景德傳燈錄
Chinese title:景德傳燈錄
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THE THIRTY-THIRD PATRIARCH, GREAT MASTER HUỆ NĂNG
43 DHARMA HEIRS OF THE THIRTY-THIRD PATRIARCH,
GREAT MASTER HUỆ NĂNG
1. Tripitaka Master Quật Đa of Western India; 2. Chan Master Pháp Hải of Thiều Châu; 3.
Chan Master Chí Thành of Kiết Châu; 4. Chan Master Hiểu Liễu of Mount Biển Thiềm; 5. Chan Master Trí Hồng of Hà Bắc; 6.
Chan Master Pháp Đạt of Hồng Châu; 7. Chan Master Trí Thông of Thọ Châu; 8. Chan Master Chí Triệt of Giang Tây; 9.
Chan Master Trí Thường of Tín Châu; 10. Chan Master Chí Đạo of Quảng Châu; 11. Venerable Ấn Tông of Pháp Tánh Monastery, Quảng Châu; 12.
Chan Master Hành Tư of Mount Thanh Nguyên, Kiết Châu; 13. Chan Master Hoài Nhượng of Nam Nhạc; 14. Chan Master Huyền Giác of Vĩnh Gia, Ôn Châu; 15.
Chan Master Bổn Tịnh of Mount Tư Không; 16. Chan Master Huyền Sách of Vụ Châu; 17. Chan Master Linh Thao of Tào Khê; 18.
Chan Master Huệ Trung of Quang Trạch Monastery in the Western Capital; 19. Chan Master Thần Hội of Hà Trạch Monastery in the Western Capital;
(The nineteen persons above are recorded.)
20. Chan Master Kì Đà of Thiều Châu; 21. Chan Master Tịnh An of Phủ Châu; 22.
Chan Master Tầm of Mount Tung; 23. Chan Master Định Chơn of Mount La Phù; 24. Chan Master Kiên Cố of Nam Nhạc; 25.
Chan Master Đạo Tấn of Mount Chế Không; 26. Chan Master Thiện Khối; 27. Chan Master Duyên Tố of Thiều Sơn; 28.
Chan Master Tông Nhất; 29. Chan Master Thiện Hiện of Mount Tần Vọng, Cối Kê; 30. Chan Master Phạm Hạnh of Nam Nhạc; 31.
Chan Master Tự Tại of Tinh Châu; 32. Chan Master Hàm Không of the Western Capital; 33. Chan Master Thái Tường of Mount Giáp; 34.
Chan Master Pháp Tịnh of Quang Châu; 35. Chan Master Biện Tài of Thanh Lương; 36. Ascetic Ngô of Quảng Châu; 37.
Chan Master Đạo Anh; 38. Chan Master Trí Bổn; 39. Chan Master Pháp Chơn of Thanh Uyển, Quảng Châu; 40.
Chan Master Huyền Giai; 41. Chan Master Đàm Thôi; 42. Prefect Vi Cừ of Thiều Châu; 43.
Bodhisattva Tôn Nghĩa Hưng.
(The twenty-four persons above left no recorded circumstances of encounter or sayings and are therefore not included.)
33. PATRIARCH GREAT MASTER HUỆ NĂNG
His secular surname was Lư. His family originally came from Phạm Dương in the north. His father, Hành Thao, was an official during the Võ Đức era (618–626, reign of Emperor Cao Tổ of the Tang), but was demoted and exiled to Nam Hải. Upon reaching Tân Châu, he settled there as a commoner.
His father died when he was three years old, and his widowed mother remained chaste and raised him. As he grew older, the family became ever poorer, and he made a living from day to day by gathering and selling firewood. One day, while carrying firewood to the marketplace, he heard a traveler reciting the Diamond Sutra. Startled, he asked the traveler:
– What teaching is that? From which master did you receive it?
The traveler replied:
– That teaching is called the Diamond Sutra. I received it from Great Master Nhẫn at Hồng Mai.
The Master then spoke with his mother and expressed his intention to seek a teacher and request the Dharma. He went directly to Thiều Châu, where he met the virtuous scholar Lưu Chí Lược and became his friend. The nun Vô Tận Tạng, an aunt of Chí Lược, regularly recited the Nirvana Sutra. After hearing it only once, the Master explained its meaning to her. The nun held up the scripture and asked him about its written characters. The Master said:
– I do not know the characters, but you may ask me about the meaning.
The nun said:
– If you do not even know the characters, how can you understand the meaning?
The Master replied:
– The wondrous principle of all Buddhas has nothing to do with written words.
On hearing this, the nun was greatly astonished. She informed the elders of the village, saying that Năng was a man who possessed the Way and should be invited and given offerings. From then on, the local people vied with one another to come and pay homage to him. Nearby stood the old foundations of Bảo Lâm Monastery. The people discussed restoring and enlarging it, and invited the Master to reside there. The fourfold assembly gathered in great numbers, and before long the monastery became a precious sanctuary. One day the Master suddenly thought:
– I seek the Great Dharma; how could I stop halfway?
The following day he went to a stone chamber on Tây Sơn in Xương Lạc County, where he met Chan Master Trí Viễn. The Master requested instruction, and Viễn said:
– Observing you, I find your spiritual faculties exceptionally luminous; you are surely no ordinary person. I have heard that Bodhidharma came here from the Western Regions and transmitted the mind-seal at Hồng Mai. You should go there to investigate and resolve this matter.
Taking his leave, the Master went directly to Đông Thiền Monastery in Hồng Mai County. This was in the second year of the Hàm Hanh era of the Tang, 671. Great Master Hoằng Nhẫn met him once and silently
recognized him. Later he transmitted the robe and Dharma to the Master and instructed him to remain concealed in the regions of Hoài Tập and Tứ Hội.
On the eighth day of the first month in the first year of the Nghi Phụng era, the bính-tý year (676, reign of Emperor Cao Tông of the Tang), the Master arrived in Nam Hải and encountered Dharma Master Ấn Tông lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra at Pháp Tánh Monastery. The Master temporarily lodged beneath the monastery eaves. At dusk, a strong wind stirred the leaves and the monastery banner. He heard two monks debating: one said that the banner was moving, while the other said that the wind was moving. They argued back and forth without reaching a conclusion. The Master said:
– May this unworthy commoner take part in your lofty discussion? In truth, neither the wind nor the banner is moving; it is your own minds that move!
Ấn Tông happened to hear these words and was greatly astonished and filled with reverence. The next day, he invited the Master into his quarters and questioned him about the meaning of the wind and the banner. The Master expounded the principle fully. Without realizing it, Ấn Tông rose to his feet and asked:
– You, practitioner, are surely no ordinary person. Who is your teacher?
The Master no longer concealed his identity and recounted the circumstances through which he had attained the Dharma. From then on, Ấn Tông observed the courtesies of a disciple and asked to receive the essentials of Chan. He announced to the fourfold assembly:
– Ấn Tông is truly an ordinary man; today I have encountered a bodhisattva in the flesh.
He then pointed to the layman Lư seated below and said:
– This is that very person.
He accordingly invited the Master to display the robe of authentication transmitted by the Fifth Patriarch so that everyone might behold and venerate it.
On the fifteenth day of the first month, Ấn Tông assembled eminent and virtuous monks to shave the Master's head. On the eighth day of the second month, the Master received full ordination from Vinaya Master Trí Quang at Pháp Tánh Monastery. That ordination platform had been erected by Tripitaka Master Guṇabhadra during the Former Song dynasty (420–479). The Tripitaka Master had made this prophecy:
– In the future, a bodhisattva in the flesh will receive ordination upon this platform.
Later, toward the end of the Liang dynasty (502–556), Tripitaka Master Paramārtha personally planted two bodhi trees beside the ordination platform and told the assembly:
– One hundred and twenty years from now, a great being will expound the unsurpassed vehicle beneath these two trees and liberate immeasurable multitudes.
After receiving full ordination, the Master expounded the Đông Sơn Dharma teaching beneath those two trees, precisely fulfilling the prophecy.
The following year, 677, on the eighth day of the second month, the Master suddenly announced to the assembly:
– I do not wish to remain here. I must return to my former place of concealment.
At that time, Ấn Tông, together with more than a thousand monks and lay devotees, escorted the Master back to Bảo Lâm Monastery.
Vi Cừ, the prefect of Thiều Châu, invited the Master to Đại Phạm Monastery within the city, where he turned the wondrous Dharma wheel and conferred the precepts of the formless mind-ground. His disciples recorded the various teachings as the Platform Sutra, which became widely circulated throughout the world. The Master, however, returned to Tào Khê and resided at Bảo Lâm Monastery, where he showered down the rain of the Great Dharma. No fewer than a thousand students gathered around him.
In the first year of the Thần Long era, 705, Emperor Trung Tông issued an edict:
“We have invited the two masters, An and Tú, into the palace and made offerings to them. Whenever We find a moment of leisure amid the myriad affairs of state, We inquire into the One Vehicle.
Both masters humbly declined, saying: ‘In the South there is Chan Master Huệ Năng, who secretly received the robe and Dharma from Great Master Nhẫn. Your Majesty should invite him and inquire of him.’
We now dispatch the palace attendant Tiết Giản to bear this edict and respectfully invite you. We hope that the Master, out of compassionate consideration, will swiftly come to the capital.”
The Master submitted a memorial pleading illness and declined the invitation, expressing his wish to spend the remainder of his life in the mountains and forests.
Tiết Giản asked:
– The Chan worthies in the capital all say: “If one wishes to realize the Way, one must sit in meditation and cultivate samadhi. That anyone could attain liberation without relying upon meditative concentration is unheard of.” I do not yet know how the Master teaches the Dharma.
The Master said:
– The Way is realized through awakening to the mind; how could it depend upon sitting? The sutra says: “If one sees the Tathagata as either sitting or lying down, that person practices a deviant path. Why is this? The Tathagata neither comes from anywhere nor goes anywhere.” Thus, neither arising nor ceasing is the Tathagata’s pure meditation; the quiescent emptiness of all dharmas is the Tathagata’s pure sitting. Ultimately, there is no attainment whatsoever—how much less could it lie in sitting?
Jian said:
– When your disciple returns to the sovereign, he will surely question me. I beseech the Venerable Master, in his compassion, to instruct me in the essential teaching of mind.
The Master said:
– The Way has neither light nor darkness; light and darkness are concepts that alternate with each other. Even light, however bright, must eventually come to an end.
Jian said:
– Light symbolizes wisdom, and darkness symbolizes afflictions. If practitioners of the Way do not use wisdom to illuminate and destroy their afflictions, how can they escape beginningless birth and death?
The Master said:
– If one uses wisdom to illuminate and destroy afflictions, that is the limited capacity of followers of the Two Vehicles—the sheep cart, deer cart, and so forth. Those of great capacity and supreme wisdom are not like this.
Jian asked:
– What is the understanding of the Mahayana?
The Master said:
– Illumination and ignorance are not two in nature. The nature that is not two is the true nature. This true nature is not diminished in foolish ordinary beings, nor increased in sages and worthies; it is not disturbed amid afflictions, nor stilled in meditative concentration. It is neither annihilation nor permanence, neither coming nor going; it abides neither in the middle nor within or without. Neither arising nor ceasing, its nature and characteristics are thusness itself; it abides forever, unchanged through the ages. This is called the Way.
Jian said:
– How does the Master’s teaching of neither arising nor ceasing differ from that of the non-Buddhist schools?
The Master taught:
– When non-Buddhists speak of neither arising nor ceasing, they use cessation to stop arising and use arising to reveal cessation; thus cessation is still like non-cessation, and arising is described as non-arising.* When I speak of neither arising nor ceasing, it means that originally there was no arising and now there is likewise no cessation. Therefore, it is not the same as the teaching of the non-Buddhists.
If you wish to know the essential teaching of mind, simply refrain from thinking about any good or evil matter. You will naturally enter the pure essence of mind, limpid and ever quiescent, yet possessing wondrous functions as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.
Upon receiving this instruction, Jian suddenly attained great awakening. He bowed farewell and returned to the imperial court, where he submitted a memorial reporting the Master’s words. The emperor issued an edict thanking the Master and bestowed upon him a monk’s robe, five hundred bolts of silk, and a precious bowl. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, an edict was issued changing the name of the ancient Baolin Monastery to Zhongxing Monastery.
On the eighteenth day of the eleventh lunar month in the third year of Shenlong, 707, the emperor ordered the Prefect of Shaozhou, Wei Ju, to renovate, expand, and further adorn Zhongxing Monastery, and bestowed upon it a plaque bearing the name Fayuan Monastery. The monastery in the Master’s native Xinzhou was named Guoen Monastery.
One day, the Master instructed the assembly:
– Good spiritual friends, each of you should purify your mind and listen attentively as I expound the Dharma. Your own mind is the Buddha; do not harbor doubts. Within your own mind, not a single thing can be established; the myriad dharmas all arise from the original mind. Therefore, the sutra says: “When the mind arises, the various dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, the various dharmas cease.”
If you wish to perfect the wisdom of all modes, you must attain the samadhi of the one characteristic and the samadhi of the one practice. If, in every place, you do not abide in characteristics, and with regard to those characteristics give rise to neither liking nor aversion, neither grasping nor rejecting, and do not think of matters such as benefit or harm, success or failure, but remain at ease and serene, open, accommodating, tranquil, and detached, this is called the samadhi of the one characteristic. If, everywhere—whether walking, standing, lying down, or sitting—you practice the straightforward mind with pure single-mindedness, then every place is the immovable bodhimanda, and only then is the true Pure Land realized. This is called the samadhi of the one practice.
A person who fully possesses these two kinds of samadhi is like soil already containing seeds: one need only protect and nurture them, and their true fruit will be brought to fruition. The one characteristic and the one practice are likewise. The Dharma I now expound is like rain from heaven that moistens the entire earth. Your Buddha-nature is like those seeds; when moistened by the rain, they all sprout.
Those who follow my purport will certainly attain bodhi; those who practice according to my teaching will assuredly realize the wondrous fruit.
In the first year of Xiantian (late 712, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), the Master informed his disciples:
– I am deeply ashamed that I received the Dharma robe from Great Master Ren, yet now expound the Dharma to you without transmitting the robe. This is because your roots of faith have matured; you are assuredly free from doubt and capable of undertaking the great matter. Listen to my verse:
The mind-ground contains all seeds;
When universal rain falls, all of them sprout.
Once sudden awakening has brought the flower of perception to an end,
The fruit of bodhi naturally comes to fruition.
Translation:
The mind-ground holds all seeds;
When rain falls, they surely sprout.
Once sudden awakening ends the flower of perception(73),
The fruit of bodhi naturally comes to fruition.
After reciting this verse, the Master said further:
– This Dharma is nondual, and the mind is likewise. This Way is pure and also devoid of all characteristics. Take care not to contemplate this mind as pure or as empty and inert. The mind is originally pure; it cannot be grasped or rejected.
Each of you should exert yourselves and go forth in accordance with conditions.
*
– *
The Master expounded the Dharma and benefited beings for forty years. On the sixth day of the seventh lunar month of that year, 712, the Master instructed his disciples to go to Guoen Monastery in Xinzhou and arrange for the construction of the Bao’en Stupa, further ordering them to hasten and supervise the work.
There was also a monk from Shu named Fangbian who came to pay homage to the Master and said:
– I specialize in sculpting images.
The Master assumed a stern expression and said:
– Try sculpting one for me!
Fangbian did not comprehend the essential purport. He then sculpted a true likeness of the Master, about seven cun tall, with exceptionally refined details. The Master looked at Fangbian and said:
– You are skilled at sculpting physical features, but not at sculpting Buddha-nature.
The Master gave him a robe and other articles in recompense. The monk bowed in thanks and departed.
On the first day of the seventh lunar month in the second year of Xiantian, 713, the Master informed his disciples:
– I wish to return to Xinzhou. Quickly prepare a boat and oars for the journey.
At that time, the assembly, out of affection, implored the Master to remain for a while longer. The Master said:
– Even when the Buddhas appear in the world, they still manifest nirvana. Whatever comes must depart; this principle is ever so. This body of mine must have a place to return to.
The assembly said:
– After the Master departs from here, whether sooner or later, we beseech you to return.
The Master said:
– Fallen leaves return to the root; there is no appointed day for returning.
(Yè luò guī gēn, lái shí wú rì)
They asked again:
– To whom will the Master transmit the treasury of the true Dharma eye?
The Master replied:
– One who possesses the Way will attain it; one who is free of mind will penetrate it.
They asked again:
– Will any calamity occur in the future?
The Master replied:
– Five or six years after I enter cessation, someone will come to take my head. Listen to my prophecy:
Tóu shàng yǎng shēn,
Kǒu lǐ xū cān.
Yù Mǎn zhī nàn,
Yáng Liǔ wéi guān.
Translation:
Devote the heart to sustaining the body;(**)
The mouth must have food.
Encountering calamity from one named Man,
Yang and Liu shall serve as officials.
The Master further said:
– Seventy years after my passing, two bodhisattvas will come from the East, one a householder and the other a monastic. Together they will establish my lineage and spread its teaching with great prosperity, found monasteries, and produce numerous Dharma heirs.(74)
Having said this, the Master went to Guoen Monastery in Xinzhou. After bathing, he sat in the full lotus posture and passed away. At that time, a fragrance permeated the air, and a white rainbow linked heaven and earth. This occurred on the third day of the eighth lunar month of that year, 713.
At that time, both Shaozhou and Xinzhou prepared reliquary stupas. The monastics and laypeople of the two prefectures could not decide where the Master’s true body should be taken. The prefects of the two regions lit incense together and prayed:
– Wherever the incense smoke drifts is where the Master wishes to return.
The incense smoke then rose high from the censer and drifted directly toward Caoxi. The assembly selected the thirteenth day of the eleventh lunar month to escort the true body back to Caoxi and enshrine it in the stupa.(75) The Master was seventy-six years old. At that time, Wei Ju, Prefect of Shaozhou, composed the inscription for the stele.
The disciples recalled the prophecy that someone would take the Master’s head, so they wrapped the Master’s neck tightly with iron leaves covered in lacquered cloth. Within the stupa were the robe of faith transmitted by Bodhidharma (a shimmering, elastic fabric, woven from stiff cotton with embroidered flowers in the center of each
section; later generations lined it with green silk), the mānàṭa robe and precious bowl bestowed by Emperor Zhongzong, the true-body image fashioned by Fangbian, ritual implements, and other objects, all under the care of the attendant who served as custodian of the stupa.
In the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era, on the third day of the eighth month of the renxu year, 722, at midnight a sound like iron being dragged was suddenly heard inside the stupa. The monks awoke in alarm and saw a man dressed in mourning garments run out of the stupa; they then saw a wound on the Master’s neck. They reported the theft in full to the prefectural and county authorities.
County Magistrate Yang Kan and Prefect Liu Wushan received the complaint and urgently ordered the thief pursued. On the fifth day, the thief was apprehended in Shijiao Village and taken to Shaozhou for interrogation. He confessed: “My surname is Zhang and my given name is Jingman.
I am from Liang County in Ruzhou and reside at Kaiyuan Monastery in Hongzhou. I received twenty thousand coins from a Silla monk named Kim Daebi, who hired me to take the head of the Sixth Patriarch and carry it back to Haedong for veneration.”
When Prefect Liu heard the confession, he did not immediately impose punishment. Instead, he personally went to Caoxi to ask Lingtao, an eminent disciple of the Master, how the matter should be handled. Lingtao said, “If judged according to the laws of the state, he ought to be executed. Yet Buddhism is compassionate and regards enemies and loved ones equally. Moreover, that man sought it for the purpose of veneration, so his crime should be pardoned.” Prefect Liu was delighted and praised him, saying, “Now
I truly understand how vast the gate of the Buddha is,” and then released the thief. (Afterward, many renowned and worthy persons composed writings and organized offerings of rare and precious objects; the accounts are too lengthy to record here.)
In the first year of the Shangyuan era, 760, Emperor Suzong of the Tang sent an envoy to request that the Master’s robe and bowl be brought to the imperial palace for veneration. In the first year of the Yongtai era, 765, on the fifth day of the fifth month, Emperor Daizong dreamed that the Sixth Patriarch came to reclaim his robe and bowl. On the seventh day, the emperor issued an order to Prefect Yang Jian:
“We dreamed that Chan Master Huineng came and instructed us to return the kāṣāya of Dharma transmission to Caoxi. We now entrust General-in-Chief Liu Chongjing, Defender of the State, to reverently escort it there. We regard it as a national treasure. You officials should enshrine it properly in its original monastery in accordance with the prescribed rites. We especially command the monks charged with preserving the Master’s lineage to protect it with the utmost care and never allow it to be lost or damaged.”
Nevertheless, the robe and bowl were later stolen, but they were recovered before they had been carried far. They were lost in this manner as many as four times.
Emperor Xianzong of the Tang conferred upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Dajian, and named his stupa Yuanhe Lingzhao.
During the early years of the Kaibao era (968–975, under Emperor Taizu of the Song), the imperial army of the Northern Song pacified the Nanhai region, where remnants of the Liu clan’s forces of the Southern Han resisted in 971. The stupa and shrine dedicated to the Master repeatedly suffered devastation from warfare and fire, but the true body was protected by the monk guarding the stupa and sustained no damage whatsoever. Later, someone began repairs but did not complete them. When Emperor Taizong of the Song ascended the throne, he took a keen interest in the Chan school, and the stupa became even more magnificent.
From the Master’s passing into extinction in the second year of the Xiantian era of the Tang, the guichou year, 713, until the present—the first year of the Jingde era, the jiachen year, 1004—approximately 292 years have elapsed. Apart from Yinzong’s lineage, thirty-three persons attained the Dharma. Each taught and transformed beings in a different place and represented the orthodox succession. Beyond them, those who concealed their names and hid their traces were too numerous to record fully.
Of the various masters, ten are now briefly recorded in these biographies and are called collateral successors.
*
– *
1. TRIPIṬAKA JUEḌUO OF THE WESTERN REGIONS.
He was a native of India. Traveling east, he reached Shaoyang and met the Sixth Patriarch; upon hearing the Master’s words, he awakened in accord with them.
Later, while traveling through the Wutai region, he came to Li Village in Dingxiang County and encountered a monk who had built a hermitage and was sitting in meditation. The Tripiṭaka asked:
“What are you doing here, sitting alone?”
The monk replied:
“Contemplating purity.”
The Tripiṭaka asked:
“Who is it that contemplates, and what is this purity?”
The monk bowed and asked:
“What is the principle of this?”
The Tripiṭaka asked:
“Why do you not contemplate yourself and purify yourself?”
The monk was bewildered and did not know how to respond.
The Tripiṭaka asked:
“From whose Dharma gate do you come?”
He replied:
“Master Shenxiu.”
The Tripiṭaka said:
“In my Western Regions, even non-Buddhists of the dullest faculties do not cling to such an understanding. What benefit to the Way is there in sitting vacant and rigid like this?”
The monk then asked the Tripiṭaka:
“Who is your teacher?”
The Tripiṭaka replied:
“My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch. Why do you not hasten to Caoxi to resolve your doubts concerning the true essential meaning?”
The monk immediately left his hermitage and went to consult the Sixth Patriarch, recounting the previous incident in full. The Sixth Patriarch’s teaching accorded with that of the Tripiṭaka, and the monk accepted it in faith.
It is not known where the Tripiṭaka later passed away.
*
– *
2. CHAN MASTER FAHAI OF SHAOZHOU.
He was a native of Qujiang. When he first visited the Sixth Patriarch, he asked:
“Mind itself is Buddha. I beseech the Master to compassionately instruct me.”
The Patriarch said:
“The preceding thought not arising is mind; the subsequent thought not ceasing is Buddha. That which creates all characteristics is mind; that which is free from all characteristics is Buddha.
“If I were to explain this fully, I could not exhaust it even through an entire kalpa. Listen to my verse:
Mind itself is called wisdom;
Buddha itself is concentration.
Concentration and wisdom are maintained equally,
And the mind is pure.
Awakening to this Dharma gate
Depends upon your cultivated disposition.
Its function is fundamentally unborn;
Cultivating both is the right way.”
Fahai accepted this in faith and offered a verse of praise:
Mind itself is originally Buddha;
Failing to awaken, one demeans oneself.
I now know that concentration and wisdom are the causes;
Cultivating both, one parts from all things.
(The Platform Sutra records “the disciple Fahai”; this refers to this Chan master.)
*
– *
3. CHAN MASTER ZHICHENG OF JIZHOU.
He was a native of Taihe in Jizhou. When young, he attended upon Chan Master Shenxiu at Yuquan Monastery on Mount Dangyang in Jingnan. Later, as the teachings of the two schools flourished, Shenxiu’s disciples often disparaged the Southern School:
“Master Huineng does not know a single written character. What exceptional ability could he possess?”
Shenxiu said:
“He attained wisdom without a teacher and profoundly awakened to the Supreme Vehicle. I cannot equal him. Moreover, our teacher, the Fifth Patriarch, personally transmitted the robe and Dharma to him—how could this have been done carelessly? I regret that I cannot travel far to draw near to him and that I remain here, vainly receiving the favor of the state. You should not linger here. Go to Caoxi, inquire about the matters that still cause you doubt, and someday return to tell me what you learned.”
Hearing his teacher say this, the Master bowed farewell and journeyed to Shaoyang. He joined the assembly in making inquiries but did not reveal where he had come from. At that time, the Sixth Patriarch told the assembly:
“Today there is someone stealing the Dharma, hidden among those gathered at this Dharma assembly.”
The Master stepped forward, bowed, and related the entire matter. The Patriarch asked:
“How does your teacher instruct the assembly?”
He replied:
“He frequently instructs the assembly to fix the mind and contemplate purity, to sit continually without lying down.”
The Patriarch said:
“Fixing the mind and contemplating purity is an illness, not Chan. Continually sitting and constraining the body—what benefit does that bring to the principle of Chan?
“Listen to my verse:
While alive, one sits and does not lie down;
When dead, one lies down and does not sit.
Originally, it is merely a heap of stinking bones;
How can one establish merit from this?”
The Master asked:
“I do not yet know what Dharma the Great Master uses to teach people.”
The Patriarch replied:
“If I were to say that I had a Dharma to give people, I would be deceiving you. I merely provisionally employ skillful means to untie their bonds; this is provisionally called samādhi.
“Listen to my verse:”
All things, no-mind—the precepts of self-nature;
All things, unobstructed—the wisdom of self-nature.
Neither increasing nor diminishing, itself adamantine;
The body departs, the body returns—originally samadhi.
Translation:
No-mind toward all things—the precepts of self-nature;
Unobstructed toward all things—the wisdom of self-nature.
Neither increasing nor diminishing, itself adamantine;
The body comes, the body goes—originally samadhi.
Upon hearing the verse, the Master repented and apologized, asking to return and take refuge with the Patriarch. He then presented a verse:
The illusory body of the five skandhas—
How can illusion be ultimate?
Turning back toward true suchness,
The Dharma still remains impure.
Translation: The illusory body of the five skandhas—
How can illusion be ultimate?
Advancing toward true suchness,
The Dharma still remains impure.
The Patriarch acknowledged him, after which the Master returned to Jade Spring.
*
– *
4. CHAN MASTER XIAOLIAO OF MOUNT HAI-CHAN.
No biographical record of him survives. There is only the inscription composed for the Master’s stupa by Hu Lei Cheng, a disciple of the Northern School, which circulated widely throughout the world.
In summary: The Master resided on Mount Hai-Chan. His Dharma name was Xiaoliao, and he was a direct Dharma heir in the authentic lineage of the Sixth Patriarch.
The Master attained no-mind within mind and comprehended the markless within marks. The markless is the myriad phenomena displayed dazzlingly before the eyes; no-mind is lucid discernment. He severed both sound and echo. An echo that cannot be transmitted—transmission has already become activity; a sound that cannot be joined—joining has already become negation. The Master himself attained emptiness: emptiness means that emptiness is not empty within emptiness. What I now have is existence: existence means that existence does not exist within existence. Nonexistence is coming and going that exists yet does not increase; non-emptiness is the emptiness of nirvana yet does not diminish.
Alas!
While the Master dwelt in the world, Caoxi shone brightly;
When the Master entered quiescence, the Dharma boat listed.
Whether the Master spoke or remained silent, his soul filled the cosmos;
The Master taught the deluded the Vehicle of Definitive Meaning.
Mount Hai-Chan displays its splendid hues;
The empty valley forever preserves the name Xiaoliao.
*
– *
5. CHAN MASTER ZHIHONG OF HEBEI.
At first, he studied at the Dharma assembly of the Fifth Patriarch. Although he frequently asked questions to resolve his doubts, he still followed the gradual path. Later, he went to Hebei, built a hermitage, and devoted himself to seated meditation, never growing indolent for more than twenty years.
When Chan Master Xuance, a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch, arrived there during his travels, he urged the Master to go and seek the essential Dharma. The Master therefore abandoned his hermitage and went to consult the Sixth Patriarch.
The Patriarch, moved that he had come from afar, compassionately instructed and awakened him. Through the Patriarch’s teaching, the Master suddenly attained realization, and what his mind had regarded as attainment during the preceding twenty years no longer influenced him. That night in Hebei, donors of every social rank suddenly heard a voice in the sky proclaim: “Chan Master Hong attained the Way today.”
The Master later returned to Hebei and taught the fourfold assembly.
*
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6. CHAN MASTER FADA OF HONGZHOU.
He was a native of Fengcheng in Hongzhou. At the age of seven, he left the household life and recited the Lotus Sutra. After receiving full ordination, he went to pay homage to the Patriarch, but his head did not touch the ground. The Patriarch rebuked him:
“To bow without letting your head touch the ground is worse than not bowing at all. Something must have been stored up in your mind for a long time. What is it?”
The Master replied:
“I have recited the Lotus Sutra three thousand times.”
The Patriarch said:
“Even if you recited it ten thousand times, if you understood its meaning without considering yourself superior, you would walk together with me. Yet you now pride yourself on this achievement and are entirely unaware of your fault. Listen to my verse:
Bowing is originally meant to break the banner of pride;
Why does your head not reach the ground?
When there is a self, offenses immediately arise;
When achievement is forgotten, blessings are beyond compare.
Translation: Bowing is originally meant to break the banner of pride;
Why does your head not touch the ground?
When there is a self, offenses immediately arise;
When achievement is forgotten, blessings are boundless.”
The Patriarch then asked:
“What is your name?”
He replied:
“My name is Fada—Dharma Attainment.”
The Patriarch said:
“Your name is Dharma Attainment, but when have you ever attained the Dharma?”
The Patriarch then spoke another verse:
Your present name is Fada;
You diligently recite without ever resting.
Empty recitation merely follows sounds;
Illuminating the mind is called bodhisattvahood.
Because you now possess the proper conditions,
I shall explain this to you.
Simply believe that the Buddha is without words,
And the lotus will blossom from your mouth.
Translation: Your present name is Fada;
You diligently recite without omission.
Merely reciting emptily, following sounds;
Illuminating the mind is called bodhisattvahood.
Because you now possess the proper conditions,
I shall explain this to you.
Simply believe that the Buddha is without words,
And the lotus will spring from your mouth.
Upon hearing the verse, the Master repented of his fault and said:
“From now on, I shall be humble and respectful toward everyone. I only hope that the Venerable, in his great compassion, will briefly explain the meaning of the sutra.”
The Patriarch asked:
“When you recite this sutra, what do you take as its central principle?”
The Master replied:
“This student is dull-witted. Until now, I have merely followed the text and recited it. How could I know its central purport?”
The Patriarch said:
“Try reciting it once for me, and I shall explain it to you.”
The Master immediately began reciting the sutra. When he reached the Skillful Means chapter, the Patriarch said:
“Stop! This sutra takes as its central principle the causes and conditions for appearing in the world. Even though it sets forth many kinds of parables, none goes beyond this meaning. What are those causes and conditions? They are solely the one great matter, and that one great matter is precisely the Buddha’s knowledge and vision.
“You must take care not to misunderstand the sutra’s meaning. When you see the sutra speak of revealing, showing, awakening to, and entering the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, you may understand this to mean that such knowledge and vision belong to the Buddha and that we have no share in them. If you understand it this way, you slander the sutra and disparage the Buddha. Since he is already a Buddha and fully possesses knowledge and vision, why would they still need to be revealed? You must now believe that the Buddha’s knowledge and vision are simply your own mind and possess no other essence.
“Because all sentient beings conceal their own radiance, craving and clinging to external sense objects while inwardly becoming disordered, they resign themselves to being driven about. Thus they trouble the Buddha, causing him to rise from samadhi and wear out his mouth earnestly exhorting them: ‘Stop and rest! Do not seek outside yourself, and then you will be no different from the Buddha.’ Therefore, this is called revealing the Buddha’s knowledge and vision.
“You stubbornly cling to recitation and call it your daily practice. How is that different from a yak cherishing its tail?(76)”
The Master asked:
“If that is so, need one only understand the meaning and no longer trouble to recite the sutra?”
The Patriarch said:
“What fault is there in the sutra? How could I forbid you to recite it? Delusion and awakening depend upon the person; benefit and harm are up to you. Listen to my verse:
When the mind is deluded, the Lotus Sutra turns it;
When the mind awakens, it turns the Lotus Sutra.
Reciting for a long time without understanding oneself,
One becomes an enemy of its meaning.
Without thought, thought is right;
With thought, thought becomes wrong.
When neither existence nor nonexistence is reckoned,
One forever rides the white ox cart.
Translation: When the mind is deluded, the Lotus Sutra turns it;
When the mind awakens, it turns the Lotus Sutra.
Reciting for a long time without understanding oneself,
One becomes an enemy of its meaning.
To think without thought is right;
To think with thought becomes wrong.(77)
When neither existence nor nonexistence is reckoned,
One always rides the white ox cart.”
After hearing the verse, the Master asked further:
“The sutra says: ‘Even if all the great shravakas and bodhisattvas joined together and exerted their utmost powers of thought and calculation, they still could not fathom the Buddha’s wisdom.’ Now, if ordinary beings need only awaken to their own minds for this to be called the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, then unless they are of superior faculties, they will inevitably harbor doubts and commit slander. Moreover, the sutra speaks of three carts—the goat cart, deer cart, and ox cart. How do these differ from the white ox cart? I beg the Venerable compassionately to explain this again.”
The Patriarch said:
“The meaning of the sutra is perfectly clear; it is your own delusion that contradicts it. The followers of the Three Vehicles cannot fathom the Buddha’s wisdom because their fault lies in trying to fathom it. Even if they joined together and exhausted their powers of thought, they would only stray farther away. The Buddha originally preached for ordinary beings, not for Buddhas. Because some did not believe and accept this principle, they withdrew from the assembly. They were entirely unaware that they were already seated in the white ox cart, yet still sought the three carts outside the gate. Moreover, the sutra text clearly tells you that there are neither two vehicles nor three. Why do you not examine this carefully?
“The three carts are provisional establishments for the matter of the past; the One Vehicle is real for the matter of the present. It is only meant to teach you to abandon the provisional and return to the real. After returning to the real, even the real has no name. You should know that all the precious wealth you possess belongs entirely to you and is yours to use. Do not again conceive the thought of a father, nor conceive the thought of a son, nor is there any need to think.”
Thus he was known as one who upheld the Lotus Sutra from one lifetime to the next, never letting the scripture leave his hands and reciting it at all hours of the day and night.
Having received this instruction and awakening, the Master’s heart overflowed with joy, and he composed a verse of praise:
Kinh tụng tam thiên bộ, Translation: Three thousand times I recited the sutra,
Tào Khê nhất cú vong. At Caoxi, one phrase made them all forgotten.
Vị minh xuất thế chỉ, Before I understood the path beyond the world,
Ninh hiết lũy sanh cuồng. How could the madness of many lives have ceased?
Dương lộc ngưu quyền thiết, The goat, deer, and ox carts were provisionally established;
Sơ trung hậu thiện dương. Beginning, middle, and end were skillfully expounded.
Thùy tri hỏa trạch nội, Who knew that within the burning house,
Nguyên thị pháp trung vương? There originally dwelt the King of Dharma?
The Patriarch said:
– From now on, you are truly worthy of being called a sutra-reciting monk.
After the Master had comprehended the mysterious purport, he still did not abandon the recitation of the sutra.
*
– *
7. CHAN MASTER ZHITONG OF SHOUZHOU
He was a native of Anfeng in Shouzhou. At first, although he read the Lankavatara Sutra more than a thousand times, he did not understand the three bodies and the four wisdoms. He went to pay homage to the Great Master and asked him to explain their meaning.
The Patriarch said:
– The three bodies are these: the pure Dharma body is your nature; the perfect reward body is your wisdom; and the hundreds of thousands of millions of transformation bodies are your conduct.
If, apart from the original nature, one speaks separately of the three bodies, this is called having bodies but no wisdom. If one realizes that the three bodies have no intrinsic nature of their own(78), this is called the bodhi of the four wisdoms. Listen to my verse:
Tự tánh cụ tam thân,
Phát minh thành tứ trí,
Bất ly kiến văn duyên,
Siêu nhiên đăng Phật địa.
Ngô kim vị nhữ thuyết,
Đế tín vĩnh vô mê,
Mạc học trì cầu giả,
Chung nhật thuyết bồ đề.
Translation: The self-nature contains the three bodies;
When illuminated, it becomes the four wisdoms.
Without departing from the conditions of seeing and hearing,
One transcends them and ascends to the Buddha ground.
I now explain this for you;
Believe it firmly and never again be deluded.
Do not imitate those who cling and seek,
Speaking of bodhi all day long.
The Master asked:
– May I hear the meaning of the four wisdoms?
The Patriarch said:
– Having understood the three bodies, you thereby understand the four wisdoms. Why ask again? If, apart from the three bodies, you discuss the four wisdoms separately, this is called having wisdom but no bodies; and in that case, even wisdom becomes no-wisdom.
The Patriarch then spoke another verse:
The wisdom of the great perfect mirror: the nature is pure;
The wisdom of the nature of equality: the mind is free from illness;
The wisdom of wondrous observation: seeing is not a meritorious act;
The wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done: it is the same as the perfect mirror.
The fifth and eighth are transformed at the fruit; the sixth and seventh, at the cause.
These are merely names and words, without any real nature.
If, at the very point of transformation, no attachment remains,
Then amid ceaseless clamor abides naga samadhi.
(Consciousness is transformed into wisdom. The teachings state: the first five consciousnesses are transformed into the wisdom of accomplishing what is to be done; the sixth consciousness is transformed into the wisdom of wondrous observation; the seventh consciousness is transformed into the wisdom of the nature of equality; and the eighth consciousness is transformed into the wisdom of the great perfect mirror. Although the sixth and seventh consciousnesses are transformed at the causal stage, while the first five and the eighth consciousness are transformed at the stage of fruition, only their names are transformed, not their substance.)(79)
The Master bowed in gratitude and offered this verse of praise:
Tam thân nguyên ngã thể,
Tứ trí bổn tâm minh.
Thân trí dung vô ngại,
Ứng vật nhậm tùy hình.
Khởi tu giai vọng động,
Thủ trụ phỉ chơn tinh.
Diệu ngôn nhân sư hiểu,
Chung vong ô nhiễm danh.
Translation: The three bodies are originally my own body;
The four wisdoms are originally the radiance of mind.
Body and wisdom interpenetrate without obstruction,
Responding to things and freely assuming forms.
To conceive of cultivation is entirely deluded activity;
To grasp and abide is contrary to the true essence.
Through the Master, I understood these wondrous words,
And finally forgot even the name “defilement.”
*
– *
8. CHAN MASTER ZHICHE OF JIANGXI
He was from Jiangxi. His family name was Zhang, and his personal name was Xingchang. In his youth, Xingchang was a wandering swordsman.
After the Chan school divided into the Southern and Northern schools, although the leaders of the two schools had no notions of self and other, their followers competed with one another and gave rise to likes and dislikes. At that time, disciples of the Northern School independently established Master Shenxiu as the Sixth Patriarch and resented the transmission of the robe to Great Master Huineng, a fact known throughout the realm.
The Patriarch, however, was a bodhisattva and foresaw what would happen, so he placed ten taels of gold in his abbot’s quarters beforehand. Xingchang then accepted a commission from disciples of the Northern School. At midnight, he concealed a blade and entered the Patriarch’s room, intending to strike.
The Patriarch extended his neck to receive the blow. Xingchang swung his blade three times, but caused him no injury.
The Patriarch said:
– An upright sword does not perform a crooked deed; a crooked sword does not perform an upright deed. I owe you only gold, not my life.
Terrified, Xingchang fell to the ground. After a long while, he regained consciousness. Grief-stricken and remorseful, he asked permission to renounce the household life. The Patriarch gave him the gold and said:
– Go away for now. If the assembly learns of this, I fear they may harm you. On another day, change your appearance and return; I shall then accept you.
Obeying these words, Xingchang fled during the night. Later he renounced the household life, joined the Sangha, received the full precepts, and practiced diligently. One day, remembering the Patriarch’s instruction, he traveled from afar to pay homage and present himself. The Patriarch said:
– I have been expecting you for a long time. Why have you come so late?
He replied:
– In the past, through the Venerable Master’s kindness, my offense was forgiven. Now, although I have renounced the household life and practice austerities, it remains difficult for me to repay that profound kindness. Perhaps I can do so only by receiving the Dharma and liberating sentient beings!
This disciple regularly reads the Nirvana Sutra but has not understood the meanings of permanence and impermanence. I beg the Venerable Master, in his compassion, to explain their meaning briefly and clearly.
The Patriarch said:
– Impermanence is precisely Buddha-nature; permanence is precisely the discriminating mind that distinguishes all wholesome and unwholesome dharmas.
He replied:
– What the Venerable Master has said greatly contradicts the words of the sutra.
The Patriarch said:
– I transmit the Buddha’s mind-seal. How could I dare contradict the Buddha’s sutra?
He replied:
– The sutra says that Buddha-nature is permanent, yet the Venerable Master says it is impermanent. All wholesome and unwholesome dharmas, even the mind of bodhi, are impermanent, yet the Venerable Master says they are permanent. These statements contradict one another and cause this student to become even more doubtful and confused.
The Patriarch said:
– In the past, I once heard the nun Wujinzang recite the Nirvana Sutra, and I then expounded it for her. Not a single word or meaning failed to accord with the sutra. Even now, what I say to you is no different.
He replied:
– This student’s understanding is obscured and shallow. I implore the Venerable Master to skillfully instruct me.
The Patriarch said:
– Do you understand? If Buddha-nature were permanent, what need would there be to speak of wholesome and unwholesome dharmas? Even to the end of the kalpa, not a single person would arouse the mind of bodhi. Therefore, when I say that Buddha-nature is impermanent, this is precisely the Buddha’s teaching of the true permanence of the Way.
Furthermore, if all dharmas were impermanent, then each and every thing would possess an intrinsic nature—a self—and would necessarily undergo birth and death; moreover, the truly permanent nature would necessarily have places it did not pervade. Therefore, when I say that all dharmas are permanent, this is precisely the Buddha’s teaching of true impermanence.
At first, the Buddha taught because ordinary beings and non-Buddhists clung to a false permanence, while followers of the two vehicles regarded the permanent as impermanent; together these constituted the eight inverted views.(80) Therefore, in the definitive Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha sought to destroy their one-sided views and clearly revealed true permanence, true self, and true purity. You now cling to words contrary to their meaning, regarding impermanence as annihilation and understanding permanence as something rigid, lifeless, and inert. You thereby misunderstand the Buddha’s final, perfect, and wondrous subtle teaching. Even if you read the sutra a thousand times, what benefit could there be?
Xingchang suddenly became like a man awakening from drunkenness, and then spoke this verse:
Nhân thủ vô thường tâm,
Phật diễn hữu thường tánh.
