景德傳燈錄

The Five Patriarchs of China and the eminent masters of collateral lineages comprised twenty-five persons.

28. Patriarch Bodhidharma.

Three collateral successors of Bodhidharma: Chan Master Daoyu, Chan Master Daofu, and the nun Zongchi.

(The three persons above have no recorded encounters or sayings and are therefore not included.)

29. Patriarch Great Master Huike.

Seventeen collateral successors of Huike spanning seven generations:

Chan Master Sengna, Layman Xiang, and Chan Master Huiman of Xiangzhou (these three persons are included).

Chan Master Shending of Xianshan, Chan Master Baoyue, Layman Huaxian, Mahasattva Huagong, Hegong, and Layman Liao.

Tancui (from Layman Huaxian).

Huijian of Yanling and Huiqie of Pengcheng (these two were successors of Tancui).

Huigang of Dinglin Monastery (from Tancui).

Dajue of Liuhe (from Huigang).

Tanying of Gaoyou (from Dajue).

Minglian of Mount Tai (from Tanying).

Jingtai of Yangzhou (from Minglian).

(The fourteen persons above have no recorded encounters or sayings and are therefore not included.)

30. Patriarch Great Master Sengcan.

31. Patriarch Great Master Daoxin.

(Seventy-six collateral successors, recorded in Fascicle IV.)

32. Patriarch Great Master Hongren.

(One hundred and seven collateral successors, recorded in Fascicle IV.)

The Five Patriarchs of China and the eminent masters of collateral lineages comprised twenty-five persons.

 Three collateral successors of the Twenty-eighth Patriarch Bodhidharma:

1. Chan Master Daoyu; 2. Chan Master Daofu; 3. the nun Zongchi (the three persons above have no recorded encounters or sayings and are therefore not included).

 The Twenty-ninth Patriarch, Great Master Huike (seventeen collateral successors spanning seven generations). Three persons are included: Chan Master Sengna, Layman Xiang, and Chan Master Huiman of Xiangzhou.

Chan Master Shending of Xianshan, Chan Master Baoyue, Layman Huaxian, Mahasattva Huagong, Hegong, and Layman Liao.

From Huaxian there emerged another person, Tancui. From Tancui there emerged another three persons: 1. Huijian of Yanling; 2. Huiqie of Pengcheng; 3. Huigang of Dinglin Monastery.

From Huigang there emerged another person, Dajue of Liuhe.

From Dajue there emerged another person, Tanying of Gaoyou.

From Tanying there emerged another person, Minglian of Mount Tai.

From Minglian there emerged another person, Jingtai of Yangzhou.

(The fourteen persons above have no recorded encounters or sayings and are therefore not included.)

 The Thirtieth Patriarch, Great Master Sengcan.

 The Thirty-first Patriarch, Great Master Daoxin.

(Seventy-six collateral successors, recorded in Fascicle IV.)

 The Thirty-second Patriarch, Great Master Hongren.

(One hundred and seven collateral successors, recorded in Fascicle V.)

28. Patriarch Bodhidharma.

He was the third son of King Xiangzhi of Southern India and belonged to the kshatriya caste. His original name was Bodhitara. Later, the Twenty-seventh Patriarch, Prajnatara, came to his native kingdom and received offerings from his royal father. Through an examination in which the Patriarch questioned the Master and his two elder brothers, debating with them about the precious jewel that their father had offered to the Patriarch, the Patriarch knew that the Master had awakened to the essence of mind and embodied the esoteric seal.

Thereafter, the Venerable One said:

“As for the Dharmas of mind, you have attained complete and unobstructed penetration. Since ‘Dharma’ means all-pervading openness, you shall be named Dharma.” Thereupon, his name was changed to Bodhidharma.

The Master then addressed the Venerable One:

“Having attained the Dharma, to which land should I go to perform the Buddha’s work? I beg you compassionately to instruct me.”

The Venerable One replied:

“Although you have attained the Dharma, you cannot yet travel far. Remain for now in Southern India. Sixty-seven years after I enter nirvana, you shall go to the land of Zhendan (China), bringing the great medicine of Dharma to directly receive those of superior faculties. Take heed: if you go there too soon, it will bring harm to the lands of the Far East.”

The Master further asked:

“Are there mahāsattvas in that land capable of becoming vessels of the Dharma? During the next thousand years, will any difficulties arise?”

The Venerable One replied:

“In the place where you teach and transform, those who attain bodhi will be beyond counting. More than sixty years after my nirvana, that land will encounter a calamity, yet it will skillfully pass of itself, like a line traced upon water. You will meet the proper opportunity; do not remain in the south. The people of that land delight only in conditioned achievements and do not perceive the Buddha-principle. Even when you reach that land, you will not be able to remain long.

“Listen to my verse:

Lộ hành khóa thủy phục phùng dương,

Độc tự thê thê ám độ giang.

Nhật Hạ khả lân song tượng mã,

Nhị chu nộn quế cửu xương xương.

Translation:

Traveling the road, crossing the sea, again encountering the sheep,

Alone and sorrowful, secretly crossing the river.

Beneath the sun ⁽³⁶⁾, how pitiable the pair of elephant-horses;

Two tender cassia trees shall long flourish in verdure.”

Patriarch Prajnatara further expounded eight verses, all prophetically foretelling the flourishing and decline of Buddhism (the events are recorded in full in the Baolin Zhuan and the Shengzhu Ji). The Master reverently followed his teaching and diligently attended upon the Patriarch for nearly forty years without ever growing negligent. Only after the Venerable One passed away did he teach the Dharma and guide beings in his native land.

At that time there were two teachers: one named Buddhasena and the other Buddhabhadra. These two had formerly studied the Hinayana practice of Chan contemplation together with the Master under the teacher Buddhabhadra. Buddhasena had met the Venerable Prajnatara and transcended the Lesser Vehicle to incline toward the Mahayana; thus, he taught and guided beings together with the Master. At that time they were known by the special epithet “the two gates of amrita.”

Buddhabhadra, however, divided his disciples into six schools: the first was the School of Characteristics; the second was the

School of Non-characteristics; the third was the School of Samadhi and Prajna; the fourth was the School of Precepts and Conduct; the fifth was the School of Non-attainment; and the sixth was the School of Quiescence. Each school clung to its own understanding and independently propagated its own stream of teaching; talented disciples gathered in great abundance.

The Great Master sighed sorrowfully:

“That one teacher alone has already buried the traces of the ox; how much more so now that his followers have fragmented into a multitude and divided themselves into six schools! How could I refrain from dispelling the wrong views that bind them endlessly?”

Having spoken, the Master secretly manifested spiritual power and went to the place of the first school, the School of Characteristics, where he asked:

“What is called the true characteristic of all dharmas?”

Among the assembly was an elder named Sarvara, who replied:

“To dwell among characteristics without being bound to characteristics—this is called the true characteristic.”

The Master said:

“To dwell among all characteristics without being bound to characteristics—if you speak of the true characteristic in this way, how can it be definitively established?”

The other replied:

“Among characteristics there is truly nothing that can be definitively established. How could one definitively establish characteristics and declare them real?”

The Master said:

“That which is indeterminate among characteristics is called the true characteristic. Since you are now indeterminate, how will you attain it?”

The other replied:

“When I say that characteristics are indeterminate and inexpressible, I am speaking precisely of characteristics, whose meaning is likewise so.”

The Master said:

“You say that indeterminacy itself is the true characteristic. Yet by establishing ‘the indeterminate,’ the indeterminate thereby ceases to be the true characteristic.”

The other said:

“If one establishes ‘that which has been rendered indeterminate,’ then the indeterminate is indeed not the true characteristic. Because one knows that ‘the self is not,’ indeterminacy remains unchanged.”

The Master asked:

“Since you now remain unchanged, what do you call the true characteristic? Once characteristics have changed and passed away, is that meaning—the true characteristic—also the same?”

The other replied:

“The unchanging presently abides because ‘abiding does not abide.’ Therefore, the true characteristic transforms in order to establish that meaning.”

The Master asked:

“If the true characteristic is unchanging, then whatever changes is not true. Among all dharmas of existence and nonexistence, what is called the true characteristic?”

In his heart, Sarvara knew that this was a sage-teacher whose understanding was utterly unobstructed and who had silently penetrated the profound mystery. He then raised his hand, pointed into empty space, and asked:

“This world of characteristics can also become empty. Can this very body of mine become so as well?”

The Master replied:

– To understand the true mark is to see the markless. If one clearly understands the markless, then form is likewise so: precisely within form, the essence of form is not lost, for within the markless there is no obstruction to the existence or nonexistence of marks. If one can understand in this way, that is called the true mark.

Upon hearing this, the assembly’s minds became clear and discerning; they bowed reverently and received and upheld it with faith.

*

– *

A moment later, the Master again vanished and went to the second school, the Markless School. The Master asked:

– You speak of the markless; who is it that realizes it—the markless?

Among this assembly was a wise man named Balati, who replied:

– I clearly comprehend the markless because the deluded mind does not operate or arise.

The Master asked:

– When your mind does not operate, who is it that clearly comprehends this—that it does not arise?

He replied:

– When I clearly comprehend the markless, the mind neither grasps nor rejects; at the very moment of clear comprehension, there is also no one who comprehends.

The Master said:

– With regard to all marks of existence and nonexistence, the mind neither grasps nor rejects; moreover, there is no one who comprehends them, for they are empty.

He said:

– When entering the Buddha’s samadhi, there is likewise nothing attained; how much more so the markless—how could one wish to know it?

The Master asked:

– Since you do not know marks, who says that they exist or do not exist? And if there is nothing attained, what is called samadhi?

He replied:

– When I say there is no realization, I mean realizing “that for which there is no realization.” Because it is not non-samadhi, I call it samadhi.

The Master asked:

– If it is non-samadhi, who is now calling it that—non-samadhi? Since you neither realize nor do not realize, what do you realize?

Upon hearing the Master’s discerning explanation, Balati immediately awakened to the original mind. He bowed in gratitude to the Master and repented of his former errors.

The Master conferred a prediction upon him:

– You will attain the fruit and before long realize samadhi. There is a non-Buddhist teacher in this land; before long, you will subdue him.

*

– *

Having spoken, the Master suddenly vanished and went to the abode of the third school, the Samadhi and Wisdom School.

The Master asked:

– You study samadhi and wisdom. Are samadhi and wisdom one or two?

Among this assembly was a man named Balandha, who replied:

– Our samadhi and wisdom are neither one nor two.

The Master asked:

– Since they are neither one nor two, what is called samadhi and what is called wisdom?

He replied:

– While in samadhi, there is no place of samadhi; where there is wisdom, there is no place of wisdom. One is precisely not one, and two are likewise not two.

The Master said:

– When one, it is not one; when two, they are not two. Since it is neither samadhi nor wisdom, then what, in essence, are samadhi and wisdom?

He replied:

– Samadhi and wisdom can know that they are neither one nor two; being neither samadhi nor wisdom is likewise so.

The Master asked:

– Since wisdom does not sit in samadhi, who knows this? If they are neither one nor two, who is samadhi and who is wisdom?

Upon hearing this, Balandha’s doubts dissolved like melting ice.

*

– *

The Master went to the fourth school, the Precepts and Conduct School. The Master asked:

– What is called precepts? What is called conduct? While practicing precepts and conduct, are precepts and conduct one or two?

A worthy man in this assembly replied:

– One and two, two and one—all arise from that. To follow the teaching without defilement is called precepts and conduct.

The Master said:

– When you say “to follow the teaching,” that itself entails defilement. Both one and two are refuted, so how can you speak of following the teaching? That duality is erroneous and falls short with respect to conduct; when the inner and outer have not yet been illumined, how can it be called precepts?

He replied:

– Where there is a self, there are inner and outer; oneself ⁽³⁷⁾ fully knows the inner and outer. Only after thoroughly penetrating them is there precepts and conduct. If one says that what is erroneous and what is correct are both right and both wrong, while one’s words accord with purity, then that itself is precepts and conduct.

The Master asked:

– If you say both are right and both are wrong, what can be called purity? Since you have thoroughly penetrated them, why still discuss inner and outer?

Upon hearing this, the worthy man immediately felt ashamed and submitted to the Master.

*

– *

The Master went to the fifth school, the School of Non-Attainment. The Master asked:

– You maintain the doctrine of non-attainment; how do you attain non-attainment? Though there is nothing attained, you still attain non-attainment.

Among this assembly was a man named Bao Tinh, who replied:

– When I speak of non-attainment, I do not mean attaining non-attainment. I mean “attaining” that which is unattainable; that is attainment.

The Master said:

– Attainment is already non-attainment, and attainment is likewise not attainment, yet you again speak of “attaining.” How can attainment be attained?

He replied:

– If it can be seen, it is not attainment; what is not attainment is attainment. If it cannot be seen, it is called “attaining.”

The Master said:

– Since attainment is not attainment, there is no attainment that can be “attained.” Since there is nothing attained, what is being “attained” at that very moment?

Upon hearing this, Bao Tinh’s entire net of doubts was immediately severed.

*

– *

The Master went to the sixth school, the School of Quiescence. The Master asked:

– What is called quiescence? In this Dharma assembly, who is quiescent and who is still?

A Venerable One among them replied:

– When the mind does not move, that is called quiescence; to be undefiled by dharmas is called stillness.

The Master asked:

– If the original mind is not quiescent, one must rely upon quiescence and stillness; but if it has always been quiescent, what need is there for quiescence and stillness?

He replied:

– Because the original mind is empty of emptiness, all dharmas are originally empty. Because of that emptiness of emptiness, it is called quiescence.

The Master said:

– Since emptiness of emptiness is empty, all dharmas are likewise so. Quiescence is markless; then which is still and which is quiescent?

Upon hearing the Master’s instruction, that Venerable One suddenly awakened.

Thereupon, the assemblies of all six schools vowed to take refuge in and look up to the Master. From then on, his teaching became renowned throughout Southern India and gradually spread across all Five Indias ⁽³⁸⁾. Students near and far silently admired him and responded by following him; for more than sixty years, the Master delivered immeasurable multitudes of beings.

*

– *

Later, King Dị Kiến ⁽³⁹⁾ disparaged and slandered the Three Jewels. On one occasion, the king said: “My ancestors all believed in the Buddha’s Way, but became entangled in wrong views; consequently, their lives were not long and their good fortune was also short-lived. Moreover, this very body of mine is the Buddha, so why seek the Buddha outside? The workings of karmic recompense for good and evil are all surpassed by human intelligence and strategy.” Clinging perversely to these words, he went so far as to depose all the senior officials in the kingdom who had received commissions from the former kings.

Knowing this, the Master sighed to himself: “That king’s virtue is meager; by what means can he be saved?” He then thought of the two leaders within the Markless School. One was Balati, who was about to realize the fruit and also had an affinity with the king. The other was Tong Thang, who was certainly erudite and eloquent in debate, but had no karmic affinity with the king from previous lives.

At that time, the disciples of the six schools each thought to themselves: “The Buddhadharma is facing calamity; how can monks remain at peace?” Knowing the thoughts of the assemblies, the Master immediately snapped his fingers in response to them. Hearing and recognizing it from afar, the six assemblies said: “This is the answering signal of our teacher, Dharma. We should hasten to him and assist in carrying out his compassionate command.” Having spoken, they came before the Master, inquired after him, and bowed in homage.

The Master asked:

– There is now a withered and decaying flower. Who can cut it away?

Tong Thang replied:

– Though my abilities are shallow and meager, how would I dare decline this task?

The Master said:

– Although you possess wisdom and eloquence, your power of the Way is not yet sufficient.

Tong Thang thought to himself: “My teacher fears that if I have an audience with the king and perform a great work of the Buddha, my fame and honor will become illustrious and outshine the majestic radiance of my superior. Even if that man possesses the merit and wisdom to be a king, I am a sramana who has received the essential purport of the Buddha’s teaching—why should I fear confronting him?” Having said this, he secretly went to meet the king and expounded at length upon the essentials of the Dharma, the workings of good and evil among humans and devas, and the suffering and happiness of the world… He and the king questioned each other back and forth, and there was nothing whose principles he did not penetrate.

The king asked:

– According to your present understanding, where is this Dharma?

Tong Thang replied:

– Just as Your Majesty transforms the people and governs the realm in peace, that indeed accords with this Way. Where is the Way possessed by Your Majesty?

The king replied:

– The Way I possess is used to eliminate false teachings. Whom does the Dharma you possess subdue?

Without leaving his seat, the Master anxiously knew that Tong Thang’s reasoning had failed, and hurriedly said to Balati:

– Zongsheng did not heed my instruction and secretly went to create affinities at the royal palace. Before long he will be defeated; you should hasten to save him.

Prajñātāra respectfully obeyed the Master's command and said:

– I ask to borrow your spiritual power.

As soon as he had spoken, clouds appeared beneath his feet. He arrived before the king and silently came to a halt. At that moment the king was questioning Zongsheng. Suddenly seeing Prajñātāra arrive riding upon the clouds, the king was so astonished that he forgot his own question and answer. The king asked:

– Is the man who has come through the air orthodox or heterodox?

Prajñātāra replied:

– I am neither orthodox nor heterodox; it is in the king's mind that heterodoxy and orthodoxy arise. If the king's mind is upright and selfless⁽⁴⁰⁾, there is neither orthodoxy nor heterodoxy.

Although the king was startled, his former arrogance now flared up fiercely, and he immediately ordered Zongsheng expelled from the country. Prajñātāra asked:

– Since the king already possesses the Way, why does he expel a śramaṇa? Though I am without understanding, I ask the king to put a question to me.

Though angry, the king asked:

– Who is the Buddha?

He replied:

– To see one's nature is to be Buddha.

The king asked:

– Do you see the nature?

He replied:

– I see the Buddha-nature.

The king asked:

– Where is the Buddha-nature?

He replied:

– The Buddha-nature is in its functioning.

The king asked:

– What functioning is that, which I do not yet see?

He replied:

– Its functioning is presently being seen; it is only Your Majesty who does not see it.

The king asked:

– Is the Buddha-nature present in me?

He replied:

– If the king functions, there is nowhere it is not. If the king does not function, its essence—the nature itself—is also difficult to see.

The king asked:

– When it is functioning, in how many places does the nature appear?

He replied:

– When it appears, it must appear in eight places.

The king said:

– You must tell me of those eight places in which it appears.

Prajñātāra then spoke this verse:

Within the womb, it is the body;

In the world, it is called a person;

In the eyes, it is called seeing;

In the ears, it is called hearing;

In the nose, it discerns fragrances;

In the mouth, it speaks and discusses;

In the hands, it grasps and holds;

In the feet, it moves and runs.

Manifest everywhere, it encompasses worlds as numerous as sands;

Gathered in, it rests within a single mote of dust.

Those who recognize it know it is the Buddha-nature;

Those who do not recognize it mistakenly call it the spirit-soul.

Translation:

Within the womb, it is the body;

In the world, it is a person;

In the eyes, it is seeing;

In the ears, it is hearing;

In the nose, it discerns scents;

In the mouth, it speaks and discusses;

In the hands, it grasps and holds;

In the feet, it walks and runs.

Manifest everywhere, it encompasses worlds as numerous as sands;

Gathered in, it rests within a single mote of dust.

Recognize it, and it is the Buddha-nature;

Fail to recognize it, and it is called the spirit-soul.

When the king had heard the verse, his mind immediately awakened. He then repented and apologized for his earlier offenses, and continued to inquire into the essentials of the Dharma morning and evening, forgetting his weariness, for nine weeks.

At that time Zongsheng, having been expelled, withdrew into seclusion deep in the mountains and thought:

– I am now eighty years into this human life, yet I have still gone astray. After another twenty years, I shall return to the Buddha's Way. Though in my cultivation I have cut off all traces, I remain deluded concerning the nature of mind and was unable to guard against this calamity. It would be better to die than to live.

