宗鏡錄 94.37

94.37

The Xuzhen tianzi jing says: 'The devaputra Xuzhen asked Mañjuśrī: "Does a bodhisattva not seek the path through the three doors of deliverance?" Mañjuśrī replied: "Devaputra, one cannot accomplish the path through emptiness, nor can one accomplish the path through signlessness, nor can one accomplish the path through wishlessness. Why is that? Because within these there is no citta, manas, or vijñāna, and thought does not move either. Only when there are citta, manas, and vijñāna, and thought moves in every moment, can one accomplish that path."' / Exegesis: If one takes the three doors of deliverance as realization, one drowns in the ocean of the reality-limit, turns one's back on the source of numinous awakening, abandons the nature and pursues emptiness—how could one accomplish the great path? If one directly understands the mental nature of spiritual comprehension, in thought after thought the fruit of bodhi is perfected: one does not fall into the deviant non-existence of the view of annihilation, so how could one step into the substantial existence of the view of permanence? With the slightest stirring of intention, the great function manifests before one: nothing to be attained and nothing to rely upon, neither grasping nor rejecting. Arousing practice from the real, substance and function encompass each other; tallying with the real through practice, folding and unfolding are on a single plane. It can truly be said that mind after mind unifies with the path, and thought after thought merges with the real. Therefore the Contemplation on Returning to the Source says: 'In its function, waves surge and the ocean boils, operating entirely by virtue of the true substance; in its substance, the mirror is clean and the water is clear, uniting in quiescence whenever following conditions.' This is the function that does not depart from substance—and function is the surging waves; this is the substance that does not depart from function—and substance is eternally calm and quiescent. Although substance is calm and quiescent, it is constantly present across myriad conditions; although function is surging waves, it eternally merges on a single plane.