佛祖統紀 50.41

50.41

Its vastness cannot be bounded; its height cannot be covered; its length cannot be measured. About to be full, it is empty; about to be obscure, it is luminous; though at the extreme, it is in the middle. Subtle, deep, and extraordinary, beyond anything that can be conceived—this is mind alone. The master of Tiantai heard this at Vulture Peak and verified it in samādhi. Knowing that its quiescence is not something to be sought through numbers, he nonetheless forced numbers upon that which is beyond number, relying on the Lotus [Sūtra] to formulate the provisional and the real of the ten realms, the hundred realms, and the three thousand [realms], so as to illuminate all natures. They are neither united nor dispersed; being so of themselves, they are called the true mark of all phenomena, making them easy for people to comprehend. Thereafter, he revealed: when a single thought-moment is empty, the three thousand are all empty; when a single thought-moment is provisional, the three thousand are all provisional; when a single thought-moment is middle, the three thousand are all middle. Completing the perfect threefold contemplation contemplates the perfect threefold truth to illuminate all practices. This is great wisdom and great practice; swift without exertion, it is called the great cart drawn by a white ox, causing people to enter suddenly. Therefore, from cause to effect, without shifting a single thought-moment, one sits at the bodhimaṇḍa, attains sambodhi, subdues Māra, preaches the Dharma, delivers sentient beings, and enters nirvāṇa, and one's deeds are fully accomplished. Employing Nāgārjuna's verse, 'conditioned arising is empty, is provisional, and is middle,' he integrated and unified them. What are the ten Dharma realms? The ten encompass all phenomena, and the three truths constitute the realms. How so? The Buddhas take the middle as their Dharma realm; bodhisattvas take the provisional as their Dharma realm; pratyekabuddhas and śrāvakas together take emptiness as their Dharma realm; [beings in] hell, ghosts, beasts, asuras, humans, and gods together take phenomena born of cause and condition as their Dharma realm. Although the empty, provisional, and middle are three, they are one; the ten realms are also ten while being one. Therefore, they mutually contain one another, each one again possessing the nine, like the jewels of Indra inter-reflecting to form one hundred Dharma realms. One condition is all conditions; one emptiness is all emptiness; one provisionality is all provisionality; one middle is all middle—this truly derives from this. What is meant by the three thousand? They are the phenomena that constitute the realms. There are ten of them, called: such an appearance, such a nature, such a substance, such a power, such an activity, such a cause, such a condition, such a result, such a retribution, and such an ultimate equality from beginning to end. These are the general categories. These ten phenomena, in the Buddha, are the middle, the real, the permanent, the three wisdoms, the five eyes, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the unshared dharmas. In a bodhisattva, they are the provisional, the expedient, the flourishing, the permanent, the ten thousand practices, and the four means of embrace. In the two vehicles, they are emptiness, the provisional, the three liberations, the four witherings, the undefiled, and nirvāṇa. In ordinary mortals, they are inversions, afflictions, baseness, hindrances, entanglements, accumulated torments, and saṃsāra—these are the distinctions. Encompassing those hundred realms, they thus form one thousand phenomena; further dispersing them through the hundred realms as the three worlds, they form three thousand phenomena. The hundred realms and three thousand are one; they are neither before nor after a single thought-moment, nor are they a combination. Encompassing them, there is a fundamental tenet; harmonizing them, there is an origin: they must ultimately return to the inconceivable three truths and the limitless threefold secret treasury of the three dharmas and three virtues. Ah! If the mind-dharma of a single thought-moment is like this, by extending and comparing it, those various Buddha-dharmas and those various sentient-being-dharmas are all likewise so. The sūtra says: 'As is the mind, so is the Buddha; as is the Buddha, so are sentient beings. Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings—these three are without distinction.' Does it not mean this? Having known this, one should contemplate everyday functioning: whenever a single thought-moment arises, it must belong to one realm. Thereupon illuminate this realm as either the nine [realms] or the Buddha. The nine arise biasedly following passions, which is called ignorance; the Buddha accords with principle in perfect contemplation, which is called great wisdom. The thoughts of the nine realms are all wrong; only the mind of the Buddha realm is right. Right and wrong are thus reflected. If wrong, illuminate it to make it right; if right, protect it to make it practice. The sūtra says: 'The liberation of all Buddhas should be sought in the mental conduct of sentient beings; walking the wrong paths, one is able to reach the Buddha Path.' This is what it means. Thus, although the eyes are on the face, one must turn to a mirror to straighten one's appearance; the mind indeed arises from within, but it must rely on conditions to perfume contemplation. The numinous spirit is hidden and secret, so illuminating it may be difficult; conscious thoughts gallop in confusion, so checking them is not easy. Therefore, we now draw the mind outward, illustrating those images of rising and falling, while keeping the purpose within to contemplate the changes of our right and wrong. Thereafter, spurring the mind in inner contemplation, the correct path is thereby clarified. This is entitled 'The Perfect and Sudden Chart of Contemplating the Mind in the Ten Dharma Realms'. From the single word 'Mind', the ten realms branch out; again, lines of ink are drawn in succession, compared to a string of pearls, showing that one Dharma realm turn by turn possesses nine, forming one hundred Dharma realms. Furthermore, the manifestations of practice arising daily are written on the left and right. If the reader wishes to go deep into the nature, please examine the preface in detail; if one wishes to be practiced in contemplation, one should look at the illustrations.