宗鏡錄 7.4.1

7.4.1

Answer: It is spoken in order to dismantle coming and going and make clear that there is no coming and going; hence it speaks based on substance, and thus says that "each abides in its own nature." It is not a doctrine of fixity, for it takes naturelessness as nature. It is not like the non-Buddhists and the two vehicles, who grasp at having a determinate self-nature that moves from this to that. If one does not grasp at there being a determinate nature that comes and goes, neither does one speak of "each abiding in its own nature." Therefore the treatise says: "To speak of going does not necessarily mean going—it puts an end to ordinary people's habitual thoughts; to call it abiding does not necessarily mean abiding—it unpacks that in which people abide, that is all." Furthermore, Liu Zhan's commentary says: "Zhuangzi speaks of hiding the mountain, and Confucius stands by the stream: Zhuangzi's intention was to clarify that the former mountain is not the later mountain; Confucius's intention was to clarify that the former water is not the later water. That which has the strength at midnight to carry it on its back and hasten away is precisely the four periods of arising, abiding, changing, and ceasing, shifting and flowing uninterruptedly from moment to moment." Therefore, if one apprehends dharmas outside the mind, what is seen in a delusive dream, and in one's sentiments posits coming and going, then from moment to moment one transmigrates, the mind turning along with objects; failing even to perceive the coarse characteristic of impermanence, how could one awaken to the esoteric import of non-shifting? If one is able to see that dharmas are the mind and discern their nature in accordance with conditions, then not a single dharma enters from without, not a single dharma arises from within, not a single dharma exists through combination, and not a single dharma is formed spontaneously. In this way, when one does not even see the slightest hair-tip of an abiding characteristic, how could one view ten thousand dharmas coming and going? This is thoroughly illuminating the source and penetrating the summit to see the nature: thought after thought constantly accords with the Way, and moment to moment never deviates from the source. Going and abiding are simultaneous; past and present are a single thread. Therefore the Lotus Sūtra says: "I view the distant past as if it were today." The Vimalakīrti Sūtra says: "Dharmas have no coming and going, because they constantly do not abide." If one understands this true mind that has nowhere to abide and this wondrous nature that does not alter, only then does one definitively clarify non-shifting. In the treatises cited above, the internal and external scriptures invoked borrow the past and present of worldly characteristics to express and clarify non-shifting, entering together into the real truth. Thus, time is established based on dharmas, while dharmas are originally nonexistent. The substance of the dharmas on which it relies is already empty; how could the past and present that rely upon it exist? If one relies on spatial designations to discern dharmas, pointing to the moon is unobjectionable; but if one conforms to expedients and loses sight of the true, clinging to conceptual understanding and deviating from the source, one errs instead. Thus the Inscription on Faith in Mind says: "Faith and mind are not two; non-duality is faith in mind. The path of words is cut off; it is not past, future, or present." Second, the meaning within the simile of the arising and ceasing of the flame of fire is the same as above. First, 'the flame alone' means that the arising and ceasing of the flame has two meanings: 1. The former flame wanes and ceases, inducing the later flame; the later flame has no substance and can know the former, while the former flame has already ceased and again has nothing to be known; therefore, each does not know the other. 2. If the former flame has not yet ceased, it also relies on what went before to be induced; having no substance, it has no capacity to know, while the later flame has not yet arrived, so there is nothing to be known; therefore, they also do not know each other. Delusive dharmas are also like this: arising and ceasing moment to moment, they cannot establish themselves. That which has already ceased and that which has not yet arisen have no object that can be known; once arisen, they immediately cease, having no substance that can be known. Therefore, they are entirely nonexistent. This is precisely [what is meant by] "melting gold and cracking stone, yet it is not hot." Second, 'relying on what is relied upon' means that because that flame of fire has no substance, no function, and lacks mutual knowledge, it has the false characteristics of arising and ceasing. This is grasping the nonexistent to make it existent. Delusive dharmas are also like this: relying on this true principle that has nothing to rely upon, they are then delusive dharmas; this too is taking the nonexistent to be existent. Third, 'what is relied upon alone' means: inquiring into the arising and ceasing flame, substance and function are both absent; the principle of the non-flame stands forth and manifests prominently. This is having no existence of delusive dharmas, while the nonexistence of delusive dharmas is serenely manifest. Consequently, it causes the characteristics of dependent origination to have no characteristic that is not exhausted, and the principle of naturelessness to have no principle that is not manifest. Furthermore, fire exists in reliance on fuel: fuel is the combustible, and fire is the burning. Since burning depends on the combustible, burning has no substance; since the combustible depends on burning, the combustible has no substance. Moreover, the former flame has already ceased, the later flame has not yet arisen, and in the middle there is no abiding. Just as on a single thought there are three times: having ceased is having already arisen; not yet arisen is not yet arisen; once arisen, it immediately diminishes—this is the time of arising. Therefore the Vimalakīrti Sūtra says: "If it is past arising, past arising has already ceased; if it is future arising, future arising has not yet arrived; if it is present arising, present arising does not abide." A sūtra says: "Monk, you right at this moment also arise, also age, and also cease." Therefore, the three times have no substance and have nothing that can know each other. Third, relying on the wind having movement similes delusive functions arising in reliance on the real; the three meanings are the same as above. First, 'movement alone' means that apart from the object moved, the moving characteristic of the wind is completely ungraspable; there is nothing that can know the other. Delusive dharmas are also like this: because they cannot be found apart from the real substance upon which they rely, there is nothing that can know the other. This is precisely [what is meant by] "swirling gales toppling mountains, yet it is constantly still." Second, 'relying on what is relied upon' means that the wind cannot move of itself; it must rely on objects to manifest movement. Movement has no self-substance that could know the object; the object does not move of itself, and following the wind it has no substance and cannot know. Among dharmas, the reliant delusive dharmas must rely on the real to be established; lacking substance, they know the real; the real follows the delusive into concealment, and having no characteristic, it knows the delusive. Third, 'what is relied upon alone' means that when the wind stirs an object, the movement is solely the object's movement; the characteristics of the wind are completely exhausted, and there is nothing that can know the other. The functioning of delusive dharmas is originally empty of own-nature; only the real that is relied upon stands forth and manifests prominently. Therefore, delusive dharmas are completely exhausted yet do not cease; the true nature is completely concealed yet constantly exposed. The perfumer and the perfumed, and so forth, are naturally so in the dharmas themselves; contemplate this and it can be seen. Fourth, relying on the earth having the capacity to uphold similes the delusive being upheld by the real; the three meanings are the same as above. First, the earth-element's causal reliance has two meanings: 1. In terms of its own kind; 2. In terms of different kinds. In the former, from the vajra-stratum up to the surface of the earth, all above rely on below, and below upholds above, reciprocally serving as cause and reliance so that they achieve stable abiding. Yet the upper that relies has no substance apart from that which it relies upon to be able to know the lower; and the lower that upholds also has no substance apart from that which it upholds to be able to know the upper. Furthermore, the highest that rely reach all the way down to the lower without any lower that can know each other; the lowest that uphold...