勅修百丈清規 2.20

2.20

人各祀其祖重其形生之始也。形生始於愛。然形有時而化。愛有時而盡。惟性之靈然不昧者不恃生而存。不偕亡而亡。故佛教人必明性。而後之學者復膠於文言。不得其指歸。猶醫之善方書而廢藥石。何益哉。及吾祖達磨至。示以直指之道。而人始廓然。見夫自性之妙不求文字不資語默。而得於謦欬聲色之外。則吾徒之傳祖道嗣祖位者。如火之薪水之器。無古今之間毫髮之異。不猶重於形生之始乎。後百丈大智禪師又作清規。以居吾徒。而禪林於是乎始。海會端公謂宜祀達磨於中百丈陪于右。而各寺之開山祖配焉。見於祖堂綱紀序云。

Each person sacrifices to their ancestors, honoring the origin of their physical birth. Physical birth originates from emotional attachment; yet form dissolves in time, and attachment ends in time. Only the spiritual and unobscured nature does not rely on birth to exist, nor does it perish along with death. Therefore the Buddha taught people that they must understand their nature. Yet later scholars again clung to textual words and failed to grasp their essential aim, just like a physician skilled in recipe books who dispenses with medicines and needles—what benefit is there? When our ancestor Bodhidharma arrived, he revealed the way of direct pointing, and people then began to see clearly the wonder of their own nature, not seeking in written words nor relying on speech or silence, but attaining it beyond coughs, gestures, sounds, and forms. Thus, for those of our school who transmit the ancestral Way and succeed to the ancestral seat, like fire to firewood or water to a vessel, there is not the slightest difference between past and present. Is this not even more important than the origin of physical birth? Later, Chan Master Baizhang Dazhi created pure rules to house our fellows, and the Chan grove began from this. Venerable Haihui Duan remarked that it is proper to sacrifice to Bodhidharma in the center, with Baizhang accompanying on the right, and the founding ancestors of the respective monasteries flanking them, as seen in the preface to the Ancestral Hall Regulations.