景德傳燈錄 5.6

5.6

韶州法海禪師者曲江人也。初見六祖問曰。即心即佛願垂指喻。祖曰。前念不生即心。後念不滅即佛。成一切相即心。離一切相即佛。吾若具說窮劫不盡。聽吾偈曰。

Chan Master Fahai of Shaozhou was a native of Qujiang. When he first met the Sixth Patriarch, he asked: "'The mind itself is Buddha'—I pray you bestow instruction and metaphor." The Patriarch said: "When the preceding thought does not arise, that is mind; when the succeeding thought is not extinguished, that is Buddha. To form all marks is mind; to be free of all marks is Buddha. If I were to explain it fully, even endless kalpas would not exhaust it. Listen to my verse:"