佛祖歷代通載 16.26

16.26

On the sixth day of the first month of this year, Chan Master Zongmi of Guifeng manifested his entry into stillness. Chancellor Pei Xiu composed the inscription for the transmission of the Dharma: The master's secular surname was He; he was a native of Xiyan in Guozhou, and a thirty-ninth-generation Dharma descendant of Śākyamuni Tathāgata. Śākyamuni dwelt in the world for eighty years, expounding various teachings for immeasurable devas, humans, śrāvakas, and bodhisattvas. At last, he entrusted the Dharma Eye to Mahākāśyapa, commanding that it be separately transmitted from patriarch to patriarch throughout the world. Consider that this Dharma is the original source of sentient beings and that which all Buddhas realize. It transcends all principles and is free from all marks; it cannot be sought and obtained through spoken words, conceptual knowledge, existence, non-existence, concealment, or manifestation. It is merely heart-mind sealing heart-mind, seal according with seal, causing one to personally realize and illuminate its function for oneself. From Kāśyapa down to Bodhidharma, and from Bodhidharma's coming east down to Caoxi, there were altogether thirty-three generations. Caoxi transmitted it to Heze; Heze transmitted it to Ru of Cizhou; Ru transmitted it to Zhang of Jingnan; Zhang transmitted it to Yuan of Suizhou; and Yuan transmitted it to the Chan Master. The master was of the fifth generation from Heze, and the thirty-eighth generation from Kāśyapa. Such was his lineage. The master came from an eminent clan and in his youth mastered Confucian learning. One day he visited [the master of] Suizhou. Before he had had the opportunity to converse with him, upon withdrawing and walking along the road, he saw him majestically absorbed in samādhi. Filled with joy and admiration, he thereupon had his head shaved, donned the dyed robes, and received the Way. Once, while attending a vegetarian feast and receiving a scripture, he obtained the twelve chapters of the Scripture of Complete Enlightenment; before finishing his recitation, he had a great awakening. He returned and reported this to his teacher, who gave him his seal of approval. He then visited Zhao of Dongjing. Zhao said, "You are a person of the bodhisattva vehicle; who could fail to recognize you?" Next, he visited Chengguan of Qingliang. Chengguan said, "Vairocana's Floral Treasury—the one who can roam with me must indeed be you!" Later, when a monk from the Han River region presented him with the new commentary on the Avataṃsaka, he began lecturing on the Avataṃsaka. In time, he composed commentaries, sub-commentaries, ritual repentances, charts and biographies of practice and realization, summaries, and collections of Chan sayings of the various lineages, compiling the Chan Canon, as well as letters, verses, treatises, and discussions, amounting to over ninety fascicles in total. Some said: "The master did not abide by Chan practice, but broadly expounded sutras and treatises, traveling among famous cities and great capitals with the aim of founding institutions. Was he not thus enslaved by vast learning, and had he not yet forgotten fame and profit?" To this it was answered: "Alas! The One Mind is the summation of the ten thousand dharmas. Divided, it forms morality, concentration, and wisdom; opened up, it forms the six pāramitās; dispersed, it forms the ten thousand practices. The ten thousand practices have never been apart from the One Mind, and the One Mind has never opposed the ten thousand practices. Chan is merely one of the six pāramitās—how could it sum up all dharmas? Furthermore, when the Tathāgata entrusted the Dharma Eye to Kāśyapa, it was not on account of external practices. Therefore, that which is realized from one's own mind is the Dharma; that which arises according with outward actions is toil; their attainment is not necessarily identical. Thus, the One Mind is that from which the ten thousand dharmas are born, yet it does not belong to the ten thousand dharmas. One who attains it is sovereign with respect to the Dharma; one who perceives it is unobstructed with respect to the teachings. Originally it is not a dharma, so it cannot be spoken of as a dharma; originally it is not a teaching, so it cannot be transmitted as a teaching. How could it be sought by following external tracks? From Kāśyapa to Puṇyayaśas, all ten patriarchs were arhats, and those they liberated were also arhats. Not until Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, and Vasubandhu did masters begin opening the Mahāyāna practice, composing treatises and explaining sutras, crushing non-Buddhists and serving as leaders of bodhisattvas. Yet the Venerable Jayata was distinguished solely by the spiritual power of his precepts, and the Venerable Manorhita was distinguished solely by the path-traces of his ascetic practices. Other patriarchs either broadly propagated the Dharma teachings, or single-mindedly practiced dhyāna-concentration, or sloughed off their bodies like cicadas, or transformed into fire and extinguished, or climbed a tree to manifest their passing, or suffered harm to repay karmic debts. Thus, their Dharma was necessarily identical, but their outward practices were not necessarily identical. Moreover, one who follows wheel-ruts is not a skillful traveler; one who adheres rigidly to compass and chalk is not a skillful artisan. Without swiftness, one cannot be a great ox; without transcendence, one cannot be a great being. Therefore, as for the Chan Master's practice of the Way: he took insight as the wondrous gate and tranquility as the true flavor; kindness and forbearance were his armor and helmet, and wisdom and discernment were his sword and spear. He breached the high ramparts of inner māras and took by storm the solid ranks of outer thieves. He subdued the depraved and chaotic, and untied the ropes and cages. Meeting a prodigal son, he rebuked him and sent him back home; seeing a poor woman, he scolded her and made her illuminate her own house. If the prodigal son did not return, or if the poor woman was not made rich, my teacher felt it a disgrace. If the Triyāna did not flourish, or the Fourfold Vinaya was not invigorated, my teacher felt it a disgrace. If loyalty and filial piety were not transformed together, or if the burden was not borne to the end, my teacher felt it a disgrace. Therefore, he was anxious to rescue and deliver, and diligent in opening and guiding. He did not elevate himself through a single practice, nor did he aggrandize himself through a single virtue. If someone came to take refuge, he did not wait to be invited before going; if someone sought benefit, he did not wait for them to be exasperated before enlightening them. Even with young children he was not neglectful in receiving them; even with the arrogant and refractory he was untiring in spurring and encouraging them. Such was how he expounded the teachings, liberated sentient beings, and assisted the transformation of the state. Therefore, among those who drew close to the Master's Dharma: the greedy practiced generosity, the violent became restrained, the unyielding became compliant, the perverse became obedient, the bewildered were illuminated, the indolent were stirred to exertion, the proud became humble, the obstinate were transformed, the self-interested became impartial, and the emotionally indulgence became righteous. Thus, among the gentry and commoners, there were those who changed their livelihoods and cut off bloody meat, upholding the precepts and becoming lay practitioners; there were those who went forth into official service to cultivate governance and relieve distress as their path; and there were those who withdrew to serve their parents with abundant provisions as their practice. As for the rest who came in endless streams and left in joy, who arrived shaking their sleeves [in distress] and returned with satisfied hearts—their numbers are beyond counting. He was truly a bodhisattva entrusted by the Tathāgata, an unbidden good friend to sentient beings. Was he not one of the Four Reliances? Was he not a person of the Ten Stages? I do not know the breadth of his realm and courtyard; how, then, could critics know the direction of the Great Way? He lived sixty-two years and had thirty-four monastic rains-retreats. Emperor Xuanzong posthumously bestowed on him the title Chan Master Dinghui (Concentration and Wisdom). His disciples among the monks, nuns, and the fourfold assembly numbered several thousands.