Bất tri phương tiện giả,
Do xuân trì chấp lịch.
Ngã kim bất thi công,
Phật tánh nhi hiện tiền.
Phi sư tương thọ dữ,
Ngã diệc vô sở đắc.
Translation: Because I clung to a mind of impermanence,
The Buddha expounded the permanent nature.
Those who do not understand skillful means
Are like someone searching for a brick in a spring pond.
I now apply no effort,
Yet Buddha-nature manifests before me.
It was not bestowed upon me by the Master,
Nor is there anything I have attained.
The Patriarch said:
– You have now awakened thoroughly; therefore, you shall be named Zhiche, “Thorough Wisdom.”
The Master bowed in gratitude and withdrew.
*
– *
9. CHAN MASTER ZHICHANG OF XINZHOU.
He was a native of Guixi in this prefecture. He left home at a young age, intent on seeking to see his true nature. One day he went to see the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch asked:
“Where have you come from, and what do you seek?”
The Master replied:
“Recently, this student went to Mount Baifeng in Jianchang County, Hongzhou, and paid respects to the Venerable Datong, asking him to teach me the meaning of seeing one’s nature and becoming a Buddha. Doubts remained in my mind, and I could not reach a decision. When I came to Jizhou, someone gave me guidance and urged me to come and pay my respects to you, Venerable Master. I humbly beseech you, in your compassion, to receive me.”
The Patriarch asked:
“Did that Venerable Master say anything to you? Try to recount it, and I shall verify it for you.”
The Master said:
“After I first arrived there, three months passed without that Venerable Master giving me any instruction. Because my resolve to seek the Dharma was so earnest, at midnight I went alone into the abbot’s quarters, bowed, and implored him. Datong then asked, ‘Do you see empty space?’ I replied, ‘I see it.’ He asked, ‘Do you see empty space as having any form or appearance?’ I replied, ‘Empty space is formless; what appearance could it have?’ He said, ‘Your original nature is like empty space.
Turn the light around and contemplate your own nature: there is utterly not a single thing to be seen—this is called right seeing; there is not a single thing to be known—this is called true knowing. There is neither blue nor yellow, neither long nor short; one sees only the originally pure source, the perfectly luminous essence of awareness. This is called seeing one’s nature and becoming a Buddha; it is also called the Land of Ultimate Bliss and also called the Tathagata’s knowledge and vision.’
“Although this student heard those words, my doubts have not yet been entirely dispelled. I beg the Venerable Master to instruct me so that no obstruction remains.”
The Patriarch said:
“The teaching given by that master still involves seeing and knowing; therefore, you have not yet understood. I shall now teach you a verse:
Bất kiến nhất pháp tồn vô kiến,
Đại tợ phù vân già nhật diện.
Bất tri nhất pháp thủ không tri,
Hồn như thái hư sanh thiểm điện.
Thử chi tri kiến miết nhiên hưng,
Thác nhận hà tằng giải phương tiện?
Nhữ đương nhất niệm tự tri phi,
Tự kỷ linh quang thường hiển hiện.
Translation:
Seeing not a single dharma, yet retaining a view of nothingness,
Is just like drifting clouds obscuring the face of the sun.
Knowing not a single dharma, yet clinging to knowing emptiness,
Is again like a flash of lightning arising in the vast sky.
When such seeing and knowing suddenly arise,
How could mistaking them ever reveal skillful means?
In a single thought, you should yourself recognize the error;
Then your own numinous light will ever manifest.
After hearing the verse, the Master’s mind became thoroughly clear, and he then recited a verse:
Vô đoan khởi tri giải
Trước tướng cầu bồ đề.
Tình tồn nhất niệm ngộ,
Ninh việt tích thời mê?
Tự tánh giác nguyên thể,
Tùy chiếu uổng thiên lưu.
Bất nhập Tổ sư thất,
Mang nhiên thú lưỡng đầu.
Translation: Without cause, knowledge and interpretation arise;
Clinging to appearances, one seeks bodhi.
If the notion of awakening remains in a single thought,
How can one transcend the delusion of former times?
The self-nature is the source and essence of awareness;
Following reflections, it is vainly displaced and altered.
Had I not entered the Patriarch’s chamber,
I would have wandered blindly toward the two extremes.
*
– *
10. CHAN MASTER ZHIDAO OF GUANGZHOU
He was a native of Nanhai. When he first came to question the Sixth Patriarch, he said:
“Since this student left home, I have studied the Nirvana Sutra for more than ten years, yet I still do not understand its essential meaning. I pray that the Venerable Master will condescend to instruct me.”
The Patriarch asked:
“What is it that you do not understand?”
He replied:
Chư hành vô thường,
Thị sanh diệt pháp.
Sanh diệt diệt dĩ,
Tịch diệt vi lạc.
Translation: All conditioned phenomena are impermanent;
They are dharmas of arising and cessation.
When arising and cessation have ceased,
Quiescent cessation is bliss.(81)
“I still have doubts about this passage.”
The Patriarch asked:
“Why do you give rise to doubt?”
He replied:
“All sentient beings have two bodies: the physical body and the Dharma body. The physical body is impermanent, subject to arising and cessation; the Dharma body is permanent, without knowing or awareness. The sutra says, ‘When arising and cessation have ceased, quiescent cessation is bliss.’ I do not yet know which body undergoes quiescent cessation and which body experiences bliss.
“If it is the physical body that undergoes quiescent cessation, then when the physical body perishes, the four great elements disperse, and all of this is suffering. How could suffering be called bliss? If it is the Dharma body that undergoes quiescent cessation, it would then be no different from grass, trees, tiles, and stones; who, then, would experience bliss?
Moreover, Dharma-nature is the essence of arising and cessation, while the five skandhas are the functions of arising and cessation. The five functions continually arise and cease within the one essence. When they arise, function emerges from the essence; when they cease, function is gathered back and returns to the essence.
If the five functions are allowed to arise again, sentient beings would neither be cut off nor cease. If the five functions are not allowed to arise again, they would forever return to quiescent cessation, and sentient beings would then be the same as insentient things.
“In that case, all dharmas would be subdued and prohibited by nirvana. If even arising were no longer possible, what bliss could there be?”
The Patriarch said:
“You are a disciple of Shakyamuni; why do you still follow the non-Buddhists’ erroneous views of annihilationism and eternalism when discussing the Dharma of the Supreme Vehicle? According to your understanding, there is a Dharma body apart from the physical body, and you seek quiescent cessation apart from arising and cessation. Moreover, you infer that nirvana is permanent and blissful and say that there is a body that experiences bliss. This is clinging to and cherishing birth and death and craving worldly pleasure.
“You must now understand that, for the sake of all those deluded people who take the conjunction of the five skandhas to be the form of their own body—the self—and who discriminate all dharmas as external sensory objects, delighting in life and abhorring death, changing from thought to thought, and failing to understand that self and dharmas are dreamlike, illusory, empty, and false, thereby vainly undergoing samsara, even regarding the everlasting bliss of nirvana as a form of suffering while seeking nirvana all day long—the Buddha, out of compassion, revealed the true bliss of nirvana: ‘Within the instant there is no characteristic of arising; within the instant there is no characteristic of cessation; nor is there any arising or cessation to be extinguished.
This is quiescent cessation manifesting immediately. At the very moment quiescent cessation manifests, there is also no conception of its manifestation; only this is called everlasting bliss.’ In that bliss, there is neither one who experiences it nor one who does not experience it. How could there be such a designation as ‘one essence and five functions’?
How much less could one say that nirvana subdues and prohibits all dharmas, causing them never to arise again? This is slandering the Buddha and reviling the Dharma. Listen to my verse:
Vô thượng đại niết bàn,
Viên minh thường tịch chiếu,
Phàm ngu vị chi tử,
Ngoại đạo chấp vi đoạn,
Chư cầu nhị thừa nhân,
Mục dĩ vô vi tác.
Tận thuộc tình sở kế,
Lục thập nhị kiến bổn,
Vọng lập hư giả danh,
Hà vi chơn thực nghĩa?
Duy hữu quá lượng nhân,
Thông đạt vô thủ xả,
Dĩ tri ngũ uẩn pháp,
Cập dĩ uẩn trung ngã,
Ngoại hiện chúng sắc tượng,
Nhất nhất âm thanh tướng,
Bình đẳng như mộng huyễn,
Bất khởi phàm thánh kiến,
Bất tác niết bàn giải,
Nhị biên tam tế đoạn,
Thường ứng chư căn dụng,
Nhi bất khởi dụng tưởng,
Phân biệt nhất thiết pháp,
Bất khởi phân biệt tưởng.
Kiếp hỏa thiêu hải để,
Phong cổ sơn tướng kích,
Chơn thường tịch diệt lạc,
Niết bàn tướng như thị.
Ngô kim cưỡng ngôn thuyết,
Linh nhữ xả tà kiến,
Nhữ vật tùy ngôn giải,
Hứa nhữ tri thiểu phần.
Translation: Supreme great nirvana,
Perfectly luminous, ever quiescent, yet illuminating;(82)
Ordinary fools call it death,
Non-Buddhists cling to it as annihilation,
While those who seek the Two Vehicles
Call it the practice of the unconditioned.
All of these belong to emotional conjecture,
The source of the sixty-two views;(83)
Delusively establishing empty and false names,
How could they be the true meaning?
Only those who have gone beyond all measure(84)
Penetrate it without grasping or rejecting,
For they know the dharmas of the five skandhas,
And the self within the skandhas,
The many forms and appearances manifested outwardly,
And each and every characteristic of sound,
Are all equally like dreams and illusions.
They do not give rise to views of ordinary beings and sages,
Nor form an understanding of nirvana;
The two extremes and three times are severed.(85)
They constantly respond through the functions of the faculties,
Yet give rise to no conception of functioning;
They discriminate all dharmas,
Yet give rise to no conception of discrimination.
Though the fire at the end of the kalpa burns to the bottom of the sea,
And winds stir the mountains to crash against one another,
The bliss of true permanence and quiescent cessation—
Such is the characteristic of nirvana.
I now compel myself to speak in words,
So that you may abandon erroneous views,
Do not seek understanding through words;
I grant that you know a little part.
Upon hearing the verse, the Master was elated and joyful. He bowed and withdrew.
*
– *
11. PRECEPT MASTER YINZONG OF FAXING MONASTERY IN GUANGZHOU.
He was a native of Wu Commandery, and his family name was Yin. From the time he left the household life, the Master thoroughly studied the entire Nirvana Sutra. In the first year of the Xianheng era of the Tang dynasty (670, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong), the Master went to the imperial capital. By imperial decree, he was ordered to reside at Great Jing'ai Monastery, but he firmly declined and went to Qichun to pay his respects to Great Master Hongren.
Later, the Master lectured on the Nirvana Sutra at Faxing Monastery in Guangzhou. Upon encountering Great Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, he awakened to the profound principle and regarded Huineng as his Dharma-transmission master. The Master collected the sayings of accomplished adepts from various regions, spanning the Liang through the Tang dynasties, and compiled the Collection of the Essentials of Mind, which circulated widely in the world.
In the second year of the Xiantian era (713, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), on the twenty-first day of the second month, the Master passed away at Miaoxi Monastery on Mount Kuaiji, at the age of eighty-seven.
Wang Shiqian erected a memorial stupa for him at Kuaiji and composed its inscription.
*
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12. CHAN MASTER XINGSI OF MOUNT QINGYUAN IN JIZHOU.
He was a native of Ancheng in his home prefecture of Jizhou, and his family name was Liu. He left the household life while still a child. Whenever those living with him discussed the principles of the Way, the Master alone remained silent.
Later, hearing of the Dharma assembly at Caoxi, he went there to pay his respects and seek instruction.
The Master asked:
– What must one apply oneself to so as not to fall into ranks and grades?
The Patriarch asked:
– What have you ever done?
The Master replied:
– I do not even practice the noble truths.
The Patriarch asked:
– Then into what rank or grade do you fall?
He replied:
– Since I do not even practice the noble truths, what ranks or grades could there be?
The Patriarch greatly approved of the Master. Although the assembly of students at Caoxi was numerous, the Master stood foremost among them, just as at Shaolin the Second Patriarch, by remaining silent, obtained the marrow.
One day, the Patriarch told the Master:
– From ancient times, the robe and Dharma have both been transmitted in succession from master to disciple: the robe serves as a token of trust, and the Dharma as the seal of mind. Now that I have found a worthy successor, why worry that people will not believe? Since receiving the robe, I have encountered many calamities; how much more so in later generations, when contention will surely increase. The robe shall therefore remain at this mountain gate. You should go forth separately and teach in another place, so that the transmission is not cut off.
After attaining the Dharma, the Master became abbot of Jingju Monastery on Mount Qingyuan in Jizhou.
When the Sixth Patriarch was about to manifest his entry into extinction, a novice named Xitian—later known as Master Shitou of Nanyue—asked the Patriarch:
– After the Master has reached one hundred years, I do not yet know upon whom I should rely.
The Patriarch instructed him:
– Go seek Si.
After the Patriarch passed away, Xitian often went to a secluded place to sit in meditation, his mind empty and still, as though he had forgotten life itself. The head seat asked:
– The Master has passed away. Why do you sit here idly?
Xitian replied:
– I am following his final instruction, so I am seeking Si.
The head seat said:
– You have an elder Dharma brother, Master Xingsi, who now resides in Jizhou. Your karmic affinity lies there. The Master's words were perfectly direct; it is you who have been confused.
On hearing this, Xitian bowed farewell before the Patriarch's memorial shrine and went directly to Jingju Monastery.
The Master asked:
– Where have you come from?
Xitian replied:
– Caoxi.
The Master asked:
– What have you brought here?
He replied:
– Even before I went to Caoxi, it had never been lost.
The Master said:
– If so, then put it to use. Why did you go to Caoxi?
He replied:
– Had I not gone to Caoxi, how could I have known it was never lost?
Xitian then asked:
– Did the Great Master of Caoxi know you, Master?
The Master asked:
– Do you now know me?
He replied:
– I know you, but how can you be known?
The Master said:
– Though horned creatures are many, a single qilin is enough!
Xitian further asked:
– How long has it been since you left Caoxi, Master?
The Master replied:
– I do not know either. How long has it been since you left Caoxi?
He replied:
– Xitian did not come from Caoxi.
The Master said:
– I also know where you are going.
He replied:
– Master, you are originally a great man; do not be hasty.
*
– *
On another day, the Master again asked Xitian:
– Where have you come from?
He replied:
– Caoxi.
The Master then raised his fly whisk and asked:
– Does Caoxi have this?
He replied:
– Not only does Caoxi not have it; even the Western Heaven does not have it.
The Master asked:
– Have you never been to the Western Heaven?
He replied:
– If I had gone there, it would have it.
The Master said:
– Not yet! Say it again.
He replied:
– Master, you too should contribute half the saying. Do not depend entirely upon this student.
The Master said:
– I do not refuse to speak to you; I only fear that later there will be no one able to bear the responsibility.
*
– *
The Master sent Xitian to deliver a letter to Master Huairang at Nanyue, instructing him:
– After delivering the letter, return quickly. I have a blunt axe reserved for you when you become abbot of a mountain.
When Xitian arrived there, before presenting the letter, he immediately asked:
– What is it like when one does not yearn for the sages and does not esteem one's own spiritual nature?
Huairang said:
– Your question is far too lofty! Why not ask at a lower level?
Xitian replied:
– I would rather undergo perpetual kalpas of sinking in samsara than yearn for liberation through the sages.
Huairang then ceased speaking.
When Xitian returned to Jingju Monastery, the Master asked:
– You were not gone long. Did you deliver the letter?
Xitian replied:
– The message was not communicated, and the letter was not delivered.
The Master asked:
– Why?
Xitian recounted the preceding exchange and then said:
– When I departed, you promised me a blunt axe. I now ask to receive it.
The Master lowered one leg. Xitian bowed in homage. Before long, the Master bade farewell and departed for Nanyue.
(Xuansha said: “Master Shitou could attain the great and attain the small, but after being knocked down by Master Huairang, to this day he has still not risen.”)
*
– *
Shenhui of Heze came to seek instruction. The Master asked:
– Where have you come from?
Shenhui replied:
– Caoxi.
The Master asked:
– What is the essential purport of Caoxi?
Shenhui straightened his body and remained silent. The Master said:
– You are still carrying tiles and bricks.
Shenhui asked:
– Do you not have pure gold here, Master, to give to people?
The Master said:
– Even if I had some to give you, where would you put it?
(Xuansha said: “Precisely so.” Yunju Xi asked: “When Xuansha said, ‘Precisely so,’ was that pure gold or tiles and bricks?”)
*
– *
A monk asked:
– What is the great meaning of the Buddha-Dharma?
The Master said:
– What is the price of rice in Luling?
*
– *
The Master transmitted the Dharma to Shitou. In the twenty-eighth year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty, the gengchen year (740), on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the Master ascended the hall, addressed the assembly, and then passed away while seated in the full-lotus posture.
Emperor Xizong of Tang (874–888) bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Hongji, and named his stupa Guizhen.
*
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13. CHAN MASTER HUIRANG OF NANYUE.
He was a native of Jinzhou, and his family name was Du. At the age of fifteen, he went to Yuquan Monastery in Jingzhou and left the household life under Vinaya Master Hongjing. After receiving the complete precepts, he practiced the Vinaya treasury—the monastic regulations and deportment.
One day, he sighed to himself: “Those who leave the household life must do so for the sake of the unconditioned Dharma.” At that time, his fellow student Tanran recognized the loftiness of the Master's aspiration and urged him to go together to pay their respects to Master Hui'an on Mount Song. Hui'an opened and expanded his understanding. The Master then went directly to Caoxi to seek instruction from the Sixth Patriarch.
The Patriarch asked:
– Where have you come from?
He replied:
– From Mount Song.
The Patriarch asked:
– What is it that has come thus?
He replied:
– To say it is like a thing would miss the mark.
The Patriarch asked:
– Can it be cultivated and realized?
He replied:
– Cultivation and realization are not absent, but defilement is impossible.
The Patriarch said:
– It is precisely this undefiled nature that all Buddhas guard and keep in mind. You are thus, and I am also thus. Prajnatara, the Patriarch of the Western Heaven, prophesied: “Beneath your feet, a young horse will appear and trample to death all people under heaven.” This is all within your mind; there is no need to speak of it prematurely.
The Master fully accorded with and penetrated this meaning, and remained close beside the Patriarch, attending upon him for fifteen years. In the second year of the Xiantian era of the Tang dynasty (713, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong), the Master went to Bore Monastery on Mount Heng.
During the Kaiyuan era (713–741, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), there was a sramana named Daoyi—Great Master Mazu—who sat in meditation every day at the Dharma Transmission Cloister. The Master recognized him as a vessel of the Dharma and went to ask:
– For what does the venerable one practice seated meditation?
Daoyi replied:
– I seek to become a Buddha.
The Master then took a brick and began polishing it on a stone in front of Daoyi’s hermitage.
Daoyi asked:
– What are you doing, Master?
The Master replied:
– I am polishing it to make a mirror.
Daoyi said:
– How could polishing a brick turn it into a mirror?
The Master asked:
– How could seated meditation turn one into a Buddha?
Daoyi asked:
– Then what is correct?
The Master said:
– It is like a man driving an ox cart. If the cart does not move, should he strike the cart or strike the ox?
Daoyi could not answer. The Master continued:
– Are you learning seated meditation, or are you learning the seated Buddha? If you are learning seated meditation, meditation is not a matter of lying down or sitting. If you are learning the seated Buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. In the Dharma of non-abiding, one should neither grasp nor reject. If you sit as a Buddha in this way, you are killing the Buddha. If you cling to the form of sitting, you will never comprehend the principle of non-abiding.
Hearing this instruction, Daoyi felt as though he had drunk ambrosial ghee. He bowed and asked:
– How should I apply my mind so that it accords with the samadhi of no-form?
The Master replied:
– Your study of the Dharma gate of the mind-ground is like sowing seeds. My exposition of the essential Dharma is like rain and dew from the heavens. When your conditions accord, you will behold the Way.
Daoyi further asked:
– Since the Way is not a form or appearance, how can it be seen?
The Master said:
– The Dharma eye of the mind-ground can behold the Way; the samadhi of no-form is likewise so.
Daoyi asked:
– Is there arising and decay?
The Master replied:
– If you view the Way in terms of arising and decay, gathering and dispersing, then you do not behold the Way.
Listen to my verse:
The mind-ground contains every seed;
When moistened, all of them sprout.
The no-form flower of samadhi—
How could it decay, and how could it arise?
Translation:
The ground of mind contains the seeds;
Meeting moisture, all of them sprout.
The no-form flower of samadhi—
What decay, and what arising?
Through this awakening, Daoyi’s mind transcended all limitations. He attended the Master for ten years, growing ever more deeply immersed in the profound and wondrous teaching.
*
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The Master had six disciples who entered his chamber. He confirmed each of them, saying:
– You six have all realized my body, and each of you has accorded with one part of it.
The one who has attained my eyebrows and excels in dignified conduct is Changhao;
The one who has attained my eyes and excels in looking and glancing is Zhida;
The one who has attained my ears and excels in hearing the principle is Tanran;
The one who has attained my nose and excels in discerning fragrances is Shenzhao;
The one who has attained my tongue and excels in discourse is Yanjun;
The one who has attained my mind and excels in understanding past and present is Daoyi.
The Master further said:
– All dharmas arise from the mind. When the mind has nowhere to arise, dharmas cannot abide. If you realize the mind-ground, your actions will be unobstructed. Unless you possess superior faculties, take care not to turn away from this.
*
– *
A venerable monk asked:
– It is like casting an image from a mirror: once the image has been formed, where does the mirror’s radiance go?
The Master replied:
– Where is the appearance you had when you were a small child now? (Fayan separately asked: What is the image that has been cast into the venerable one?)
The monk asked:
– After the image has been formed, why does it no longer reflect?
The Master replied:
– Although it does not reflect, you cannot deceive it in the slightest.
*
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Later, when Great Master Ma went to spread the teaching in Jiangxi, the Master asked the assembly:
– Is Daoyi expounding the Dharma to the assembly?
The assembly replied:
– He is already expounding the Dharma to the assembly.
The Master said:
– Yet I have not seen anyone bring back news of him.
The assembly remained silent. The Master then sent a monk to visit him, instructing:
– Wait until he ascends the Dharma hall, then simply ask, “What are you doing?” Remember whatever he says and bring it back here.
The monk departed and did exactly as the Master had instructed. Upon returning, he reported:
– Master Ma said, “Since the barbarian uprising, for thirty years my meals have never lacked pickled melons.”
The Master acknowledged that this was correct.
In the third year of the Tianbao era (744, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang), on the eleventh day of the eighth month, the Master entered nirvana at Mount Heng. By imperial decree, he was granted the posthumous title Chan Master Dàhuì, Great Wisdom, and his stupa was named Wheel of Supreme Victory.
*
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14. CHAN MASTER XUANJUE OF YONGJIA, WENZHOU
He was a native of Yongjia, and his family name was Dai. He left the household life while still young, studied the entire Tripitaka, and thoroughly mastered the perfect and wondrous Dharma gate of calming and contemplation taught by the Tiantai school. Throughout the four modes of deportment, he constantly abided deeply in meditative contemplation. Later, encouraged by Chan Master Lang of Zuoxi, the Master went to Caoxi together with Chan Master Xuance of Dongyang.
Upon arriving, the Master carried his alms bowl on his shoulder, circumambulated the Patriarch three times, and then stood still, leaning upon his ringed staff.
The Patriarch said:
– A shramana should possess the three thousand dignified observances and the eighty thousand subtle practices. From where has the venerable one come, displaying such great arrogance?
The Master replied:
– Birth and death are momentous; impermanence is swift!
The Patriarch asked:
– Why not realize the unborn and awaken to that which is not swift?
The Master replied:
– The essence itself is unborn; realization is fundamentally not swift.
The Patriarch said:
– Just so, just so!
At that time, all in the great assembly were astonished upon hearing this. The Master then assumed the full forms of dignified conduct and bowed. A short while later, he took his leave to return home. The Patriarch said:
– Why are you leaving so quickly?
The Master replied:
– Fundamentally, there is no movement; how could there be quickness?
The Patriarch asked:
– Who knows that there is no movement?
The Master replied:
– Benevolent Sir, you yourself give rise to discrimination.
The Patriarch said:
– You have truly realized the meaning of the unborn.
The Master asked:
– Does the unborn have a meaning?
The Patriarch asked:
– If it has no meaning, then who discriminates?
The Master replied:
– Discrimination itself is not meaning.
The Patriarch praised him:
– Excellent, excellent! Stay for one night.
For this reason, people of the time called the Master “One-Night Awakening.” Xuance stayed with the Master, and the following morning they descended the mountain together and returned to Wenjiang. Students gathered around him in great numbers.
The Master was granted the title Great Master Zhenjue, True Awakening.
The Master composed the Song of Realizing the Way and The Perfect Purport of Awakening and Cultivation in the Chan School, progressing from the shallow to the profound. Wei Jing, the prefect of Qingzhou, compiled them and wrote a preface. The resulting ten chapters were entitled the Yongjia Collection, and all circulated widely throughout the world.
*
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First: The Forms for Establishing Resolve and Aspiring to the Way.
Anyone who wishes to cultivate the Way should first establish resolve and practice the forms for serving a teacher; only then will the rules to be followed become clear. Therefore, the first section discusses the forms for aspiring to the Way.
Second: Admonishing Against Arrogance and Extravagance
In the first section, although one establishes the resolve to cultivate the Way and clearly understands the rules of dignified conduct, if the three karmic activities remain arrogant and extravagant, the deluded mind will be agitated; how then can it become settled? Therefore, the second chapter discusses admonishing against arrogance and extravagance.
Third: Purifying the Three Karmic Activities.
Previously, the essential principles for guarding against arrogance and extravagance were briefly set forth. Now they are examined carefully so that transgressions will not arise. Therefore, the third chapter discusses purifying the three karmic activities and the restraints pertaining to body, speech, and mind.
Fourth: Verses on Shamatha (Calming).
Previously, body and speech were examined so that coarse transgressions would not arise. Next, one must enter the gate of cultivating the Way. According to the sequence, when samadhi and wisdom are not balanced, five kinds of mind arise, requiring analysis under six headings. Therefore, the fourth chapter presents verses on shamatha.
Fifth: Verses on Vipashyana (Contemplation).
Without moral discipline, there is no meditation; without meditation, there is no wisdom. Above, samadhi, or calming, was cultivated; when samadhi endures, wisdom shines forth. Therefore, the fifth chapter presents verses on vipashyana.
Sixth: Verses on Upeksha (Equanimity)
If cultivation is biased toward samadhi, prolonged samadhi leads to dullness; if study is biased toward wisdom, excessive wisdom causes the mind to become agitated. Therefore, the sixth chapter presents verses on upeksha, balancing samadhi and wisdom so that there is neither dullness nor agitation, bringing them into equilibrium and freeing them from the two extremes.
Seventh: The Sequential Stages of the Three Vehicles
Once samadhi and wisdom have been balanced, one is quiescent yet constantly illuminating. With the three contemplations in a single mind, what doubt is not ended, and what illumination is not perfect? Having understood clearly for oneself, one nevertheless feels compassion for those who have not yet awakened; and awakening itself has deeper and shallower degrees.
Therefore, the seventh chapter discusses the sequential stages of the Three Vehicles.
Eighth: Principle and Phenomena Are Nondual.
The Three Vehicles awaken to principle, and principle is all-pervasive; when principle is fully realized within phenomena, to comprehend phenomena is itself to comprehend principle. Therefore, the eighth chapter discusses the nonduality of principle and phenomena: precisely amid phenomena, one employs the true and thereby eliminates inverted views and attachments.
Ninth: A Letter Exhorting Friends.
Once principle and phenomena have been harmoniously integrated, the inner mind naturally becomes luminous. Yet one still feels compassion for students of the Way who remain far astray, vainly wasting every inch of fleeting time. Therefore, the ninth chapter is a letter exhorting friends.
Tenth: A Text of Vows.
Although exhorting friends arises from compassion for others, if the mind is intent upon personal affection, that compassion is not yet universal. Therefore, the tenth chapter presents a text of vows, pledging to liberate all beings.
*
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The sequence of the ten gates of contemplation of mind: Article 1. An explanation of the natural order of the Dharma; Article 2. Presentation of the essence capable of contemplation; Article 3. Discussion of correspondence; Article 4. Admonition against overweening pride;
Article 5. Admonition against indolence; Article 6. Restatement of the essence capable of contemplation; Article 7. Discussion of right and wrong; Article 8. Discernment between verbal exposition and its purport; Article 9. Everywhere becomes a method of contemplation; Article 10. Wondrous accord with the mysterious source.
1. An explanation of the natural order of the Dharma.
The nature of mind is open and unobstructed, penetrating both the moving and quiescent aspects; the source of movement and quiescence is nondual. Suchness is beyond all thought, yet it does not differ from thoughts conditioned by attachment. Deluded views may race about in restless confusion, but when their source is fathomed, it is nothing but the single quiescence.
The numinous source has no form or appearance, yet when reflected in its mirror, a thousand distinctions appear. Because the myriad distinctions are not identical, it is named the Dharma-eye; because the single quiescence is not differentiated, it receives the designation Wisdom-eye. When both principle and measure—that is, principle and phenomena—are relinquished, the function of the Buddha-eye is complete.
Thus, because the Three Truths are a single object—the perfect interfusion of the Three Truths—the principle of the Dharma-body is eternally pure; because the three wisdoms are the single mind(86), the light of prajna perpetually shines. Since object and wisdom unite in hidden accord, liberation is granted according to faculties and conditions. Being neither vertical nor horizontal, the Way, like the character Y (*), truly converges in wondrous accord(87).
Therefore, one should know
that the wondrous nature of the three virtues(88) certainly does not depart from the single mind. The single mind is so profound and vast as to be immeasurable; how could one abandon this essential Way and follow divergent paths? Therefore, mind itself is the Way; this may be called following the current and reaching its source.
2. Presentation of the essence capable of contemplation.
One need only know that a single thought is emptiness yet not emptiness, and is not emptiness yet not not-emptiness.
3. Discussion of correspondence.
When the mind corresponds with emptiness, why should praise or blame, honor or disgrace cause either joy or sorrow? When the body corresponds with emptiness, what suffering or pleasure can there be whether it is cut by a knife or anointed with fragrance? When one's circumstantial recompense corresponds with emptiness, whether others give things or seize them away, what gain or loss can there be?
When the mind corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness, both craving and views are forgotten, and compassion universally rescues all beings. When the body corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness, inwardly it is like a withered tree, while outwardly it fully manifests dignified deportment. When one's circumstantial recompense corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness, one forever ceases to crave or seek, yet still gives wealth to assist others.
When the mind corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness and with neither emptiness nor non-emptiness, the true aspect first becomes manifest and the Buddha's knowledge and vision are opened. When the body corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness and with neither emptiness nor non-emptiness, a single mote of dust enters right concentration, and all motes of dust arise within samadhi. When one's circumstantial recompense corresponds with emptiness yet not emptiness and with neither emptiness nor non-emptiness, one is born by transformation upon a fragrant dais, amid jeweled towers and magnificently adorned lands.
4. Admonition against overweening pride.
If one has not yet attained what is described above, one has not yet achieved correspondence.
5. Admonition against indolence.
Yet to cross the sea, one must board a boat; without relying upon a boat, how could one cross? To cultivate the mind, one must enter into contemplation of the Dharma; without relying upon contemplation, by what means could one illuminate the mind? If the mind has not yet been illuminated, when will correspondence be attained? Reflect upon this carefully and do not rely arrogantly upon yourself.
6. Restatement of the essence capable of contemplation.
One merely knows that a single thought is emptiness yet not emptiness, and neither existence nor nonexistence, but does not know that the thought itself is emptiness yet not emptiness, and neither neither-existence nor neither-nonexistence.
7. Discussion of right and wrong.
Mind is not existent; mind is not nonexistent; mind is not neither-existent; mind is not neither-nonexistent. To grasp mind as existent or nonexistent is to fall into affirmation; to grasp it as neither-existent nor neither-nonexistent is to fall into negation. Thus, this is merely the negation of affirmation and negation, not yet the affirmation of neither affirmation nor negation.
Now, use the two negations to refute the two affirmations; the affirmation employed to refute non-affirmation still remains a negation. Again, use the two negations to refute the two negations; the negation employed to refute non-negation is itself an affirmation. Thus, this is merely the affirmation of neither affirmation nor negation, not yet neither negation nor non-negation, neither affirmation nor non-affirmation.
The confusion caused by affirmation and negation is intricately binding, subtle, and difficult to discern. One must investigate it meticulously with a lucid and tranquil spirit.
8. Discernment between verbal exposition and its purport(89).
Yet the ultimate principle is beyond words; language and writing are provisionally borrowed to express the purport of the ultimate principle. The purport and essential tenet are not themselves contemplation; it is by cultivating contemplation that one realizes the essential tenet. If the purport is not yet clear, the words are not yet accurate; if the essential tenet has not yet been
realized, contemplation is not yet profound. Only when contemplation is profound can the essential tenet be realized; when the words are accurate, the purport will certainly become clear. Once the purport and essential tenet have been clearly understood, how could either purport or contemplation continue to remain?
9. Everywhere becomes a method of contemplation.
Generally, the repetition of words and the renewed presentation of the essence of contemplation are intended to show that the essential tenet and the purport do not differ. Words and contemplation change according to their objects. Though they change, words and principle do not differ; since they do not differ, contemplation and purport are not distinct. The undifferentiated purport is principle; undifferentiated principle is the essential tenet. Although essential tenet and purport are two names, they are one. The elaboration of words and contemplation is perhaps merely intended to familiarize later generations with them.
10. Wondrous accord with the mysterious source.
How could one who has awakened to mind cling to contemplation and become confused about the purport? How could one who comprehends the teaching become trapped in words and misunderstand principle? When principle is illuminated, the path of language is severed—what words could still discuss it? When the purport is realized, the activities of mind cease—what contemplation could still be conceived? That which neither mind nor words can conceive or discuss is indeed wondrous accord with the center of the circle(90).
*
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In the second year of the Xiantian era (713), on the seventeenth day of the tenth month, the Master sat serenely and manifested entry into cessation. On the thirteenth day of the eleventh month, a memorial stupa was erected south of West Mountain. By imperial decree, he was bestowed the posthumous title Great Master Wuxiang, and his stupa was named Pure Light.
During the Chunhua era (990–994) of the Northern Song dynasty, Emperor Taizong issued an edict ordering the prefecture to renovate the Master's shrine and stupa.
*
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15. CHAN MASTER BENJING OF SIKONG MOUNTAIN.
He was a native of Jiangzhou, and his family name was Zhang. In his youth, he donned the robe and went to the chamber at Caoxi, where he received a prediction of awakening. Later, the Master resided at Wuxiang Monastery on Sikong Mountain.
In the third year of the Tianbao era of the Tang dynasty, 744, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sent the palace envoy Yang Guangting into the mountains to gather ivy. Upon encountering the Master's abbot's quarters, he bowed reverently to the Master and said:
“The disciple has long yearned for the Way. I beseech the Venerable, out of compassion, to give me a concise instruction.”
The Master said:
“The eminent scholars of the Chan school throughout the realm have all assembled in the imperial capital. The imperial envoy should return to court; there are sufficient teachers there whom you may question and who can resolve your doubts. This poor monk dwells in a remote corner of the mountains beside a stream and has no place to apply his mind.”
Guangting wept and bowed. The Master said:
“Do not bow to this poor monk! Has the imperial envoy come seeking the Buddha, or has he come to inquire about the Way?”
He replied:
“This disciple's understanding is obscured. I do not yet know what is meant by the Buddha and the Way.”
The Master said:
“If you wish to seek the Buddha, mind itself is Buddha. If you wish to realize the Way, no-mind is the Way.”
He asked:
“What does it mean that mind itself is Buddha?”
The Master replied:
“Through mind, one awakens to the Buddha; through the Buddha, one understands mind. If one awakens to no-mind, even Buddha does not exist.”
He asked:
“What does it mean that no-mind is the Way?”
The Master replied:
– The Way is originally no-mind; no-mind is called the Way. If one fully realizes no-mind, then no-mind itself is the Way.
Guangting accepted this in faith and bowed in homage. Upon returning to the court, he reported fully to the emperor the circumstances of his meeting with the Master in the mountains. The emperor issued an edict ordering Guangting to invite the Master.
On the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Master arrived in the capital, and the emperor invited him to reside at the White Lotus Pavilion. On the full-moon day of the first lunar month of the following year, 745, the emperor summoned eminent scholars and renowned monks from the Two Streets to assemble at the inner court’s Dharma hall and join the Master in expounding the principles of Buddhism.
*
– *
At that time, Chan Master Yuan raised his voice and asked the Master:
– Today, in the presence of His Majesty, we are to examine the essential principle of the school. Questions and answers should be direct, without the need for many words. According to the Chan Master’s understanding, what is the Way?
The Master replied:
– No-mind is the Way.
Yuan asked:
– The Way exists through the mind; how can you say that no-mind is the Way?
The Master replied:
– The Way originally has no name; it is only because of the mind that it is called the Way. However many there are of mind and name, so too are there that many supposed true Ways. When the mind is ultimately nonexistent, upon what can the Way be established? Both names—mind and Way—are illusory and are merely provisional designations.
Yuan asked:
– Does the Chan Master regard body and mind as the Way or not?
The Master replied:
– This mountain monk’s body and mind have always been the Way.
Yuan said:
– You have just said that no-mind is the Way, yet now you say that body and mind have always been the Way. Are these not contradictory?
The Master replied:
– No-mind is the Way: when mind ceases, the Way is empty; mind and the Way are of one suchness, and therefore it is said that no-mind is the Way. Body and mind have always been the Way, and the Way itself has also always been body and mind. Since body and mind are originally empty,(91) at the ultimate source the Way also does not exist.
Yuan said:
– Judging by the Chan Master’s appearance, you are very young. How could you comprehend such a principle?
The Master said:
– Venerable sir, you see only this mountain monk’s form; you do not see this mountain monk’s formlessness. Seeing form is merely the venerable sir’s own view. The Sutra says, “Whatever possesses characteristics is illusory. If one sees that all characteristics are not characteristics, one thereby awakens to that Way.” If one takes characteristics as real, one cannot awaken to the Way even after an entire kalpa.
Yuan said:
– I now ask the Chan Master to explain the formless in terms of form.
The Master said:
– The Vimalakirti Sutra says, “The four great elements have no master, and the body also has no self. The insight into no-self accords with the Way.” Venerable sir, if you hold that the four great elements have a master, that is belief in a self. If there is the view of self, one cannot comprehend the Way even after an entire kalpa.
Upon hearing this, Master Yuan turned pale, felt apprehensive, and withdrew.
The Master composed a verse:
The four great elements have no master and are like water,
Encountering crooked or straight, they know neither this nor that.
In the two places of purity and defilement, no mind arises;
Whether obstructed or released, how could they ever harbor two intentions?
Meeting conditions, simply be mindless like water;
Roaming freely through the world, what affair could there be?
Translation:
The four great elements have no master and are like water,
Though meeting crooked or straight, they know neither this nor that.
In the two places of defilement and purity, no mind arises;
Whether flowing freely or obstructed, intention has never been divided in two.
Encountering conditions, be mindless just like water;
Roaming freely through the world, what affair could there be?
The Master further said:
– One great element is thus, and all four great elements are likewise. If one understands that the four great elements have no master, one awakens to no-mind. If one fully realizes no-mind, one naturally accords with the Way.
*
– *
Chan Master Zhiming then asked:
– If it is said that no-mind is the Way, then tiles and bricks, which have no mind, should also be the Way. And if it is said, “Body and mind have always been the
Way,” then the ten classes of beings born in the four modes, all of which possess body and mind, should also be the Way.
The Master said:
– Venerable sir, if you understand through seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing,(92) you are far removed from the Way. Such a person seeks seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, not the Way. The Sutra says, “There are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind.” Since even the six faculties are empty, upon what can seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing be established? When their ultimate source does not exist, where could mind remain? How then could this not be the same as grasses, trees, bricks, and tiles?
Zhiming remained silent and withdrew.
The Master then composed another verse:
Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are unobstructed;
Forms, sounds, fragrances, flavors, and contacts are ever samadhi.
Like a bird in the sky, flying wherever it will,
There is neither grasping nor rejecting, neither hatred nor love.
If one understands that in responding to conditions there is originally no-mind,
Only then may one be called Avalokitesvara.
Translation:
Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing are unobstructed;
Forms, sounds, fragrances, flavors, and contacts are ever samadhi.
Like a bird in the sky, freely flying wherever it will,
There is neither grasping nor rejecting, neither love nor hate.
If one understands that, when facing conditions, there is originally no-mind,
Only then may one be called Avalokitesvara.
*
– *
Chan Master Zhen then asked:
– Since the Way is no-mind, does the Buddha possess mind? Are the Buddha and the Way one or two?
The Master replied:
– Neither one nor different.
He asked:
– The Buddha liberates sentient beings because he possesses mind, whereas the Way liberates no one because it is no-mind. One liberates and the other does not; how can they not be two?
The Master replied:
– If you say that the Buddha liberates sentient beings while the Way does not liberate sentient beings, then you, venerable sir, are deludedly giving rise to dualistic views. According to this mountain monk, it is not so. “Buddha” is an empty name, and “Way” is also falsely established. Neither is real; both are merely provisional designations. Within a single fiction, how could they be divided into two?
He asked:
– Although Buddha and Way are provisional designations, at the moment those names are established, who establishes them? If there is someone who establishes them, how can you say that nothing exists?
The Master replied:
– Buddha and Way are established because of mind. Yet when the mind that establishes them is examined to its ultimate end, that mind too is empty. Since mind is empty, one realizes that both Buddha and Way are unreal. Knowing them to be like dreams and illusions, one immediately awakens to what is originally empty. To forcibly establish the two names “Buddha” and “Way” is the understanding of followers of the Two Vehicles.
The Master then recited a verse on neither cultivation nor action:
Only after seeing the Way does one cultivate the Way;
If one does not see it, what could one cultivate?
The nature of the Way is like empty space;
What is there in empty space to cultivate?
Look throughout at those who cultivate the Way:
They stir up fire while searching for floating foam.
Simply watch the puppet performing its play;
Once the strings are severed, everything stops at once.
Translation:
Only after seeing the Way does one cultivate the Way;
Without seeing it, how could one cultivate?
The nature of the Way is like empty space;
Where in empty space could cultivation be practiced?
Look throughout at those who cultivate the Way:
They rake through fire in search of floating bubbles.
Watch a puppet performing its play;
The moment its strings are severed, it stops.
*
– *
Chan Master Fakong then asked:
– If Buddha and Way are both provisional designations, then the twelve divisions of the teachings must also be unreal. Why, then, have the venerable masters of old all spoken of cultivating the Way?
The Master replied:
– Venerable sir, you have misunderstood the meaning of the sutras. The Way is originally without cultivation, yet you insist on cultivating it. The Way is originally without fabrication, yet you insist on fabricating it. The Way is originally free of affairs, yet you forcibly create a multitude of affairs. The Way is originally without knowing, yet you insist on knowing within it. Such an understanding runs contrary to the Way. How could the venerable masters of old have been like this? It is only that you, venerable sir, have not understood. Please reflect upon it.
The Master then composed a verse:
The essence of the Way is originally without cultivation;
Without cultivating, one naturally accords with the Way.
If one gives rise to a mind that cultivates the Way,
That person does not comprehend the Way.
