六祖大師法寶壇經 1.174

1.174

"Ever since living beings came into existence, they have loved to fight, seize, harm, and kill one another, losing their original reality and perversely deviating into licentious drift, none able to return to the origin. Confucius held no high office; passing away, he maintained the world with his remaining words. When Yang [Zhu], Mo [Di], and the Huang-Lao teachings were successively mixed in, their methods became fragmented. But when the teachings of our Buddha appeared later, they deduced departure and returned to the source, coinciding with what is called 'being quiet by nature.' The Liang ruler loved making conditioned actions; Master Bodhidharma criticized him, and the method of emptiness became all the more apparent. Transmitted six times, it reached Dajian. Dajian first showed himself capable of hard labor and servile tasks; upon hearing his words once, his speech was rare yet exhaustive. The Master [Hongren] was moved by this and thereupon transmitted the token of faith to him. Concealing himself on the South Sea, where no one heard or knew of him, for another sixteen years, he judged that his [teachings] could be practiced, and then dwelt at Caoxi to be a teacher of humans. Gathered students arrived, at times numbering several thousands. His Way took non-action as existence, took void emptiness as real, and took vastness without dissipation as its refuge. In teaching people, he began with the goodness of nature and ended with the goodness of nature, without relying on weeding or hoeing, rooted in its quiescence. Emperor Zhongzong heard of his fame and twice dispatched favored ministers to summon him, but could not bring him; he took his words as the method of mind. His teachings are completely extant. Today they are spread throughout the realm; whoever speaks of Chan is rooted in Caoxi. For one hundred and six years after Dajian passed away, among those who governed the Guangzhou region and were famous, there were dozens, yet none could raise his title. Only now has it finally been reported to the Son of Heaven, obtaining this great posthumous title. In richly aiding our Way, how could there be no words? When the Duke first stood at court, he was revered for his Confucian learning. He was Prefect of Qianzhou and Protector-General of Annam; from the great barbarians in the sea down to the west of India, floating vessels obeyed his commands and all were covered by the Duke's virtue. Receiving the banner, standard, tally, and halberd, he came to govern the South Sea, with tributary states like a forest; without killing or anger, people feared without terror, truly able to illuminate benevolence. In glorifying Dajian, none is like the Duke; fittingly, the elders among his disciples replaced the stone beneath the hall and came to request an inscription. The inscription says: