萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 1.83

1.83

The Master said: Prajñātāra once instructed Great Master Bodhidharma: "Sixty-seven years after my demise, you should go to China to administer the great Dharma medicine and directly point to those of superior root. Take care not to proceed hastily and decline under the sun. Furthermore, when you arrive, do not stay in the south; they only prefer active merit and do not perceive the principle of the Buddha. Even if you reach there, you must not remain long." There was indeed the business of traveling through Liang and entering Wei, remaining sluggish for nine years. In recent times, Cizhou gave the robe and Dharma to Renshan. Shan said, "I am not such a person." Cizhou said, "If you are not such a person, it will naturally not bring harm to you." Because the sentiment of Dharma milk was deep, Shan bowed his head and accepted it. Cizhou said again: "Since you are like this, above all you must not easily emerge in the world. If you advance rashly and act heedlessly, there will certainly be misfortune in between." This is contemporaneous with Prajñātāra's threefold instruction and Bodhidharma's nine years. Zhaxi's verse says: "Not begrudging passage through autumn frost, / Hoping to let the flavor grow long. / Even if plucked raw, / In the end it is not fragrant." This can serve as an admonition for those who come after. If one is a person of the Way in true colors, in emerging or staying secluded one naturally knows the season. Although Emperor Wu did not connect, setting up a beginning of inquiry did not prevent carving and chiseling. Down to the present day, when striking the gavel at the opening of the hall in all quarters, they still say: "The assembly of dragons and elephants at the Dharma feast should observe the primary meaning." Just like the primary truth: is it permitted to be observed? Are Emperor Wu and Bodhidharma's question and answer permitted? Wansong says: Set aside the primary meaning for now; what do you want with the holy truths? Tianhuang said: "Simply exhaust ordinary sentiment; there is no separate holy understanding." The Śūraṅgama says: "If one forms a holy understanding, one falls subject to all manner of demons." Just this Bodhidharma saying "Vast and empty, nothing holy"—in the sparks of flint and flash of lightning, he did not fail to have hands ready and eyes open. Emperor Wu's stubborn slobber did not recede, and he further asked, "Who is facing Us?" On the Liang King's part, it was also a good intention; little did he realize that on Bodhidharma's part, it was like being spat upon right in the face. Inevitably he further offered a "Do not know." Already the delicate flower easily withers; how can it bear adding frost on top of snow? Bodhidharma saw that his eyes were fixed and wavering, and immediately turned around to take another path. For the ancients, whether emerging or staying secluded, whether silent or speaking, all were Buddha works. Later, Emperor Wu indeed thought of the noble man after he had passed, and personally composed an inscription stating: "Seeing him, yet not seeing him; meeting him, yet not meeting him; past and present, regretting it and lamenting it! Although We are an ordinary man, We dare to take him as Our teacher in the future." Ever since Emperor Wu covered himself in dust and Bodhidharma returned to the West, no one has raised the primary truth. Fortunately there is Tiantong, who raises it for the assembly. The verse says: