Realizing the Essence and Activating Its Function 证体启用
Master Yuanyin, Serialized in Chan, Issues 1–4 (1991) | 1991-06-07 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 关于证体之景相，古人多不详言。一者，以此证境，非言思能及，一落言诠，即嫌住着。二者，真证得者，归无所得，不欲炫耀于人。三者，恐未悟者窃为己有，以迷惑他人。四者，恐人着境以求，反障悟门。 |
The ancients often did not speak in detail about the manifestations of realizing the essence. First, this realm of realization cannot be reached by words or thought; once it falls into verbal formulation, it risks becoming an object of attachment. Second, those who have truly realized it return to having nothing attained and do not wish to display it before others. Third, they fear that those not yet awakened may secretly claim it as their own and thereby mislead others. Fourth, they fear that people may seek it by clinging to such states, thereby obstructing the gate of awakening. |
| 五者，各人经过境界，亦非完全一致。以是等等原因，故只以“云散长空，青天澈露”、“万里无云之晴空”、“心月孤圆，光含万象”、“非光非昧，非大非小，非青非黄”，更或以“圆团团，光灿灿”等约略描绘之。 |
Fifth, the states that individuals pass through are not entirely the same. For these and other reasons, they merely describe it in approximate terms: “clouds dispersing across the vast sky, revealing the clear blue heavens”; “a cloudless sky stretching ten thousand miles”; “the solitary full moon of mind, its light containing the myriad forms”; “neither bright nor dim, neither large nor small, neither blue nor yellow”; or simply, “perfectly round and radiant.” |
| 余今似亦不例外，况余并无所证，亦无所得，更无能为言，只得拾几句现成公案，以飨读者。至于详细情形，只有留待读者自己努力用功证取体会了。 |
I seem to be no exception. Moreover, I have had no realization and attained nothing, so I am even less able to say anything about it. I can only gather a few ready-made koans to offer my readers. As for the details, readers must await their own diligent practice, realization, and understanding. |
| 当我人修法修至能所双忘，心法双泯时，不管修什么宗，都是卒地折、爆地断，有如爆炸物，忽然爆破，内而身心，外而世界，乃至虚空，一时脱落、粉碎，化为乌有，连乌有也乌有。 |
When we practice to the point that subject and object are both forgotten, and mind and phenomena both fall away, then, regardless of which school we practice, it suddenly breaks with a snap and bursts apart with a bang. It is like an explosive suddenly detonating: inwardly, body and mind; outwardly, the world; and even empty space—all at once fall away and are shattered into nothing. Even that nothingness becomes nothing. |
| 所谓大地平沉，虚空粉碎，当斯时也，虽一无所有，但虚明凝寂、一灵不昧，了了常知非如木石。虽了了而无能知与所知，以此了了全体是一片虚明灵知，不能再有能知与所知，再有知，便是头上加头，即非是了。 |
This is what is meant by “the great earth sinks level and empty space is shattered.” At that time, although there is nothing at all, one is empty and luminous, utterly still; the numinous awareness is never obscured, and there is clear, ever-present knowing, unlike wood or stone. Although there is such clear knowing, there is no knower and nothing known, for this clear knowing in its entirety is one expanse of empty, luminous, numinous awareness. There can no longer be a knower or an object known. To posit further knowing is to put another head atop one’s head; that is no longer true knowing. |
| 我人证此真境后，回过头来，方才识知这个“灵知”不在别处，整日在六根门头上放光，与我人无丝毫离异、无些许间隔，一切言行动作，无不是“它”的灵妙神用。 |
After realizing this true realm, we look back and recognize that this “numinous awareness” is nowhere else. All day long it shines forth at the gateways of the six sense faculties, without the slightest separation or interval from us. Every word, action, and movement is its wondrous and spiritual functioning. |
| 从前为它千辛万苦，百般追求探索，原来只在目前不识，反而污糟它、屈辱它，在六道内轮回受苦，宁不冤苦！古德谓“声前一句，千圣不传，面前一丝，亘古无间！”又谓“踏破铁鞋无觅处，得来全不费工夫。”即指此也。 |
Formerly, we endured great hardship and sought and explored it in every way. Yet it was right before us, and we did not recognize it. Instead, we defiled and humiliated it, revolving and suffering in the six realms. How unjustly we have suffered! The ancient worthies said: “The phrase before sound is not transmitted by a thousand sages; the thread before one’s face has never been interrupted throughout the ages.” They also said: “After wearing out iron shoes in searching, one finds it without any effort at all.” This is precisely what they meant. |
| 但这只是素法身，尚须辛勤打磨，绵密除习，始能大放光明。功夫纯熟，即便熟睡，顶上亦如一轮中秋明月朗照。待光明精纯，宽阔天眼自然豁开，十方世界一时齐彰，我入入我有如因陀罗网，重重交参，妙用无尽。 |
Yet this is only the bare dharmakāya. It still requires diligent polishing and the continuous, careful removal of habitual tendencies before it can shine with great brilliance. When one’s practice is fully mature, even in deep sleep the crown of the head is illuminated like a bright mid-autumn moon. When this luminosity becomes pure and refined, the vast heavenly eye naturally opens wide, and the worlds of the ten directions all appear at once. I enter them and they enter me, like Indra’s net, interpenetrating layer upon layer, with inexhaustible wondrous functioning. |
| 或谓此种景相是禅宗或密宗行人所证，至于净土宗念佛人不应如此，因彼等以生西方净土为目的，应于定中见阿弥陀佛和西方圣境，不可一无所见。假使一无所见，如何得生净土？ |
Some may say that such manifestations are realized by practitioners of the Chan school or Esoteric Buddhism. They may hold that those in the Pure Land school who practice Buddha-recitation should not experience this, since their aim is rebirth in the Western Pure Land. They should see Amitābha Buddha and the sacred realm of the West in samādhi; they should not see nothing at all. If they see nothing at all, how could they be reborn in the Pure Land? |
| 答曰：君不见前录之印光大师念佛三昧么？印光大师是极力主张仗佛慈力，接引生西的。他为何在念佛三昧中也说，无见之见是真见，真见无所见呢？盖真如佛性无形无相，一尘不染，一丝不挂，说似一物即不中。 |
The answer is: Have you not seen the previously recorded Buddha-recitation samādhi of Master Yinguang? Master Yinguang strongly advocated relying on the compassionate power of the Buddha to guide one to rebirth in the West. Why, then, did he also say in Buddha-recitation samādhi that seeing without anything seen is true seeing, and that true seeing sees nothing? This is because suchness and Buddha-nature are formless and without characteristics, unstained by a single speck of dust and without a single thread; to speak of them as any one thing is already wrong. |
| 故真佛，实在无言可说、无形可见。但此无形之佛性，不是顽空，故能随缘现相起用，但相以随缘现起故，只是假名，非是实体。故见有相之佛不是真佛。古德云：报化非真佛，亦非说法者。《法华经》谓为化城，非是宝所。 |
Thus, of the true Buddha there is in fact nothing that can be said and no form that can be seen. Yet this formless Buddha-nature is not a dead emptiness; it can manifest appearances and function in accordance with conditions. But because such appearances arise in accordance with conditions, they are only provisional names, not real entities. Therefore, to see a Buddha with form is not to see the true Buddha. An ancient worthy said: “The sambhogakāya and nirmāṇakāya are not the true Buddha, nor are they the one who teaches the Dharma.” The Lotus Sūtra calls them a phantom city, not the treasure land. |
| 欲上品上生西方净土，须透有相之小歇场，证到无相之真佛妙体，方能如愿以偿。反是，执有形之佛与有相之净土，只能下品下生，此乃无可移易之真理。 |
To attain the highest grade of the highest rebirth in the Western Pure Land, one must pass beyond the temporary resting place of form and realize the wondrous essence of the true Buddha, which is without form. Only then can one fulfill one’s aspiration. Conversely, if one clings to a Buddha with form and a Pure Land with characteristics, one can attain only the lowest grade of the lowest rebirth. This is an unalterable truth. |
| 故印光大师说到念佛最高之境界——念佛三昧时，亦不得不说无所见之见乃真见了。以证到如此高深境界，心土打成一片，心即土，土即心。发愿生西即是生自心之净土，生无所生，还怕不上品上生吗？ |
Therefore, when Master Yinguang spoke of the highest state of Buddha-recitation—Buddha-recitation samādhi—he too had to say that seeing without anything seen is true seeing. Upon realizing such a profound state, mind and land become continuous and undivided: mind itself is the land, and the land itself is mind. To vow to be reborn in the West is to be reborn in the Pure Land of one’s own mind. Since there is birth with no place of birth, need one fear not attaining the highest grade of the highest rebirth? |
| 见性之后，若死守空境，或耽着静居，而不知于境上起用，犹如贫子发了财后，不知其用，终如贫穷一样。而且不于事境上锻炼，不得理事双融之大定，更毋臻事事无碍之境而圆成佛道之大功。 |
After seeing one’s true nature, if one stubbornly clings to a state of emptiness, or indulges in dwelling in quiet seclusion without knowing how to function amid circumstances, one is like a poor man who becomes wealthy but does not know how to use his wealth, and thus remains as poor as before. Moreover, without tempering oneself amid the circumstances of phenomena, one cannot attain the great samādhi in which principle and phenomena interpenetrate, much less reach the state of the nonobstruction among phenomena and perfect the great work of Buddhahood. |
| 故必以所悟之理于事境上磨练，去其棱角，方臻圆妙。但初悟之人，往往不知起用之方，更不明其过程，甚或因力量一时不够，遇事而有波动时，又疑所悟为非而动摇根本。惶惑不知所措，甚为可惜！兹将先师骧陆公所著《证体起用之过程》择其要者，节录于后，以助读者于悟后启发般若之用，而成绝顶无为之功，亦幸甚矣！ |
Therefore, one must temper the principle one has realized amid the circumstances of phenomena, smoothing away its sharp edges, before attaining complete perfection. Yet those newly awakened often do not know how to function, still less do they understand the process. Sometimes, because their strength is temporarily insufficient and they are stirred by events, they again doubt whether what they realized was correct and thereby shake their foundation. Bewildered and at a loss, they are truly to be pitied. I shall now select and excerpt the essential portions of my late teacher Xianglu’s Process of Realizing the Essence and Bringing It into Function, in order to help readers bring prajñā into function after awakening and accomplish the supreme work of non-contrivance. How fortunate that would be! |
| 实相妙体本有无住妙用，学人须将所证得之清净自在光景，移用于人事颠倒之时，而化有归空，化颠倒为清净，化烦恼为自在，非但灭却自己之苦，且可以灭他人之苦，此即名度生。 |
The wondrous essence of true reality inherently possesses the wondrous functioning of non-abiding. Students must apply the pure, free state they have realized when human affairs become inverted and confused, transforming existence back into emptiness, inversion into purity, and afflictions into freedom. In this way, they not only eradicate their own suffering but may also eradicate the suffering of others. This is called liberating sentient beings. |
| 功夫越深，习气发动亦越多越快，学人不必害怕，此第八识性田中自然翻出之种子，发动虽快，但去亦甚快，发动可能较平日为大，但发一次，小一次，短一次，少一次，不复再增长了。 |
The deeper one’s practice, the more numerous and rapid the arising of habitual tendencies. Students need not be afraid. These are seeds naturally turning over and emerging from the field of the eighth consciousness. Though their arising may be rapid, their disappearance is also very rapid. They may arise more forcefully than usual, but with each arising they become smaller, shorter, and fewer; they no longer continue to increase. |
| 功夫越深，胆子越大。如忽然遇惊，亦只一惊，不复再惊，而且力量愈用愈强。 |
The deeper one’s practice, the greater one’s courage. If one is suddenly startled, one is startled only once and is not startled again; moreover, the more one applies one’s strength, the stronger it becomes. |
| 功夫越深，忽而忘记性大，又忽而记忆力甚强，且日见敏捷；感觉力亦强，往往不假思索即与物相应，此通之先兆也。 |
The deeper one’s practice, the more one may suddenly become forgetful, yet one may also suddenly have a very strong memory, which grows ever more agile by the day. One’s powers of perception also become strong, and one often responds to things without deliberation. This is a preliminary sign of supernormal power. |
| 常观此本来而默契之，习气一来，即便觉察，觉即转空，同时以般若扫荡此空，更以般若扫荡此扫荡，扫至无可扫时，斯合本来，斯合般若大空之旨。 |
Constantly contemplate this original nature and silently accord with it. Whenever habitual tendencies arise, immediately become aware of them; awareness itself transforms them into emptiness. Then use prajñā to sweep away this emptiness, and further use prajñā to sweep away the very sweeping-away. When there is nothing left to sweep away, one accords with the original nature and with the intent of prajñā’s great emptiness. |
| 做功夫要准、要狠、要省、要等、要平、要稳。准者，看准方向，无所疑退。狠者，克制自己，丝毫不留情，对自己点滴过错，也不能姑息。省者，常常反躬自省也。等者，等时候也。非有相当时间，其力不能充足。 |
In practice one must be accurate, resolute, reflective, patient, even, and steady. To be accurate is to see the direction clearly, without doubt or retreat. To be resolute is to discipline oneself, showing not the least leniency; one must not excuse even the slightest fault in oneself. To be reflective is constantly to examine oneself. To be patient is to wait for the proper time. Without a sufficient period of time, one’s strength cannot become adequate. |
| 平者，观一切平等。以不论何种挂碍，皆由心不平等，分别得失而起。不知法本不生，何患乎得；法本不灭，何患乎失？能平则自然不惊、不怖、不畏，超然入自在之境。 |
To be even is to contemplate all things as equal. Whatever one’s attachments, they all arise because the mind lacks equanimity, discriminating gain and loss. One does not realize that dharmas are originally unborn—so why worry about gain? Dharmas are originally unceasing—so why worry about loss? When one can be even, one naturally does not startle, fear, or dread, but transcends all this and enters a state of freedom. |
| 人往往有时间相、得失相、成败相，诸种习气来时，不能打破，此即定不足，慧不充也，亦即般若力不强也。故要等，等到其间，力自充足，譬如行路，贵在方向不错，按步而进，不在迟速。稳者，如是稳定永不退转也。 |
People often have conceptions of time, gain and loss, and success and failure. When various habitual tendencies arise, they cannot break through them. This means that samādhi is insufficient, wisdom is inadequate, and the power of prajñā is weak. Therefore one must be patient and wait until the proper time, when one’s strength will naturally become sufficient. It is like walking a road: what matters is that the direction is right and one proceeds step by step, not whether one is fast or slow. To be steady is to remain stable in this way and never regress. |
| 明心见性一事，为了无量劫生死，何等重大！绝不可以单单理解，即为算数。以由理解而得，毫无定力，则起狂慧颠倒，终不名明心。兹分七种过程：一、以极强之慧力，见到本来，由此得少分之定，如禅宗入者。 |
Realizing the mind and seeing one’s true nature concerns birth and death over immeasurable kalpas; how immensely important it is! One absolutely must not take mere intellectual understanding as sufficient. Understanding alone brings no meditative strength, and thus gives rise to wild wisdom and confusion; in the end, this cannot be called realizing the mind. There are seven stages. First, through extremely powerful wisdom, one sees the original nature and thereby gains a small measure of samādhi, as in those who enter through Chan. |
| 或由定力强，启发般若，见到本来，如心中心密法之修入者。二、见到后，必深信勿疑，以承当为第一。三、见本性周遍法界，则法界一切一切无非是性。说幻，即一切幻；说真，即一切真。 |
Or one may, through strong meditative stability, awaken prajñā and see the original nature, as do those who enter through the practice of the Heart-of-Heart Dharma. Second, after seeing it, one must have deep faith and no doubt; taking responsibility for it is paramount. Third, one sees that intrinsic nature pervades the dharma realm, and thus everything in the dharma realm is none other than intrinsic nature. Call it illusory, and all is illusory; call it real, and all is real. |
| 究其真幻统属假名，非有实体，心能不为所拘，是名无住。四、一切无住，虽空而不落断灭，妙用宛在。幻心非无，是名无生。五、虽名无住，但于善恶非不了知、非不分别，只是分别而不住，入于平等不二之境。 |
Upon investigation, both real and illusory are merely provisional names, not real entities. When the mind is not constrained by them, this is called non-abiding. Fourth, although all is non-abiding and empty, one does not fall into annihilationist emptiness; wondrous functioning remains clearly present. The illusory mind is not nonexistent; this is called the unborn. Fifth, though this is called non-abiding, one is not unaware of or undiscerning regarding good and evil; one discriminates without abiding, entering the realm of equality and nonduality. |
| 六、心既平等，自无挂碍恐怖，到处自在矣。七、力量每每旋进旋退，或定或慧，后则定慧不分，只进不退。此真明心理事双融者矣。 |
Sixth, once the mind is equal, it naturally has no attachments, fear, or dread, and is free everywhere. Seventh, one’s strength repeatedly advances and retreats, at times samādhi and at times wisdom; later, samādhi and wisdom are no longer separate, and one only advances without retreating. This is the true realization of the mind, in which principle and phenomena interpenetrate. |
| 明心后“我见”未能即除，习气未能即净。我见习气时时来，时时能转而化之，是真明心者。若转化之力小，此另一问题。只怕不知转、不知化，即不能转、不能化矣。故学佛第一在开觉知，如得财；第二在善用其觉知，如用财；第三，并觉知而亦空之；第四，无所谓空不空，本来如是。如真富贵人，自忘其多财也。 |
After realizing the mind, the view of self cannot be removed at once, nor can habitual tendencies be immediately purified. When views of self and habitual tendencies arise from moment to moment, and one can transform them from moment to moment, one is a person who has truly realized the mind. If one’s power of transformation is weak, that is another matter. What is to be feared is not knowing how to transform; then one cannot transform. Therefore, in learning Buddhism, first one must awaken awareness, as if acquiring wealth; second, one must make good use of that awareness, as if using wealth; third, one must empty even awareness itself; fourth, there is no question of emptiness or non-emptiness—it is originally thus. A truly wealthy and honored person naturally forgets that they possess much wealth. |
| 觉照一起，习气即消，但此中迟捷，各有不同，此有过程者十：一、境来而不觉。二、境来而再觉，惟起觉极费事。三、境来时，起觉不难。四、境来即觉，略有先后。五、境觉同时并起，而有时忘失。六、同起而可以勿忘。 |
Once awareness and contemplation arise, habitual tendencies immediately dissolve. Yet the speed of this differs from person to person. There are ten stages in the process: first, circumstances arise and one is unaware. Second, circumstances arise and one later becomes aware, but arousing awareness is very laborious. Third, when circumstances arise, arousing awareness is not difficult. Fourth, when circumstances arise, awareness immediately arises, though there is a slight sequence between them. Fifth, circumstances and awareness arise simultaneously, but one sometimes forgets. Sixth, they arise together and one can remain without forgetting. |
| 七、觉先于境，但有时在后，或偶尔竟回到忘失时。八、常觉不动。九、觉尚未净。十、常寂而常照，并觉亦无住矣，此是力量真充足时。 |
Seventh, awareness precedes circumstances, though it sometimes comes afterward, or one may occasionally even return to a state of forgetting. Eighth, awareness remains constant and unmoving. Ninth, awareness is not yet fully purified. Tenth, one is constantly quiescent and constantly illumining, and even awareness is non-abiding. This is when one’s strength is truly sufficient. |
| 从来大习气易去，小习气难除，还是不平等。是以仍有惊、怖、畏之果。其间忽上忽下，不得以退转名之。 |
From ancient times, great habitual tendencies have been easy to remove, while minor habitual tendencies have been difficult to eliminate; this is still a lack of equanimity. Thus there remain the consequences of startlement, fear, and dread. During this process, one may rise and fall repeatedly; this must not be called regression. |
| 平时常用反观法，考察自己习性，不论好、坏、善、恶，凡不易化除者，即属生死之根，万不可固执为善而保留之。越不易化除，越要化除，常与自己逆，便是进功。 |
Regularly use the method of inward reflection to examine your own habitual tendencies. Whether good or bad, wholesome or unwholesome, whatever is not easily dissolved and removed is a root of birth and death. Never stubbornly preserve it merely because it seems good. The harder it is to dissolve and remove, the more one must do so. Constantly going against oneself is progress in practice. |
| 除习气，犹如人天交战，此必百战而可克胜，原非一朝一夕之功。明心而后，方具可以交战之资格，此即起用，由小战而大战，小胜而大胜，而根本破敌，永无后患。 |
Removing habitual tendencies is like a battle between humans and devas: only after a hundred battles can victory be won. It is never the work of a day or a night. Only after realizing the mind does one possess the qualifications to engage in this battle. This is the arising of function: from small battles to great ones, from small victories to great victories, until the enemy at its root is defeated and there will be no further trouble. |
| 用功夫，切切压制不得、躲避不得。如贪嗔之根，必拔除之、化解之。若但知守住戒定慧，用以对治贪嗔痴，则善恶二见，留影于心。如敌来守城，虽一时敌不得入，敌终未去，乘机仍可入城，非究竟也。故勿压制、勿躲避，以破除为妙，两不留影，心无所染，敌我同化，即入大定。 |
In practice, one must by no means suppress or evade anything. The roots of greed and anger, for example, must be uprooted and dissolved. If one merely holds to precepts, samādhi, and wisdom in order to counter greed, anger, and ignorance, the dual view of good and evil will leave its trace in the mind. It is like defending a city when the enemy attacks: although the enemy cannot enter for the moment, it has not departed and may still seize an opportunity to enter the city. This is not ultimate. Therefore, do not suppress or evade; it is best to break through them, leaving no traces of either side. When the mind is unstained and both enemy and self are dissolved, one enters great samādhi. |
| 境来不理，亦不起念，但不断灭，此静中定也；对境不惑，依然应付，动而不动，此动中定也；至动静一如，无可无不可时，则大定矣。 |
When circumstances arise, do not attend to them and do not give rise to thoughts, yet do not fall into annihilation; this is samādhi in stillness. When confronting circumstances, remain undeluded and respond as usual; active yet unmoved, this is samādhi in activity. When stillness and activity become equally one, and there is neither anything permissible nor anything impermissible, that is great samādhi. |
| 练心要练机，此在洞明因果之理。时时起观，功夫纯熟，大机大用起矣。一切烦恼，都由情见。情为我爱，见为我执，情见坚固，则成覆障，观因达果之机即不灵，此机用之所以不起也。 |
To train the mind, one must train one’s responsiveness; this lies in thoroughly understanding the principle of cause and effect. Constantly arouse contemplation, and when practice is fully mature, great responsiveness and great function will arise. All afflictions arise from emotional attachment and views. Emotional attachment is self-love, while views are attachment to self. When attachment and views are firmly entrenched, they become obscurations, and the capacity to discern causes and comprehend effects ceases to function keenly. This is why this function does not arise. |
| 得他心通者，端赖观因达果之机灵速，是以理事圆通，不待思索，历历如见。全在定慧双资、功夫纯熟。此便是神通，并无何种神妙之可求。 |
Those who attain the power of knowing others’ minds depend entirely on the swift and keen capacity to discern causes and comprehend effects. Thus, principle and phenomena are thoroughly integrated; without waiting for thought, everything is seen with perfect clarity. It all depends on samādhi and wisdom supporting each other, and on practice becoming fully mature. This is spiritual power; there is no particular marvel to seek. |
| 肯做不屑做之事，肯说不愿说之话，肯接不愿交之人，其去平等智光不远矣。见他人过在，不独难入不二，亦障自己圣道而起骄慢，修道人所最忌！ |
If one is willing to do what one disdains doing, willing to say what one does not wish to say, and willing to receive people with whom one does not wish to associate, one is not far from the light of equalizing wisdom. To see only others’ faults not only makes it difficult to enter nonduality, but also obstructs one’s own noble path and gives rise to arrogance. This is what practitioners must avoid most. |
| 用功痛切时，必有一度不通世故人情时，故曰如丧考妣。盖痛切之至，必失于礼节威仪也。人每不谅，谓之骄慢自大，或疑为狂。此人人必经之过程，难为辩也。 |
When one applies oneself to practice with intense earnestness, there will inevitably be a period when one is insensitive to worldly conventions and human feelings; hence the saying, “as though bereaved of one’s parents.” At the height of such earnestness, one will inevitably fall short in etiquette and deportment. Others often fail to understand, calling one arrogant and self-important, or suspecting one of madness. Everyone must pass through this stage, and it is difficult to explain. |
| 用功忽勤忽惰，若进若退，切勿疑忌，此是进功时，万勿性急而懊丧。 |
When diligence in practice suddenly alternates with laziness, seeming now to advance and now to retreat, do not become doubtful or apprehensive. This is a time of progress in practice. Do not be impatient or disheartened. |
| 喜静厌乱，即是不平等，切切不可，须知静乱乃我心之分别，与境无关。 |
To enjoy quiet and dislike disturbance is itself a lack of equanimity, and it must never be so. Know that quiet and disturbance are distinctions made by one’s own mind; they have nothing to do with circumstances. |
| 修道人自赞毁他，抑人自大，最为可耻可笑，慎勿为识者所讥！ |
For a practitioner to praise oneself and disparage others, to suppress others and exalt oneself, is most shameful and ridiculous. Be careful not to invite the ridicule of those with understanding. |
| 发愿不轻率，以发愿易而行愿难也。发愿欲大而坚，自心中掺不得一丝情见。 |
Do not make vows lightly, for making vows is easy while fulfilling them is difficult. One’s vows should be great and firm, and not a trace of emotional attachment or views may be mixed into one’s own mind. |
| 八风不动中，四风易守，四风难防，逆者易知，顺者往往入其彀中而不自知，故于顺心如意之事，更须警惕，防其卷入境中。 |
Among the eight worldly winds, four are easy to guard against and four are difficult to defend against. Adverse circumstances are easily recognized, but favorable ones often draw us into their snare without our knowing it. Therefore, in matters that go as one wishes, one must be especially vigilant and guard against being swept up in circumstances. |
| 此中无有奇特事，但除习气，莫作圣解！所谓玄妙神变者亦稀松寻常，只缘少见，因而多怪，认为玄妙，忘却本来，入于魔道，宁不可惜！ |
There is nothing strange or extraordinary here: simply remove habitual tendencies, and do not form saintly interpretations. So-called mysterious marvels and transformations are also ordinary enough; because they are seldom seen, people regard them as strange and mysterious. They forget the original nature, enter a demonic path, and how regrettable that is! |
| 用功切勿与人较量短长，应默察而自省之。 |
In practice, never compare your strengths and weaknesses with those of others. Instead, observe silently and reflect upon yourself. |
| 修法为一时之权宜，切勿执取于法。贪法等于贪名利，同一生死。所谓成佛者，成如佛之性空也。心有所执，顿失本来，即离佛境，故宜时时凛觉。 |
Methods of practice are expedient means for a time; never become attached to dharmas. Craving dharmas is equivalent to craving fame and profit; both belong to birth and death. So-called becoming a Buddha means realizing emptiness of nature as the Buddha does. Once the mind has an attachment, it immediately loses its original nature and departs from the realm of Buddhahood. Therefore, one should remain constantly vigilant and aware. |
| 除习气亦在因缘，此有迟速之不同。明心后，保任绵密（所谓保任，切勿压心不起，只要能转化不住），经过相当时期，习气有忽然消除之妙。 |
The removal of habitual tendencies also depends on causes and conditions, and thus may be rapid or slow. After realizing the mind, safeguard realization continuously and seamlessly—so-called safeguarding realization does not mean suppressing the mind so that no thoughts arise, but simply being able to transform without abiding. After a considerable time, habitual tendencies may wonderfully disappear all at once. |
| 众生万般苦恼，只缘一乱字，乱由比量而起，见性人见闻觉知了了，不动念时心对境是现量，及至动念分别时，动而不动，虽比量而亦现量矣。常能如是者，名打成一片。 |
The myriad sufferings and troubles of sentient beings arise solely from confusion. Confusion arises through inferential cognition. For one who has seen one’s true nature, seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing are clear and ever-present. When no thoughts arise, the mind’s encounter with circumstances is direct perception. When discriminating thoughts arise, one is active yet unmoved; though there is inferential cognition, there is also direct perception. To be constantly thus is called becoming continuous and undivided. |
| 方便力之大小随慧力而转，慧力之大小，在观照之圆不圆。圆斯通矣，通斯圆矣。所言通者，心无碍是也；碍者，以心碍心也。心如明圆不惑则通，此名无碍慧，发于大悲心陀罗尼中。陀罗尼者，心之至空至密地也。 |
The extent of one’s power of skillful means varies with the power of wisdom, and the extent of wisdom depends on whether contemplation is complete. When it is complete, there is penetration; when there is penetration, it is complete. What is meant by penetration is that the mind is unobstructed. Obstruction means that the mind obstructs itself. When the mind is bright, whole, and free from delusion, there is penetration. This is called unobstructed wisdom, arising from the dhāraṇī of the great compassionate mind. Dhāraṇī is the mind’s most empty and most profound ground. |
| 练心之法，只于有碍中忍得过。比如一切习惯，本无定义，本无不可。苦在自己养成习惯，非如此不可，遂不忍与自己逆，此碍之所以立也。倘忍得过，即无碍矣。因本来无碍也。 |
The method of training the mind lies simply in enduring what is difficult amid obstructions. Take all habits as an example: inherently, none has any fixed definition, and none is indispensable. The trouble is that we cultivate habits ourselves, believing that things cannot be otherwise, and consequently cannot bear to go against ourselves. This is how obstruction is established. If one can endure it, there is no obstruction, for originally there is no obstruction. |
| 比如面子事，本属虚幻不实，充其量，不过失去一虚幻面子耳！且看伊究竟碍不碍，此不过一时之不舒服，到底克胜过去，所得之无碍慧力，岂万金可买得哉！故学佛乃大丈夫事，能忍得，能放得下，不与世俗同流，亦不与世俗忤，所谓和而不同，即超然入圣矣。 |
Take matters of face and reputation: they are inherently illusory and unreal. At most, one loses only an illusory face. See whether it truly obstructs you or not. This discomfort is only temporary; once you overcome it, could the unobstructed power of wisdom that you gain be bought even with ten thousand pieces of gold? Therefore, studying Buddhism is the work of a true person of great resolve: one must be able to endure and to let go, neither drifting along with worldly customs nor opposing them. This is what is meant by harmony without conformity; then one rises above them and enters the sacred. |
