六祖大師法寶壇經 1.12

1.12

昔者聖人之將隱也，乃命乎龜氏教外以傳法之要意，其人滯迹而忘返，固欲後世者提本而正末也。故《涅槃》曰：「我有無上正法，悉已付囑摩訶迦葉矣。」天之道存乎易，地之道存乎簡，聖人之道存乎要，要也者，至妙之謂也。聖人之道以要，則為法界門之樞機，為無量義之所會，為大乘之椎輪，《法華》豈不曰：「當知是妙法諸佛之祕要」，《華嚴》豈不曰：「以少方便疾成菩提」，要乎其於聖人之道，利而大矣哉。是故《壇經》之宗，尊其心要也。心乎若明若冥，若空若靈，若寂若惺，有物乎？無物乎？謂之一物，固彌於萬物；謂之萬物，固統於一物；一物猶萬物也，萬物猶一物也，此謂可思議也。及其不可思也，不可議也，天下謂之玄解，謂之神會，謂之絕待，謂之默體，謂之冥通，一皆離之遣之，遣之又遣，亦烏能至之微，其果然獨得與夫至人之相似者，孰能諒乎！推而廣之，則無往不可也；探而裁之，則無所不當也。施於證性，則所見至親；施於修心，則所詣至正；施於崇德辯惑，則真妄易顯；施於出世，則佛道速成；施於救世，則塵勞易歇。此壇經之宗，所以旁行天下而不厭，彼謂即心即佛。淺者何其不知量也，以折錐探地而淺地，以屋漏窺天而小天，豈天地之然邪？然百家者，雖苟勝之，弗如也。而至人通而貫之，合乎群經，斷可見矣。至人變而通之，非預名字不可測也，故其顯說之，有倫有義，密說之，無首無尾。天機利者得其深，天機鈍者得其淺，可擬乎？可議乎？不得已況之，則圓頓教也，最上乘也，如來之清淨禪也，菩薩藏之正宗也。論者謂之玄學，不亦詳乎？天下謂之宗門，不亦宜乎？《壇經》曰定慧為本者，趣道之始也。定也者，靜也。慧也者，明也。明以觀之，靜以安之，安其心可以體心也，觀其道可以語道也。一行三昧者，法界一相之謂也。謂萬善雖殊，皆正於一行者也。無相為體者，尊大戒也。「無念為宗」者，尊大定也。無住為本者，尊大慧也。夫戒定慧者，三乘之達道也。夫妙心者，戒定慧之大資也。以一妙心而統乎三法，故曰大也。無相戒者，戒其必正覺也。「四弘願」者，願度度苦也，願斷斷集也，願學學道也，願成成寂滅也。滅無所滅，故無所不斷也；道無所道，故無所不度也。無相懺者，懺非所懺也。三歸戒者，歸其一也。一也者，三寶之所以出也。說摩訶般若者，謂其心之至中也。般若也者，聖人之方便也。聖人之大智也，固能寂之明之、權之實之。天下以其寂，可以泯眾惡也；天下以其明，可以集眾善也；天下以其權，可以大有為也；天下以其實，可以大無為也。至矣哉般若也！聖人之道，非夫般若，不明也、不成也。天下之務，非夫般若，不宜也、不當也。至人之為以般若振，不亦遠乎！我法為上上根人說者，宜之也。輕物重用則不勝，大方小授則過也。從來默傳分付者，密說之謂也。密也者，非不言而闇證也，真而密之也。不解此法而輒謗毀，謂百劫千生斷佛種性者，防天下亡其心也。

In the past, when the Sage was about to enter cessation, he instructed the Turtle Clan outside the teachings with the essentials of the transmitted Dharma, wishing that people would not linger in traces and forget to return, but rather that later generations would grasp the root and rectify the branches. Therefore the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'I have the unsurpassed true Dharma, which I have entirely entrusted to Mahākāśyapa.' The way of Heaven lies in the easy; the way of Earth lies in the simple; the way of the Sage lies in the essential. The essential is what is called the utmost wonder. When the way of the Sage is taken as essential, it becomes the pivot of the gate to the dharmadhātu, the confluence of immeasurable meanings, and the primordial cart of the Mahāyāna. Does not the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra say: 'You should know that this wondrous Dharma is the secret essential of all Buddhas'? Does not the Avataṃsaka Sūtra say: 'With few expedients, bodhi is swiftly accomplished'? How sharp and vast is the essential in the way of the Sage! For this reason, the school of the Platform Sūtra honours its mind-essential. This mind: as if luminous, as if dark; as if empty, as if efficacious; as if tranquil, as if alert. Is there a thing? Is there no thing? Call it a single thing, yet it fills the ten thousand things; call it the ten thousand things, yet it is unified in a single thing. A single thing is like the ten thousand things; the ten thousand things are like a single thing: this is what can be conceived. When it comes to being inconceivable and ineffable, the world calls it profound understanding, spiritual accord, absolute non-duality, silent embodiment, or obscure communion; all of these are departed from and cast aside, cast aside and cast aside again—how could one reach its subtlety? If someone has truly obtained it alone and resembles the utmost person, who could doubt it! Extending and broadening it, there is nowhere it does not apply; probing and tailoring it, there is nothing to which it is not appropriate. Applied to witnessing one's nature, what is seen is most intimate; applied to cultivating the mind, where one arrives is most correct; applied to exalting virtue and discerning delusion, the true and the false are easily manifested; applied to transcending the world, the Buddha Path is swiftly accomplished; applied to saving the world, defilements easily cease. This is why the school of the Platform Sūtra moves broadly throughout the world without growing weary. Those who speak of 'mind itself is Buddha' from a shallow perspective—how they fail to know its measure! Probing the earth with a broken awl, they make the earth shallow; looking at the sky through a roof leak, they make the sky small. Could heaven and earth truly be so? Yet among the hundred schools, though some might contend for victory, they are not its equal. That the utmost person penetrates and unifies it, harmonizing with the various sūtras, can clearly be seen. The utmost person transforms and communicates it; it is not something pre-determined by names and cannot be measured. Therefore, his overt teachings have order and principle; his esoteric teachings have neither beginning nor end. Those with sharp natural capacities attain its depth; those with dull natural capacities attain its shallowness. Can it be imitated? Can it be debated? If one must resort to analogies, it is the perfect and sudden teaching, the Supreme Vehicle, the pure chan of the Tathāgata, and the orthodox lineage of the Bodhisattva Piṭaka. When commentators call it profound learning, is that not detailed? When the world calls it the School of the Ancestors, is that not appropriate? When the Platform Sūtra states that 'samādhi and prajñā are the foundation', this is the beginning of proceeding toward the Way. Samādhi is tranquility; prajñā is clarity. Using clarity to contemplate, using tranquility to settle: settling the mind, one can embody the mind; contemplating its Way, one can speak of the Way. 'Ekavyūha-samādhi' refers to the single mark of the dharmadhātu; it means that although the myriad goods differ, they are all rectified in a single practice. Taking animitta as the essence honours the great precepts. Taking 'thoughtlessness as the principle' honours the great samādhi. Taking non-abiding as the foundation honours the great prajñā. Precepts, samādhi, and prajñā are the Way of attainment for the three vehicles. The wondrous mind is the great resource of precepts, samādhi, and prajñā. Using one wondrous mind to unite the three dharmas, it is therefore called great. The formless precepts are the precept that one must attain correct awakening. The 'four great vows' are: wishing to deliver, one delivers from suffering; wishing to sever, one severs the cause of suffering; wishing to learn, one learns the Way; wishing to accomplish, one accomplishes complete cessation. Extinction has nothing to extinguish, therefore there is nothing that is not severed; the Way has no way to traverse, therefore there is no one who is not delivered. The formless repentance is to repent what is not to be repented. The three refuges are taking refuge in the One; the One is that from which the triratna emerges. Speaking of mahāprajñā refers to the utmost center of the mind. Prajñā is the expedient of the sage, the great wisdom of the sage; it can indeed make tranquil and clarify, make provisional and make real. Because of its tranquility, the world can extinguish all evils; because of its clarity, the world can assemble all goods; because of its provisionality, the world can engage in great action; because of its reality, the world can abide in great non-action. Utmost indeed is prajñā! Without prajñā, the way of the Sage is neither clear nor accomplished; without prajñā, the affairs of the world are neither suitable nor proper. When the actions of the utmost person are stimulated by prajñā, are they not far-reaching! That my Dharma is spoken for people of the highest faculties is appropriate. Using a light vessel for a heavy load, it cannot bear it; giving a small amount of a grand square, it is an excess. What has always been silently transmitted and entrusted refers to the esoteric teaching. The esoteric is not an absence of words and dark realization; it is authentic and profound. Those who do not understand this Dharma and hastily slander it, saying that for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes they sever the Buddha-nature seed, do so to prevent the world from losing its mind.