Casting aside the one true nature,
One instead enters clamor and confusion.
If you suddenly meet a person cultivating the Way,
Above all, do not speak to him of the Way.
Translation:
The essence of the Way is originally without cultivation;
Without cultivation, one naturally accords with the Way.
If one gives rise to the thought of cultivating the Way,
That person does not comprehend the Way.
Casting away the one true nature,
One enters again into clamor and confusion.
If you suddenly meet a person cultivating the Way,
It is best not to speak of the Way.
*
– *
Chan Master An then asked:
– Since the Way is a provisional designation, the Buddha is falsely established, and the twelve divisions of the teachings merely serve to receive beings and bring them to liberation, all of these are false. What, then, is true?
The Master replied:
– Because there is falsity, the true is set in opposition to the false. When investigated to the end, the nature of falsity is originally empty; when, then, could the true ever have existed? Therefore, know that both true and false are provisional designations. These two mutually dependent things are both without real substance. When their root is investigated to the end, everything is empty.
He asked:
– Since it is said that everything is false, the false is thereby the same as the true. If true and false do not differ, what is it?
The Master replied:
– If one asks what it is, whatever it might be is also false. The Sutra says, “There is no likeness and no comparison; the path of speech is cut off, like a bird flying through empty space.”
Master An, ashamed yet convinced, did not know what to do.
The Master then composed another verse:
Investigating the true, the true has no characteristics;
Exhausting the false, the false has no form.
Turn the light back and investigate the mind to its end;
Then know that mind too is merely a provisional designation.
Understanding the Way is also like this;
In the end, it is merely thus.
Translation:
Examine the true: the true is without marks;
Seek the false: the false is without form.
Turn back and examine the mind;
Know that “mind” too is only a provisional name.
Understanding the Way is also like this;
In the end, it is merely thus.
*
– *
Another Chan master, Daxing, asked:
– Chan is most subtle and most wondrous. Both truth and falsehood vanish; neither Buddha nor the Way remains. The nature cultivated in practice is empty, names and marks are unreal, the world is like an illusion, and all things are merely provisional names. Yet even upon attaining this understanding, how could one sever the two roots of good and evil in sentient beings?
The Master replied:
– The two roots of good and evil both exist because of the mind. If, upon investigation, the mind exists, then the two roots are also real. But when the mind is examined and found to be nonexistent, on what basis could the two roots be established? The sutra says, “Wholesome and unwholesome dharmas arise through the transformations of mind; the karmic conditions of good and evil are fundamentally without real existence.”
The Master also composed a verse:
Since good is born from the mind,
Could evil exist apart from the mind?
Good and evil are external conditions;
Within the mind they truly do not exist.
If evil is cast aside, where is it thrown?
If good is taken up, whom can one bid preserve it?
How pitiable are people of dualistic views,
Clinging to conditions and running toward both ends.
If one awakens to the mind’s fundamental nonexistence,
Only then does one regret former errors.
Translation:
Since good is born from the mind,
Could evil exist apart from the mind?
Good and evil are external conditions;
Within the mind they truly do not exist.
If evil is cast aside, where is it thrown?
If good is taken up, whom can one bid preserve it?
How pitiable are people of dualistic views,
Clinging to both ends and running.
If one awakens to the mind’s fundamental emptiness,
Only then does one regret former errors.
*
– *
A close court official also asked:
– From where did this body come? When a hundred years have passed, where will it return?
The Master replied:
– When a person is dreaming, from where does he come? When he awakens, where does he go?
The official said:
– While dreaming, one cannot say that it does not exist; after awakening, one cannot say that it exists. Although there are existence and nonexistence, there is no place of coming or going.
The Master said:
– This body of this poor monk is also like a dream.
He also composed a verse:
Regard life as being within a dream;
Within the dream there truly is commotion.
Suddenly awakening, the myriad affairs cease;
It is altogether like awakening from sleep.
The wise understand waking and dreaming;
The deluded believe in the dream’s commotion.
Understanding dream and waking as twofold,
There is one awakening, with no other awakening.(93)
Wealth and honor, poverty and lowliness—
There is likewise no other path.
Translation:
Regard life as being within a dream;
Within the dream there truly is commotion.
Suddenly awakening, the myriad affairs cease;
It is again like awakening from sleep.
The wise understand waking and dreaming;
The deluded believe in the dream’s commotion.
Though dream and waking seem like two things,
There is one awakening, with no other awakening.
Wealth and honor, poverty and lowliness—
There is likewise no other path.
On the fifth day of the fifth month in the second year of the Shangyuan era (761, under Emperor Suzong of the Tang), the Master entered quiescence.
The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Daxiao.
*
– *
16. CHAN MASTER XUANCE OF WUZHOU.
He was a native of Jinhua in Wuzhou. After leaving home, he traveled in all directions. When he reached Heshuo, he heard of Chan Master Zhihong. Hong had once visited the Fifth Patriarch at Huangmei and had lived in a hermitage for twenty years, considering himself to have attained right absorption.
The Master knew that Hong’s attainment was not yet genuine. He went to see him and asked:
– What are you doing sitting here?
Hong replied:
– Entering samadhi.
The Master asked:
– When you say that you enter samadhi, do you do so with mind or without mind? If you enter samadhi with mind, then all crawling and wriggling creatures must also attain samadhi. If you enter samadhi without mind, then all grasses and trees should also attain samadhi.
He replied:
– While I am entering samadhi, I do not perceive any mind that either exists or does not exist.
The Master said:
– Since you perceive no mind that either exists or does not exist, this is constant samadhi. How could there be entering and emerging? If there is entering and emerging, it is not great samadhi.
Hong said nothing. After a long while, he asked whose Dharma the Master inherited.
The Master replied:
– My teacher is the Sixth Patriarch of Caoxi.
Hong asked:
– What does the Sixth Patriarch take to be Chan meditation?
The Master replied:
– My teacher said, “Wondrously still and perfectly quiescent, essence and function are suchness itself. The five skandhas are fundamentally empty, and the six sense objects do not exist. There is neither emerging nor entering, neither concentration nor distraction. The nature of Chan has no abiding; therefore, depart from abiding in the quiescence of Chan. The nature of Chan is unborn; therefore, depart from producing thoughts about Chan. The mind is like empty space, yet it does not even retain an understanding of empty space.”
Upon hearing these words, Hong then set out for Caoxi to resolve the doubts that veiled him. The Patriarch’s meaning and the Master’s meaning accorded perfectly, and Hong thereupon awakened.
Later, the Master returned to Jinhua and greatly expanded the Dharma assembly.
*
– *
17. CHAN MASTER LINGTAO OF CAOXI.
He was a native of Jizhou, and his family name was Zhang. He left home under the Sixth Patriarch and remained constantly at the Patriarch’s side. Only when the Patriarch entered quiescence did he become the custodian of the stupa and take charge of the robe and bowl.
In the fourth year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang (716), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang heard of the Master’s virtuous conduct and issued an edict summoning him to the imperial palace. The Master declined on the grounds of illness, saying that he was unable to travel.
In the first year of the Shangyuan era (760), Emperor Suzong of the Tang sent an envoy to bring the robe of Dharma transmission into the palace as an object of veneration. An imperial edict therefore commanded the Master to accompany the robe to court. The Master again declined on the grounds of illness.
The Master passed away at his home mountain, Nanhua Monastery in Shaozhou, at the age of ninety-five.
By imperial decree, he was given the posthumous title Chan Master Daxiao.
*
– *
18. NATIONAL PRECEPTOR HUIZHONG OF GUANGZHAI MONASTERY IN THE WESTERN CAPITAL.
He was a native of Zhuji County in Yuezhou, Zhejiang, and his family name was Ran. After receiving the mind seal from the Sixth Patriarch, the Master lived in Dangzi Valley on Mount Baiya in Nanyang County, Henan, for more than forty years without descending the mountain. The fame of his practice of the Way spread far and eventually reached the emperor.
In the second year of the Shangyuan era (761), Emperor Suzong of the Tang ordered the palace commissioner Sun Chaojin to carry an imperial edict summoning the Master to the capital. The emperor treated the Master according to the rites governing teacher and disciple. At first, the Master resided in the Western Chan Cloister of Qianfu Monastery. When Emperor Daizong came to the throne, he welcomed the Master to reside at Guangzhai Monastery. For sixteen years, the Master taught the Dharma in accordance with circumstances and capacities.
At that time, Tripitaka Master Daur from India came to the capital and declared that he had attained the supernormal power of knowing others’ minds and the wisdom eye. The emperor ordered the National Preceptor to test him. As soon as the Tripitaka Master met the Master, he bowed and then stood to the Master’s right. The Master asked:
– Have you attained the supernormal power of knowing others’ minds?
He replied:
– I would not presume to claim so.
The Master asked:
– Tell me, where is this old monk at present?
He replied:
– Venerable, you are the teacher of the entire nation. How could you go to Western Sichuan to watch a boat race?
The Master asked again:
– Tell me, where is this old monk at present?
He replied:
– Venerable, you are the teacher of the entire nation. How could you be on Tianjin Bridge watching monkeys perform tricks?
The Master asked the same question a third time. The Tripitaka Master remained silent for a long while, unable to discern where he had gone.
The Master shouted:
– You wild-fox spirit! Where is your supernormal power of knowing others’ minds?
The Tripitaka Master remained silent.
(A monk asked Yangshan:
– Why was Tripitaka Master Daur unable to see the National Preceptor the third time?
Yangshan replied:
– The first two times, the National Preceptor’s mind was connected with objects. The last time, his mind entered the samadhi of self-enjoyment, and therefore the Tripitaka Master could not see him.
Another monk cited the foregoing exchange and asked Xuansha about it. Xuansha replied:
– Tell me, did he see the National Preceptor the first two times or not?
Xuanjue asked:
– The first two times he saw him in this way; why could he not see him afterward? Tell me, where does the crucial point lie?
A monk asked Zhaozhou:
– The third time, Tripitaka Master Daur could not see the National Preceptor. I do not know where the National Preceptor was.
Zhaozhou replied:
– He was on the Tripitaka Master’s nostril.
A monk asked Xuansha:
– Since he was on his nostril, why could the Tripitaka Master not see him?
Xuansha replied:
– Only because he was too close.)
*
– *
One day, the Master called his attendant, and the attendant answered. He called in this way three times, and each time the attendant answered. The Master said:
– I thought I had failed you, but in fact it is you who have failed me.
(A monk asked Xuansha:
– The National Preceptor called his attendant—what was the meaning of this?
Xuansha replied:
– It was precisely the attendant who understood.
Master Yunju Xi said:
– Tell me, did the attendant understand or not? If you say that he understood, why did the National Preceptor say, “You have failed me”? If you say that he did not understand, why did Xuansha say, “It was precisely the attendant who understood”? How, then, should this be discussed?
Xuanjue brought this matter before a monk and asked:
– At what point did the attendant understand?
The monk replied:
– If he did not understand, how could he have known to answer thus?
Xuansha said:
– You understand a little!
Xuansha further said:
– If you can deliberate upon it here, then you will see Xuansha.
A monk asked Fayan:
– What was the National Teacher’s meaning in calling his attendant?
Fayan said:
– Go for now; come back another time.
Yunju Xi asked:
– In speaking thus, did Fayan clarify the National Teacher’s meaning, or did he not clarify the National Teacher’s meaning?
A monk asked Zhaozhou:
– What was the National Teacher’s meaning in calling his attendant?
Zhaozhou replied:
– It is like someone writing characters in the dark: although the characters are not formed, their literary splendor is already clearly manifest.)
*
– *
Nanquan came for an interview. The Master asked:
– Where have you come from?
He replied:
– From Jiangxi.
The Master asked:
– Have you brought with you the true likeness of Great Master Ma?
He replied:
– It is right here.
The Master said:
– Behind your back.
Nanquan then desisted.
(Changqing Huileng said, “It is exactly as though they did not know one another.” Baofu elaborated, “In this, Nanquan almost failed to reach the Venerable.” Yunju Xi said, “These two venerable ones exerted themselves to support him from behind, just as Nanquan desisted because he had to support him from the front and from behind.”)
*
– *
Magu came for an interview, circumambulated the meditation seat three times, then planted his staff and stood before the Master. The Master said:
– Since it is already thus, why did you need to come and see this poor monk?
Magu again planted his staff. The Master shouted:
– You wild-fox spirit! Go! Go!
*
– *
The Master ascended the hall and instructed the assembly: Students of the Chan school should follow the Buddha’s teaching of the definitive meaning of the One Vehicle and accord with the source of their own mind; teachings of provisional meaning are not permitted among us. They are like worms in the body of a lion. When acting as teachers for others, if people cling to profit and fame and separately present heterodox doctrines, what benefit is there for either themselves or others? It is like a skilled carpenter in the world, whose axes and hatchets do not cut his hands; the burden borne by a mighty fragrant elephant cannot be endured by a donkey.
*
– *
A monk asked:
– How can one attain Buddhahood?
The Master replied:
– Cast away Buddha and sentient beings simultaneously; liberation is attained on the spot.
He asked:
– How can one attain accord?
The Master replied:
– Think neither good nor evil, and you will see the Buddha-nature for yourself.
He asked:
– How can one realize the Dharma body?
The Master replied:
– Transcend the realm of Vairocana.
He asked:
– How can one attain the pure Dharma body?
The Master replied:
– Do not cling to Buddha in order to seek it.
He asked:
– Who is Buddha?
The Master replied:
– This very mind is Buddha.
He asked:
– Does the mind have afflictions?
The Master replied:
– By their nature, afflictions are themselves transcended.
He asked:
– Should they not be eliminated?
The Master replied:
– Eliminating afflictions is called the Two Vehicles. The non-arising of afflictions is called great nirvana.
He asked:
– What of sitting in meditation and contemplating purity?
The Master replied:
– It is neither defiled nor pure; why would you need to arouse the mind to contemplate the mark of purity?
He further asked:
– Does the Chan Master regard the empty space of the ten directions as the Dharma body?
The Master replied:
– To apprehend it with the conceptualizing mind is an inverted view.
He asked:
– Since this very mind is Buddha, should one further cultivate the myriad practices?
The Master replied:
– All sages are fully endowed with the two kinds of adornment—merit and wisdom. How could they discard cause and effect as nonexistent?
The Master further said:
– Even if I answered your questions until the end of the kalpa, I would not finish; the more that is said, the farther one strays from the Way. Therefore it is said, “To expound the Dharma with something to attain is the yelp of a jackal; to expound the Dharma with nothing to attain is called the lion’s roar.”
*
– *
A practitioner named Zhang Fen from Nanyang came and asked:
– I have heard the Venerable say, “The insentient expounds the Dharma,” but I do not yet clearly understand this matter. I beseech the Venerable compassionately to instruct me.
The Master said:
– If you ask about the insentient expounding the Dharma, you must understand that insentient one before you can hear me expound the Dharma. You need only hear the insentient expound the Dharma.
Fen said:
– To speak only in brief of the present moment, within the expedient means of sentient beings: what are the causes and conditions of the insentient?
The Master replied:
– Right now, amid every activity and function, merely let the two streams of ordinary beings and sages be utterly without the slightest portion of arising or ceasing. This is to emerge beyond consciousness and not belong to either existence or nonexistence. Seeing and awareness are lucid and clear; there is only hearing, without being bound by discriminating consciousness. Therefore the Sixth Patriarch said, “When the six faculties encounter their objects, there is discernment, yet it is not consciousness.”
*
– *
A monk came to pay his respects. The Master asked:
– What vocation do you pursue?
He replied:
– I lecture on the Diamond Sutra.
The Master asked:
– What are its first two words?
He replied:
– “Thus have.”
The Master asked:
– What is it?
The monk could not answer.
*
– *
Someone asked:
– What is liberation?
The Master replied:
– Dharmas do not come into contact with one another; that itself is liberation.
He asked:
– How can they be severed?
The Master said:
– I have already told you that dharmas do not come into contact with one another. What is there to sever?
*
– *
Seeing a monk approach, the Master drew a circular form with his hand and wrote the character “sun” within it.
The monk could not answer.
*
– *
The Master asked Chan Master Benjing:
– How many extraordinary sayings will you manifest hereafter!
Jing replied:
– There is not a single thought of a covetous mind.
The Master said:
– That is an affair within your own house.
*
– *
Emperor Suzong asked:
– What Dharma have you attained, Master?
The Master asked:
– Does Your Majesty see a patch of cloud in the sky?
The Emperor replied:
– I see it.
The Master asked:
– Is it fastened there by a nail or tied there by a rope?
The Emperor further asked:
– What are the ten bodies of the Guiding Master?
The Master immediately stood up and then asked:
– Do you understand?
He replied:
– I do not understand.
The Master said:
– Bring the water flask for this old monk.
The Emperor further asked:
– What is the samadhi free from contention?
The Master replied:
– Benefactor, you walk upon the crown of Vairocana’s head.(94)
He asked:
– What does that mean?
The Master replied:
– The pure Dharma body—do not take this body to be it.
The Emperor questioned the Master again, but the Master did not even look at him. The Emperor said:
– We are the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang. Why do you, Master, utterly refuse even to look at Us?
The Master asked:
– Does Your Majesty see empty space?
He replied:
– I see it.
The Master asked:
– Does it blink its eyes and look at Your Majesty?
*
– *
Yu Junrong asked:
– When you were on Mount Baiya, how did you cultivate the Way throughout the twelve hours of the day?
The Master called over a young attendant, rubbed his head, and said:
– Be alert—right here, be alert; be clear—right here, be clear. Hereafter, do not be deceived by others.
*
– *
The Master discussed doctrine with Imperial Attendant Zilin. After the Master ascended the seat, the Attendant said:
– Master, please establish a proposition, and I shall refute it.
The Master said:
– The proposition has been established.
The Attendant asked:
– What proposition is that?
The Master said:
– Indeed, you do not see it; it is not within your realm.
He then descended from the seat.
One day the Master asked Imperial Attendant Zilin:
– What is the meaning of “Buddha”?
He replied:
– It means “awakened.”
The Master asked:
– Has the Buddha ever been deluded?
He replied:
– Never.
The Master said:
– Then what use is awakening?
The Attendant could not answer and instead asked:
– What is the true mark of reality?
The Master said:
– Bring empty space here.
He replied:
– Empty space cannot be apprehended.
The Master said:
– If even empty space cannot be apprehended, why ask about the true mark of reality?
*
– *
A monk asked:
– What is the essential meaning of the Buddhadharma?
The Master replied:
– Myriad bodhisattvas are within Manjushri’s hall.
The monk said:
– This student does not understand.
The Master said:
– Great Compassion has a thousand hands and eyes.
*
– *
Danyuan asked:
– A hundred years from now, if someone asks about the ultimate matter, what should I do?
The Master replied:
– If you cherish your own life, what need have you for a protective talisman?
*
– *
As the conditions for his teaching were nearing completion and the hour of nirvana was approaching, the Master took leave of Emperor Daizong and returned to the mountain. Daizong asked:
– After the Master passes away, what shall this disciple do to commemorate you?
The Master replied:
– Have the benefactor construct a seamless stupa.
The Emperor said:
– Please choose the design of the stupa according to your wishes, Master.
The Master remained silent for a long while and then asked:
– Do you understand?
He replied:
– I do not understand.
The Master said:
– After this poor monk departs, the attendant Yingzhen will know about this matter.
In the tenth year of the Dali era (775), on the ninth day of the twelfth month, the Master lay down on his right side and passed away. His disciples reverently conveyed his sacred remains to Dangzi Valley and erected a stupa in his honor.
The emperor bestowed upon him the posthumous title Chan Master Great Realization.
Later, Emperor Daizong issued an edict summoning Yingzhen to the palace and questioned him about the foregoing words. Yingzhen remained silent for a long while, then asked:
– Does Your Majesty understand?
The emperor replied:
– I do not understand.
Zhen composed a verse:
Xiang zhi nan, tan zhi bei,
Zhong you hong jin chong yi guo,
Wu ying shu xia he tong chuan,
Liu li dian shang wu zhi shi.
Translation:
South of the Xiang River, north of the lake,
Within is pure gold filling the whole realm;
Beneath the shadowless tree, all share one boat,
Upon the crystal palace, there is no one who knows.
Later, Yingzhen resided at Mount Danyuan.
*
– *
19. CHAN MASTER SHENHUI OF HEZE MONASTERY IN THE WESTERN CAPITAL
He was a native of Xiangyang and his family name was Gao. At the age of fourteen, he became a novice and went to pay his respects to the Sixth Patriarch. The Patriarch asked:
– Learned friend, you have undergone great hardship coming here from afar. Have you brought the root with you? If you have the root, you must know the host. Try to speak of it.
The Master replied:
– I take non-abiding as the root; seeing is itself the host.
The Patriarch said:
– Novice, how can you repeat such old phrases?
The Patriarch then struck him with his staff. As he received the blow, the Master thought, “A great spiritual friend is difficult to encounter even over many kalpas. Now that I have met one, how could I begrudge this body and life?” From then on, the Master served as his attendant.
One day, the Patriarch addressed the assembly:
– I have one thing that has neither head nor tail, neither name nor designation, neither back nor front. Do you know it?
The Master stepped forward and said:
– It is the fundamental source of all Buddhas and the Buddha-nature of Shenhui.
The Patriarch said:
– I already told you that it has neither name nor designation, yet you still call it the fundamental source and Buddha-nature.
The Master bowed and withdrew. Before long, he went to the Western Capital and received the full precepts. During the Jinglong era of the Tang dynasty (707–710, under Emperor Zhongzong), the Master returned to Caoxi. About twenty years after the Patriarch entered nirvana, the purport of Caoxi’s sudden awakening had been forgotten in Jing and Wu, while the gradual teaching of Mount Song flourished in Qin and Luo. The Master entered the capital—the Eastern Capital, Luoyang.
In the fourth year of the Tianbao era (745, under Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang), when the two schools were still being distinguished—the Southern school of Huineng teaching sudden awakening and the Northern school of Shenxiu teaching gradual cultivation—the Master composed the Record Revealing the School, which circulated widely throughout the world.
One day, news arrived from his native home that both his parents had died. The Master entered the main hall, struck the gavel, and announced to the assembly:
– Both my father and mother have passed away. I ask the great assembly to recite the Mahaprajnaparamita.
As soon as the assembly had gathered, the Master struck the gavel and said:
– I have troubled the great assembly.
At midnight on the thirteenth day of the fifth month in the first year of the Shangyuan era of the Tang dynasty (760, under Emperor Suzong), the Master quietly passed away. He was seventy-five (ninety-five) years old. In the second year, 761, a stupa was erected for him at Longmen in the Luo Capital. At the site of the Master’s stupa, Emperor Suzong ordered Baoying Monastery to be built.
In the fifth year of the Dali era of the Tang dynasty (770, under Emperor Daizong), the emperor bestowed the inscription “Hall of Dharma Transmission of the True School of Prajna.” In the seventh year, 772, he further bestowed the inscription “Stupa of the Great Master of Prajna.”
*
– *
A monk cited a verse by Chan Master WOLUN.
The verse says:
Wolun you ji liang,
Neng duan bai si xiang.
Dui jing xin bu qi,
Puti ri ri zhang.
Translation:
Wolun possesses skillful means,
Able to cut off all thoughts.
Facing objects, the mind does not arise;
Bodhi grows day after day.
When the Sixth Patriarch heard it, he said:
– This verse has not yet illuminated the ground of mind. If one practices according to it, one will only increase one’s bondage.
Thereupon, the Great Master taught a verse:
Huineng wu ji liang,
Bu duan bai si xiang.
Dui jing xin shu qi,
Puti zuo me zhang?
Translation:
Huineng has no skillful means,
And does not cut off all thoughts.
Facing objects, the mind continually arises;
How could bodhi ever grow?
(The two verses above are frequently cited in many places and have therefore been appended at the end of this fascicle. Here, Wolun is not a person’s name but the name of his dwelling place.)
END OF FASCICLE V
Notes:
– When the deluded mind produces the mark of “existence,” this is called arising; when it produces the mark of “nonexistence,” that too is arising. Thus, how can arising be called non-arising?
(73) Flower of sentience: The Buddha-nature inherently present within sentient beings.
(**) “The two persons” means one’s father and mother.
(74) The monastic was Mazu Daoyi; the layperson was Layman Pang Daoxuan.
(75) The Master’s stupa stands beside the Caohou Stream, now within Nanhua Monastery, formerly Baolin Monastery.
(76) The yak has a beautiful tail that it guards and cherishes, not daring to use it. Consequently, its tail is useless, while the animal must still take pains to protect it.
(77) Thought free from thought is like seeing that is free from seeing; thought possessing thought is like “establishing knowing upon knowing” in the Surangama Sutra.
(78) Here, the term “self-nature” means the self or ego. The absence of self-nature—non-self-nature—means non-self and emptiness. In Chinese Chan, the term “self-nature” is commonly used to indicate the fundamental essence and is synonymous with Buddha-nature and the true self.
79 The faculty of mind directly emits light through the five gates—the five faculties—and, when the conditions of the five sense objects—the perceived marks—are complete, illusory appearances manifest. Yet because the light of wisdom—the emitted light—is not neglected, the five sense objects become empty, realizing the meaning of non-abiding and marklessness. Since the objects are empty, the faculty of mind does not establish the mark of a perceiving subject; therefore, when the self is empty, the seventh consciousness is transformed into the wisdom of equality.
When both self and dharmas—the faculties and their objects—are empty, the eighth consciousness recovers its full inherent essence with numinous awareness and wondrous functioning, like a bright, perfect mirror as vast as empty space. In response to conditions, the five sense objects come and go of themselves within this unmoving essence of suchness, like flowers appearing in the sky. Thus, one need only transform the sixth and seventh consciousnesses at the causal stage, and the eighth consciousness and the first five consciousnesses—the five bodily consciousnesses—will accordingly be transformed at the resultant stage.
80 The eight inverted attachments of ordinary beings and the practitioners of the Two Vehicles: The Two Vehicles cling to impermanence, non-self, suffering, and impurity, while ordinary beings cling to their opposites—permanence, self, bliss, and purity. The Nirvana Sutra teaches true permanence, true bliss, true self, and true purity.
(81) Deliberately intending to perform an act: both the intention and the deed are called formations. Formations encompass body, speech, and mind; they are capable of creating karma and leading to rebirth. Formations are also the fourth skandha among the five skandhas and the second link among the twelve links of dependent origination.
(82) Perfect illumination: complete and perfect clarity. Quiescence: the essence is empty and quiescent; both self and dharmas are empty. It is absolute stillness, transcending all dualities, and is also said to be apart from all dharmas. Illumination: function—the illuminating activity—and is also said to give rise to all dharmas. Quiescence and illumination are nondual.
(83) The sixty-two views.
The four propositions—eternal, non-eternal, both eternal and non-eternal, neither eternal nor non-eternal—multiplied by the five skandhas—form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness—equal 20.
20 multiplied by the three times—past, present, and future—equals 60.
60 plus existence—attachment to eternalism—and nonexistence—attachment to annihilationism—equals 62.
(84) One who has gone beyond measure: One who has seen the nature.
85 The two extremes: the two opposing sides, or extreme views. Attachment to existence and nonexistence is the source of dualistic opposition.
The three times: past, present, and future.
– Delusion: Confusion and error.
(86) The three wisdoms in one mind: Within the single mind, one simultaneously realizes the fruits of the three wisdoms—wisdom of all phenomena, wisdom of the varieties of the Path, and wisdom of all aspects. The Tiantai school teaches that by cultivating the three contemplations of emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle, one can attain the three wisdoms.
(87) The perfect interfusion of principle and phenomena, mutually identical and mutually interpenetrating.
(88) The three virtues: Dharma-body, prajna, and liberation.
(89) Expounding the purport: Employing the expedient means of language, written words, and conceptual thought to explain the meaning of the “purport.” The “purport” is a metaphor for absolute truth. For example, suchness is originally beyond speech and cannot be named; yet, in order that people may understand its meaning, it is provisionally given the name “suchness” so that it may be explained. In reality, suchness cannot be understood conceptually but must be directly realized through right wisdom within one’s own mind.
(90) Within the circle: Empty, yet completely filling the vast expanse of space.
(91) “Emptiness” here means the absence of intrinsic nature (an intrinsic essence), also called non-self. The Way is empty: it belongs neither to existence nor nonexistence, nor does it abide in existence or nonexistence.
(92) Seeing: seeing with the eyes. Hearing: hearing with the ears. Sensing: apprehending through the nose, tongue, and body. Knowing: knowing through the faculty of mind. Seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing arise through the causes and conditions of faculty, object, and consciousness.... Because they depend upon causes and conditions, they are not real and are called delusive knowing.
(93) Knowing the dream and awakening from the dream still entail a duality: the dream and awakening from the dream. Realizing the dream is nondual: dreaming and awakening from the dream are of one and the same nature of suchness.
(94) Vairocana, whose full name is Mahavairocana, means the Great Sun Buddha, the first Buddha manifested from the Dharma-body. He represents the absolute within the relative and the one essence within the myriad things. Vairocana’s Dharma-body constantly manifests within all things and within this very body and mind, while remaining eternally pure.
(95) Some records state that the Master was born in 668 and passed away in 760. He lived to the age of ninety-three.
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