六祖大師法寶壇經 1.132

1.132

「因守無常心，佛說有常性，
不知方便者，猶春池拾礫。
我今不施功，佛性而現前，
非師相授與，我亦無所得。」

cisely the true doctrine of impermanence preached by the Buddha.

“Because ordinary people and heretics are attached to false permanence and those of the two vehicles consider permanence to be impermanence, together forming the eight confusions, the Buddha in the authoritative teaching of the Nirvana [Sutra] destroyed their prejudices and revealed his explanation of true permanence, the true bliss, the true self, and true purity. You are now relying on the words but going against the meaning. With an annihilationist impermanence and a deterministic permanence, you have misunderstood the Buddha’s last words, which are perfect, wondrous, and subtle. What benefit can there be in reading [the sutra] a thousand times?”

Xingchang suddenly experienced a great enlightenment, [after which] he spoke a verse, which went:

Because we maintain our minds of impermanence,

The Buddha preached of permanence.

Not understanding his expedient means,

I was as if collecting pebbles by a pond in springtime.

Now, without expending any of my own effort,

The buddha-nature is right before me.

It was not bequeathed to me by the master,

And I am also without anything that is attained.

The master said, “You have now penetrated [the true teaching], so you should be called Zhiche.” Zhiche bowed in gratitude and retired.

There was a boy named Shenhui, who was from the Gao family in Xiangyang. At age thirteen he came from Yuquan[si] to consult [Huineng]. The master said, “You have gone to great trouble in coming such a distance, but have you brought the fundamental? If you have the fundamental, then you must recognize the master (zhu, i.e., the host or subject). See if you can explain it to me!”

Shenhui said, “Nonabiding is the fundamental, and seeing is the master.”

The master said, “What will this novice say next!”

Shenhui then asked, “When Your Reverence sits in meditation, does he see or not?”

The master struck Shenhui with his staff three times and said, “When I hit you, does it hurt or not?”

[Shenhui] answered, “It both hurts and does not hurt.”

The master said, “I also see and do not see.”

Shenhui asked, “What is this seeing and also not seeing?”

The master said, “My seeing is to see constantly my own mind’s errors.

I do not see other people’s right and wrong or good and evil. This is to see

and also not to see. You said it hurts and does not hurt. How about this? If

you do not hurt, then you’re the same as a tree or rock. If you hurt, then

you’re the same as an ordinary [unenlightened] person, who would become

resentful.When you just said ‘seeing and also not seeing’ [you thought] they

were two extremes, and your ‘hurts and does not hurt’ were [your miscon-

ception of] birth and death. But you don’t see your self-nature, so you’re just

playing around.” Shenhui bowed in gratitude.

The master went on to say, “If your mind is deluded and you do not see,

then ask a spiritual compatriot to show you the path. If you are enlightened

in your mind, then you will see the nature yourself. Cultivate in accordance

with the Dharma. You are deluded yourself and do not see your own mind,

but you come ask about my seeing and not seeing. I see and I understand,

but how could this take the place of your delusion? If you see for yourself,

then you will also be unable to take the place of my delusion. How can you

ask about my seeing and not seeing when you do not understand and have

not seen for yourself?”

Shenhui did obeisance once again, making over a hundred prostrations.

Seeking to put an end to his errors, he served [Huineng] as attendant and

never left his side.