[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [六祖大師法寶壇經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008) › 1.165 # 六祖大師法寶壇經 1.165 六祖大師法寶壇經 1.165 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [1.165](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.165) 次年春，師辭眾歸寶林，印宗與緇白送者千餘人，直至曹溪。時荊州通應律師，與學者數百人依師而住。師至曹溪寶林，覩堂宇湫隘，不足容眾，欲廣之。遂謁里人陳亞仙曰：「老僧欲就檀越求坐具地，得不？」仙曰：「和尚坐具幾許闊？」祖出坐具示之，亞仙唯然。祖以坐具一展，盡罩曹溪四境，四天王現身坐鎮四方。今寺境有天王嶺，因茲而名。仙曰：「知和尚法力廣大，但吾高祖墳墓並在此地，他日造塔，幸望存留，餘願盡捨永為寶坊。然此地乃生龍白象來脈，只可平天，不可平地。」寺後營建，一依其言。師遊境內山水勝處，輒憩止，遂成蘭若一十三所。今曰華果院，隷籍寺門。其寶林道場，亦先是西國智藥三藏自南海經曹溪口，掬水而飲，香美，異之。謂其徒曰：「此水與西天之水無別，溪源上必有勝地，堪為蘭若。」隨流至源上，四顧山水回環，峯巒奇秀，歎曰：「宛如西天寶林山也。」乃謂曹侯村居民曰：「可於此山建一梵剎，一百七十年後，當有無上法寶於此演化，得道者如林，宜號寶林。」時韶州牧侯敬中，以其言具表聞奏，上可其請，賜寶林為額，遂成梵宮，落成於梁天監三年。寺殿前有潭一所，龍常出沒其間，觸橈林木。一日現形甚巨，波浪洶湧，雲霧陰翳，徒眾皆懼。師叱之曰：「爾只能現大身，不能現小身，若為神龍，當能變化以小現大、以大現小也。」其龍忽沒，俄頃復現小身躍出潭面，師展鉢試之曰：「爾且不敢入老僧鉢盂裏。」龍乃游揚至前，師以鉢舀之，龍不能動。師持鉢堂上，與龍說法，龍遂蛻骨而去。其骨長可七寸，首尾角足皆具，留傳寺門。師後以土石堙其潭，今殿前左側有鐵塔鎮處是也。 > In the spring of the following year, the Master took leave of the assembly to return to Baolin. Yinzong and more than a thousand monastics and laypeople escorted him directly to Caoxi. At that time, Vinaya Master Tongying of Jingzhou, together with several hundred students, resided with the Master. When the Master arrived at Baolin in Caoxi and saw that the halls were cramped and insufficient to accommodate the assembly, he wished to expand them. He thereupon visited the local villager Chen Yaxian and said, "This old monk wishes to seek a sitting-mat's worth of ground from the dānapati; may I?" Xian asked, "How wide is the Upādhyāya's sitting-mat?" The Patriarch brought out the sitting-mat and showed it to him; Yaxian assented. The Patriarch unfolded his sitting-mat once, and it completely covered the four boundaries of Caoxi, with the Four Heavenly Kings appearing in physical form and sitting to guard the four quarters. There is a Heavenly King Ridge within the monastery grounds today that was named on this account. Xian said, "I know that the Upādhyāya's Dharma power is vast. However, the graves of my great-great-grandfathers are all on this land; if a stūpa is built here in the future, I hope they may be preserved. As for the rest, I am willing to relinquish it all to become a treasured monastery forever. Yet this place is a dragon-and-white-elephant vein of energy: one may only level the heights, but not level the ground." Later, the construction of the monastery was carried out entirely according to his words. Whenever the Master wandered to scenic mountain and water spots within the area, he would rest there, and thus thirteen araṇyas were established. Today these are called the Huaguo Cloisters, which are registered as dependencies of the monastery. As for this Baolin bodhimanda, earlier, Tripiṭaka Master Zhiyao from the Western Lands had traveled from the South Sea past the mouth of Caoxi. He scooped up the water and drank it; finding it fragrant and sweet, he marveled at it. He said to his disciples, "This water is no different from that of India; at the headwaters of this stream there must surely be a wondrous place suitable for an araṇya." Following the stream to its headwaters, he looked around at the encircling mountains and waters and the wondrous, graceful peaks, and sighed, "It is just like Mount Jewel Grove (Baolin) in India!" He then said to the residents of Caohou Village, "You may build a Buddhist monastery on this mountain. After one hundred and seventy years, an unsurpassed Dharma treasure will expound and convert others here; those who attain the Way will be like a forest. It should be named Baolin." At that time, the Prefect of Shaozhou, Hou Jingzhong, submitted a memorial reporting his words to the throne. The Emperor granted the request and bestowed the name-plaque "Baolin," whereupon a Buddhist hall was constructed and completed in the third year of the Tianjian reign era of the Liang dynasty. In front of the monastery hall was a pool in which a dragon frequently appeared and submerged, disturbing the grove of trees. One day it manifested a gigantic form: waves billowed and surge, and dark clouds and mist shrouded \[the sky\]; the disciples were all terrified. The Master rebuked it, saying, "You can only manifest a large body, not a small body. If you were a divine dragon, you should be able to transform yourself, manifesting the large with the small and manifesting the small with the large." The dragon suddenly submerged, and in a brief moment reappeared in a small body, leaping out from the surface of the pool. The Master held out his bowl to test it, saying, "You certainly would not dare to enter this old monk's almsbowl." The dragon swam forward, and the Master scooped it up with the bowl; the dragon could not move. The Master carried the bowl up into the hall and expounded the Dharma to the dragon, whereupon the dragon molted its skeleton and departed. Its skeleton was about seven inches long, complete with head, tail, horns, and feet, and was preserved in the monastery. The Master later filled the pool with earth and stones; the place where an iron pagoda stands today to the front left of the hall is that very spot. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 1.164](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.164) - [Next: 1.166](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.166) - [Up: 1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.165) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.165](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.165) · Pramāṇa