宗鏡錄 98.57

98.57

Venerable Fokū of the Niutou lineage said: “If one does not believe what a single Mañjuśrī speaks, the Mañjuśrīs of the ten directions speak it simultaneously. When one buddha enters nirvāṇa, all buddhas enter nirvāṇa together. Why is this? Because they have not penetrated the root of matter (rūpa).”
Question: “Is understanding that the nature of matter has no existence whatsoever the root?”
Answer: “This is the language of abiding in contemplation, not seeing the root right within phenomena. If one sees it right within phenomena, it is simply your body of birth, old age, and sickness, as well as avidyā, lust, and anger, that are the root of matter. This is because outside of phenomena there is no principle. Therefore, if one penetrates the root of a single [instance of] matter, the matter of all the ten directions is identical; this is termed ‘one speaking is all speaking’ and ‘one nirvāṇa is all nirvāṇa.’ You should know that the substance of matter has no intrinsic nature, and its nature encompasses everything.”
He also said: “Although identical with ordinary beings, it is not an ordinary being; it does not obtain ordinary beings, nor does it destroy ordinary beings. To claim there is something specially superior outside the mind is to fall straight into the snare of Māra. When I now contemplate the true characteristic of my own body and mind and become a buddha, that is precisely where I see the buddhas of the ten directions practicing together and realizing together.”
Question: “That the buddha body is perfumed and cultivated by untainted morality and concentration, so that the five aggregates neither bind nor release, I dare not doubt. Yet as the Great Sūtra says, the body of the unwholesome five aggregates of sentient beings likewise neither binds nor releases—this causes people great alarm and doubt.”
Answer: “If there were a liberation of the buddhas apart from the five aggregates of sentient beings, that would be impossible. If one simply understands that the self-nature of sentient beings, from the very beginning, does not contain a single dharma that can be attained, who binds and who releases? How could there be any distinction between bondage and release?”
Question: “The sūtra says that sentient beings and buddhas are equal and that there is neither bondage nor release; why then do sentient beings of the six destinies sink and drown, unable to attain liberation?”
Answer: “Because sentient beings do not understand that matter and citta are pure, their deluded thoughts are inverted, and they fail to attain liberation. If one knows that persons and dharmas are constantly empty, within them there is truly neither bondage nor release.”
Question: “What contemplative practice and repentance should one perform so that at the time of death one avoids being dragged along by karma?”
Answer: “You must deeply believe that the place where all buddhas practice and speak is no different from the place where I practice and speak today. Even upon attaining buddhahood, one still does not grasp the characteristic of nirvāṇa, so how much less could the deluded karma of sins and merits in between be grasped! This is true right knowledge and right view, true cultivation, and true repentance. If only one does not lose this contemplation in walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, at the end of life one will naturally not lose right mindfulness.”