六祖大師法寶壇經 1.156

1.156

「兀兀不修善，騰騰不造惡，
寂寂斷見聞，蕩蕩心無著。」

my teaching, it would be no use even if I were alive. I will say another verse:

Stupefied, not cultivating good.

Leaping, not creating evil.

Serene, eradicating knowledge.

Vast, the mind unattached.

When the master finished saying this verse, he sat upright until the third watch [of the night]. Suddenly he announced to his followers, “I am going,” and, peacefully, he went. At the time a strange fragrance filled the room, a white rainbow touched the earth, trees in the forest changed to white, and the birds and animals cried out.

In the eleventh month the officials of the three prefectures Guang[zhou], Shao[zhou], and Xin[zhou], the monks, and the laypeople argued over who was to receive [the master’s] body. Since they could not decide, they burned incense to gain a portent, saying, “The smoke from the incense will indicate the direction in which the master’s body should return.” The smoke from the incense connected directly to Caoqi.

On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, [the master’s] casket and the robe and bowl he had transmitted were returned [to Caoqi]. In the seventh month of the next year, the casket was opened, and the disciple Fangbian spread incense paste on [the master’s remains]. Remembering the prediction about the taking of the head, they lacquered the master’s neck with metal sheets and placed it in his stupa. Suddenly, a white light appeared from inside the stupa that went straight up to heaven. Three days later it began to dissipate. [The prefect of] Shaozhou memorialized [about these happenings], and an edict was promulgated for the establishment of a stele recording the master’s spiritual activities.

The master was seventy-six. He [received the] transmission of the robe at age twenty-four and offered up his hair [to become a monk] at age thirtynine. He preached the Dharma to benefit sentient beings for thirty-seven years, and transmitted the Dharma to forty-three people. The number who became enlightened and transcended [the state of unenlightened] ordinary person cannot be known.

The robe that was transmitted by Bodhi[dharma as an emblem of the] faith (which was of quxuan cotton from the Western Region), a precious bowl of polished māṇava given by [Emperor] Zhongzong, the image of the

master sculpted by Fangbian, and his religious implements are stored forever at the training center at Baolin[si]. This Platform Sutra has been transmitted in order to make manifest the central doctrine, to disseminate the triple treasure, and to benefit all living beings.

End of The Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure

of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch.

An Additional Record of the Story of the

Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch

Collected by the disciple Fahai and others

The Great Master was named Huineng. His father was of the Lu family and had the posthumous name Xingtao. In the ninth month of the third year of the Wude (“Martial Virtue”) [period, 620, Lu Xingtao] was banished to Xinzhou.

His mother, of the Li family, had a dream prior [to bearing Huineng, and] white flowers appeared in profusion in the front garden, a pair of white cranes flew by, and a strange fragrance filled the room. Realizing that she was pregnant, she maintained the chaste precepts in pure sincerity. She was pregnant for six years before the master was born, which was at the first [or