Having thought this, he cast himself into a ravine. In an instant, a divine being caught and supported him with his hands, placing him safely and unharmed upon a boulder. Zongsheng said:

– I reproach myself for bringing disgrace upon the life of a śramaṇa. I wished to transform the king through the true Dharma, yet I could not fully restrain the king's delusion, and it came to the point of harming my own body. What divine being has aided me in this way? I beg you to bestow a word upon me that will help me preserve the remaining years of my life.

Thereupon the divine being spoke this verse:

Master, your lifespan reaches one hundred years;

At eighty, you still committed wrong.

Because you drew near the Supremely Honored One,

You cultivated through long practice and entered the Way.

Though you possess a little wisdom,

You harbor much discrimination between self and others.

Whenever you encountered worthy and virtuous ones,

You never gave rise to reverence and respect.

Through twenty years of merit and virtue,

Your mind has still not become tranquil.

Because of your cleverness and contemptuous arrogance,

You have now met with this consequence.

Having incurred the king's disrespect,

You must experience a result such as this.

From now on, do not be negligent;

Before long, your wisdom will be perfected.

All the sages assuredly preserve the mind;

The Tathagata likewise does the same.

Translation: Master, your lifespan reaches one hundred years;

At eighty, you still did wrong.

Because you drew near the Supremely Honored One,

You cultivated through long practice and entered the Way.

Yet your wisdom was not complete,

And you gave rise to many distinctions between this and that.

When meeting worthy and virtuous ones,

You never showed reverence and respect.

Through twenty years of merit and virtue,

That mind has still not become tranquil.

Because of cleverness and contemptuous arrogance,

You have now suffered such a result.

That disrespect from the king

Was the ripening of such a consequence.

From ancient times to the present, nothing has ever been overlooked;

Before long, your wisdom will be perfected.

All the sages preserve the mind;

The Tathagata likewise does the same.

Zongsheng rejoiced upon hearing the verse and then sat in meditation in a high mountain cave. At that time King Yijian again asked Prajñātāra:

– With wisdom and eloquence such as yours, benevolent sir, who is worthy to be your teacher?

He replied:

– I left the household life at the Sa-la Monastery, and the Tripiṭaka master Uṣavā was the teacher under whom I received instruction. My world-transcending teacher is none other than Bodhidharma, Your Majesty's uncle.

When the king heard the Master's name, he was alarmed for a long while and said:

– I am base and unworthy to inherit the royal throne. I have turned away from the orthodox and followed the heterodox, forgetting my noble uncle.

He then issued an edict commanding his close ministers to make special arrangements to welcome and invite him. The Master accompanied the envoys and came, allowing the king to repent of his former offenses. The king listened to the Master's admonitions and rules of conduct and tearfully apologized to him. He also issued an edict summoning Zongsheng back to the kingdom.

A great minister reported:

– After being expelled, Zongsheng cast himself into a ravine and has now perished.

The king said to the Master:

– Zongsheng's death is entirely my doing. How can one of great compassion help me escape that offense?

The Master said:

– Zongsheng is presently in meditative concentration within a mountain cave. You need only send an envoy to invite him, and he will come.

The king then sent an envoy into the mountains, and indeed he found Zongsheng seated upright in silent meditation. Upon receiving the summons, Zongsheng said:

– I am deeply ashamed before the king's gracious intention, but this humble monk has vowed to remain amid the forests and streams. Moreover, the kingdom abounds in worthy and virtuous persons. Dharma is the king's uncle and the teacher of the six assemblies; Prajñātāra is a dragon and elephant within the Dharma assembly. I ask the king to honor these two sages so that they may serve as fields of merit for the royal legacy.

Before the envoy, having obeyed the command, had yet returned, the Master asked the king:

– Does the king know whether Zongsheng will come?

The king replied:

– I do not yet know.

The Master said:

– Invited once, he will not come; invited a second time, he will come.

After a long while the envoy returned, and indeed it was just as the Master had said.

The Master then took leave of the king, admonishing him:

– Cultivate virtue well. Before long you will fall ill. I must depart.

Seven days later, the king fell ill. The royal physicians examined and treated him, but his illness did not improve and instead grew worse. The imperial kinsmen and close ministers remembered the earlier prediction and hurriedly dispatched an envoy to inform the Master:

– The king's grave illness has persisted without abating. We beseech you, out of compassion and regard for your kinship, to take the trouble to come and save him.

The Master came to see the king and inquire after his illness. At that time Zongsheng, complying with the second invitation, left the mountain cave and returned. Prajñātāra, who had long received the king's favor, also came to visit the sick king and asked:

– What must be done to help the king escape his suffering?

The Master immediately instructed the crown prince to dispense benevolence on his father's behalf, release prisoners, and reverently serve the treasure of the Sangha. He also performed repentance on behalf of the king, saying, “May his offenses be extinguished,” and did this three times. Before long, the king recovered from his illness.

The Master thought, “My affinity with the land of Zhendan (China) has ripened; the time has come to carry out the work of transformation there.” First, the Master bowed in farewell before the Patriarch's stupa, then took leave of his fellow practitioners. Afterward, he went to console and exhort the king:

– You should diligently cultivate pure karma—wholesome karma—and protect and uphold the Three Treasures. My departure will not be long; once I leave, I shall return after nine years.

Hearing the Master's instruction, the king's face was drenched with tears. He asked:

– What offense has this land committed, and what merit does that territory—China—possess, that my noble uncle has an affinity with it and will not remain in our country? I only beseech you not to forget the land of your ancestors and parents, and to return swiftly once your work is finished.

The king then fully provisioned a great ship with supplies and travel expenses, and personally led the officials in escorting the Master to the harbor. The Master drifted across the vast ocean, passing through heat and cold for about three years, and arrived at the Southern Sea (Guangzhou) on the twenty-first day of the ninth month in the dingwei year (527 CE), the eighth year of the Putong era of the Liang dynasty. Xiao Ang, the governor of Guangzhou, presided over a solemn reception and submitted a memorial to Emperor Wu. After examining the memorial, the emperor dispatched an envoy bearing an edict to welcome and invite the Master to Jinling.

On the first day of the tenth month, the Master arrived in Jinling.

(Chan Master Song composed the Record of the Orthodox Lineage on the basis of the Continuation of the Record of the Dharma by the Liang-dynasty monk Baochang. The Record of the Orthodox Lineage states: “Bodhidharma arrived in this country (Liang) in the gengzi year, 520, the first year of the Putong era, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang.” That year was also the first year of the Zhengguang era, during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Later Wei. If this is so, the chronology accords in every respect with the later dates of the Master’s entry into nirvana, the opening of his grave, and so forth.

If the foregoing evidence is correct, then the claim that he reached the Southern Sea on the twenty-first day of the ninth month in the dingwei year ⁽⁵²⁷⁾, the eighth year of Putong, and arrived in Jinling on the first day of the tenth month must be seriously mistaken. In the third month of the eighth year of Putong, the era name had already been changed to the first year of Datong; how, then, could the ninth month still have been called the eighth year of Putong?

The Southern Sea is present-day Guangzhou, a thousand or more li from Jinling. The governor had to memorialize the emperor, and Emperor Wu had to issue an edict of welcome; how could the Master possibly have reached Jinling within ten days? Moreover, according to Xiao Ang’s biography in the History of the Southern Dynasties, there is no mention of Ang serving as governor of Guangzhou.

At the end of Wang Mao’s biography, however, Xiao Ang is said to have served as chief administrator of Guangzhou, though it is not known in which year he held that office. For the present, one can only say: “The Master arrived at the Southern Sea in the first year of Putong. The governor of Guangzhou presided over a solemn reception and submitted a memorial to Emperor Wu.

After reading the memorial, the emperor sent an envoy bearing an edict to welcome and invite him. On the first day of the tenth month, he arrived in Jinling.”)

The emperor asked:

– Since ascending the throne, I have built monasteries, printed sutras, and ordained monks beyond reckoning. What merit is there in this?

The Master replied:

– There is no merit whatsoever.

The emperor asked:

– Why is there no merit?

The Master replied:

– These are merely conditioned causes leading to the lesser fruits of humans and devas. Like a shadow following a form, though they appear to exist, they are not real.

The emperor asked:

– What is true merit?

The Master replied:

– Pure wisdom and the wondrous, perfect essence are originally empty and quiescent.⁽⁴¹⁾ Such merit cannot be sought through worldly deeds.

The emperor asked again:

– What is the supreme meaning of the noble truth?

The Master replied:

– Vast emptiness, nothing holy.

The emperor asked:

– Who is it that stands before me?

The Master replied:

– I do not know!

Emperor Wu of Liang did not awaken to his meaning. Knowing that the conditions were not in accord, the Master secretly withdrew on the nineteenth day of that month (the tenth month) and crossed north of the Yangtze. (The character hui, “to return,” appears in the Expanded Record of the Lamp as guo, “to cross.”) On the twenty-third day of the eleventh month, the Master arrived in Luoyang, supposedly in the tenth year of the Taihe era during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei. (It should properly be the first year of the Zhengguang era, 520, during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming of the Later [Northern] Wei.

If it were the tenth year of Taihe, it would have been during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Later Wei; that year was the bingyin year, 486, the fourth year of the Yongming era during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Southern Qi.) The Master resided at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song. Throughout the day he sat silently facing a wall, and no one could fathom him. People of the time called him the “Wall-Gazing Brahmin.”

At that time there was a monk named Shenguang, whose mind had attained vast penetration through study and cultivation. He had long resided in the Yi and Luo region. Widely read and deeply learned, he was skilled in discussing abstruse principles. Shenguang often lamented: “Confucius and

Laozi taught ritual records, esoteric arts, geomancy, and rules and standards; the writings of Zhuangzi and the Book of Changes do not fully express the wondrous principle. I have recently heard that the Great Adept Bodhidharma is dwelling at Shaolin Monastery and has entered a profound and wondrous state. The consummate person is not far away.” He therefore went there and attended upon the Master morning and evening. The Master always sat cross-legged facing the wall, and no one heard him give any instruction. Shenguang reflected: “Those of old who sought the Way broke their bones to obtain the marrow, drew their blood to relieve hunger, spread their hair over mud, and cast themselves into ravines to feed starving tigers. If those of old acted thus, what kind of person am I?”

On the ninth day of the twelfth month of that year ⁽⁵²⁰⁾, snow fell heavily throughout the night. Shenguang stood firm and unmoving. By the late dawn, the snow had risen above his knees. Moved by compassion, the Master turned and asked:

– You have stood waiting in the snow for so long. What do you seek?

Shenguang replied with sorrowful tears:

– I ask only that the Venerable Master compassionately open the gate of amrita and liberate all sentient beings far and wide.

The Master replied:

– The unsurpassed, wondrous Way of all Buddhas must be pursued with diligent effort over many kalpas, doing what is difficult to do and enduring what is difficult to endure. How could those of little virtue and little wisdom, whose hearts remain contemptuous and arrogant,

hope to attain it? To realize the true vehicle, one must labor diligently and endure hardship.

Hearing the Master’s admonition, Shenguang secretly took a sharp knife, severed his own left arm, and presented it before the Master. The Master knew that he was a vessel of the Dharma and said:

– When the Buddhas first sought the Way, they forgot their bodies for the sake of the Dharma. Now you have severed your arm before me; your resolve in seeking the Way is commendable!

He then bestowed upon him the name Huike. Shenguang said:

– May I hear the Dharma seal of all Buddhas?

The Master replied:

– The Dharma seal of all Buddhas cannot be obtained from another person.

Shenguang said:

– My mind is not yet at peace. I beg the Master to pacify it for me.

The Master said:

– Bring me your mind, and I shall pacify it for you.

He replied:

– I have searched for my mind, but ultimately it cannot be found.

The Master said:

– I have pacified your mind for you.

*

– *

Later, when Emperor Xiaoming of the Later Wei heard of the Master’s extraordinary qualities, he sent envoys bearing edicts to invite him on three successive occasions. The Master did not leave Shaolin. The emperor’s reverence and admiration only increased, and he further bestowed two sets of monastic robes made of mana cloth, a golden bowl, a silver water vessel, thick silk, and other gifts. The Master firmly declined three times, but as the emperor’s resolve only grew more insistent, he finally accepted them. Thereafter, the faith and devotion of monks and lay practitioners increased manyfold.

After the Master had remained at Shaolin for nine years, he wished to return westward to India. He summoned his disciples and said:

– The time is approaching. Why do each of you not state what you have realized?

At that time, his disciple Daofu stepped forward and said:

– As I see it, one neither clings to words and letters nor departs from words and letters. This is the functioning of the Way.

The Master said:

– You have attained my skin.

The nun Zongchi⁽⁴²⁾ said:

– As I understand it now, it is like Venerable Ananda beholding the Buddha-land of Akshobhya:⁽⁴³⁾ once seen, it is never seen again.

The Master said:

– You have attained my flesh.

Daoyu said:

– The four great elements are originally empty, and the five skandhas have no existence. As I see it, there is not a single dharma that can be attained.

The Master said:

– You have attained my bones.

Finally, Huike stepped forward, bowed in reverence, and returned to his former place. The Master said:

– You have attained my marrow.

The Master then looked at Huike and said:

– Long ago, the Tathagata entrusted the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye to the Great Adept Mahakasyapa. It was transmitted successively until it reached me. I now entrust it to you; you must carefully preserve it. I also entrust this robe to you

as a token of the Dharma. You should understand that each signifies a particular matter.

Huike said:

– I beg the Master to explain each matter.

The Master said:

– Inwardly, the seal of the Dharma is transmitted to accord with realization of the mind; outwardly, the robe is conferred to establish the lineage’s guiding principle. In later times, people’s hearts will become frivolous and contemptuous, giving rise to suspicion and contention. They will say, “I am a person of the Western Heaven, while you are a person of China. On what basis did you attain the Dharma, and what do you have as proof?” Now you shall receive this Dharma robe. Should you later encounter adversity, you need only present the robe and my Dharma-transmission verse as proof, and the work of teaching and transformation will proceed without obstruction. Two hundred years after I enter extinction, the robe shall no longer be transmitted, for the Buddhadharma will flourish everywhere. At that time, many will know the Way, but few will practice it; many will expound the principle, but few will penetrate it. Nevertheless, those who secretly accord with it and inwardly realize it will number more than thousands and tens of thousands. You must undertake the work of propagating it, and do not slight those who have not yet awakened. If, in a single thought, they turn their minds around, they will at once be equal to those who awakened before them. Listen to my verse:

Ngô bổn lai tư độ,

Truyền pháp cứu mê tình.

Nhất hoa khai ngũ diệp,

Kết quả tự nhiên thành.

Translation:

I originally came to this land,

To transmit the Dharma and save the deluded.

One flower opens into five ⁽⁴⁴⁾ petals;

The fruit will naturally ripen.

The Master further said:

– I also have the four-fascicle Lankavatara Sutra to entrust to you. (This statement is based on the Record of the Baolin Monastery. According to Vinaya Master Xuan’s Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks, in the Biography of Great Master Huike: “At first, Dharma gave the Lankavatara Sutra to Huike and said: ‘As I observe the land of Han, there is only this sutra. If benevolent ones rely upon it in their practice, they will be able to liberate themselves and liberate others.’” According to the preceding biography, when the Second Patriarch had not yet attained the Dharma, Dharma gave him the Lankavatara Sutra to study. The present Transmission of the Lamp says that after entrusting him with the Dharma and transmitting the robe, the Master further said, “I also have the four-fascicle Lankavatara Sutra to entrust to you.” This may cause the misunderstanding that, by saying “I have it,” he meant it did not yet exist in the world. Here one need only rely upon Patriarch Mazu’s words, “He further cited passages from the Lankavatara Sutra to authenticate the mind-ground of sentient beings,” and the principle will remain unharmed.) It is precisely the essential gateway leading into the Tathagata’s mind-ground, enabling sentient beings to be shown it, awaken to it, and enter it. Since coming to this land, I have been poisoned five times. Each time I vomited it out to test it; when it touched a rock, the rock split apart. The reason I originally left Southern India and came here to the Eastern Land was that I saw the Divine Continent of the Red District (an ancient name for China) possessed the signs of the Mahayana. I therefore crossed the seas and deserts in search of someone to whom I could transmit the Dharma. Yet the proper time had not arrived, and I had to remain as though mute and foolish. Now that I have found you to receive the transmission, my intention has been fulfilled.

(The Separate Record states: At first, the Master remained at Shaolin Monastery for nine years, expounding the Dharma to the Second Patriarch. He instructed him: “Sit, bringing all conditions to rest; inwardly, do not let the mind gasp after objects. Let the mind be like a wall, and you will be able to enter the Way.” Huike presented to the Master all manner of principles concerning mind and nature, but still did not accord with the Way.

The Master merely guarded him against error and did not explain to Huike the mind-essence free from thought. Huike said, “I have brought all conditions completely to rest.” The Master asked, “Surely you have not fallen into annihilation?” Huike replied, “I have not fallen into annihilation.” The Master asked, “How do you verify that it is not annihilation?” Huike replied, “It is clearly and constantly aware, yet words cannot reach it.” The Master said, “This is the mind-essence transmitted by all Buddhas.

Harbor no doubt about it.”)

After saying this, the Master and his disciples went to Tiensheng Monastery at Wumen and stayed there for three days. The prefect of that city, Yang Xuanzhi, had long admired the Buddha Vehicle. He asked the Master:

– In the five regions of India in the Western Heaven, you inherited the succession as a Patriarch. What is the nature of that Way?

The Master replied:

– To comprehend the Buddha’s mind lineage, with practice and understanding in accord—this is called being a Patriarch.

He asked again:

– What lies beyond this principle?

The Master replied:

– One should comprehend that mind and thoroughly know past and present; neither reject existence nor nonexistence; cling to no dharma; be neither wise nor foolish; be neither deluded nor awakened. If one can understand in this way, one is also called a Patriarch.

He asked again:

– This disciple turned his mind toward the Three Jewels long ago, yet my wisdom remains dull and obscure, and I am still confused about the true principle. Having just heard your words, Master, I am unable to comprehend and practice them. I beseech you, in your compassion, to reveal the lineage’s guiding principle.

The Master knew his mind was earnest and therefore spoke this verse:

Diệc bất đổ ác nhi sanh hiềm,

Diệc bất quán thiện nhi cần thố,

Diệc bất xả trí nhi cận ngu,

Diệc bất phao mê nhi tựu ngộ.

Đạt đại đạo hề quá lượng,

Thông Phật tâm hề xuất độ,

Bất dữ phàm thánh đồng triền,

Siêu nhiên danh chi viết Tổ.

Translation:

Neither behold evil and give rise to disdain,

Nor behold good and strive to perform it;

Neither abandon wisdom and draw near to folly,

Nor cast away delusion to seize awakening.

Attaining the great Way—beyond all measure;

Penetrating the Buddha-mind—surpassing all bounds;

Not walking the same course as ordinary beings or sages;

Utterly transcendent—this is called a Patriarch.

Hearing the verse, Xuanzhi felt joy and sorrow mingled together, and said:

– Master, please remain long in this world and teach and transform the multitudes of sentient beings.

The Master said:

– I am about to depart and should not remain long. The capacities and dispositions of people in the world differ in myriad ways, and I have encountered many calamities.

Xuanzhi said:

– I do not yet know who seeks to harm you, Master. This disciple will remove the danger for you.

The Master said:

– I transmit the Buddha’s secret teaching in order to bring benefit to those who have gone astray. There is certainly no principle by which I could harm them merely to secure my own safety.

Xuanzhi said:

– If you do not tell me, Master, how can you manifest your spiritual power of illumination and your unhindered transformations?

Having no alternative, the Master uttered this prophetic verse:

Giang tra phân ngọc lãng,

Quản cự khai kim tỏa.

Ngũ khẩu tương cộng hành,

Cửu thập vô bỉ ngã.

Translation:

A river raft parts the jeweled waves;

A tube-torch opens the golden lock.

Five mouths journey together;

At ninety, there is neither other nor self.

Upon hearing the prophecy, Xuanzhi could discern no clue to its meaning. He secretly committed it to memory, then bowed and took his leave. Although the meaning of the Master’s prophetic verse could not be fathomed at that time, every part of it was later fulfilled.

