宗鏡錄 78.43

78.43

Answer: There is only the internal mind; there are no external sensory objects. Because the mind in dreams and the mind when awake are distinctly different, the accomplishment of wholesome and unwholesome karma does not depend on external sensory objects. Therefore, the mind in the state of dreaming, being impaired by middha, is feeble in strength; because the mind is weak, it cannot accomplish wholesome and unwholesome karma. The mind upon awakening is not like this; therefore, the actions it produces must experience vipāka [whereby] superior and inferior differ, which is not due to external sensory objects. Even supposing the suffering and pleasure experienced while awake are real karmic retributions, there is also neither an agent nor a recipient, all being like illusions and dreams. Furthermore, the treatise states: 'Middha has dullness and brevity as its nature.' The commentary explains: '"Dullness" distinguishes it from being in samādhi; "brevity" differentiates it from the waking state.' The Yitian chao states: 'Regarding "dullness distinguishes it from being in samādhi," although this state of middha is focused on a class of subtle sensory objects, it is different from samādhi, because the manovijñāna in samādhi apprehends sensory objects clearly, whereas this is dark and dull. Regarding "brevity differentiates it from the waking state," when one is awake, the mind is extremely clear and sharp, fully capable of taking the six dusts as objects; thus the mind and mental factors in the waking state take sensory objects broadly. The mind and mental factors in this state of middha, not being clear and sharp, take only one sensory object of the dharmadhātu; because it apprehends few sensory objects, it is termed "brevity".' A verse in the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra states:
'The own-nature of all dharmas cannot be apprehended;
Like practicing desire in a dream, it is completely unreal.
It merely arises following conceptual thought, not existing in reality;
The World-Honoured One knows dharmas to be likewise.'
Because all dharmas are devoid of abiding moment to moment, because they arise and cease moment to moment, because they cannot be apprehended moment to moment, and because they are devoid of own-nature moment to moment. Although the sorrow, joy, suffering, and pleasure experienced in dreams and waking vary in duration and differ in karmic retribution, they nevertheless all transform from vijñāna and are all accomplished through conceptual thought. In probing the principle to its end, all are completely equal, and both are the sensory realms traversed by the clear and dark manovijñāna. In the waking state, it is the clear manovijñāna; in a dream, it is the manovijñāna within a dream. Although waking and dreaming differ, neither departs from the mind (manas). Therefore a sūtra states: 'Waking is the thinking mind; sleeping is the various dreams.' If there were no dreams, the various sensory objects would not appear; if there were no conceptual thoughts, the myriad dharmas would not be established. This is because forms arise following the mind, and dharmas are established from conceptual thought. If there are those who enter this Dharma-gate of being like a dream, they directly realize mere-mind and swiftly accomplish the Buddha's wisdom, capable of fulfilling the path of bodhi and broadly promoting the gate of Dharma benefit. As a verse in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra states:
'The bodhisattva understands worldly dharmas,
All being like a dream,
Neither in a place nor in no place;
Their nature is eternally quiescent.
All dharmas are without conceptual discrimination,
Like a dream, not different from mind;
The worlds of the three times,
All are entirely like this.
The substance of a dream has no arising or ceasing,
Nor does it have a location;
The three realms are entirely like this;
One who sees thus has a mind liberated.
A dream is not in the world,
Nor is it not in the world;
Not discriminating between these two,
One attains entry into the stage of patience (kṣānti).
Just as what is seen in a dream
Consists of various distinct marks,
The world is also like this,
Without difference from a dream.
One who abides in the dream-samādhi
Understands the world to be completely like a dream,
Neither the same nor different,
Neither one nor manifold.
The karmas of sentient beings across various lands,
Both defiled and pure,
One fully knows like this
To be all equal to a dream.
The practices cultivated by the bodhisattva
And all the great vows
Are clearly understood to be like a dream,
Having no difference from the world.
Understanding the world to be entirely empty and quiescent,
One does not destroy worldly dharmas;
Just as the colors long, short, and so on seen in a dream,
This is named the patience of being like a dream.
Because of this, one understands worldly dharmas,
Swiftly accomplishing unimpeded wisdom,
Broadly liberating all sentient beings.
Cultivating such practices,
One produces vast understanding,
Skillfully knows the nature of all dharmas,
And in the mind has no attachment to dharmas.'
The Cheng weishi baosheng lun states: 'Just as in a dream there is harmful efficacy, although there is no external sensory object, the principle is also established. Because within a dream a man and a woman engage in intercourse, each using their own organ to touch one another, although there is no contact with an external sensory object, the efficacy is accomplished, manifesting the flow of impurity. It is merely the conceptual thought of vijñāna uniting with itself to perform its action. Since this is so, it is also the same for other things. For noxious poison, weapons, frost, and hail that inflict harm, although there are no external sensory objects, poison, weapons, and so forth exist merely depending on vijñāna; what principle could fail to be established? And so forth, down to: If so, eating poison in a dream should result in physical illness; this is also because mere-vijñāna has efficacy, just as there are fixed determinations regarding sensory objects. We again take the subsequent answer to stop earlier doubts. Or further, there are times when seeing poison and the like has efficacy even though there is no real sensory object: because of seeing that one is not bitten by a snake, yet having a suspicion of poison, it can cause fainting, discharge of filth, and mental delusion as if bitten by a snake. Also, in a dream, due to the predominant power of mantras, deities, and so forth, one is caused to eat one's fill and one's strength becomes robust. Furthermore, have you not heard? To seek offspring, someone served a dweller of the hidden forest, dreamed of seeing a person engaging in intercourse with them, and thereupon obtained a child. How is it known that being harmed by poison and so forth within that dream is non-existent? Because after awakening from sleep, one does not see it. What is discussed here is also of the same class: at the time of current waking, one considers it a real fact; seeing poison and the like, one grasps it as not erroneous, yet at the time of awakening with true wisdom, one does not see it, so like that within a dream, its substance is not real. However, if one grants real forms and so forth within a dream, one also obtains these undesirable matters, and the resultant efficacy of poison and so forth would then be truly existent. If one says they are non-existent, there are only the efficacies of the marks of poison and so forth, not [real poison]; this refers to the appearance of poison causing injury. Granting marks of poison and so forth is certainly of no benefit, because on that vijñāna the substance of medicine is absent. Therefore, it is definitely known that there are really no external sensory objects; their efficacy merely arises in the waking mind, just as in a dream, waking is also the same. This truly accords with reason.' In explanation: Now, just as in a dream there is really no snakebite, yet as soon as the consciousness transforms, a frightening scene appears bristling, just like a snakebite. If one is really bitten by a snake while awake, but suspicious thoughts do not arise, it does not do harm either. Recently I heard of a person in the world who was bitten on the shin by a poisonous snake on the road; he himself saw it as being injured by a tree stump, and traveled more than thirty li without the poison taking effect. Suddenly he encountered a snake-charmer, who pointed and said, 'You have been bitten by a poisonous snake!' As soon as he heard these words, suspicious thoughts suddenly arose, the poison took effect, and he died. If one clings to there being a real realm of a poisonous snake outside the mind, before the mind arose, why did the poison not take effect? Hence we know that there are no sensory objects outside the mind; the snake's poison cannot kill a person, but when the poison of the mind arises, it can naturally bring about harm. Therefore, when the sensory object is absent but the mind is present, the sensory object immediately manifests; when the sensory object is present but the mind is absent, the sensory object never manifests. By analogy, all dharmas are also completely like this. This verifies mere-mind and accomplishes the mirror of the source. As in the teaching, the Buddha secretly spoke of being like an illusion and so forth, there being ten similes in total; among them, what is awakened through the dream simile differs according to the shallowness or depth of wisdom, and we may briefly categorize it into five kinds: First, what worldly ordinary people understand is merely knowing that fleeting life is brief, like a dream that does not last long. Second, the realization of śrāvakas merely understands the dreaming mind to be arising and ceasing, impermanent, suffering, empty, and non-self. Third, minor bodhisattvas awaken to the fact that dreams are unreal, being thoroughly and entirely empty. Fourth, great bodhisattvas comprehend that dreams are mere-mind, neither empty nor existent; because they are seen within a dream they are not empty, and because they are quiescent after awakening they are not existent. Fifth, patriarchs and buddhas fully realize the dharmadhātu: just like during an actual dream, a single thought of the sleeping mind manifests hundreds of thousands of wholesome and unwholesome sensory realms; how much more so when a single thought-moment suddenly arises, it is endowed with the ten dharmadhātus and causes and conditions, layer upon layer without end, distinctly differentiated. As in the Lotus Sūtra, in a dream entering the bronze wheel, accomplishing buddhahood and saving sentient beings throughout immeasurable kalpas; and in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Sudhana ascending the pavilion, in a single thought of the dream-samādhi mind, within a kṣaṇa, completely sees the inconceivable Buddha-deeds of the three times. As an ancient poem says: 'In a fleeting spring dream upon the pillow, / One journeys completely through several thousand li of Jiangnan.'