佛祖歷代通載 3.78

3.78

(30. Jiazi, Bingyin; 36) The eighth patriarch, Buddhanandi, was a native of the country of Kāmala, of the Gautama clan. He had a fleshy usṇīṣa on his crown, and his eloquence was swift and unimpeded. He initially met the Venerable Vasumitra, left home, and received instruction. Later he led disciples, traveling and teaching, until he reached the house of Vaiśāla in the city of Dighe. Seeing a white light rising above the residence, he said to his assembly of disciples, "The holy person in this house has no speech from his mouth; he is truly a vessel of the Great Vehicle. He does not walk the crossroads because he knows they encounter defilement." When he finished speaking, the elder came out, offered homage, and asked, "What do you require?" The patriarch said, "I seek an attendant." [The elder] said, "I have a son named Buddhamitra; he is already fifty years old, but his mouth has never spoken, and his feet have never walked." [The patriarch] said, "As you have said, he is truly my disciple." When the patriarch saw him, [the son] abruptly stood up, bowed in homage, and spoke a gāthā, saying: "Father and mother are not my kin; / who is the most intimate kin? / The Buddhas are not my Way; / what is the supreme Way?" The patriarch answered with a gāthā, saying: "Your words are intimate with mind; / father and mother are beyond compare. / Your practice unites with the Way; / the Buddhas' mind is just this. / To seek a Buddha with marks outside / does not resemble you. / If you wish to know your original mind, / it is neither joined nor separate." Having heard the patriarch's wondrous gāthā, Buddhamitra immediately walked seven steps. The patriarch said, "This child met a Buddha in the past and has vast compassionate vows; fearing the affection and clinging of father and mother would be hard to abandon, he neither spoke nor walked." At that time, the elder renounced him and let him leave home; the patriarch soon conferred the complete precepts on him and further addressed him, saying, "I now transmit and entrust to you the Tathāgata's treasury of the eye of the correct Dharma; do not let it be severed." He then spoke a gāthā, saying: "Empty space has neither inside nor outside; / the mind Dharma is also like this. / If you realize empty space, / you reach the principle of True Thusness." Buddhamitra received the master's transmission and entrustment, praising him with a gāthā: "My master among the Chan patriarchs / is entitled to be the eighth. / He has transformed countless beings through Dharma, / all obtaining arhatship." At that time, the Venerable Buddhanandi manifested divine transformations, returned to his original seat, and entered serene quiescence with dignity. The assembly erected a jeweled stūpa to inter his whole body. This was the tenth year of King Jing, the bingyin year.