At that time, the Wei dynasty greatly revered the Master, and there were also many eminent Buddhist meditation masters. Vinaya Master Guangtong and Tripitaka Master Liuzhi were monks ranked among dragons and phoenixes. Seeing the Master teach the Way by pointing directly to the mind and rejecting external characteristics, each engaged him in fierce debates over right and wrong interpretations.

The Master upheld the profound teaching to the utmost and universally bestowed the rain of Dharma. When those masters saw that the debates inclined in the Master’s favor and that they could not withstand him, they conspired to harm him, repeatedly placing poison in his food. On the sixth occasion, because there was already someone to whom he had transmitted the Dharma and his work of teaching and transformation was complete, the Master sat upright and entered quiescence, no longer permitting anyone to treat him.

This occurred on the fifth day of the tenth month in the bingchen year ⁽⁵³⁶⁾, said to be the nineteenth year of the Taihe era under Emperor Xiaoming

of the Later Wei dynasty ⁽⁴⁵⁾. (According to the Continued Record of the Dharma, it was the fifth day of the tenth month in the first year of the Yongan era under Emperor Xiaozhuang, 528, corresponding to the second year of the Datong era of the Liang dynasty, the wushen year. That year was also the first year of the Wutai era under Emperor Ming. Emperor Ming died in the second month; Emperor Zhuang ascended the throne in the fourth month and changed the era name to Jianyi, then changed it again to Yongan in the ninth month. A later passage records the Master as saying, “Your sovereign has grown weary of the world,” meaning that Emperor Ming died in that year, 528.

According to the Transmission of the Lamp, the bingchen year, 536, was the second year of the Datong era under Emperor Wen of the Western Wei, the third year of the Tianping era under Emperor Jing of the Eastern Wei, and the second year of the Datong era under the Liang dynasty. If so, the statement “grown weary of the world” is wholly contradictory. Moreover, the nineteenth year of the Taihe era was the yihai year, 495, during the reign of Emperor Wen of the Later Wei, and also the second year of the Jianwu era under Emperor Ming of the Southern Qi. The dates are far too distant from one another!) On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month of that year, he was buried and a memorial stupa was erected at Dinglin Monastery on Mount Xiong’er.

Three years later, Song Yun of the Later Wei, returning from an imperial mission to the Western Regions, encountered the Master at the Congling Mountains. He saw him carrying a single sandal in his hand and moving swiftly westward.

Song Yun asked:

– Where are you going, Master?

The Master replied:

– I am returning to the Western Heaven.

He further told Yun:

– Your sovereign has already departed from this life.

Upon hearing this, Yun was stunned. He took leave of the Master and journeyed eastward. By the time he returned to report on his mission, Emperor Ming had already passed away, and Emperor Xiaozhuang had ascended the throne. Yun gave a full account of his encounter with the Master. The emperor ordered the tomb opened, but only a single leather shoe was found in the empty coffin.

(According to the Xu Fa Ji, three years later would have been the gengxu year, 530, the third year of Yong'an under Emperor Zhuang, corresponding to the second year of Zhong Datong under Emperor Wu of Liang. Emperor Zhuang did not pass away until the twelfth month of that year, so when the envoy returned from his mission, Emperor Zhuang was still alive.

According to the Transmission of the Lamp, however, three years later would instead have been the jiwei year, 539, the fifth year of Datong under Emperor Wen of Western Wei, corresponding to the first year of Xinghe under Emperor Jing of Eastern Wei and the fifth year of Datong under Emperor Wu of Liang. If so, how could Emperor Xiaozhuang have been involved? Moreover, to say that Song

Yun encountered the Master at the Congling Mountains is even more erroneous, because when Song Yun returned from his mission to the Western Regions during the Zhengguang era, Emperor Xiaoming of Later Wei was still alive!

Could it be, then, that the person who encountered the Master at the Congling Mountains was another envoy who returned from the Western Regions near the end of the Wei dynasty? It should simply be said: Three years later, an envoy of Wei returning from the Western Regions encountered the Master at the Congling Mountains and saw him hastening westward with a single shoe in his hand. He asked the Master where he was going.

The Master replied: “I am returning to the Western Heaven.” The Master further told the envoy: “Your sovereign has already departed from this life.” Upon hearing this, the envoy was stunned. He took leave of the Master and journeyed eastward. By the time he returned to report on his mission, Emperor Ming had already passed away, and Xiaozhuang had ascended the throne.

The envoy gave a full account of his encounter with the Master. The emperor ordered the tomb opened, but only a single leather shoe remained in the empty coffin.)

The entire court was awestruck and deeply moved by this event. In obedience to an imperial decree, the remaining shoe was enshrined as an offering at Shaolin Monastery. In the dingmao year, the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan under the Tang dynasty ⁽⁷²⁷⁾, a follower of the Way who had faith in the Master stole the shoe and enshrined it at Huayan Monastery on Mount Wutai. Today (1004), no one knows where the shoe has gone.

At first, when Emperor Wu of Liang met the Master, their karmic conditions were not yet in accord. When he later heard that the Master had completed his work of transformation in the state of Wei, he wished to compose a memorial inscription himself to express his devotion to the Master, but affairs continually occupied him. Later, upon hearing the account of Song Yun's encounter with the Master, he finally completed the inscription.

Emperor Daizong of the Tang dynasty bestowed upon the Master the title Great Master Perfect Awakening, and named his stupa Contemplation of Emptiness.

From the bingchen year, 536, when the Master entered quiescence in Wei, until the jiachen year, the first year of Jingde, 1004, during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, 467 years had elapsed.

(Correctly, from the gengzi year, 520 ^[46], when he entered quiescence in Wei, until the jiachen year, the first year of Jingde during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, 475 years had elapsed. All chronological errors here arose from inaccuracies in the Baolin Zhuan and from Lord Yang Wen's* failure to verify them.)

29. Patriarch and Great Master Huike.

He was a native of Wulao and his family name was Ji. His father, Ji, before having a son, would often reflect: “My family esteems good deeds and has prayed for a son for a long time; why have we not been granted a worthy son?” One night, he perceived an extraordinary light shining upon the house, and thereafter the Master's mother conceived. When the child grew older, because of the auspicious sign of light that had illuminated the house, he was named Guang.

From childhood, his spirit and aspirations differed from those of others. He was thoroughly versed in the classics and histories, and was also deeply proficient in the profound principles. He paid no heed to the family estate, preferring instead to wander among mountains and rivers. Later, upon reading Buddhist sutras, he spontaneously attained a transcendent understanding. He then went to Longmen Monastery on Mount Xiang in Luoyang and relied upon Chan Master Baojing to leave the household life. Later, he received the complete precepts in the Fuyou Lecture Hall of Yongmu Monastery. The Master studied widely the doctrines of both the Lesser Vehicle and the Great Vehicle.

At the age of thirty-two, he returned to Mount Xiang. There he sat quietly throughout each day. After eight years spent entering silent meditation, a divine being suddenly appeared and told him: “If you wish to attain the fruit of the Way, why do you still linger here?

The Great Way is not far away; you should journey south.” Guang knew that a divine being was assisting him, and therefore changed his name to Shenguang, “Divine Light.” The next day, he felt pain in his head as though pierced by needles. Guang's teacher wished to find a physician to treat him, but suddenly a voice was heard in the air saying: “This is the transformation of his bones; it is not an ordinary illness.” Guang then reported his vision of the divine being to his teacher.

His teacher examined him and saw that the bone at the crown of Guang's head had risen beautifully like five mountain peaks. He then said:

– Your physiognomy bears an auspicious sign; you will certainly attain the Way. The divine being also instructed you to journey south. If so, the great Bodhidharma at Shaolin must surely be your teacher.

Guang went to Shaoshi Mountain to receive instruction. The circumstances of his attainment of the Dharma and receipt of the robe are recorded in full in the chapter on Bodhidharma. At Shaolin, Bodhidharma entrusted the work of teaching and transformation to the Master and then returned to the West.

*

– *

The Great Master continued to proclaim the profound tradition and searched everywhere for a successor to the Dharma. He went to Northern Qi in the second year of Tianping, 535. (Correctly, this was the second year of Tianbao, the xinwei year, 551. The second year of Tianping, an era name of Eastern Wei, corresponded to the yimao year, 535.) There he encountered a layman over forty years of age. The layman did not disclose his name or family name. He came, bowed to the Master, and asked:

– This disciple's body is afflicted with leprosy. I beg the Venerable to repent my transgressions on my behalf.

The Master said:

– Bring forth your transgression, and I shall repent it for you.

The layman remained silent for a long while, then said:

– Though I seek my transgression, I cannot find it.

The Master said:

– I have already repented it for you. You should take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

The layman asked:

– Now that I have met the Venerable, I know what the Sangha is, but I do not yet know what are called the Buddha and the Dharma.

The Master replied:

– This very mind is the Buddha; this very mind is the Dharma. The Buddha and the Dharma are not two, and the jewel of the Sangha is likewise so.

The layman said:

– Only today have I understood that the nature of transgression is neither within, nor without, nor in between. The Buddha and the Dharma are not two; this very mind is likewise so.

The Great Master fully recognized that the layman was a vessel of the Dharma. He shaved his head and ordained him, and because he said, “He is my precious jewel,” he gave him the name Sengcan. On the eighteenth day of the third month of that year ⁽⁵⁵¹⁾, Sengcan received the complete precepts at Guangfu Monastery. From then on, his illness gradually diminished. After Sengcan had served as his attendant for two years, the Great Master told him:

– Bodhidharma (the old edition records the name as Dharma Bodhi) came here from the distant land of Southern India and transmitted to me alone the treasury of the true Dharma eye. I now entrust it to you, together with Bodhidharma's robe of faith. You must carefully preserve them and not allow the transmission to be severed. Listen to my verse:

Originally, because there is earth,

From the earth the flower's seed is born.

Originally, there is no seed,

Nor has the flower ever been born.

Translation:

From of old, because there is earth,

Through the earth the flower's seed is born.

From of old, there has been no seed,

Nor has the flower ever been born.

