六祖大師法寶壇經 1.142

1.142

師於太極元年壬子，延和七月（是年五月改延和，八月玄宗即位方改元先天，次年遂改開元。他本作先天者非）命門人往新州國恩寺建塔，仍令促工，次年夏末落成。七月一日，集徒眾曰：「吾至八月，欲離世間。汝等有疑，早須相問，為汝破疑，令汝迷盡。吾若去後，無人教汝。」法海等聞，悉皆涕泣。惟有神會，神情不動，亦無涕泣。師云：「神會小師却得善不善等，毀譽不動，哀樂不生；餘者不得。數年山中竟修何道？汝今悲泣，為憂阿誰？若憂吾不知去處，吾自知去處。吾若不知去處，終不預報於汝。汝等悲泣，蓋為不知吾去處；若知吾去處，即不合悲泣。法性本無生滅去來，汝等盡坐，吾與汝說一偈，名曰真假動靜偈。汝等誦取此偈，與吾意同，依此修行，不失宗旨。」眾僧作禮，請師說偈。偈曰：

seek the true. Or you may extensively establish training centers and preach about the errors of being and nonbeing. Such people will not be able to see the nature for eon after eon!

“Simply listen, and cultivate according to the Dharma. Also, do not think about the hundred things and be impeded with regard to the enlightenmentnature. If you listen to this explanation and do not cultivate, you will on the contrary generate false thoughts. Just cultivate according to the Dharma,

bequeathing the Dharma without abiding in characteristics. If all of you would be enlightened, rely on this for your preaching, rely on this for your functioning, rely on this for your practice, rely on this for [all] your actions; you would not lose the fundamental doctrine.

“When people inquire about the doctrines, when they ask of being, respond with nonbeing; when they ask of nonbeing, respond with being. When they ask of the ordinary, respond with the sagely, and when they ask of the sagely, respond with the ordinary. Through the two modes of speaking you will generate the doctrine of the middle. Respond to them one by one, and if there are any other questions, make up [your response] according to this and you will not go wrong. If someone asks you, ‘What is darkness?’, you should answer, ‘Brightness is the cause and darkness is the condition. When brightness disappears there is darkness. Brightness reveals darkness, and darkness reveals brightness.’ Through the modes of coming and going, you will create the doctrine of the middle. All other questions should be handled like this. Later, when you transmit the Dharma you may rely on this to develop material for teaching. Don’t lose the central doctrine!”

In the seventh month of the first year of the Taiji (“Great Ultimate”) [period], the forty-ninth hexagenary year, the Yanhe (“Extended Peace”) [year, or 712] (This year was changed during the fifth month to Yanhe. In the eighth month Xuanzong took the throne and [the year period] was changed to Xiantian [“Preceding Heaven”]. The following year [the year period] was changed to Kaiyuan [“Opening the Origin”]. The other text[s] have this as [occurring during] Xiantian, but this is incorrect.), the master ordered his followers to go to Guoensi in Xinzhou to construct a stupa. He had them hurry the work, and the unveiling was at the end of the summer the following year. On the first day of the seventh month [of 713] he assembled his followers and said, “I will depart from this world in the eighth month. If any of you have doubts, you should ask me about them soon, and I will resolve (literally, “destroy”) your doubts for you and make your delusions disappear. After I am gone, there will be no one to teach you.”

Fahai and the others listened, and everyone wept. Only Shenhui was emotionally unmoved and did not cry. The master said, “Young master Shenhui, you have become able to be unmoved before good and bad, before praise and blame, without generating sorrow and joy! You others have not attained

this—what Way can you have been cultivating all these years on this mountain? Who is it you’re crying for so sadly now? If you’re sorry for me, you don’t know where I’m going. I know myself where I’m going. If I didn’t know where I was going, I wouldn’t be announcing it to you in advance! You’re all crying because you don’t know where I’m going. If you knew where I was going, then you wouldn’t be crying. The Dharma-nature is fundamentally without generation and extinction, going and coming. You should all sit down, and I will recite a verse for you. It is called the ‘Verse of True and Provisional and Motion and Stillness.’ You should recite this verse, with the same meaning as mine. You should cultivate according to this, without losing the central doctrine.”

The assembly of monks bowed and requested that the master recite the verse. The verse went:

All [things] are without any truth.

Do not see them as true.

If you see the true,