| 梦中所现之景，可以考察功夫之深浅。凡用功至密切时，心感于梦，梦中能有主张者，即不入三恶道之证。以入三恶道者，必心失其主为因，有随力而无主力，随业高下，入之而不觉。且如梦中有一分力量，必醒时有十分力量。心之与身，梦时为半离，死则为全离，死与梦无大异也。 |
The scenes that appear in dreams can be used to assess the depth or shallowness of one’s practice. Whenever practice becomes most intimate and earnest, the mind responds in dreams. If one can retain self-mastery in a dream, this is evidence that one will not enter the three lower realms. Those who enter the three lower realms do so because the mind has lost its mastery: one has the force of being carried along, but not the power of self-mastery, and follows the higher or lower course of karma into them without awareness. If one has one part of such strength in a dream, one must have ten parts of strength while awake. In dreams, mind and body are half separated; in death, they are wholly separated. Death is not greatly different from dreaming. |
| 一切妙用，不离世觉故，明心见性后，须于人情世故，在在留心，练习通达，用以互除习气。熟于因果之理，方得机先，起大机用。 |
Because all wondrous functioning does not depart from awareness of worldly affairs, after realizing the mind and seeing one’s true nature, one must attend carefully to human feelings and worldly affairs everywhere, training oneself to understand and respond to them fully, and using them to remove habitual tendencies in mutual fashion. Only when one is thoroughly familiar with the principle of cause and effect can one anticipate circumstances and bring forth great responsiveness and great function. |
| 《大日经·住心品疏》云：菩萨初发明道，即生获除盖障三昧，即与佛菩萨同住，发五神通，获知一切众生语言陀罗尼，能知一切众生心行，作诸佛事而广度之云云。明道者，见性成佛也；除盖障者，除习气也。 |
The Commentary on the Chapter “Abiding Mind” of the Mahāvairocana Sūtra says: “When bodhisattvas first illuminate the Way, they immediately attain the samādhi of removing obscurations and abide together with Buddhas and bodhisattvas. They develop the five supernormal powers, attain the dhāraṇī for knowing the languages of all sentient beings, are able to know the mental activities of all sentient beings, perform the works of the Buddhas, and liberate them extensively,” and so forth. To illuminate the Way is to see one’s true nature and become a Buddha; to remove obscurations is to remove habitual tendencies. |
| 习气何时净，五神通何时开发，非可先求也。得神通后，以他心通方便度脱众生。此为证体起用之过程，不依此道而入者，是为外道。 |
When habitual tendencies are purified and when the five supernormal powers develop cannot be sought in advance. After attaining spiritual powers, one uses the power of knowing others’ minds as an expedient to liberate sentient beings. This is the process by which function arises from realized essence. Those who enter by a path other than this are following a non-Buddhist path. |
| 明道后，五神通虽一时未能全发，但已非同常人，以证得根本，所有除盖障发神通，均同时开发，只力微耳。 |
After illuminating the Way, although the five supernormal powers may not all manifest at once, one is no longer like an ordinary person. Having realized the root, the removal of obscurations and the development of supernormal powers begin simultaneously; only their strength is still slight. |
| 悟了还同未悟时，不到平淡，炉火不能纯青。所谓大智若愚，整日如痴如傻，打成一片矣。 |
After awakening, one is still the same as before awakening. Until one reaches plainness and ordinariness, the fire of practice cannot attain complete maturity. So-called great wisdom appears foolish: one may seem dazed and foolish all day long, having become continuous and undivided. |
| 以上所录，实为明心见性后，启发般若妙用之津梁。学者果能信入不疑，于证体后，刻刻提撕，在人情世故上，磨练自己，深谙众生心行，熟悉因果之理，则除盖障，发五神通，大机大用起矣。 |
The passages recorded above are truly a bridge for bringing forth the wondrous function of prajñā after realizing the mind and seeing one’s true nature. If students can indeed enter this teaching with faith and without doubt, then after realizing the essence, maintain vigilant awareness at every moment, temper themselves in human feelings and worldly affairs, deeply understand the mental activities of sentient beings, and become familiar with the principle of cause and effect, they will remove obscurations, develop the five supernormal powers, and bring forth great responsiveness and great function. |
