宗鏡錄 9.15.1

9.15.1

Answer: If one's correct understanding is complete and clear, and one enters with definitive faith, one has the efficacy of surpassing kalpas and obtains the power of sudden completion. Although dwelling in saṃsāra, one constantly enters nirvāṇa; although ever abiding in worldly defilements, one perpetually resides in a pure land. While presently possessing the physical eye, one opens the radiance of the wisdom eye; without changing the ordinary mind, one immediately shares the knowledge and vision of the Buddha's mind. It is like a crown prince possessing the marks of royal deportment, or the kalaviṅka surpassing the voices of all other birds. When the sinews of a lion are made into strings for a lute, all other sounds are severed; when the Sudarśana medicine is used to treat illness, all afflictions secretly vanish. Like the efficacy of an iron-piercing arrow whose momentum pierces an iron drum, or the power of a vajra mallet that is poised to shatter a mountain of gold, the afflictions and worldly defilements spontaneously perish without waiting to be severed; the wondrous fruit of bodhi is spontaneously perfected without relying on cultivation. Furthermore, it equalizes foe and friend, harmonizes disputes, equates the ordinary and the holy, obliterates self and other, unifies going and coming, seals sameness and difference, blends duration and brevity, and fuses the center and the extremes. Among mundane and supramundane powers that are ineffable, immeasurable, and inexpressible of the inexpressible, none can surpass it. It is also called the power of the Buddha, the power of prajñā, the power of the Great Vehicle, the power of the Dharma, and the power of non-abiding. Therefore, a former worthy explained: 'One who upholds with the power of non-abiding does not depart from a single thought for great kalpas.' It is also said: 'The equality of form is the power of the Buddha.' Since form is equal, the principle of mind-only is established. Thus we know that in the gateway of contemplating citta, no principle surpasses it. It is most supreme and most noble, peerless and incomparable, possessing the efficacy of becoming a buddha in an instant and the power of abruptly severing the wheel of suffering. The Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: 'For example, it is like a medicinal tree named the King of Trees. Among all medicines, it is the most extraordinary. It can eliminate all diseases. The tree does not form a thought; whether one takes its branches, leaves, bark, trunk, or the like, although it forms no thought, it can cure all illnesses. Nirvāṇa is also like this.' Therefore, if toward this mirror of the source one has complete faith and complete cultivation, or even just rejoices upon hearing and seeing it, generating the mind [for bodhi] in a single thought, there is none who will not eliminate the diseases of the eighty thousand worldly defilements, the three obstacles, and the two kinds of death. The Large Prajñāpāramitāsūtra says: 'Just like a mani jewel, wherever it abides, all non-humans cannot find any advantage. Wearing the jewel on one's body, one attains light in darkness, coolness when it is hot, and warmth when it is cold. If it is in water, it manifests colors according to the surrounding objects.' This is an analogy for recognizing this wish-fulfilling luminous jewel of one's own citta: with complete and solid faith, at all times and places one is not harmed by non-humans of avidyā and worldly defilements. Then, dwelling in complexity one is not disordered; treading on danger one is ever secure; high yet not imperiled, full yet not overflowing. The Tiantai teachings cite the Fo zang jing, saying: 'To speak with provisional names and characteristics within that which lacks names and characteristics—these are all the inconceivable powers of the Tathāgata. For example, it is like a person chewing Mount Sumeru, flying in empty space, crossing the ocean on a stone raft, carrying the four continents and Mount Sumeru, using a mosquito's leg as a ladder to ascend to the Brahma Palace; or, when a kalpa is ending in fire, extinguishing the kalpa fire with a single spitting of saliva, and establishing a world with a single puff of breath; or suspending Mount Sumeru on a lotus fiber, and catching the rain of the four continents in the hand. That all phenomena spoken of by the Tathāgata are signless and unconditioned, unarisen and unceasing, and causing people to believe and understand them, is extremely difficult to happen, extremely rare. If one attains even a little something [with attachment], disputes with the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha, and enters heretical paths, one is not permitted to leave the household, receive the precepts, or drink a single cup of water.' One should know that the sūtra clarifies the external function of non-arising in order to reveal that cause and effect in the wondrous principle are unarisen. Thus, if one does not comprehend that the Three Jewels are of one substance and eternally abiding, one is not permitted to leave the household. Saying 'not permitted' means that if one does not understand this, one's precepts are incomplete. If considered in terms of contemplating citta, the arising of a single kṣaṇa is called 'one sentient being'; its arising and immediately ceasing is called 'one lifetime.' In thought after thought, the three poisons constantly arise, which correspond to the three disasters at the end of a kalpa. Among the three poisons, rāga is foremost; among the three disasters, fire is the beginning. Through inconceivable śamatha-vipaśyanā, one contemplates these three poisons: a single thought of rāga has no place of arising, which is precisely extinguishing the kalpa fire with a single spitting of saliva; comprehending thought to become wisdom is precisely establishing a world with a single puff of breath. Up to all inconceivable and rare matters—as long as one penetrates the single-thought mind of avidyā to accomplish the wisdom of all buddhas, there is none that is not thoroughly understood. If one does not understand this, not only is one not permitted to leave the household, but all myriad goods will not be accomplished, because one does not know the root of the Buddhadharma. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: 'Furthermore, there are people who consider the earth to be solid and citta to have no physical form, all being illusory. For this reason, the Buddha spoke of the power of citta as being great. Because one practices the prajñāpāramitā, one can scatter this great earth into fine dust. Because the earth has visible form, fragrance, flavor, and touch and is heavy, by itself it performs no action. Because water lacks fragrance, its activity surpasses that of earth. Because fire lacks fragrance and flavor, its force surpasses that of water. Because wind lacks visible form, fragrance, and flavor, its activity surpasses that of fire. Because citta lacks these four things, the power of its actions is great. Moreover, because citta is bound by many kleśas and saṃyojanas, its power is made minute. Although a virtuous mind with outflows is without kleśas, because citta grasps the characteristics of phenomena, its power is also small. Although the outflow-free mind of the two vehicles does not grasp characteristics, because their wisdom is limited, and when emerging from the outflow-free path the six sense organs discriminate according to convention and grasp the characteristics of phenomena, they do not exhaust the power of citta. All buddhas and great bodhisattvas have boundless and limitless wisdom, constantly dwell in dhyāna, and make no discrimination regarding the world and nirvāṇa. The real mark of all phenomena is in fact not different; it is only that wisdom has superior and inferior grades. Those who practice the prajñāpāramitā are ultimately pure and without obstruction. In a single thought, they can scatter into fine dust all the great earths and mountains of the trichiliocosm in the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.' Thus we know that the true mind has this great power, yet sentient beings falsely obscure it and are unaware of it. The Commentary on the Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtra says: 'Just as the light of the sun can illuminate the world under heaven but cannot illuminate the principle, the brilliance of the wisdom of citta can generate wisdom to illuminate the principle; therefore, citta is light. If citta is foolish and dark, the physical body becomes haggard; if citta has the light of wisdom, the complexion is full and radiant.'