景德傳燈錄 5.105

5.105

Chan Master Shenhui of Heze in the Western Capital was a native of Xiangyang. His surname was Gao. At the age of fourteen, as a śrāmaṇera, he visited the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch said, 'Kalyāṇamitra, coming from afar with great hardship, did you bring the fundamental? If you have the fundamental, you should recognize the master. Try telling me.' The Master said, 'Taking non-abiding as the fundamental, seeing is the master.' The Patriarch said, 'How can this śrāmaṇera speak so carelessly?' and struck him with his staff. Under the staff, the Master contemplated: 'A great kalyāṇamitra is difficult to encounter in kalpas upon kalpas; now that I have met him, how could I begrudge body and life?' From then on he served him. Another day, the Patriarch addressed the assembly, saying: 'I have a thing: it has no head and no tail, no name and no letter, no back and no face. Do you all recognize it?' The Master came forward and said, 'It is the source of all Buddhas, the Buddha-nature of Shenhui.' The Patriarch said, 'I told you it has no name and no letter, and you immediately call it the source and Buddha-nature.' The Master bowed and withdrew. The Master soon went to the Western Capital to receive the full precepts. During the Jinglong era of the Tang, he returned to Caoxi. In the twenty years after the Patriarch's decease, Caoxi's sudden tenet fell into decline and neglect in Jing and Wu, while Songyue's gradual gate flourished in Qin and Luo. He then entered the capital. Only in the fourth year of the Tianbao era were the two schools settled (the Southern Neng's sudden school and Northern Xiu's gradual teaching). He then composed the Record of Revealing the School, which circulated widely in the world. One day, a letter from his hometown arrived reporting that both of his parents had died. The Master entered the hall, struck the gavel, and said, 'Both parents have passed away. I invite the great assembly to chant the Mahāprajñā.' As soon as the assembly gathered, the Master struck the gavel and said, 'I have troubled the great assembly.' On the thirteenth day of the fifth month in the first year of the Shangyuan era, in the middle of the night, the Master quietly passed away. His worldly age was seventy-five. In the second year, a stupa was erected at Longmen in the capital Luoyang. By imperial order, the Bao'ying Temple was established at the site of the stupa. In the fifth year of the Dali era, the hall was granted the name 'Hall of the True School Prajñā Transmission of Dharma'. In the seventh year, the stupa was also granted the name 'Stupa of Master Prajñā'.