傳法正宗記 9.8

9.8

An appraisal states: Earlier, when I had not yet obtained corroboration in the Chu sanzang ji [ji], someone said: "I suspect that the patriarchal status ended with Simha, and his Dharma was transmitted universally; is this not just like the Sixth Patriarch, Chan Master Dajian?" I therefore once debated with him, saying: "The cessation of patriarchal status is no ordinary matter; past and future sages and worthies would certainly have spoken of it. For example, regarding the number of patriarchs ending with Dajian, there were Prajñātāra and the Great Being Bodhidharma who foretold it. Although each of the Six Patriarchs transmitted their Dharma, there were indeed [specific] individuals. If, as you say, the patriarchal succession ended with Simha, by what can you prove it? Which of the previous patriarchs ever prophesied it? And who indeed were those who divided and transmitted the Dharma? Were they to head east? Without the [right] persons, how could their Dharma have reached here? Although his collateral branch Dharmatrāta established his own lineage, those he produced were each no more than four or five persons; it was not a universal transmission. Nor has anyone ever heard of his followers propagating the Dharma eastward. If Dharmatrāta were the one who transmitted it universally, why did Dharmatrāta single out the Twenty-fifth Patriarch, saying, 'I have a fellow student named Basiasita, to whom our late master foretold and entrusted the Dharma, and he also conferred the robe as proof; he has already gone to South Tianzhu'? Why would he omit and say nothing of the other fellow students? This is not so. You should seek it through reason and not give free rein to your conjectures." He said, "If so, since Dharmatrāta revered Simha, how could he not succeed him as the orthodox patriarch, but instead defer to [Basia]sita?" I replied, "This is because the sages designated patriarchs according to suitable capacities and conditions, and also conferred the Dharma seal according to the shallowness or depth of their awakening. Just as the Fifth Patriarch transmitted it to Dajian and did not confer it upon Shenxiu—is it not so?" The interlocutor agreed. Later, I happened to acquire Sengyou's book, and my words were thoroughly confirmed. Not wishing to discard them, I have attached them to the end of Dharmatrāta's biography.