六祖大師法寶壇經 1.34

1.34

"Huineng took leave of the Patriarch and set out on foot heading south. Within two months, I reached Dayu Ridge. (The Fifth Patriarch returned, and for several days did not ascend the hall. The assembly suspected something, and went to inquire, saying: 'Is the upādhyāya free from illness and distress?' He said: 'Illness there is none; the robe and the Dharma have already gone south.' They asked: 'Who received the transmission?' He said: 'The capable one [Neng] obtained it.' The assembly then knew.) Several hundred people pursued behind, wishing to seize the robe and bowl. There was a monk whose secular surname was Chen and whose personal name was Huiming. Previously he had been a general of the fourth rank; his nature and conduct were rough and coarse, but he was most earnest in seeking the Path. Leading the crowd, he overtook Huineng. Huineng cast the robe and bowl down upon a rock, saying: 'This robe symbolizes faith; can it be contended for by force?' Huineng concealed himself in the dense grass. Huiming arrived and tried to lift it, but it would not move. He then called out, saying: 'Practitioner! Practitioner! I have come for the Dharma, not for the robe!' Huineng then emerged and sat upon a boulder. Huiming made prostrations and said: 'I hope the practitioner will expound the Dharma for me.' Huineng said: 'Since you have come for the Dharma, you may bring all conditions to rest, and do not give rise to a single thought. I shall explain it for you.' Ming remained silent for a long time. Huineng said: 'Not thinking of good, not thinking of evil, just at such a time, what is the Venerable Ming's original face?' Under these words Huiming was greatly awakened. He asked again, saying: 'Apart from the secret words and secret meanings handed down just now, is there still any further secret meaning?' Huineng said: 'What has been spoken to you is not secret. If you reflect inward, the secret is on your own side.' Ming said: 'Although Huiming was at Huangmei, I truly had not realized my own face. Now, receiving your instruction, it is like a person drinking water: he naturally knows whether it is cold or warm. Now the practitioner is Huiming's teacher.' Huineng said: 'If you are thus, you and I share Huangmei as our teacher; guard and maintain it well yourself.' Ming asked again: 'Where should Huiming go from now on?' Huineng said: 'When you encounter Yuan, stop; when you meet Meng, dwell.' Ming made prostrations and took his leave. (When Ming returned to the foot of the ridge, he said to the pursuing crowd: 'I just ascended the steep heights, and after all there were no traces; we should seek him by another path.' The pursuing crowd all took it to be so. Huiming later changed his name to Daoming, avoiding the upper character of his master's name.)