景德傳燈錄 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1

The Thirty-third Patriarch, Great Master Huineng
Forty-three Dharma heirs of the Thirty-third Patriarch, Great Master Huineng:
Tripiṭaka Master Guptā of Western India
Chan Master Fahai of Shaozhou
Chan Master Zhicheng of Jizhou
Chan Master Xiaoliao of Mount Bianyan
Chan Master Zhihuang of Hebei
Chan Master Fada of Hongzhou
Chan Master Zhitong of Shouzhou
Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi
Chan Master Zhichang of Xinzhou
Chan Master Zhidao of Guangzhou
Upādhyāya Yinzong of Faxing Monastery in Guangzhou
Chan Master Xingsi of Mount Qingyuan in Jizhou
Chan Master Huairang of Nanyue
Chan Master Xuanjue of Yongjia in Wenzhou
Chan Master Benjing of Mount Sikong
Chan Master Xuance of Wuzhou
Chan Master Lingtao of Caoxi
Chan Master Huizhong of Guangzhai Monastery in the Western Capital
Chan Master Shenhui of Heze Monastery in the Western Capital (The above nineteen persons have records)
Chan Master Jituo of Shaozhou
Chan Master Jing'an of Fuzhou
Chan Master Xun of Mount Song
Chan Master Dingzhen of Mount Luofu
Chan Master Jiangu of Nanyue
Chan Master Daojin of Mount Zhikong
Chan Master Shankuai
Chan Master Yuansu of Shaoshan
Chan Master Zongyi
Chan Master Shanxian of Mount Qinwang in Kuaiji
Chan Master Fanhang of Nanyue
Chan Master Zizai of Bingzhou
Chan Master Xiankong of the Western Capital
Chan Master Taixiang of Xiashan
Chan Master Fajing of Guangzhou
Chan Master Biancai of Mount Qingliang
Dhūta Wu of Guangzhou
Chan Master Daoying
Chan Master Zhiben
Chan Master Fazhen of Qingyuan in Guangzhou
Chan Master Xuankai
Chan Master Tancui
Prefect Wei Ju of Shaozhou
Bodhisattva Sun of Yixing (The above twenty-four persons have no encounter statements and are not recorded)

5.2

The thirty-third patriarch, Great Master Huineng, had the lay surname Lu. His ancestors were from Fanyang. During the Wude era, his father, Xingtao, was demoted in official service to Nanhai, and went to Xinzhou, where he took up registered residence. At the age of three, [Huineng] lost his father. His mother kept her resolve and raised him. When he grew up, his family was extremely impoverished; the Master gathered firewood to support them. One day, carrying firewood into the marketplace, he heard a traveler reciting the Diamond Sūtra. Startled, he asked the traveler: "What teaching is this, and from whom did you obtain it?" The traveler said: "This is called the Diamond Sūtra, and I obtained it from Great Master Ren of Huangmei." The Master immediately told his mother of his intention to seek a master for the sake of the Dharma. He went straight to Shaozhou, where he met Liu Zhilüe, a gentleman of noble conduct, and formed a close friendship with him. The nun Wujinzang was Zhilüe's aunt. She frequently recited the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra; the Master listened to it for a short while and immediately explained its meaning to her. The nun then took up the scroll to ask about characters. The Master said: "As for characters, I do not know them; as for meaning, please ask." The nun said: "If you do not even know characters, how can you understand the meaning?" The Master said: "The subtle truth of all Buddhas has nothing to do with written words." The nun marveled at him and told the village elders: "Neng is a person possessed of the Way; you ought to invite him and make offerings to him." Thereupon, the local inhabitants competed to come pay homage. Nearby lay the former site of the ancient Baolin Temple. The assembly consulted together and rebuilt it so that the Master could dwell there. The fourfold assembly gathered like clouds, and in no time it became a precious monastery. One day, the Master suddenly thought to himself: "I seek the Great Dharma—how can I stop halfway?" The following day, he set out and reached a stone grotto on the west mountain of Changle County, where he met Chan Master Zhiyuan. The Master then asked for further instruction. Yuan said: "Seeing that your appearance and demeanor are lofty and outstanding, you are surely no ordinary person. I have heard that Bodhidharma of the Western Regions transmitted the mind-seal to Huangmei. You should go there to resolve your doubts." The Master took his leave and went straight to Dongchan [Monastery] of Huangmei; it was then the second year of the Xianheng era of the Tang. Great Master Ren recognized him tacitly at first sight. Later, he transmitted the robe and Dharma [to him], and instructed him to go into hiding between Huaiji and Sihui. Arriving at the eighth day of the first month of the bingzi year, the first year of the Yifeng era, he reached Nanhai and met Dharma Master Yinzong preaching the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra at Faxing Temple. The Master stayed in the corridors. At night, the wind was fluttering the temple banner. He heard two monks debating: one said the banner was moving, the other said the wind was moving. They went back and forth in response, never tallying with the truth. The Master said: "May a commoner venture to take part in your lofty discussion? It is simply neither the wind nor the banner that moves; it is your minds that move." Yinzong overheard these words, was startled, and found them extraordinary. The next day, he invited the Master into his room and inquired about the meaning of the wind and the banner. The Master told him everything in accordance with the truth. Without realizing it, Yinzong stood up and said: "The practitioner is certainly no ordinary person. Who are you, Master?" The Master hid nothing more and directly recounted the causes and conditions of his receiving the Dharma. Thereupon, Yinzong adopted the etiquette of a disciple and requested to receive the essentials of Chan. He then addressed the fourfold assembly, saying: "Yinzong is a complete ordinary mortal. Today I have met a living bodhisattva." He pointed to Layman Lu seated below and said: "This is indeed he." He then asked [Huineng] to bring out the robe of faith that had been transmitted, so that all might behold and venerate it. On the fifteenth day of the first month, he assembled various celebrated and virtuous [monks] to shave [Huineng's] head. On the eighth day of the second month, at Faxing Temple, [Huineng] received the full precepts from Vinaya Master Zhiguang. That ordination platform had been established by Tripiṭaka Master Guṇabhadra of the Song dynasty. The Tripiṭaka Master had prophesied: "Later, a living bodhisattva will receive the precepts on this platform." Furthermore, at the end of the Liang, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha planted two bodhi trees with his own hands beside the platform, and told the assembly: "One hundred and twenty years from now, a great being will expound the supreme vehicle under these trees and deliver countless sentient beings." After the Master received the full precepts, he opened the Dongshan dharma-gate under these trees, just as if fulfilling an ancient contract. On the eighth day of the second month of the following year, he suddenly said to the assembly: "I do not wish to remain here; I must return to my former hermitage." At that time, Yinzong and more than a thousand monks and laypeople saw the Master off as he returned to Baolin Temple. Prefect Wei Ju of Shaozhou invited him to turn the wondrous Dharma wheel at Dafan Temple and to confer the formless mind-ground precepts. The disciples recorded this and titled it the Platform Sūtra, which circulated widely in the world. Afterwards, he returned to Caoxi and rained down the great rain of Dharma; his students numbered no less than a thousand. In the first year of the Shenlong era of Emperor Zhongzong, an imperial edict was issued, stating: "We have invited the two Masters, [Huian] and [Shen]xiu, to receive offerings in the palace. In the leisure moments amidst myriad affairs of state, We constantly investigate the One Vehicle. Both Masters demurred and said: 'In the south there is Chan Master Neng, who secretly received the robe and Dharma of Great Master Ren; one may question him.' We now dispatch Palace Attendant Xue Jian to gallop with an imperial edict to invite you. We hope that in your compassionate consideration, Master, you will promptly come to the imperial capital." The Master submitted a memorial declining on the grounds of illness, wishing to end his days among the forests and foothills. Xue Jian said: "The virtuous Chan masters of the capital all say that if one wishes to understand the Way, one must sit in meditation and practice concentration. That someone should attain liberation without relying on dhyāna-concentration—such a thing has never existed. We do not know what kind of Dharma the Master expounds?" The Master said: "The Way is awakened to through the mind; how could it depend on sitting? The sūtra says: 'If one sees the Tathāgata as sitting or lying down, this is walking on an erroneous path.' Why? Because he comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. To be free of arising and ceasing is the pure dhyāna of the Tathāgata; for all phenomena to be empty and tranquil is the pure sitting of the Tathāgata. Ultimately there is nothing to attain; how much less could there be sitting?" Jian said: "Upon this disciple's return, the Sovereign will certainly ask. May the Upādhyāya compassionately indicate the essentials of the mind." The Master said: "The Way has neither light nor darkness. Light and darkness have the meaning of alternation. That light succeeds light without end is also to have an end." Jian said: "Light is a metaphor for wisdom; darkness is likened to affliction. If a practitioner of the Way does not use wisdom to illuminate and destroy affliction, on what can he rely to transcend beginningless birth and death?" The Master said: "If one uses wisdom to illuminate affliction, this is the capacity of the small children of the two vehicles—the goat-cart and deer-cart. Superior wisdom and great capacities are entirely not like this." Jian said: "What is the view of the Great Vehicle?" The Master said: "Light and ignorance—their nature is not two. The nature that is not two is precisely the true nature. The true nature does not decrease among ordinary and foolish persons, nor does it increase among wise and sage persons. It abides in affliction without being disordered, and dwells in dhyāna-concentration without being quiescent. It is neither cut off nor permanent, neither comes nor goes, is not in the middle nor in the interior or exterior. It neither arises nor ceases; its nature and characteristics are suchness. Permanently abiding and unchanging, it is called the Way." Jian said: "The Master speaks of non-arising and non-ceasing; how is this different from non-Buddhists?" The Master said: "When non-Buddhists speak of non-arising and non-ceasing, they use ceasing to stop arising, and use arising to reveal ceasing: ceasing is still not ceasing, and arising is said to be non-arising. When I speak of non-arising and non-ceasing, it is originally free of arising and now also free of ceasing; therefore it is not the same as non-Buddhists. If you wish to know the essentials of the mind, merely do not deliberate on any good or evil, and you will naturally gain entry into the pure mind-essence, which is serene, constantly tranquil, with wondrous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges." Having received this instruction, Jian attained a thorough, great awakening. He paid homage, took leave, returned to the palace, and submitted a memorial recounting the Master's words. An edict was issued thanking the Master and bestowing a patched mona-kāṣāya robe, five hundred bolts of silk, and one precious bowl. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month, an imperial decree renamed the ancient Baolin as Zhongxing Temple. On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month of the third year, an imperial decree ordered the Prefect of Shaozhou to further embellish and adorn it, and bestowed the plaque inscribed 'Faquan Temple.' The Master's old residence in Xinzhou was made into Guo'en Temple. One day, the Master addressed the assembly, saying: "Kalyāṇamitras, let each of you purify your mind and listen to my expounding of the Dharma. The self-mind of each and every one of you is Buddha; do not harbor further doubts. Outside, there is not a single thing that can be established; all are the original mind giving birth to the myriad phenomena. Therefore the sūtra says: 'When the mind arises, various phenomena arise; when the mind ceases, various phenomena cease.' If you wish to accomplish all-inclusive wisdom, you must realize the single-characteristic samādhi and the single-practice samādhi. If, in all places, you do not abide in characteristics, and within those characteristics do not give rise to hatred or love, nor have grasping or rejection, nor think of gain, loss, success, failure, and the like, but are peaceful, at ease, calm, spacious, harmonious, and detached, this is called the single-characteristic samādhi. If, in all places, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, you are purely of a single straight mind, unmoved from the site of enlightenment, truly accomplishing the Pure Land, this is called the single-practice samādhi. If a person is endowed with these two samādhis, it is like the earth having seeds that can contain, nurture, and bring their fruits to fruition; the single-characteristic and single-practice are also like this. My present expounding of the Dharma is like timely rain universally moistening the great earth. Your Buddha-nature is likened to seeds: encountering this thorough soaking, they are all able to sprout and grow. Those who grasp my essential meaning will surely attain bodhi; those who follow my practice will definitely realize the wondrous fruit." In the first year of the Xiantian era, he announced to his disciples, saying: "I unworthily received the robe and Dharma of Great Master Ren. Now, as I expound the Dharma for you, I shall not hand down the robe. This is because your roots of faith are mature and pure; you are decisively without doubt and capable of shouldering the great matter. Listen to my gāthā:"

5.3

"The mind-ground contains all seeds;
With universal rain, they all sprout and grow.
Once sudden awakening blossoms with passion,
The fruit of bodhi naturally matures."

5.4

After the Master spoke the verse, he said again: "The Dharma is non-dual, and the mind is likewise. Its Way is pure and free of all marks. Take care not to view purity or empty your minds. This mind is fundamentally pure; there is nothing to grasp or reject. Strive, each of you, and go well following conditions." For forty years the Master taught the Dharma and benefited living beings. On the sixth day of the seventh month of that year, he instructed his disciples to go to Guo'en Monastery in Xinzhou to construct a Stūpa for Repaying Kindness, ordering them to double their efforts. Furthermore, there was a monk from Shu named Fangbian who came to see the Master, saying that he was skilled at sculpting. With a grave countenance, the Master said: "Try sculpting and let me see." Fangbian did not grasp his intention and sculpted a likeness of the Master, about seven inches high, extraordinarily lifelike in its artistry. The Master looked at it and said: "You are skilled at sculpting nature, but not skilled at the Buddha-nature." He rewarded him with robes and items. The monk bowed, gave thanks, and departed. On the first day of the seventh month of the second year of Xiantian, [the Master] said to his disciples: "I wish to return to Xinzhou. Quickly prepare the boat and oars." At that time the great assembly wept in longing and begged the Master to stay. The Master said: "When the Buddhas appear, they still demonstrate nirvāṇa. That which comes must go—this is ever the principle. This physical body of mine must have a place to return to." The assembly asked: "After leaving now, when will you return?" The Master said: "Fallen leaves return to the root; when I came, I had no mouth." They asked again: "To whom has your Dharma eye been transmitted?" The Master said: "One who possesses the Way obtains it; one who is free of mind penetrates it." They asked again: "Will there be any disaster in the future?" He said: "Five or six years after my extinction, someone will come to take my head. Listen to my prediction: 'To nourish parents upon the head; / there must be food within the mouth. / Encountering the disaster of Man; / Yang and Liu serve as officials.'" He also said: "Seventy years after I depart, two bodhisattvas will come from the east, one a householder and one a monastic. They will simultaneously propagate the transformation and establish my school, repairing the saṅghārāma and causing the Dharma line to flourish." Having spoken, he went to Guo'en Monastery in Xinzhou, bathed, sat cross-legged, and passed away. A rare fragrance permeated the air, and a white rainbow touched the ground. This was on the third day of the eighth month of that year. At that time, Shaozhou and Xinzhou both built sacred stūpas, and monastics and laypeople could not decide where [the body] should go. The governors of the two prefectures together burned incense and prayed: "Wherever the smoke of the incense leads, that is where the Master wishes to return." The incense smoke surged directly toward Caoxi. On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, he was entombed in the stūpa. His age was seventy-six. At that time, Wei Ju, the governor of Shaozhou, composed a stele inscription. Remembering the prediction about taking the head, the disciples first protected the Master's neck with iron plates and lacquered cloth. In the stūpa were the robe of faith transmitted by Bodhidharma (a fabric of *quxun* cloth from the Western Regions, woven from the core of kapok flowers, later lined with green silk by successors), the cassock and precious bowl bestowed by Emperor Zhongzong, Fangbian's sculpted likeness, requisites, and so forth. The attendant guarding the stūpa took charge of them. At midnight on the third day of the eighth month of the tenth year of Kaiyuan, a renxu year, the sound of pulling iron chains was suddenly heard in the stūpa. The monks woke in alarm and saw a filial son running out from the stūpa. Soon after, they found an injury on the Master's neck. They reported the theft fully to the prefecture and county. The county magistrate Yang Kan and the prefect Liu Wutian received the report and made diligent efforts to capture [the culprit]. On the fifth day, they captured the thief in Shijiao Village and sent him to Shaozhou for interrogation. He stated that his surname was Zhang and his personal name Jingman, a native of Liang County in Ruzhou; at Kaiyuan Monastery in Hongzhou, he had received twenty strings of cash from the Silla monk Jin Dabi, who instructed him to take the head of the Sixth Patriarch and bring it back to Haedong for worship. When Governor Liu heard the circumstances, he did not immediately execute punishment. Instead, he went personally to Caoxi and asked the Master's senior disciple Lingtao: "How should this be judged?" Tao said: "If judged by state law, he should indeed be executed; but by the Buddhist compassion of equality toward enemies and kin, and moreover because he sought to make offerings, the crime may be pardoned." Governor Liu praised him, sighing: "Only now do I know the vastness of the Buddhist gate!" and thereupon pardoned him. (Thereafter, many worthy luminaries composed eulogies and made rare and precious donations; they are too numerous to record here.) In the first year of Shangyuan, Emperor Suzong sent an envoy to request the Master's robe and bowl to be brought into the palace for offerings. In the first year of Yongtai, on the fifth day of the fifth month, Emperor Daizong dreamed that the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch, asked for the robe and bowl. On the seventh day, an imperial edict was issued to the prefect Yang Jian: "Our dream responded to Chan Master Neng asking for the Dharma-transmission robe to return to Caoxi. Now We dispatch Senior General Liu Chongjing to respectfully deliver it upon his head. We consider it a national treasure. You, sir, should properly enshrine it in the original monastery, especially ordering the monks who personally received the core teachings to guard it strictly, not letting it be lost." Later, it was stolen by people on several occasions, but each time was recovered not far away; this happened four times. Emperor Xianzong conferred the posthumous title 'Chan Master Dajian' (Great Mirror) and named the stūpa 'Yuanhe Lingzhao' (Spiritual Illumination of Yuanhe). At the beginning of the Kaibao era of the imperial Song dynasty, when the royal army subdued Nanhai, the remnant troops of the Liu clan caused disturbances; the Master's stūpa and shrine were reduced to ashes, but his true body was protected by the stūpa-guarding monks and suffered no damage whatsoever. Soon an imperial decree was issued to rebuild it, but the work was not completed. When Emperor Taizong ascended the throne, he paid attention to the Chan school and considerably enhanced its splendor. From the Master's parinirvāṇa in the second year of Xiantian of the Tang dynasty, a guichou year, to the present first year of Jingde, a jiachen year, there have been altogether two hundred and ninety-two years. Those who attained the Dharma, excluding Yinzong and others—thirty-three people in all who taught in various regions—are designated as the direct lineage. Aside from them, those who hid their names and concealed their traces cannot be counted. Here, ten people are briefly recorded from various biographies and termed 'collateral branches.'