After transmitting the robe and Dharma, the Great Master further said:

– Having received my teaching, you should conceal yourself deep within the mountains and must not go forth to teach and transform others, for a calamity will arise in the land.

Can said:

– Since the Master knows this beforehand, I beg you compassionately to instruct me.

The Master said:

– This is not something I know of myself. Bodhidharma transmitted the words of Prajnatara's cryptic prophecy: “Though fortune is bound within the mind, outwardly there is misfortune.” When I examine the chronology, it corresponds precisely to the present time. You should carefully consider the words of the ancients and avoid becoming entangled in worldly calamity. Yet I, too, have a troublesome karmic debt from a former life that must now be repaid. You should skillfully keep your distance and skillfully carry out the work of transformation, awaiting the proper time to transmit the Dharma to a successor.

Having completed his entrustment and admonitions, the Great Master went to the capital of Ye and taught the Dharma according to circumstances. With a single voice he expounded freely, and the four assemblies took refuge in him. He continued in this manner, with such accomplishments, for thirty-four years. The Great Master then altered his dignified appearance, concealing his radiance and mingling with the dust. At times he entered taverns; at times he stayed in slaughterhouses; at times he engaged in eloquent discussions while sitting by the roadside; and at times he accompanied woodcutters and horse herders. Someone who saw this asked the Master:

– Master, you are a man of the Way. Why do you behave in this manner?

The Master replied:

– I am disciplining my own mind. What concern is it of yours?

*

– *

Once again, beneath the gatehouse of Khuông Cứu Monastery in Quản Thành County, the Master discoursed on the unsurpassed Way, and listeners gathered in great numbers. At that time, Dharma Master Biện Hòa was lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra in the monastery. Some of his students left together to hear the Master expound the Dharma. Biện Hòa could not restrain his anger and slandered the Master before the county magistrate, Địch Trọng Khản. Trọng Khản mistakenly heeded those false accusations and charged the Master with unlawful conduct. The Master accepted this cheerfully. Those who understood the law of cause and effect regarded it as “repaying an old debt.”

At that time, the Great Master was 107 years old. It was the sixteenth day of the third month in the quý sửu year, the thirteenth year of the Khai Hồng era under Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty, 593. (Imperial Attendant Hạo Nguyệt asked Preceptor Trường Sa Sầm: “An ancient worthy said: ‘Once realized, karmic hindrances are originally empty;

before realization, one must still repay old debts’⁽⁴⁷⁾. By what did Venerable Sư Tử and the Second Patriarch Great Master fully repay their debts?” Trường Sa said: “Venerable sir, you do not understand what is originally empty.” He asked: “What is originally empty?” Trường Sa replied: “Those karmic hindrances.” He asked again: “What are karmic hindrances?” Trường Sa replied: “That which is originally empty.” The man fell silent, whereupon Trường Sa instructed him with a verse:

Provisionally existing, it was never existent;

Provisionally ceasing, it is likewise not nonexistent.

Nirvana always bears the meaning of repaying debts;

The one nature is ultimately without distinction.

Translation:

Borrowed existence is originally no existence;

Borrowed cessation is likewise not nonexistence.

Nirvana means the repayment of debts;

The one nature is forever without difference.)

The Master was later buried about seventy miles northeast of Phũ Dương County in Từ Châu. Emperor Dezong of the Tang dynasty bestowed upon him the posthumous title Great Patriarch Chan Master.

From the time of the Master’s teaching until the giáp thìn year, the first year of the Cảnh Đức era under Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty (1004), 413 years had elapsed (the correct number is 412 years).

*

– *

29.1. Chan Master Tăng Na.

The Master’s family name was Mã. Even in childhood, his talent and intelligence surpassed those of others, and he studied and thoroughly understood the ancient texts. At the age of twenty-one, he lectured on the Book of Rites and the Book of Changes in Đông Hải, and his listeners were as numerous as a crowd at a marketplace.

He journeyed south and then arrived at Tương Bộ, with students following him there. When he encountered the Second Patriarch teaching the Dharma, he and ten like-minded companions bowed before the Patriarch and entered monastic life. From then onward, his hand no longer held a writing brush; he abandoned all secular books and retained only one robe, one bowl, and one sitting mat, eating one meal a day in accordance with the dhutanga practices.

After attending upon the Second Patriarch for a long time, the Master said to his disciple Huệ Mãn:

– The mind-seal of the patriarchs does not consist solely in ascetic practice; ascetic practice is merely a Dharma that supports the Way. If one accords with the original mind and freely brings forth the wondrous functioning of the true light, ascetic practice is like turning a clod of earth into gold. But if one devotes oneself only to ascetic practice without illuminating the original mind, one will be bound by attachment and aversion; then ascetic practice is like traversing a perilous road on a moonless night.

If you wish to illuminate the original mind, you must contemplate and investigate: when encountering forms and sounds, before discriminating consciousness has arisen, where does the mind go? Is it nonexistent? Is it existent?

Since it falls into neither existence nor nonexistence, the jewel of mind shines alone, perpetually illuminating the world. Not even a mote of dust can come between it, nor has even a single kshana of time ever interrupted that aspect of pure unity. Therefore, our First Patriarch transmitted the Dharma together with the four fascicles of the Lankavatara Sutra and said to the Second Patriarch, my teacher: “As I perceive the land of Cīnasthāna (China), only this sutra can be used to seal the mind.

Benevolent one, if you practice in accordance with it, you will be able to bring the world across.”

Moreover, whenever the Second Patriarch finished teaching the Dharma, he would say: “After four generations, this sutra will be transformed into mere names and characteristics—how lamentable! I now entrust it to you. You should preserve it well and take care not to transmit it to an unworthy person.”

After receiving this transmission and admonition, the Master set out to travel from place to place. No one knows how his life ended.

*

– *

29.2. Layman Hướng.

He delighted in dwelling in forests or secluded countryside, eating vegetables and drinking spring water. At the beginning of the Thiên Bảo era ⁽⁵⁵¹⁾ of the Northern Qi dynasty, he heard that the Second Patriarch’s teaching activity was flourishing, so he composed a letter expressing his understanding.

The letter read:

>

(“Playing with the shadow” should properly be “casting away the shadow”; it was probably copied incorrectly. For in fascicle thirty, when Crown Prince Hồng asked about the essential meaning of mind, National Preceptor Trấn Quốc replied: “If one casts away the false to seek the true, it is like casting away the shadow to seek the form.” If one realizes it, the false itself is the true, just as one may remain in the shade and forget the shadow. This is an expression used by Zhuangzi.

“Wearying the body” means casting away and avoiding the shadow.)

The Second Patriarch Great Master had a reply copied and instructed him:

Having examined your meaning, all of it accords with reality;

The truth of the true and profound is ultimately without distinction.

Originally deluded, one takes the mani jewel for tile and rubble;

Suddenly awakening oneself, one knows it is the true pearl.

Ignorance and wisdom are equally without difference;

You should know that all dharmas are themselves thusness.

Pitying those who follow the two views,

I personally take up the brush and compose this letter.

Contemplate that this body and the Buddha are not different;

Why seek elsewhere for that nirvana without remainder?

Translation:

I have read all your thoughts, and all are correct;

How could the true and profound principle differ?

Deluded about the jewel, one first takes it for tile and brick;

Suddenly awakening, one knows it is the true pearl.

Ignorance and wisdom alike are no different;

Fully understand that all dharmas are themselves thusness.

Pitying those attached to nonexistence and existence,

I borrow words and brush to write this letter.

Contemplate that the body and Buddha are not different;

Why need you seek nirvana elsewhere?

Upon receiving the letter, Layman Hướng opened it and read the Patriarch’s answering verse. His mind became clear and open, and he went to the Patriarch, paid homage, and personally received confirmation.

*

– *

29.3. Chan Master Huệ Mãn.

The Master resided at Long Hóa Monastery in Tương Châu. He was a native of Huỳnh Dương, and his family name was Trương.

At first, while at his home monastery, he encountered Chan Master Tăng Na and received instruction from him. His resolve remained frugal: he kept only two sewing needles, using them to mend his robe in winter and having no use for them in summer. He said of himself that throughout his life his mind knew no fear, his body had neither lice nor fleas, and when he slept, he had no dreams. He regularly went on alms rounds and never stayed in one place for as many as two nights. When he came to a monastery, he chopped firewood and made shoes.

In the sixteenth year of the Trinh Quán era (642, under Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty), the Master arrived in Lạc Dương and stayed near Hội Thiện Monastery. During a great snowfall, he spent the night in an ancient tomb. Early the next morning, he entered the monastery and encountered Dharma Master Đàm Khống. Khống was astonished and did not know where the Master had spent the previous night. The Master asked:

– Has the Dharma arrived?

Khống sent someone to find the place from which he had come. They saw that the ancient tomb was surrounded on all sides by snow about five feet deep.⁽⁴⁹⁾ Khống said, “He is unfathomable.”

The monks fled, and it was also heard that there was an officer named Quát. The Master carried his bowl throughout the villages without obstruction anywhere; whether he gained or lost, he remained entirely free of concern.

Someone invited the Master to accept a vegetarian meal and stay overnight. The Master said: “Only if there were no monks beneath heaven would I accept that invitation.”

The Master often instructed people: “The Buddhas teach mind so that people may know their own minds and know that characteristics are illusory. Yet now people add still another characteristic called mind, thereby straying far from the Buddha’s intent. They also add discursive theories, greatly distorting the principle of the Great Way. Therefore, always carry the four fascicles of the Lankavatara Sutra as the essential teaching of mind, the seal of mind, and practice in accordance with the sutra. Why do you not follow the final injunctions of the former generations of the lineage?”

Later, without illness, the Master sat inside a pottery kiln and passed into transformation. He was about seventy years old.

30. Patriarch Tăng Xán, the Great Master.

It is not known where the Master was from. While still a layman, he first went to pay his respects to the Second Patriarch, received ordination, and was transmitted the Dharma. He later lived in seclusion at Sơn Cốc Monastery on Mount Hồn Công in Thư Châu.

When Emperor Wu of the Later Zhou dynasty launched the persecution and destruction of Buddhism in 574, the Master traveled back and forth around Mount Tư Không in Thái Hồ County.

