Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, Fascicle 3
師說偈已復曰。其法無二其心亦然。其道清淨亦無諸相。汝等慎勿觀淨及空其心。此心本淨無可取捨。各自努力隨緣好去。師說法利生經四十載。其年七月六日命弟子。往新州國恩寺。建報恩塔仍令倍工。又有蜀僧名方辯。來謁師雲。善揑塑。師正色曰。試塑看。方辯不領旨。乃塑師真。可高七寸。曲盡其妙。師觀之曰。汝善塑性不善佛性。酬以衣物。僧禮謝而去。先天二年七月一日謂門人曰。吾欲歸新州。汝速理舟檝。時大眾哀慕乞師且住。師曰。諸佛出現猶示涅槃。有來必去理亦常然。吾此形骸歸必有所。眾曰。師從此去早晚卻迴。師曰。葉落歸根來時無口。又問。師之法眼何人傳受。師曰。有道者得無心者通。又問。後莫有難否。曰吾滅後五六年。當有一人來取吾首。聽吾記曰。頭上養親。口裡須餐。遇滿之難。楊柳為官。又云。吾去七十年有二菩薩。從東方來。一在家一齣家。同時興化建立吾宗。締緝伽藍昌隆法嗣。言訖往新州國恩寺。沐浴訖跏趺而化。異香襲人白虹屬地。即其年八月三日也。時韶新兩郡各修靈塔。道俗莫決所之。兩郡刺史共焚香祝雲。香煙引處即師之慾歸焉。時鑪香騰湧直貫曹谿。以十一月十三日入塔。壽七十六。時韶州刺史韋據撰碑。門人憶念取首之記。遂先以鐵葉漆布固護師頸。塔中有達磨所傳信衣(西域屈眴布也。緝木綿華心織成。後人以碧絹為裡)中宗賜磨衲寶缽方辯塑真道具等。主塔侍者屍之。開元十年壬戌八月三日。夜半忽聞塔中如拽鐵索聲。僧眾驚起。見一孝子從塔中走出。尋見師頸有傷。具以賊事聞於州縣。縣令楊侃刺史柳無忝得牒切加擒捉。五日於石角村捕得賊人。送韶州鞫問。雲姓張名淨滿。汝州梁縣人。於洪州開元寺。受新羅僧金大悲錢二十千。令取六祖大師首。歸海東供養。柳守聞狀未即加刑。乃躬至曹谿。問師上足令韜曰。如何處斷。韜曰。
After the Master spoke the verse, he said further, "This Dharma is not two, and the mind is likewise. The Way is pure and also has no characteristics. Be careful not to contemplate purity or empty your mind. This mind is originally pure and there is nothing to grasp or reject. Each of you make an effort, and go well as conditions allow." The Master taught the Dharma and benefited beings for forty years. In the seventh month of that year, on the sixth day, he ordered his disciples to go to Guo'en Temple in Xinzhou and build a pagoda of gratitude, and ordered that the work be doubled. There was also a monk from Shu named Fangbian, who came to see the Master and said he was skilled at molding and sculpting. The Master said sternly, "Try making one." Fangbian did not grasp his meaning and made a likeness of the Master about seven inches high, perfect in every detail. The Master looked at it and said, "You are good at molding the nature of form, but not good at the Buddha-nature." He rewarded him with clothing and goods. The monk bowed in thanks and left. On the first day of the seventh month of the second year of Xiantian, he said to his disciples, "I want to return to Xinzhou; quickly prepare a boat." At that time the assembly grieved and begged the Master to stay a while. The Master said, "The buddhas appear and still display nirvana. What comes must go; this too is the constant principle. This body of mine must return to some place." The assembly said, "When the Master goes from here, when will he return?" The Master said, "Leaves fall and return to the root; when they come there is no mouth." They asked again, "Who will receive the transmission of the Master's Dharma eye?" The Master said, "Those who have the Way will obtain it; those with no mind will penetrate it." They asked again, "Will there be difficulties afterward?" He said, "Five or six years after my extinction, a man will come to take my head. Listen to my prediction: Nourishing parents on the head, the mouth must eat. Meeting a calamity of fullness, a willow will be an official." He also said, "Seventy years after I leave, two bodhisattvas will come from the east, one a layman and one a monk, who will together flourish in teaching, establish my school, build and repair monasteries, and make my Dharma heirs prosper." After speaking, he went to Guo'en Temple in Xinzhou. After bathing, he sat in full lotus posture and passed away; a strange fragrance filled the air and a white rainbow reached the ground. This was the third day of the eighth month of that year. At that time the two prefectures of Shao and Xin each wished to build a pagoda for the relics, and monks and laypeople could not decide where to go. The prefects of the two prefectures together burned incense and prayed, saying, "Where the incense smoke leads is where the Master wishes to return." Then the incense smoke from the censer surged up and ran straight to Caoxi. He was entered into the pagoda on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month. He was seventy-six years old. Wei Ju, Prefect of Shaozhou, composed the stele inscription. His disciples remembered the prediction about the taking of his head, and first fortified the Master's neck with iron plates and lacquered cloth. In the pagoda were the robe of faith transmitted by Bodhidharma (a kurmu cloth from the Western Regions, woven from cotton-flower pith, later lined with green silk), the patched robe and precious bowl given by Emperor Zhongzong, the likeness molded by Fangbian, and the Master's implements, which the attendant in charge of the pagoda guarded. On the night of the third day of the eighth month of the renxu year, in the tenth year of Kaiyuan, a sound like iron chains being dragged was suddenly heard in the pagoda. The monks rose in alarm and saw a man in mourning garb walking out of the pagoda. Soon they saw the Master's neck was damaged, and reported the thief matter in full to the prefecture and county. County magistrate Yang Kan and Prefect Liu Wutian received the notice and pressed the pursuit. On the fifth day, the thief was caught at Shijiao village and sent to Shaozhou for questioning. He said his surname was Zhang and his name Jingman, from Liang County in Ruzhou, and that at Kaiyuan Temple in Hongzhou he had received twenty thousand cash from the Silla monk Jin Dabei, who ordered him to take the head of the Sixth Patriarch back to be venerated east of the sea. Prefect Liu, hearing the account, did not at once inflict punishment but went in person to Caoxi and asked the Master's foremost disciple Lingtao, "How should this be dealt with?" Tao said,
若以國法論理須誅夷。但以佛教慈悲冤親平等。況彼求欲供養罪可恕矣。柳守嘉歎曰。始知佛門廣大。遂赦之(爾後甚有名賢贊述及檀施珍異。文繁不錄)上元元年肅宗遣使。就請師衣缽歸內供養。至永泰元年五月五日。代宗夢六祖大師請衣缽。七日勅刺史楊瑊雲。朕夢感能禪師請傳法袈裟卻歸曹溪。今遣鎮國大將軍劉崇景。頂戴而送。朕謂之國寶。卿可於本寺如法安置。專令僧眾親承宗旨者。嚴加守護勿令遺墜。後或為人偷竊。皆不遠而獲。如是者數四。憲宗諡大鑒禪師。塔曰元和靈照。皇宋開寶初。王師平南海。劉氏殘兵作梗。師之塔廟鞠為煨燼。而真身為守塔僧保護一無所損。尋有制興修功未竟。會太宗即位留心禪門。頗增壯麗焉。大師自唐先天二年癸丑入滅。至今景德元年甲辰歲。凡二百九十二年矣。得法者除印宗等三十三人各化一方標為正嗣。其外藏名匿跡者不可勝紀。今於諸家傳記中略錄十人。謂之旁出。
(Lingtao continued:) "If judged by the law of the state, he should be executed. But in the compassion of the Buddha's teaching, enemies and kin are equal. Moreover he sought to venerate him, so his crime can be forgiven." Prefect Liu sighed in admiration and said, "Only now do I know how vast the Buddha's gate is." So he pardoned him. (Afterwards there was much praise by famous worthies and offerings of rare treasures, which are not recorded for their length.) In the first year of Shangyuan, Emperor Suzong sent an envoy to request the Master's robe and bowl to be venerated in the palace. On the fifth day of the fifth month of the first year of Yongtai, Emperor Daizong dreamed that the Sixth Patriarch asked for the robe and bowl. On the seventh day he commanded Prefect Yang Jian, "We dreamed that Chan Master Neng asked for the Dharma-transmission kasaya to be returned to Caoxi. Now We send the General Who Guards the State, Liu Chongjing, to carry it on his head and deliver it. We regard it as a national treasure. You should install it properly in the Master's own temple, and charge monks who have personally received the school's teaching to guard it strictly and not let it be lost." Afterwards, when it was sometimes stolen, it was always recovered not far away, as happened several times. Emperor Xianzong gave the posthumous title Chan Master Dajian, and the pagoda was named Yuanhe Lingzhao. In the early Kaibao years of the Great Song, when the royal army pacified Nanhai, the remnant troops of the Liu clan made trouble, and the Master's pagoda and temple were reduced to ashes, but the true body was protected by the monks guarding the pagoda and suffered no damage. Not long after, an order was issued for repairs, but the work was not yet finished. It happened that Emperor Taizong took the throne, paid attention to the Chan gate, and greatly increased its magnificence. The Great Master entered extinction in the guichou year, the second year of Xiantian of the Tang, and as of the jiachen year, the first year of Jingde, it has been two hundred and ninety-two years. Besides Yinzong and the thirty-three others who obtained the Dharma, each teaching in one region and recognized as true heirs, those who hid their names and concealed their traces cannot be counted. Here, from the records of various houses, ten are briefly recorded, called collateral lines.
西域堀多三藏者天竺人也。東遊韶陽見六祖。於言下契悟。後遊五臺至定襄縣歷村。見一僧結庵而坐。三藏問曰。汝孤坐奚為。曰觀靜。三藏曰。觀者何人。靜者何物。其僧作禮問曰。此理何如。三藏曰。汝何不自觀自靜。彼僧茫然莫知其對。三藏曰。汝出誰門耶。曰神秀大師。三藏曰。我西域異道最下根者不墮此見。兀然空坐於道何益。其僧卻問三藏。所師何人。三藏曰。我師六祖。汝何不速往曹谿決其真要。其僧即捨庵往參六祖具陳前事。六祖垂誨與三藏符合。其僧信入。三藏後不知所終。
The Tripitaka Master Guduo of the Western Regions was a man of India. Traveling east to Shaoyang, he saw the Sixth Patriarch and was awakened at his words. Later he traveled to Wutai, and at Li village in Dingxiang County he saw a monk sitting in a hermitage. The Tripitaka Master asked, "Why do you sit alone?" He said, "Contemplating stillness." The Tripitaka Master said, "Who is the one contemplating, and what is the stillness?" The monk bowed and asked, "What is the principle in this?" The Tripitaka Master said, "Why do you not contemplate yourself and be still yourself?" The monk was at a loss and did not know how to answer. The Tripitaka Master said, "Whose gate did you come from?" He said, "Great Master Shenxiu." The Tripitaka Master said, "Even the lowest of the heterodox ways in the Western Regions do not fall into this view. Sitting blankly in emptiness, what benefit is there to the Way?" The monk in turn asked whom the Tripitaka Master took as teacher. The Tripitaka Master said, "My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch. Why do you not go quickly to Caoxi to settle its true essentials?" The monk then left his hermitage and went to visit the Sixth Patriarch, and reported the earlier matter in full. The Sixth Patriarch gave instruction that matched the Tripitaka Master's. The monk entered into faith. The Tripitaka Master later disappeared and it is not known where he ended.
韶州法海禪師者曲江人也。初見六祖問曰。即心即佛願垂指喻。祖曰。前念不生即心。後念不滅即佛。成一切相即心。離一切相即佛。吾若具說窮劫不盡。聽吾偈曰。
Chan Master Fahai of Shaozhou was a man of Qujiang. When he first saw the Sixth Patriarch, he asked, "The mind is Buddha; I hope you will give a teaching metaphor." The Patriarch said, "The prior thought not arising is mind; the later thought not ceasing is Buddha. Forming all characteristics is mind; leaving all characteristics is Buddha. If I were to explain it fully, it would not be exhausted in an eon. Listen to my verse:
即心名慧即佛乃定定慧等持
The mind is called wisdom, the Buddha is concentration. Concentration and wisdom held equally,
意中清淨悟此法門由汝習性
The mind is pure within. Awaken to this Dharma gate, which depends on your own habits.
用本無生雙修是正
Using what is originally unborn, practicing both together is right.
法海信受。以偈贊曰。
Fahai believed and received it, and praised it with a verse, saying:
即心元是佛不悟而自屈
The mind is originally Buddha; not awakening, one demeans oneself.
我知定慧因雙修離諸物
I know the cause of concentration and wisdom: practicing both, leaving all things.
(壇經云。門人法海者即禪師是也)。
(The Platform Sutra says: the disciple Fahai is this Chan Master.)
吉州志誠禪師者吉州太和人也。少於荊南當陽山玉泉寺奉事神秀禪師。後因兩宗盛化。秀之徒眾往往譏南宗曰。能大師不識一字有何所長。秀曰。他得無師之智深悟上乘。吾不如也。且吾師五祖親付衣法。豈徒然哉。吾所恨不能遠去親近虛受國恩。汝等諸人。無滯於此。可往曹谿質疑。他日迴復還為吾說。師聞此語禮辭至韶陽。隨眾參請不言來處。時六祖告眾曰。今有盜法之人潛在此會。師出禮拜具陳其事。祖曰。汝師若為示眾。對曰。常指誨大眾。令住心觀靜長坐不臥。祖曰。住心觀靜是病非禪。長坐拘身於理何益。聽吾偈曰。
Chan Master Zhicheng of Jizhou was a man of Taihe in Jizhou. In his youth he served Chan Master Shenxiu at Yuquan Temple on Dangyang Mountain in Jingnan. Later, because the two schools were flourishing, Xiu's followers often mocked the Southern School, saying, "Master Neng cannot read a single character; what is his strength?" Xiu said, "He has attained wisdom without a teacher and deeply awakened to the Supreme Vehicle; I am not his equal. Moreover, my teacher the Fifth Patriarch personally entrusted him with the robe and Dharma; how could it be in vain? What I regret is that I cannot go far to be close to him, and vainly receive the state's favor. You must not stay here, but may go to Caoxi to resolve your doubts. When you come back, tell me about it." The Master heard these words, bowed and took leave, reached Shaoyang, and joined the assembly in visiting and questioning, without saying where he had come from. At that time the Sixth Patriarch told the assembly, "There is now a Dharma thief hiding in this gathering." The Master came out and bowed, and told the whole matter. The Patriarch said, "How does your teacher instruct the assembly?" He replied, "He often instructs the assembly to fix the mind, contemplate stillness, and sit long without lying down." The Patriarch said, "Fixing the mind and contemplating stillness is a sickness and not Chan. Sitting long and binding the body, what benefit is it in principle? Listen to my verse:
生來坐不臥死去臥不坐
Alive, one sits and does not lie down; dead, one lies down and does not sit.
元是臭骨頭何為立功過
Originally a stinking set of bones; why make up merit and fault?
師。曰未審大師以何法誨人。祖曰。吾若言有法與人。即為誑汝。但且隨方解縛假名三昧。聽吾偈曰。
The Master said, "May I ask by what Dharma the Great Master teaches people?" The Patriarch said, "If I said I had a Dharma to give people, I would be deceiving you. I only loosen bonds according to the place, and provisionally name it samadhi. Listen to my verse:
一切無心自性戒一切無礙自性慧
All without mind is the precept of self-nature; all without obstruction is the wisdom of self-nature.
不增不退自金剛身去身來本三昧
Neither increasing nor decreasing, it is its own vajra; the body going and the body coming are originally samadhi.
師聞偈悔謝。即誓依歸。乃呈一偈曰。
The Master heard the verse, repented and apologized, vowed to take refuge, and then offered a verse, saying:
五蘊幻身幻何究竟迴趣真如
The body of the five aggregates is an illusion; what ultimate is there in illusion? Turning toward true suchness,
法還不淨
The Dharma is again impure.
