I answered, “Your disciple is a native of Ling-nan,18 a citizen of Hsin-chou. I have purposely come a great distance to pay you reverence. I seek nothing other than to practice the Law of the Buddha.”
The Great Master reproved me, saying, “You are from Ling-nan, and, furthermore, you are a barbarian. How can you become a Buddha?”
I answered, “Although people are distinguished as northerners and southerners, there is neither north nor south in the Buddha-nature. The physical body of the barbarian and [that of]19 the monk are different. But what difference is there in their Buddha-nature?”
The Great Master intended to argue with me further, but, seeing people around, said nothing more. He ordered me to attend to duties among the rest. Then a lay attendant ordered me to the rice-pounding area20 to pound rice. This I did for more than eight months.
4. One day the Fifth Patriarch (Hung-jen) suddenly called all his pupils to come to him. When we had already21 assembled, he said, “Let me say this to you: Life and death are serious matters. You disciples are engaged all day in making offerings, going after fields of blessings22 only, and you make no effort to achieve freedom from the bitter sea of life and death. If you are deluded in your own nature, how can blessings save you? Go to your rooms, all of you, and think for yourselves. Those who possess wisdom use the wisdom (prajñā) inherent in their own nature. Each of you must write a verse and present it to me. After I see the verses, I will give the robe and the Law to the one who understands the basic idea [of the Law preached by the Buddha] and will appoint him to be the Sixth Patriarch. Hurry, hurry!”
6.--. . . .At midnight Head Monk Shen-hsiu, holding a candle, wrote a verse on the wall of the south corridor, without anyone knowing about it, which said:
The body is the tree of perfect wisdom (bodhi)
The mind is the stand of a bright mirror.
At all times diligently wipe it.
Do not allow it to become dusty.
7.--. . . .The Fifth Patriarch said, “The verse you wrote shows some but not complete understanding. You have arrived at the front door but you have not yet entered it. Ordinary people, by practicing in accordance with your verse, will not fail. But it is futile to seek the supreme perfect wisdom while holding to such a view. One must enter the door and see his own nature. Go away and come back after thinking a day or two. Write another verse and present it to me. If then you have entered the door and have seen your own nature, I will give you the robe and the Law.” Head Monk Shen-hsiu went away and for several days could not produce another verse.
8.--. . . .I (Hui-neng) also composed a verse. . . . My verse says:
Fundamentally perfect wisdom has no tree.
Nor has the bright mirror any stand.
Buddha-nature is forever clear and pure.
Where is there any dust?
Another verse, which says:
The mind is the tree of perfect wisdom.
The body is the stand of a bright mirror.
The bright mirror is originally clear and pure.
Where has it been defiled by any dust?
Monks in the hall were all surprised at these verses. I, however, went back to the rice-pounding area. The Fifth Patriarch suddenly realized that I alone had the good knowledge and understanding of the basic idea, but he was afraid lest the rest learn it. He therefore told them, “He does not understand perfectly after all.”
9. The Fifth Patriarch waited till midnight, called me to come to the hall, and expounded the Diamond Scripture. As soon as I heard this, I understood. That night the Law was imparted to me without anyone’s knowing it, and thus the method of sudden enlightenment and the robe were transmitted to me. “You are now the Sixth Patriarch. This robe is the testimony of transmission from generation to generation. As to the Law, it is to be transmitted from mind to mind. Let people achieve enlightenment through their own effort.”
The Fifth Patriarch said, “Hui-neng, from the very beginning, in the transmission of the Law one’s life is as delicate as hanging by a thread. If you remain here, someone might harm you. You must leave quickly.”
Comment. The praise of the Diamond Scripture may conflict with the doctrine of total rejection of literature enunciated below. The important point, however, is that before Hui-neng, the most important scripture in Zen was the Laṅkāvatāra sūtra (Scripture about [the Buddha] Entering into Laṅka).23 Hui-neng praised the Diamond Scripture instead. This in itself was a revolt.
