景德傳燈錄 3.11

3.11

The Master also said: "I have the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra in four fascicles, which I also entrust to you." (This is probably based on the account in the Baolin zhuan. According to Vinaya Master Xuan's Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks, in the biography of Great Master Ke, it says: "At first Bodhidharma handed the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to Ke, saying: 'I observe that in the land of Han there is only this sūtra. If the benevolent one practices in accordance with it, he will naturally achieve deliverance.'" If it is as stated in that biography, then it was before the Second Patriarch had attained the Dharma that Bodhidharma handed him the Laṅkāvatāra to have him examine it. Now, the Transmission of the Lamp says, after the entrustment of the Dharma and the transmission of the robe: "The Master also said: 'I have the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra in four fascicles, which I also entrust to you'"—this is feared to be an error. Furthermore, saying "I have" makes it seem as though it did not yet exist in the world. One should simply rely on what Mazu said: "He also cited the text of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra to seal the mind-ground of sentient beings." Then there is no harm to the principle.) "This is the essential gate of the Tathāgata's mind-ground, causing all sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter it. Since coming here, I have been poisoned five times. I often spat it out myself to test it; when placed on a rock, the rock cracked. Because I originally left South India to come to this eastern land, seeing that the Divine Realm of the Red Provinces had the atmosphere of the Great Vehicle, I crossed oceans and traversed deserts to seek a person for the sake of the Dharma. When the encounter was not yet harmonious, I seemed foolish and slow of speech. Now that I have found you to transmit and bestow it upon, my purpose is complete." (Another record states: "When the Master first resided at Shaolin Monastery for nine years, expounding the Dharma for the Second Patriarch, he taught him only: 'Externally cease all conditions; internally let the mind have no panting. When the mind is like a wall, one can enter the Way.' Huike variously explained the principle of mind-nature, but his realization did not tally. The Master merely checked his errors, not expounding for him the thoughtless mind-substance. Huike said: 'I have already ceased all conditions.' The Master said: 'Does it not turn into total annihilation?' Ke said: 'It does not turn into total annihilation.' The Master said: 'How do you verify that it is not totally annihilated?' Ke said: 'Because it is clearly and constantly knowing, words cannot reach it.' The Master said: 'This is the mind-substance transmitted by all Buddhas; doubt it no further.'") Having finished speaking, he went with his disciples to Qiansheng Monastery at Yumen and stayed for three days. Yang Xuanzhi, governor of Qicheng, had long admired the Buddha Vehicle. He asked the Master: "In the Five Indies of the Western Heavens, masters transmit the lineage to become patriarchs. What is their Way like?" The Master said: "To understand the Buddha-mind school, with practice and understanding in mutual accord—this is named a patriarch." He also asked: "Beyond this, what is it like?" The Master said: "One must comprehend the minds of others and know their present and past, not loathing being or non-being and grasping at nothing among phenomena, neither wise nor foolish, without delusion and without awakening. If one can understand like this, one is called a patriarch." [Yang Xuanzhi] also said: "I, your disciple, have turned my heart to the Three Jewels for years now, yet my wisdom is dim and obscure, and I am still deluded about the true principle. Just now, hearing the Master's words, I do not know how to take them in and apply them. May the Master compassionately reveal and show the ancestral principle." The Master, knowing his earnestness, thereupon spoke a gāthā, saying: