[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [萬善同歸集](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017) › 2.16 # 萬善同歸集 2.16 萬善同歸集 2.16 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2.16) 答：「理中非有，事上非無。從緣幻生，雖無作者，善惡無性，業果宛然。從無始際，喪無數身，但續俱生，無利而死。今捨父母遺體，豈是己身？若一念圓修，戒定慧等，微妙善心，方真己體。今所捨者，乃是緣生。然於事中，且為利益而死；況正當無明煩惱，三障二死所纏，何乃說空，誰當信受？是以佛法，貴在行持，不取一期口辯。如蟲食木，偶得成文；似鳥言空，全無其旨。煩惱不減，我慢翻增，是惡取邪空，非善達正法。須親見諦，言行相應。但縱妄語麁心，豈察潛行蜜用？古德云：『行取千尺萬尺，說取一寸半寸。』又經云：『言雖說空，行在有中。』《寶積經》云：『佛言：「若不修行得菩提者，音聲言說，亦應證得無上菩提。作如是言：『我當作佛、我當作佛。』以此語故，無邊眾生，應成正覺。」』故知行在言前，道非心外。又經云：『佛言：「學我法者，惟證乃知。」』是以劇惡不如微善；多虛不如少實。但能行者，不棄於小心；縱空說者，徒標於大意。若未契真如之用，順法性而行，惟得上慢之心，自招誣罔之咎。是以《仁王》列五忍之位；智者備六即之文。行位分明，豈可叨濫？何不入平等觀，起隨喜心；積眾善之根，成大慈之種？經云：『然一指節、爇一炷香，尚滅積劫之愆瑕；或散一華、暫稱一佛，畢至究竟之果位。』《首楞嚴經》云：『菩薩同事，尚作奸偷、屠販、淫女、寡婦，靡所不為。』《無生義》云：『離相無住行人，不住涅槃，能普現色身，在有為中，能貴、能賤、能凡、能聖；行仁義之道，悲濟十方，盡未來際。』又云：『凡地修聖行，果地習凡因；未具佛法，亦不滅受而取證也。』明知真是俗真，俗是真俗；執即塵勞，通為佛事。入法性三昧，無一法可嫌；證無邊定門，無一法可棄。勝負既失，取捨全乖；不可障他菩提，滅自善本。又縱了非身，深窮實相，不滯心境，決定無疑。雖知一切有為，猶如空中鳥跡，尚須地地，觀練對治，習氣非無。況堅執四倒之愚，深陷八邪之網；持此穢質，廣作貪淫；被幻網所籠，為情色所醉；汩沒生死，沈淪苦輪者歟！所以大覺深嗟，廣垂毀擯；諸聖捨身之際，無不先訶。如以毒藥而換醍醐，似將瓦器而易珍寶。故《寶積經》觀身有四十種過患：或云貪欲之獄，恒為煩惱之所繫纏；臭穢之坑，常被諸蟲之所唼食。似行廁而五種不淨；若漏囊而九孔常穿。瞋恚毒蛇起害心，而傷殘慧命；愚癡羅剎執我見，而吞噉智身。猶惡賊而舉世皆嫌；類死狗而諸賢並棄。不堅如芭蕉、水沫；無常似焰影、電光。雖灌啖而反作冤讎；每將養而罔知恩報。廣誚非一，難可具言。若不審此深愆，遂乃廣興惡業；迷斯為是，而不進修，則智行兩虧，理事俱失。須先厭患，苦切對治；知非而欲火潛消，了本而真源自現。故《法華經》云：『猶如三界，火宅所燒，何由能解，佛之智慧？』」 > Answer: "In principle it does not exist, yet in phenomena it is not absent. Arising magically from conditions, though there is no creator, and though good and evil have no self-nature, karmic fruits are distinctly present. From the beginningless limit, \[sentient beings\] have lost countless bodies, merely continuing innate \[delusions\] and dying without benefit. Now, as for relinquishing the body bequeathed by one's parents—how could this be one's true body? Only if, in a single thought-moment, one fully cultivates morality, concentration, wisdom, and so forth, in a subtly marvelous good mind, is it truly one's own body. What is relinquished now is merely what is produced by conditions. Yet among phenomena, it is at least to die for the sake of benefit. How much more so when one is right now entangled by ignorance and afflictions, the three obstacles, and the two kinds of death—why speak \[only\] of emptiness, and who would believe and accept it? Therefore, in the Buddhadharma, the value lies in practice; it does not seize upon fleeting eloquence of the mouth. This is like an insect eating wood that accidentally forms characters, or like a bird speaking of 'emptiness' with no grasp of its purport at all. When afflictions do not diminish while arrogance instead increases, this is a pernicious clinging to perverse emptiness, not a good comprehension of the saddharma. One must personally realize the truth, so that words and deeds correspond. If one merely indulges in false speech and a coarse mind, how could one discern hidden practice and secret application? An ancient worthy said: 'In practice, aim for a thousand feet or ten thousand feet; in speech, aim for an inch or half an inch.' A sūtra also says: 'Though words speak of emptiness, conduct resides in being.' The Ratnakūṭa Sūtra says: 'The Buddha said: "If one could attain bodhi without practice, then sounds and spoken words should also realize supreme bodhi. By uttering such words as 'I shall become a Buddha, I shall become a Buddha,' limitless sentient beings ought to attain correct awakening solely through these words."' Thus we know that practice precedes words, and the path is not outside the mind. A sūtra also says: 'The Buddha said: "Those who learn my Dharma know it only through realization."' Therefore, severe evil is not as good as slight goodness; much emptiness is not as good as little reality. Those who are truly capable of practice do not abandon minor minds; those who indulge in empty talk merely profess the grand purport in vain. If one has not accorded with the function of suchness and acted in accordance with the dharmatā, but merely attains a mind of haughtiness, one will bring upon oneself the fault of falsehood and deception. Therefore, the Benevolent King Sūtra lays out the stages of the five patiences, and Master Zhiyi fully provided the text of the six identities. The stages of practice are distinct—how could one usurp them presumptuously? Why not enter the contemplation of equality, arouse the mind of rejoicing, accumulate the roots of myriad goods, and bring to fruition the seed of great compassion? A sūtra says: 'Burning a single