人天眼目 5.27

5.27

He asked: 'Since Bodhidharma came to this land, why are the spoken teachings of the various ancestral masters different from those of the Indian patriarchs and even from those up through the Sixth Patriarch? Niutou's lineage, Northern Xiu, Heze, Nanyue Rang, and Qingyuan Si gradually diverged in words and phrases, their viewpoints differed, and each faction supported its own school and excessively defamed the others. How can these contentions be put to rest?' He answered: 'Strange indeed is this question! When the ancestral master came to this land, it was like planting a single seed in the ground, which sprouts through the convergence of causes and conditions. The seed was Bodhidharma together with the Second Patriarch; the branches and leaves were the likes of Daofu, Zongchi, and Daoyu. As the Second Patriarch was the seed, the Third Patriarch was the sprout; and so on, until the Sixth Patriarch was the seed, and Nanyue Rang was the sprout. Niutou, Shenxiu, Heze, and the like were all just branches and leaves. However, under the Sixth Patriarch, branches and leaves flourished luxuriously and produced many offspring. That seed, in turn, followed the suitability of climate and soil: those who obtained leaves valued leaves; those who obtained branches valued branches. It is like a tree that becomes an orange in the south and a trifoliate orange in the north: although shape and flavour change, how could the root change? It is also like the sun: in the east it is morning, and in the west it is evening. The sun turns according to directions, which is merely the shadow of its disc; its space certainly does not turn. What is there to wonder at? You need only understand your internal mind and not follow external dharmas. The internal mind frees you from birth and death; external dharmas chase after attachment and aversion. When attachment and aversion arise, you are far from the Buddhas and patriarchs. For you, I have leisurely selected the phrases of the orthodox lineage and the lateral branches, setting forth their background origins below each, so that students may clearly distinguish the direct descendants from the collateral.'