景德傳燈錄 2.37

2.37

The twenty-fourth patriarch, the bhikṣu Siṃha, was a native of Central India. His surname was Brahmin. Having obtained the Dharma, he traveled abroad and arrived in the kingdom of Jibin (Kashmir). There was one named Pālikā, who originally practiced dhyāna-contemplation, and thus there were five assemblies: dhyāna absorption, views, clinging to signs, abandoning signs, and non-speaking. The Venerable One questioned and transformed them, and four assemblies all silently submitted from their hearts. Only the master of dhyāna absorption, Dharmadatta, hearing that the four assemblies had been rebuked, came in indignation. The Venerable One said, “Virtuous one, you practice absorption; why have you come here? Since you have come here, why do you speak of practicing absorption?” He said, “Though I have come here, my mind is not disturbed. Absorption follows the person's practice; how could it depend on a place?” The Venerable One said, “Since you, virtuous one, have come, your practice has also arrived. Since there is no place, how could it depend on a person's practice?” He said, “Absorption practices the person, therefore it is not the person who practices absorption. Though I have come here, its absorption is constantly practiced.” The Venerable One said, “Since it is not the person who practices absorption, but absorption that practices the person, when you came of yourself, who practiced that absorption?” Dharmadatta said, “Like a pure, bright pearl without inner or outer obscuration: if absorption penetrates, it must surely be like this.” The Master said, “If absorption penetrates, it is entirely like a bright pearl. Now seeing you, virtuous one, you are not of the pearl's kind.” Dharmadatta said, “That pearl is clear and thorough, inside and outside all absorbed. My mind is not disturbed, just like this purity.” The Master said, “That pearl has neither inside nor outside; how can you, virtuous one, achieve absorption? Defiled objects are not shaking; this absorption is not purity.” Dharmadatta, receiving the Venerable One's awakening, had his mind-ground become brilliantly clear. After the Venerable One gathered in the five assemblies, his fame was heard far and wide. Just as he was seeking a Dharma heir, he met an elder leading his son, who asked the Venerable One, “This child is named Sthita (Si-duo). From his birth he clenched his left hand; now that he has grown, he still has not been able to extend it. May the Venerable One reveal his past causes.” The Venerable One looked at him, and reaching out his hand said, “You may return my pearl.” The boy immediately opened his hand and offered the pearl. The assembly was all astonished. The Venerable One said, “In my former retribution I was a monk, and there was a boy named Baśita (Ba-she). I once attended a feast at the Western Sea and received a donated pearl, which I entrusted to him. Now he returns my pearl; the principle is naturally so.” The elder then relinquished his son to leave household life. The Venerable One then gave him full ordination, and because of the former causes, named him Baśiasita (Ba-she-si-duo). The Venerable One then told him, “My teacher had an esoteric prediction that my meeting with disaster would not be long [delayed]. The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye of the Tathāgata is now transmitted to you; you should protect it and universally moisten the future.” He spoke a verse: