Volume Ten 卷第十
Writings of Master Yuanyin | 2018-06-10 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 阿难！彼善男子，修三摩地，想阴尽者，是人平常梦想消灭，寤寐恒一，觉明虚静，犹如晴空，无复粗重前尘影事。观诸世间大地山河 ，如镜鉴明，来无所黏，过无踪迹，虚受照应，了罔陈习，唯一精真。 |
Ānanda, when a good man cultivates samādhi and the aggregate of perception is exhausted, his ordinary dreams vanish; waking and sleeping become ever the same. His awareness is bright, empty, and still, like a clear sky, no longer disturbed by the coarse, weighty images of former sense objects. He contemplates the earth, mountains, and rivers of all worldly realms as though reflected in a bright mirror: what comes does not adhere, and what passes leaves no trace. He merely receives and responds to the reflections; the old habitual patterns are wholly gone, and only essential purity remains. |
| 生灭根元从此披露，见诸十方十二众生 ，毕殚其类，虽未通其各命由绪，见同生基，犹如野马，熠熠清扰，为浮根尘究竟枢穴，此则名为行阴区宇。若此清扰熠熠元性，性入元澄，一澄元习 ，如波澜灭，化为澄水，名行阴尽。是人则能超众生浊，观其所由，幽隐妄想以为其本。 |
The root source of arising and ceasing is then disclosed. He sees the twelve classes of living beings throughout the ten directions, each complete in its kind. Although he has not yet penetrated the course of each individual life, he sees their common basis of birth: like shimmering wild horses, flickering and subtly stirring, it is the ultimate pivot of the material sense faculties and their objects. This is called the domain of the aggregate of formations. When this flickering original nature of subtle disturbance enters its original clarity, and, once clear, its original habits are stilled—as waves subside and become clear water—this is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of formations. This person can then transcend the turbidity of living beings. Observing its source, he sees that hidden deluded thought is its root. |
| 阿难当知，是得正知奢摩他中诸善男子，凝明正心，十类天魔不得其便，方得精研，穷生类本。于本类中生元露者 ，观彼幽清圆扰动元，于圆元中起计度者，是人坠入二无因论。一者、是人见本无因。 |
Ānanda, you should know that when these good men, having attained proper knowledge in śamatha, concentrate their bright and proper minds, the ten kinds of celestial demons can find no opportunity. Only then may they undertake refined investigation and exhaust the root of the classes of living beings. When the source of birth becomes exposed within that fundamental class, and they contemplate that hidden, clear, all-encompassing source of movement, if they give rise to speculative judgments within that all-encompassing source, they fall into the doctrine of two kinds of causelessness. First, they see an original causelessness. |
| 何以故？是人既得生机全破，乘于眼根八百功德，见八万劫所有众生业流湾环，死此生彼 ，只见众生轮回其处，八万劫外，冥无所观。便作是解，此等世间十方众生，八万劫来，无因自有。 |
Why? Having completely broken through the mechanism of birth, and relying on the eight hundred merits of the eye faculty, they see the winding currents of karma of all living beings throughout eighty thousand eons: dying here and being born there. They see only living beings revolving in this manner; beyond eighty thousand eons, they see nothing in the darkness. They therefore conclude that living beings in the worlds of the ten directions have existed of themselves without cause since eighty thousand eons ago. |
| 由此计度，亡正遍知 ，堕落外道，惑菩提性。二者、是人见末无因。何以故？是人于生既见其根，知人生人，悟鸟生鸟。乌从来黑，鹄从来白；人天本竖，畜生本横 ；白非洗成，黑非染造。从八万劫无复改移。 |
Through this speculation, they lose right and all-encompassing knowledge, fall into non-Buddhist paths, and delude their bodhi-nature. Second, they see an ultimate causelessness. Why? Having seen the root of birth, they know that humans give birth to humans and birds give birth to birds. Crows have always been black, and swans have always been white; humans and devas have always stood upright, while animals have always gone on all fours. White is not made by washing, nor black by dyeing. For eighty thousand eons, these have undergone no change. |
| 今尽此形，亦复如是。而我本来不见菩提，云何更有成菩提事？当知今日一切物象 ，皆本无因。由此计度，亡正遍知，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第一外道，立无因论。 |
When this body now comes to its end, it will be the same. Since I have never seen bodhi, how could there be any further matter of attaining bodhi? They should know that all phenomena today are originally without cause. Through this speculation, they lose right and all-encompassing knowledge, fall into non-Buddhist paths, and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the first non-Buddhist path: the establishment of the doctrine of causelessness. |
| 阿难！是三摩中诸善男子，凝明正心，魔不得便，穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于圆常中起计度者，是人坠入四遍常论。一者、是人穷心境性 ，二处无因。 |
Ānanda, when these good men in samādhi concentrate their bright and proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments within the all-encompassing constancy, they fall into the doctrine of four kinds of universal permanence. First, they exhaust the natures of mind and objects and see the two as without cause. |
| 修习能知，二万劫中十方众生所有生灭，咸皆循环，不曾散失，计以为常。二者、是人穷四大元 ，四性常住。修习能知，四万劫中十方众生所有生灭，咸皆体恒，不曾散失，计以为常。 |
Through practice, they know that throughout twenty thousand eons, the arising and ceasing of living beings in the ten directions have all cycled without ever being lost; they take this to be permanence. Second, they exhaust the source of the four great elements and see the four natures as permanently abiding. Through practice, they know that throughout forty thousand eons, the arising and ceasing of living beings in the ten directions have all remained in substance without ever being lost; they take this to be permanence. |
| 三者、是人穷尽六根 ，末那执受，心意识中本元由处，性常恒故。修习能知，八万劫中一切众生循环不失，本来常住，穷不失性，计以为常。四者、是人既尽想元，生理更无流止运转。生灭想心今已永灭 ，理中自然成不生灭，因心所度，计以为常。由此计常，亡正遍知，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第二外道 ，立圆常论。 |
Third, they exhaust the six sense faculties, the appropriation of manas, and the original source within mind, consciousness, and awareness, and see its nature as ever constant. Through practice, they know that throughout eighty thousand eons all living beings have cycled without loss, originally abiding permanently. Having exhausted this nature that is not lost, they take it to be permanence. Fourth, having exhausted the source of perception, they see that the principle of birth no longer has any flowing, stopping, or movement. Since the mind of arising-and-ceasing perception has now been forever extinguished, they conclude that the principle itself naturally becomes neither arising nor ceasing. On the basis of what their minds have measured, they take it to be permanence. Through this view of permanence, they lose right and all-encompassing knowledge, fall into non-Buddhist paths, and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the second non-Buddhist path: the establishment of the doctrine of universal permanence. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便，穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于自他中起计度者，是人坠入四颠倒见，一分无常，一分常论。一者、是人观妙明心遍十方界，湛然以为究竟神我。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments concerning self and others, they fall into four inverted views: the doctrine that one part is impermanent and one part permanent. First, they contemplate the wondrously bright mind pervading the realms of the ten directions and take its tranquil clarity to be the ultimate divine self. |
| 从是则计 ，我遍十方，凝明不动，一切众生于我心中自生自死。则我心性，名之为常；彼生灭者，真无常性。二者、是人不观其心，遍观十方恒沙国土。见劫坏处 ，名为究竟无常种性；劫不坏处，名究竟常。 |
They then conclude, “My self pervades the ten directions, concentrated, bright, and unmoving. All living beings are born and die of themselves within my mind. Thus my mind-nature is called permanent; those that arise and cease possess a truly impermanent nature.” Second, they do not contemplate their own minds, but instead contemplate the lands of the ten directions, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Where they see an eon destroyed, they call it the ultimate seed-nature of impermanence; where an eon is not destroyed, they call it ultimate permanence. |
| 三者、是人别观我心，精细微密，犹如微尘流转十方，性无移改，能令此身即生即灭。其不坏性 ，名我性常；一切死生从我流出，名无常性。四者、是人知想阴尽，见行阴流。行阴常流，计为常性；色受想等 ，今已灭尽，名无常性。由此计度，一分无常，一分常故，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第三外道，一分常论。 |
Third, they separately contemplate their own minds as exquisitely subtle and minute, like motes of dust flowing through the ten directions, yet unchanging in nature, able to cause this body to arise and cease at once. Its indestructible nature they call the permanence of their self-nature; all deaths and births flowing forth from it they call impermanent in nature. Fourth, they know that the aggregate of perception is exhausted and see the flowing of the aggregate of formations. They take the constant flow of the aggregate of formations to be a permanent nature; form, feeling, perception, and the like have now been extinguished, and they call these impermanent in nature. Through such speculation that one part is impermanent and one part permanent, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the third non-Buddhist path: the doctrine that one part is permanent. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于分位中生计度者，是人坠入四有边论。一者、是人心计生元，流用不息 。计过未者，名为有边；计相续心，名为无边。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments concerning divisions and positions, they fall into the doctrine of four finite views. First, they mentally calculate the source of birth, whose flowing function never ceases. They regard the past and future as finite, while the continuing mind they regard as infinite. |
| 二者、是人观八万劫，则见众生，八万劫前，寂无闻见。无闻见处 ，名为无边；有众生处，名为有边。三者、是人计我遍知，得无边性。彼一切人，现我知中，我曾不知彼之知性 ，名彼不得无边之心，但有边性。 |
Second, when they contemplate eighty thousand eons, they see living beings; but before eighty thousand eons, all is silent, without hearing or seeing. Where there is no hearing or seeing, they call it infinite; where living beings exist, they call it finite. Third, they suppose that they themselves know pervasively and have attained an infinite nature. Since all other people are presently within their knowledge, yet they have never known the nature of those others’ knowing, they say that those others do not possess an infinite mind, but only a finite nature. |
| 四者、是人穷行阴空，以其所见，心路筹度，一切众生一身之中，计其咸皆半生半灭 ；明其世界一切所有，一半有边，一半无边。由此计度，有边无边，堕落外道，惑菩提性，是则名为第四外道 ，立有边论。 |
Fourth, they exhaust the emptiness of the aggregate of formations and, through the deliberations of their minds based on what they see, conclude that within the single body of every living being, all are half arising and half ceasing. They further declare that all things in the world are half finite and half infinite. Through this speculation about finitude and infinitude, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the fourth non-Buddhist path: the establishment of the doctrine of finitude. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于知见中，生计度者，是人坠入四种颠倒不死矫乱 ，遍计虚论。一者、是人观变化元。见迁流处，名之为变；见相续处，名之为恒。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments in their views and understanding, they fall into four kinds of inverted, evasive, and confused doctrines of immortality—pervasively calculated empty theories. First, they contemplate the source of change. Where they see movement and transformation, they call it change; where they see continuity, they call it permanence. |
| 见所见处，名之为生；不见见处，名之为灭。相续之因，性不断处，名之为增；正相续中，中所离处，名之为减。各各生处，名之为有；互互亡处，名之为无。以理都观，用心别见。 |
Where they see what is seen, they call it birth; where they do not see what is seen, they call it extinction. Where the cause of continuity is not cut off in nature, they call it increase; where, in the midst of continuity itself, there are intervals, they call it decrease. Each separate arising, they call existence; the mutual disappearance of one into another, they call nonexistence. Although they contemplate the matter as a whole in principle, they distinguish it separately with their minds. |
| 有求法人来问其义，答言：我今亦生亦灭，亦有亦无，亦增亦减。于一切时，皆乱其语，令彼前人遗失章句。二者、是人谛观其心，互互无处，因无得证。有人来问，唯答一字，但言其无 。除无之余，无所言说。 |
When someone seeking the Dharma comes to ask them its meaning, they reply, “I now both arise and cease, both exist and do not exist, both increase and decrease.” At all times their speech is confused, causing those before them to lose the thread of the discourse. Second, they carefully contemplate their minds and see mutual nonexistence; on the basis of nonexistence, they claim realization. When someone comes to ask, they answer with only one word, saying merely, “No.” Apart from “no,” they have nothing to say. |
| 三者、是人谛观其心，各各有处，因有得证。有人来问，唯答一字，但言其是，除是之余，无所言说。四者、是人有无俱见，其境枝故，其心亦乱。有人来问，答言：亦有即是亦无，亦无之中不是亦有。一切矫乱，无容穷诘。由此计度 ，矫乱虚无，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第五外道，四颠倒性不死矫乱，遍计虚论。 |
Third, they carefully contemplate their minds and see each thing as existing; on the basis of existence, they claim realization. When someone comes to ask, they answer with only one word, saying merely, “Yes.” Apart from “yes,” they have nothing to say. Fourth, they see both existence and nonexistence. Because the objects of their contemplation are branching and confused, their minds are also confused. When someone comes to ask, they reply, “Existence itself is also nonexistence; within nonexistence, it is not also existence.” Such confused evasions allow no room for exhaustive questioning. Through this speculation of evasive emptiness, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the fifth non-Buddhist path: the pervasively calculated empty theory of the four inverted natures of evasive immortality. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于无尽流生计度者，是人坠入死后有相，发心颠倒。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments concerning the endless flow, they fall into the view that there are forms after death, and their minds become inverted. |
| 或自固身，云色是我；或见我圆含遍国土，云我有色 ；或彼前缘随我回复，云色属我；或复我依行中相续，云我在色。皆计度言，死后有相，如是循环，有十六相。从此或计 ，毕竟烦恼，毕竟菩提，两性并驱，各不相触。由此计度，死后有故，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第六外道 ，立五阴中死后有相，心颠倒论。 |
Some rigidly identify the body with the self, saying, “Form is myself.” Some see the self as encompassing and pervading all lands, saying, “I possess form.” Some see the prior conditions returning in accord with themselves, saying, “Form belongs to me.” Some again see themselves as dependent upon continuity within the aggregate of formations, saying, “I am in form.” All make the calculation that there are forms after death. In this cycle there are sixteen forms. From this, some further suppose that afflictions are ultimately real and bodhi is ultimately real, the two natures proceeding side by side without touching one another. Through this speculation that there is existence after death, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the sixth non-Buddhist path: the inverted doctrine that within the five aggregates there are forms after death. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元。于先除灭色受想中生计度者，是人坠入死后无相，发心颠倒。见其色灭，形无所因；观其想灭，心无所系；知其受灭，无复连缀。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments concerning the form, feeling, and perception that have previously been eliminated, they fall into the view that there are no forms after death, and their minds become inverted. Seeing form extinguished, they find no basis for shape; contemplating perception extinguished, they find no object to which the mind can be attached; knowing feeling extinguished, they find no further connection. |
| 阴性销散，纵有生理 ，而无受想，与草木同。此质现前犹不可得，死后云何更有诸相？因之勘校，死后相无，如是循环，有八无相。从此或计涅槃因果一切皆空，徒有名字，究竟断灭。由此计度 ，死后无故，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第七外道，立五阴中死后无相，心颠倒论。 |
The nature of the aggregates disperses and vanishes. Even if the principle of life remains, without feeling and perception it is the same as plants and trees. Since this substance cannot be apprehended even while it is present, how could there be any forms after death? Examining it in this way, they conclude that there are no forms after death. In this cycle there are eight formless states. From this, some further suppose that the causes and effects of nirvāṇa are all empty, existing only in name and ultimately subject to annihilation. Through this speculation that there is no existence after death, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the seventh non-Buddhist path: the inverted doctrine that within the five aggregates there are no forms after death. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于行存中，兼受想灭，双计有无，自体相破 ，是人坠入死后俱非，起颠倒论。色受想中，见有非有；行迁流内，观无不无。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. Since the aggregate of formations remains while feeling and perception are also extinguished, they calculate both existence and nonexistence, mutually destroying the characteristics of their own position. They fall into the doctrine that there are neither forms nor no forms after death, and give rise to an inverted theory. Within form, feeling, and perception, they see existence as not existence; within the flowing of the aggregate of formations, they contemplate nonexistence as not nonexistence. |
| 如是循环，穷尽阴界，八俱非相，随得一缘，皆言死后有相无相。又计诸行，性迁讹故，心发通悟，有无俱非，虚实失措。由此计度 ，死后俱非，后际昏瞢，无可道故，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第八外道，立五阴中死后俱非，心颠倒论。 |
Thus they cycle through and exhaust the realm of the aggregates, arriving at eight characteristics of neither existence nor nonexistence. Following whatever condition they encounter, they say that after death there are forms and no forms. They further suppose that, because all formations are by nature shifting and erroneous, their minds have attained penetrating understanding: both existence and nonexistence are denied, and they lose all sense of what is empty and what is real. Through this speculation that after death there is neither existence nor nonexistence, they fall into the non-Buddhist paths; the future is dark and obscure, with nothing that can be stated, and they delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the eighth non-Buddhist path: the inverted doctrine that within the five aggregates there are neither forms nor no forms after death. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于后后无，生计度者，是人坠入七断灭论。或计身灭，或欲尽灭，或苦尽灭，或极乐灭，或极舍灭。如是循环 ，穷尽七际，现前消灭，灭已无复。由此计度，死后断灭，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第九外道，立五阴中死后断灭 ，心颠倒论。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments that all later states are nonexistent, they fall into the doctrine of seven annihilations. Some suppose that the body is annihilated; some that desire is annihilated; some that suffering is annihilated; some that supreme bliss is annihilated; some that supreme equanimity is annihilated. Thus they cycle through and exhaust the seven limits, all of which vanish before them and, once extinguished, do not exist again. Through this speculation of annihilation after death, they fall into non-Buddhist paths and delude their bodhi-nature. This is called the ninth non-Buddhist path: the inverted doctrine that within the five aggregates there is annihilation after death. |
| 又三摩中诸善男子，坚凝正心，魔不得便。穷生类本，观彼幽清常扰动元，于后后有生计度者，是人坠入五涅槃论。或以欲界 ，为正转依，观见圆明，生爱慕故。 |
Again, when these good men in samādhi firmly concentrate their proper minds, demons can find no opportunity. They exhaust the root of the classes of living beings and contemplate that hidden, clear, ever-stirring source of movement. If they give rise to speculative judgments that all later states exist, they fall into the doctrine of five kinds of nirvāṇa. Some take the desire realm as the proper basis of transformation and, seeing it as complete and bright, give rise to attachment and admiration. |
| 或以初禅，性无忧故；或以二禅，心无苦故；或以三禅，极悦随故；或以四禅，苦乐二亡，不受轮回 ，生灭性故。迷有漏天，作无为解；五处安隐，为胜净依；如是循环，五处究竟。由此计度，五现涅槃，堕落外道，惑菩提性。是则名为第十外道 ，立五阴中五现涅槃，心颠倒论。 |
Some take the first dhyāna, in which their nature is free of sorrow, as nirvāṇa; some take the second dhyāna, in which the mind is free of suffering, as nirvāṇa; some take the third dhyāna, attended by utmost joy, as nirvāṇa; and some take the fourth dhyāna, in which both suffering and pleasure have ceased and in which they no longer undergo the nature of cyclic birth and death, as nirvāṇa. Deluded by the defiled heavens, they interpret them as unconditioned. They take the five places of security as supreme pure abodes. Thus they revolve in these five places, taking them as ultimate. By such calculation, they establish five present nirvāṇas, fall into non-Buddhist paths, and obscure the nature of bodhi. This is called the tenth non-Buddhist path: the inverted theory that establishes five present nirvāṇas within the five aggregates. |
| 阿难！如是十种禅那狂解，皆是行阴用心交互，故现斯悟。众生顽迷，不自忖量，逢此现前，以迷为解，自言登圣，大妄语成，堕无间狱。汝等必须将如来语，于我灭后传示末法，遍令众生觉了斯义，无令心魔自起深孽，保持覆护，消息邪见。教其身心开觉真义，于无上道，不遭枝歧。勿令心祈得少为足，作大觉王，清净标指。 |
Ānanda, these ten kinds of deluded interpretations arising in dhyāna all occur through the interaction of the functioning mind and the aggregate of formations; therefore, such realizations appear. Sentient beings are stubbornly deluded and do not reflect upon themselves. When these states appear before them, they mistake delusion for realization, claim that they have attained sainthood, commit the grave falsehood, and fall into the uninterrupted hell. You must transmit the Tathāgata’s words after my extinction and reveal them to beings in the Dharma-ending age, so that all may understand their meaning. Do not allow mind-demons to arise on their own and create grave karmic offenses. Protect and shelter them, and dispel deviant views. Teach them to awaken in body and mind to the true meaning, so that on the unsurpassed path they will not encounter branching deviations. Do not let their minds seek a little attainment and take it as sufficient. This is the pure directive for becoming the King of Great Awakening. |
| 阿难！彼善男子修三摩地行阴尽者，诸世间性，幽清扰动同分生机，倏然隳裂沉细纲纽。补特伽罗酬业深脉，感应悬绝。于涅槃天，将大明悟 ，如鸡后鸣，瞻顾东方，已有精色。六根虚静，无复驰逸，内外湛明，入无所入。 |
Ānanda, when a good man cultivates samādhi and the aggregate of formations is exhausted, the common life-force of the subtle, pure, and restless natures of all worldly beings suddenly breaks through its deep and subtle network. The profound karmic channels by which pudgalas repay their karma are cut off from their responses. In the heaven of nirvāṇa, he is about to awaken greatly. It is like a rooster’s final crow: when one looks eastward, the refined light of dawn has already appeared. The six sense faculties are empty and still, no longer racing outward. Within and without, all is clear and calm; he enters where there is no entering. |
| 深达十方十二种类受命元由，观由执元，诸类不召。于十方界已获其同，精色不沉，发现幽秘 ，此则名为识阴区宇。若于群召，已获同中，消磨六门，合开成就，见闻通邻，互用清净。十方世界及与身心，如吠琉璃，内外明彻 ，名识阴尽。是人则能超越命浊，观其所由，罔象虚无颠倒妄想以为其本。 |
He profoundly understands the original causes by which the twelve classes of beings throughout the ten directions receive life. Contemplating the source of their grasping, he sees that the various classes are no longer summoned forth. He has already attained identity with them throughout the ten directions; the refined light no longer sinks away, and hidden secrets are revealed. This is called the realm of the aggregate of consciousness. If, amid the collective summons, he has attained identity, wears away the six gates, and achieves their mutual opening, seeing and hearing interpenetrate, and their mutual functioning is pure. The worlds of the ten directions, together with body and mind, are like beryl, transparent within and without. This is called the exhaustion of the aggregate of consciousness. Such a person can then transcend the turbidity of life. Contemplating its source, he sees that its basis lies in the inverted deluded thought of a vague, illusory nothingness. |
| 阿难当知，是善男子，穷诸行空，于识还元，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。能令己身，根隔合开，亦与十方诸类通觉 ，觉知通[淴-心+日]，能入圆元。若于所归立真常因，生胜解者，是人则堕因所因执，娑毗迦罗所归冥谛 ，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第一，立所得心，成所归果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生外道种。 |
Ānanda, you should know that when this good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations and returns consciousness to its source, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. He can cause the sense faculties, though separated, to function together; and he can also awaken in communion with the various classes of beings in the ten directions. His awareness and knowing become thoroughly clear, and he can enter the perfect source. If, regarding that to which he returns, he establishes a truly permanent cause and gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the attachment to a cause based on a cause. Sāṃkhya’s return to primordial matter becomes his companion. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the first: establishing the mind that has attained something and making it the fruit to which one returns. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of a non-Buddhist path. |
| 阿难！又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于所归，览为自体，尽虚空界十二类内所有众生，皆我身中一类流出 ，生胜解者。是人则堕能非能执，摩醯首罗现无边身，成其伴侣，迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第二，立能为心，成能事果 。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生大慢天。我遍圆种。 |
Ānanda, again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, regarding that to which he returns, he takes it to be his own substance and gives rise to the superior understanding that all beings within the twelve classes throughout the realm of empty space have flowed forth as a single class from within his own body, this person falls into the attachment that what is capable is not capable. Maheśvara, who manifests limitless bodies, becomes his companion. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the second: establishing capability as the mind and making capability the fruit of his undertaking. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of all-pervading great pride. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于所归，有所归依，自疑身心，从彼流出，十方虚空咸其生起 。即于都起，所宣流地，作真常身，无生灭解。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, regarding that to which he returns, he finds something on which to rely, and doubts that his body and mind have flowed forth from it, and that the empty space of the ten directions has all arisen from it, then he takes the place from which all things arise and flow forth as a truly permanent body, interpreting it as unborn and unceasing. |
| 在生灭中，早计常住，既惑不生，亦迷生灭，安住沉迷，生胜解者 。是人则堕常非常执，计自在天成其伴侣，迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第三，立因依心，成妄计果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生倒圆种。 |
Within birth and cessation, he prematurely calculates permanence. Having thus become deluded about non-arising, he is also confused about birth and cessation. If he abides in this deep delusion and gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the attachment that the permanent is not permanent. Those who regard Īśvara as their companion become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the third: establishing a mind dependent on a cause and making it the fruit of deluded calculation. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of inverted perfection. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于所知，知遍圆故，因知立解，十方草木皆称有情 ，与人无异，草木为人，人死还成十方草树。无择遍知，生胜解者。是人则堕知无知执，婆吒、霰尼执一切觉 ，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第四，计圆知心，成虚谬果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生倒知种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, regarding what he knows, he believes that knowing is all-pervading and perfect, and on the basis of this knowing establishes the interpretation that all grasses and trees throughout the ten directions are sentient beings no different from human beings, that grasses and trees become people, and that after death people again become grasses and trees throughout the ten directions—if he gives rise to this superior understanding of indiscriminate omniscience—this person falls into the attachment that knowing is not knowing. Vātsya and Śaṇḍilya, who hold that all things are aware, become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the fourth: taking all-pervading knowing as the mind and making it the fruit of false delusion. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of inverted knowing. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于圆融，根互用中，已得随顺，便于圆化一切发生 ，求火光明，乐水清净，爱风周流，观尘成就，各各崇事；以此群尘发作本因，立常住解。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, within the mutual functioning of the sense faculties in perfect interpenetration, he has attained accord with them, then he takes all arising phenomena as transformations of this perfect whole. Seeking the brightness of fire, delighting in the purity of water, loving the circulation of wind, and contemplating the achievement of earth, he reveres each of them in turn. Taking these various elements as the original cause of all creation, he establishes the interpretation that they are permanent. |
| 是人则堕生无生执 ，诸迦叶波并婆罗门，勤心役身，事火崇水，求出生死，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第五，计着崇事，迷心从物，立妄求因，求妄冀果 。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生颠化种。 |
This person falls into the attachment that birth is no birth. The various Kāśyapas and brahmins who diligently wear out body and mind, serve fire and revere water, and seek escape from birth and death become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the fifth: attached to revering such things, he loses the mind and follows objects, establishes a deluded cause to be sought, and seeks a deluded and hoped-for result. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of inverted transformation. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于圆明，计明中虚，非灭群化，以永灭依为所归依 ，生胜解者。是人则堕归无归执，无想天中诸舜若多，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第六，圆虚无心，成空亡果；违远圆通，背涅槃城，生断灭种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, within perfect luminosity, he considers the emptiness within that luminosity not to be the extinction of all transformations, but takes perpetual extinction as that on which to rely and gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the attachment of returning where there is no return. The various Śūnyatās in the Heaven of No Thought become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the sixth: perfecting a mind of empty nothingness and making it the fruit of empty annihilation. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of annihilationism. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于圆常，固身常住，同于精圆，长不倾逝，生胜解者 。是人则堕贪非贪执。诸阿斯陀求长命者，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第七，执着命元，立固妄因，趣长劳果 。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生妄延种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, regarding perfect permanence, he firmly holds that his body is permanent and abiding, identical with refined perfection and forever not subject to decline, and gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the attachment of craving what is not to be craved. The various Āsitas who seek long life become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the seventh: clinging to the source of life, establishing a fixed deluded cause, and heading toward the fruit of prolonged toil. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of deluded prolongation. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。观命互通，却留尘劳，恐其销尽；便于此际坐莲华宫，广化七珍，多增宝媛，恣纵其心 ，生胜解者。是人则堕真无真执，吒枳、迦罗，成其伴侣，迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第八，发邪思因，立炽尘果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生天魔种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. Observing that life is mutually interconnected, he nevertheless retains worldly toil, fearing that it will be exhausted. Thereupon, in this state, he sits in a lotus palace, lavishly adorns it with the seven treasures, greatly increases his jeweled consorts, and indulges his mind. If he gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the attachment that the real is not real. Ṭakki and Kāla become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the eighth: giving rise to a deviant cause of thought and establishing the result of blazing worldly defilements. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of heavenly demons. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。于命明中，分别精粗，疏决真伪，因果相酬，唯求感应，背清净道 ，所谓见苦、断集、证灭、修道，居灭已休，更不前进，生胜解者；是人则堕定性声闻，诸无闻僧增上慢者 ，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第九，圆精应心，成趣寂果。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生缠空种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. Within the luminosity of life, he distinguishes the refined from the coarse and decides what is true and false. Seeing the mutual requital of cause and effect, he seeks only responsive results and turns away from the path of purity. Thus, he sees suffering, cuts off its origin, realizes cessation, and cultivates the path; then, abiding in cessation, he rests there and advances no further. If he gives rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the fixed nature of a śrāvaka. The monastics without learning who are inflated by arrogance become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the ninth: perfecting a mind that responds to refined distinctions and making it the fruit that tends toward quiescence. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of being bound to emptiness. |
| 又善男子，穷诸行空，已灭生灭，而于寂灭精妙未圆。若于圆融，清净觉明，发研深妙，即立涅槃，而不前进 ，生胜解者。是人则堕定性辟支，诸缘独伦，不回心者，成其伴侣。迷佛菩提，亡失知见。是名第十，圆觉[淴-心+日]心，成湛明果 。违远圆通，背涅槃城，生觉圆明不化圆种。 |
Again, when a good man has exhausted the emptiness of all formations, birth and cessation have already been extinguished, but the subtle wonder of quiescent extinction is not yet complete. If, in perfect interpenetration and the pure luminosity of awakening, he develops and investigates profound subtleties, then establishes nirvāṇa and advances no further, giving rise to a superior understanding, this person falls into the fixed nature of a pratyekabuddha. Those solitary realizers who do not turn their minds back become his companions. He is deluded about the Buddha’s bodhi and loses right knowledge and views. This is called the tenth: perfecting the mind of awakening and making it the fruit of tranquil luminosity. He departs from perfect penetration, turns his back on the city of nirvāṇa, and gives rise to the seed of awakening that is perfectly bright yet does not transform others. |
| 阿难！如是十种禅那，中途成狂，因依迷惑，于未足中，生满足证。皆是识阴用心交互，故生斯位。众生顽迷，不自忖量，逢此现前，各以所爱先习迷 ，心而自休息，将为毕竟所归宁地。自言满足无上菩提，大妄语成。 |
Ānanda, in these ten kinds of dhyāna, practitioners become deluded midway because they rely on confusion and, within what is not yet sufficient, produce a realization of fulfillment. All this arises through the interaction of the functioning mind and the aggregate of consciousness; therefore these states occur. Sentient beings are stubbornly deluded and do not reflect upon themselves. When such states appear before them, each becomes lost in what they have formerly loved and habitually practiced; their minds rest there by themselves, taking it to be the ultimate place of repose to which they return. They claim that they have fulfilled unsurpassed bodhi, and thereby commit the grave falsehood. |
| 外道邪魔，所感业终，堕无间狱；声闻缘觉 ，不成增进。汝等存心秉如来道，将此法门，于我灭后，传示末世，普令众生觉了斯义。无令见魔自作沉孽 ，保绥哀救，消息邪缘。令其身心入佛知见，从始成就，不遭歧路。如是法门，先过去世恒沙劫中微尘如来 ，乘此心开，得无上道。 |
When the karma that evokes non-Buddhist paths and deviant demons is exhausted, they fall into the uninterrupted hell. Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas fail to make further progress. You should preserve in your minds and uphold the Tathāgata’s way, transmitting this Dharma gate after my extinction and revealing it to beings in the latter age, so that all may understand its meaning. Do not allow view-demons to create deep karmic offenses for themselves. Protect, soothe, and compassionately rescue them, and dispel deviant conditions. Enable their bodies and minds to enter the Buddha’s knowledge and views, so that from the beginning they may achieve realization without encountering a divergent path. In past ages, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, the Tathāgatas awakened their minds through this Dharma gate and attained the unsurpassed path. |
| 识阴若尽，则汝现前诸根互用。从互用中，能入菩萨金刚干慧，圆明精心于中发化，如净琉璃内含宝月。如是乃超十信、十住、十行、十回向、四加行心，菩萨所行金刚十地 、等觉圆明。入于如来妙庄严海，圆满菩提，归无所得。 |