5.5

Tripiṭaka Master Quduo of the Western Regions was an Indian. He traveled east to Shaoyang and met the Sixth Patriarch, attaining awakening upon his words. Later, he traveled to Mount Wutai and arrived at Li Village in Dingxiang County, where he saw a monk sitting in a built hut. The Tripiṭaka Master asked: "What are you doing sitting alone?" The monk said: "Contemplating stillness." The Tripiṭaka Master said: "Who is the one contemplating, and what thing is stillness?" The monk bowed and asked: "What is this principle?" The Tripiṭaka Master said: "Why do you not contemplate yourself and still yourself?" That monk was bewildered and did not know how to respond. The Tripiṭaka Master asked: "From whose school do you come?" He said: "Great Master Shenxiu." The Tripiṭaka Master said: "In my Western Regions, even the dullest adherents of external paths do not fall into such a view. Sitting blankly in vain—what benefit is there to the Way?" The monk then asked the Tripiṭaka Master: "Whom do you take as your master?" The Tripiṭaka Master said: "My master is the Sixth Patriarch. Why do you not quickly go to Caoxi to determine the true essentials?" The monk immediately abandoned his hut and went to call on the Sixth Patriarch, relating the previous matter in detail. The Sixth Patriarch's instruction coincided with the Tripiṭaka Master's words, and the monk attained faithful entry. Later, the Tripiṭaka Master's whereabouts were unknown.

5.6

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:"

5.7

"The mind itself is called wisdom; / the Buddha is samādhi.
Equally maintaining samādhi and wisdom, / within the mind is purity.
Awakening to this dharma-gate / depends on your habitual nature.
Function is fundamentally unproduced; / dual cultivation is the correct practice."

5.8

Fahai faithfully accepted it, and praised it with a verse:

5.9

"The mind itself is originally Buddha; / not awakening, one belittles oneself.
I know the cause of samādhi and wisdom; / dual cultivation transcends all things."

5.10

(The Platform Sūtra states: "The disciple Fahai" is precisely this Chan Master).

5.11

Chan Master Zhicheng of Jizhou was a native of Taihe in Jizhou. In his youth, he served Chan Master Shenxiu at Yuquan Monastery on Mount Dangyang in Jingnan. Later, because both schools flourished in their teaching, Shenxiu's followers often mocked the Southern School, saying: "Master Neng does not know a single character; what strengths could he have?" Shenxiu said: "He has attained wisdom without a teacher and deeply awakened to the Supreme Vehicle; I am not his equal. Moreover, my teacher, the Fifth Patriarch, personally transmitted the robe and Dharma to him—could that have been in vain? My only regret is that I cannot go far to be near him, vainly receiving the state's bounty. You people must not linger here; you may go to Caoxi to resolve your doubts, and when you return another day, explain it to me." Hearing these words, the Master bowed, took his leave, and went to Shaoyang. Mingling with the assembly, he participated in inquiries without stating where he had come from. At that time, the Sixth Patriarch said to the assembly: "There is now someone stealing the Dharma hiding in this assembly." The Master stepped forward, prostrated, and recounted the matter in full. The Patriarch asked: "How does your master instruct the assembly?" He replied: "He always instructs the assembly to abide the mind and contemplate stillness, sitting constantly without lying down." The Patriarch said: "Abiding the mind and contemplating stillness is an illness, not Chan. Constant sitting restrains the body; what benefit does it have to the principle? Listen to my verse:"

5.12

"In life, sitting and never lying down; / in death, lying down and never sitting.
Fundamentally it is just a set of stinking bones; / why establish merit and fault upon it?"

