宗鏡錄 93.3.3

93.3.3

[does] not cultivate bodily discipline, mental cultivation, or wisdom. Such a person derisively mocks the teaching of ultimate emptiness spoken by the Tathāgata." It also says: "If there are those who hear of emptiness and are immediately terrified and alarmed, such people are pitiable; they go straight to hell, with no one to save them." During the Tang, the monk Huitiao, whose secular surname was Zhuang, left home when young and made the Hīnayāna his main study. He resided under Master Zhe at Baoshan Monastery in Xiangyang. At Longquan, lectures on the *Three Treatises* were being held; feeling intolerant in his heart, he said: "The *Three Treatises* explain emptiness, and those lecturing on them cling to emptiness." As soon as he finished speaking, his tongue stuck out three feet, and blood flowed from his eyes, ears, and nose together. For seven days he could not speak. There was the Vinaya Master Fu, who, hearing of his tongue protruding, said to him: "You are too foolish! Defaming with a single word, your guilt exceeds the five inexpiable offenses. Only by having faith in the Mahāyāna can you escape it." He then had him burn incense, make a vow, and repent his former words. His tongue then drew back in. He thereupon went to Master Zhe's place, vowing in his heart to restrain his conduct and only listen to the Mahāyāna. Later he went to Shenzu Monastery on Mount Xiang; not crossing the threshold with his feet, he constantly practiced the Mahāyāna, at times lecturing on scriptures such as the *Avataṃsaka* to express his repentance and apology. He constantly stated his former error before the assembly. Living alone in a single room, he sat constantly and was constantly mindful. On the third day of the fourth month in the eleventh year of Zhenguan, while sitting in meditation in the pine grove behind the monastery, he saw three people approach of wondrous and extraordinary appearance. After bowing and asking to receive the bodhisattva precepts, they said: "The Dhyāna Master has great and sharp faculties. Had you not changed your mind and had faith in the Mahāyāna, even after the appearance in the world of a thousand buddhas, you would still be in hell." Moreover, in the past someone defamed the Mahāyāna, and at the approach of death emitted the sound of an ox. Thus one knows that the initial retribution is clear; how could the full fruitional retribution fail to follow? All of the above are due to deep obstructions and lack of faith, or shallow wisdom and erroneous transmission, where grasping at the letter gives rise to views, all turning into defamation of the Dharma. As the *Mañjuśrīparikrama-sūtra* states: "Mañjuśrī said: 'Venerable Śāriputra, if someone should say that the Tathāgatas of the past, future, and present are dependent or not dependent, such a person defames the Tathāgata. Why is this? Tathatā is free of thought, nor is there anything thought of; tathatā does not regress; tathatā is without characteristics.'" Now, the general intention of the *Mirror of the Source* is that all the passages recorded—whether from the patriarchs or from the teachings—if there is even a single character or a single phrase, whether regarding principle or phenomena, whether regarding wisdom or practice, all are entirely dedicated, pointing back and returning to the one mind of tathatā. Why is this? The real nature of the mind is called tathatā. "Nature" has the meaning of being unalterable; "real" takes its name from being devoid of falsehood; "thusness" is unvarying and undifferentiated. Because this mind-nature is universally pervasive and harmoniously integrated, horizontally encompassing the ten directions and vertically penetrating the three periods of time, extending to all times and places without ever being interrupted, whatever slight fine hair of good roots there may be is entirely dedicated. Thought after thought accords with the substance of tathatā—and the substance is completely tranquil; one by one it accords with the function of tathatā—and how could the function ever be exhausted? Therefore, simply by tallying with the one thusness, it naturally contains all virtues. As in the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra*, the dedication of the characteristics of tathatā contains one hundred phrases. In each and every phrase, there is none that does not point to the same, all serving to accomplish the wondrous gate of the one mind. As the sūtra states: "Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva-mahāsattva has clear right mindfulness, his mind is steadfastly settled, he leaves confusion far behind, he practices with single-minded intent, his deep mind is unshakable, he accomplishes indestructible karma, he inclines toward all-knowledge and never regresses, he aspires to seek the Mahāyāna with vigor and fearlessness, he plants all roots of virtue, he universally pacifies the world, he generates superior good roots, he cultivates pure white dharmas, his great compassion increases, and the jewel of his mind is perfected … Furthermore, just as tathatā is pervasive in all places and has no boundary, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it is pervasive in all places and has no boundary. Just as tathatā has reality as its nature, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it understands all dharmas to have reality as their nature. Just as tathatā constantly maintains its original nature without change, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it maintains its original nature and never changes from beginning to end. Just as tathatā has the absence of nature as the nature of all dharmas, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it understands all dharmas to have the absence of nature as their nature. Just as tathatā has the absence of characteristics as its characteristic, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it understands all dharmas to have the absence of characteristics as their characteristic. Just as with tathatā, if anyone attains it, they ultimately never regress, the dedication of good roots is also like this: if anyone attains it, they never regress with respect to all buddhadharmas. Just as tathatā is the sphere of practice of all buddhas, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it is the sphere of practice of all tathāgatas. Just as tathatā is free from the characteristics of cognitive objects yet serves as a cognitive object, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it is free from the characteristics of cognitive objects yet serves as the complete cognitive object of all buddhas of the three periods of time. Just as tathatā can establish [things], the dedication of good roots is also like this: it can establish all sentient beings. Just as tathatā's nature is constantly compliant, the dedication of good roots is also like this: exhausting all future kalpas, it complies without interruption. Just as tathatā cannot be measured, the dedication of good roots is also like this: equal to the realm of space and exhausting the minds of sentient beings, it cannot be measured. Just as tathatā completely fills everything, the dedication of good roots is also like this: in a single kṣaṇa, it universally pervades the dharmadhātu. Just as tathatā is eternally abiding and inexhaustible, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it is ultimately inexhaustible. Just as tathatā has no comparison, the dedication of good roots is also like this: it can universally consummate all buddhadharmas and has no comparison. Just as tathatā's substance and nature are firm and solid, the dedication of good roots is also like this: its substance and nature are firm and solid, unable to be frustrated by any afflictions. Just as tathatā cannot be destroyed, the dedication of good roots is also like this: all sentient beings cannot damage it. Just as tathatā has illumination as its substance…"