萬善同歸集 1.16

1.16

答：「諸佛如來一代時教，自古及今，分宗甚眾。撮其大約，不出三宗：一、相宗。二、空宗。三、性宗。若相宗多說是；空宗多說非；性宗惟論直指，即同曹溪見性成佛也。如今不論見性，罔識正宗，多執是非，紛然諍競，皆不了祖佛密意，但徇言詮。如教中或說是者，即依性說相；或言非者，是破相顯性；惟性宗一門，顯了直指，不說是非。如今多重非心、非佛、非理、非事，泯絕之言，以為玄妙，不知但是遮詮治病之文。執此方便，認為標的，却不信表詮直指之教，頓遺實地，昧却真心。如楚國愚人，認雞作鳳；猶春池小兒，執石為珠。但任淺近之情，不探深密之旨，迷空方便，豈識真歸？」

Answer: "The teachings of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, throughout their lifetimes have, from ancient times to the present, been divided into very many schools. To summarize their essentials, they do not go beyond three schools: first, the School of Characteristics; second, the School of Emptiness; third, the School of Nature. The School of Characteristics mostly affirms; the School of Emptiness mostly negates; the School of Nature discusses only direct pointing, which is identical to Caoxi's seeing the nature and becoming a Buddha. Nowadays, people do not discuss seeing the nature and fail to recognize the correct school; they mostly cling to affirmation and negation, disputing in confusion, all failing to understand the esoteric intent of the ancestors and Buddhas and merely following verbal explanations. When the teachings affirm something, this is explaining characteristics based on nature; when they negate something, this is shattering characteristics to reveal nature. Only the single gate of the School of Nature clearly and directly points without speaking of affirmation or negation. Nowadays, people mostly value the words of total obliteration, such as 'not mind, not Buddha, not principle, not phenomena,' taking them to be profound and wondrous, unaware that these are merely passages of negative expression meant to cure disease. Clinging to this upāya, they take it as the ultimate goal, yet they do not believe the teachings of affirmative expression that directly point; thus they suddenly abandon the real ground and obscure the true mind. They are like the fool of the state of Chu who took a chicken for a phoenix, or like the child by the spring pond who held a stone to be a jewel. Merely following shallow sentiments without probing the deep and esoteric purport, confused by the upāya of emptiness, how could they recognize the true refuge?"