宗鏡錄 66.30.3

66.30.3

Now, merely investigate within the internal, external, and the three times, and naturally there will be no self and no consciousness. As for investigating internally and externally: suppose one grasps that consciousness truly exists within the body—what then is consciousness? If you say that bodily parts such as skin, flesh, sinews, and bones are consciousness, these are the earth element. If you say that semen, blood, urine, feces, and so forth are consciousness, these are the water element. If you say that the warm sensation in the body is consciousness, this is the fire element. If you say that bending, turning, bowing, looking up, talking, and responding are consciousness, these are the wind element. Setting aside the four great elements, there is only the space element. What is consciousness? Since each separately lacks it, how could it exist in their combination? Just as pressing a single grain of sand yields no oil, how could combining many grains of sand produce it? Just as a single dog is not a lion, gathering a pack of dogs likewise produces none. When these four great elements are currently investigated, they have no substantial entity; this is internal emptiness. After death, each returns to the external four great elements, each and every one returning to emptiness; this is external emptiness. Both internal and external are empty, and the nature of consciousness has no basis. Furthermore, since internal investigation reveals no consciousness, should it be external? What is external belongs to other bodies, which naturally lack a master [in oneself], and is identical to empty space—what discrimination could it possess? Since the internal and external are already empty, how could there be an intermediate? Because the intermediate is established on the basis of the internal and external, merely refute the internal and external and the intermediate is spontaneously void. If consciousness is empty internally and externally, should it reside in the times of the mind? Why? It is because of the three times that consciousness is discerned, and it is because of consciousness that the three times are established. If there were no consciousness, who would divide the three times? If there were no three times, how could consciousness be elucidated? With these three consciousnesses: if one is not thinking of the past, then one is imagining the future; when the past and future are not conditioned upon, one abides in the present. Apart from the three boundaries of time, there is no further consciousness. Therefore an ancestral master said: "When not a single thought arises, the anterior and posterior boundaries are severed." Now, thought after thought constitutes the three times; thought after thought, consciousness does not abide; thought after thought is merely wind; thought after thought lacks a master. Therefore the Vajracchedikā-sūtra says: "The past mind cannot be apprehended; the future mind cannot be apprehended; the present mind cannot be apprehended." Because the past is established on the basis of the present, and the future is established on the basis of the past. Since the present does not abide, the past and future are also unarisen. Inquiring into one another, both are absent; they are thoroughly empty and quiescent. Whatever slight arising there may be, all is born from consciousness. Now that it is investigated and found to be absent, discrimination spontaneously ceases. Once discrimination has ceased, the objective realm has nothing upon which to rely. Just as waves arise reliant on water and images appear reliant on a mirror: without water, waves do not arise; without a mirror, images are not produced. Therefore one knows that it does not pertain to phenomena existing or phenomena not existing; it is merely that consciousness arises and consciousness ceases. As a verse in the Vajrasamādhi-sūtra says: "Phenomena arise from discrimination / And also cease from discrimination. / Ceasing these various discriminations, / These phenomena are neither arising nor ceasing." Thoroughly penetrating in this way, the sense faculties and objects are completely opened up. One's own awakening being already illumined, one can further universally illuminate to benefit others. Therefore a sūtra verse says: "Ultimately free from falsity, / Unstained like empty space, / The pure, wondrous dharmakāya / Serenely responds to everything." Therefore, worldly people are coarse and superficial; they do not examine their own bodies closely. Not practicing the wondrous contemplation, their eye of wisdom is completely blind; grasping the false, they are confused about the real, taking emptiness to be existence. If one can contemplate well, one will equal all the sages. As the Sūtra of Complete Enlightenment says: "At that time the World-Honoured One said to Samantacakṣus Bodhisattva: 'Good man, you are able to ask the Tathāgata on behalf of the bodhisattvas and the sentient beings of the end time about the gradual stages of practice, the reflection and maintenance [of mind], and even the expedient means provisionally spoken in various ways. Listen attentively now; I shall speak for you.' Then Samantacakṣus Bodhisattva, delighted to receive the teaching, listened in silence along with the great assembly. 'Good man, if those newly learning bodhisattvas and sentient beings of the end time wish to seek the Tathāgata's pure mind of complete enlightenment, they should maintain right mindfulness and remain far from all illusions. They should first rely on the Tathāgata's practice of śamatha: firmly uphold the prohibitions and precepts, settle serenely among disciples, sit quietly in a pure chamber, and constantly produce this thought: "This body of mine is a combination of the four great elements. Namely, hair, nails, and teeth; skin, flesh, sinews, and bones; marrow, brain, and impure forms all return to earth. Spittle, snot, pus, and blood; saliva, moisture, phlegm, tears, semen, vital energy, urine, and feces all return to water. Warmth returns to fire. Movement returns to wind. When the four great elements have each separated, where will this present illusory body be?" One immediately knows that this body ultimately has no substance; its combination is merely a characteristic, truly identical to an illusion or transformation. In the provisional combination of the four conditions, the six sense faculties falsely exist. The six sense faculties and the four great elements combine internally and externally; conditioned energies falsely exist, accumulating therein, appearing to have conditioned characteristics, provisionally called "citta." Good man, if this false mind lacks the six sense dusts, it cannot exist. When the four great elements disperse and decompose, no dust can be apprehended. The conditioned dusts therein each return to dispersal and extinction; ultimately there is no conditioned mind to be seen. Good man, because the illusory body of that sentient being ceases, the illusory mind also ceases. Because the illusory mind ceases, the illusory dust also ceases. Because the illusory dust ceases, the illusory cessation also ceases. Because the illusory cessation ceases, that which is not illusory does not cease. It is like polishing a mirror: when the dirt is exhausted, the clarity appears. Good man, you should know that body and mind are both illusory dirt. When the marks of dirt are eternally extinguished, the ten directions are pure. Good man, it is like a pure maṇi jewel that reflects the five colours, appearing respectively according to the direction. Foolish people see that maṇi jewel as truly possessing the five colours. Good man, the pure nature of complete enlightenment appears in the body and mind, responding respectively according to the type [of being]. Those foolish people say that the pure complete enlightenment truly has such self-characteristics of body and mind; it is just like this. Due to this, they cannot be far from illusions and transformations. For this reason I say that body and mind are illusory dirt. In contrast to being free from illusory dirt, one is called a "bodhisattva." When the dirt is exhausted and the contrast is eliminated, then there is no contrasting dirt nor one who speaks the name.' Good man, because this bodhisattva and sentient beings of the end time realize the extinction of all illusory images, at that time they immediately attain boundaryless purity. Boundless empty space is manifested by enlightenment. Because enlightenment is completely bright, it manifests the purity of the mind. Because the mind is pure, the dust of seeing is pure. Because seeing is pure, the eye faculty is pure."