For more than ten years, he had no fixed abode, and no one of that time knew of him.

In the twelfth year of the Khai Hồng era of the Sui dynasty, the nhâm tý year, 592, the novice Đạo Tín, then only fourteen years old, came and bowed to the Master, asking:

– I beseech the Preceptor in his compassion to bestow upon me the Dharma-gate of liberation.

The Master asked:

– Who has bound you?

He replied:

– No one has bound me.

The Master said:

– Why, then, do you still seek liberation?

Upon hearing these words, Daoxin immediately attained great awakening and served the Master for nine years. After receiving the precepts in Jizhou, he attended upon the Master with ever greater diligence. The Master repeatedly tested him with the subtle and profound Dharma; knowing that Daoxin’s mind was pure and sincere, he transmitted the robe and Dharma to him.

The verse said:

Though the flower seed depends upon the ground,

From the ground the flower seed springs forth.

If no one were to sow the seed,

Neither flower nor ground would come forth.

The Master further said:

– Formerly, Great Master Huike transmitted the Dharma to me, then went to Yedu and taught there for thirty years before entering nirvana. Now that I have you, what further entanglement have I here?

The Master then went to Mount Luofu, where he lived at leisure for two years. He later returned to his former dwelling, Valley Mountain Monastery, and remained there for more than a month. When the officials and people** heard the news, they hastened to hold a great vegetarian offering in his honor. The Master extensively proclaimed the essential teaching of mind to the fourfold assembly. When he had finished teaching, he stood beneath a great tree at the Dharma assembly, joined his palms, and passed away.

This occurred on the fifteenth day of the tenth month in the bingyin year, the second year of the Daye era under Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty, 606. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang dynasty bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Jianzhi and named his stupa Jueji. By the jiachen year, 1004, the first year of the Jingde era under the Song dynasty, approximately four hundred years had elapsed.

*

– *

During the Early Tang period (618–712), Li Chang served as governor of Henan. He had long revered the ancestral tradition and had deeply realized its profound purport. In the yiyou year, 745, during the Tianbao era, Li met Shenhui of Heze and asked:

– Where was Great Master, the Third Patriarch, buried? Some have heard that the Master entered Luofu and never returned, while others say that he passed away at Valley Mountain. I do not yet know which account is correct.

Shenhui replied:

– Great Master Sengcan returned from Luofu to Valley Mountain and manifested his passing more than a month later. The tomb of the Third Patriarch is presently in Shuzhou.

Li Chang could not yet believe this account. Later, when he was exiled to serve as an assistant prefect in Shuzhou, he took the opportunity to inquire among the monks of Valley Mountain Monastery:

– I have heard that the tomb of the Third Patriarch lies behind the monastery. Is that so?

At that time, the senior monk Huiguan replied:

– It is so.

Delighted, Li Chang went with his subordinate officials to pay homage. They then opened the grave and cremated the Master’s true remains. They obtained three hundred five-colored relics. Li Chang used one hundred of them and funds from his own salary to build a stupa there for their enshrinement; he sent one hundred as a gift to Shenhui of Heze to confirm Shenhui’s earlier statement; and he carried one hundred with him.

Later, while in Luozhong, he held a vegetarian feast at his private residence in celebration. Among those assembled was a group including the Tripitaka Master Jiana from the Western Regions.

Li Chang asked the Tripitaka Master:

– How many patriarchs are there in the Chan tradition of India?

Jiana replied:

– From Kasyapa to Prajnatara there were twenty-seven patriarchs. If counted according to the succession, adding the four generations beginning with Dharmadata and the twenty-two collateral successors descending from the Venerable Simha, there were forty-nine patriarchs in all. If one counts from the Seven Buddhas down to this Great Master Sengcan, excluding the collateral branches, there were approximately thirty-seven generations.

Li Chang questioned him further. A venerable monk in the assembly replied:

– I once examined a chart of the patriarchs that listed more than fifty patriarchs. As for the divergent branches, schools, and lineages, their number cannot be determined. Some may have possessed only empty names; what evidence could verify them?

At that time, Chan Master Zhiben, a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch, replied:

– At the beginning of the Later Wei dynasty, the Buddha-Dharma gradually declined. Amid the turmoil, the sramana Tanyao recorded the names of the patriarchs by himself on raw silk, though he may have forgotten their proper order. Concealing his robe and withdrawing from the world, he lived in a mountain cave in Lingzhong for thirty-five years. When Emperor Wencheng ascended the throne, the Dharma gate was revived, and Tanyao’s achievements and reputation came to be highly esteemed. He was then appointed Director of the Sangha and gathered sramanas to deliberate further and compile the relevant entries, producing the Biographies of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasury. The few discrepancies found therein arose because Tanyao had copied the records while living in fear.

Thirteen years later, the emperor ordered Hong Yuanzhen, an Erudite of the Directorate of Education, together with Tripitaka Masters from Northern India, including Buddhassanta and Jifoyan, to reexamine the Sanskrit texts, review them, and correctly establish the patriarchal transmission according to its tenets and sequence. Only then were the errors eliminated.

31. Great Master Daoxin, the Patriarch.

His secular surname was Sima, and he was a native of Henei. His family later moved to Guangji County in Qizhou. From birth, the Master was extraordinary and transcended ordinary human disposition. While still young, he delighted in the teaching of emptiness and the Dharma gates of liberation, as though he had long been familiar with and previously inherited the ancestral tradition. He gathered his mind and did not allow himself to sleep deeply; for nearly sixty years, his side never touched the mat.

In 617, the thirteenth year of the Daye era under the Sui dynasty, the Master led his followers to Jizhou. They encountered bandits who besieged the city for seven ten-day periods, or seventy days, and no relief arrived. The people were terrified. Out of compassion, the Master instructed them to recite Mahaprajna. At that time, when the bandits looked up at the low walls atop the city, they seemed to see divine troops. They said among themselves:

– There must be an extraordinary person within the city; we should not attack it.

They then gradually withdrew.

In the jiashen year, 624, during the Wude era of the Tang dynasty, the Master returned to Qichun and resided on Mount Potou. Students gathered there in great numbers.

One day, the Master went to Huangmei County and encountered a young boy sitting by the road. His appearance was exceptionally beautiful and unlike that of ordinary children. The Master asked:

– What is your family name?

The boy replied:

– I have a nature, but it is not an ordinary family name.

The Master asked:

– What nature is it?

He replied:

– It is Buddha-nature.⁽⁵⁰⁾

The Master asked:

– Do you have no nature, then?

He replied:

– Because the nature is empty.

The Master silently recognized that the boy was a vessel of the Dharma. He immediately sent his attendant to the boy’s home to ask his parents to allow him to renounce the household life. Because of karmic affinities from former lives, his parents readily gave their special consent without the slightest hesitation. He then renounced the household life, became the Master’s disciple, and was given the name Hongren. (The old edition does not contain the four characters “named Hongren.” They have now been added here, for if no name were given, then who was the person to whom the Dharma and robe were eventually transmitted? Moreover, the two characters appearing later,

“Ren said,” would likewise naturally be unclear.) The Master then transmitted the Dharma and robe to him. The verse said:

The flower seed possesses the nature of arising;

Because of the ground, the flower arises and arises.

When the great affinity accords with faith,

It shall arise—arising, yet not arising.

He then entrusted the community of students to Hongren.

One day, the Master addressed the assembly:

– During the Wude era (618–626, under Emperor Gaozu of the Tang), I visited Mount Lu. From its lofty summit, I gazed toward Mount Potou and saw a purple cloud shaped like a canopy. Beneath it was a region of white vapor branching horizontally into six paths. Do you know what this omen signifies?

The assembly remained silent. Hongren said:

– Might it mean that in the future the Venerable Master’s Buddha-Dharma will produce an additional branch?

The Master praised him, saying, “Correct.”

Later, in the guimao year, 643, during the Zhenguan era (627–649, under Emperor Taizong of the Tang), Emperor Taizong, having heard of the Master’s realization of the Way and wishing to behold his noble bearing, issued an edict inviting him to the capital. Three times the Master respectfully submitted memorials declining the invitation, and at last he pleaded illness. On the fourth occasion, the emperor sent an envoy to summon him, saying:

– If he refuses the summons, bring back his head.

The envoy arrived at the mountain and presented the imperial decree to the Master. The Master immediately extended his neck to receive the sword, his expression perfectly composed. Greatly astonished, the envoy returned to the capital and submitted a report to the emperor. The emperor praised and admired the Master all the more, bestowed precious silk upon him, and allowed him to fulfill his aspiration.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, in the Yonghui era (650–656), on the fourth day of the intercalary ninth month in the xinhai year, 651, the Master suddenly extended his compassion and admonished his disciples:

– All dharmas are the Dharma of liberation. Each of you should carefully preserve and remember this, and transmit the teaching to those who come after.

Having finished speaking, the Master sat serenely and passed away, at the age of seventy-two. A stupa was erected on his native mountain, Potou Mountain. In the following year, 652, on the eighth day of the fourth month, the door of the stupa opened by itself for no apparent reason. The Master's venerable form appeared as though he were still alive. Thereafter, his disciples did not dare close the door of the stupa again.

Emperor Daizong of the Tang dynasty (763–779) bestowed upon the Master the posthumous title Chan Master Dayi, and upon the stupa the name Ciyun.

From the Master's passing until the first year of the Jingde era under Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, the jiachen year, 1004, approximately 356 years elapsed. (The correct figure should be 354 years.)

32. Great Master Hongren, the Patriarch.

He was a native of Huangmei County in Qizhou, and his family name was Zhou. Even in early childhood, he possessed lofty aspirations and was unlike ordinary people. Once, while playing as a child, he encountered a wise man who praised him, saying:

– This child lacks only seven marks of the Tathagata.

Later, he encountered Great Master Daoxin, received the Dharma succession, and taught and transformed others. During the Xianheng era (670–673, under Emperor Gaozong of the Tang), a lay practitioner from Potou Mountain, whose family name was Lu and whose personal name was Huineng, came from Xinzhou (the old edition mistakenly has the character Qi) to pay his respects to the Master.

