弘明集 5.15

5.15

Corporeal form and spirit are blended together; although they exist together with life, when coarse and subtle diverge at their origins, being and non-being are distinct. Why do I say this? The corporeal form consists of the five viscera, six bowels, four limbs, and seven apertures united into one; this is how it forms life. When receiving life, the five constants are diversely bestowed. Therefore, if a limb is partially diseased or ears and eyes are mutually deficient, this does not strip away its being alive. Within a single corporeal form, it is already like this; how much more so for the essence of the spirit, whose luminous illumination marvelously governs the multitude of corporeal forms! Corporeal form operates together with breath; spirit flows in unison with subtle awakening. Although motion and rest assist one another, fine and coarse diverge at their origins. How could it be that each does not have its own root, mutually depending on each other for their function? Drawing an example from the body close at hand clarifies this principle, and one may perhaps awaken to it. In what a single body relies upon, the flesh and bones are where pain and itch are perceived, whereas nails and hair are where perception ceases. What is the reason for this? Is it not that flesh and bones are that by which life exists, while nails and hair are not the root of life? When life resides in the root, perception endures; when life resides in the branches, perception ceases. If the function of a single corporeal form still prospers or decays depending on the root and branches, how much more so when spirit is the root of life and its source is supremely subtle! How could it wither together with the seven-foot body and be exhausted alongside its doors and windows? Inferring from this principle, the indestructibility of the spirit can be known right where we sit.