祖然之。尋迴玉泉。
The Patriarch approved. Not long after, he returned to Yuquan.
匾簷山曉了禪師者傳記不載。唯北宗門人忽雷澄撰塔碑盛行於世。略曰。師住匾簷山。法號曉了。六祖之嫡嗣也。師得無心之心。了無相之相。無相者森羅眩目。無心者分別熾然。絕一言一響。響莫可傳傳之行矣。言莫可窮窮之非矣。師自得無無之無不無於無也。吾今以有有之有不有於有也。不有之有去來非增。不無之無涅槃非減。嗚呼。師住世兮曹谿明。師寂滅兮法舟傾。師譚無說兮寰宇盈。師示迷徒兮了義乘。匾擔山色垂茲色。空谷猶留曉了名。
Chan Master Xiaoliao of Biandan Mountain is not recorded in the biographies. Only Hulei Cheng, a disciple of the Northern School, wrote a pagoda stele that is widely current. Briefly, it says: the Master lived on Biandan Mountain with the Dharma name Xiaoliao, and was a direct heir of the Sixth Patriarch. The Master attained the mind of no mind and fully understood the characteristic of no characteristic. Where there is no characteristic, the multitudes of phenomena dazzle the eye; where there is no mind, discrimination blazes. He cut off every word and every echo. An echo cannot be transmitted, and to transmit it is to go astray; words cannot be exhausted, and to exhaust them is wrong. The Master himself attained the nothingness of nothingness, not nonexistent in nothingness. I now take the existence of existence, not existing in existence. The existence that is not existence neither increases with coming and going; the nothingness that is not nothing neither decreases nirvana. Alas. When the Master lived, Caoxi was bright; when the Master entered stillness, the Dharma boat capsized. The Master's talk of no speech filled the world; the Master showed deluded disciples the vehicle of definitive meaning. The color of Biandan Mountain hangs from this color; the empty valley still holds the name Xiaoliao.
河北智隍禪師者。始參五祖法席。雖甞諮決而循乎漸行。後往河北結庵長坐。積二十餘載不見惰容。及遇六祖門人策禪師遊歷於彼。激以勤求法要。師遂捨庵往參六祖。祖愍其遠來便垂開抉。師於言下豁然契悟。前二十年所得心都無影響。其夜河北檀越士庶忽聞空中有聲曰。隍禪師今日得道也。後迴河北開化四眾。
Chan Master Zhihuang of Hebei. He first attended the Fifth Patriarch's Dharma seat, and though he once consulted and settled his doubts, he followed the gradual practice. Later he went to Hebei and built a hermitage and sat for a long time, for more than twenty years, never showing a slack appearance. When Chan Master Ce, a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch, traveled there, he urged him to diligently seek the essentials of the Dharma. The Master then left his hermitage and went to visit the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch, pitying him for coming from afar, gave him instruction. The Master was suddenly awakened at the words, and what he had attained in the previous twenty years was left without any trace. That night, the lay patrons and common people of Hebei suddenly heard a voice in the air saying, "Chan Master Huang attained the Way today." He later returned to Hebei and taught the four assemblies.
洪州法達禪師者洪州豐城人也。七歲出家誦法華經。進具之後來禮祖師頭不至地。祖呵曰。禮不投地何如不禮。汝心中必有一物蘊習。何事耶。師曰。念法華經已及三千部。祖曰。汝若念至萬部得其經意。不以為勝則與吾偕行。汝今負此事業都不知過。聽吾偈曰。
Chan Master Fada of Hongzhou was a man of Fengcheng in Hongzhou. He left home at seven and recited the Lotus Sutra. After receiving the full precepts he came to pay homage to the Patriarch, but his head did not touch the ground. The Patriarch scolded, "If one does not throw oneself to the ground in obeisance, it is better not to bow. There must be something accumulated in your mind; what is it?" The Master said, "I have recited the Lotus Sutra three thousand times." The Patriarch said, "If you recited it ten thousand times and understood its meaning, and did not regard it as superior, you would walk with me. You now bear this undertaking and do not even know your fault. Listen to my verse:
禮本折慢幢頭奚不至地
Bowing is originally to break the banner of pride; why does your head not reach the ground?
