曆代法寶記 1.12

1.12

Chan Master Wuxiang of Jingquan Temple in Chengdu Prefecture, Jiannan, had the secular surname Jin. He belonged to the clan of the king of Silla, an ancestral family of Haedong. Formerly, when he was in his homeland, he had a younger sister. When marriage proposals first arrived, she took a knife, slashed her face, and swore that her aspiration was to return to the real. Seeing this, the Venerable sighed and said: "A woman, weak and frail, still aspires to noble conduct; as a stout and steadfast man, could I lack the resolve?" He then shaved his head, bid farewell to his parents, and crossed the sea westward, reaching the Tang country. In search of masters and inquiring after the Way, he traveled and wandered about, eventually arriving at Dechun Temple in Zizhou, where he paid respects to Reverend Tang. Reverend Tang was ill and did not come out to see him. Thereupon, he burned one finger as a lamp to make an offering to Reverend Tang. Reverend Tang knew he was no ordinary man, and kept him by his side for two years. Later, he resided at Mount Tiangu, and then returned to Dechun Temple. Reverend Tang sent his servant Wang Huang to secretly transmit the kāṣāya robe of verification [to him, saying]: "This robe is the transmitted robe of Ancestral Master Bodhidharma. Empress Zetian bestowed it upon Reverend Shen, Reverend Shen gave it to me, and now I entrust it to you." Reverend Jin, having received the transmission of the Dharma and the robe of verification, went to dwell beneath the rocky cliffs of Mount Tiangu. Wearing clothes of grass and skimping on food, when the food was exhausted he ate earth; he moved fierce beasts to protect and guard him. Later, Minister Zhangchou requested that he open the Chan teaching, and he took up residence at Jingquan Temple to transform and guide sentient beings for over twenty years. Later, on the fifteenth day of the fifth month in the first year of Baoying, he suddenly thought of Chan Master Wuzhu of Mount Baiya: "I calculate that in my illness he should come to see me. Why has Chan Master Wuzhu not come several times? I am growing old." He dispatched the artisan Dongxuan to secretly take his robe of verification and seventeen other articles of clothing to Chan Master Wuzhu: "Take good care of yourself. It is not yet time to come out of the mountain. Wait another three to five years, and when you hear that there is great peace, then come out." Having entrusted this from afar, on the nineteenth day of the fifth month, he ordered his disciples: "Fetch me fresh, clean robes; I wish to bathe." At midnight, the hour of the rat, he sat majestically and was transformed. At that time, the sun and moon lost their light, heaven and earth turned white, the Dharma banner was broken, the river of Chan dried up, sentient beings were left in despair, and students of the Way had nothing to rely upon. The Great Master was then seventy-nine years old. Every year in the twelfth and first months, Reverend Jin set up an adorned place of practice to administer the vows for hundreds, thousands, and myriads of the four assemblies. Ascending the high seat to preach the Dharma, he first taught them to chant the Buddha's name in an extended voice, chanting until their breath was exhausted. When the sound ceased and chanting stopped, he said: "No-recollection, no-thought, and do not be deluded. No-recollection is morality (śīla); no-thought is concentration (samādhi); do not be deluded is wisdom (prajñā). These three phrases are the gate of dhāraṇī." He also said: "When thoughts do not arise, it is like the face of a mirror being able to illuminate the myriad images; when thoughts arise, it is like the back of the mirror being unable to illuminate and see." He also said: "You must distinctly know arising and know ceasing; when this is uninterrupted, that is seeing the Buddha. For example, two men traveling together both reach another country. Their father sends a letter of instruction. One man receives the letter, reads it through, complies with his father's instruction, and does not commit wrongdoing. The other man receives the letter, reads it through, does not comply with the instruction, and ardently commits all evils. All sentient beings who rely on no-thought are filial sons; those who cling to words are unfilial sons." He also said: "For example, suppose a man is drunk on wine and asleep. His mother comes and calls him, wishing him to return home. Confused and raving from drunkenness, the son abuses his mother with foul words. All sentient beings are drunk on the wine of ignorance, not believing that by seeing their own nature they attain Buddhahood." Furthermore, the Awakening of Faith says: 'The gate of the mind as suchness and the gate of the mind as arising and ceasing.' No-thought is the gate of suchness; having thoughts is the gate of arising and ceasing. He also said: "When the head of ignorance emerges, the head of prajñā submerges; when the head of ignorance submerges, the head of prajñā emerges." He also cited the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra: "The domestic dog and the wild deer. The domestic dog illustrates false marks; the wild deer illustrates the Buddha-nature." He also said: "Damask silk is originally thread; ignorance and patterned text are woven by skilled craftsmen to produce patterned text; later, when it is unraveled, it is still the original thread. The thread illustrates the Buddha-nature; the patterned text illustrates false marks." He also said: "Water is not separate from waves; waves are not separate from water. Waves illustrate false thoughts; water illustrates the Buddha-nature." He also said: "A person carrying hemp came to a place of silver; one person abandoned the hemp and took the silver, while the others said: 'I am set upon carrying hemp, and I will never abandon the hemp to take silver.' Then they came to a place of gold; [the one] abandoned the silver and took the gold, while the others said: 'I am set upon carrying hemp, and I will never abandon the hemp to take gold.' Gold illustrates nirvāṇa; hemp illustrates saṃsāra." He also said: "These three phrases of mine are the teaching originally transmitted by Ancestral Master Bodhidharma; I do not say they were spoken by Reverend Shen or Reverend Tang." He also said: "It is granted that a disciple may surpass the master." Because the two Reverends Shen and Tang did not preach the definitive teaching, and he had covertly received the robe of verification, Reverend Jin therefore did not cite what the two Reverends Shen and Tang said. The true words of admonition he always gave from the seat were: "What my Ancestral Master Bodhidharma transmitted—these three phrases are the gate of dhāraṇī: non-arising of thought is the gate of morality; non-arising of thought is the gate of concentration; non-arising of thought is the gate of wisdom. No-thought is the complete endowment of morality, concentration, and wisdom. All the buddhas of past, future, and present, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, enter through this gate. If there were another gate, it would be impossible." Reverend Shenhui of Heze Temple in the Eastern Capital established an altar platform every month to preach the Dharma for people, destroying Chan of Purity, establishing Tathāgata Chan, establishing knowledge and vision, and establishing speech as morality, concentration, and wisdom. Not destroying speech, he said: "The very time of speaking is morality; the very time of speaking is concentration; the very time of speaking is wisdom." Preaching the dharma of no-thought, he established seeing the nature. During the Kaiyuan era, at Huatai Temple, he determined the tenets for students of the Way under heaven. Reverend Shenhui said: "If there were one more person to preach it, Shenhui would never dare preach it." This was because Reverend Shenhui did not obtain the kāṣāya robe of verification. During the eighth year of Tianbao, at Heze Temple in Luozhou, he also determined the tenets. He was questioned by Dharma Master Chongyuan: "In practicing the three stages of worthies and the ten stages of sages, what stage has the Chan master realized?" Shenhui answered: "The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Namo Cunda, Namo Cunda! His body is identical to that of an ordinary person, but his mind is identical to the Buddha's mind.'" Reverend Shenhui then asked Dharma Master Yuan: "How many times have you lectured on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra?" Dharma Master Yuan replied: "Over thirty times." He also asked: "Have you seen the Buddha-nature, Dharma Master?" The Dharma Master replied: "I have not seen it." Reverend Shenhui said: "The Lion's Roar Chapter says that if a person has not seen the Buddha-nature, they ought not lecture on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra; if they have seen the Buddha-nature, they ought to lecture on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra." Dharma Master Yuan asked: "Have you seen it, Reverend?" Shenhui replied: "I have seen it." He asked again: "What is seeing? Is it seeing with the eyes, or seeing with the ears, nose, and so forth?" Shenhui replied: "Seeing does not have so many [modes]; seeing is just seeing like that." He asked again: "Is your seeing equal to Cunda's?" Shenhui replied: "I see by inference. Compared to Cunda, whether my capacity equals Cunda's I dare not definitively judge." Dharma Master Yuan also asked him: "Has the kāṣāya robe of the previous generation been transmitted, Chan Master?" Shenhui replied: "It has been transmitted. If it were not transmitted, the Dharma would be broken off." He asked again: "Did you obtain it, Chan Master?" He answered: "It is not in Shenhui's possession." The Dharma Master asked again: "Who obtained this kāṣāya?" Shenhui replied: "There is one person who obtained it. Having obtained it, he should naturally know. When this person preaches the Dharma, the correct Dharma will prevail, and deviant teachings will naturally be extinguished. Because the matter of the Buddha-Dharma is momentous, he remains concealed and has not yet appeared." When Reverend Shenhui was in Jingfu, there were over twenty men from the Western Regions, including the worthy Kāśyapa and Anshuti, who came to where the Reverend was preaching the Dharma and asked: "Did the Reverend obtain the previous generation's kāṣāya robe of verification?" He answered: "It is not in Shenhui's possession." In turn, he asked: "Where do you worthies come from?" Kāśyapa replied: "We come from Jiannan." He asked: "Do you know Chan Master Jin?" Kāśyapa replied: "We are all disciples of Reverend Jin." Reverend Shenhui asked: "What is your Chan Master Jin's teaching?" Kāśyapa replied: "When the head of ignorance emerges, the head of nirvāṇa submerges; when the head of prajñā emerges, the head of ignorance submerges. Having thoughts is like the back of a mirror." Reverend Shenhui scolded them: "Do not speak these idle words! Your surname is Kāśyapa, of the Brahmin clan; by rights you should have sharp faculties, yet you are just a bed-wetting Brahmin!" The Reverend said: "Your Chan Master Shen of Jiannan was a Dharma master who did not preach the definitive teaching. Chan Master Tang was a disciple of Chan Master Shen; he too did not preach the definitive teaching. Chan Master Tang's disciple, Dharma Master Zhao of Zizhou, was the master of Prince Ling; west of that, Biao was a Dharma master, and Jin of Yizhou is a Chan master. To say they preach the definitive teaching also will not do. Although they do not preach the definitive teaching, the Buddha-Dharma is only right there." Vice Director Ma Xiong was sent to Caoxi to pay respects to the pagoda of Reverend Neng. He asked the old monk guarding the pagoda: "Where is the kāṣāya robe of verification transmitted from the previous generations?" The old master replied: "When Reverend Neng was alive, Master Likai, Master Zhihai, and others asked Reverend Neng: 'Has the robe inherited from above been transmitted? To whom has the Buddha-Dharma been entrusted?' Reverend Neng answered: 'A woman has taken my robe away. As for my Dharma, twenty-some years after my death, whoever establishes the tenets is the one who has obtained my Dharma.'" Reverend Wuzhu of Baotang Temple during the Dali era in Chengdu Prefecture, Jiannan, constantly for the four assemblies of hundreds, thousands, and myriads of students of the Way, or for a single person, at any time whatsoever, allowed questions whenever there was doubt, preaching the Dharma from his seat directly to seeing the nature. He took the straightforward mind as the place of practice, initial practice as the place of practice, the profound mind as the place of practice, non-defilement as the place of practice, non-grasping as the place of practice, non-abandoning as the place of practice, the unconditioned (asamskṛta) as upāya, the vast as upāya, equanimity as upāya, leaving marks behind as fire, liberation as incense, non-obstruction as repentance, no-thought as morality, the unconditioned and non-attainment as concentration, non-duality as wisdom; he did not take an adorned setting as the place of practice. The Reverend said: "All sentient beings are originally pure, originally complete; nothing can be added, and nothing can be subtracted. Because of following a single thought of defiled mind, they undergo all kinds of bodies in the three realms. The nominal kalyāṇamitra points to the original nature, which is the immediate attainment of the Buddha-Way. Clinging to marks is sinking into the cycle of saṃsāra. Because sentient beings have thoughts, we provisionally speak of no-thought; if thoughts do not exist, no-thought itself does not arise. Extinguish the mind of the three realms, do not abide in the realm of stillness, do not dwell in phenomenal marks, and do not be without functional capability: simply leaving delusion behind is named liberation." He also said: "Having mind is waves; having no mind is the non-Buddhists. Following birth and death is the defiled basis of sentient beings; quiet extinction is nirvāṇa. Do not follow birth, do not rely on quiet extinction, do not enter samādhi, do not dwell in seated meditation, without arising and without practice, the mind having neither gain nor loss, shadow and substance both negated, nature and marks not established."