finger joint or lighting a single stick of incense can still extinguish the faults and blemishes accumulated over kalpas; scattering a single flower or momentarily reciting the name of a single Buddha will ultimately lead to the fruit of the ultimate stage.' The Śūraṅgama Sūtra says: 'In adopting the same deeds, bodhisattvas even act as thieves and rogues, butchers and peddlers, harlots and widows—there is nothing they do not do.' The Meaning of Non-Arising says: 'Practitioners who are detached from signs and non-abiding do not abide in nirvāṇa; they can universally manifest physical bodies, and amidst conditioned things they can be noble, base, ordinary, or holy, practicing the way of benevolence and righteousness and compassionately rescuing \[beings throughout\] the ten directions to the end of future kalpas.' It also says: 'At the stage of an ordinary person, one cultivates holy practices; at the fruit stage, one engages in ordinary causes. Not yet endowed with the Buddhadharma, one does not extinguish sensation to attain realization either.' Thus we clearly know that the ultimate is the conventional ultimate, and the conventional is the ultimate conventional. Clinging to them is worldly defilement, while penetrating them constitutes Buddha-work. Entering the samādhi of dharmatā, there is not a single dharma to be despised; realizing the gateway of boundless concentration, there is not a single dharma to be discarded. Once victory and defeat are lost, taking and leaving are completely mistaken; one must not obstruct the bodhi of others or destroy one's own root of goodness. Furthermore, even if one understands that there is no body, deeply penetrates the dharmatā, and is not obstructed by mind or objects, being decisively free of doubt—though one knows that all conditioned things are like the tracks of a bird in the sky, one must still, from bhūmi to bhūmi, cultivate, train, and apply antidotes; karmic propensities are not absent. How much more so for the foolish who rigidly cling to the four inversions and are deeply trapped in the net of the eight perversities, who maintain this foul body to broadly engage in greed and lust, who are ensnared by the net of illusion and intoxicated by passion and form, sinking into birth and death and submerged in the wheel of suffering! Therefore the Great Awakened One sighed deeply and widely rebuked and rejected it; whenever the holy ones relinquished their bodies, there was none who did not first reprimand it. It is like exchanging poison for clarified butter, or like trading an earthenware vessel for rare jewels. Hence the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra states that contemplating the body reveals forty kinds of faults: sometimes it is called a prison of greed and desire, perpetually bound by afflictions; a pit of foul stench, constantly nibbled and devoured by worms. It is like a walking latrine with five kinds of impurity; like a leaking bag with nine holes continually piercing it. The poisonous snake of anger gives rise to a malicious mind, injuring and crippling the life of wisdom; the rākṣasa of folly clings to the view of self, swallowing and devouring the body of wisdom. Like an evil bandit, the whole world abhors it; like a dead dog, all the virtuous cast it aside. It is impermanent like a plantain tree or water foam; fleeting like a mirage or a flash of lightning. Though one washes and feeds it, it turns into an enemy; though one constantly nurtures it, it knows no gratitude. The extensive reproaches are manifold; it is difficult to describe them completely. If one does not examine these deep faults and consequently engages broadly in evil karma, mistakenly taking this to be right and failing to advance in cultivation, then both wisdom and practice will suffer, and both principle and phenomena will be lost. One must first become disgusted with it and apply severe antidotes; by knowing what is wrong, the fire of desire will secretly subside, and by understanding the origin, the true source will naturally appear. Therefore the Lotus Sūtra says: 'Just like the three realms, burned by the burning house, how could they understand the wisdom of the Buddha?'" > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2.15) - [Next: 2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2.17) - [Up: 2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017~en-mt.2.16) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2017.2.16) · Pramāṇa