English
English version It is not to show something other than the Skandhas (aggregates, the five aggregates). Nor does it have the appearance of eliminating afflictions. It stubbornly insists that the true mind of the Buddha realm is established by first destroying and then constructing. If it were not for the Separate Teaching (one of the four teachings in Tiantai Buddhism) relying on principle to sever the delusions and karma of the Nine Realms (the nine realms of existence: hell, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, gods, sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas), how else could it be explained? Furthermore, it fails to understand that 'evil by nature' is another name for Buddha-nature. It believes that the mind of affliction and the color of birth and death do not possess Buddha-nature. Because the mind of affliction does not possess Buddha-nature, the Consciousness-only School (Yogacara) asserts that those of the Two Vehicles (sravakas and pratyekabuddhas) with fixed natures and those who are extremely evil icchantikas (those who have severed their roots of goodness) cannot become Buddhas. Because the color of birth and death does not possess Buddha-nature, they believe that walls, bricks, and tiles cannot become Buddhas. One must eliminate the afflictions, birth, death, and other evils of the Nine Realms in order to reveal the good by nature Buddha-nature of the Buddha realm. It only understands the fusion of the fruition ground (the state of Buddhahood) but does not understand that the causal mind (the mind during practice) is inherently complete. If that were the case, not only would inanimate objects not possess Buddha-nature, but sentient beings would not either. Why is it that only by relying on the True Thus Mind (Tathagatagarbha) to speak of Mind-only (everything is created by the mind) can one achieve the true and constant color of Vairochana (the embodiment of Dharmakaya Buddha) possessing Buddha-nature? If one speaks of Color-only, can one achieve the Pure Land of Eternal Tranquility (Changjiguang Pure Land) possessing Buddha-nature? What does this have to do with the mind of affliction of sentient beings and the color of birth and death of inanimate objects? The details are as described in the *Golden Scalpel*. Question: Someone says that the Nan Yue Tiantai School instructs people to cultivate the Threefold Contemplation (emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way) and the Threefold Cessation (cessation of attachment to truth, cessation of following conditions, and cessation of dualistic discrimination) based on the principle of the Three Truths (emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way). Although the teachings are complete and profound, the order of entry is only the Four Dhyanas and Eight Samadhis cultivated by eminent monks. The characteristics of the various dhyanas are only the same as the sudden enlightenment Dharma-gate transmitted by Bodhidharma, which is identical to the Buddha's essence. What is the contradiction in what is being explained here? Answer: This is because others see that the current Tiantai School establishes the Sixth Consciousness (consciousness) as the object of contemplation, and they consider it to be explained by the provisional teachings (expedient teachings). They believe that contemplating the Ninth Consciousness (Amala-consciousness) is the same as the Buddha's essence. Such accusations are extremely absurd. Although it has been discussed before, I will comment on it again now. When discussing the object of contemplation, the most important thing is to be close and essential. Take the Sixth Consciousness-mind as the object of contemplation, and know that the Three Wonderful Consciousnesses (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, and Nirmanakaya) have never been separated from a single seeing and thinking. Although it is only one consciousness, it never fails to use the three consciousnesses as contemplation, and it never fails to use the three consciousnesses as the object. If one directly uses this mind to contemplate the principle of the reality of the Buddha realm, it is like hanging a mountain with lotus silk, which will only increase discrimination and make it impossible to eliminate thoughts. Why? Because this Sixth Consciousness is produced by the熏习 (influence) of views and thoughts (delusions of views and delusions of thought), it can generate joy and aversion (joy and aversion) and create causes of good and evil. This is the substance of cultivating evil. This cultivating evil is evil by nature, which is the method of contemplation of the contemplator, and it is also the Dharma-gate to be revealed. Therefore, Jingxi (Zhanran) said: 'If you have never heard of the name of evil by nature, how can you believe in the practice of virtue by nature?' Because cultivating evil is evil by nature. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chinese
恶故。三观十乘无惑可破无理可显。方名无作妙行。乃至果上普现色身。垂形九界游戏六道。全性恶起得名无谋而应。若也翻恶为善断恶证善。因中行成有作果上。作意神通何异外道。如此称为顿同佛体。乃认鱼目作明珠。指山鸡为鸾凤。虽三尺童子亦知其谬。若以性恶对乎性善。约十界次第迭论者。六界为恶二乘为善。八界为恶菩萨为善。九界为恶佛界为善。此之九一乃是恶之际善之极。故今所辩盖就极论圆人性具善恶。故如君子不器。善恶俱能体用不二。别人不具性恶。故如淳善人不能造恶。为无明所牵方能造恶也。释论云。淫欲即是道。痴恚亦复然。如是三法中具一切佛法。淫欲痴恚修恶也。具一切佛法即性恶也。又经曰。弹指散华低头合掌皆成佛道。弹指等修善也。皆成佛道者即性善也。夫如是莫不咸使法界有情。复此本有自性而已矣。故得山林之下草泽之士。精究佛乘弘宣圣化。或于师门耳提面命见而知之。或于经疏研几索隐闻而知之。见闻之间两心相照。玄领默契名之为传。我心本具不从他得名为不传。心虽本具点示方知是为传。此不传之妙如印即心是名心印。知此者名妙解。行此者名妙行。证此者名妙果。如此则能事毕矣。如上所论且在自行未涉化他。何者迦叶于譬说中一闻即悟不假修持。具领五时施 恶的本质是这样的：如果能通达空、假、中三观（三观：佛教观察世界的三种智慧），证悟十界互具（十界：地狱界、饿鬼界、畜生界、阿修罗界、人界、天界、声闻界、缘觉界、菩萨界、佛界），那么就没有什么迷惑需要破除，也没有什么道理需要显明。这才可称为‘无作妙行’（无作妙行：不刻意造作，任运自然的修行）。乃至在佛的果位上，可以普遍示现各种色身（色身：具有形色的身体），垂迹于九法界（九法界：除去佛界之外的九个界），游戏于六道（六道：天道、人道、阿修罗道、畜生道、饿鬼道、地狱道）。完全依本性之恶而生起的作用，可以称为‘无谋而应’（无谋而应：不假思索，自然而然地应机施设）。如果要把恶转化为善，断除恶行来证得善果，那是在因地上的有为造作，在果地上所显现的作意神通，与外道（外道：不信奉佛教的其他宗教）又有什么区别呢？如果这样就称为顿悟，等同于佛的境界，那就像是把鱼眼睛当作明珠，把山鸡当作鸾凤一样。即使是三尺高的孩童，也知道这是荒谬的。如果以性恶（性恶：本具的恶性）来对应性善（性善：本具的善性），按照十法界的次第来依次讨论，那么六道为恶，二乘（二乘：声闻乘和缘觉乘）为善；八界为恶，菩萨为善；九界为恶，佛界为善。这九界与佛界的关系，是恶的极致与善的极致的关系。所以，现在所辩论的，是就最高的圆满之理，讨论人本性中同时具有善与恶。所以就像君子不应像器具一样，只有一种用途，而是善与恶都能运用，体与用是不二的。别人不具备性恶，所以就像纯善之人不能造恶一样，只有被无明（无明：佛教指根本的迷惑）所牵引，才能造恶。释论（释论：对佛经的解释）说：‘淫欲即是道，痴恚亦复然。如是三法中，具一切佛法。’淫欲、痴恚是修恶，‘具一切佛法’即是性恶。又有经文说：‘弹指、散华、低头、合掌，皆成佛道。’弹指等是修善，‘皆成佛道’即是性善。像这样，没有不能使法界有情众生，恢复其本有的自性的。所以，才会有山林之下的隐士，精研佛法，弘扬圣教；或者在师门中得到耳提面命，见而知之；或者研读经书，探究隐微之处，闻而知之。见闻之间，两心相照，玄妙领悟，默默契合，这叫做‘传’。我心本来就具备，不从他人处获得，这叫做‘不传’。心虽然本来具备，但经过点拨指示才能知道，这叫做‘传’。这不传的奥妙，就像用印章来印证心，这叫做‘心印’。知道这个的叫做‘妙解’，实行这个的叫做‘妙行’，证得这个的叫做‘妙果’。这样，就能完成一切了。以上所论述的，只是在自身修行方面，还没有涉及到教化他人。为什么迦叶（迦叶：释迦牟尼佛的十大弟子之一）在譬喻说法中一听就悟，不需要假借修持，就完全领悟了佛陀五时（五时：华严时、阿含时、方等时、般若时、法华涅槃时）的施教呢？
English
Such is the nature of evil: If one can penetrate the Threefold Contemplation (三观: Threefold Contemplation: the three wisdoms of emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way in Buddhism), and realize the Mutual Possession of the Ten Worlds (十界: Ten Worlds: the realms of hell, hungry ghosts, animals, asuras, humans, heavens, voice-hearers, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas), then there is no delusion to be dispelled, and no principle to be revealed. Only then can it be called 'Effortless Wonderful Practice' (无作妙行: Effortless Wonderful Practice: a practice that is not deliberately contrived, but naturally and spontaneously arises). Even to the point that, in the state of Buddhahood, one can universally manifest various physical forms (色身: physical form: a body with form and color), descend into the Nine Worlds (九法界: Nine Worlds: the nine realms excluding the Buddha realm), and play in the Six Paths (六道: Six Paths: the paths of gods, humans, asuras, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell). The function that arises entirely from the inherent evil nature can be called 'Responding without Deliberation' (无谋而应: Responding without Deliberation: responding to situations naturally and spontaneously without thinking). If one were to transform evil into good, sever evil deeds to attain good results, that would be contrived action in the causal stage, and the intentional supernatural powers manifested in the fruition stage would be no different from those of external paths (外道: external paths: religions other than Buddhism). If this is called sudden enlightenment, equivalent to the state of Buddhahood, it would be like mistaking a fish's eye for a pearl, or a pheasant for a phoenix. Even a three-foot-tall child would know this is absurd. If inherent evil (性恶: inherent evil: the inherent evil nature) is contrasted with inherent good (性善: inherent good: the inherent good nature), and discussed sequentially according to the order of the Ten Worlds, then the Six Paths are evil, and the Two Vehicles (二乘: Two Vehicles: the vehicles of voice-hearers and pratyekabuddhas) are good; the Eight Worlds are evil, and the Bodhisattvas are good; the Nine Worlds are evil, and the Buddha World is good. The relationship between these Nine Worlds and the Buddha World is the relationship between the extreme of evil and the extreme of good. Therefore, what is being debated now is, based on the highest perfect principle, discussing that human nature inherently possesses both good and evil. Therefore, just as a gentleman should not be like a vessel with only one use, but should be able to utilize both good and evil, the essence and function are not two. Others do not possess inherent evil, so just as a purely good person cannot commit evil, only when driven by ignorance (无明: ignorance: fundamental delusion in Buddhism) can they commit evil. The Commentary (释论: Commentary: explanations of Buddhist scriptures) says: 'Lust is the Path, and so are delusion and anger. Within these three dharmas, all Buddha-dharmas are contained.' Lust, delusion, and anger are cultivating evil, and 'all Buddha-dharmas are contained' means inherent evil. Also, a sutra says: 'Snapping fingers, scattering flowers, bowing the head, and joining the palms all become the Buddha Path.' Snapping fingers, etc., are cultivating good, and 'all become the Buddha Path' means inherent good. Like this, there is nothing that cannot enable sentient beings in the Dharma Realm to restore their original inherent nature. Therefore, there are hermits in the mountains and forests who diligently study the Buddha-vehicle and propagate the sacred teachings; or receive direct instruction from their teachers, knowing upon seeing; or study the scriptures and explore the hidden meanings, knowing upon hearing. Between seeing and hearing, two minds illuminate each other, and subtle understanding silently merges, this is called 'Transmission'. My mind inherently possesses it, and it is not obtained from others, this is called 'Non-transmission'. Although the mind inherently possesses it, it can only be known through pointing out and instruction, this is called 'Transmission'. The mystery of this non-transmission is like using a seal to certify the mind, this is called 'Mind Seal'. Knowing this is called 'Wonderful Understanding', practicing this is called 'Wonderful Practice', and realizing this is called 'Wonderful Fruit'. In this way, everything can be accomplished. The above discussion is only about self-cultivation, and does not yet involve teaching others. Why did Kashyapa (迦叶: Kashyapa: one of the ten major disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha) understand upon hearing the parable, without needing to rely on cultivation, and fully grasp the Buddha's teachings of the Five Periods (五时: Five Periods: the Avatamsaka period, the Agama period, the Vaipulya period, the Prajna period, and the Lotus-Nirvana period)? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------