宗鏡錄 69.33.5

69.33.5

It is like when a person is afraid, non-humans take advantage of them. The Tathāgata attained the elemental nature of fire; the fire of the three realms cannot burn him. The Tathāgata himself produced the fire of wisdom to cremate [his body into] relics; this fire was so fierce that the great disciples could not put it out with water, and even the dragon kings could not quench it. Only Śakra, lord of the devas, said: 'By the power of my original vow alone have I been able to quench it.' Although there is the elemental nature of fire, it does not burn itself, just as a knife can cut, but cannot cut itself, and an eye can see, but cannot see itself. As the nature of the fire element is mind only, so too is the nature of the seven elements. In accord with the mind, they all pervade the dharmadhātu. The dharmadhātu is originally pervasive; it is due to the grasping mind that it cannot pervade. In the three realms, for instance, the divine eyes of the three vehicles cannot pervade it at all; only the Tathāgata is free from grasping, and his nature accords with true emptiness, and so he can completely pervade it. As the Buddha himself said in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra: 'Because I am free from grasping, I have attained the true golden body, with a round halo constantly appearing.' / As for the fire burning the heavenly shrine: once there was a fisherman who saw a princess passing by the river. A lustful mind arose in him, but yearning [for her], he could not obtain her, and his body gradually became emaciated and sick. His mother then asked the cause of the illness and made an expedient device for him, sending one carp every day. The princess was surprised and questioned her, and the mother told the story directly. [The princess] then agreed, saying: 'When I go to worship at the heavenly shrine, I will secretly meet him.' The son was delighted upon knowing this. Later, when the princess arrived, she saw the fisherman fast asleep; she shook him, but he did not wake up, so she tied a piece of silk to his hand. After the princess departed, the fisherman awoke. Seeing the silk on his hand, he realized the princess had come, and remorse and longing arose in his heart. The fire of desire within his mind burned inward; his own body rotted and was destroyed, and it also burned the heavenly shrine, leaving the chambers completely consumed. / Therefore, whatever phenomena exist in the three realms are nothing outside of consciousness. They are all formed internally and externally from the four elements, and are entirely the false transformations of the one mind. Why is this? Initially, due to non-enlightenment, there is karmic consciousness (karmavijñāna). Due to movement resulting from karmic consciousness, there is transforming consciousness (pravṛttivijñāna). Due to seeing arising from transforming consciousness, there is manifesting consciousness (ākhyātavijñāna). Due to the darśanabhāga, the nimittabhāga is formed. The moment subject and object separate, mind and objects instantly manifest. / An ancient commentary on the Śūraṅgamasūtra states: 'To illuminate delusion as not other [than oneself], taking awareness and brightness as the fault.' The six consciousnesses grasping sense objects is initiated by karmic consciousness. Later, the seventh consciousness grasps the brightness within the eighth consciousness, transforming and giving rise to the external four elements. The four elements give rise to the six sense faculties and objects. The six sense faculties and objects give rise to the six consciousnesses. The six consciousnesses rely on the six faculties and objects; because form exists externally, it inwardly draws out the eye faculty and the rest. / 'To illuminate delusion as not other [than oneself]': delusion initially occurs because wind arises from the movement of one's own mind, metal from grasping, water from attachment, and fire from seeking. These are all the four elements transformed and produced by one's own mind, which in turn discriminates them itself, binding karma and receiving birth; hence it is not burdened by another. / 'Taking awareness and brightness as the fault': it is a fault to forcefully cognize the originally bright substance; it is cognition-brightness without knowledge, and bright cognition with knowledge. For example, when a human sees impurity, an attitude of revulsion arises through discrimination; but when a pig or dog sees it, an idea of purity arises. Both are due to the avidyā of forced cognition. If only there is no discriminating false seeing, one sees only the pure land of the Dharmatā. One thus knows that the internal and external four elements—earth, water, fire, and wind—manifest from moment to moment. Therefore the sūtra states: 'either manifest individually, or manifest simultaneously.' / 'Manifesting individually': your seeing is perfectly bright; when the mind of cognition desires to grasp, it loses the original brightness and nature of emptiness; thoughts fluctuate, and the wind wheel is generated in the mind. When emotional affection is continuous, its nature evokes the water wheel. When the grasping mind blazes, the metal wheel appears. When the seeking mind has desire, the fire wheel arises. / 'Manifesting simultaneously': when forced cognition initially arises, the four elements all appear together. For instance, when a person has remorse and longing, anger produces fire; the movement of body and mind illustrates wind; tears filling the eyes represent water; and the face turning red represents earth. Therefore, the internal and external four elements are fundamentally the nature of our own mind as their own-nature. Furthermore, from the eighth consciousness, the nimittabhāga of the internal and external four elements of the bodily faculties and the receptacle world is transformed as their own characteristics. Again, due to false thoughts, forced cognition arises and cognizes; therefore the myriad phenomena manifest densely and abundantly. / If one can trace the cause and realize the source, they are all the nature of one's own mind and the characteristics of one's own mind. In their midst, beauty and ugliness, hatred and love are entirely constructed through the reckoning and discrimination of the manovijñāna. Once the source is recognized, one must preserve right wisdom: simply eliminate forced cognition so that not a single thought arises, and naturally mind and objects will both be empty, with past and future cut off. / Therefore, we know that the natures of the seven elements are truly and harmoniously integrated; each and every great element completely pervades the dharmadhātu and is entirely of one substance. It is like seven pieces of ice being melted by fire into one water. It is also like Indra's net: identical yet not identical; like water and ice: distinct yet not distinct. Even the five skandhas, six āyatanas, twelve dhātus, eighteen dhātus, and so forth all fill the dharmadhātu; every single minute dust mote also fills the dharmadhātu; every single pore also pervades the dharmadhātu; every single body and mind also pervades it; all are the tathāgatagarbha. / It is like in the ocean of fragrant water, where all dharmas are constantly spoken for all bodhisattvas, yet no characteristic of a bodhisattva is seen, no characteristic of a false master is seen, and no characteristics of arising, staying, changing, or ceasing are seen. Therefore, all merge with true emptiness and completely pervade the limit of reality (bhūta-koṭi). / Just as when speaking of a tortoise's hair, a hare's horns, a mirage's water, or a Gandharva city, there are only names in speech without any real entity; so by analogy, all the faculties of seeing and hearing, the skandhas and āyatanas, and the objects of name and form in the realm of ordinary beings also have only their names, entirely without real entities. Now, using the unreality of a tortoise's hair, which is universally known and easy to understand in the world, we refute the unreality of currently grasped name and form, which is difficult to understand, so that it becomes identical to the tortoise's hair, with nothing clung to. Thus one knows that all spheres of cognition grasped from time immemorial are transformed by consciousness and entirely produced following thought. Apart from consciousness, there are no sense objects; when consciousness is stilled, all sense objects are stilled as well. Apart from thought, there are no dharmas; when thought is empty, all dharmas are empty as well. / Both causes and conditions and intrinsic nature become conceptual proliferation (prapañca). Knowledge, understanding, and discrimination have nowhere to come from, from root to branch; there are only words and expressions of the intellect, utterly devoid of reality. Understanding clearly like this, one suddenly awakens to previous errors, and will never again wait for a flower in the sky expecting it to bear fruit, or take an object in a dream intending to store it securely.