5.13

The Master said: "May I ask what Dharma the Great Master uses to instruct people?" The Patriarch said: "If I were to say that I have a Dharma to give to people, I would be deceiving you. I merely untie bonds according to the situation, provisionally naming it samādhi. Listen to my verse:"

5.14

"All that is free of mind is the self-nature's discipline; / all that is unhindered is the self-nature's wisdom.
Neither increasing nor decreasing, it is the natural vajra; / the body departing or the body coming is fundamentally samādhi."

5.15

Hearing the verse, the Master repented and gave thanks, vowing to take refuge. He then presented a verse, saying:

5.16

"The illusory body of the five skandhas— / how could an illusion be ultimate?
Turning toward suchness, / the Dharma is still not pure."

5.17

The Patriarch approved of it. Soon after, he returned to Yuquan.

5.18

Chan Master Xiaoliao of Mount Bianyan is not recorded in the biographies; only the stūpa stele composed by Hulei Cheng, a follower of the Northern School, is widely circulated in the world. It states in brief: "The Master dwelt on Mount Bianyan; his Dharma name was Xiaoliao, a direct successor of the Sixth Patriarch. The Master attained the mind of no-mind and understood the mark of no-mark. As for no-mark, the myriad phenomena dazzle the eye; as for no-mind, discriminations burn brightly. Severing all speech and sound, the sound cannot be transmitted—transmitting it, it operates; speech cannot be exhausted—exhausting it, it errs. The Master naturally attained the non-being of non-non-being, which is not non-being in non-being. I now take the being of being-being, which is not being in being. The being of non-being does not increase by coming or going; the non-being of non-non-being does not decrease in nirvāṇa. Alas! When the Master dwelt in the world, Caoxi was illuminated; when the Master entered quiescence, the Dharma boat overturned. When the Master discoursed without speaking, the realm was filled; when the Master pointed out to the deluded, it was the vehicle of ultimate meaning. The hues of Mount Biandan hand down this hue; the empty valley still preserves the name Xiaoliao."

5.19

Chan Master Zhihuang of Hebei initially attended the Dharma seat of the Fifth Patriarch. Although he sought determinations, he adhered to gradual practice. Later, he went to Hebei, built a hut, and sat constantly for over twenty years without showing any sign of indolence. When he met Chan Master Ce, a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch traveling there, Ce stimulated him to diligently seek the Dharma essentials. The Master then abandoned his hut and went to call on the Sixth Patriarch. Pitying his coming from afar, the Patriarch immediately bestowed opening and resolution. Upon his words, the Master was broadly awakened; the mind he had attained in the previous twenty years vanished without a trace. That night, the patrons, literati, and commoners of Hebei suddenly heard a voice in the sky saying: 'Chan Master Huang has attained the Way today!' Later, he returned to Hebei to guide and transform the fourfold assembly.

5.20

Chan Master Fada of Hongzhou was a native of Fengcheng in Hongzhou. He left home at the age of seven and recited the Lotus Sūtra. After receiving full ordination, he came to pay homage to the Patriarch, but his head did not touch the ground. The Patriarch rebuked him, saying: "When a bow does not touch the ground, how is it better than not bowing? There must be something harbored in your mind. What is it?" The Master said: "I have recited the Lotus Sūtra up to three thousand times." The Patriarch said: "If you recited it up to ten thousand times and grasped the meaning of the sūtra without taking it as superior, you would walk hand in hand with me. Now, burdened by this undertaking, you do not know your error at all. Listen to my verse:"

5.21

"Bowing is fundamentally to break the banner of pride; / why does the head not touch the ground?
When there is a self, sin arises; / forgetting merit, the blessing is peerless."

5.22

The Patriarch asked again: "What is your name?" He replied: "My name is Fada." The Patriarch said: "Your name is Fada (Dharma-Penetrator), yet when have you ever penetrated the Dharma?" He spoke another verse, saying:

5.23

"Your name now is Fada, / reciting diligently without cease.
Empty recitation merely follows the sound; / clarifying the mind is called a bodhisattva.
Because you have conditions now, / I will now explain it for you:
Merely believe that the Buddha has no words, / and a lotus will blossom from your mouth."