有我罪即生亡功福無比
Where there is self, fault arises; forgetting merit, blessing is without compare.
祖又曰。汝名什麼。對曰。名法達。祖曰。汝名法達。何曾達法。復說偈曰。
The Patriarch asked, "What is your name?" He replied, "Fada." The Patriarch said, "Your name is Fada (Penetrating the Dharma), but when have you ever penetrated the Dharma?" And spoke a verse:
汝今名法達勤誦未休歇
Your name is now Fada, and you recite diligently without rest.
空誦但循聲明心號菩薩
Reciting emptily just follows the sound; one who clarifies the mind is called a bodhisattva.
汝今有緣故吾今為汝說
You now have a connection, so I will speak to you.
但信佛無言蓮華從口發
Only believe that the Buddha has no words, and lotus flowers will grow from your mouth.
師聞偈悔過曰。而今而後當謙恭一切。惟願和尚大慈。略說經中義理。祖曰。汝念此經以何為宗。師曰。學人愚鈍。從來但依文誦念。豈知宗趣。祖曰。汝試為吾念一遍。吾當為汝解說。師即高聲念經至方便品。祖曰止。此經元來以因緣出世為宗。縱說多種譬喻。亦無越於此。何者因緣。唯一大事。一大事即佛知見也。汝慎勿錯解經意。見他道。開示悟入自是佛之知見。我輩無分。若作此解乃是謗經毀佛也。彼既是佛已具知見。何用更開。汝今當信。佛知見者。只汝自心更無別體。蓋為一切眾生自蔽光明。貪愛塵境外緣內擾甘受驅馳。便勞他從三昧起。種種苦口勸令寢息。莫向外求與佛無二。故云開佛知見。汝但勞勞執念謂為功課者。何異犛牛愛尾也。師曰。若然者但得解義。不勞誦經耶。祖曰。經有何過豈障汝念。只為迷悟在人損益由汝。聽吾偈曰。
The Master heard the verse, repented and said, "From now on I shall be humble and respectful toward all. I only hope the Venerable, in great compassion, will briefly explain the meaning of the sutra." The Patriarch said, "What do you take as the main point of reciting this sutra?" The Master said, "Your student is dull and has always recited only following the text; how would I know its main point?" The Patriarch said, "Try reciting it once for me and I will explain it for you." The Master recited in a loud voice up to the chapter on Skillful Means. The Patriarch said, "Stop. This sutra's main point is that the Buddhas appear in the world because of a causal reason. Though it speaks of many parables, it does not go beyond this. What causal reason? Only one great matter. The one great matter is the Buddha's knowledge and vision. Be careful not to misunderstand the meaning of the sutra. You see it says opening, showing, awakening, and entering, and think that it is the Buddha's own knowledge and vision and that we have no share in it. If you understand in this way, you are slandering the sutra and defaming the Buddha. Since he is already a Buddha, he already has knowledge and vision; what need is there for further opening? You should now believe: the Buddha's knowledge and vision is just your own mind and has no other substance. Because all beings obscure their own light, are greedy for and attached to dust realms, are disturbed from within by outer conditions, and willingly accept being driven about, they trouble him to rise from samadhi and with all kinds of earnest words urge them to rest and not seek outside, and say they are no different from the Buddha, and so it is said, 'opening the Buddha's knowledge and vision.' You only toil clinging to your notions, calling it daily practice; how is this different from a yak that loves its tail?" The Master said, "If so, should one only seek to understand the meaning and not trouble to recite the sutra?" The Patriarch said, "What fault does the sutra have? How could it hinder your recitation? It is only because delusion and awakening lie with the person, and loss and gain depend on you. Listen to my verse:
心迷法華轉心悟轉法華
When the mind is deluded, the Lotus is turned; when the mind is awakened, one turns the Lotus.
誦久不明己與義作讎家
Reciting long without clarifying oneself, one becomes an enemy of the meaning.
無念念即正有念念成邪
Thought without thought is right; thought with thought becomes wrong.
有無俱不計長御白牛車
With neither being nor non-being reckoned, one always drives the white ox cart.