六祖大師法寶壇經 1.144

1.144

時，徒眾聞說偈已，普皆作禮，並體師意，各各攝心，依法修行，更不敢諍，乃知大師不久住世。法海上座，再拜問曰：「和尚入滅之後，衣法當付何人？」師曰：「吾於大梵寺說法，以至于今抄錄流行，目曰『法寶壇經』。汝等守護，遞相傳授。度諸群生，但依此說，是名正法。今為汝等說法，不付其衣。蓋為汝等信根淳熟，決定無疑，堪任大事。然據先祖達磨大師付授偈意，衣不合傳。偈曰：

This is for what you see to be completely untrue.

If you are able to possess the true yourself,

Transcend the provisional and your mind will be true.

If you do not transcend the provisional in your own mind,

You will be without the true, for where could the true be located?

If you are sentient, then you are able to move;

That which is insentient is immobile.

If you cultivate the practice of motionlessness,

You become identical to the immobility of insentiency.

If you are seeking the true motionlessness,

[Then realize that] there is a motionlessness of motion.

Motionlessness is motionlessness;

Insentient [objects] lack the seeds of buddhahood.

If you are able to discriminate well characteristics,

The cardinal meaning [of Buddhism] is motionlessness.

Just to have such a view

Is to have functioning that is suchlike.

I am telling you students,

Make an effort! And be careful!

Do not in this gateway of the Mahayana

Grasp onto the wisdom of birth and death!

If you can correspond [to the truth] upon hearing these words,

Then we may discuss the doctrines of the Buddha together.

If you in fact do not achieve correspondence,

Then hold your palms together [in the anjalimudrā] and be joyful

[that you’ve encountered the teaching at all]!

This teaching is fundamentally without disputation,

For disputation leads only to errors.

To grasp and oppose and dispute the teaching

Is for one’s nature to enter into birth and death.

After the assembly heard [Huineng] speak this verse, they all did obeisance. Everyone there understood the master’s point, and they all composed their minds [and became determined] to cultivate in reliance on the Dharma without any further disputation.

Realizing that Great Master [Huineng] would not remain in the world for long, Elder Fahai bowed once more and asked, “After Your Reverence has entered nirvana, to whom will the robe and Dharma be bequeathed?”

The master said, “There is a summary in circulation of my sermon at Dafansi [and my teachings] up to now, entitled Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure. You should all protect [this text] and transmit it. In your saving of the myriad living beings, you should rely on only these sermons. This is called the correct Dharma. I have preached the Dharma for you now, [but] I will not bequeath the robe. This is because your roots of faith are mature, you are definitely without doubt, and you are able to undertake the great affair. In accordance with the intention of the former patriarch, Great Master [Bodhi]dharma, in the bequest of his [final] verse, the robe should not be transmitted. His verse went:

I originally came to this land

To transmit the Dharma and save deluded sentient beings.

A single flower opens into five leaves,

And the fruit will appear of itself.

The master said further, “Good friends, you have each purified your minds and listened to me preach the Dharma. If you wish to achieve the planting [of the roots] of wisdom, you must master the samādhi of the single characteristic and the samādhi of the single practice. If in all locations you do not reside in characteristics, if within those characteristics you do not generate revulsion or attraction and are also without grasping or rejecting, if you do not think about matters such as the creation and destruction of [per-