佛祖歷代通載 13.42

13.42

（三十　癸未）　帝遣中使楊庭光入司空山采常春藤。光因詣無相寺問本淨禪師曰。弟子慕道斯久。願和上慈悲略垂開示。師曰。天下禪宗碩學咸會京城。天使足可啟決。貧道猥山傍水無所用心。楊再拜。師曰。天使休禮貧道。天使為求佛耶。問道耶。曰弟子昏昧。未審佛之與道其義云何。曰若欲求佛即心是佛。若欲會道無心是道。曰云何即心是佛。曰佛因心悟心以佛彰。若悟無心佛亦不有。曰云何無心是道。曰道本無心。無心名道。若了無心。無心即道。庭光跪受。回闕具以山中所遇聞奏。即勅庭光齎詔起師。以是冬十二月到京安置白蓮亭。明年正月上元日。追兩街名僧碩學赴內道場。共師闡揚佛理。有遠禪師者。問如禪師所見以何為道。師曰。無心是道。遠曰。道因心有。何得言無心是道。師曰。道本無名。因心名道。心名若有。道不虛然。窮心既無。道憑何立。二俱虛妄總是假名遠曰。禪師見有身心是道以否。師曰。山僧身心本來是道。遠曰。適言無心是道。今又言身心本來是道。豈不相違。師曰。無心是道。心泯道無。心道一如。故言無心是道。身心本來是道道亦本是身心。身心本既是空。道亦窮源無有。遠曰。觀禪師形體甚小。却會此理。師曰。汝只見山僧相不見山僧無相。遠曰。請禪師於相上說出無相師曰。淨名經云。四大無主身亦無我。無我所見與道相應。大德若以四大有主是我。若有我見窮劫不可會道也。遠慚汗而退。如遠者又七人往復論道。師皆縱口詞辯傾注。帝及四眾莫不稱善而罷。

[30, guiyi] The Emperor dispatched the Palace Envoy Yang Tingguang to Sikong Shan to gather evergreen vines. Guang consequently visited Wuxiang Temple and asked Chan Master Benjing: 'This disciple has long yearned for the Way. May the Upādhyāya, out of compassion, grant a brief instruction.' The Master said: 'The eminent scholars of the Chan school throughout the realm are all gathered in the capital. The Heavenly Envoy may well ask them to resolve your doubts. This poor monk is uncouth, living beside mountains and waters, with no concerns in mind.' Yang bowed twice. The Master said: 'Heavenly Envoy, cease bowing to this poor monk. Does the Heavenly Envoy seek the Buddha, or ask about the Way?' Yang said: 'This disciple is ignorant and does not yet know what the meanings of the Buddha and the Way are.' The Master said: 'If you wish to seek the Buddha, the mind itself is the Buddha. If you wish to understand the Way, no-mind is the Way.' Yang asked: 'How is it that the mind itself is the Buddha?' The Master said: 'The Buddha is awakened to because of the mind; the mind is made manifest by the Buddha. If one awakens to no-mind, the Buddha does not exist either.' Yang asked: 'How is it that no-mind is the Way?' The Master said: 'The Way is originally without mind; no-mind is termed the Way. If one understands no-mind, no-mind is itself the Way.' Tingguang knelt to receive this. Returning to the palace, he reported in detail what he had encountered in the mountains. An imperial edict was immediately issued ordering Tingguang to bear a decree summoning the Master. In the twelfth month of that winter, he arrived in the capital and was accommodated at the White Lotus Pavilion. On the Lantern Festival of the first month of the following year, celebrated monks and eminent scholars of the Two Streets were summoned to the Inner Bodhimanda to elucidate the Buddhist principles together with the Master. There was a Chan Master Yuan who asked: 'According to the Chan Master's view, what is considered the Way?' The Master said: 'No-mind is the Way.' Yuan said: 'The Way exists because of the mind; how can one say that no-mind is the Way?' The Master said: 'The Way is originally without a name; it is named the Way because of the mind. If the name of mind exists, the Way does not exist in vain. Since an ultimate inquiry reveals that mind does not exist, upon what can the Way be established? Both are illusory, all being conventional names.' Yuan asked: 'Does the Chan Master see that body and mind are the Way, or not?' The Master said: 'This mountain monk's body and mind are fundamentally the Way.' Yuan said: 'Just now you said that no-mind is the Way; now you say again that body and mind are fundamentally the Way. Is this not contradictory?' The Master said: 'No-mind is the Way; when the mind is extinguished, the Way is absent; mind and the Way are as one. Therefore I say no-mind is the Way. Body and mind are fundamentally the Way; the Way is also fundamentally body and mind. Since body and mind are fundamentally empty, when traced to its source the Way also does not exist.' Yuan said: 'Observing that the Chan Master's physical form is very small, yet you understand this principle!' The Master said: 'You only see this mountain monk's form (lakṣaṇa); you do not see this mountain monk's formlessness (alakṣaṇa).' Yuan said: 'Please, Chan Master, explain formlessness on the basis of form.' The Master said: 'The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra states: "The four great elements have no master, and the body also has no self." Seeing without self-grasping accords with the Way. If the Venerable One regards the four great elements as having a master that is the self, and if you have the view of self, even through an exhaustive kalpa you cannot understand the Way.' Yuan withdrew, sweating with shame. Another seven people like Yuan engaged in back-and-forth debates on the Way; the Master gave free rein to his eloquence, which poured forth abundantly. The Emperor and the fourfold assembly all praised it, and the assembly then concluded.