5.24

Hearing the gāthā, the Master repented his fault, saying: "From this day forward, I shall be humble and respectful toward all things. I only pray that the Upādhyāya, out of great compassion, will briefly explain the doctrine within the sutra." The Patriarch said: "You recite this sutra—what do you take as its fundamental message?" The Master said: "I, a student, am dull and ignorant; until now I have merely recited it following the words, so how could I understand its fundamental message?" The Patriarch said: "Try reciting it once for me, and I shall explain it for you." The Master immediately recited the sutra in a loud voice up to the 'Skillful Means' chapter. The Patriarch said: "Stop! This sutra originally takes 'arising in the world for a single cause and condition' as its fundamental message. Even though it expounds many varieties of parables, none go beyond this. What is this cause and condition? It is only the one great matter, and this one great matter is nothing other than the vision and knowledge of the Buddha. Be careful not to misunderstand the sutra's meaning! Seeing where it says that opening, revealing, awakening to, and entering [the vision and knowledge] belong naturally to the Buddha's vision and knowledge, [people think] we ourselves have no share in it. If one adopts such an interpretation, it is slandering the sutra and defaming the Buddha. If he is already a Buddha and possesses this vision and knowledge, why would there be any need to open it further? You should now have faith that the Buddha's vision and knowledge is simply your own mind, having no other essence. It is only because all sentient beings obstruct their own radiance, craving dust-like sensory realms, disturbed within by outer conditions, and willingly submitting to being driven about, that they trouble him to arise from samādhi, using all manner of earnest words to urge them to desist, to seek nothing externally, and to be not two with the Buddha—hence it is called 'opening the Buddha's vision and knowledge.' For you merely to cling laboriously to reciting it, regarding it as daily practice—how does that differ from a yak treasuring its tail?" The Master said: "If so, does one merely need to understand the meaning, without taking the trouble to recite the sutra?" The Patriarch said: "What fault is there in the sutra that it would hinder your recitation? It is solely that delusion and awakening depend on the person, and loss and gain proceed from yourself. Listen to my gāthā:"

5.25

"When the mind is deluded, the Lotus [Sutra] turns it; / When the mind awakens, it turns the Lotus.
Reciting it for long without understanding oneself / Makes an enemy of the meaning.
With no-thought, thought is right; / With thought, thought becomes wrong.
When neither being nor non-being is calculated, / One rides forever in the white ox cart."

5.26

Having heard the gāthā, the Master inquired again, saying: "The sutra states that even the great śrāvakas and bodhisattvas, though exhausting their thoughts in calculation, still cannot fathom the Buddha's wisdom. Now you have ordinary beings merely awaken to their own minds, and call that the vision and knowledge of the Buddha. Unless one is of the highest capacity, one cannot avoid doubt and slander. Furthermore, the sutra speaks of three carts: what is the distinction between the great ox cart and the white ox cart? I pray the Upādhyāya will deign to explain again." The Patriarch said: "The sutra's meaning is clear; you yourself turn away in delusion. That the people of the three vehicles cannot fathom the Buddha's wisdom is due to the ailment of calculation. Even if they exhaust their thoughts in joint inference, they only make it further remote. The Buddha originally spoke for ordinary beings, not for Buddhas. Those who refuse to believe this principle may withdraw from the assembly as they will. Little do they know that, already seated in the white ox cart, they still search for the three carts outside the gate! Moreover, the sutra text clearly says to you, 'There is neither a second nor a third.' Why do you not realize? The three carts are provisional, for the sake of the past; the One Vehicle is real, for the sake of the present. It merely instructs you to leave the provisional and return to the real; and having returned to the real, the real has no name either. You should know that all precious wealth belongs entirely to you, for you to enjoy and use. Harbor no thoughts of a father, nor thoughts of a son, nor thoughts of use—this is called upholding the Lotus Sutra. From kalpa to kalpa the scroll does not leave one's hands, and from day to night there is no time when one is not reciting it." The Master, having received this instruction, leaped for joy and praised him in a gāthā, saying:

5.27

"Having recited the sutra three thousand times, / A single phrase at Caoxi made it all vanish.
Not understanding the intent of coming into the world, / How could the madness of repeated lives be stilled?
Goats, deer, and oxen were provisionally set forth, / Praised as good at the beginning, middle, and end.
Who knew that within the burning house / There was originally the King of the Dharma?"

5.28

The Patriarch said: "From now on, you may truly be called a sutra-reciting monk." From then on, the Master grasped the profound import, yet did not discontinue his reciting and upholding.

5.29

Chan Master Zhitong of Shouzhou was a native of Anfeng in Shouzhou. Early on, he read the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra more than a thousand times, yet did not understand the three bodies and four wisdoms. Paying homage to the Master, he sought an explanation of their meaning. The Patriarch said: "As for the three bodies: the pure dharmakāya is your nature; the perfect sambhogakāya is your wisdom; the hundreds of millions of nirmāṇakāyas are your actions. If one speaks of the three bodies apart from the fundamental nature, it is called having bodies without wisdom. If one awakens to the three bodies as lacking self-nature, it is called the bodhi of the four wisdoms. Listen to my gāthā:"

5.30

"The self-nature is endowed with the three bodies; / Their clear manifestation forms the four wisdoms.
Not separating from the conditions of seeing and hearing, / One transcendently ascends to the Buddha stage.
I now explain this for you; / Truly believe, and you will never be deluded.
Do not imitate those who chase outwardly, / Talking of bodhi all day long."

5.31

The Master said: "May I hear the meaning of the four wisdoms?" The Patriarch said: "Since you understand the three bodies, the four wisdoms are already clear—why ask further? If one discusses the four wisdoms apart from the three bodies, it is called having wisdom without bodies. This very wisdom turns back into non-wisdom." He then spoke a gāthā, saying:

5.32

"The great mirror wisdom's nature is pure;
In the wisdom of equality, the mind is free of disease;
The wondrous observing wisdom sees without contrivance;
The wisdom of accomplishing actions is the same as the mirror.
Five, eight, six, and seven turn in result and cause;
Employing only names, they have no real nature.
If at the point of turning you leave no sentimental attachment,
You will abide forever amidst vigorous activity in the nāga samādhi."

