The Tathāgata's Own Mind Begins
A new question opens with a stark denial — mind, thought, and consciousness can none of them ever be found in the tathāgata, and only measureless wisdom itself can serve as a way of knowing him at all. Four marks follow: a groundlessness like empty space, a dharma-realm that neither grows nor shrinks no matter how much it releases, an ocean too vast to claim ownership of even its own underground waters, and four jeweled pearls hidden in its depths without which not a single being could ever enter the great vehicle.
Four Hidden Pearls Without Which Nothing Is Possible
The tathāgata's mind cannot be located through mind, thought, or consciousness at all; what follows instead are four images of a groundless, inexhaustible, ownerless source — culminating in an ocean's own hidden pearls, invisible to ordinary beings, without which no being could ever enter the great vehicle.
「佛子！諸菩薩摩訶薩應云何知如來、應、正等覺心？佛子！如來心、意、識俱不可得，但應以智無量故，知如來心。「譬如虛空為一切物所依，而虛空無所依。如來智慧亦復如是，為一切世間、出世間智所依，而如來智無所依。佛子！是為如來心第一相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。「復次，佛子！譬如法界常出一切聲聞、獨覺、菩薩解脫，而法界無增減。如來智慧亦復如是，恒出一切世間、出世間種種智慧，而如來智無增減。佛子！是為如來心第二相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。「復次，佛子！譬如大海，其水潛流四天下地及八十億諸小洲中，有穿鑿者無不得水，而彼大海不作分別：『我出於水。』佛智海水亦復如是，流入一切眾生心中，若諸眾生觀察境界、修習法門，則得智慧清淨明了，而如來智平等無二、無有分別，但隨眾生心行異故，所得智慧各各不同。佛子！是為如來心第三相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
"Sons of the Buddha! How should bodhisattva-mahāsattvas come to know the mind of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one? Sons of the Buddha! Mind, thought, and consciousness can none of them be found in the tathāgata; one should know the tathāgata's mind only through measureless wisdom. "It is like empty space, which serves as the support for every thing there is, and yet empty space itself has no support. The tathāgata's own wisdom is likewise just the same: it serves as the support for every wisdom of the world and beyond the world, and yet the tathāgata's own wisdom has no support. Sons of the Buddha! This is the first mark of the tathāgata's mind — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it thus. "Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like the dharma-realm, which constantly gives rise to the liberation of every śrāvaka, every pratyekabuddha, and every bodhisattva, and yet the dharma-realm itself neither increases nor decreases. The tathāgata's own wisdom is likewise just the same: it constantly gives rise to every manner of wisdom, of the world and beyond the world, and yet the tathāgata's own wisdom neither increases nor decreases. Sons of the Buddha! This is the second mark of the tathāgata's mind — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it thus. "Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like the great ocean, whose waters flow secretly beneath the ground of the four continents and throughout eight billion smaller islands, so that whoever digs a well there is certain to find water, and yet that great ocean makes no discrimination, thinking: 'It is I who produce this water.' The waters of the buddha's own ocean of wisdom are likewise just the same: they flow into the mind of every sentient being, so that whichever sentient being observes the domain and cultivates the dharma-gates attains a wisdom that is pure and clear, and yet the tathāgata's own wisdom is equal, without duality, and without discrimination; it is only because the mental conduct of sentient beings differs that the wisdom they attain differs, each from the other. Sons of the Buddha! This is the third mark of the tathāgata's mind — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it thus.
「復次，佛子！譬如大海有四寶珠，具無量德，能生海內一切珍寶；若大海中無此寶珠，乃至一寶亦不可得。何等為四？一名：積集寶，二名：無盡藏，三名：遠離熾然，四名：具足莊嚴。佛子！此四寶珠，一切凡夫諸龍神等悉不得見。何以故？娑竭龍王以此寶珠端嚴方正置於宮中深密處故。佛子！如來、應、正等覺大智慧海亦復如是，於中有四大智寶珠，具足無量福智功德，由此能生一切眾生聲聞、獨覺、學、無學位，及諸菩薩智慧之寶。何等為四？所謂：無染著巧方便大智慧寶、善分別有為無為法大智慧寶、分別說無量法而不壞法性大智慧寶、知時非時未曾誤失大智慧寶。若諸如來大智海中無此四寶，有一眾生得入大乘，終無是處。此四智寶，薄福眾生所不能見。何以故？置於如來深密藏故。此四智寶，平均正直，端潔妙好，普能利益諸菩薩眾，令其悉得智慧光明。佛子！是為如來心第四相，諸菩薩摩訶薩應如是知。
"Furthermore, Sons of the Buddha! It is like the great ocean, which has four jeweled pearls endowed with measureless virtues, able to give rise to every treasure within the ocean; if the great ocean lacked these jeweled pearls, then not even a single treasure could ever be found there. What are these four? The first is named the Jewel of Accumulation; the second is named the Inexhaustible Treasury; the third is named Departed Far from Blazing; the fourth is named Fully Endowed with Adornment. Sons of the Buddha! These four jeweled pearls cannot be seen at all by any ordinary being, nāga, or spirit. Why is this? Because the nāga king Sāgara has placed these jeweled pearls, upright and perfectly proportioned, in a deep and secret place within his own palace. Sons of the Buddha! The great ocean of wisdom of the tathāgata, the worthy one, the perfectly and fully awakened one, is likewise just the same: within it there are four great jeweled pearls of wisdom, endowed with measureless merit and wisdom, from which are able to arise the jeweled wisdom of every śrāvaka, every pratyekabuddha, those still learning and those beyond learning, and every bodhisattva. What are these four? They are: the great jeweled wisdom of skillful means free of defiling attachment; the great jeweled wisdom that skillfully distinguishes the conditioned and the unconditioned dharma; the great jeweled wisdom that distinctly expounds measureless dharmas without ever damaging the nature of dharma; and the great jeweled wisdom that knows the right and the wrong occasion without ever once erring. If the tathāgata's own great ocean of wisdom lacked these four jewels, it would never be possible for even a single sentient being to enter the great vehicle. These four jeweled wisdoms cannot be seen by sentient beings of scant merit. Why is this? Because they are placed within the tathāgata's own deep and secret treasury. These four jeweled wisdoms are level and upright, pure and fine, universally able to benefit every bodhisattva, causing them all to attain the light of wisdom. Sons of the Buddha! This is the fourth mark of the tathāgata's mind — bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should know it thus.
如來心、意、識俱不可得，但應以智無量故，知如來心 — mind, thought, and consciousness can none of them be found in the tathāgata; one should know the tathāgata's mind only through measureless wisdom. This section opens by denying the very terms its own title uses — asking how to know the tathāgata's "mind," it immediately rules out mind (心), thought (意), and consciousness (識), the three terms Buddhist psychology typically treats as near-synonyms for exactly this faculty, before offering wisdom itself as the only remaining approach.
Part 662 Complete
This continues chapter thirty-seven, 如來出現品, in fascicle fifty-one. Part 663 continues with the fifth mark, four blazing jewels at the ocean's floor that keep it from ever overflowing.