佛祖歷代通載 9.38

9.38

論曰。昔嵩明教著傳法正宗記。稱達磨住世凡數百年。諒其已登聖果得意生身。非分段生死所拘。及來此土示終葬畢。乃復全身以歸則其住壽固不可以世情測也。傳燈錄云。師以九月二十一日至廣州。刺史以表聞奏。帝遣使齎詔迎之。師以十月一日至金陵。然自廣至金陵亡慮三千餘里。將命者往而復。師方啟行。豈以十日之間能歷三千里乎。又謂魏孝明帝欽師異迹三屈詔命。師竟不下少林。及師示寂。宋雲自西域還遇師于葱嶺。孝莊帝有旨令啟壙。如南史普通八年即大通元年也。孝明以是歲四月癸丑殂。師以十月至梁。蓋師未至魏時。孝明已去世。及其子即位未幾。為爾朱榮所弑。乃立孝莊帝。由是魏國大亂。越三年而孝莊殂。又五年而分割為東西魏。然則吾祖在少林時。正值其亂。及宋雲之還則孝莊去世。亦五六年。其國至於分割久矣。烏有孝莊令啟壙之說乎。奮唐史云。後魏末有僧達磨。航海而來。既卒。其年魏使宋雲於葱嶺回見之。門徒發其墓但有隻履而已。此乃實錄也。又謂光統律師菩提流支數下毒害師。師遂不救。嗚呼甚哉。光統流支法門龍象。詎能爾乎。是皆立言者誤也。雖然吾宗從上來事。昭昭若揭日月而行。故二祖禮三拜後依位而立。當爾之際。印塵劫於睡息。洞剎海於毫端。直下承當全身負荷。正所謂通玄峯頂不是人間。入此門來不存知解者也。抑烏有動靜去來彼此時分而可辯哉。

A commentary says: Formerly, Mingjiao of Mount Song composed the Record of the Correct Lineage of the Dharma Transmission, stating that Bodhidharma lived in the world for several hundred years altogether. One may presume that he had already attained the noble fruit and obtained the mind-made body, not bound by the birth and death of portioned limitation. When he came to this land, manifested his end, and the burial was completed, he then returned with his whole body; thus his lifespan certainly cannot be measured by worldly sentiment. The Record of the Transmission of the Lamp says that the Master arrived in Guangzhou on the twenty-first day of the ninth month; the prefect sent a memorial to inform the throne, and the emperor dispatched an envoy bearing an imperial decree to welcome him; the Master arrived in Jinling on the first day of the tenth month. However, from Guangzhou to Jinling is easily more than three thousand li; by the time the messenger went and returned, and the Master set out, how could he have traversed three thousand li within ten days? It also says that Emperor Xiaoming of the Wei admired the Master's extraordinary traces and thrice issued imperial decrees, yet the Master never came down from Shaolin. When the Master entered nirvāṇa, Song Yun returned from the Western Regions and met the Master at the Congling Mountains, whereupon Emperor Xiaozhuang issued an edict to open the crypt. According to the History of the Southern Dynasties, the eighth year of Putong was the first year of Datong. Emperor Xiaoming died in the fourth month of that year, on the guichou day; the Master arrived in Liang in the tenth month. Thus, before the Master had even arrived in the Wei, Xiaoming had already passed away. Soon after his son ascended the throne, he was assassinated by Erzhu Rong, who then enthroned Emperor Xiaozhuang. From this, the state of Wei fell into great chaos; after three years Xiaozhuang died, and after another five years the state was partitioned into Eastern and Western Wei. That being so, when our Patriarch was at Shaolin, it was precisely during those chaotic times. By the time Song Yun returned, Xiaozhuang had already been dead for five or six years, and their state had long since been partitioned. How could there be the story of Xiaozhuang ordering the opening of the crypt? The Old Tang History says, 'At the end of the Later Wei, there was a monk, Bodhidharma, who came by sea. After his death, that year the Wei envoy Song Yun saw him on his return at the Congling Mountains. When his disciples opened his tomb, there was only a single shoe.' This is indeed a true record. It is also said that the Vinaya Master Guangtong and Bodhiruci repeatedly administered poison to harm the Master, and the Master eventually did not survive. Alas, how excessive! Guangtong and Bodhiruci were dragons and elephants of the Dharma gate; how could they have done such a thing? These are all errors of the authors. Nevertheless, the matter handed down from above in our school is as clear and luminous as upholding the sun and moon in one's course. Thus, when the Second Patriarch made three prostrations and then stood in his place—at that very moment, the dust-kalpas were sealed within a breath of sleep, and the sea of worlds was penetrated at the tip of a hair; taking it directly upon himself, he bore the entire weight with his whole body. It is just as has been said: 'The peak of Tongxuan is not the human world; entering this gate, no conceptual understanding remains.' Moreover, how could there be movement and stillness, going and coming, this and that, or times and seasons that could be debated?