English
"Purna said: If this mysterious Divine Intelligence, which in its essence is the same as the effulgence which ever emanates from it, be one with the Heart of Tathagata, that ad- mits neither of increase or diminution, so that there is no oriffin- ating cause of creation, with its varieties of product ; how is it 350 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST that Tathtigata, having bow arrived at the mysterious void of the efi'ulgent Divinity, the mountains and rivers and great earth, with all creatures who have not yet accomplished their Karma, are appointed yet to be born again and again ? 28. " Buddha said : Purna ! let us take the comparison of a man living in a village, and resting in a mistaken idea that the North is South and the South North ; with respect to the definite limits of this error, does it arise from some absolute quality of error, or is it a product of the understanding ? Purna replied : Certainly the error of this man cannot proceed from any absolute quality of error, nor is it the product of the understanding ? What, then ? This error having no basis, say, how is it pro- duced ? and if the understanding cannot produce error, what is it causes the understanding or right apprehension of things ? " Buddha said : And now, suppose that deceived man, in the midst of his error, were to meet with an enlightened person who, by proper instruction, were to set him right, now say what you think — this man, delivei^ed thus from his error, on returning to his abode, would he again fall into the same error or not ? " Certainly not, World-honoured one ! " Purna ! Such is the case with the Tathagatas of the uni- verse (ten quarters). This condition of error has no ground- work or essence ; it is in its nature altogether unreal and empty ; there was no such thing originally ; but, just as in the case above supposed, the fact of error gave room for correc- tion of the error, so from the perversion of original knowledge came the possibility of ignorance, but, the cause of this ignorance being removed for ever, no such ignorance can again arise. 29. " Or, again, just as if a man with a catai'act on his eye were to see a flower in space, the cataract having been removed, the flower would also be destroyed ; now suppose there were suddenly a foolish man to come along, and, hearing the case, were to fix his eyes on that quarter of space where the flower had last appeared, and wait anxiously for its reappearance, and you were to see this man, should you say he was wise or stupid ? Purna said : Space in its right condition could have no such aery flower in it ; it was the disease of the eye that caused it to appear and also to disappear ; the seeing the flower destroyed the very nature of space ;^ and thus caused an inversion of ideas ; ' Because space is that which is devoid of all forms. SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 351 to wait then and expect the reappearance of such a flower argues the mind of a madman ; you can hardly ask me then whether I consider such a man wise or stupid. " Buddha said: According to your own explanation, I answer you ; how can you ask such a question as whether there can be any further generation of earth and heaven and all mundane existences after the attainment of the effulgent void of the mys- terious Divine Intelligence possessed by all the Buddha Tatha- s^atas ? 30. "Again, as gold, when separated from all impurities and dross, becomes pure, and cannot again be separated so as to be- come more pure, or as wood when burnt and reduced to ashes cannot again be restored to its former condition, so is the Nirvana^ of the knowledge of all the Buddhas Tathagata. 31. " Purua ! you ask again, saying, the earth, water, fire, air, as to their original nature are blended and intermingled, equally pervading all space (the universe) ; but now water and fire are in their natures distinct and mutually destructive ; and so again space and matter are severally opposed, and yet, as you say, they pervade the universe in harmonious connection. Pourna ! it is just as if we compare with this the character of space, which in its nature (substance) is opposed to all characteristic qualities, but yet does not oppose their manifestation. 32. " For consider, Purna, that great vault of space, the sun shines and forthwith there is light, the clouds gather and imme- diately there is darkness, the winds rise and there is commotion, the placid sky appears and there is quiet, the exhalations gather and there is moisture, the earth is triturated and there are clouds of dust, the water descends and there are reflections of things around ! 33. " What think you, then ? seeing all these phfenomena, do they come from the various supposed causes of them, or do they proceed fi'om space ? If the former, Purna ! then surely at the time when we observe the shining rays of the Sun, since this efi'ulgeuce is born from the Sun, the whole region of space in which this brightness is visible, is the same as the substance of the Sun itself, how then can we speak of seeing the Sun in distinction from its brightness in the aery vault ? Or, the extinction of the knowledge, etc. 352 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST " But if it is produced from space, then why do we not behold the bright rays of the Sun when the clouds collect and darkness reigns ? "We must conclude, therefore, that this effulgence is neither born from the Sun nor of space, nor yet is it opposed to either, recognising all these pha^nomena as originally false, with- out description or definition, but simply as sky-flowers ; how can we speak of them as mutually opposed or destructive, regarding the one pure Nature as the only original substance and the effulgence of this nature, as the brightness of the essence (heart) of the mysterious Divine Intelligence, altogether alien from the qualities of fire, water, etc., how can we speak of these qualities being opposed or mutually destructive ? 34. "The eflTulgence of the true mysterious Divine Intelligence is also thus explained ; for if you once regard the empty void as conditioned by action (effulgence), then the ph^enomena which result according to circumstances manifest themselves — earth, fire, water, air — each projects itself on the mind, and from the first idea of action everything is produced. 35. "But to explain further how this general manifestation takes place. Purna ! it is like the sun shining on one piece of water: two men at the same time behold the sun reflected on the surface; then one goes east, the other west; but the one sun supplies each with a different reflection as they separate — the one going east, the other west ; it is no use saying that the sun itself is but one. Explain how there are two distinct reflections to two distinct persons, except on the ground of the possibility of such opposite pha^uomeua coexisting whilst they are in themselves unreal. 36. " Purna ! as space is tolerant of these phisnomenal ap- pearances, so also is the mysterious being of Tathagata, which pervades all the universe, of the several qualities which you have named ; but men, adhering to the false and rejecting the true, have invented the theory that the phajnomena are realities and the Being of Tathagata phsenomenal also. 37. "Regarding, therefore, this mysterious effulgence, without birth or death, as one with the secret essence of Tathagata, and this secret essence as only the universally diffused effulgence of the Divine Intelligence, I conclude that this unity alone in the world is boundless in its reality, and being boundless is jet one. Though in small things, yet it is great ; though in great things. SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 353 yet it is small. Pervading all things, present in every minutest .hair, and yet including the infinite worlds in its embrace; en- throned in the minutest particle of dust, and yet turning the great wheel of the Law ; opposed to all sensible phgenomena ; one with Divine Knowledge ; manifested as the effulgent Nature of the Divine Intelligence of Tathao-ata. 38.