English
"And thus (we say) the original, perfect, and all-pervading heart of Tathagata is something different from the heart itself; and something different from space, and from earth, and from water, and from air, and from fire,^ and from the eye, and from the ear, the nose, the tongue, the body, the thought (manas) ; and something different from form, and sound, and odour, and taste, and touch, and idea (dharma) ; and something different from sight- knowledge-province, and so on down to thought-knowledge- province (dhatu) ;~ and something different from effulgence and ignorance (avidya) and its opposites, and so on down to a differ- ence from old age and death, and the absence of these ;" and something different from sorrow and accumulation and destruction and the way,^ and different from wisdom and acquisition, and different from Dana, and Sila, and Virya, and Kchanti, and Dhyana, and Prajna, and different from " having crossed over" (Paramita), and so down to different from Tathagata ; and something different from Arya-Samyak-Sambodhi, something different from the Great Nirvcina, something different from reality, and joy, and personality, and purity (the four characteristics of Nirvana). 39. " It is different, therefore, from all that worldly men teach (the six schools, sadarsana), and all that the followers of Buddha teach. 40. " But the mysterious manifestation of the secret Natui-e of Tathagata is the same as the heai-t and the same as the void, etc. [as in the previous section]. 41. "It is the same, therefore, as that which worldly men and the followers of Buddha teach. " In the same way the original mysterious effulgent heart of ' That is, the five elements. - That is, the eighteen "dhatus." Viilc supra, 344, n. 3 That is, the twelve " nidanas." ' That is, the four truths. A A 354 A CATENA OF BUDDITIST the secret Nature of Tatbagata admits neither of identity nor opposition, nor does it exclude identity nor yet opposition. 42. " How then can men, or the followers of Buddha, ever hope by mere language, fathoming as it were the Infinite wisdom of Tatbagata, to enter on the possession of that knowledge of him which I have described. 43. " Just as if you had a lute (ki'n), or a psaltery (shib), or a vina (bong ban, vide Jul. ii, 158, n.), or a viol (pi-pa) — although these instruments are capable of rendering exquisite harmonies, yet, if they be not skilfully touched, they will not after all produce any good music ; so it is with you and all men : you all possess this inestimable and perfect Heart of Divine Wisdom ; it dwells in you fully, but it is Tatbagata alone, by right handling and wise manipulation, who can bring forth the brightness of the sea-shadows,^ whilst you, by your futile efforts in search after your Heart, do but excite the dust and obscure the object of your search, because you do not earnestly seek after the way of insurpassable wisdom. Being infatuated with your thoughts about the inferior modes of Salvation, you rest content and obtain but inferior wisdom. 44. " Purna said : If it be true that I possess the same per- fect, mysteriously effulgent, and pure heart of Tatbagata— neither distinct nor separate, but complete in its fulness — and yet that, by reason of some fatality from the earliest period, I have become overwhelmed in foolish and futile thoughts, and so detained in the wheel of transmigration — and now, altbougli I hear the Holy Doctrine of Tatbagata, do not see my way clearly to the end of it — World-honoured! as you have undertaken to destroy in me all these foolish thoughts, and to lead me to the true and unchangeable condition of soul of which you speak, I dare now to ask you — What was the original cause of the obscuration of the true effulgence of Tatbagata in the case of all creatures, so that they are thus immersed in the depths of icfuorance ? 45. " Buddha addressed Ananda : Although you have got rid of your first doubts, yet you are not free from the influences ' The commentary explains this, quoting from the IMahdbhasya, " Whatever material figure there is in Janibudwipa, the Great Ocean conceals a shadowy type of it." SCRIPTURES PROM THE CHINESE. 355 they have produced. I will therefore still use arguments de- rived from what we see around us in the world, and again ask you : You cannot but have heard of the case of that madman Yadjnadatta, in Sravasti, who suddenly one morning, in the shining i-ound of a (Temple) mirror, which was on a level with the middle of his face, saw just his eyes and eyebrows reflected in it; horrified at what he saw of his own head, because he could not see all his face, thinking that there was a demon or some evil spirit at work in the matter, he fled away in affright. What think you ? had this fellow any reason for running away so? Purna said : He was mad; his mind was deranged; there was no other cause. 46. " Buddha said : This effulgent fulness of the mysterious Divinity, being the same as your own originally perfect and intelligent Nature, (how can it be affected with anything like folly or ignorance ?) But having framed the word and spoken of ignor- ance^ as something-, let me ask, what cause can you assign it ; if there is any ground for a cause to it, then it is no longer "ignorance" (for ignorance is that which has no ground or basis) ; it is an idea that has sprung up entirely from incoherent thought, these thoughts intertwined and intermingled, increasing deception from age to age have resulted in these successive seras of false speculation. 47. " And so, although the brightness of the Divine Wisdom remains the same, still it is impossible as it were to find one's way back to it; and so, because of the first deception, follows a certain self-constitution of the quality of error. As soon, how- ever, as one finds out that this error has really no cause, then the false state of mind can have no foundation and is no longer produced, and therefore the vdsh to destroy it is also got rid of. So the man who has obtained Bodhi is like one awakening from a dream, who, when he tells what he saw in his dream, would never think of trying to trace a connection or ground of being for the things he saw; for if a dream is nothing, much less can its parts be real. 48. " Just so with that Yadjnadatta of Sravasti. How is it possible there can be any originating cause for his fear that he had > The word " ignorance" here used is equivalent to " perversion" of " mental delusion."' aa2 356 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST lost his head and his running away ? For suppose him suddenly- restored to his right mind ; certainly he does not get his head from without him, even supposing he liad lost it when he was mad. Purna ! even so with the perverted Nature of man ; it has no cause. 49. " So if you only avoid the practice of distinctions, such as "subject," "object," "ignorance," then, there being no exciting cause, the three so-called causes will disappear, and you will be brought to the condition of Yadjnadatta, when restored to his senses ; and this is the condition of wisdom, the excellently pure and enlightened heart, the universally diffused nature, not born of men, and not to be attained by any laborious exertion or painful preparation. 50. " And so it is just as if there was a man who had, tied up in his robe, a magic gem (ju-i, a gem that procui'es all that is desired) without understanding its use (or without knowing it himself), and who wandered in the greatest want through strange lands, begging afoot something to eat, although reduced to the greatest distress, yet he had not yet lost the gem. Suddenly some one who has the knowledge of its use explains it to him, that this jewel has the power of obtaining for hira whatever he desires, even to the greatest wealth. Then he understands that this Divine Jewel is different from anything he can obtain from without (or is not to be obtained from anything without). 51.