外道問聖大乘法無我義經

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling amidst the Great Assembly. At that time a follower of an outside path (Tīrthika), who harbored doubts that he wished to resolve and who had only a vague understanding of the Practice of the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna), came to the place where the Buddha was dwelling.

Bowing his head in reverence and joining his palms, he inquired about the meaning of No-Self (Anātman): "The Great Hero (Mahāpuruṣa) is one of All-Knowing Wisdom (Sarvajña) who constantly declares, 'This body has no Self (no-self).' If the body has no Self, and the Original Nature likewise does not exist, then why is it said that there are the affairs of the pair of tongues: weeping, laughter, joking, love and hatred… united with what does this arise?

This is the place of my doubt; I pray you bestow your grace and cut it off. The Tathāgata has spoken of 'the body and the Original Nature' — do they then exist, or do they not?"

The Buddha said to the follower of the outside path: "Listen truthfully! Receive it truthfully! I shall explain it for your sake."

The Buddha said: "The substance of the body and of the Original Nature is fundamentally empty (Emptiness: Śūnya). Therefore to say that it either exists or does not exist, splitting it apart into two Dharmas — to say that it exists, that is delusion."

The Buddha said: "One should contemplate the entire body: hair, nails, skin, body-hair, the two hands, the two feet, and so on to the affairs of the group of fat, sinews, spleen, intestines, bones, marrow… going all around within and without… nowhere does one see the Original Nature."

The follower of the outside path said: "Great Hero! If one nowhere sees the Original Nature, then how could one see it using my fleshly eye? Or might one be able to see it using the Heavenly Eye (Divine Eye)?"

The Buddha said: "Should the Heavenly Eye see it, it has no form, no characteristic, no abiding. This is seeing yet not seeing."

The follower of the outside path said: "If it is spoken of in this way, then the Great Sage has lied. If it is not so, then how is it that one presently sees the affairs of the pair of tongues: weeping and laughter, mirth and play, anger, love and hatred…? For this reason, how can it be said that there is nothing? And further, to say that it either exists or does not exist, splitting it apart into two meanings."

He further said: "Great Hero! If it can be said neither to exist nor not to exist, then how can one say that it has a place of attachment (an object of clinging), or that it has no place of attachment (no object of clinging)? And further, if it is empty (emptiness), then what is the Suchness-Object (Tathatā)?"

The Buddha said: "Just so! Just so! Emptiness is not the Suchness-Object, because its Substance cannot be attained."

The follower of the outside path said: "If this is so, then as for the affairs of the pair of tongues — laughter and weeping, play and jest, anger, love and hatred — what is it that is the Object Seen?"

The Buddha said: "It is like a dream, like an Illusion (Māyā), like a Conjuration, like the characteristic of a reflected image."

The follower of the outside path said: "What is the characteristic of a Dream? What is the characteristic of Illusory Conjuration? What is the characteristic of a Reflected Image?"

The Buddha said: "Illusory Conjuration is not a characteristic; emptiness (Emptiness) is not a thing to be grasped. The Original Substance of a Dream is fundamentally empty (emptiness), like a Solar Glimmer (a mirage — an image without reality, seen through the reflection of sunlight). A Reflected Image has no form, being false and unreal. The Object Seen is thus, and so on to all affairs, which are like Illusion, like Conjuration, like Dream, like Reflection. One should see them in this way.

Furthermore, there are two kinds of Seeing that adorn Suchness (Tathatā). As for that Adornment: this is called the Self (the 'I'); this is called the Other (that which is other); this is called the Person, the Pudgala (the individual); this is called the World's Thinking of a Person (the world's speculation about a human being), and so on to the names of the group: personal wealth (an individual's money and goods), male and female, brothers, wives and concubines… the place where the mind's adornment of speculation occurs. Yet such a Dharma has no Self (oneself), no Other (another person, that which is other), no person, no life, no male or female, no friends, no wives or concubines… In all these affairs one does not see a Self-Nature.

What is the World-Transcending (Supramundane), the adornment of fruition and retribution, that arising and ceasing of good and evil? That Suchness, that adornment of Fruition and Retribution, has no good, no evil, neither arises nor ceases, has no afflictions, has no pleasure, and these Dharmas are each and every one thus.

Again, those two kinds of adornment — the Worldly and the World-Transcending — cause all sentient beings (the Possessors of Sentience) to be adorned and so to give rise to afflictions, remaining within the Cycle of Rebirth, turning round and round for a long time without knowing Suchness. A person who knows that Dharma, but who speculates upon the adornment, doubts this Suffering, accepts that suffering, takes up evil, and departing afar from liberation does not see the Path. Foolish sentient beings, through deluded grasping, revolve in birth and death, falling into evil destinies — beings of the Dharmas of the World who do not see Suchness — exhausting that cycle of rebirth just as one weaves a net, using thread that turns round and round, passing it back and forth.

