宗鏡錄 74.5

74.5

Answer: The four characteristics are of two kinds. The first is coarse, spoken of in terms of fruition and retribution: namely, birth, aging, sickness, and death; these are also four characteristics. The second is subtle: namely, arising, abiding, change, and cessation, discussed on the basis of delusion and karma. As explained in the Awakening of Faith: "The arising of the unconscious mind is called arising. Being able to see and being able to manifest, falsely grasping at realms and generating thoughts in succession, is called abiding. Holding fast and calculating names is called change. Creating various karmas is called cessation." Although the four characteristics seem distinct, they all turn from the one mind. However, worldly people mostly grasp at the characteristic of abiding, taking it to be what is presently seen. Now it must be refuted through investigation to reveal true emptiness. All realms that abide and are sustained are entirely like things in a dream: appearing to exist, yet not real. Because they are manifested in accordance with the mind, external objects are originally empty; the mind is also unarisen, not abiding from thought to thought. As the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "The Buddha taught that all dharmas have no fundamental, fixed reality even to the extent of a hair's breadth. Wishing to demonstrate this fact, he spoke of experiencing the five desires in a dream. For example, according to Subhūti's thought: If all dharmas are ultimately empty and devoid of any real nature, why now are there presently dharmas seen by the eye and heard by the ear? For this reason, the Buddha spoke the simile of a dream: just as by the power of a dream, although there are no real things, there are various sights and sounds, occasions for anger and occasions for joy, yet an awake person beside them sees nothing; so too, ordinary persons, by the power of avidyā and inverted views, falsely see things, whereas noble persons, being awakened, see nothing. All dharmas, whether with outflows or without outflows, conditioned or unconditioned, are unreal; because they are false, there are seeing and hearing." It also says: "Present matter also has no time of abiding. If a dharma is later seen to have the characteristic of destruction, one should know that when it first arose, the characteristic of destruction was already pursuing it; because it is subtle, it is not recognized. Just like a person wearing clogs: if on the first day they are new and without any wear, then later they should always be new and should not become worn. If there were no wear, they would have to be permanent. If permanent, there would be neither demerit nor merit; and without demerit and merit, conventional dharmas would fall into disorder. Furthermore, the characteristics of arising and cessation constantly accompany created dharmas, having no time of abiding; if there were a time of abiding, there would be no arising and cessation." Now, those who undergo birth and death initially create differentiating karma through false consciousness, and on account of this they possess a body. Now let us first investigate this body: gathering and dispersing are non-existent. Because "body" means an accumulation, a temporary combination of the internal and external four great elements. Investigating minutely, in reality there is no combination: wind and fire constantly rise, while earth and water constantly sink; each of the great natures lacks a fixed substance. Wind has movement as its nature, manifesting only by attaching to objects; the true principle does not shift, but is clear and constantly tranquil. Fire has heat as its nature, but does not necessarily burn everything: as with the fire in clouds or within the body, why does it not burn? Earth has hardness as its nature, yet copper and iron, upon being melted, become liquid; hard and soft are not fixed. Water has moisture as its nature, but dries up because of fire; furthermore, cold hardens it while warmth melts it, so congealing and flowing lack [fixed] substance. Since each individually does not exist, their combination is also non-existent: just as a single dog lacks the nature of a lion, and gathering a pack of dogs will still not make one; or just as a single blind person does not see the light, and combining a crowd of blind persons will never see it in the end. The Baowang lun says: "The principle of pure voidness is ultimately without a body." Having understood that the body is empty, if one then grasps at the three things of consciousness, warmth, and breath as really existing and capable of accomplishing the life-faculty for birth and death, Tiantai teachings say: "This body is impermanent; grasping the three things of lifespan, warmth, and consciousness, there is a body. 'Body' is merely a provisional designation; the three things are impermanent, and there is no separate body." The entering and exiting of the breath is calculated as lifespan; if the breath goes out and does not return, the body is like rubble—how could life be preserved? If warmth sustains water and water moistens the earth, and one falsely considers this body to be permanent, [know that] fire arises from conditions, and when conditions disperse, the fire ceases and the body then rots and stinks. Karmically calculated false consciousness shifts in an instant to a different destiny, yet one claims, 'I am always autonomous'; if karma is barely severed, the mind immediately takes rebirth and the body disperses and perishes. The Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: "Emerging from the womb, prime of life, and aging are all sustained by karma. The arising and ceasing of the three things continue without interruption. Ordinary people, not understanding, falsely grasp at bodily characteristics, unaware that when the breath is cut off, the three things separate." Furthermore, just as the in-and-out breaths continue by hundreds of thousands, in each single breath the body cannot be apprehended. The momentary mind-consciousness arises and ceases sequentially without measure, yet in each single moment the body cannot be apprehended. Not stinking and not rotting, the three elements form skin, flesh, bones, and marrow; examining them one by one, they are false and empty, and the body cannot be apprehended. Apart from these three things, there is no other body. Therefore, know that body and life are originally empty, and birth and death are ever tranquil. Ordinary people, failing to understand, vainly enter the wheel of suffering. Life is like a dying lamp in the wind, destroyed in an instant; the body is like gathered foam upon a pool, dissolving away in a moment. Hence the sutra says: "Understanding non-existence, nothing arises; comprehending existence, nothing dies. If one comprehends that existence is empty and devoid of self, with no self, who is caused to arise? If one understands that it is originally non-existent and unarisen, being unarisen, who is caused to die?" There is only the basic consciousness holding seeds, the wondrous, tranquil true mind, whose substance and nature are perfectly luminous, quiet, and constantly abiding. Abiding in the station of ordinary beings, it holds the untainted and is constantly perfumed; reaching the gate of buddhahood, it continues bodhi without end. Furthermore, the nature of mind is originally free from the characteristics of arising and cessation; yet avidyā exists, deluding one's own mind-nature. Because it runs contrary to the mind-nature's tranquility that is free from characteristics, it can generate and activate the four characteristics. By the combined power of the four characteristics and avidyā, it can cause the substance of the mind to undergo arising, abiding, change, and cessation. A sutra says: "This very dharmakāya, tossed and drifted by all the kleśas, comes and goes in birth and death, and is called sentient beings." The Awakening of Faith explains that the inherently pure mind, moved by the wind of avidyā, revolves through the four characteristics as a single dreaming mind. Those residing in the dream regard them as before and after, and according to the shallowness or depth of their cognitive power, they awaken part by part. Those of great awakening know that the four characteristics in the dream are solely the one pure mind, devoid of any substantial nature by which before and after could be distinguished. Therefore the treatise says: "The four characteristics exist simultaneously without self-standing; arising, abiding, change, and cessation turn as the one mind." The four characteristics all exist as creations of the mind; apart from the one mind, they have no separate self-substance. Hence it is said that they exist simultaneously; that they "have no self-standing" means that they are originally equal, being identical with the one original awakening. As a verse in the Prajñāpradīpaśāstra says: "Does birth and death have a limit? / The Buddha said: Ultimately none. / This birth and death has no limit; / Prior and subsequent cannot be apprehended." As the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra says: "Furthermore, Extremely Valiant One, just as nirvāṇa is limitless, all dharmas are likewise limitless. Why? Birth and death has nirvāṇa as its limit, and nirvāṇa has birth and death as its limit. Since neither birth and death can be apprehended, nor can nirvāṇa be apprehended; and since birth and death and nirvāṇa cannot be apprehended, all dharmas are completely limitless." Thus, if one only realizes the one mind of original awakening, thought by thought accords with the path of the perfect and eternal. If one pursues the scattered thoughts of avidyā, dust by dust becomes the wheel of birth and death. Gain and loss lie with the person; dharmas have neither crooked nor straight. Adoption and rejection are left to oneself; the Way transcends rising and falling. Merely observe within yourself, step through the universal gate and enter suddenly; only apply the correct eye, and tread the single path to achieve full perfection.