When the aggregate of consciousness is exhausted, the sense faculties before you function interchangeably. From this mutual functioning, one can enter the bodhisattva’s adamantine dry-wisdom stage. The perfectly luminous and refined mind unfolds and transforms within it, like a precious moon contained within pure beryl. Thus one transcends the ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, the minds of the four preliminary practices, the bodhisattva’s adamantine ten bhūmis, and the perfect luminosity of equal enlightenment. One enters the Tathāgata’s ocean of wondrous adornment, perfectly fulfills bodhi, and returns to no attainment. |
| 此是过去先佛世尊奢摩他中，毗婆舍那，觉明分析微细魔事。魔境现前，汝能谙识，心垢洗除，不落邪见。阴魔销灭，天魔摧碎，大力鬼神褫魄逃逝，魑魅魍魉无复出生。直至菩提，无诸少乏 。下劣增进，于大涅槃心不迷闷。 |
This is the subtle analysis of demonic events made through the luminous awakening of vipaśyanā within the śamatha of the World-Honored Ones, the Buddhas of the past. When demonic states appear, if you can recognize them, the defilements of the mind will be washed away and you will not fall into deviant views. The aggregate-demons will vanish, heavenly demons will be crushed, and powerful ghosts and spirits will lose heart and flee; chīmèi, wǎngliǎng, and other malevolent spirits will no longer arise. Until bodhi, there will be no deficiency whatsoever. Those of lesser capacity will advance, and their minds will not become confused or dull concerning great nirvāṇa. |
| 若诸末世愚钝众生，未识禅那，不知说法，乐修三昧。汝恐同邪，一心劝令 ，持我佛顶陀罗尼咒。若未能诵，写于禅堂，或带身上，一切诸魔所不能动。汝当恭钦，十方如来究竟修进，最后垂范。 |
If foolish and dull sentient beings in the latter age do not recognize dhyāna, do not understand the teaching of Dharma, yet delight in cultivating samādhi, you should fear that they may fall in with deviant paths. With a single mind, urge them to uphold my Buddha-Crown Dhāraṇī mantra. If they are unable to recite it, write it in the meditation hall or carry it on their persons; then none of the demons can disturb them. You should reverently regard this as the final model left by the Tathāgatas of the ten directions for ultimate cultivation and advancement. |
| 阿难即从座起，闻佛示诲，顶礼钦奉，忆持无失。于大众中，重复白佛：如佛所言，五阴相中，五种虚妄为本想心 。我等平常未蒙如来微细开示。又此五阴，为并销除，为次第尽？如是五重，诣何为界？惟愿如来，发宣大慈，为此大众清明心目，以为末世一切众生 ，作将来眼。 |
Ānanda then rose from his seat. Having heard the Buddha’s instruction, he bowed in reverence, accepted it, and retained it without error. Before the great assembly, he again addressed the Buddha: “As the Buddha has said, the five aggregates are fundamentally based on five kinds of deluded thought. We have ordinarily not received the Tathāgata’s subtle explanation. Moreover, are these five aggregates extinguished simultaneously, or are they exhausted in sequence? To what realm do these five successive layers lead? We only pray that the Tathāgata will proclaim great compassion and clarify the minds and eyes of this assembly, so as to provide eyes for all sentient beings in the latter age to come.” |
| 佛告阿难：精真妙明，本觉圆净，非留生死及诸尘垢，乃至虚空，皆因妄想之所生起。斯元本觉妙明精真，妄以发生诸器世间，如演若多迷头认影。妄元无因，于妄想中 ，立因缘性；迷因缘者，称为自然。 |
The Buddha told Ānanda: “The refined, true, wondrous luminosity of fundamental awakening is perfectly pure. It neither retains birth and death nor any worldly defilements. Even empty space arises solely from deluded thought. This fundamental awakening—wondrously luminous, refined, and true—is falsely made to bring forth all the material worlds, just as Yajñadatta, deluded about his own head, recognized a reflection as his head. Delusion originally has no cause; yet within deluded thought one establishes the nature of causes and conditions. Those deluded about causes and conditions call it spontaneity.” |
| 彼虚空性犹实幻生；因缘自然，皆是众生妄心计度。阿难！知妄所起，说妄因缘；若妄元无，说妄因缘元无所有。何况不知，推自然者？是故如来与汝发明，五阴本因，同是妄想。 |
“Even the nature of empty space is in truth illusorily produced. Causes and conditions and spontaneity are all calculations of sentient beings’ deluded minds. Ānanda, when one knows how delusion arises, one speaks of the causes and conditions of delusion. But if delusion originally has no basis, then the causes and conditions of delusion are originally nonexistent. How much less can one who does not know this infer spontaneity? Therefore, the Tathāgata has explained to you that the fundamental cause of the five aggregates is all deluded thought.” |
| 汝体先因父母想生，汝心非想，则不能来，想中传命。如我先言：心想醋味，口中涎生；心想登高，足心酸起。悬崖不有，醋物未来，汝体必非虚妄通伦，口水如何因谈醋出？是故当知 ，汝现色身，名为坚固第一妄想。 |
Your body first arose from your parents’ thoughts of desire. If your own mind had not entertained such thoughts, you could not have come into being; life is transmitted through thought. As I said before: when the mind thinks of the taste of vinegar, saliva arises in the mouth; when the mind thinks of climbing to a height, the soles of the feet feel sore. Yet no precipice is present, nor has any vinegar come before you. If your body were not pervaded by empty falsity, how could saliva arise merely from talk of vinegar? Therefore, you should know that your present physical body is called the first false thought, that of solidity. |
| 即此所说，临高想心，能令汝形，真受酸涩。由因受生，能动色体；汝今现前顺益违损，二现驱驰，名为虚明第二妄想。 |
Likewise, as just described, when the mind thinks of being at a height, it can cause your body actually to feel the sour ache. Because feeling arises from a cause, it can move the physical body. The favorable and adverse sensations now before you, these two appearances driving you on, are called the second false thought, that of illusory clarity. |
| 由汝念虑，使汝色身。身非念伦，汝身何因随念所使，种种取像，心生形取，与念相应。寤即想心，寐为诸梦 ，则汝想念，摇动妄情，名为融通第三妄想。 |
Your thoughts cause your physical body to act. Since the body is not of the same kind as thought, why does your body follow the commands of thought, taking on various images? When the mind gives rise to an image, the body takes on that image, corresponding to the thought. When awake, it is the thinking mind; when asleep, it becomes the various dreams. Thus your thoughts stir your deluded emotions; this is called the third false thought, that of interpenetration. |
| 化理不住，运运密移，甲长发生，气销容皱，日夜相代，曾无觉悟。阿难！此若非汝，云何体迁？如必是真，汝何无觉？则汝诸行念念不停，名为幽隐第四妄想。 |
