宗鏡錄 7.4.4

7.4.4

Furthermore, because the substance of wisdom has no nature, it merely manifests according to conditions—like an echo in the sky, producing sound in response to objects. Wisdom without nature merely makes distinctions in response to conditions; because of distinction, delusion and desire arise in succession. Furthermore, the Madhyamakaśāstra, refuting the verse that there should be no Tathāgata, says: / “Those with deep and thick wrong views / will say there is no Tathāgata. / The Tathāgata is of the characteristic of quietude; / to distinguish [him] as existent is also wrong. / In this way, within the emptiness of nature, / thinking [of him] is also inadmissible. / After the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, / one discriminates between existence and non-existence.” / Next, a verse sweeping it all away says: / “The Tathāgata transcends conceptual proliferation, / yet people produce conceptual proliferation. / Conceptual proliferation destroys the wisdom eye; / none of them see the Buddha.” / The commentary on the treatise explains: “Conceptual proliferation is called recollection, discriminating this and that, and so forth.” In this Chapter on the Tathāgata, in the beginning, middle, and end, a determinate nature of the Tathāgata cannot be found, and even up to the fivefold search and the four lemmas, none are correct. Therefore the verse says: / “The Tathāgata has no nature; / that is the nature of the world. / The Tathāgata has no nature; / the world also has no nature.” / By the meaning of the single emptiness of nature of the Tathāgata, one knows that all worldly phenomena are entirely without nature, identical with the meaning of the Tathāgata. In the Huayan yanyi, it quotes a verse from the Lotus Sūtra: / “Although the Buddhas of future ages / preach hundreds of thousands of millions / of countless approaches to the Dharma, / in truth it is for the sake of the One Vehicle. / The Buddhas, the two-footed honoured ones, / know that phenomena are eternally without nature. / The Buddha-seed arises from conditions; / therefore they preach the One Vehicle. / These phenomena abide in the Dharma-position; / the worldly characteristics are eternally abiding. / Having known this at the place of awakening, / the Guide preaches by expedient means.” / Now, only two lines are cited to reveal that all phenomena are without nature, establishing the meaning of the single nature. However, the various commentaries differ regarding the three verses above. Now we directly interpret the sūtra text. The first verse clarifies that the Buddha opens up the provisional and ultimately returns to the one real; hence it says: “in truth it is for the sake of the One Vehicle.” The next verse explains the reason for preaching the One Vehicle: because there is only one nature. That is to say, if there were two natures, there might be room for two vehicles; since there is only one nature, therefore the One Vehicle is preached. “Knowing that phenomena are eternally without nature”: “knowing” means knowing by realization; “phenomena” means the phenomena realized and known, which are all phenomena such as form and mind. “Eternally without nature” is the principle that is realized; it means awakening to all phenomena according to the principle of no nature. What is “no nature”? It means that form, mind, and the like, from the very beginning, have nature and characteristics that are empty and tranquil—neither self nor other, neither combined nor separated, serenely ever tranquil; hence it is called “no nature”. And as for saying “eternally”, it means they are originally non-existent, not made non-existent by deduction; hence it is said to be “eternally without nature”. “The Buddha-seed arises from conditions”: there are two meanings. First, in terms of the causal seed: the causal seed is the direct-cause Buddha-nature. Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: “Buddha-nature is the seed of the middle way of supreme bodhi.” This seed is the aforementioned principle of eternal non-nature. Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: “Buddha-nature is the emptiness of the ultimate truth.” “No nature” is the meaning of emptiness. “Conditions” are the six pāramitās and myriad practices, which are the conditioning-cause Buddha-nature, giving rise to that direct cause so that Buddhahood is attained. “Therefore they preach the One Vehicle”: only by using Buddha-nature to give rise to Buddha-nature, with no other nature remaining, is the One Vehicle preached—preaching in accord with principle. That which is identical in substance is called “nature”; that which is mutually similar is called “seed”. Therefore Guanzhong said: “Just as rice naturally generates rice and does not generate other grains—this belongs to nature. The sprouts, stalks, flowers, and grains are of a kind without distinction—this belongs to seed.” Second, the resultant seed-nature: Guanzhong said: “The Buddha-reward is only the Buddha; its principle is without discrepancy—this is the meaning of nature. Preaching the Dharma to liberate people is in every kind similar—this is the meaning of seed.” The resultant seed-nature arises conditioned by true principle; hence it is said to be “from conditions”. Therefore, in explaining this verse, it is said: “Buddhas arise conditioned by principle; since principle is not dual, therefore the One Vehicle is preached.” The meaning is that by realizing principle one accomplishes Buddhahood, and in accord with principle one preaches the One. Here, the verse “knowing that phenomena are eternally without nature” is entirely identical to what is said in the “Chapter on the Manifestation of the Tathāgata” in the Huayan Sūtra: “When the Tathāgata accomplished true awakening, within his body he universally saw all sentient beings accomplishing true awakening, up to universally seeing all sentient beings entering nirvāṇa, all identical in one nature—namely, having no nature—up to, because of knowing that all phenomena are entirely without nature, he attained all-knowledge, and with great compassion continuous, he rescued and liberated sentient beings.” This means knowing that they have no nature, because the Buddha-nature is identical. In accordance with the sūtra text, because of knowing that there is no nature, when one attains [it], all attain [it]—how much more so should one preach the One Vehicle to liberate them! The subsequent verse says: “These phenomena abide in the Dharma-position,” etc., re-explaining the previous verse. “These phenomena” refers to the previously known phenomena. The reason they are eternally without nature is that they abide in the correct position of tathatā. Because conditions have no nature, conditioned arising is itself the real. Because it is itself the real, it is said to have “no nature”. “Dharma-position” refers to the correct position of tathatā. Therefore the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says that dharmatā, dharmadhātu, the abiding of phenomena, and the position of phenomena are all alternate names for tathatā. Worldly phenomena are identical with tathatā, and therefore are all eternally abiding. That is to say, because of diverging from the eternal principle, the impermanence of the three realms is formed; if one understands the reality of impermanence, then impermanence itself becomes eternal. Thus the two principles of permanence and impermanence are not one-sided. Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra compares them to two birds flying and roosting together. Now, at the place of awakening, he realized and knew that all worldly impermanence is identical with the principle of true permanence—just like a mirror hung in a high hall reflecting all myriad images; they are two yet not two, beyond verbal expression. By the power of expedient means, they are provisionally expressed in words. Even the One Vehicle is a provisional expression, how much more so two or three! Thus the principle of the One Vehicle is supreme, with no principle surpassing it; the source of non-nature is unmatched by any school. It can indeed be called the backbone of the mirror of the source, the guide of the ancestral teachings. Therefore the Sandhinirmocanasūtra says: “All phenomena are without self-nature, unarisen and unceasing, originally quiet, by self-nature nirvāṇa.” The Śreṣṭhīdevaputraparipṛcchāsūtra says: “If a phenomenon is non-existent, it is not autonomous; if it is not autonomous, it is devoid of desire; if it is devoid of desire, it is the true nature; if it is the true nature, it is called having no nature.”