佛祖歷代通載 16.47

16.47

（廿七　庚午）　詔京兆薦福寺弘辨禪師入內。帝問曰。禪宗何有南北之名。對曰。禪門本無南北。昔如來以正法眼付大迦葉。展轉相傳至三十一世。此土弘忍大師有二弟子。一名惠能。受衣法居嶺南。一名神秀。在北揚化。得法雖一時。開導發悟有頓漸之異。故曰南頓北漸。非禪宗本有南北之號也。帝曰。何名戒定慧。對曰。防非止惡名戒。六根涉境心不隨緣名定。心境俱空照鑒無惑為慧。帝曰。何名方便。對曰。方便者隱實覆相權巧之門也。被接中下曲施誘廸。謂之方便。設為上根言捨方便但說無上道者。斯亦方便之談。以至祖師玄言忘功絕謂。亦無出方便之迹。帝曰。何為佛心。對曰。佛者覺也。謂人有智慧覺照為佛心。心者佛之別名。則有百千異號。體唯其一。本無形狀。非青黃赤白男女等相。在天非天。在人非人。而現天現人。能男能女。非始非終無生無滅。故號靈覺之性。如陛下日應萬機。即是陛下佛心。假使千佛共傳。應無別有所得也。帝曰。如今有人念佛如何。對曰。如來出世為天人師。隨根器而說。為上根者。開最上乘頓悟至理。中下根者。未能頓曉。是以佛為韋提希開十六觀門。令念佛生於極樂。故經云。是心是佛。是心作佛。心外無佛。佛外無心。帝曰。復有人持經持呪求佛如何。對曰。如來種種說法。皆為最上一乘。如百千眾流莫不朝宗于海。如是差別諸緣皆歸薩婆若海。帝曰。祖師既傳心印。金剛經云。無所得法如何。對曰。佛之一化實無一法與人。但示眾生各各自性同一法藏。當時然燈如來但印釋迦本法。而無所得方契然燈本意。故經云。無我無人無眾生無壽者。是法平等修一切善不著於相。帝曰。禪師既會祖意。還禮佛看經否。對曰沙門禮佛看經。蓋是住持常法。有四報焉。依佛戒修身。參尋知識漸修梵行。履踐如來所行之迹。帝曰。何為頓見。何為漸修。對曰。頓明自性與佛無二。然有無始染習。故假漸修對治令順性起用。如人喫飯非一口便飽。是日辨對七刻方罷。帝悅賜號圓智禪師。

(27. Gengwu [850 CE]) An imperial edict summoned Chan Master Hongbian of Jianfu Monastery in the capital to enter the palace. The Emperor asked: "Why does the Chan school have the names Southern and Northern?" He replied: "The Chan gate originally had no South and North. In antiquity, the Tathāgata transmitted the eye of the correct Dharma to Mahākāśyapa, passing it down successively to the thirty-first generation. In this land, Master Hongren had two disciples: one named Huineng, who received the robe and Dharma and dwelt south of the passes; the other named Shenxiu, who propagated the teaching in the north. Although their attainment of the Dharma happened at the same time, their guidance and awakening differed in being sudden or gradual; hence they were called the Southern Sudden and Northern Gradual. It is not that the Chan school originally had the titles of South and North." The Emperor said: "What are called precepts, concentration, and wisdom?" He replied: "Guarding against wrongdoing and halting evil is called precepts. The six sense-bases encountering their objects while the mind does not follow conditions is called concentration. Both mind and objects being empty while illuminated with clear discernment and without delusion is wisdom." The Emperor said: "What is meant by skillful means?" He replied: "Skillful means is the expedient gate of concealing the true and veiling characteristics. Gathering and guiding those of middling and lower capacity by subtly applying inducements and instruction is called skillful means. Even when addressing those of the highest capacity and speaking of abandoning skillful means to expound solely the unsurpassed Way, this too is a discourse of skillful means. Even the ancestral masters' profound sayings that transcend exertion and terminate verbal expression do not go beyond the traces of skillful means." The Emperor said: "What is the Buddha-mind?" He replied: "'Buddha' means awakened. A person having the wisdom of awakened illumination is the Buddha-mind. 'Mind' is another name for Buddha, and thus has hundreds and thousands of different titles, yet its essence is only one. Originally devoid of shape or form, it is neither blue, yellow, red, nor white, neither male nor female. In heaven it is not heavenly; among humans it is not human; yet it manifests as heavenly and manifests as human, able to be male and able to be female. Neither beginning nor ending, devoid of arising and devoid of cessation, it is therefore called the nature of luminous awakening. Just as Your Majesty responds to the myriad affairs of state each day, this is indeed Your Majesty's Buddha-mind. Even if a thousand Buddhas together transmitted it, there should be nothing else to attain." The Emperor said: "Nowadays there are people who recite the Buddha's name; what about this?" He replied: "The Tathāgata appeared in the world as the teacher of gods and humans, teaching according to capacity. For those of highest capacity, he opened the supreme vehicle's sudden awakening to the ultimate truth. Those of middling and lower capacity were unable to understand suddenly; therefore the Buddha opened for Vaidehī the sixteen contemplation gates, causing her to recite the Buddha's name and be born in Ultimate Bliss. Thus the sūtra says: 'This mind is the Buddha; this mind becomes the Buddha; outside mind there is no Buddha; outside Buddha there is no mind.'" The Emperor said: "There are also those who uphold sūtras and uphold dhāraṇīs to seek buddhahood; what about this?" He replied: "The Tathāgata's various expositions of the Dharma are all for the sake of the supreme One Vehicle, just as hundreds and thousands of flowing streams all flow toward the sea. In this way, all different conditions return to the ocean of sarvajña." The Emperor said: "Since the ancestral masters transmitted the mind-seal, what of the Diamond Sūtra's statement that there is no Dharma attained?" He replied: "In the Buddha's single teaching, there was truly not a single Dharma given to people; he merely showed that sentient beings each possess their own nature within the same Dharma-treasury. At that time Dīpaṃkara Tathāgata merely gave assurance to Śākyamuni's fundamental Dharma; having nothing attained was precisely what accorded with Dīpaṃkara's original intention. Thus the sūtra says: 'There is no self, no person, no sentient being, and no soul. This Dharma is equal; one practices all good without clinging to characteristics.'" The Emperor said: "Since you, Chan master, understand the ancestral intention, do you still pay homage to the Buddha and read the sūtras?" He replied: "A śramaṇa's paying homage to the Buddha and reading sūtras is indeed the regular practice for maintaining the teaching, which has four retributions. Relying on the Buddha's precepts to cultivate oneself, seeking out spiritual friends, gradually cultivating pure conduct, and treading the path traversed by the Tathāgata." The Emperor said: "What is sudden seeing? What is gradual cultivation?" He replied: "Suddenly understanding one's own nature as not two from the Buddha; yet because there are defiled habit-energies from beginningless time, one relies on gradual cultivation as an antidote to cause action to arise in accord with that nature. Just as when a person eats, he is not full from a single mouthful." On that day, the dialogue lasted seven quarters of an hour before ending. Pleased, the Emperor conferred on him the title Chan Master Yuanzhi.