六祖大師法寶壇經 1.29

1.29

“After hearing it I said, ‘I also have a verse, and would like the Admin-

istrative Aide to write it for me.’ The Administrative Aide said, ‘You’ve

composed a verse? How unusual!’ I said to the Administrative Aide, ‘If you

wish to study the unsurpassable bodhi, you should not make light of begin-

ners. The lowest of the low may have the most supreme wisdom, and the

highest of the high may be without [spiritual] intention or wisdom. To make

light of others is a transgression unlimited and infinite.’

“The Administrative Aide said, ‘Just recite your verse. I will write it for

you. If you attain the Dharma, you must save me first (i.e., before teaching

anyone else). Don’t forget what I say!’

“My verse went:

Bodhi is fundamentally without any tree;

The bright mirror is also not a stand.

Fundamentally there is not a single thing—

Where could any dust be attracted?

“After I finished this verse everyone around there became agitated and

couldn’t help sighing with amazement. They all said to each other, ‘How

strange! You just can’t go by looks alone! Why is it always that people like

that are living bodhisattvas!’55 Seeing that they were getting excited and wor-

ried that someone might harm me, the patriarch rubbed out the verse with

his sandal and said, ‘This [person] too has not seen the nature.’ Those pres-

ent accepted this.

“The next day, Hongren secretly came to the hulling room, where he saw me with a rock on my back pounding rice and said, ‘He who seeks the Way forgets his body on behalf of the Dharma. Is that how it is [with you]?’ He then asked, ‘Is the rice ripe yet?’ I replied, ‘The rice has been ripe for a long time. It only lacks sifting [the hulls from the grain].’ The patriarch struck his staff on the pestle three times and left. I understood what he meant—that I should enter his room at the third drum (i.e., the third watch of the night, about 1:00 A.M.).

“The patriarch kept his robe (kaṣāya) hidden and would not let anyone see it. He preached the Diamond Sutra for me. When he reached the words ‘responding to the nonabiding, yet generating the mind’ I experienced a great enlightenment, [realizing that] all the myriad dharmas do not transcend their self-natures. I thereupon informed the patriarch of this, saying, ‘No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally and naturally pure. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally neither generated nor extinguished. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally and naturally sufficient unto themselves. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally without movement. No matter when, the self-natures are able to generate the myriad dharmas.’

“Knowing that I had been enlightened to the fundamental nature, the patriarch said to me, ‘If one does not recognize the fundamental mind, studying the Dharma is of no benefit. If one recognizes one’s own fundamental mind, one sees one’s own fundamental nature. This is to be called a great man, a teacher of humans and gods, a buddha.’

“At the third watch of the night I received the Dharma. No one knew of this. He then transmitted the sudden teaching and the robe and bowl, saying, ‘You have become the patriarch of the sixth generation. You should maintain your own mindfulness well, and you should save sentient beings extensively. Do not allow the dissemination [of the Dharma] to be cut off in the future. Listen to my verse:

Sentient beings cast their seeds;

Because of the earth the fruits are born.

Insentient objects have no seeds,

No natures, and no birth.

“The patriarch went on, ‘When Great Master [Bodhi]dharma came to

this land long ago, people did not yet come to rely upon him. Therefore he

transmitted this robe as the embodiment of reliance [upon him]. It has been

handed down for generation after generation. The Dharma, moreover, is the