景德傳燈錄 5.36

5.36

江西志徹禪師者江西人也。姓張氏。名行昌。少任俠。自南北分化。二宗主雖亡彼我。而徒侶競起愛憎。時北宗門人自立秀師為第六祖。而忌能大師傳衣為天下所聞。然祖是菩薩預知其事。即置金十兩於方丈。時行昌受北宗門人之囑。懷刃入祖室將欲加害。祖舒頸而就。行昌揮刃者三都無所損。祖曰。正劍不邪邪劍不正。只負汝金不負汝命。行昌驚仆。久而方甦求哀悔過。即願出家。祖遂與金云。汝且去。恐徒眾翻害於汝。汝可他日易形而來。吾當攝受。行昌稟旨宵遁。終投僧出家具戒精進。一日憶祖之言。遠來禮覲。祖曰。吾久念於汝。汝來何晚。曰昨蒙和尚捨罪。今雖出家苦行終難報於深恩。其唯傳法度生乎。弟子嘗覽涅槃經。未曉常無常義。乞和尚慈悲略為宣說。祖曰。無常者。即佛性也。有常者。即善惡一切諸法分別心也。曰和尚所說大違經文也。祖曰。吾傳佛心印。安敢違於佛經。曰經說佛性是常。和尚却言無常。善惡諸法乃至菩提心皆是無常。和尚却言是常。此即相違。令學人轉加疑惑。祖曰。涅槃經吾昔者聽尼無盡藏讀誦一遍。便為講說。無一字一義不合經文。乃至為汝終無二說。曰學人識量淺昧。願和尚委曲開示。祖曰。汝知否。佛性若常。更說什麼善惡諸法。乃至窮劫無有一人發菩提心者。故吾說無常。正是佛說真常之道也。又一切諸法若無常者。即物物皆有自性容受生死。而真常性有不遍之處。故吾說常者。正是佛說真無常義也。佛比為凡夫外道執於邪常。諸二乘人於常計無常共成八倒故。於涅槃了義教中。破彼偏見。而顯說真常真我真淨。汝今依言背義。以斷滅無常及確定死常。而錯解佛之圓妙最後微言。縱覽千遍有何所益。行昌忽如醉醒。乃說偈曰。

Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi was a native of Jiangxi. His surname was Zhang, and his given name was Xingchang. In his youth, he acted as a knight-errant. Ever since the South and North separated their teachings, although the two school leaders had extinguished [the sense of] self and other, their disciples vied in generating love and hate. At that time, the disciples of the Northern school set up Master [Shen]xiu as the sixth patriarch, and envied Great Master [Hui]neng's transmission of the robe being known throughout the world. However, the Patriarch was a bodhisattva and knew this in advance, so he placed ten ounces of gold in the abbot's quarters. At that time, Xingchang accepted the request of the Northern school disciples, and with a blade in his bosom entered the Patriarch's room intending to harm him. The Patriarch extended his neck and submitted to it. Xingchang swung the blade three times, but caused no injury whatsoever. The Patriarch said: "A righteous sword is not evil; an evil sword is not righteous. I only owe you gold; I do not owe you life." Xingchang fell to the ground in shock, and only after a long while revived, begging for mercy and repenting his fault; he immediately wished to leave home. The Patriarch then gave him the gold, saying: "Go for now, lest my assembly harm you in retaliation. You may change your appearance and come on another day, and I will accept you." Xingchang received these instructions and fled by night. Eventually, he went to a monk, left home, received the full precepts, and practiced vigorously. One day, remembering the Patriarch's words, he traveled from afar to pay homage. The Patriarch said: "I have thought of you for a long time; why have you come so late?" He said: "Formerly I received the Upādhyāya's pardon of my guilt. Though I have now left home and practice austerities, in the end it is difficult to repay such deep kindness. Can it only be by transmitting the Dharma and liberating beings? I have read the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, but do not yet understand the meaning of permanence and impermanence. I beg the Upādhyāya out of compassion to explain it briefly." The Patriarch said: "Impermanence is the Buddha-nature; permanence is the discriminating mind regarding all wholesome and unwholesome phenomena." He said: "What the Upādhyāya says greatly contradicts the sutra text." The Patriarch said: "I transmit the Buddha's mind-seal; how would I dare contradict the Buddha's sutras?" He said: "The sutra says that the Buddha-nature is permanent, yet the Upādhyāya says it is impermanent. All wholesome and unwholesome phenomena, even the bodhicitta, are impermanent, yet the Upādhyāya says they are permanent. This contradiction only increases this student's doubt." The Patriarch said: "Formerly, when I heard the nun Wujinzang recite the Nirvāṇa Sūtra once, I explained it for her, and not a single word or single meaning failed to accord with the sutra text; even now for you, there are fundamentally no two teachings." He said: "My capacity of understanding is shallow and dark. I pray the Upādhyāya will explain it thoroughly." The Patriarch said: "Do you understand? If the Buddha-nature were permanent, what further need would there be to speak of wholesome and unwholesome phenomena, such that through exhausted kalpas not a single person would arouse the bodhicitta? Therefore, my speaking of impermanence is precisely the way of true permanence taught by the Buddha. Furthermore, if all phenomena were impermanent, then every single thing would have a self-nature subject to birth and death, and the nature of true permanence would have places where it is not pervasive. Therefore, my speaking of permanence is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken by the Buddha. Formerly, because ordinary beings and non-Buddhists clung to wrong permanence, and the practitioners of the two vehicles conceived of impermanence regarding the permanent, together forming the eight inversions, the Buddha, in the definitive teaching of the Nirvāṇa, shattered their one-sided views and revealed true permanence, true self, and true purity. Now you follow words and turn against the meaning, using annihilationist impermanence and fixed, dead permanence to misunderstand the Buddha's perfectly wondrous final subtle words. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit is there?" Xingchang suddenly felt as if waking from drunkenness, and spoke a gāthā, saying: