[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) › 6.26 # 傳法正宗記 6.26 傳法正宗記 6.26 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6.26) 慧能尊者。姓盧氏。其先本籍范陽。父行瑫。武德中謫官新州。乃生能。遂為新興人也。方三歲而父喪。母不復適人。獨養尊者以終其身。然其家貧。母子殆不能自存。尊者遂鬻薪為資。一日至市。逆旅聞客有誦經者。輒問其人曰。此何經耶。客曰。金剛經也。曰君得之於何人。客曰。今第五祖弘忍大師出世於黃梅縣。甞謂人曰。若持此經。得速見性。我故誦之。尊者喜之。為母備其歲儲。因告往求法。去之至韶陽。會居士劉志略者。引尊者為善友。初志略有姑為尼。號無盡藏者。方讀涅槃經為業。尊者往聽其經。未幾欲為尼釋之。尼即推經於尊者。尊者曰。汝讀我不識文字。尼曰。字猶不識。安解其義。尊者曰。諸佛妙理豈在文字。尼異其語。知必非常人。遂以告其鄉里。鄉人德之。尋治寶林蘭若。請尊者居之。居未幾忽自感曰。我始為法尋師。何久滯此。即去寶林稍進至韶之樂昌縣。會高行沙門智遠尊者。且依其處才十數朝。智遠謂尊者曰。觀子知識非凡者。趣嚮吾道固不足相資。黃梅忍禪師方當大法祖。宜汝師也。汝速詣之。若得道南還。無相忘也。尊者遂北征。是時年已三十有二。及至東山忍祖默識其法器。初示以言試之。終乃付大法眼。及尊者得法南歸。而東山先進之徒皆不甘相與追之。有曰慧明者。相及於庾嶺。尊者即置其衣鉢於盤石而自亡草間。慧明舉其衣鉢不能動。乃呼曰我以法來。非為衣鉢。法兄盍出之。遂相見。慧明與之語。慧明即悟。致師禮於尊者而返。乃紿其後之追者曰。其去已遠矣。尊者之南還也。晦迹於四會懷集之間。混一流俗雖四載。而莫有知者。儀鳳元年之春。乃抵南海息肩於法性寺。會法師印宗於其寺講涅槃經。初尊者寄室於廊廡間。一夕風起。剎幡飛揚。俄有二僧室外議論。一曰風動。一曰幡動。其問答如此者甚多。皆非得理。尊者聞輒出謂二僧曰。可容俗士與議乎。僧曰。請聞子說。尊者乃曰。不是風動不是幡動。仁者心動。二僧翼日以其言告印宗。印宗異之。即引入室。窮詰其義。尊者益以大理語之。印宗於是益伏。謂尊者曰。居士誠非凡人。師誰其何自而得道勿隱幸以相示。尊者即以其得法本末告之。印宗甚幸所遇。即執弟子禮。請學其法要。遂謂其眾曰。此盧居士者。乃肉身菩薩也。印宗一介凡夫。豈意得與其會。擇日乃會耆德比丘。與之釋褐落髮。又擇日嚴其寺戒壇。命律師智光為受具戒。其壇蓋宋時求那跋摩三藏之經始也。初跋摩記曰。後當有肉身菩薩於此受戒。及梁末真諦三藏臨其壇手植二菩提樹。亦記之曰。後第四代當有上乘菩薩於此受戒。其說法度人無量。戒已眾即請尊者開演東山法門。然跋摩真諦雖素號為得果聖士。至此其人始驗。明年尊者思返寶林精舍。乃欲別眾即往。印宗與道俗千餘人送之韶陽。未幾韶之刺史韋據。命居其州之大梵寺說法。其時玄儒之士趨而問道者甚眾。猶孔氏之在洙泗也。其徒即集其說。目曰壇經。然其平居眾亦不下千數。中宗聞其風。神龍中乃下詔曰。朕延安秀二師問道於宮中。皆推曰。南方有能禪師者。躬受衣法於忍大師。可當此問。今遣內供奉薛簡馳詔命師。宜念之來副朕意。尊者即上書稱疾不起。薛簡因問尊者曰。京國禪者每謂。欲得會道必須坐禪。非因禪定而得解脫。未之有也。此言何如。尊者曰。道由心悟。豈在坐耶。經云。若言如來若來若去若坐若臥。是人不解我所說義。何以故。如來者無所從來亦無所去故。名如來。夫無所從來故不生。亦無所去故不滅。若無生滅即是如來清淨之禪。諸法空寂即是如來清淨之坐。究竟無得亦無所證。何必坐耶。薛簡曰。簡歸皇帝必有顧問。願大師示教法要。庶得對敭。然布諸京國。使學者修之。猶以一燈而燃百千燈。庶其冥者皆明。而明終不盡。尊者曰。道無明暗。明暗是代謝之義。明明無盡亦是有盡。蓋相待而立名。故經云。法無有比。無相待故。薛簡曰。明譬智慧。暗譬煩惱。修道之人苟不以智慧而照破煩惱。則無始生死何由而出離。尊者曰。若以智慧照煩惱者。此是二乘小兒羊鹿等機。上智大器皆不如是。薛簡曰。何謂大乘見解。尊者曰。明與無明其性無二。無二之性即是實性。實性者處凡愚而不減。在賢聖而不增。住煩惱而不亂。居禪定而不寂。不斷不常不來不去。不在中間及其內外。不生不滅性相如如常住不遷。名之曰道。薛簡曰。大師所說不生不滅。與夫外道之言何甞異乎。尊者曰。外道之說不生不滅者。蓋將滅止生。以生顯滅。滅猶不滅。生說無生。我說不生不滅者。本自無生今亦無滅。豈可同於外道乎。仁者欲明心要。但一切善惡都莫思量。自然得入。心體湛然常寂妙用恒沙。薛簡由是發悟。再拜而去歸朝。果以其言奏。天子嘉之。復詔慰謝。錫衲衣寶帛各有差。勅改寶林為中興寺。明年命韶州刺史新之。復改為法泉寺。以其新州舊居為國恩寺。尊者每謂眾曰。諸善知識。汝等各各淨心聽吾說法。汝等諸人自心是佛。更莫狐疑。外無一法而能建立。皆是自心生萬種法。故經云。心生則種種法生。心滅則種種法滅。若欲成就種智。須達一相三昧一行三昧。若於一切處而不住相。於彼相中不生憎愛。不取不捨。不念利益成壞等事。安隱清淨。此名一相三昧。若一切處行住坐臥。純一直心不動道場使成淨土。此名一行三昧。若人具二三昧。如地有種能含藏長養成就其實。一相一行亦復如是。我今說法猶如時雨溥潤大地。汝等佛性譬諸種子。遇此霑洽悉得發生。取吾語者決得菩提。依吾行者定證佛果。至先天元年。一日忽謂眾曰。吾忝於忍大師處受其法要并之衣鉢。今雖說法而不傳衣鉢者。蓋以汝等信心成熟無有疑者。故不傳之。聽吾偈曰。 > Venerable Huineng had the surname Lu. His ancestors originally belonged to Fanyang. His father, Xingtao, was demoted to an official post in Xinzhou during the Wude era, where Neng was born; thus he became a man of Xinxing. When he was just three years old, his father died. His mother did not remarry, but raised the Venerable alone to the end of his days. Yet their family was poor, and mother and son could scarcely support themselves. The Venerable thereupon sold firewood to sustain them. One day he went to the marketplace, and at an inn heard a guest reciting a sutra. He immediately asked the man, "What sutra is this?" The guest said, "It is the Diamond Sutra." He asked, "From whom did you receive it?" The guest said, "At present, the Fifth Patriarch, the Great Master Hongren, has appeared in the world in Huangmei County. He often tells people, 'If you uphold this sutra, you will quickly see your nature.' Therefore I recite it." The Venerable rejoiced, prepared a year's provisions for his mother, and then announced his departure to seek the Dharma. Departing, he reached Shaoyang, where he met the lay practitioner Liu Zhilüe, who took the Venerable as a good spiritual friend. Previously, Zhilüe had an aunt who was a nun, known as Wujinzang, who at that time took the reading of the Nirvāṇa Sūtra as her practice. The Venerable went to listen to the sutra, and before long wished to explain it for the nun. The nun then pushed the sutra toward the Venerable. The Venerable said, "Read it to me; I cannot read the characters." The nun said, "If you do not even know the characters, how can you understand their meaning?" The Venerable said, "How could the wondrous principles of the Buddhas lie in characters?" The nun marvelled at his words, knowing he must be no ordinary man, and thereupon told her fellow villagers. The villagers honoured his virtue, soon restored the Baolin Hermitage, and invited the Venerable to dwell there. After dwelling there not long, he was suddenly moved to say to himself, "I originally set out to seek a teacher for the sake of the Dharma; why linger here for long?" He immediately left Baolin, proceeded a little further to Lechang County in Shao, and met the śramaṇa of lofty conduct, the Venerable Zhiyuan. When he had stayed at his place for merely ten-odd days, Zhiyuan said to the Venerable, "Observing your spiritual insight, you are no ordinary person; my way is certainly not sufficient to assist your aspiration. Chan Master Ren of Huangmei is currently serving as the patriarch of the Great Dharma; he should be your teacher. You must go to him quickly. If you attain the Way and return south, do not forget each other." The Venerable thereupon journeyed north. At that time he was already thirty-two years of age. When he reached the East Mountain, Patriarch Ren silently recognized his capacity for the Dharma. At first he tested him by speaking to him, and in the end entrusted him with the Great Dharma-eye. When the Venerable attained the Dharma and returned south, the senior disciples of the East Mountain were all unwilling to accept this, and joined together to pursue him. There was one named Huiming, who caught up with him at the Dayu Ridge. The Venerable immediately placed his robe and bowl on a boulder and concealed himself among the grass. Huiming lifted the robe and bowl but could not move them; thereupon he cried out, "I come for the Dharma, not for the robe and bowl. Dharma brother, why do you not come out?" Thereupon they met. Huiming spoke with him, and Huiming immediately awoke. He paid the courtesies of a disciple to the Venerable and turned back, and then deceived those pursuing behind him, saying, "He has already gone far." When the Venerable returned south, he hid his traces between Sihui and Huaiji, mingling with the common folk for four years without anyone knowing. In the spring of the first year of Yifeng, he reached Nanhai and set down his burdens at Faxing Monastery. He happened to meet the Dharma Master Yinzong lecturing on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra at that monastery. At first, the Venerable lodged in a room in the corridors. One evening the wind arose, and the monastery banner flapped. Presently, two monks outside the room were arguing; one said, "The wind moves," and the other said, "The banner moves." Their exchanges of this sort were numerous, none hitting upon the truth. The Venerable, hearing it, immediately came out and said to the two monks, "May a layman be permitted to join your discussion?" The monks said, "Please let us hear your view." The Venerable thereupon said, "It is not the wind that moves, nor the banner that moves; it is your minds, kind sirs, that move." The next day, the two monks reported his words to Yinzong. Yinzong marvelled at them and immediately led him into his room, thoroughly interrogating him on their meaning. The Venerable spoke to him further with the ultimate principle. Yinzong was thereupon all the more subdued, and said to the Venerable, "Layman, you are truly no ordinary man. Who is your teacher, and whence did you attain the Way? Do not conceal it, but please reveal it to me." The Venerable thereupon recounted to him the beginning and end of his attainment of the Dharma. Yinzong was exceedingly fortunate in what he had encountered, and immediately adopted the rites of a disciple, requesting to learn his essential teachings. He then said to the assembly, "This Layman Lu is a flesh-body bodhisattva. How could an ordinary fellow such as Yinzong have expected to meet him?" Choosing an auspicious day, he gathered elder bhikṣus to strip off his secular robes and shave his head. Choosing another auspicious day, they adorned the monastery's ordination platform, and commanded the Vinaya Master Zhiguang to administer the full precepts to him. That platform had originally been inaugurated during the Song dynasty by the Tripiṭaka Master Guṇavarman. Initially, Guṇavarman had predicted, "Later there will be a flesh-body bodhisattva receiving the precepts here." And at the end of the Liang dynasty, when the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha approached the platform, he personally planted two Bodhi trees and also predicted, "In the fourth generation hence, there will be a bodhisattva of the Supreme Vehicle receiving the precepts here. His preaching of the Dharma will deliver immeasurable people." Once ordained, the assembly immediately requested the Venerable to expound the East Mountain teaching. Thus, although Guṇavarman and Paramārtha were from the start known as holy beings who had attained the fruit, only at this point was that verified in this person. The following year, the Venerable thought to return to the Baolin Cloister, and wished to bid farewell to the assembly and depart immediately. Yinzong, together with more than a thousand monastics and laypeople, saw him off to Shaoyang. Before long, Wei Ju, the prefectural governor of Shao, invited him to dwell at Dafan Monastery in that prefecture and preach the Dharma. At that time, Daoists and Confucian scholars who hastened to ask about the Way were very numerous, just like Confucius at the Zhu and Si Rivers. His disciples thereupon compiled his discourses and titled them the Platform Sutra. Moreover, his ordinary congregation was never fewer than a thousand. Emperor Zhongzong heard of his reputation and, during the Shenlong era, issued an imperial edict stating: "We invited the two masters Huian and Shenxiu to inquire about the Way in the palace; both recommended: 'In the south there is Chan Master Neng, who personally received the robe and Dharma from the Great Master Ren, and is capable of answering this inquiry.' Now We dispatch the palace attendant Xue Jian to gallop with the edict to summon the Master. You should take this into consideration and come to fulfil Our wishes." The Venerable thereupon submitted a memorial claiming illness and did not rise. Xue Jian then asked the Venerable, "Chan practitioners in the capital always say: 'If you wish to comprehend the Way, you must sit in meditation. It has never happened that one attains liberation without relying on dhyāna-concentration.' What about this statement?" The Venerable said, "The Way is awakened to through the mind; how could it depend on sitting? The sutra says: 'If anyone says that the Tathāgata comes, goes, sits, or lies down, this person does not understand the meaning of what I have spoken. Why? The Tathāgata has nowhere whence he comes and nowhere whither he goes; therefore he is named Tathāgata.' Since there is nowhere whence he comes, he is not born; since there is nowhere whither he goes, he does not perish. If there is no birth and death, this is the Tathāgata's pure dhyāna; that all phenomena are empty and tranquil is the Tathāgata's pure sitting. Ultimately there is nothing to attain, nor is there anything to realize; why must one sit?" Xue Jian said, "When I, Jian, return, the Emperor will certainly ask questions. I pray that the Great Master will reveal the essential Dharma teachings, so that I may report them in reply and spread them throughout the capital, causing practitioners to cultivate them, just as one lamp ignites hundreds and thousands of lamps, so that those in darkness all become bright, and the brightness will never end." The Venerable said, "The Way has neither light nor darkness. Light and darkness have the sense of alternation. 'Endless brightness' also has an end, for names are established through mutual dependence. Therefore the sutra says: 'The Dharma has no comparison, because it has no mutual dependence.'" Xue Jian said, "Light is compared to wisdom, and darkness to afflictions. If a cultivator of the Way does not illuminate and destroy afflictions by means of wisdom, by what means can he escape beginningless birth and death?" The Venerable said, "Illuminating afflictions with wisdom is the capacity of the sheep and deer vehicles of the small children of the Two Vehicles; the supreme wisdom of great vessels is entirely unlike this." Xue Jian said, "What is meant by the view of the Great Vehicle?" The Venerable said, "Light and ignorance—their nature is not two. The nature that is not two is the real nature. The real nature does not decrease in the ordinary and foolish, nor does it increase in the worthy and holy. It abides in afflictions without being disordered, and dwells in dhyāna-concentration without being quiescent. It is neither annihilated nor permanent, neither comes nor goes, is not in the middle nor inside or outside. Unborn and unperishing, its nature and marks are suchness, permanently abiding and unchanging: this is named the Way." Xue Jian said, "How does what the Great Master speaks of as unborn and unperishing differ from the sayings of the non-Buddhists?" The Venerable said, "When non-Buddhists speak of unborn and unperishing, they merely use perishing to stop birth, and use birth to manifest perishing; perishing is still not perishing, and birth is spoken of as un生. When I speak of unborn and unperishing, it is originally without birth and now also without perishing; how could it be the same as the non-Buddhists? If you, kind sir, wish to clarify the essence of the mind, merely do not think of any good or evil, and you will naturally gain entry. The substance of the mind will be limpid and constantly tranquil, its wondrous functions numerous as the sands of the Ganges." Xue Jian was awakened by this, bowed twice and departed. Returning to court, he indeed reported his words to the throne. The Son of Heaven commended him, and again issued an edict of comforting thanks, bestowing patchwork robes and precious silks in varying degrees, and imperially ordering Baolin to be renamed Zhongxing Monastery. The following year, he commanded the prefect of Shaozhou to renovate it, and again renamed it Faquan Monastery, and made the former residence in Xinzhou into Guo'en Monastery. The Venerable always said to the assembly: "Good spiritual friends, each of you purify your mind and listen to my preaching of the Dharma. The self-mind of each of you is Buddha; do not harbor further doubts. Outside, there is not a single phenomenon that can be established; all are the myriad phenomena born from one's own mind. Therefore the sutra says: 'When the mind is born, various phenomena are born; when the mind perishes, various phenomena perish.' If you wish to achieve the knowledge of all aspects, you must master the single-mark samādhi and the single-practice samādhi. If you do not abide in marks in all places, do not give rise to hatred or love toward those marks, do not grasp or abandon, and do not think of gain, loss, success, or destruction, being peaceful, at ease, and pure—this is named the single-mark samādhi. If, while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down in all places, you maintain a purely straight mind without moving from the place of practice, making it a pure land—this is named the single-practice samādhi. If a person possesses these two samādhis, it is like the earth possessing seeds, capable of containing, nurturing, and completing their fruits; the single-mark and single-practice are also like this. My present preaching of the Dharma is like timely rain, everywhere moistening the great earth. Your Buddha-nature is compared to seeds; encountering this soaking moisture, all are able to sprout. Those who accept my words will definitely attain bodhi; those who rely on my practice will certainly realize the Buddha-fruit." Reaching the first year of Xiantian, one day he suddenly said to the assembly: "Unworthy as I am, I received the Dharma essentials along with the robe and bowl from the Great Master Ren. Now, although I preach the Dharma, I do not transmit the robe and bowl, because your faithful minds are mature and free of doubts, therefore I do not transmit them. Listen to my gāthā:" > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 6.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6.25) - [Next: 6.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6.27) - [Up: 6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078~en-mt.6.26) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (4) - [佛祖歷代通載](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2036.12.81) — Classical Chinese - [景德傳燈錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2076.5.2) — Classical Chinese - [釋氏稽古略](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2037.3.109) — Classical Chinese - [六祖大師法寶壇經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008.1.146) — Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2078.6.26) · Pramāṇa