人天眼目 5.25

5.25

He asked: 'There are no translations of the Dharma-transmission verses, nor are these verses in the *Fu fazang zhuan*, which has caused various authors to claim they lack foundation. I pray you grant your supreme instruction.' He answered: 'Alas! The descendants have divided into branches, and disputes have arisen like swarming bees, simply because they cannot investigate to the root. Consider how, before Bodhidharma entered this land, he already understood the language of Tang. How is this known? One can know it simply from his dialogue upon his first audience with Emperor Wu of Liang. Later, the Second Patriarch, Great Master Ke, served him for ten years, going so far as standing in the snow and cutting off his arm; his determination to seek the patriarchal vehicle was diligent and sincere to the utmost. Later, Bodhidharma told him: "I have a kāṣāya to bestow on you as a pledge of faith. People in the world will surely doubt, saying: 'I am a man of India, while you are a son of this land; how could there be true faith in attaining the Dharma?' You should use my words as proof." He also said: "From the holy teacher Śākyamuni down to Prajñātāra and down to me, all transmitted the robe to symbolize the Dharma and left verses upon transmitting the Dharma. I now confer them upon you." The verse says: "I originally came to this land / to transmit the Dharma and save deluded beings. / A single flower opens into five petals; / the fruit forms naturally of itself." Thereupon he cited the verses of the successive patriarchs from above and conferred them one by one. Internally he transmitted the Dharma seal to tally and verify the mind; externally he conferred the kāṣāya to fix the cardinal lineage. From this, one knows that Bodhidharma's conferral upon the Second Patriarch was decisive. This is solitary transmission and oral instruction—what leisure was there for translation?'