六祖大師法寶壇經 1.185

1.185

跋

that his robe of transmission, his kaṣāya, be returned to Caoqi. We now dispatch Great Defender-General of the State Liu Chongjing to receive and return it reverentially. We state that it is a national treasure. Our servant should return it to its original monastery and emplace it according to the Dharma. We adamantly command the monks who have personally received the teachings [of Huineng] to guard it carefully and not allow [his body] to be defiled.”

Afterward, there were those who snuck in to steal [Huineng’s remains], but they were always captured before they got far away. Such events happened three or four times.

[Emperor] Xianzong bestowed the posthumous title “Chan Master Great Mirror,” and the stupa [name] “Numinous Illumination of the Original Harmony.” The remaining details are recorded in the epitaphs by Minister Wang Wei, Governor Liu Zongyuan, and Governor Liu Yuxi, all of the Tang.

Recorded by the śrāmaṇera Lingtao, who guards the stupa.

Epilogue The Dharma always preached in the past by the Sixth Patriarch, the Great Master, was entirely the perfect and sudden teaching of the Mahayana. Therefore, it is called a “sutra.” Its words [use] what is close to point to what is remote; its phrases are straightforward (literally, “level”) and its meanings clear. Whoever recites it will receive [benefit] thereby. Mingjiao Qisong has constantly praised it, saying “Those whose natural abilities are sharp will attain it profoundly; those whose natural abilities are dull will attain it shallowly.” How true these words!

When I first entered the Way [to become a monk] I was very moved by this [scripture]. Eventually I saw that the three texts [available] were not uniform. Each has strengths and weaknesses, and the [printing] blocks were becoming obliterated. Therefore, I have made a comparative edition of the text, correcting their errors and elucidating their abbreviations. I have also added the requests for instruction and encounters between [Huineng] and his students. I hope that students will be able to attain the teaching of Caoqi in its entirety [through this text].

For example, Governor Yungong Conglong is profoundly versed in this Way. One day he passed by my room in the monastery, perused my edition, and said, “You have achieved a grand consummation of the Platform Sutra!” Lamenting [the text’s unavailability], he commanded workers to carve the catalpa tree [printing blocks] solely in order that [the text would] circulate and keep the school of Caoqi from ever coming to an end.

Someone said, “Bodhidharma ‘did not posit words, pointed directly at the human mind, [and taught] seeing the nature and the achievement of

buddhahood.’ Why should the correct transmission to Patriarch Lu in the sixth generation (i.e., Huineng) utilize words?”

I said, “This sutra is not words but the pointing of the ‘direct pointing of the unilineal transmission from [Bodhi]dharma.’ Nanyue [Huairang], Qingyuan [Xingsi], and the various great elders illuminated their minds through this pointing. Furthermore, they used it to illuminate the mind of Mazu [Daoyi], Shitou [Xiqian], and the various masters. The Chan school, which now is disseminated throughout the world, has always depended on this pointing. From now on, how could it not rely on this pointing and still illuminate the mind for the seeing of the nature?”

The questioner acknowledged this, bowed again, and said in gratitude, “I have been feebleminded [in asking this]. Please include [this exchange] at the end of the sutra in order to inform those to come.”

Epilogue by Shi Zongbao of Nanhai, summer of the twenty-eighth

hexagenary [year, the twenty-eighth year] of the Zhiyuan

(“Ultimate Origin”) [period of the Yuan dynasty, 1291].