景德傳燈錄 3.32

3.32

Upāsaka Huineng knelt to receive the robe and Dharma, and inquired: "The Dharma has now been bestowed; to whom will the robe be entrusted?" The Master said, "Formerly, when Bodhidharma first arrived, people did not yet have faith, so he transmitted the robe to demonstrate the attainment of the Dharma. Now that faith is mature, the robe is only an object of dispute; it stops with you and will not be transmitted again. For now, hide yourself far away and wait for the time to carry out transformation. The person receiving the robe is said to have a life hanging by a single thread." Huineng asked, "Where should I hide?" The Master said, "When you meet Huai, stop; when you encounter Hui, hide." Having bowed at the feet of the Master, Huineng held the robe and went out. That night he journeyed south, unknown to the great assembly. From then on, Master Hongren did not ascend the hall for three days. The great assembly, bewildered and astonished, asked about it. The patriarch said, "My path has gone forth; why inquire further?" They asked again, "Who obtained the robe and Dharma?" The Master said, "The capable one [Neng] obtained them." Thereupon the assembly realized that Postulant Lu was named Neng. Searching for him, he was already gone; knowing from afar that he had obtained them, they immediately set off together in pursuit. After Master Hongren had transmitted the robe and Dharma, four more years passed until the second year of the Shangyuan era (the yihai year, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang; during the reign of Emperor Suzong there was also a Shangyuan era, the second year of which was the xinchou year). He suddenly announced to the assembly: "My task is now finished; it is time for me to go." He then entered his room, sat peacefully, and passed away at the age of seventy-four. A stūpa was erected on the East Mountain of Huangmei. Emperor Daizong conferred the posthumous title "Chan Master Daman" and named his stūpa "Fayu." From the Great Master's extinction to the jiache year, the first year of the Jingde era of the august Song, three hundred and thirty years have elapsed.