佛祖歷代通載 7.78

7.78

答曰。夫神者何耶精極而為靈者也。精極則非封象之所圖。故聖人以妙物為言。雖有上智猶不能定其體狀窮其幽致。而談者以常識生疑。多同自亂。其為誣也亦已深矣。將欲言之。是乃言夫不可言。今於不可言之中復相與言依俙。神也圓應無主妙盡無名。感物而動。假數而行。感物而非物。故物化而不滅。假數而非數。故數盡而不窮。有情則可以物感。有識則可以數求。數有精粗。故其性各異。智有明闇。故其照不同推此而論。則知化以情感。神以化傳。情為化之母神為情之根。情有會物之道。神有冥移之歸。悟徹者及本。惑理者逐物耳。古之論道者。亦未有所同。請弘之明之。莊子發玄音於大宗。稱皇帝之言。形有美而不化。又云。火傳於薪。猶神之傳於形。此曲從養生之談。非遠尋其類者也。就如來論。假令形神俱化始自天本。愚智資生同稟所受。問所受者為受之於形耶。受之於神耶。若受之於形凡在有形皆化而為神矣。若受之於神。是為以神傳神。則丹朱與帝堯齊聖。重華與瞽瞍等靈。其可然乎。如其不可。固知冥緣之合。著於在昔。明闇之分。定於形初雖靈鈞差運。猶不能變性之自然。況降茲已還乎。驗之於理則微言而有徵。校之以事可無惑於大通。論成。後有退居之賓。步朗月而宵游。相與共集法堂。因而問曰敬尋雅論大歸可見。殆無所間。一日試重研究。蓋所未盡亦少許處耳。意以為沙門德式是變俗之殊制。道家之名器施於君親。固宜略於形敬。今所疑者謂甫創難就之業。遠期化表之功。潛澤無現法之効來報玄而未應乃令王公獻供信士屈體。得無坐受其德陷乎早計之累。虛沾其惠同夫素飡之譏耶。主人良久曰。請為諸賢近取其類。有人於此。奉宣時命遠通殊方九譯之俗。問王當資以糇糧錫以輿服否。答曰然。主人曰。類可尋矣。夫稱沙門者何耶。謂其能蒙俗之幽昏。啟化表之玄路。方將以兼忘之道與天下同往。使希高者揖其同風。漱流者味其餘津。若然雖大業未就。觀其超步之跡。所悟固已弘矣。然則運通之功資存之益。尚未酧其始誓之心。況三業之勞乎。又斯人者。形雖有待情無近寄。視夫四事之供。若雀蚊之過乎其前耳。濡沫之惠復焉足語哉。眾賓於是始悟冥塗以開轍為功。息心以淨畢為道。乃忻然怡衿詠言而退。

I reply: What is this spirit? It is the pinnacle of the refined becoming spiritual consciousness. Since it is the pinnacle of the refined, it cannot be figured by shapes and forms. Therefore, the sage spoke of it as a subtle entity. Even someone of superior wisdom cannot define its bodily form or fathom its hidden depths. Yet debaters harbor doubts based on ordinary consciousness, mostly identical in their self-confusion. Their distortion has indeed run deep! If one wishes to speak of it, it is to speak of that which cannot be spoken. Now, in the midst of the unspeakable, we shall once again speak of it approximately. As for the spirit, its perfect responsiveness has no master, and its subtle culmination has no name. It moves in response to things and operates by lodging in cycles of change. It responds to things yet is not a thing; hence, though things undergo transformation, it is not destroyed. It lodges in cycles of change yet is not a cycle of change; hence, though cycles come to an end, it is never exhausted. Where there is passion, it can be stimulated by things; where there is consciousness, it can be sought through cycles of change. Cycles of change have the refined and the coarse, so their natures are each different; wisdom has clarity and darkness, so their illuminations are not the same. Deducing from this, we know that transformation responds through passion, and the spirit is transmitted through transformation. Passion is the mother of transformation, and the spirit is the root of passion. Passion possesses the way of meeting things, and the spirit has its destination of dark transmission. Those of thorough awakening reach the root; those confused about the principle merely pursue things. The ancients who discussed the Dao also had points of divergence. Let me expand and clarify this. Zhuangzi sounded the mysterious tone in the Great Ancestor chapter, citing the Yellow Emperor's words that the body may decay while [the spirit] does not transform. He also said that fire being transmitted across firewood is like the spirit being transmitted across forms. These were words that tangentially followed the nurturing of life, not a far-reaching investigation into their categories. Taking the discussion of the Tathāgata: suppose forms and spirit both undergo transformation beginning from heaven's origin, and both the foolish and the wise receive their endowments in common when endowed with life. Let me ask: is that which they receive received from form, or is it received from the spirit? If received from form, then everything that possesses form would transform into spirit. If received from the spirit, this would be transmitting spirit through spirit; then Danzhu would be equal in sagacity to Emperor Yao, and Chonghua would be identical in spiritual consciousness to Gushou. Could that possibly be so? If it cannot be so, then we surely know that the union of dark conditions was established in the distant past, and the division between bright and dark was settled at the inception of form. Even though the sacred potter's wheel distributes its operations differently, it still cannot alter the natural endowment of nature; how much less from that point onward? Testing it against reason, the subtle words find verification; comparing it with facts, one will harbor no doubts regarding the great penetration. When the treatise was completed, later there was a retired guest who took an evening stroll under the bright moon. They gathered together in the Dharma Hall, and he subsequently asked: 'Respectfully investigating your refined treatise, its broad thrust can be seen, with hardly any flaw. One day, I tried to investigate it again; what remained incomplete was merely a few small points. My thought was that the moral code of the bhikṣu is a distinct institution that alters worldly customs. The titles and vessels of the Daoist masters were bestowed upon rulers and parents, so it is indeed fitting to dispense with outward reverence. What I now doubt is this: when they have just embarked on an enterprise difficult to accomplish and look forward in the distance to the merit beyond transformation, their hidden blessings have no present-life efficacy, and the future retribution is mysterious and unanswering. Yet princes and dukes offer them sustenance, and men of faith bow their bodies before them. Might they not be sitting back enjoying this virtue and fall into the blame of premature entitlement, vainly receiving this bounty and sharing in the criticism of eating without working?' The host remained silent for a long while and then said: 'Let me draw an analogy close at hand for you gentlemen. Suppose there is a man here who is dispatched to proclaim the seasonal decrees and travel far to communicate with distant lands through nine tiers of translators. Let me ask: should the king supply him with provisions and bestow upon him carriages and clothing, or not?' He answered: 'Indeed.' The host said: 'The analogy can be traced. What is called a bhikṣu? It means one who can sweep away the dark obscurity of worldly life and open the mysterious path beyond transformation. He is just about to walk together with all under heaven upon the way of double-forgetting, leading those who aspire to the heights to salute his shared breeze, and those who rinse with the stream to taste his lingering moisture. If so, although the great enterprise is not yet accomplished, looking at the traces of his transcendent strides, that which he has awakened to is already vast! That being so, the merit of opening communications and the benefit of maintaining his life still do not repay the intention of his initial vow; how much less the labor of the three karmas? Moreover, for such a person, although the physical form is reliant on provisions, the mind has no worldly attachment. He views the offerings of the four requisites as if they were sparrows and gnats passing before him. How could the kindness of mutual moistening with saliva even be worth mentioning?' Thereupon, the assembly of guests for the first time awakened to the fact that on the dark path, opening the rut constitutes the merit, and resting the mind in ultimate purity constitutes the Dao. Then, joyful and with hearts at ease, chanting words, they withdrew.