5.33

(Transforming consciousness into wisdom: The teachings say that the first five consciousnesses are transformed into the wisdom of accomplishing actions, the sixth consciousness into the wondrous observing wisdom, the seventh consciousness into the wisdom of equality, and the eighth consciousness into the great mirror wisdom. Although the sixth and seventh are transformed in the stage of cause and the fifth and eighth in the stage of result, only their names are transformed, not their essence.)

5.34

The Master bowed in gratitude and praised him with a gāthā, saying:

5.35

"The three bodies are originally my essence; / The four wisdoms are fundamentally the mind's clarity.
Bodies and wisdom merge without obstruction, / Responding to things and according freely with forms.
Arousing cultivation is all vain movement; / Guarding and staying put is not true essence.
Wondrous words, understood through the Master, / Have ended at last the name of defilement."

5.36

Chan Master Zhiche of Jiangxi was a native of Jiangxi. His surname was Zhang, and his given name was Xingchang. In his youth, he acted as a knight-errant. Ever since the South and North separated their teachings, although the two school leaders had extinguished [the sense of] self and other, their disciples vied in generating love and hate. At that time, the disciples of the Northern school set up Master [Shen]xiu as the sixth patriarch, and envied Great Master [Hui]neng's transmission of the robe being known throughout the world. However, the Patriarch was a bodhisattva and knew this in advance, so he placed ten ounces of gold in the abbot's quarters. At that time, Xingchang accepted the request of the Northern school disciples, and with a blade in his bosom entered the Patriarch's room intending to harm him. The Patriarch extended his neck and submitted to it. Xingchang swung the blade three times, but caused no injury whatsoever. The Patriarch said: "A righteous sword is not evil; an evil sword is not righteous. I only owe you gold; I do not owe you life." Xingchang fell to the ground in shock, and only after a long while revived, begging for mercy and repenting his fault; he immediately wished to leave home. The Patriarch then gave him the gold, saying: "Go for now, lest my assembly harm you in retaliation. You may change your appearance and come on another day, and I will accept you." Xingchang received these instructions and fled by night. Eventually, he went to a monk, left home, received the full precepts, and practiced vigorously. One day, remembering the Patriarch's words, he traveled from afar to pay homage. The Patriarch said: "I have thought of you for a long time; why have you come so late?" He said: "Formerly I received the Upādhyāya's pardon of my guilt. Though I have now left home and practice austerities, in the end it is difficult to repay such deep kindness. Can it only be by transmitting the Dharma and liberating beings? I have read the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, but do not yet understand the meaning of permanence and impermanence. I beg the Upādhyāya out of compassion to explain it briefly." The Patriarch said: "Impermanence is the Buddha-nature; permanence is the discriminating mind regarding all wholesome and unwholesome phenomena." He said: "What the Upādhyāya says greatly contradicts the sutra text." The Patriarch said: "I transmit the Buddha's mind-seal; how would I dare contradict the Buddha's sutras?" He said: "The sutra says that the Buddha-nature is permanent, yet the Upādhyāya says it is impermanent. All wholesome and unwholesome phenomena, even the bodhicitta, are impermanent, yet the Upādhyāya says they are permanent. This contradiction only increases this student's doubt." The Patriarch said: "Formerly, when I heard the nun Wujinzang recite the Nirvāṇa Sūtra once, I explained it for her, and not a single word or single meaning failed to accord with the sutra text; even now for you, there are fundamentally no two teachings." He said: "My capacity of understanding is shallow and dark. I pray the Upādhyāya will explain it thoroughly." The Patriarch said: "Do you understand? If the Buddha-nature were permanent, what further need would there be to speak of wholesome and unwholesome phenomena, such that through exhausted kalpas not a single person would arouse the bodhicitta? Therefore, my speaking of impermanence is precisely the way of true permanence taught by the Buddha. Furthermore, if all phenomena were impermanent, then every single thing would have a self-nature subject to birth and death, and the nature of true permanence would have places where it is not pervasive. Therefore, my speaking of permanence is precisely the meaning of true impermanence spoken by the Buddha. Formerly, because ordinary beings and non-Buddhists clung to wrong permanence, and the practitioners of the two vehicles conceived of impermanence regarding the permanent, together forming the eight inversions, the Buddha, in the definitive teaching of the Nirvāṇa, shattered their one-sided views and revealed true permanence, true self, and true purity. Now you follow words and turn against the meaning, using annihilationist impermanence and fixed, dead permanence to misunderstand the Buddha's perfectly wondrous final subtle words. Even if you read it a thousand times, what benefit is there?" Xingchang suddenly felt as if waking from drunkenness, and spoke a gāthā, saying:

5.37

"Because of guarding the impermanent mind, / The Buddha expounded the permanent nature.
Those who do not know skillful means / Are like [children] grasping gravel in a spring pond.
Now, without applying effort, / The Buddha-nature appears before me.
It was not conferred by the teacher, / Nor did I attain anything."

5.38

The Patriarch said: "Now you have penetrated (che); your name should be Zhiche." The Master bowed in thanks and departed.

