宗鏡錄 97.27

97.27

Regarding the eighteenth patriarch, Gayāśata: initially, the seventeenth patriarch, Saṅghanandi, arrived at his house and suddenly saw a boy holding a bronze mirror in his hand coming to the master's place. The venerable one asked, “How old are you, boy?” The boy said, “I am one hundred years old.” At that time, seeing him answer one hundred years old, the venerable one asked again, “You must be without knowledge; you look very young. Answering that you are one hundred years old does not accord with reason.” The boy said, “I do not understand reason, but I am precisely one hundred years old.” The venerable one asked, “Boy, are you adept with the capacity [for awakening]?” The boy said, “A Buddha's verse says: ‘If a person lives a hundred years without understanding the capacity of all Buddhas, it is not as good as living for a single day and attaining decisive resolution regarding it.’” At that time the venerable one respected him, deeply knowing he was a sage, and further questioned him, “What is the meaning and situation of your holding this mirror?” At that time the boy answered in verse:
“The great round mirror of the Buddhas
Has no flaw or blemish inside or outside.
When two people together get to see it,
Their cittas and eyes are both alike.”
The parents, seeing the boy's extraordinary nature, thereupon gave him up to go forth. The venerable one then led him on teaching travels, arrived at an ancient monastery, and gave him the precepts, giving him the name Gayāśata. In that hall, there was a bronze bell ringing as it was shaken by the wind. The venerable one asked, “Does that wind ring? Does that bell ring? Or does that bronze ring?” The boy said, “It is just my citta ringing, not the wind, bronze, or bell.” The venerable one said, “If not the wind, bronze, or bell, who is my citta?” The boy said, “Both are tranquil; is this not samādhi?” The venerable one said, “Excellent, true bhikṣu! You skillfully understand the principle of all Buddhas, skillfully preach the essentials of all dharmas, and skillfully recognize the real meaning.” He further told him, “I now entrust the treasury of the Dharma eye to you. Receive my verse and go forth to transform beings.” The verse says:
“The ground of citta is originally unborn;
Because of seeds, it arises from conditions.
Conditions and seeds do not obstruct each other;
Flowers and fruits are also like this.”
Later, Gayāśata gave the Dharma-transmission verse to Kumāralāta, saying:
“There is a seed and there is the ground of citta;
Through causes and conditions it can sprout.
Conditions do not obstruct each other;
When born, what is born is unborn.”