[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [六祖大師法寶壇經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008) › 1.116 # 六祖大師法寶壇經 1.116 六祖大師法寶壇經 1.116 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [1.116](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.116) 禪者智隍，初參五祖，自謂已得正受。菴居長坐，積二十年。師弟子玄策，游方至河朔，聞隍之名，造菴問云：「汝在此作什麼？」隍曰：「入定。」策云：「汝云入定，為有心入耶？無心入耶？若無心入者，一切無情草木瓦石，應合得定；若有心入者，一切有情含識之流，亦應得定。」隍曰：「我正入定時，不見有有無之心。」策云：「不見有有無之心，即是常定。何有出入？若有出入，即非大定。」隍無對，良久，問曰：「師嗣誰耶？」策云：「我師曹溪六祖。」隍云：「六祖以何為禪定？」策云：「我師所說，妙湛圓寂，體用如如。五陰本空，六塵非有，不出不入，不定不亂。禪性無住，離住禪寂；禪性無生，離生禪想。心如虛空，亦無虛空之量。」隍聞是說，徑來謁師。師問云：「仁者何來？」隍具述前緣。師云：「誠如所言。汝但心如虛空，不著空見，應用無礙，動靜無心，凡聖情忘，能所俱泯，性相如如，無不定時也（一本無汝但以下三十五字。止云：師憫其遠來，遂垂開決）。」隍於是大悟，二十年所得心，都無影響。其夜河北士庶，聞空中有聲云：「隍禪師今日得道。」隍後禮辭，復歸河北，開化四眾。一僧問師云：「黃梅意旨，甚麼人得？」師云：「會佛法人得。」僧云：「和尚還得否？」師云：「我不會佛法。」 > trained in the teaching of cessation and contemplation (i.e., concentration and insight meditation) of Tiantai. Through reading the Vimalakīrti Sutra he illuminated his mind-ground. Coincidentally, he visited and discussed \[the Dharma\] with the master’s student Xuance. Everything he said was in implicit accord with the \[teachings of the\] patriarchs. > > Xuance said, “From whom did you attain the Dharma?” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “I heard that there is a succession of teachers for the Mahayana sutras and śāstras. Later I became enlightened to the central doctrine of the mind of the Buddha \[by reading\] the Vimalakīrti Sutra. As yet, no one has verified \[my realization\].” > > Xuance said, “‘Attained prior to King Sounds of Dignity; becoming enlightened oneself without a teacher after King Sounds of Dignity.’ In both cases, this was the heretical path of naturalism.” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “May I request that you verify \[my realization\]?” > > Xuance said, “My words carry no weight, but in Caoqi there is the Sixth Patriarch, Great Master \[Huineng\]. \[Students\] assemble there from the four directions like clouds. You would certainly receive his Dharma, and if you would go there I will accompany you.” > > Xuanjue then came with Xuance to consult \[the master. Upon his arrival, he\] walked around the master three times, shook his staff, and stood still. > > The master said, “Monks are provided with three thousand forms of deportment and eighty thousand specific practices. Where have you come from, O One of Great Virtue, to generate such great self-conceit?” > > Xuanjue said, “The matter of birth and death is great, and impermanence is rapid and swift.” > > The master said, “Why don’t you understand the birthless and comprehend that there is no swiftness?” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “The essence is birthless, and comprehension is fundamentally without swiftness.” > > The master said, “So it is, so it is.” > > Only then did Xuanjue do obeisance \[to Huineng\] with full ceremony. He then immediately said he was going to leave. The master said, “Now isn’t this really swift?” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “The fundamental is itself motionless, so how can there be swiftness?” > > The master said, “Who knows its motionlessness?” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “You have just given birth to discrimination.” > > The master said, “You have profoundly attained the meaning of the birthless.” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “How can the birthless have a meaning?” > > The master said, “If there is no meaning, who is it that discriminates?” > > \[Xuanjue\] said, “Nor is discrimination a meaning.” > > The master said, “How excellent! But at least stay one night!” From this time they called him” one-night \[Xuan\]jue.” Later he wrote the Song of Enlightenment, which was disseminated throughout the world. (His posthumous title > > was Wuxiang Dashi \[“Great Master Without Characteristics”\]. At the time he was called Zhenjue.) > > The Chan monk Zhihuang first consulted the Fifth Patriarch and claimed that he had attained samādhi. Living in a hut, he \[devoted himself to\] lengthy sitting for twenty years. When the master’s disciple Xuance was wandering through Heshuo (the area north of the Yellow River), he heard of Zhihuang’s fame and went to \[visit him in\] his hut. > > \[Xuance\] asked, “What do you do here?” > > Zhihuang said, “I enter into samādhi.” > > Xuance said, “When you say ‘enter into samādhi,’ does the mind of being enter or does the mind of nonbeing enter? If it is the mind of nonbeing that enters, then all the insentient plants and rocks would be able to attain samādhi. If it is the mind of being that enters, then all the sentient beings who have consciousness would also be able to attain samādhi.” > > Zhihuang said, “When I have entered into samādhi, I am unaware of the existence of the minds of being and nonbeing.” > > Xuance said, “If you are unaware of the minds of being and nonbeing, then this is permanent samādhi. How can you enter it or come out of it? If there is entering and coming out, then this is not the great samādhi.” > > Zhihuang did not respond. After a while he asked, “From whom have you succeeded \[in this teaching\]?” > > Xuance said, “My master is the Sixth Patriarch of Caoqi.” > > Zhihuang said, “What does the Sixth Patriarch take as meditation?” > > Xuance said, “What our master preaches is the wondrously peaceful and perfectly quiescent: the essence and functions are suchlike, suchlike. The > — John R. McRae 2000, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - [Previous: 1.115](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.115) - [Next: 1.117](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.117) - [Up: 1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1) ## Translations (2) - [The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-bdk.1.116) — John R. McRae 2000, English - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.116) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [景德傳燈錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2076.5.100) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.116](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.116) · Pramāṇa