佛祖歷代通載 12.41

12.41

論曰。舊史敘諸祖雖簡略。然大要與寶林傳燈之說皆合。至謂達磨遇毒而卒及魏使復於葱嶺見之。則毒與卒果有之乎。世稱五祖前身蓋栽松道者。往見四祖將付以衣法。俄惜之曰。汝耄矣。雖嗣化能復幾何。倘再來可也。五祖因託質周氏。無父而生。母幾受禍僅死而免。四祖果忍死以遲其來。卑以大法。噫吾祖出入死生正游戲耳。自非果位上聖。孰能與於此哉。

The appraisal says: Although the old history's account of the various patriarchs is brief, its essentials all accord with the accounts in the Baolin zhuan (Transmission of Baolin) and the Chuandeng lu (Record of the Transmission of the Lamp). As for the claim that Bodhidharma met with poison and died, and that the Wei envoy saw him again in the Pamirs, were the poisoning and death really true? Tradition says that the Fifth Patriarch's former body was the pine-planting Daoist. When he went to see the Fourth Patriarch, who was about to confer upon him the robe and Dharma, the Fourth Patriarch suddenly regretted it, saying: 'You are old; though you succeed to the transformation, how much longer can you live? If you come again, it will do.' The Fifth Patriarch therefore lodged his form with the Zhou clan, born without a father. His mother almost suffered calamity, barely escaping death. The Fourth Patriarch indeed endured death to await his coming, and humbled himself to confer the great Dharma. Ah! Our Patriarchs' coming and going through birth and death is truly mere sport! Unless one is a supreme sage in the causal and fruitional stages, who could take part in this?"