曆代法寶記 1.3

1.3

The first patriarch of the Liang dynasty, Chan Master Bodhidharmatrāta, was the third son of the king of a South Tianzhu country. He left home in his youth. Early on he received [instruction] from his master and awakened at his words. He propagated transformations in South India, greatly performing Buddhist activities. At that time, observing that the sentient beings of the Han land possessed the nature of the Mahāyāna, he sent two disciples, Buddhabhadra and another, to the region of Qin to preach the sudden teaching and the dharma of awakening. When the bhadantas of Qin first heard it, they were suspicious and harbored doubts, and none believed or accepted it. Having been expelled, they then came to Donglin Temple on Mount Lu. At that time the dharma master, the Venerable Yuan, asked, "What teaching have you bhadantas brought that you were expelled?" Thereupon the two brāhmaṇas stretched out their hands and said to the Venerable Yuan, "A hand becomes a fist, and a fist becomes a hand: is this fast or not?" The Venerable Yuan replied, "Extremely fast." The two brāhmaṇas said, "This is not yet fast; afflictions are bodhi—this is fast." The Venerable Yuan understood deeply, only then knowing that bodhi and afflictions are fundamentally not different. He then asked, "From whom did you learn this teaching in that country?" The two brāhmaṇas replied, "Our master Dharmatrāta." The Venerable Yuan, having acquired deep faith, immediately translated one fascicle of the *Chanmen jing*, which fully clarified the Chan methods of the Great and Small Vehicles. The teaching transmitted in the Western Countries is also fully cited in the preface to the *Dhyāna Sūtra*. When the two brāhmaṇas finished translating the scripture, they passed into extinction on the same day and were buried on Mount Lu; their stūpa still exists. When Dharmatrāta heard that no one believed or accepted his two disciples' propagation in the Han land, he floated across the sea and arrived. Emperor Wu of the Liang went outside the city to welcome him personally. Ascending the hall, he asked, "What teaching has the Upādhyāya brought from that country to transform sentient beings?" The Great Master Bodhidharma replied, "I have not brought a single word of teaching." The emperor asked again, "What merit is there in Our building temples, ordaining people, copying scriptures, and casting images?" The Great Master replied, "There is no merit whatsoever." He replied, "These are conditioned goods, not true merit." Emperor Wu's ordinary mind could not understand. [The master] then took his leave and departed the country. Gazing north, he saw an atmosphere of the Great Vehicle. The Great Master arrived during the Wei dynasty and dwelt at Mount Songgao, guiding all classes of beings for six years. Students rushed like gathering clouds and surging rain, like rice, hemp, bamboo, and reeds. Only Master Ke attained my marrow. At that time in the Wei, the Tripiṭaka [master] Bodhiruci and Vinaya Master Guangtong put poison in food and served it to the Great Master. When the Great Master finished eating, he called for a basin and vomited out a pint of snakes. They again put poison in food and served it. When the Great Master finished taking the food, he sat upon a huge boulder; as the poison came out, the boulder cracked. In all, they poisoned him six times. The Great Master addressed his disciples, saying, "I originally came to transmit the Dharma. Now, since people have come to despise me, what is the benefit of staying long?" He then transmitted one kāṣāya to serve as verification of the Dharma. He spoke to Huike, "Because of this poison, you too will not escape this difficulty. When it reaches the sixth generation of Dharma transmission, life will hang by a thread." Having spoken, he then passed away due to the poison. He often said of himself, "I am one hundred and fifty years old," but in truth no one knew how old he was. The Great Master said, "In the Tang land there are three people who have attained my Dharma: one attained my marrow, one attained my bones, and one attained my flesh. The one who attained my marrow is Huike; the one who attained my bones is Daoyu; the one who attained my flesh is the nun Zongchi." He was buried at Mount Xiong'er in Luozhou. At that time, Song Yun, an envoy sent by the Wei, met the Great Master at the Congling Mountains, holding one shoe in his hand. Song Yun asked, "Where is the Great Master going?" He replied, "I am returning to my native country. Your king dies today." Song Yun immediately wrote it down. Song Yun also asked, "Now that the Great Master is leaving, to whom is the Buddha-Dharma entrusted?" He replied, "Forty years after I leave now, there will be a Han monk; Ke is the one." When Song Yun returned to court, the former emperor had indeed died and a new emperor had already been enthroned. Song Yun told the court officials, "The Great Master held one shoe in his hand and was returning to the Western Countries. His words, 'Your king dies today,' were truly as he said." None of the court officials believed him, so they opened the Great Master's tomb; there was only a single shoe. Emperor Wu of the Xiao Liang composed an inscription. [Among] the disciples of the Western Countries, Prajñātāra, and the three people of the Tang land, Daoyu, the nun Zongchi, and others, only Huike received the robe and attained the Dharma.