佛祖歷代通載 7.78

7.78

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.