景德傳燈錄 3.14

3.14

The Twenty-ninth Patriarch, Great Master Huike, was a native of Wulao, surnamed Ji. Before his father, Ji, had a son, he often thought to himself: "My family esteems good deeds; how could we lack a fine son?" Having prayed for a long time, one night he was moved by an unusual light that illuminated the room, whereupon his mother conceived. When he grew up, following the auspicious omen of the room being illuminated, they named him Guang. From childhood his aspirations and spirit were extraordinary; he read widely in the poetry and histories, and was especially proficient in profound principles, yet paid no heed to family property and loved to roam among mountains and rivers. Later, examining Buddhist texts, he was transcendent and self-content. He then proceeded to Xiangshan at Longmen in Luoyang, where he went forth and received full ordination under Chan Master Baojing. Roaming through lecture halls at Yongmu Monastery, he extensively studied the doctrines of the Great and Lesser Vehicles. At the age of thirty-two, he returned to Xiangshan, where he sat in meditation all day long for another eight years. Amidst the quiet silence, he suddenly saw a divine person who said to him: "When you are about to attain the fruit, why linger here? The Great Way is not far; you should go south." Guang, recognizing divine assistance, changed his name to Shenguang. The next day, his head felt a stabbing pain. His master wished to treat it, but a voice from the sky said: "This is the changing of bones, not an ordinary pain." Guang then reported the matter of seeing the spirit to his master. His master looked at his parietal bone and found it jutting out like five peaks. He then said: "Your features are auspicious; you will certainly attain realization. The spirit told you to go south—this means that the Great Being Bodhidharma of Shaolin must be your master." Shenguang received this instruction and went to Shaoshi. The circumstances of his obtaining the Dharma and the transmission of the robe are fully related in Bodhidharma's chapter. After [Bodhidharma] entered transformation at Shaolin and returned to the west, the Great Master continued to propagate the profound tradition and widely sought a Dharma heir. In the second year of Tianping of the Northern Qi (which should read the second year of Tianbao, a xinwei year; Tianping was an Eastern Wei reign era, whose second year was yimao), an upāsaka over forty years of age, who did not give his name, respectfully came forward, made prostrations, and asked the Master: "Your disciple's body is afflicted with wind disease. I request the upādhyāya to repent my transgressions for me." The Master said: "Bring your transgressions here, and I will repent them for you." The upāsaka remained silent for a long time and then said: "Seeking transgressions, they cannot be found." The Master said: "I have finished repenting the transgressions for you. You should abide relying on the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha." [The upāsaka] said: "Now seeing the upādhyāya, I already know you are the Saṅgha, but I do not yet understand what is called the Buddha and Dharma." The Master said: "This mind is the Buddha; this mind is the Dharma. The Dharma and the Buddha are not two; the Saṅgha jewel is also thus." [The upāsaka] said: "Today for the first time I know that the nature of transgressions is not inside, not outside, and not in between; just as with this mind, the Buddha and the Dharma are not two." The Great Master deeply valued his capacity and shaved his head for him, saying: "This is my jewel (can); he should be named Sengcan." On the eighteenth day of the third month of that year, he received full ordination at Guangfu Monastery. From this time on, his illness gradually abated. Having attended upon the Master for two years, the Great Master informed him, saying: "Bodhidharma (the old text says Bodhidharma) came from afar from India and secretly entrusted the treasury of the correct Dharma eye to me. I now bestow it upon you, along with Bodhidharma's robe of faith. You should protect and guard it, and not let it be cut off. Listen to my gāthā:"