六祖大師法寶壇經 1.106

1.106

「不見一法存無見，大似浮雲遮日面，
不知一法守空知，還如太虛生閃電。
此之知見瞥然興，錯認何曾解方便，
汝當一念自知非，自己靈光常顯現。」

see.’ He said, ‘When you see space, does it have characteristics or not?’ I

answered, ‘Space is without form. What characteristics could it have?’ He

said, ‘Your fundamental nature is like space in that there is not a single thing

at all that can be seen. This is called correct seeing. For there to be not a sin-

gle thing that can be known is called true knowing. There are no blue and

yellow, long and short. Just see that the fundamental source is pure, the

essence of enlightenment is perfect and bright: this is called seeing the nature

and achieving buddhahood. It is also called the perceptual understanding of

the Tathāgata.’ Even though this student heard this explanation, I was still

not certain, and I beg Your Reverence to teach me.”

The master said, “That teacher’s explanation still allows perceptual

understanding to exist, which is why you were unable to comprehend. I will

now reveal a verse for you:

Not seeing a single dharma but maintaining the view of nonbeing

Is much like floating clouds blocking the face of the sun.

Not knowing a single dharma but maintaining one’s knowledge of

emptiness

Is just like the great void generating lightning and thunder.

When such perceptual understanding arises for the slightest instant,

How can mistaken recognition ever understand expedient means?

You should understand the error of this yourself, in a single moment

of thought,

And the numinous brilliance of the self will be constantly manifest.

When Zhichang heard this verse, his mind became suddenly expansive

[in enlightenment], and he related a verse:

There is no reason to activate perceptual understanding,

To be attached to characteristics and seek for bodhi.

When one’s intelligence harbors a single thought of enlightenment,

How can one transcend the delusions of the past?

The self-nature, enlightened to the essential source,

Illuminates the crazed currents [of awareness].

Without entering the room of the patriarch,

In a daze, going about with two heads.

One day Zhichang asked the master, “The Buddha preached the three vehicles, and he also spoke of the Supreme Vehicle. I don’t understand these doctrines and would like you to explain them for me.”

The master said, “When you contemplate your own fundamental mind, do not be attached to the external characteristics of dharmas. There are no four vehicles in the Dharma; it is only that peoples’ minds vary. To learn and recite is the small vehicle, to be enlightened to the Dharma and understand its meaning is the middle vehicle, and to cultivate according to the Dharma is the Great Vehicle. To penetrate all the myriad dharmas and to be equipped with all the myriad dharmas, without any defilement at all; to transcend the characteristics of the various dharmas, without anything that is attained: this is called the Supreme Vehicle. ‘Vehicle’ has the meaning of practice and cannot be argued about orally. You must cultivate yourself, not ask me about it. At all times the self-nature is itself suchlike.”

Zhichang thanked [Huineng] and served the master until the end of his years.

The monk Zhidao was from Nanhai in Guangzhou. He requested the benefit [of the master’s teaching], saying “Since this student left home [to become a monk], I have spent more than ten years perusing the Nirvana Sutra, but I haven’t understood its message. Would Your Reverence favor me with your explanation?”

The master said, “What is it you do not understand?”

[Zhidao] said, “I am in doubt about [the lines] ‘All processes are impermanent, these being the dharmas of generation and extinction. When generation and extinction are extinguished, quiescence is blissful.’”

The master said, “What doubts do you have?”