釋迦譜 1.518

1.518

祐尋。法身無形群有已滅。覺智不起萬動永寂。而甫現託生降神胎化者何也。乘大緣以應俗。本誓力以弘慈也。故能運般若之權。任首楞之勢。迴靈兜率。耀化赤澤。陶鈞非我。利見由物。豈言像思議而能語其極哉。是以攝受群萠故地居輪皇。摧制剛夸故才窮藝術。斷拔愛網故去國入山。顯明法尊故降魔道樹。凡斯如跡罔非振俗。應體圓通隨方變現。法身凝湛未甞起滅。然世識習滯據跡為真。欲觀如來失道逾遠。故涅槃經云。若言菩薩在白淨王宮。依因父母生育是身。是魔所說。蓋謂證跡而迷本也。若本跡雙照權實俱明。則披經無礙法身可覩。

Sengyou reflects: The dharmakāya is formless, and all realms of existence have already been extinguished [for it]; awakened wisdom does not arise, and the myriad movements are eternally tranquil. Why, then, did he recently manifest relying on birth, descending his spirit to transform through the womb? It is because he mounted great conditions to respond to the mundane, and relied on the power of his original vows to extend his compassion. Therefore, he was able to wield the expedient means of prajñā, harness the momentum of the Śūraṅgama, turn his spirit to Tuṣita, and radiate his transformation at Kapilavastu. The potter's wheel is not of the self; whether it is beneficial to appear depends on living beings. How could words, images, thought, and deliberation express its utmost? Therefore, in order to gather in the myriad sprouts, he dwelt on earth as a wheel-turning king; in order to subdue the stubborn and arrogant, his talents exhausted the arts; in order to sever the net of affection, he left the realm and entered the mountains; in order to make manifest the honor of the Dharma, he subdued Māra under the Bodhi tree. All such traces were without exception meant to arouse the mundane; the responsive body is all-pervading and manifests transformations according to the quarters, while the dharmakāya remains tranquil and clear, never having arisen or ceased. Yet worldly consciousness and habitual blockages cling to the traces as true; seeking to observe the Tathāgata in this way, one strays all the farther from the Way. Therefore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: "If one says that the Bodhisattva was in the palace of King Śuddhodana and relied upon parents to give birth to this body, this is the preaching of Māra." This means testifying to the traces while being deluded about the origin. If both the origin and traces are illuminated, and both the expedient and real are made clear, then one may open the scriptures without obstruction and the dharmakāya can be seen.