曆代法寶記 1.6

1.6

唐朝第四祖信禪師。俗姓司馬。河內人。少小出家。承事璨大師。璨大師知為特氣。晝夜常坐。不臥六十餘年。脇不至席。神威奇特。目閉不視。若欲視人。見者驚悚。信大師於是大業年。遙見吉州。狂賊圍城。百日已上。泉井枯涸。大師入城。勸誘道俗。令行般若波羅蜜。狂賊自退。城中泉井再汎。信大師遙見蘄州黃梅破頭山有紫雲蓋。信大師遂居此山。後改為雙峯山。貞觀十七年。文武皇帝勅使於雙峯山。請信禪師入內。信禪師辭老不去。勅使迴見帝奏云。信禪師辭老不來。勅又遣再請。使至信禪師處。使云。奏勅遣請禪師。禪師苦辭老不去。語使云。若欲得我頭。任斬將。我終不去。使迴見帝奏云。須頭任斬將。去心終不去。勅又遣使封刀來取禪師頭。勅云。莫損和上。使至和上處云。奉勅取和上頭。禪師去不去。和上云。我終不去。使云。奉勅云。若禪師不來。斬頭將來。信大師引頭云斬取。使返刀乙項。信大師唱言。何不斬。更待何時。使云。奉勅不許損和上。信禪師大笑曰。教汝知有人處。後時信大師大作佛事。廣開法門。接引群品。四方龍像盡受歸依。經三十餘年。唯弘忍事之得意。付囑法及袈裟。與弘忍訖。命弟子元一師。與吾山側造龍龕一所。即須早成。後問。龍龕成否。元一師答。功畢。永徽二年潤九月二十四日。大師素無痾疾。奄然坐化。大師時年七十有二。葬後周年。石戶無故自開。大師容貌端嚴無改常日。弘忍等重奉神威儀不勝感慕。乃就尊容加以漆布。自此已後更不敢閉。弟子甚多。唯有弘忍傳衣得法承後。中書令杜正倫撰牌文。

The fourth patriarch of the Tang dynasty was Chan Master Xin. His secular surname was Sima, and he was a native of Henei. He left home in his youth and served Master Can. Master Can recognized his extraordinary spirit. Day and night he constantly sat, not lying down for over sixty years, his ribs never touching a mat. His spiritual majesty was wondrous and unique; his eyes were kept closed without looking, and if he wished to look at someone, those who saw him were terrified. During the Daye reign era, Master Xin looked from afar toward Jizhou, where wild bandits had besieged the city for over a hundred days, and the springs and wells had run dry. The Great Master entered the city and exhorted the monastics and laypeople, causing them to practice the prajñāpāramitā; the wild bandits retreated on their own, and the springs and wells in the city overflowed again. Master Xin looked from afar toward Potou Mountain in Huangmei of Qizhou and saw a purple cloud canopy. Master Xin thereupon dwelt on this mountain, which was later renamed Mount Shuangfeng. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the Civil and Martial Emperor sent an imperial envoy to Mount Shuangfeng to invite Chan Master Xin into the palace. Chan Master Xin declined on account of old age and did not go. The imperial envoy returned to see the emperor and memorialized, "Chan Master Xin declines on account of old age and will not come." An imperial edict was sent again to invite him. The envoy arrived at Chan Master Xin's place and said, "An imperial edict has been issued to invite the Chan master." The Chan master adamantly declined on account of old age and would not go, saying to the envoy, "If you want to have my head, feel free to cut it off and take it; I will never go." The envoy returned to see the emperor and memorialized, "He said, 'If you need my head, feel free to cut it off and take it; as for my heart to go, I will never go.'" The emperor again sent an envoy with a sealed sword to take the Chan master's head, but the decree said, "Do not harm the Upādhyāya." The envoy arrived at the Upādhyāya's place and said, "I have received an imperial decree to take the Upādhyāya's head. Will the Chan master go or not?" The Upādhyāya said, "I will never go." The envoy said, "The imperial decree says, 'If the Chan master does not come, sever his head and bring it.'" Master Xin stretched out his neck and said, "Sever and take it." The envoy reversed the blade and drew it across his neck. Master Xin called out, "Why do you not sever it? What more are you waiting for?" The envoy said, "The imperial decree does not permit harming the Upādhyāya." Chan Master Xin laughed heartily and said, "Let you know that there are [true] men here!" Later, Master Xin greatly performed Buddhist activities, broadly opened the dharma gate, and guided all classes of beings; the dragon-elephants of the four directions all received refuge. After more than thirty years, only Hongren served him and grasped his intent. Having finished entrusting the Dharma and the kāṣāya to Hongren, he instructed his disciple Master Yuanyi, "Build a dragon niche for me beside the mountain; it must be completed quickly." Later he asked, "Is the dragon niche completed or not?" Master Yuanyi replied, "The work is finished." On the twenty-fourth day of the intercalary ninth month of the second year of Yonghui, the Great Master, having had no illness, quietly passed away while sitting. The master was then seventy-two years old. One full year after his burial, the stone door opened on its own without any cause; the Great Master's features were dignified and serene, unaltered from normal days. Hongren and the others, beholding his spiritual deportment anew, could not overcome their feelings of admiration and reverence; they then applied lacquer cloth to his venerable countenance. From this time on, they dared not close it again. His disciples were very numerous; only Hongren transmitted the robe, attained the Dharma, and succeeded him. Du Zhenglun, Secretariat Director, composed a stela inscription.