宗鏡錄 43.5
English (machine translation) 43.5
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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.
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- 宗鏡錄 — Classical Chinese