宗鏡錄 90.5.1

90.5.1

Answer: The dharmakāya is the person. A person must possess luminous wisdom, and therefore it is called prajñā. If one attains the illumination of prajñā, the dharmakāya is revealed. Thus the sūtra says: "When concealed, it is called the tathāgatagarbha; when revealed, it is called the dharmakāya." Furthermore, if one attains prajñā, then one is unattached everywhere, not bound by external objects—this is liberation. Manifesting the dharmakāya and attaining liberation depend entirely upon the efficacy of prajñā. Not only these two: all the myriad practices of the Dharma are established through prajñā. Therefore, the [other] five pāramitās are like the blind, while prajñā is like the guide. If giving lacks prajñā, one only attains glory for a single lifetime, and later suffers the debt of remaining calamity. If keeping precepts lacks prajñā, one is born temporarily in the upper desire realm, only to fall back into hell (naraka). If patience lacks prajñā, one receives the reward of an upright form, but does not realize the patience of cessation. If vigor lacks prajñā, one vainly stirs up the labor of arising and ceasing, not heading toward the ocean of the truly permanent. If dhyāna-meditation lacks prajñā, one only practices the dhyāna of the form realm, and does not enter the adamantine samādhi. If the myriad goods lack prajñā, they futilely become tainted causes, not according with the unconditioned fruit. Therefore, we know that prajñā is a guide along perilous paths, a bright torch in a dark room, an oar of wisdom upon the ocean of birth and death, an excellent physician amidst the illness of the kleśas, a mighty gale shattering mountains of error, a fierce general crushing the armies of Māra, a brilliant sun illuminating subterranean paths, a sudden thunderclap rousing dull consciousness, a golden probe opening the eyes of the foolishly blind, ambrosia quenching thirsty craving, a blade of wisdom severing the net of delusion, and a precious pearl given to the destitute. If prajñā is not illuminated, the myriad practices are established in vain. The ancestral master said: "Not knowing the profound purport, one toils in vain striving for stillness of thought." One must not forget its illumination for even a kṣaṇa, or one will suddenly fall into contradiction. Since these three dharmas are neither vertical nor horizontal, neither one nor different, they can constitute the secret treasury of nirvāṇa. As the Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra says: The Buddha said, "I shall now cause all sentient beings, together with my sons of the fourfold assembly, to abide completely within the secret treasury, and I too shall abide within it and enter into nirvāṇa. What is called the secret treasury? It is like the three dots of the letter 'i' (∴). If placed side by side, they do not form the letter 'i'; if placed vertically, they do not form it either. Only like the three eyes on the face of Maheśvara do they form the letter 'i'. If the three dots are separated, they also cannot form it. I am also like this: the dharma of liberation is not nirvāṇa alone; the body of the Tathāgata is not nirvāṇa alone; mahāprajñā is not nirvāṇa alone; and the three dharmas being separate is also not nirvāṇa. I now abide in these three dharmas, and for the sake of sentient beings, this is called entering nirvāṇa." Therefore it is said: the dharmakāya is eternal, the knowledge of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā) is complete, and liberation is possessed. All are the Buddha-Dharma, without superiority or inferiority, and thus they are not vertical. The three virtues are mutually merged, being of the same single dharmadhātu; outside of the dharmadhātu, where else could another dharma exist? Hence they are not horizontal. Because they can be variously established, they are not one. Because they equally return to the ultimate truth, they are not different. Although three, they are one; although one, they are three. If they were one, they would ruin the three truths; if they were different, they would be deluded about the one reality. In the objective realm, the three truths are perfectly interfused; in the mind, the three contemplations are simultaneously applied; in the cause, the three paths are continuous; in the fruit, the three virtues are fully perfected. Bringing root and branch together in this way, one then enters the secret treasury of great nirvāṇa. An ancient master said: "These three virtues are not apart from the single suchness (tathatā), though their virtuous functions are differentiated: illumination identical with stillness is prajñā; stillness identical with illumination is liberation; the substance of stillness and illumination is the dharmakāya. It is like a single luminous, pure, and round pearl: its luminosity is prajñā, its purity is liberation, and its round substance is the dharmakāya. Differentiated in terms of function, their substance is inseparable. Thus, these three dharmas are neither vertical nor horizontal, neither parallel nor separate. Like the eyes of the deva, like the worldly letter 'i', they are called the secret treasury and constitute great nirvāṇa." Furthermore, the Tiantai teachings analogously correlate them with the three trackways of the Dharma: first, the trackway of the true nature; second, the trackway of contemplative illumination; third, the trackway of assisting completion. These are none other than the three virtues. Taking the trackway of the true nature as the substance of the one vehicle, this is the dharmakāya, because all sentient beings are the one vehicle. Taking the trackway of contemplative illumination as prajñā, it simply designates the true nature as quiescent yet constantly illuminating, which is the contemplative illumination of ultimate emptiness. Taking the trackway of assisting completion as liberation, it simply designates the true nature as the dharmadhātu containing the myriad practices and immeasurable goods, which is the tathāgatagarbha. These three dharmas are neither one nor different. Just as, when discussing the light and the jewel in a wish-fulfilling jewel, the light and the jewel are neither identical to nor different from the pearl, and neither vertical nor horizontal, the three dharmas are also like this. Now, we further broadly correlate them with ten kinds of threefold dharmas: 1. the three paths, 2. the three consciousnesses, 3. the three Buddha-natures, 4. the three prajñās, 5. the three bodhis, 6. the three Mahāyānas, 7. the three bodies, 8. the three nirvāṇas, 9. the three jewels, and 10. the three virtues. These ten kinds of threefold dharmas comprehensively subsume all ordinary and noble, causal and fruitional dharmas. Now, citing the Profound Meaning of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa, they are broadly explained in terms of contemplating the mind. Regarding the ten threefold gates of Dharma, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra says: "The liberation of the Buddhas should be sought within the mental activities of sentient beings." If one does not contemplate one's own mind, it is not one's own share of wisdom, and one cannot open up the treasure-house within one's own body. Now, wishing to discuss the precious treasures on the ground of the ordinary person, namely through hearing and cultivating, the explanation is clarified through contemplating the mind. First, in clarifying the three paths through contemplating the mind: 1. The path of kleśa: past ignorance (avidyā), and present craving (tṛṣṇā) and grasping (upādāna)—these three limbs. 2. The path of karma: past volitional formations (saṃskāra), and present becoming (bhava)—these two limbs. 3. The path of suffering: present consciousness (vijñāna), name-and-form (nāmarūpa), the six sense bases (ṣaḍāyatana), contact (sparśa), and feeling (vedanā); and future birth (jāti) and aging-and-death (jarāmaraṇa), sorrow, lamentation, suffering, and distress—these seven limbs. Now, contemplating the mind-king is the path of suffering; contemplating the mental factor of wisdom is the path of kleśa; contemplating the other mental factors is the path of karma. The Vimalakīrtinirdeśasūtra says: "Contemplating the real characteristic of the body is the same as contemplating the Buddha." If the six parts such as the head are each individually the body, then there would be multiple bodies. If there were another body apart from them, that would be impossible. Each individually is not the body, nor is it there when they are combined. If seeking the body among the six parts including the head cannot be attained, in the present it does not abide and therefore cannot be attained; because past causes have perished, it also cannot be attained; and the future has not yet arrived.