宗鏡錄 66.16

66.16

Answer: 'The mind does not go and does not abide, yet it can know. As it is said in the Prajñā[pāramitāsūtra], all dharmas are devoid of the characteristics of coming and going. How could one say that the mind has coming and going? If it had coming and going, it would fall into the view of permanence. Dharmas have no fixed characteristics; knowing that the mind does not abide is the characteristic of impermanence. When fetters have not yet been severed, [the thought of] "I" and "mine" may arise, reflecting in this way: "If the mind is impermanent, who knows this mind? To whom does the mind belong? Who is the master of the mind that receives suffering and pleasure? To whom do all things belong?" One then discriminates and knows that there is no separate master; merely upon the five skandhas one conceives the characteristic of a person and generates the mind of a self. Because of the mind of a self, "mine" arises. Because the mind of "mine" arises, one generates greed toward what benefits oneself, and generates anger toward what opposes oneself. Defilements such as craving are conventionally designated as "binding." If by cultivating the path one unties this binding and attains liberation, this is called nirvāṇa. There is no other dharma called nirvāṇa. It is like a person who, upon being freed from shackles, engages in frivolous debate: "These are shackles, these are legs; which one is liberation?" Such a person is absurd, seeking liberation apart from the legs and shackles. Sentient beings are also like this, seeking liberation apart from the cessation of the five skandhas. Therefore, know that where there is consciousness, there is bondage; where there is no consciousness, there is liberation. If one seeks liberation separately apart from the emptiness of the five skandhas, it is like leaving the space of this place to seek space elsewhere. Hence the Viśeṣacintabrahmaparipṛcchāsūtra says: "Foolish about the skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas, / Yet wishing to seek bodhi; / The skandhas, dhātus, and āyatanas are precisely it— / Apart from these, there is no bodhi."'