The principle of transformation does not abide; moment after moment, it shifts imperceptibly. The nails grow and the hair lengthens; vital energy wanes and the face wrinkles. Day and night replace one another, yet you are never aware of it. Ānanda, if this were not you, how could your body change? If it truly were you, why are you unaware of it? Thus your activities continue without pause from thought to thought; this is called the fourth false thought, that of hidden subtlety. |
| 又汝精明湛不摇处，名恒常者，于身不出见闻觉知；若实精真，不容习妄。 |
Moreover, that clear and still place within you, which you call constant, does not go beyond seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing in relation to the body. If it were truly pure and genuine, it could not admit habitual delusion. |
| 何因汝等曾于昔年睹一奇物，经历年岁忆忘俱无 ；于后忽然覆睹前异，记忆宛然，曾不遗失？则此精了湛不摇中，念念受薰，有何筹算？阿难当知，此湛非真 ，如急流水，望如恬静；流急不见，非是无流。 |
Why is it that, in former years, you saw some strange object, then after the passage of years both memory and forgetting were absent; yet later, upon suddenly seeing that former oddity again, you remember it clearly, as though it had never been lost? Within this clear, knowing, and unmoving state, thoughts are impregnated moment after moment—what calculation can account for this? Ānanda, you should know that this stillness is not true. It is like a swiftly flowing river, which from a distance appears tranquil. Because its current is rapid, its flow is not seen; this does not mean that there is no flow. |
| 若非想元，宁受妄习？非汝六根互用合开，此之妄想无时得灭。故汝现在，见 闻觉知，中串习几。则湛了内，罔象虚无，第五颠倒微细精想。 |
If it were not the source of thought, how could it receive deluded habits? Unless your six sense faculties are opened and function interchangeably, these false thoughts can never be extinguished. Therefore, in your present seeing, hearing, awareness, and knowing, habitual tendencies are interwoven. Within this clear stillness are vague and indistinct traces, empty and unreal: this is the fifth inverted and extremely subtle false thought. |
| 阿难！是五受阴，五妄想成。 |
Ānanda, these five grasping aggregates are formed from five false thoughts. |
| 汝今欲知因界浅深，唯色与空，是色边际；唯触及离，是受边际；唯记与忘，是想边际；唯灭与生，是行边际 ；湛入合湛，归识边际。此五阴元，重叠生起，生因识有，灭从色除。理则顿悟，乘悟并消；事非顿除，因次第尽。 |
You now wish to know the relative shallowness and depth of their causal boundaries. Only form and emptiness are the boundary of form; only contact and separation are the boundary of feeling; only remembrance and forgetting are the boundary of perception; only cessation and arising are the boundary of formations; and clear awareness entering into and merging with clarity is the boundary of consciousness. The five aggregates originally arise in overlapping layers: their arising is due to consciousness, and their cessation begins with the removal of form. In principle, they are suddenly realized and, through that realization, simultaneously dissolved; in actual practice, they are not suddenly eliminated, but are exhausted in sequence. |
| 我已示汝劫波巾结，何所不明，再此询问？汝应将此妄想根元，心得开通，传示将来末法之中诸修行者 ，令识虚妄，深厌自生，知有涅槃，不恋三界。 |
I have already shown you the knots in the cloth of the Kalpa wave. What is there that you do not understand, that you ask again? You should penetrate to the root of these false thoughts in your own mind, and transmit this teaching to practitioners in the Dharma-ending age to come, so that they may recognize falsity, deeply grow weary of birth from themselves, know that there is nirvāṇa, and not cling to the three realms. |
| 阿难！若复有人，遍满十方所有虚空盈满七宝，持以奉上微尘诸佛，承事供养，心无虚度。于意云何，是人以此施佛因缘 ，得福多否？阿难答言：虚空无尽，珍宝无边。昔有众生，施佛七钱，舍身犹获转轮王位。况复现前，虚空既穷，佛土充遍，皆施珍宝 ？穷劫思议，尚不能及，是福云何更有边际？ |
Ānanda, suppose someone were to fill all the empty space throughout the ten directions with the seven precious treasures, and offer them to Buddhas as numerous as motes of dust, serving and making offerings to them without wasting a thought. What do you think? Would this person gain much merit and virtue through the causal conditions of offering to the Buddhas? Ānanda replied, “Space is boundless, and precious treasures are limitless. In the past, a sentient being offered seven coins to a Buddha and, even after giving up his life, obtained the status of a wheel-turning king. How much more would one gain by offering treasures that fill the Buddha lands throughout all space? Even if one contemplated and calculated throughout countless kalpas, one still could not reach the limit of such merit. How could it have any boundary?” |
| 佛告阿难：诸佛如来语无虚妄。若复有人身具四重、十波罗夷，瞬息即经，此方他方阿鼻地狱，乃至穷尽十方无间，靡不经历。能以一念 ，将此法门，于末劫中开示未学，是人罪障应念消灭，变其所受地狱苦因成安乐国。得福超越前之施人百倍 、千倍、千万亿倍，如是乃至算数譬喻所不能及。 |
The Buddha told Ānanda, “The words of all Buddhas, Tathāgatas, are never false. Suppose someone has committed the four grave offenses and the ten pārājika offenses, and in an instant passes through the Avīci hells of this land and other lands, even through the uninterrupted hells throughout the ten directions, without failing to experience them all. Yet if, with a single thought, that person were to disclose this Dharma gate to those who have not yet learned it in the latter age, that person’s karmic obstacles would be extinguished at once, and the causes of the hell sufferings they were to undergo would be transformed into the Land of Bliss. The merit obtained would surpass that of the previous donor by a hundredfold, a thousandfold, ten million hundred-millionfold—indeed, beyond the reach of calculation or analogy.” |
| 阿难！若有众生，能诵此经，能持此咒，如我广说，穷劫不尽。依我教言，如教行道，直成菩提，无复魔业。 |
Ānanda, if any sentient being can recite this sūtra and uphold this mantra, I could explain its benefits throughout countless kalpas without exhausting them. Relying on my teachings and practicing the Way in accordance with them, one will directly attain bodhi and be free of all demonic hindrances. |
| 佛说此经已，比丘、比丘尼、优婆塞、优婆夷，一切世间、天、人、阿修罗，及诸他方菩萨、二乘、圣仙童子，并初发心大力鬼神，皆大欢喜，作礼而去。 |
After the Buddha had spoken this sūtra, the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, and all beings of the world—devas, humans, and asuras—as well as bodhisattvas from other lands, the practitioners of the two vehicles, holy immortals, youths, and mighty spirits and ghosts who had newly aroused the resolve, were all greatly joyful. They paid homage and departed. |
