萬善同歸集 2.56

2.56

答：「夫眾生者，即是自身日夜所起，無量妄念之心。《大集經》云：『汝日夜念念，常起無量百千眾生。』《淨度三昧經》云：『一念受一身。善念生天上、人中身；惡念受三惡道身；百念受百身；千念受千身。一日一夜種生死根，後當受八億五千萬雜類之身；乃至百年之中，種後世身，體骨皮毛，遍大千剎土，地間無空處。若一念不生，恬然反本。』故云：『度妄眾生，了念即空，無有起處。』復云：『不見眾生可度。』亦云：『度盡一切眾生，方成正覺。』即斯旨也。《華嚴經》云：『身為正法藏，心為無閡燈；照了諸法空，名曰度眾生。』既自行已立，還說示人，普令觀心，還依是學；是為真實之慈，究竟之度矣。夫從凡入聖，萬善之門，先發菩提心，最為第一。乃眾行之首，履道之初，終始該羅，不可暫廢。《梵網經》云：『若佛子，常起大悲心。乃至若見牛、馬、猪、羊，一切畜生，應心念口言：「汝是畜生，發菩提心。」而菩薩入一切處，山林川野，皆使一切眾生發菩提心。若菩薩不發教化眾生心者，犯輕垢罪。』《華嚴經》云：『欲見十方一切佛，欲施無盡功德藏，欲滅眾生諸苦惱，宜應速發菩提心。』又云：『菩提心者，猶如種子，能生一切諸佛法故。菩提心者，猶如良田，能長眾生白淨法故。菩提心者，猶如大地，能持一切諸世間故。菩提心者，猶如淨水，能洗一切煩惱垢故。菩提心者，猶如大風，普於世間無所閡故。菩提心者，猶如盛火，能燒一切諸見薪故。』」

Answer: "A sentient being is just the mind of immeasurable deluded thoughts arising day and night within one's own body. The Mahāsaṃnipāta Sūtra says: 'In your thoughts day and night, you constantly give rise to immeasurable hundreds of thousands of sentient beings.' The Jingdu Sanmei Jing says: 'In a single thought, one receives a single body. A wholesome thought gives birth to a body in the heavens or among humans; an unwholesome thought receives a body in the three wretched destinies; a hundred thoughts receive a hundred bodies; a thousand thoughts receive a thousand bodies. In a single day and night, one plants the roots of birth and death, and will later receive eight hundred and fifty million varied bodies; even over a hundred years, one plants future bodies whose bones, skin, and hair would fill the great trichiliocosm, leaving no empty space on the earth. If not a single thought arises, one peacefully returns to the source.' Therefore it is said: 'To save deluded sentient beings is to realize that thoughts are empty, having nowhere to arise.' It is also said: 'One does not see sentient beings that can be saved.' It is also said: 'Only when one has completely saved all sentient beings does one attain correct awakening.' This is precisely the meaning. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: / 'The body is the treasury of the true Dharma, / The mind is the unobstructed lamp; / Illuminating all dharmas as empty / Is called saving sentient beings.' / Having established one's own practice, one also teaches and reveals it to others, causing all universally to contemplate the mind and study according to this; this is true compassion and ultimate deliverance. In passing from the ordinary to the noble, among the gateways of the myriad good practices, first generating the bodhicitta is supreme. It is the chief of all practices and the beginning of treading the path, encompassing both beginning and end, never to be neglected for an instant. The Brahmajāla Sūtra says: 'A disciple of the Buddha should constantly give rise to great compassion. Even when seeing oxen, horses, pigs, sheep, or any animals, one should think in one's mind and say with one's mouth: "You are animals; generate the bodhicitta." Wherever a bodhisattva goes—mountains, forests, rivers, and plains—he should cause all sentient beings to generate the bodhicitta. If a bodhisattva does not generate the mind to teach and transform sentient beings, he commits a minor defilement transgression.' The Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: / 'Wishing to see all Buddhas of the ten directions, / Wishing to bestow the inexhaustible treasury of merit, / Wishing to extinguish all the sufferings of sentient beings, / One should swiftly generate the bodhicitta.' / It also says: 'The bodhicitta is like a seed, because it can produce all Buddha-dharmas. The bodhicitta is like a fertile field, because it can grow the pure, white dharmas of sentient beings. The bodhicitta is like the great earth, because it can sustain all the worlds. The bodhicitta is like pure water, because it can wash away all defilements. The bodhicitta is like a great wind, because it is unobstructed throughout the world. The bodhicitta is like a blazing fire, because it can burn the firewood of all views.'"