Again, it is like the two kinds of passage (movement) of the sun and the moon, day and night, hiding and appearing, emerging and vanishing in the World. All formations are impermanent; before long they are destroyed, revolving in birth and death, coming and going likewise. Yet the Substance of Suchness departs from the adorning phrase.

Again, those gods, humans, and Gandharvas, together with that company of women, abiding above in the Heavens, by means of that adornment of fruition and retribution, fall into all Existences (Bhava).

Again, there are the Vidyādharas (the Wielders of Knowledge, Accomplished Ones), Yakṣas, Kiṃnaras, and Mahoragas, who by means of all that adornment of fruition and retribution fall again into the Hells, evil heavens of striving… using that Spiritual Power to perform Merit. Through all that adornment of fruition and retribution, they may fall into those heavens.

Again, it is like Śakra (Indra) and the Wheel-Turning King (Cakravartin), endowed with the supreme Virtue and the supreme phrase. By means of all that adornment of fruition and retribution, they are born again among the Animal kind.

The Wise One, at all Times, ought fittingly to depart afar from the supreme Great Bliss of the heavenly realms, and ever to contemplate the Mind of Awakening (Bodhicitta), bright and penetrating, without Self-Nature, without obstruction, and also without any place of abiding — all of it empty (emptiness), and likewise departing afar from all conceptual elaboration (prapañca).

O follower of the outside path! The characteristic of the Mind of Awakening (Bodhicitta) is neither hard nor soft, neither hot nor cold; it has no contact, no grasping.

Again, the characteristic of the Mind of Awakening is neither long nor short, neither round nor square, neither fat nor thin.

Again, the characteristic of the Mind of Awakening is neither white nor black, neither red nor yellow; it is not form, not a characteristic.

That Mind of Awakening makes no characteristic; it is not a shining manifestation; it has no Nature, no bondage, just like empty space, having no form. The characteristic of the Mind of Awakening should be observed apart from observation.

O follower of the outside path! You do not know that the Characteristic of the Mind of Awakening (Bodhicitta) and the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) correspond to one another.

Again, the characteristic of the Mind of Awakening: its Self-Nature is pure, having no thing, having no comparison, and cannot be seen. It is the supreme phrase.

Again, the characteristic of the Mind of Awakening is not any object or image; it has no resembling characteristic… Like water becoming foam, which though seen is not truly there. Like illusory conjuration, like a solar glimmer; just as one takes a handful of mud to make various objects of pottery, every name though fully present all becomes conceptual elaboration. The group of Greed, Hatred, and Delusion likewise exists through illusory conjuration, of one single empty flavor… like lightning abiding for a single instant (kṣaṇa) yet not to be seen.

To contemplate that Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) together with the performing of wholesome deeds is likewise thus. And so on to the places of discoursing, mirth and laughter, play and jest, song and dance, delight and pleasure, eating and drinking, love and desire… all are like a Dream. The formations of sentient beings are, in their ultimate Substance, empty. The mind is likened to empty space; what then does doubt establish?!... Practicing the Practice of Wisdom (Prajñā), ever contemplating in this way and clearly discerning all Natures, one is naturally liberated and attains the Supreme phrase. The Buddhas have said: "Unsurpassed Awakening (Anuttara-Bodhi) is born from this; therefore perform that Contemplation."

The person who performs this Contemplation attains the supreme Nirvāṇa, and even the various faults committed in the past are all eradicated; giving rise to immeasurable Virtue, in this very life he is not stained by faults, and devoting himself single-mindedly to the Practice of Contemplation, he is assured of accomplishment.

If a person does not correspond with Suchness, then he should recite the Non-Suchness Mantra together with the Vajra Bell Suchness Non-Arising Mudrā, in order to set in motion a practice that corresponds with Suchness, and he will be assured of perfecting Merit as described above.

At that time, when the follower of the outside path had heard those words, he examined them carefully and contemplated them, whereupon those doubts were all cut off. Having performed that contemplation, he came to abide in the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna), and gazing up in reverence, joyful, he made obeisance and withdrew.

THE SŪTRA OF THE FOLLOWER OF AN OUTSIDE PATH ASKING THE SAGE ABOUT THE MEANING OF NO-SELF IN THE GREAT VEHICLE

(The End)