六祖大師法寶壇經 1.131

1.131

The monk Zhiche, a native of Jiangxi whose original surname was Zhang and personal name Xingchang, had in his youth been a knight-errant. Ever since the division between North and South, though the leaders of the two schools harboured neither 'us' nor 'them', their followers competed in affection and malice. At that time, followers of the Northern School set up Master Shenxiu on their own as the Sixth Patriarch, and, begrudging that the Patriarch's transmission of the robe was known throughout the world, they commissioned Xingchang to come and assassinate the Master. The Master, having mental communion, foreknew the affair and placed ten taels of gold between the cushions of his seat. When night fell, Xingchang entered the Patriarch's room, about to inflict harm. The Master stretched out his neck towards him; Xingchang swung the blade three times, yet failed to harm him in the least. The Master said: 'A straight sword is not crooked; a crooked sword is not straight. I only owe you gold; I do not owe you life.' Xingchang collapsed in fright, reviving only after a long time. Begging for mercy and repenting his fault, he at once wished to go forth from household life. The Master then gave him the gold, saying: 'Go for now, for fear that my disciples might turn and harm you. You may come back another day disguised in different garb, and I shall accept you.' Xingchang received the instruction and fled into the night. Later, he went to a monk, left the household life, received full ordination, and was vigorous. One day, remembering the Master's words, he came from afar to pay homage. The Master said: 'I have thought of you for a long time; why have you come so late?' He replied: 'The other day, receiving the upādhyāya's pardon of my guilt, though I have now left the household life and practice austerities, it will in the end be hard to repay your kindness—could it be done other than by transmitting the Dharma to deliver living beings? Your disciple often reads the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, but has not understood the meaning of the permanent and impermanent. I beg the upādhyāya in your compassion to explain it briefly.' The Master said: 'What is impermanent is none other than the Buddha-nature. What is permanent is none other than the discriminating mind of all good and bad phenomena.' He said: 'What the upādhyāya says greatly contradicts the scripture text.' The Master said: 'I transmit the Buddha's mind-seal; how could I dare contradict the Buddha's scriptures?' He said: 'The scripture says that the Buddha-nature is permanent, but the upādhyāya says it is impermanent. Phenomena of good and evil, down to the mind of bodhi, are all impermanent, but the upādhyāya says they are permanent. This is contrary to it, making this student ever more perplexed.' The Master said: 'Formerly, having heard the nun Wujinzang recite the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra once through, I immediately explained it for her, without a single word or meaning failing to accord with the scripture text. Even down to what I say for you, there are ultimately no two teachings.' He said: 'This student's capacity of understanding is shallow and benighted; I pray that the upādhyāya will explain it in detail.' The Master said: 'Do you not know? If the Buddha-nature were permanent, what further need would there be to speak of all the phenomena of good and evil, down to there being not a single person giving rise to the mind of bodhi throughout endless kalpas? Therefore, my saying it is impermanent is precisely the principle of true permanence spoken of by the Buddha. Furthermore, if all phenomena were impermanent, each and every thing would possess its own svabhāva, subject to birth and death, while the truly permanent nature would have places it did not pervade. Therefore, my saying it is permanent is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken of by the Buddha. It was because ordinary beings and non-Buddhists clung to a false permanence, and those of the two vehicles reckoned the permanent to be impermanent, together constituting the eight inversions, that the Buddha, in the definitive teaching of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, broke through their biased views and explicitly taught true permanence, true bliss, true self, and true purity. You now cling to the words and turn your back on the meaning, using nihilistic impermanence and fixed, dead permanence to misunderstand the Buddha's perfectly subtle final, profound words. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit would there be?' Xingchang was suddenly greatly awakened and spoke a verse: