[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016) › [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt) › 9.9 # 宗鏡錄 9.9 English (machine translation) 9.9 - **Language:** English ### [9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9.9) Answer: When great wisdom is completely illumined, one gazes upon a minute tip of hair and contemplates the ocean of the nature; when the true source is brightly manifested, from the locus of a single particle of dust one looks upon the entire body. When the ten thousand dharmas manifest, it is necessarily simultaneous; in the one limit of principle, there is neither before nor after. Why is this? Because this illusory characteristic of a single particle of dust can obscure the real, it is defilement. Because the characteristic of dust is empty and without anything existing, it is purity. Because the original substance of the nature of dust is identical to tathatā, it is the real. Because this characteristic of dust is dependently originated and illusory existence, it is the conventional. Because the characteristic of dust changes from moment to moment, it is saṃsāra. Because through contemplation the characteristics of arising and ceasing of dust are exhausted and are empty without reality, it is nirvāṇa. Because the large and small characteristics of dust are all discriminations of the deluded mind, they are kleśas. Because the substance of dust is originally empty and cognitive deliberation naturally ends, it is bodhi. Because the substance of the characteristic of dust is devoid of the imagined \[nature\], it is the Hīnayāna Dharma. Because the nature of dust is unarisen and unceasing, and exists resembling \[reality\] through other-dependence, it is the Mahāyāna Dharma. This is an abridged explanation. If spoken of fully, even if all sentient beings harbored disparate doubts and simultaneously questioned the Tathāgata, the Tathāgata would explain them all using only the single word "dust." One should ponder this deeply. A sūtra verse says: / "The inexhaustible ocean of all dharma-gates / Is expounded in a single word without remainder." / In accordance with this principle, it is called "a single particle of dust produces inexhaustibility ubiquitously." What is called "identity" means equality in the present moment. Therefore, this one-mind dharma-gate, like a mirror, manifests suddenly without waiting for stages; like a seal, it is formed suddenly, with no before and after. In one seeing, all is seen; in one hearing, all is heard, without awaiting analytical search. If one must wait for complete understanding to achieve it, all of that belongs to provisional and gradual \[teachings\]. If one can contemplate the oneness of the nature of the citta, it is the one path that is extremely profound, namely the one of the correct path, the one that is unique and sole—the one path that the thousand Buddhas have shared, unchanging throughout past and present. It is also called the one path of the gate to nirvāṇa; it is also called the one path that transcends saṃsāra. It is further named the great-Buddha-uṣṇīṣa King Śūraṅgama replete with the ten thousand practices, the single gate through which the tathāgatas of the ten directions transcend, the wondrously adorned path, just as a hundred flowers together produce a single honey. Thus we know that the ten thousand dharmas converge in this source. If one clearly understands it, everything rests with oneself: ascending, sinking, departing, or remaining, one acts at will according to conditions. Manifesting as a sage or appearing as an ordinary person, exiting birth and entering death, one's transformations are difficult to fathom. Operating unconditioned spiritual powers, concealing and revealing occur simultaneously; expounding the illusion-like samādhi, right and wrong darkly merge. Adversity and favor return to the same \[source\]; speech, silence, unfolding, and gathering always accord with the path of the One Reality. Managing livelihoods and productive enterprises does not violate the gate of the real mark. Operations and actions, moment to moment, never depart from the dharmadhātu; walking, standing, sitting, and reclining, step by step, one is always within it. If someone does not believe, though face-to-face, they are a thousand miles apart. As the poem by Master Hanshan says: / "Precious is the natural thing, / Alone and without companion. / Contract it, and it is in a square inch; / Extend it, and it is in all places. / If you do not believe and accept it, / Though you meet face-to-face, you will not encounter it." / For one of clear understanding, whatever meets the eye concerns the citta, and they can perceive everything in advance. For those who have not yet encountered it, it may be known through events: their movements and actions have never been interrupted. For example, Cai Shun, whose courtesy name was Junzhong, was renowned for filial piety. Shun was orphaned young and supported his mother, often going out to gather firewood. A guest arrived abruptly; when the mother looked for Shun and he had not returned, she bit her finger. Shun's citta was immediately moved; he dropped the firewood and rushed back, kneeling to ask the reason. The mother said, "An urgent guest arrived, and I bit my finger simply to make you realize it." Again, in the Tang dynasty, Pei Jingyi's father was killed by King of Chen's administrator. Jingyi was in the city at the time, when he suddenly felt it himself; shedding tears, he could not eat, and said to people, "Whenever my father suffered pain anywhere, I felt uneasy. Today my chest aches and my hands and feet are both incapacitated; an unforeseen event must have occurred." He then returned home to pay his respects, and his father was indeed already dead. Again, in the Tang dynasty, Zhang Zhi'an was praised for filial piety in his village and was assigned as a village head. While in the county seat, he suddenly claimed that his mother was critically ill. The county magistrate asked him, and Zhi'an said, "When my mother is ill, Zhi'an is also sick. Zhi'an just suffered heart pain, and therefore knows his mother is ill." The magistrate detained him and sent someone to verify it, and it was indeed as he had said. Soon he memorialized the throne, which raised high markers at his gate and appointed him as Sanqi Changshi. - [Previous: 9.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9.8) - [Next: 9.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9.10) - [Up: 9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9) ## Linked texts (1) - [宗鏡錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016.9.9) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2016~en-mt.9.9) · Pramāṇa