宗鏡錄 91.9

91.9

Answer: One should see one's own body as having no body and no mind, no appearing and no disappearing, no inside and no outside, neither moving nor quiescent, without thought and without seeking. In the worldly and the transworldly, there is nowhere to abide at all. There are no mental factors (caitta) and no mind or mental factors; mental phenomena have no reliance, and their nature has no beginning or end. With wisdom that does not rely or abide, one speaks such Dharma and transforms sentient beings, causing them all to awaken and enter. This is called 'seeing the buddhas appear'. As Mañjuśrī's verse in the "Chapter on the Awakening of Light" says: / "Worldly and transworldly views, / all of them he completely transcends; / yet he can skillfully know the Dharma, / and shall become a great illumination. / If toward all-knowledge / one gives rise to a mind of dedication, / and sees that the mind is unarisen, / one shall attain great renown. / Sentient beings are unarisen, / and likewise there is no destruction; / if one attains knowledge such as this, / one shall achieve the unsurpassable Path." / Furthermore, the Mahāyāna Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra says: "The Buddha told Bhadrapāla: 'Suppose a fire has not yet arisen, and someone were to say, "Today I will first extinguish this fire." Bhadrapāla, what do you think? Are that person's words true or not?' Bhadrapāla replied: 'No, World-Honoured One.' The Buddha told Bhadrapāla: 'Likewise, all phenomena from the very beginning are ultimately unattained. Why do you now make this statement: "I can realize and know all phenomena; I can comprehend all phenomena; I can awaken to all phenomena; I can deliver all sentient beings from saṃsāra"? These are not correct words. Why is that? Within that dharmadhātu, originally there are no phenomena, nor are there sentient beings. How could there be talk of deliverance? It is only through causes and conditions in conventional truth that there is deliverance.'" Therefore we know that outside mind there are no phenomena; what is there to be attained? The Buddha-body is unconditioned, appearing only in accordance with conditions. As the Zhaolun says: "The Fangguang [jing] says: 'The Buddha is like empty space, without going and without coming, appearing in response to conditions, having no fixed location.' Thus, the sage's presence in the world is quiescent, empty, and void; without grasping and without contention. He guides without leading; he responds only after there is a resonance. He is like the echo in a secluded valley, or an image in a bright mirror: facing it, one does not know where it comes from; following it, one does not perceive where it goes. Indistinctly present, vaguely gone. Moving, he is ever more quiescent; hidden, he is ever more apparent. Emerging from the obscure and entering the dark, his transformations are without constancy. As for his designations, they arise in response: manifesting traces is called 'birth'; withdrawing traces is called 'extinction'. Birth is named 'with remainder'; extinction is named 'without remainder'. Yet designations of existence and nonexistence are rooted in the nameless; as for the nameless Way, what cannot be named of it? Therefore the sage, dwelling in the square is square, halting in the round is round; being among devas he is a deva, dwelling among humans he is a human. Considering the source of being able to be a deva and being able to be a human—how could it be what devas and humans can do? It is precisely because he is neither deva nor human that he can be a deva and be a human. Therefore, a bright mirror has no form, yet can manifest ten thousand forms; the sage has no mind, yet can respond to ten thousand minds. Concealed, he does not hide his light; manifested, he does not show traces." Therefore the treatise says: "The sage is serene and without portents; concealment and manifestation share the same origin. Living is not considered existence; dying is not considered nonexistence." Why is this? The Buddha said: "I have no birth that is not born, yet though born I am unarisen; I have no form that is not formed, yet though formed I am formless."