傳法正宗記 5.45

5.45

He further said to Huike: "Here are the four fascicles of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which contain the Tathāgata's ultimate discourse on the essentials of the Dharma; they can also be used to open, reveal, awaken, and enter into it for the world. I now entrust them to you as well. However, I have repeatedly been poisoned here yet did not immediately die, because although this divine land of China has the capacity for the Mahāyāna, it had not yet found its response. Therefore, I remained silent for a long time waiting for it. Now that the transmission has been made, my end is likely near." Afterward, he and his disciples went to Qiansheng Monastery at Yumen. Before long, he met Yang Xuanzhi, the governor of that city. Yang had always taken joy in Buddhist affairs, and hearing that the Venerable One had arrived, he came to pay homage to him. He then asked: "In the western lands of the five Tianzhu kingdoms, masters are succeeded as patriarchs; what is their Way?" The Venerable One said: "To be clear about the Buddha-mind lineage without the slightest deviation, and to have practice and understanding correspond—this is called a patriarch." Yang asked again: "Is it only this one meaning, or is there another?" He replied: "One must understand the minds of others, know their past and present, neither detest existence and nonexistence nor grasp them, be neither worthy nor foolish, neither deluded nor awakened. If one can understand thus, one is also called a patriarch." Xuanzhi said further: "Your disciple's vocation lies in the secular world; I rarely meet good spiritual friends. Obscured by petty intellect, I cannot see the Way. I pray the master will instruct me: what fruit of the Way should I follow, and with what mind can I draw close to the Buddhas and patriarchs?" The Venerable One spoke a verse for him, saying: