宗鏡錄 83.19

83.19

Answer: The body endowed with consciousness and the insentient land are both the internal and external four great elements, and none possess substance. Take the earth element, for example: it relies solely on the wind circle and is formed of subtle particles, fundamentally lacking intrinsic nature. It is merely the transformation of the citta of sentient beings; there is no other principle. Calm movement and cessation are all within citta—like a bird flying in the sky, never departing from the realm of space; like a fish submerged in water, how could it go beyond the water's source? A verse in the Laṅkāvatārasūtra states: / 'If all is mind-only, / Where does the world abide? / Upon what dharma do coming and going rely? / How are they seen in the earth? / Just as a bird in empty space / Departs relying on the wind of the mind, / Neither abiding nor observing, / Yet departs over the ground; / So it is with all sentient beings: / Moving relying on the wind of discrimination, / Coming and going within their own citta, / Like birds flying in the sky. / Seeing this vessel of requisites for life, / The Buddha preaches citta to be thus.' / Therefore, know that raising one's foot and lowering one's foot does not depart from one's own citta. If a bird leaves the sky, how could it soar? If a fish leaves the water, how could it swim and dive? Thus the Western patriarch Micitaka asked Vasumitra: 'From where did you come, and to where are you going?' He answered: 'I come from citta, and wish to go to no-place.' Furthermore, in this land, the Upādhyāya of Wuxie ceased eating for three days when approaching death and announced his passing. A student asked: 'Master, where are you going?' He answered: 'Going nowhere.' 'Why does this student not see it?' He answered: 'It is not what eyes behold.' Therefore the Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra states that the Buddha said: 'Seek bodhi right within the four great elements; do not seek elsewhere. When seeking, one does not see any things. Not seeing is precisely no-place. No-place is precisely non-abiding. Non-abiding is precisely the nature of all dharmas. If all dharmas have no nature, that is precisely the true mark. The true mark is neither eternal nor annihilated; it is named the ultimate juncture.' The Vajrasamādhisūtra states: 'The Bodhisattva Non-abiding said: "Honoured One, I come from no-origin and now arrive at the place of no-origin." The Buddha said: "Your origin is not come from, and your present arrival is also to no place. You have attained fundamental benefit that is inconceivable." ... extending to: "Form has no location; pure and nameless, it does not enter inside. The eye has no location; pure and without sight, it does not go outside. Citta has no location; pure and unsurpassed, it has no place of arising; pure and motionless, it has no conditioned distinctions; their natures are all empty and quiescent." ... extending to: "Just as that king of citta fundamentally has no abiding place, the citta of ordinary beings sees through false discrimination. The substance of tathatā fundamentally neither exists nor does not exist. The characteristics of existence and non-existence are seen solely as citta-vijñāna. Why is it without origin? Because it does not abide. If there is an origin, then there is abiding; if there is non-abiding, then there is no origin."' Clearly know that the coming and going of sentient beings in karmic destinies, and the movement and cessation of the pure realms of the sages: coming is citta coming, going is citta going, moving is citta moving, and resting is citta resting. Ultimately neither coming, going, moving, nor resting can be found, because they do not depart from the dharmadhātu. Thus not a single dharma has ever existed that is not designated by citta. Hence Mañjuśrī transformed Sudhana the youth, manifesting three thousand worlds filled with terraces and towers. Sudhana observed them, and suddenly they did not appear, the worlds being entirely empty. When he asked about the place from which the worlds come and go, Mañjuśrī answered: 'They come from where they came from, and return to where they went to.' That is, they come from within the pure dharmadhātu and return to within the pure dharmadhātu. Therefore, know that the arising of all dharmas is manifested solely by citta; arising, ceasing, coming, and going are all the tathāgatagarbha. This is indeed exhausting the traces to reach the source, seeing dharmas to clarify the source! Furthermore, as the Dharma Prince Vaiḍūryaprabha said: 'I recall in the past, after kalpas numerous as the sands of the Ganges, there was a Buddha who appeared in the world named Boundless Sound, who revealed to bodhisattvas the wondrous luminosity of innate enlightenment. He contemplated this world and the bodies of sentient beings as all being turned by the power of the wind of false conditions. At that time I contemplated the establishment of the world, contemplated the times when the world moves, contemplated the movement and rest of the body, and contemplated the movement of thoughts in the mind: all movements are not two, equal and without distinction. At that time I fully realized the nature of this flock of movements: their coming has no source, and their going has no destination. The inverted sentient beings as numerous as the dust motes of the ten directions share the same single falsity. In this way, extending to all sentient beings within a single great trichiliocosm, they are like hundreds of mosquitoes and gnats stored inside a single vessel, buzzing in chaotic noise, stirring up wild frenzy within fractions of an inch. Extending to: through observing the wind power as having no reliance, I awakened to the bodhimind, entered samādhi, and caused the Buddhas of the ten directions to transmit the one wondrous mind; this was the foremost.' Therefore, know that the flock of movements is not two, being solely one false wind. The wind relies on many conditions and fundamentally has no place of reliance. If one can attentively contemplate the wind power as having no reliance, suddenly awakening that citta-only is motionless, then the wondrous luminosity of innate enlightenment constantly illuminates the dharmadhātu. Hence it says that the Buddhas of the ten directions transmit this one wondrous mind. Since the wind power has no reliance, the ten thousand dharmas have no master: coming, they exist through conditions; going, they follow illusory emptiness. Solely the mind of innate enlightenment fundamentally has no arising or ceasing. Therefore, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra only preaches the single vehicle, opening and revealing it here. The Prajñāpāramitāsūtras only speak of non-duality, entrusting it here. The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra widely illustrates the equality of buddha-nature here. The Avataṃsakasūtra manifests the inexhaustibility of the dharmadhātu here. Boundless wondrous purports together return to the mirror of the source.