萬善同歸集 1.72

1.72

答：「佛語誠諦，理事分明；能拔深疑，善開重惑。若深信者，一聞千悟，稱說而行。既蕩前非，不形後過；步步觀照，念念無差。此乃宿習輕微，善根深厚；乘戒俱急，理行相從。斯即深達教門，堅持佛語，何須事懺，過自不生。如若垢重障深，智荒德薄；但空念一切罪性，不在內外中間，觀其三業現行，全沒根塵法內。如說美食，終不充飢；似念藥方，焉能治病？若令但求其語，而得罪消，則一切業繫之人，故應易脫，何乃積劫生死，如旋火輪？以知業海渺茫，非般若之舟罕渡；障山孤峻，匪金剛之慧難傾。然後身心一如，理事雙運，方萎苦種，永斷業繩。所以祖師云：『將虛空之心，合虛空之理，亦無虛空之量，始得報不相酬。』又教云：『淨意如空，此有二義：一者離虛妄取，如彼淨空無有雲翳。二者觸境無滯，如彼淨空不生障閡。』既廓心境，罪垢何生？若能如是，名為依教，尚不見無罪，豈況有愆耶？又罪性本淨，是體性淨；契理無緣，是方便淨。因方便淨，顯體性淨；因體性淨，成方便淨。方便淨者，力行熏治；體性淨者，一念圓照。本末相應，內外更資。故須理事相扶，成其二淨；正助兼懺，證此一心。設但念空言，實難違教；不信之謗，非此誰耶？南山《四分鈔》：『問：「有人言：『罪不罪不可得，名戒者』何耶？」』《鈔》答：『非謂邪見麁心言無罪也。若深入諸法相，行空三昧，慧眼觀故，言罪不可得。若肉眼所見，與牛羊無異。誦大乘語者，何足據焉。』是以理觀苦諦，事行須扶。如風送船，疾有所至；猶膏助火，轉益光明。豈同但保空言，全無剋證；誑他陷己，果沒阿鼻；捨生受身，神投業網。」

Answer: "The Buddha's words are sincere and true, with principle and phenomena clearly distinguished; they can uproot deep doubts and deftly resolve severe confusions. If one has deep faith, hearing once brings a thousandfold awakening, and one acts in accordance with what is spoken. Having wiped away former errors, no subsequent faults take shape; with every step contemplative illumination is maintained, and in every thought-moment there is no deviation. This belongs to one whose past habits are slight and tenuous, and whose roots of goodness are profound and thick; the vehicle and the precepts are both urgently pursued, and principle and practice follow one another. Such a one thoroughly penetrates the teachings and resolutely adheres to the Buddha's words; what need is there for phenomenal repentance? Faults naturally do not arise. But if one's defilements are heavy and obstructions deep, with withered wisdom and meager virtue, merely contemplating in vain that 'the nature of all sin is neither inside, outside, nor in between,' while observing the present activities of one's three karmic modes, one is entirely submerged within sense bases, sense objects, and conditioned phenomena. This is like speaking of delicious food, which in the end does not fill hunger; it resembles reciting a prescription, which how could it cure illness? If merely reciting these words could cause sin to be extinguished, then all persons bound by karma should surely easily escape—why then do they accumulate kalpas of birth and death, spinning like a firebrand? Hence we know that the ocean of karma is vast and boundless, rarely crossed without the boat of prajñā; the mountains of obstructions are sheer and precipitous, hard to topple without the diamond-like wisdom. Only thereafter, when body and mind are tathatā and principle and phenomena are operated in tandem, can the seeds of suffering be withered and the rope of karma severed forever. Therefore an ancestral master said: 'Bring the mind of empty space to unite with the principle of empty space, while having no measure of empty space—only then do karmic retributions cease to retaliate against one another.' Furthermore, a teaching says: 'Purifying the mind like empty space has two meanings: first, being free from false grasping, just as pure empty space is free from clouds and haze; second, having no obstruction upon encountering objects, just as pure empty space engenders no hindrances.' When mind and objects are thus made vast and clear, whence could sinful defilements arise? If one can be like this, it is called relying on the teaching; one does not even see the absence of sin, let alone the presence of faults! Furthermore, that the nature of sin is fundamentally pure is purity of essential nature; that it accords with principle without conditions is purity through upāya. Due to purity through upāya, purity of essential nature is revealed; due to purity of essential nature, purity through upāya is accomplished. As for purity through upāya, it is diligently cultivated through practice; as for purity of essential nature, it is fully illuminated in a single thought-moment. The fundamental and the derivative correspond to each other; the internal and external mutually support one another. Therefore, principle and phenomena must assist each other to accomplish these two purities; primary and auxiliary repentance must both be practiced to verify this one mind. If one merely recites empty words, it is truly difficult not to transgress the teachings; who else could commit the slander of unbelief if not such a person? The Nanshan *Commentary on the Four-Part Vinaya* asks: 'Someone said: "That which is neither sin nor non-sin cannot be obtained, and this is called keeping precepts"—how is this?' The *Commentary* answers: 'This does not mean that with wrong views and a coarse mind one says there is no sin. If one penetrates deeply into the marks of all dharmas, practices the samādhi of emptiness, and contemplates with the eye of wisdom, one says sin cannot be obtained. If seen with the physical eye, it is no different from cattle and sheep. What reliance can be placed on one who merely recites the words of the Mahāyāna?' Therefore, when contemplating the truth of suffering through principle, phenomenal practice must support it. It is like the wind escorting a boat, which swiftly reaches its destination; it is like oil assisting fire, which increasingly enhances its brilliance. How could this be compared to merely clinging to empty words without any actual realization—deceiving others and ensnaring oneself, resulting in sinking into Avīci, and upon casting off this life and receiving a body, having one's consciousness cast into the net of karma?"