宗鏡錄 49.57

49.57

Answer: This consciousness does not preserve its own nature; when it changes in accordance with conditions, it appears to have transmigration, but in reality there is no arising or ceasing, nor going or coming. It is like clear water giving rise to bubbles: the bubbles are entirely water; like flowers arising in the sky: the flowers are entirely empty space. The nature of consciousness has never come or gone; when has empty space ever arisen or ceased? As Master Mazu said: "If, regarding the places walked in this life, one's own fields, houses, places, parents, siblings, and so forth, one gives rise to a thought and sees them, this mind originally did not go. Do not say that seeing those things means the mind went. The nature of mind originally has no coming or going, nor arising or ceasing. The places walked, one's own parents, relatives, and so on that are seen now: because they were seen in the past, they are all remembered and held in the mind within the eighth storehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna); it is not that the present mind goes there. It is also called the seed consciousness, and also called the storehouse consciousness, storing what was seen in the past. The nature of consciousness is empty and open; moment by moment it sees by itself, which is called the consciousness that revisits the old, and also called the flowing stream of saṃsāra. This, moment by moment, separates of itself; there is no need to sever or extinguish it. If one extinguishes this mind, that is called severing the lineage of the Buddha. This mind originally is the substance of tathatā, the profound tathāgatagarbha, yet it is together with the seven consciousnesses." Mahāsattva Fu said: "The nature of mind neither comes nor goes; / Transmigrating in cognitive conditioning, it truly does not stop." Furthermore, because the mind has no location, it is said "it does not stop." The substance of mind truly has no coming or going. The places walked in the past are clearly known and seen; its nature is spontaneously empty and open, its substance has no going or staying. There is no need to eliminate or extinguish this mind. If one recognizes this mind, it is originally the body of the Buddha; there is no need to fear that it exists now. People who do not recognize the mind take this to be delusion and spend all day eliminating and extinguishing it, yet it cannot be extinguished. Even if it could be extinguished and one realized the fruit of a śrāvaka, it would still not be ultimate. It is just as with the events of the past buddhas for kalpas like the sands of the Ganges: seeing them is like today. The nature of tathatā is wondrously penetrating and unobstructed, illuminating and functioning without limits; it cannot be equated with inanimate things. Buddha-nature is a living thing; it cannot be inert and without awareness. It is just without mental measure: various operations and actions are like an illusion, like a transformation, like a mechanical wooden marionette; ultimately there is no mental measure. In all places there is no attachment or bondage, no staying or grasping, no seeking. In all times, not a single phenomenon can be attained.