The Master asked:

– Where have you come from?

He replied:

– Lingnan.

The Master asked:

– What do you seek?

He replied:

– I seek only to become a Buddha.

The Master said:

– The people of Lingnan have no Buddha-nature. How could you become a Buddha?

He replied:

– People may be southerners or northerners, but could Buddha-nature be so distinguished?

The Master knew that this was an extraordinary person, and so he rebuked him, saying:

– Go to the back quarters!

Huineng bowed and withdrew. He joined those who trod the pestle, laboring in the rice-hulling shed and serving there ceaselessly day and night for eight months.

Knowing that the time had come to transmit the Dharma, the Master addressed the assembly:

– The true Dharma is difficult to understand. You should not merely memorize my words and then cling to them as though that were your proper task. Each of you should compose a verse according to your understanding. If its words and meaning tacitly accord with the truth, I shall transmit the robe and Dharma to its author.

At that time, the assembly included more than seven hundred monks. The senior monk Shenxiu was thoroughly versed in both the Buddhist canon and non-Buddhist texts, and was also respected and admired by the entire community.

Everyone acclaimed Shenxiu, saying:

– If not Master Xiu, who else would dare undertake this?

Shenxiu quietly heard the assembly praising him. Feeling that he need deliberate no further, he wrote a verse on the corridor wall. The verse said:

Shen shi puti shu,

Xin ru mingjing tai.

Shishi qin fushi,

Mo qian you chen'ai.

Translation:

The body is the bodhi tree,

The mind is like a bright mirror stand.

At all times diligently polish it;

Do not allow dust to gather.

As the Master happened to pass through the corridor, he suddenly saw the verse. Knowing that Shenxiu had composed it, he praised it, saying:

– If people in later generations practice according to this verse, they too will attain an excellent fruition.

The wall had originally been reserved for the lay scholar Lu Zhen to paint an illustrated scene from the Lankavatara Sutra. Once the verse had been inscribed there, the painting was canceled so that everyone might recite and contemplate it. Huineng was hulling rice in the kitchen quarters when he suddenly heard a fellow student reciting the verse, and asked:

– What verse is that?

The fellow student replied:

– Do you not know? The Venerable is seeking a successor to the Dharma and instructed each person to compose a verse concerning the mind. This verse was composed by Senior Monk Xiu. The Venerable praised it highly and will surely transmit the Dharma and robe to him.

Huineng asked:

– How does the verse go?

The fellow student recited it for him. After remaining silent for a while, Huineng said:

– It is good indeed! Yet it has not reached complete understanding.

The fellow student became angry and scolded him:

– What could a common fellow like you possibly know? You should not speak so recklessly.

Huineng said:

– Do you not believe me, Master? Please allow me to compose a verse in response.

The fellow students looked at one another and laughed without speaking. Late that night, Huineng secretly asked a young novice to lead him beneath the wall. Huineng himself held a candle and asked the novice to write a verse beside Shenxiu's.

The verse said:

Puti ben fei shu,

Xinjing yi fei tai.

Benlai wu yi wu,

He jia fuchen'ai?

Translation:

Bodhi is originally not a tree ⁽⁵¹⁾,

Nor is the mirror-mind a stand ⁽¹⁶⁾.

Originally, there is not a single thing;

What need is there to brush away dust?

Afterward, when the Great Master saw this verse, he said:

– Whoever composed this verse has not yet seen the nature either.

When the assembly heard the Master say this, they paid no further attention to the verse. Late that night, the Great Master secretly sent someone to the kitchen quarters to summon the practitioner Huineng to his room.

The Great Master instructed him:

– The Buddhas appear in the world solely because of the causes and conditions of one great matter. According to whether the capacities of sentient beings are lesser or greater, they guide them along the path. Hence there are many tenets, such as the ten bhumis, the Three Vehicles, sudden and gradual teachings, and so forth, established as skillful means for teaching and transformation. But the Tathagata entrusted the treasury of the eye of the true Dharma—the unsurpassed, subtle, wondrous, secret, perfectly luminous, and genuine Dharma—to the foremost disciple, the Venerable Mahakasyapa, and it was successively transmitted through twenty-eight generations. When Bodhidharma came to this land, Great Master Huike succeeded him, and the succession has now reached me. I now entrust to you the Dharma treasure and the transmitted kasaya. Guard them well yourself, and do not allow the lineage to be severed.

Listen to my verse:

Youqing lai xia zhong,

Yin di guo huan sheng.

Wuqing ji wu zhong,

Wuxing yi wu sheng.

Translation:

When sentient beings come, sow the seed;

Through the ground of causes, the fruit is born again.

The insentient, having no seed,

Have no nature and are not born ⁽⁵²⁾.

The lay practitioner Huineng knelt to receive the robe and Dharma, and said:

– The Dharma has now been transmitted, but to whom shall the robe be entrusted?

The Master instructed him:

– When Bodhidharma first arrived, the people of this land neither understood nor believed. Therefore, the robe was transmitted as proof that the Dharma had been attained. Now faith has fully matured, while the robe has become a source of contention. The transmission should cease with you, and you should transmit it no further. Moreover, you must travel far away, conceal yourself, and await the proper time

to teach and transform others. Indeed, the life of the one who receives the robe hangs by a thread.

Huineng asked:

– Where should I hide?

The Master replied:

– When you encounter Huai, stay; when you encounter Hui, conceal yourself for a time.

After bowing, Huineng took up the robe and departed. That very night, he journeyed far to the south, without anyone in the great assembly knowing. Thereafter, Great Master Hongren did not ascend the Dharma hall for three days. Finding this strange, the assembly grew suspicious and came to question him.

The Patriarch said:

– My Way has already departed. What more is there to ask?

They further asked:

– Who has received the robe and Dharma?

The Master replied:

– Whoever has the ability has received them.

Thereupon, the assembly discussed the practitioner Lu, whose name was Neng. When they sought him, Neng was already gone. They quickly realized that Neng had received the robe and Dharma, and together they hurried after him. After Great Master Hongren transmitted the robe and Dharma, another four years passed. In the second year of the Shangyuan era, 675 (the yihai year, 675, under Emperor Gaozong of the Tang [674–676]; in the reign of Emperor Suzong there was another Shangyuan era [760–762], whose second year was the xinchou year, 761), the Great Master suddenly addressed the assembly:

– My work is now complete. The time has come for me to depart.

He then entered his room, sat serenely, and passed away, at the age of seventy-four. A stupa was erected on East Mountain in Huangmei County. Emperor Daizong bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Daman, and the stupa was named Fayu.

From the Great Master's nirvana until the first year of the Jingde era under Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, the jiachen year, 1004, approximately 330 years elapsed.

END OF FASCICLE III

Notes:

⁽³⁶⁾ Rixia: Refers to countries far to the east of India, such as China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and so forth.

⁽³⁷⁾ The Ji edition, following the Guangdeng, gives the character ji as yi; the Shao edition, following the Baolin, gives the character wu; the old Hong edition gives the character yi; and the Zhengzong Ji gives the character yi. It is not known which is correct.

⁽³⁸⁾ The Five Indias: The whole of India. During the medieval period, India was divided into five regions: East, West, South, North, and Central.

⁽³⁹⁾ Yijian: The crown prince who succeeded King Yuejing to the throne, and who was Bodhidharma's nephew, addressing him as his paternal uncle.

⁽⁴⁰⁾ True self: Not mistakenly clinging to selfhood through views of self, attachment to self, conceit of self, or delusion concerning self, which lead to afflictions and the arising of wrong views.

⁽⁴¹⁾ Wondrous: Subtle, wondrous, and marvelous. Perfect: Complete, full, and all-pervading. Empty: Vacuous and without characteristics. Quiescent: Without any conditioned characteristic and without a single thing.

The absolute true essence is originally not a single thing, yet it is ever spiritually aware; it is inconceivable and is also called the supreme truth of the noble ones.

42 According to tradition, the nun Zongchi was a daughter of Emperor Wu of Liang.

43 Akshobhya Buddha, Sanskrit Akṣobhya, transliterated into Sino-Vietnamese, means the Immovable Buddha.

44 One flower: the single Chan lineage transmitted to China by Patriarch Bodhidharma; five petals: the five schools of Linji, Guiyang, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan.

45 The nineteenth year of the Taihe era, during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming of the Later Wei, corresponds to the year Yihai, 495 (!), not the year Bingchen, 536.

46 In the Gengzi year, 520, Bodhidharma arrived in China. In the Jiyou year, 529, Patriarch Bodhidharma announced his passing: 1004 − 529 equals 475 years.

– Lord Yang Wen was Yang Yi, whom the Song emperor entrusted with the responsibility of reading and revising this work.

47 Upon realization, karmic hindrances have always been empty;

Without realization, one must repay one’s former debts.

“Realization” means awakening to and entering the Buddha-nature within oneself. These two lines are from Yongjia Xuanjue’s Song of Realizing the Way.

⁽⁴⁸⁾ The original reads “lao xing.” We think it is more reasonable to translate this as “seeking the form,” rather than “avoiding the shadow,” as explained later in the notes to the Jingde Record.

⁽⁴⁹⁾ Foot: translated from the character chi, the Chinese foot, approximately one-third of a meter.

** Scholars and commoners: educated members of the populace.

50 In Chinese, the two characters pronounced xing here are homophones with different meanings. One means “surname”; the other means “nature,” as in Buddha-nature.

⁽⁵¹⁾ The original uses the character fei, meaning “is not,” provisionally rendered here as “not.” The character fei here does not express negation; rather, its meaning resembles that of ji (“is”), “nondual,” or “neither identical nor different.” Likewise, suchness is not identical with conditioned characteristics, yet it does not abide apart from and is not different from conditioned characteristics.

⁽⁵²⁾ Sentient: possessing affinities and inherently possessing the uncontaminated seeds of the Buddha Vehicle. Ground: the earth, a metaphor for mind, because the mind gives rise to the myriad dharmas just as the earth gives rise to all kinds of plants and trees.

Insentient is the opposite of sentient. Without nature: lacking the uncontaminated seeds of the Three Vehicles. Non-arising: not attaining the fruits of the Three Vehicles.