宗鏡錄 43.5.2

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.'