宗鏡錄 69.33.6

69.33.6

Seeing a stump, the thought of an apparition empties; the thought of a snake vanishes upon seeing a rope. The thirsty deer ceases its running after mirages; the foolish monkey rests from playing with the moon's reflection. Thereupon, one calms contemplation and empties the breast, like swift wings soaring across the sky; one follows conditions to nourish the nature, like an empty boat tossed on the waves. Bringing the old to an end without creating the new, one relies on the true and accords with the Way. / Thus, the five skandhas, six internal āyatanas, twelve āyatanas, eighteen dhātus, the natures of the seven elements, and so forth do not fundamentally and naturally exist without a cause, nor are they produced from the combination of causes and conditions today. They are merely established through discrimination by the conscious mind. Now, refuting this nature of consciousness, the natures of the seven elements and even all dharmas are empty. Just as tracing a stream finds its source, and catching bandits captures their general, the adversaries of avidyā and the demonic armies of saṃsāra perish in response to a single thought, like hot water poured on snow. Only the tathāgatagarbha, the wondrously serene and bright mind, is truly and harmoniously integrated by nature, pervading the realms of the ten directions, like waves settling on an autumn shore, clear and hollow, or clouds vanishing from a sunny sky, leaving nothing at all. / Therefore the Śūraṅgamasūtra states: 'The Buddha told Ānanda: "You still do not understand that all floating dust and illusory characteristics arise where they are and vanish where they are. Their characteristics are called illusory and false, but their nature is truly the substance of wondrous enlightened brightness. Thus, up to the five skandhas, the six internal āyatanas, from the twelve āyatanas to the eighteen dhātus: through the combination of causes and conditions, they falsely appear to arise; through the separation of causes and conditions, they are falsely called ceasing. You completely fail to realize that arising, ceasing, going, and coming are fundamentally the tathāgatagarbha, the eternally abiding, wondrously bright, unmoving, and all-pervading wondrous nature of tathatā. Within the truly eternal nature, if one seeks for going, coming, delusion, awakening, birth, or death, nothing whatsoever can be found."' / Therefore, one is first caused to illuminate mind and objects clearly, and subsequently to fuse them suddenly, so that mind and objects must both be extinguished. / As the Huayan Yanyi states: 'This means that in this Avataṃsakasūtra, people are taught to observe both mind and objects. As the verse says: / "If you wish to know the minds of the Buddhas, / you should contemplate the Buddha's wisdom. / The Buddha's wisdom has no resting place, / just as space has nothing to rely upon." / This causes one to contemplate the Buddha's mind. / Another verse says: / "If anyone wishes to know the realm of the Buddha, / they should purify their mind like space." / This teaches contemplation of the Buddha's realm. / Next, a verse on emptying mind and objects says: / "The Dharmatā is fundamentally empty and serene; / there is neither grasping nor seeing. / The emptiness of nature is itself the Buddha; / it cannot be conceived." / No grasping means no object; no seeing means no mind. / Another verse says: / "If anyone wishes to attain the Tathāgata's wisdom, / they should depart from all false discrimination. / Comprehending that existence and non-existence are entirely equal, / they will swiftly become a great teacher of humans and devas." / This empties mind and objects.' / All the minds and objects of bodhisattvas and ordinary beings can be understood by this analogy of contemplation. Therefore a sūtra verse says: / 'Knowing delusion is fundamentally real itself, / seeing the Buddha is purity.' / It also says: / 'The mind, the Buddha, and sentient beings: / these three are not different.'