5.39

Chan Master Zhichang of Xinzhou was a native of Guixi in the same prefecture. In his childhood he left home, aspiring to see his nature. One day he visited the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch asked: "Where have you come from, and what do you seek?" The Master said: "I recently went to Mount Baifeng in Jianchang County, Hongzhou, to pay homage to Upādhyāya Datong. I received his instruction on the meaning of seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha, but my lingering doubts were not resolved. Reaching Jizhou, I met someone who pointed out my delusion and told me to visit the Upādhyāya. I humbly pray you will deign to extend compassion and accept me." The Patriarch said: "What words did he have? Try quoting them to me, and I will verify them for you." The Master said: "When I first arrived there, for three months I received no instruction. Because of my urgency for the Dharma, in the middle of the night I entered the abbot's quarters alone, bowed, and pleaded with him. Datong then said: 'Do you see empty space?' I replied, 'I see it.' He said: 'Do you see empty space having any appearance?' I replied: 'Empty space has no form; what appearance could it have?' He said: 'Your original nature is just like empty space. Turning to observe your self-nature, there is completely not a single thing to be seen—this is called right view. There is not a single thing to be known—this is called true knowledge. There is neither blue nor yellow, long nor short; merely seeing the original source to be pure and the substance of awakening perfectly luminous is called seeing nature and becoming a Buddha; it is also called the realm of ultimate bliss, and the vision and knowledge of the Tathāgata.' Although I heard this explanation, I am still not clear and resolved. I beg the Upādhyāya to instruct me so that there is no obstruction." The Patriarch said: "Because what that teacher said still retains seeing and knowing, it caused you not to understand clearly. I shall now show you a gāthā:"

5.40

"Not seeing a single dharma, yet keeping 'no-seeing,' / Is very much like floating clouds veiling the face of the sun.
Not knowing a single dharma, yet guarding 'empty knowing,' / Is just like lightning flashing across empty space.
This vision and knowledge, suddenly arising— / Misrecognizing it, when have you ever understood skillful means?
If in a single thought you yourself recognize the error, / Your own spiritual radiance will constantly appear."

5.41

Having heard the gāthā, the Master's mind opened completely. He then composed a gāthā, saying:

5.42

"Without cause, I aroused views and understanding, / Clinging to marks and seeking bodhi.
With feelings retaining a single thought of awakening, / How could I surpass former delusions?
The self-nature is the substance of awakening's source; / Following illumination, it uselessly drifted.
Had I not entered the Patriarch's room, / I would be bewildered, running toward the two extremes."

5.43

Chan Master Zhidao of Guangzhou was a native of Nanhai. When he first visited the Sixth Patriarch, he said, 'Since leaving home, I have read the Nirvāṇa Sūtra for barely more than ten years, yet I have not understood its great meaning. I pray that the Upādhyāya will deign to instruct me.' The Patriarch said, 'Where are you not yet clear?' He replied, ''All conditioned things are impermanent; they are phenomena of arising and ceasing. When arising and ceasing have ceased, the extinction of quiescence is bliss.' I have doubts regarding this.' The Patriarch said, 'How do you doubt it?' He replied, 'All sentient beings have two bodies: namely, the physical body and the Dharma body. The physical body is impermanent, having arising and ceasing; the Dharma body is permanent, having no knowledge and no sensation. The sūtra says: 'When arising and ceasing have ceased, the extinction of quiescence is bliss.' I do not know which body undergoes extinction of quiescence and which body experiences bliss. If it is the physical body: when the physical body ceases, the four great elements disperse, which is entirely suffering, and suffering cannot be called bliss. If the Dharma body undergoes extinction of quiescence, it would be identical to grasses, trees, tiles, and stones—who would then experience bliss? Furthermore, the Dharma-nature is the substance of arising and ceasing, and the five aggregates are the function of arising and ceasing. With one substance and five functions, arising and ceasing are constant: upon arising, function emerges from substance; upon ceasing, function is gathered back to substance. If another birth is allowed, then sentient kinds would never be cut off or extinguished. If another birth is not allowed, then they would forever return to quiescence and extinction, being identical to insentient things. If this were so, all dharmas would be restrained and suppressed by nirvāṇa; they would not even be able to arise, so what bliss could there be?' The Patriarch said, 'You are a son of Śākya; why do you study the non-Buddhist heterodox views of annihilation and permanence to critique the supreme vehicle? According to your understanding, outside the physical body there is separately a Dharma body, and apart from arising and ceasing you seek quiescence and extinction. Moreover, inferring that nirvāṇa is permanent bliss, you say there is a body that experiences it—this is merely clinging stubbornly to birth and death and indulging in worldly pleasures. You must know now: because all deluded people mistake the confluence of the five aggregates for the mark of their own substance, and discriminate all dharmas as marks of external dust, loving life and hating death, their thought-moments shifting and flowing, unaware of the dreamlike, illusory falsehood [of existence], they vainly undergo saṃsāra, turning the constant bliss of nirvāṇa instead into a mark of suffering and running about seeking it all day long. Pitiful of this, the Buddha demonstrated the true bliss of nirvāṇa: in an instant there is no mark of arising; in an instant there is no mark of ceasing; there is no further arising and ceasing to be ceased. This is the presence of quiescence and extinction before your eyes. In this moment of presence, there is also no measure of presence; it is called constant bliss. This bliss has no one who experiences it, nor anyone who does not experience it. How could there be the designation of one substance and five functions? How much less should one say that nirvāṇa restrains and suppresses all dharmas so that they never arise again? This is slandering the Buddha and defaming the Dharma. Listen to my verse:'

First 43 of 112 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

景德傳燈錄 — Classical Chinese