12. Then I came and stayed in this place (the Canton region) and associated with government officials, disciples who have renounced their families, and lay folk. This, after all, was due to causes operating over many long periods of time. The doctrine has been handed down from past sages; it is not my own wisdom. Those who wish to hear the teachings of past sages must purify their hearts. Having heard them, they of India, popularly identified with Ceylon. must vow to rid themselves of delusions and thereby to become enlightened as24 the former sages. (This is the method described below.)25
Great Master Hui-neng declared, “Good and learned friends, perfect wisdom is inherent in all people. It is only because they are deluded in their minds that they cannot attain enlightenment by themselves. They must seek the help of good and learned friends of high standing to show them the way to see [their own] nature. Good and learned friends, as soon as one is enlightened, he attains wisdom.”
13. “Good and learned friends, calmness (samādhi) and wisdom (prajñā) are the foundations of my method.26 First of all, do not be deceived into thinking that the two are different. They are one substance and not two. Calmness is the substance of wisdom and wisdom is the function of calmness. Whenever wisdom is at work, calmness is within it. Whenever calmness is at work, wisdom is within it. Good and learned friends, the meaning here is that [calmness and] wisdom are identified. Seekers of the Way, arouse your minds. Do not say that wisdom follows27 calmness or vice versa, or that the two are different. To hold such a view [would imply that] the dharmas (elements of existence) possess two different characters. In the case of those whose words are good but whose hearts are not good, wisdom and calmness are not identified. But in the case of those whose hearts and words are both good and in whom the internal and the external are one, calmness and wisdom are identified. Self-enlightenment and practice do not consist in argument. If one is concerned about which comes first, he is a [deluded]28 person. If he is not freed from the consideration of victory or defeat, he will produce the dharmas as real entities29 and cannot be free from the Four Characters [of coming into existence, remaining in the same state, change, and going out of existence].”
Comment. This spirit of synthesis is characteristic of the Southern School. We have already seen this synthetic character of the mind in Hua-yen and T’ien-t’ai. In fact, this goes back to early Taoism and Neo-Taoism, and it is no wonder that Zen writers employed many Taoist and Neo-Taoist terms, such as “substance” and “function” and “original substance.” Shen-hui as a youth studied the Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.
16.--“Good and learned friends, in method there is no distinction between sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment. Among men, however, some are intelligent and others are stupid. Those who are deluded understand gradually, while the enlightened achieve understanding suddenly. But when they know their own minds, then they see their own nature, and there is no difference in their enlightenment. Without enlightenment, they remain forever bound in transmigration.”
17.--“Good and learned friends, in this method of mine, from the very beginning, whether in the sudden-enlightenment or gradual-enlightenment tradition, absence-of-thought has been instituted as the main doctrine, absence-of-characters as the substance, and nonattachment as the foundation. What is meant by absence-of-characters? Absence-of-characters means to be free from characters while in the midst of them. Absence-of-thought means not to be carried away by thought in the process of thought. Nonattachment is man’s original nature. Thought after thought goes on without remaining. P
ast, present, and future thoughts continue without termination. But if we cut off and terminate thought one instant, the dharma-body (Law-body or spiritual body)30 is freed from the physical body. At no time should a single instant of thought be attached to any dharma. If one single instant of thought is attached to anything, then every thought will be attached. That is bondage. But if in regard to dharmas no thought is attached to anything, that is freedom. [This is] the meaning of having nonattachment as the foundation.
“Good and learned friends, to be free from all characters means the absence of characters. Only if we can be free from characters will the substance of our nature be pure. That is the meaning of taking the absence-of-character as the substance.
“Absence-of-thought means not to be defiled by external objects.31 It is to free our thoughts from external objects and not to have thoughts arise over dharmas. But do not32 stop thinking about everything and eliminate all thought. As soon as thought stops, one dies33 and is reborn elsewhere. Take heed of this, followers of the Way. If34 one does not think35 over the meaning of the Law and becomes mistaken himself, that is excusable. How much worse is it to encourage others to be [mistaken]! Deluded, he does not realize that he is so, and he even blasphemes the scripture and the Law! That is the reason why absence-of-thought is instituted as the doctrine. Because people who are deluded have thoughts about the spheres of objects, perverse views arise36 in them, and all sorts of afflictions resulting from passions and erroneous thoughts are produced.
