宗鏡錄 80.29

80.29

Answer: The Buddha-eye contemplates reality; the correct principle is free of error. If one definitively believes and accepts it, five faults are eliminated and five virtues are produced. The *Treatise on the Buddha-Nature* (Fo xing lun) states: “To eliminate five faults and produce five virtues, the Tathāgata taught that all sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature. As for eliminating the five faults: First, to cause sentient beings to abandon an inferior mind. There are sentient beings who have not heard the Buddha teach the principle of possessing the Buddha-nature, and not knowing that their own aggregates must certainly have the significance of attaining buddhahood, they generate inferior thoughts regarding this body and cannot generate the bodhicitta. Second, to abandon arrogance toward inferior persons. If someone has heard the Buddha teach that sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature, and generates the aspiration on this account, having generated the aspiration, they then claim, ‘I possess the Buddha-nature and therefore can generate the aspiration,’ developing a haughty mind thinking that others cannot. To break this attachment, the Buddha taught that all sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature. Third, to abandon false attachments. If someone has this arrogant mind, then correct wisdom that accords with principle and accords with measure cannot arise and manifest; hence falsehood arises. Falsehood is a fault of sentient beings. Faults are twofold: first, fundamentally non-existent; second, adventitious. ‘Fundamentally non-existent’ means that within the principle of tathatā, there is fundamentally no self of persons; yet one forms an attachment to a personal self. This attachment is fundamentally non-existent, and so forth, so that we know that all grasping subjects are false. The avidyā and grasping at karmic consequences that arise from this attachment are all false. There is neither experiencer nor agent, yet grasping that there are such within them is false; hence it is called ‘fundamentally non-existent’. ‘Adventitious’ means that all conditioned dharmas perish moment by moment, having no meaning of abiding. Thus both the reviler and the reviled are non-existent. It is only that the initial kṣaṇa is former and the subsequent kṣaṇa is adventitious; the reviler and the reviled perish as soon as they arise. Thus the initial kṣaṇa is an enemy, while the subsequent one is not an enemy. Because one forms an attachment to what is former within what is adventitious, this attachment is not real and is therefore called false. If this attachment arises, correct wisdom does not arise. To eliminate this attachment, the Buddha taught the Buddha-nature. The Buddha-nature is precisely the tathatā revealed by the two emptinesses of persons and dharmas. Due to tathatā, there is neither reviler nor reviled; penetrating this principle, one leaves behind the attachment to false emptiness. Fourth, to eliminate slander of the real Dharma. All faults of sentient beings are both empty. Due to understanding this emptiness, the pure virtues of wisdom that arise are called real. Slander means that if the Buddha-nature were not taught, one would not comprehend emptiness and would attach to real existence, opposing and slandering tathatā; the virtues of pure wisdom would not be accomplished. Fifth, to abandon the attachment to self. If one does not see false faults and real virtues, one does not generate great compassion toward sentient beings. By hearing the Buddha teach the Buddha-nature, knowing false faults and real virtues, one generates a mind of great compassion toward sentient beings without distinctions of self and other; hence the attachment to self is eliminated. Due to these five causal conditions, the Buddha taught the Buddha-nature, generating five virtues: first, generating a mind of right diligence; second, generating respectful conduct; third, generating prajñā; fourth, generating jñāna; fifth, generating great compassion. Through the five virtues, one overturns the five faults: through right diligence, one overturns the inferior mind; through respect, one overturns the haughty mind; through prajñā, one overturns grasping at false imagination; through generating the conventional wisdom of jñāna, which can manifest real wisdom and all virtues, one overturns slander of the real Dharma; through the mind of great compassion, with equal loving-kindness, one overturns the attachment to self. Furthermore, through prajñā, one does not abandon nirvāṇa; through great compassion, one does not abandon birth and death. Through prajñā, one accomplishes the Buddha-dharma; through great compassion, one accomplishes sentient beings. Therefore, if one understands that all sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature, naturally there is no slander and no arrogance, no fault and no transgression. Why? Because sentient beings are subtle, they are all inconceivable. For example, when the Buddha was preaching the Dharma in the Bamboo Grove, he bestowed upon a white pigeon the prophecy of its kalpa, land, name, and eight aspects [of attaining buddhahood]. The great bodhisattvas all expressed repentance, all saying: ‘Unless our wisdom is equal to that of the Tathāgata, from this time forward we dare not appraise sentient beings.’ Upādhyāya Baojian said: ‘I saw an old crow turning its head and nodding over the food platter, and right there I fully saw its dharmakāya.’ Furthermore, an official entered a monastery and ascended the hall with Upādhyāya Panshan. He asked: ‘Does this sparrow also have the Buddha-nature?’ The master said: ‘It does.’ The official asked: ‘If it has the Buddha-nature, why does it defecate on the Buddha's head?’ The master said: ‘Why doesn't it defecate on the hawk's head?’”