宗鏡錄 98.22

98.22

Dhyāna Master Yong was asked: "The Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] clarifies that sentient beings are precisely the Buddha-nature, and the Buddha-nature is precisely sentient beings, differing only in time as pure or impure. I wonder whether insentient things are also sentient beings?" He replied: "A sūtra says: Mañjuśrī asked the Golden Woman, 'Does your body possess the five skandhas, the twelve āyatanas, and the eighteen dhātus?' The woman said, 'As my body possesses the five skandhas, twelve āyatanas, and eighteen dhātus...' The Brahmajāla Sūtra says: 'All earth and water are my past bodies; all fire and wind are my fundamental substance.' Moreover, the two bodies—the supported [environment] and the supporting [sentient being]—rely on each other and are established mutually. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'All dharmas are without characteristics; this is the true substance of the Buddha.' A sūtra clarifies that if one calculates that the mind of luminous wisdom is permanent while matter is perishable and impermanent, this is the non-Buddhist view of annihilation and permanence. The Avataṃsaka clarifies that the realm of sentient beings is precisely the realm of the Buddhas, and the realm of the Buddhas is precisely the dharmadhātu; outside the dharmadhātu, there is no other dharma. Even though the ten thousand dharmas differ, their substance is eternally identical. If one is not deluded about that which is identical, substance and function are eternally not two. The principle of non-duality is indeed the essential ford for leaving the world. When a single thought corresponds, without any interval the commoner becomes a sage."