宗鏡錄 43.5.3

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?