[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [傳法正宗記](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078) › 4.22 # 傳法正宗記 4.22 傳法正宗記 4.22 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [4.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4.22) 師子尊者。中天竺國人也。姓婆羅門氏素聰唔有出世智辯。少依婆羅門僧出家習定。晚師鶴勒那。尋得付法。往化於罽賓國。初其國有沙門曰婆梨迦者。專習小乘禪觀。梨迦之後。其徒承其法者。遂分為五家學。有曰禪定者。有曰知見者。有曰執相者。有曰捨相者。有曰持不語者。然競以其能相勝。尊者皆往正之首謂持不語者曰。佛教勤演般若。孰為不語。而反佛說耶。次謂捨相者曰。佛教威儀具足梵行清白。豈捨相耶。次謂執相者曰。佛土清淨自在無著。何執相耶。次謂知見者曰。諸佛知見無所得。故此法微妙。覺聞不及無為無相。何知見耶。然四者之眾皆服其教。其五禪觀之眾為其首者曰。達磨達號有知識。眾皆尊之。以前四眾之屈。憤然不甘。遂告尊者欲相問難。始至。尊者問曰。仁者習定。何乃來此若此來也何嘗習定。答曰。我來此處心亦不亂。定隨人習豈在處所。又曰。仁者之來其習亦至。既無處所豈在人習。答曰。定習人故非人習定我雖去來其定常習。又曰。人非習定定習人故。當自來去其定誰習。答曰。如淨明珠內外無翳。定若通達乃當如此。又曰。定若通達必似明珠。今見仁者非珠所類。答曰。其珠明徹內外悉定。我心不亂猶若是珠。又曰。其珠無內外。仁者何能定穢。物非動搖此定不是淨。達磨達義屈。遂禮之曰。我於學道蓋虛勞耳。非聞斯言幾不知至。尊者當容我師之。尊者固遜。而其請不已。乃謂之曰。諸佛禪定無有所得。諸佛覺道無有所證。無得無證是真解脫。酬因答果世之業報。而此法之中悉不如是。汝若習定乃當然也。達磨達忻然奉教。未幾其國有一長者子曰斯多。年僅二十。其左手常若握物。而未始輒開。一夕其父夢。神人令送師子醫之。父明日遂携子從尊者求驗其夢。然先自心計。果得此子病愈。當恣之出家。而尊者方患久於是國而其法未得所傳。一朝而長者父子偕至。以其手與夢聞於尊者。禮之願即受其出家。尊者乃謂眾曰。此子手所握者。汝等知之乎。眾皆罔測。復曰。此之所持乃一寶珠耳。蓋我先世於一國土嘗為比丘。以誦龍王經為業。其時此子已從我出家。號婆舍者。一日會龍宮請我供之。以珠為䞋。時此子從往因付其掌之。及我終彼而生此。其師資緣業未絕。所以復有今會。即命斯多展手。其珠果爛然在掌。於是尊者即為剃度。會聖眾與受具戒。謂之曰。汝之前身出家已號婆舍。而今復然。宜以兼之。即名婆舍斯多。適觀此國。將加難於我。然我衰老。豈更苟免。而我所傳如來之大法眼。今以付汝。汝宜奉之。即去自務傳化。或遇疑者即持我僧伽梨衣為之信驗。聽吾偈曰。 > The Venerable Simha was a man of Central India, surnamed Brāhmaṇa. He was innately intelligent and possessed of transcendent wisdom and eloquence. In his youth, he went forth under a Brāhmaṇa monk to study meditation. Later he took Haklenayaśas as his master and soon received the transmission of the Dharma. He traveled to convert beings in the kingdom of Jibin. Earlier, that country had a śramaṇa named Vālikā, who devoted himself to practicing Hīnayāna meditation contemplation. After Vālikā, his disciples who upheld his teaching subsequently split into five schools: one called Dhyāna Concentration, one called Knowledge and Vision, one called Grasping Marks, one called Renouncing Marks, and one called Observing Silence. They vied to surpass one another in their capabilities. The Venerable went to correct all of them. First, he said to the one observing silence: "The Buddha's teaching diligently expounds prajñā. Who would practice silence, thereby contradicting the Buddha's teachings?" Next, he said to the one renouncing marks: "The Buddha's teachings are complete in deportment and pure in brahma practice; how could one renounce marks?" Next, he said to the one grasping marks: "The Buddha realm is pure, sovereign, and without attachment; why grasp marks?" Next, he said to the one of knowledge and vision: "The knowledge and vision of all Buddhas has nothing to be attained. Therefore, this Dharma is subtle and wondrous, beyond awakening and hearing, unconditioned and devoid of marks; why knowledge and vision?" Thereupon the assemblies of the four \[schools\] all submitted to his teaching. The head of the fifth assembly of meditation contemplation was named Dharmadata. Regarded as a knowledgeable master, the multitudes all revered him. Indignant and resentful at the submission of the previous four assemblies, he thereupon informed the Venerable that he wished to interrogate him with difficult questions. When he first arrived, the Venerable asked him: "You, benevolent one, practice concentration. Why come here? If you come here, how can you be practicing concentration?" He replied: "When I come to this place, my mind is also not disordered. Concentration follows the person's practice; how could it depend on place?" \[The Venerable\] further asked: "When you, benevolent one, come, your practice also arrives. Since there is no place, how could it depend on a person's practice?" He replied: "Because concentration practices the person, it is not that the person practices concentration. Though I come and go, that concentration is constantly practiced." \[The Venerable\] further asked: "Since the person does not practice concentration and it is concentration that practices the person, when one comes and goes of oneself, who practices that concentration?" He replied: "Like a clear and bright jewel, without flaw inside or out: when concentration is thoroughly mastered, it should indeed be like this." \[The Venerable\] further asked: "If concentration is thoroughly mastered, it must indeed resemble a bright jewel. Now seeing you, benevolent one, you are not of the kind of a jewel." He replied: "That jewel is luminous and clear, and both inside and outside are entirely tranquil. My mind is not disordered, just like this jewel." \[The Venerable\] further asked: "That jewel has no inside or outside. How can you, benevolent one, determine impurities? If things are not unsteady, this concentration is not purity." Dharmadata's reasoning was exhausted, and he then bowed to him, saying: "My study of the Way has merely been in vain! Had I not heard these words, I would almost have never understood the ultimate. May the Venerable allow me to take you as my master!" The Venerable firmly declined, but Dharmadata's entreaties did not cease. So \[the Venerable\] told him: "The dhyāna concentration of all Buddhas has nothing to be attained. The awakened Way of all Buddhas has nothing to be realized. Devoid of attainment and realization—this is true liberation. Recompensing causes and responding to effects are the karmic retributions of the mundane world; yet within this Dharma, none are like that. If you practice concentration, it should indeed be thus." Dharmadata joyfully accepted his instruction. Before long, there was a son of an elder in that country named Śāntā, who was only twenty years old. His left hand always seemed to clasp something and had never opened. One night, his father dreamed that a divine being told him to send him to Simha to be cured. The following day, the father took his son to the Venerable to test his dream. Yet he first calculated in his mind: "If this boy's malady is truly cured, I shall freely allow him to leave household life." The Venerable had just been lamenting that he had been in this country for a long time yet had not found anyone to whom he could transmit his Dharma. One morning, the elder and his son arrived together, informed the Venerable of the hand and the dream, bowed, and wished that the son immediately be accepted into the monastic order. The Venerable then said to the assembly: "Do you know what this boy grasps in his hand?" None in the assembly could guess. He spoke again: "What he holds is just a precious jewel. In a past life, I was once a monk in a certain realm, whose vocation was chanting the Dragon King Sūtra. At that time, this boy had already left the household life under me, named Bashe. One day, it happened that the dragon palace invited me to an offering and presented a jewel as a donation. At that time, this boy accompanied me, and so I entrusted it to his palm. When my life ended there and I was born here, the karmic conditions between master and disciple were not severed; thus, there is this present meeting." He then instructed Śāntā to open his hand, and the jewel was indeed radiant in his palm. Thereupon the Venerable tonsured him, convened the sangha of nobles, and administered the full ordination. He said to him: "In your previous life when you went forth, you were already named Bashe, and now it is so again. It is fitting to combine them: your name shall be Bashe-sīta (Vāśasīta). I have just observed that this country is about to bring calamity upon me. Yet I am old and frail; how could I seek an improper escape? The Great Dharma Eye of the Tathāgata that I have inherited, I now entrust to you. You should uphold it and depart at once to dedicate yourself to propagating and converting. If you encounter those who doubt you, take my saṃghāṭī robe as a token of verification. Listen to my verse: > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 4.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4.21) - [Next: 4.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4.23) - [Up: 4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078~en-mt.4.22) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [釋氏稽古略](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.1.562) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.4.22) · Pramāṇa