景德傳燈錄 13.45.3

13.45.3

Prime Minister Xiao Mian presented his own understanding and requested the Chan Master to comment on and explain it, saying: "Heze said: 'Seeing the pure essence, among the various samādhis and eighty-four thousand pāramitā-gates, functions are all simultaneously activated upon seeing; this is called the wisdom eye.' The above refers to when one is in accord with suchness (neither thinking of good and evil, nor dwelling upon emptiness and existence), all myriad transformations are extinguished (the myriad phenomena all arise from thoughts and conditioning recollections; they are all empty space, hence termed 'transformations'. Since a single thought does not arise, the myriad phenomena do not emerge; therefore, without waiting to eliminate them, they are naturally extinguished of themselves). At this time, nothing further is seen (the essence of illumination stands alone; dreaming and wisdom leave behind all gradations); the samādhis and various pāramitā-gates are also simultaneously empty and tranquil, with nothing further to be attained (distraction versus samādhi, this shore versus the other shore, are teachings of relative antidotes. If one knows that the mind is devoid of thoughts and the seeing-nature is unarisen, then concentration and distraction, truth and delusion are simultaneously empty and tranquil; hence nothing is attained). I wonder whether this is what is meant by functions being simultaneously activated upon seeing? (Yet the seeing-nature is completely luminous, its principle beyond all entanglement of marks. Transcending marks is itself wonderful function; abiding in marks is clinging sentiment. Among the eighty thousand dharma-gates, each and every one is like this: one conditioned dharma constitutes one dust-speck; one empty dharma constitutes one function. Therefore it is said: seeing the pure essence, functions are simultaneously activated.) I hope that after this, you will instruct me accordingly." [Here follows] Mian's document answering the hermit Shi's ten questions (the questions and answers were originally separate texts; they are now collated and recorded together). The first question asks: "What is the Way? How does one cultivate it? Must it be completed through cultivation, or does it not depend on effort?" The answer: "Non-obstruction is the Way. Awakening to delusion is cultivation. Although the Way is fundamentally complete, the arising of delusion constitutes a burden. When delusional thoughts are entirely exhausted, that is completion through cultivation." The second question asks: "If the Way is completed due to cultivation, then it is fabricated, and thus identical to worldly dharmas—false and not real. Completed and then ruined again, how can it be called world-transcending?" The answer: "Fabrication binds karma and is called the false and worldly. Non-fabrication is cultivation and is the truly world-transcending." The third question asks: "Is that which is cultivated sudden or gradual? If gradual, one forgets what came before and loses what comes after; how could it be gathered together and completed? If sudden, the myriad practices take many directions; how could it be perfected simultaneously?" The answer: "The true principle is awakened to and suddenly perfected; delusional feelings are stilled and gradually exhausted. Sudden perfection is like a newborn child: in a single day, its limbs and body are already complete. Gradual cultivation is like raising [the child] to adulthood: only after many years are its ambitions established." The fourth question asks: "Whenever cultivating the method of the mind-ground, should one simply awaken to the mind and be done, or should there be other gates of practice? If there are other gates of practice, why is it called the sudden tenet of the Southern School? If upon awakening one is identical to the Buddhas, why does one not emit supernormal powers and radiance?" The answer: "One recognizes the ice pond as wholly water, yet relies on the warmth of the sun to melt it. One awakens to the fact that the ordinary person is identical to the real, yet relies on the power of the Dharma to cultivate and train. When the ice melts, the water flows and moistens, only then displaying the function of irrigating and washing. When delusion is exhausted, the mind is spiritually unobstructed, only then emitting the manifestation of supernormal powers and radiance. Outside cultivating the mind, there is no other gate of practice." The fifth question asks: "If one attains Buddhahood merely by cultivating the mind, why do the various sūtras also state that one must adorn the Buddha-lands and transform sentient beings before it can be called realizing the Way?" The answer: "When the mirror is clear, reflections appear in a thousand differences; when the mind is pure, supernormal powers respond in ten thousand ways. The reflections are akin to adorning the Buddha-lands; the supernormal powers are the transforming of sentient beings. Adornment is itself non-adornment; reflections are both form and non-form." The sixth question asks: "The various sūtras all speak of delivering sentient beings. Sentient beings are themselves non-sentient beings; why should one further labor to deliver them?" The answer: "If sentient beings were real, delivering them would be labor. Since you yourself say they are non-sentient beings, why not likewise deliver them without delivering?" The seventh question asks: "The various sūtras say that the Buddha is eternally abiding, or they say that the Buddha enters extinction. If eternal, then not extinguished; if extinguished, then not eternal. Are these not contradictory?" The answer: "Being apart from all marks is what is called the Buddhas. How could there be any reality of appearing in the world or entering extinction? Seeing emergence and disappearance depends on the faculties and conditions. When faculties and conditions correspond, he appears beneath the Bodhi tree; when faculties and conditions are exhausted, he enters nirvāṇa amidst the Śāla grove. It is like pure water, which has no intention and no image; that images are not manifested is not due to the water itself, for it is the coming and going of external forms. The marks are not the Buddha's body; how could there be the Tathāgata's emergence and disappearance?" The eighth question asks: "Why is it said: 'Born as the Buddha's transformation, I am born like that'? Since the Buddha is unarisen, what is the meaning of birth? If it is said that when mind arises dharmas arise, and when mind ceases dharmas cease, how does one attain the forbearance of the unarisen dharmas?" The answer: "Since it is said to be 'like a transformation', a transformation is itself empty. Emptiness is itself unarisen; why interrogate the meaning of birth? 'When arising and ceasing have ceased, tranquil extinction is the truth.' Recognizing and assenting to this dharma as unarisen is called the forbearance of the unarisen dharmas." The ninth question asks: "The realization of the Way and preaching of the Dharma by the various Buddhas is only to deliver sentient beings. Since sentient beings exist in the six destinies, why did the Buddha only abide among humans to manifest transformations? Furthermore, after the Buddha's extinction, he entrusted the Dharma to Kāśyapa, transmitting mind with mind, and down to the seven patriarchs of this land, only one person was transmitted to in each generation. Since it is said that toward all sentient beings he attains the ground of an only child, why was the transmission not universal?" The answer: "The sun and moon shine gloriously in the sky, illuminating the six directions together; yet the blind do not see them, and those beneath an overturned basin are unaware of them. It is not that the sun and moon are not universal; it is the fault of obstruction. Delivering and not delivering are of this kind; it is not confined to humans and devas while excluding ghosts and beasts. It is simply that the human destiny is able to compile [the teachings] and transmit them without interruption, and therefore one only knows of the Buddha appearing among humans. His entrusting [the Dharma] to Kāśyapa after his extinction and its passing down from one to another to a single person was also only to designate the master of the religious tenet for that generation, just as a realm has no two kings; it is not that those who attained deliverance were limited to this number." The tenth question asks: "Why did the Upādhyāya arouse the mind [for bodhi]? Yearning for what dharma did you go forth from the household life? How do you cultivate now, and what Dharma flavor do you attain? What level of stage does your practice reach? Do you make the mind abide, or do you cultivate the mind? If you make the mind abide, it hinders cultivating the mind. If you cultivate the mind, thoughts stir and are restless. How is this called studying the Way? If you pacify the mind in a single concentration, how does it differ from those of fixed nature? We humbly pray that the Venerable, mobilizing great compassion, will explain this in proper order in accordance with principle and suchness." The answer: "Awakening to the four elements as fragile illusions, penetrating the six dusts as flowers in the sky, realizing one's own mind to be the Buddha-mind, and seeing one's fundamental nature as the Dharma-nature—this is arousing the mind. Knowing that the mind is without abiding is itself cultivation; knowing without abiding is itself the Dharma flavor. Clinging to dharmas is the stirring of thoughts; hence it is like a person entering darkness who sees nothing. Now there is nowhere to abide, unsoiled and unattached;