六祖大師法寶壇經 1.23

1.23

"In front of the Fifth Patriarch's hall, there was a corridor of three bays. They planned to invite the Court Academician Lu Zhen to paint scenes from the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the lineage chart of the five patriarchs, to be passed down for veneration. Shenxiu finished composing his verse and several times intended to present it. He walked to the front of the hall, but his mind was distraught and his whole body drenched in sweat; he was unable to present it. In all, four days passed, and thirteen times he failed to present the verse. Xiu then reflected: 'It would be better to write it along the corridor and let the Upādhyāya see it. If he suddenly says it is good, I will step forward, bow down, and say it was written by Xiu; if he says it is unworthy, I have spent years in the mountains receiving people's veneration in vain—what Dao could I further cultivate?' That night at the third watch, without letting anyone know, holding a lamp himself, he wrote the verse upon the wall of the south corridor, presenting what his mind had seen. The verse said: