so the sage uses wisdom to integrate emotion, causing the insentient grasses, trees, mountains, springs, rivers, and oceans obtained as retribution by sentient beings to all turn in accord with wisdom, taking the branches as the root. Just as in the mundane world, when someone has devotion and filial piety in their heart, a frozen pond surges with fish and winter bamboo sprouts shoots—even mundane things are still like this; how much more so for true wisdom that follows compassion? Thus we know that if one attains the wondrous function of the dharmadhātu, how could its function ever be exhausted? Arising dependently from within the true nature, nothing that arises is not wondrous; then there is no principle that is not phenomenon. The Buddhadharma is precisely mundane dharmas; how could one select the right and reject the wrong? There is no phenomenon that is not principle; mundane dharmas are precisely the Buddhadharma; why must one reject the secular and exalt the true? It is only because they have not entered the Mirror of the Source that their objects and wisdom have not vanished; giving rise to dream-like thoughts, distinct dharmas appear before them; producing flame-like notions, disparate paths encounter each other in response. This leads to grasping and rejecting, which runs contrary to the perfect and eternal. Therefore, that they cannot view clamor and stillness as identical, nor transform good and evil alike, is only because they have not yet heard the Mirror of the Source.

43.8

Question: Why not rely on one's own Chan tradition and tread the correct path of the profound study: simply being unattached in all places, freely roaming and giving oneself over to conditions, with non-action and non-cultivation, naturally tallying with the Way? Why must one constrain the mind and narrow the resolve, subservient to meanings and lost in texts? This may be called abandoning stillness to seek clamor, disliking identity and liking difference.

43.9

Answer: In recent times, those who succeed one another do not consult the ancient teachings; they rely exclusively on their own personal views and do not accord with the perfect explanations. Some claim awakening through conceptual understanding and emotional transmission; or if they obtain absorption, they cling to ignorance and have dark realization. Therefore later students make errors and do not receive the transmission from teachers. In the teachings of the former sages, each of these has already been analyzed and refuted. As for what was said about 'being unattached in all places': Ānanda knew far in advance that in the Dharma-ending age people would all fall into this foolishness; in the Śūraṅgama assembly, he manifested doubt and gave rise to attachment, and the unexcelled King of Awakening personally scolded and refuted it. The Śūraṅgamasūtra says: Ānanda addressed the Buddha, saying: 'World-Honoured One, formerly I saw the Buddha, together with the four great disciples Mahāmaudgalyāyana, Subhūti, Pūrṇa, and Śāriputra, turning the wheel of the Dharma together. You constantly said that the cognitive and discerning nature of mind is neither inside nor outside nor in between—it is nowhere at all; being unattached to anything is named mind. Then would my lack of attachment be named mind or not?' The Buddha told Ānanda: 'You say that the cognitive and discerning nature of mind is nowhere at all. The mundane world's empty space, water, land, flying creatures, and all forms of things are named everything. Does that to which you are unattached exist or not? If it does not exist, it is the same as tortoise hair or rabbit horns; how could there be non-attachment? If there is non-attachment, it cannot be called non-existent. Without characteristics it is non-existent; if it is not non-existent, it has characteristics. If characteristics exist, then it is present; how could there be non-attachment? Therefore you should know: to say that non-attachment to everything is named the cognitive mind is without basis.' Furthermore, what was spoken of as 'freely roaming and giving oneself over to conditions' is still counted among the four defects in the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment. The Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment says: 'Good sons, the wondrous Dharma realized by that good spiritual friend should be free from the four defects. What are the four defects? The first is the defect of action: if a person speaks like this: "In my fundamental mind I practice various actions, wishing to seek complete enlightenment"—because that nature of complete enlightenment cannot be attained by action, this is called a defect. The second is the defect of letting go: if a person speaks like this: "We now do not cut off saṃsāra, nor do we seek nirvāṇa; regarding nirvāṇa and saṃsāra, we have no thoughts of arising or ceasing; we let everything be and accord with the nature of various dharmas, wishing to seek complete enlightenment"—because that nature of complete enlightenment does not exist through letting go, this is called a defect. The third is the defect of stopping: if a person speaks like this: "My own mind now permanently stills all thoughts, attaining the tranquil equality of all natures, wishing to seek complete enlightenment"—because that nature of complete enlightenment does not tally with stopping, this is called a defect. The fourth is the defect of extinction: if a person speaks like this: "I now permanently cut off all kleśas, and body and mind are ultimately empty and non-existent; how much more so for the false realms of faculties and dusts, which are all permanently tranquil, wishing to seek complete enlightenment"—because that nature of complete enlightenment is not a characteristic of tranquility, this is called a defect. Those who are free from the four defects will know purity. To practice this contemplation is called right contemplation; if one practices another contemplation, it is called wrong contemplation.' As stated above, not only does forming an understanding of non-attachment and letting oneself be guided by conditions fall into wrong contemplation, but even giving rise to a mind of tranquil and hidden accord still abides in the conceptual domain.

First 12 of 18 passages. Read on

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宗鏡錄 — Classical Chinese