景德傳燈錄 5.2

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:"