釋氏稽古略 4.332

4.332

In the Song, an imperial edict appointed Yuanzhi of Mount Dongye in Taizhou to reside at Upper Tianzhu. The Grand Preceptor Qin Hui asked him: "Are concentration and insight (śamatha and vipaśyanā) one dharma or two dharmas?" Zhi said: "They are one dharma. To use the analogy of water: that which is clear and still is concentration; that which can reflect one's beard and eyebrows is insight. The water is only one. Because the mental nature of sentient beings suffers from the ailments of profound dullness and great distraction, concentration and insight are employed as medicine to rescue and cure them, returning them to the complete substance of the one Dharma realm. The Dharma realm in its stillness is called concentration; remaining still yet constantly illuminating is called insight. How could the bright and tranquil substance of concentration and insight be two?" Qin Hui was delighted, and took the lead by donating fifty thousand strings of cash to build the Dharma hall. On the twelfth day of the twelfth month in the twenty-eighth year of Shaoxing, Dharma Master Zhengwu Yuanzhi entered into silence. Cao Xun composed the stupa inscription. An imperial edict appointed his Dharma-inheriting head monk, Ruone, to succeed to the seat as abbot.