Comment. The doctrine of the absence of thought is no cult of unconsciousness. Nor is it a Zen invention. It goes back to Taoism, Neo-Taoism, and the Early Seven Schools of Buddhism, all of which taught “having no mind of one’s own,” that is, having no mental attachment which would keep the mind in bondage.
“However, this school has instituted absence-of-thought as the doctrine. When people of the world are free from erroneous views, no thoughts will arise. If there are no thoughts, there will not even be an ‘absence-of-thought.’ Absence means absence of what? Thought means thought of what? Absence-of-thought means freedom from the character of the duality (existence or nonexistence of characters) and from all afflictions resulting from passions. [Thought means thought of the true nature of True Thusness (True Reality).]37 True Thusness is the substance of thought and thought is the function of True Thusness. It is the self-nature that gives rise to thought. Therefore in spite of the functioning of seeing, hearing, sensing, and knowing, self-nature is not defiled by the many spheres of objects and always remains free and at ease. As the Wei-mo-chieh [so-shuo] ching (Scripture Spoken by Vimalakīrti) says, “Externally it skillfully differentiates the various dharma-characters while internally it abides immovably in the First Principle.”38
18.--“Good and learned friends, according to this method sitting in meditation is at bottom neither looking at39 the mind nor looking at purity. Nor do we say that there should be imperturbability.40 Suppose we say to look at the mind. The mind is at bottom false. Since being false is the same as being illusory, there is nothing to look at. Suppose we say to look at purity. Man’s nature is originally pure. It is by false thoughts that True Thusness is obscured. Our original nature is pure as long as it is free from false thoughts. If one does not realize that his own nature is originally pure and makes up his mind to look at purity, he is creating a false purity. Such purity has no objective existence. Hence we know that what is looked at is false. Purity has neither physical form nor character, but some people set up characters of purity and say that this is the object of our task. People who take this view hinder their own original nature and become bound by purity. If those who cultivate imperturbability would ignore people’s mistakes and defects, their nature would not be perturbed. Deluded people may not be perturbed physically themselves, but whenever they speak, they criticize others and thus violate the Way. Thus looking at the mind or at purity causes a hindrance to the Way.”
19.--“Now, this being the case, in this method, what is meant by sitting in meditation? In this method, to sit means to be free from all obstacles, and externally not to allow thoughts to rise from the mind41 over any sphere of objects. To meditate means to realize the imperturbability of one’s original nature. What is meant by meditation and calmness? Meditation means to be free from all characters externally; calmness means to be unperturbed internally. If there are characters outside and the inner mind is not disturbed, one’s original nature is naturally pure and calm. It is only because of the spheres of objects that there is contact, and contact leads to perturbation. There is calmness when one is free from characters and is not perturbed. There is meditation when one is externally free from characters, and there is calmness when one is internally undisturbed. Meditation and calmness mean that external meditation is attained and internal calmness is achieved. The Wei-mo-chieh [so-shuo] ching says, ‘Immediately we become completely clear and recover our original mind.’42 The P’u-sa chieh ching (Scripture of Disciplines for Bodhisattvahood) says, ‘We are originally pure in our self-nature.’43 Good and learned friends, realize that your self-nature is naturally pure. Cultivate and achieve for yourselves the Law-body of your self-nature. Follow the Way of the Buddha yourselves. Act and achieve Buddhahood for yourselves.”
20.--“Good and learned friends, you must all go through the experience yourselves and receive the discipline that frees you from the attachment to differentiated characters. Follow me at the same time and repeat my slogans. They will enable you, good and learned friends, to see that the Three Bodies44 of the Buddha are within you: ‘We take refuge in the pure Law-body of the Buddha with our own physical bodies. We take refuge in the Myriad Transformation-body with our own physical bodies. We take refuge in the Perfect Reward-body with our own physical bodies.’ (The above is to be chanted three times.)45 The physical body is like an inn and cannot be spoken of as a refuge. It has always been the case that the Three Bodies lie in one’s own nature. Everyone has them, yet because they are deluded they do not see, and they seek the Three [Bodies] of the Tathāgata (Thus-come Buddha)46 externally, without realizing that the Three Bodies are inherent in one’s own physical body. Good and learned friends, listen to your good friend. If you, good and learned friends, now see in your own physical bodies the self-nature that involves the Three Bodies of the Buddha, these Three Bodies will arise from your nature.
Comment. The doctrine of “becoming a Buddha in this very body” is a far cry from the original Indian idea that the body is a hindrance to freedom. One cannot help recalling that the Confucianists have always regarded the body as a gift from parents and as such it is a sacred trust and therefore to be well taken care of, and that for centuries the Taoists religion had tried in many ways, including medicine, diets, exercise, sex technique, and breath control, to make the body suitable for everlasting life on earth. These are some of the roots that make Zen essentially Chinese.
“What is meant by the Pure [Law]47 of the Buddha? Good and learned friends, our nature is originally pure. All dharmas lie in this self-nature. If we think of all kinds of evil deeds, we will practice evil. If we think of all kinds of good deeds, we will do good. Thus we know that all dharmas lie in one’s self-nature. Self-nature is always pure, just as the sun and moon are always shining. It is only when they are obscured by clouds that there is brightness above but darkness below and the sun, the moon, and the stars cannot be seen. But when suddenly a gentle wind blows and scatters all clouds and fog, all phenomena are abundantly spread out before us, all appearing together. The purity of people’s nature is comparable to the clear sky, their wisdom comparable to the sun, and sagacity comparable to the moon. Their sagacity and wisdom are always shining. It is only because externally people are attached to spheres of objects48 that erroneous thoughts, like floating clouds, cover the self-nature so that it is not clear. Therefore when they meet a good and learned friend who reveals to them the true method and scatters delusions and falsehood, then they are thoroughly illumined both internally and e
xternally, and all dharmas reveal the free and easy character in their own nature. This is called the Pure Law-body. By taking refuge ourselves is meant to remove evil deeds. This is called taking refuge.
“What is meant by the Myriad Transformation-body? When there is no thought, one’s nature is empty of differentiated characters and is tranquil, but when there is thought, that is self-transformation. When one thinks of evil dharmas, the transformation becomes hell, but when one thinks of good dharmas, the transformation becomes Paradise. What is poisonous and harmful is transformed into beasts. What is compassionate is transformed into bodhisattvas.49 What is sagacious and wise is transformed into the higher realm. What is ignorant and deluded is transformed into the lower region. The transformations of self-nature are many,50 but deluded people do not know this themselves. If one has a single good thought, sagacity and wisdom arise.
“What is meant by the Perfect Reward-body? One light can illuminate the darkness of a thousand years, and one bit of wisdom can destroy the ignorance of ten thousand years. Never mind looking back to the past; always consider the future, and always make future thoughts good. This is called the Reward-body. The reward of one evil thought will remove51 the good of a thousand years, and the reward of one good thought will destroy the evil of a thousand years. At all times make the next thought a good one. This is called the Reward-body. Thinking on the basis of the Law-body is the same as the Transformation-body, and making every thought good is the same as the Reward-body. Achieving enlightenment oneself and practicing [the Law] oneself is called taking refuge. Skin and flesh constitute the physical body. It is an inn and cannot be spoken52 of as a refuge. If a person understands the Three Bodies, he will recognize my basic idea.”
30. “All scriptures and writings, both Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, and the twelve sections of the scriptures are provided for [men].53 It is because man possesses the nature of wisdom that these were instituted. If there were no men in the world, there would naturally not be any dharmas.54 We know, therefore, that dharmas exist because of man and that there are all these scriptures because there are people to preach them.
A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy Page 53
