六祖大師法寶壇經 1.83

1.83

After the Master obtained the Dharma from Huangmei, he returned to Caohou Village in Shaozhou, where no one knew him. (Another edition says that when the Master went, he reached Caohou Village and stayed for more than nine months. However, the Master himself said: "In not more than thirty-odd days I reached Huangmei." With such urgency in seeking the Way, how could there have been any lingering? The account that has this occurring on the journey there is incorrect.) There was a Confucian scholar named Liu Zhilüe who treated him with great courtesy. Zhilüe had a paternal aunt who was a nun named Wujinzang, who constantly recited the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. The Master listened briefly and immediately understood its profound meaning, and thereupon explained it for her. The nun then held up the scroll and asked about the characters. The Master said, "As for the characters, I do not recognize them; but as for the meaning, please ask." The nun said, "If you do not even recognize the characters, how can you understand the meaning?" The Master said, "The profound principle of all Buddhas does not concern written characters." The nun was astonished, and went everywhere telling the elders and virtuous of the village, "This is a person who possesses the Way; we ought to invite him and make offerings to him." Cao Shuliang, a great-great-grandson of Marquis Wu of Wei (Wei is also written as Jin), together with the local residents, vied to come and pay homage. At that time, the ancient Baolin Temple had been abandoned since the fires of war at the end of the Sui. Thereupon they rebuilt the monastery upon the old foundations and invited the Master to dwell there. Soon it became a precious site. The Master had stayed for nine months and more when he was once again pursued by malicious bands, so the Master fled to the mountain in front. They set fire to burn the grass and trees, but the Master hid himself by squeezing into a rock and escaped. The rock still has the marks of the Master's knees from sitting cross-legged, as well as the texture of his robe's cloth; hence it is named the Rock of Escaping Danger. The Master recalled the Fifth Patriarch's admonition to stop at Huai and conceal himself at Hui, so he went and hid in those two districts.