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A Brief History Of The First Six Buddhist Patriarchs In China |
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The
Sixth Patriarch Great
Master Huineng Great Master
Huineng, who was the Sixth Patriarch in China, was from Xinzhou in Canton.
His ancestors were originally from northern China, but later moved south and
settled in Canton. His father, of the Lu family, died when the Master was
only three years old. His mother remained a widow and took care of her son.
The Master chopped and sold firewood to support them. Once when he was
selling firewood to a shop, he noticed a customer reciting the Vajra
(Diamond) Sutra. Upon hearing the words of this Sutra: "One should
produce that thought which is nowhere supported," he became enlightened.
As a layperson, he went to the monastery of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren in
the Sung Mountain Range. There in the Huang Mei Way-place, he did manual
labor, threshing rice for eight months. The Fifth Patriarch, knew that the
time had come to transmit the Dharma to him, because the Patriarch was aware
that, during those months of bitter toil, the newcomer had not had any false
thinking, but had single-mindedly worked at developing his skill. That's how
the Patriarch knew that the time was right, and so he asked those in the
Great Assembly to write verses and submit them. Master Shenxiu [the
Fifth Patriarch's senior disciple] secretly wrote this verse: The body is a Bodhi tree, The mind like a
mirror stand. Time and again brush
it clean, And let no dust alight. When the Sixth
Patriarch saw it, he wrote another verse: Originally Bodhi has no tree, The bright mirror has
no stand. Originally there is
not a single thing: Where can dust
alight? This verse is a
criticism of Shenxiu's verse. The line "Time and again brush it
clean" describes the process of cultivation. The Sixth Patriarch, being
one who was already beyond that stage, was someone who has "crossed the
river" and no longer "needed the raft." And so he said,
"Bodhi has no tree; the bright mirror has no stand. Originally there is
not a single thing." To begin with, there is nothing at all, "Where
can dust alight?" Where could there be any place for the dust? That's
what he meant. The Fifth Patriarch,
Great Master Huangmei, said nothing when he saw the second verse, but he
remembered the person who wrote it. At that time people who studied the
Buddhadharma were mutually jealous and obstructive. You were afraid I might
get the Patriarchate and I was afraid you would get it. So everyone was
biding his time, hoping to receive the robe and bowl. And so they were
competing with each other, just like the way people cultivate now: you want
to get enlightened; he wants to become a Buddha; and she, what does she want?
There's always something obstructing them so their efforts bring no response.
Well, the Fifth Patriarch transmitted the robe and bowl to the Sixth
Patriarch in the middle of the night. After imparted the essentials of
cultivation to him, he told the Great Master to flee in the night. It was
that dangerous back then; now it is even worse. The Fifth Patriarch
spoke this verse to Great Master Huineng: With feeling comes the planting of the
seed. Because of the
ground, the fruit is born again. Without feeling there
is no seed at all. Without that nature there is no birth either. With feeling
comes the planting of the seed.
There must be a life force, the ability to generate and transform, before the
seed can be planted. Because of the ground, the fruit is
born again. The seed
planted into the ground can grow and bear fruit. Without feeling there is no seed at
all. If there is no
life force, there is no seed and the ground will be useless. Without that nature there is no birth
either. If there is no
nature and life, there is no productive force. In cultivating the Way, don't
be afraid of idle thoughts. If idle thoughts come, simply set them aside,
avoid being turned by them, and continue cultivating. Don't be afraid of
thoughts. As long as you don't let your mind wander off and follow those
thoughts, they are not a problem. Gather in your body and mind; don't pursue
your false thoughts. If there is no birth, no productive nature, there is
also no life force. After the Sixth
Patriarch received the robe and bowl and the Proper Dharma Eye Treasury, he went
to live among hunters. Many years later, seeing that the conditions were
ripe, he went to Guangzhou where Dharma Master Yinzong was giving lectures on
the Nirvana Sutra. There he met two monks arguing over the topic of a
flag in the wind. One said the wind moved; the other said the flag moved. The
first one said that the wind is invisibly moving the visible flag. Each
expressed his own principle. The Sixth Patriarch told them, "The wind is
not moving, nor is the flag. Your minds, Kind Sirs, are moving. If you minds
were not moving, then there would be nothing at all." Then he showed
everyone the robe and bowl, and he left the home-life. Afterwards people
invited him to establish a monastery in Caoxi, where in the past (502 A.D.)
the Venerable Wisdom Medicine (Jnanabhaishajya) had made a prophecy, saying
that after one hundred and seventy years, a Bodhisattva in the flesh would
proclaim the Buddhadharma there. It was then exactly one hundred and seventy
years after the prophecy, and so the Great Master went to Caoxi and
constructed Nanhua Monastery--The Caoxi Way-place. Later on he transmitted
the Dharma to over thirty people, of whom Masters Nanyue and Qingyuan were
the leaders. The Great Master
completed the stillness in the second year of the Xiantian reign of the Tang
dynasty, at the age of seventy-six. Emperor Xianzong conferred upon him the
posthumous title of Dhyana Master Dajian ("Great Example"). A stupa
was built called the Lingzhao ("Spiritual Illumination") Stupa. A
praise says: One should be nowhere supported; Splitting wood,
opening like a flower; Originally, there is
nothing at all; He was like rice
waiting for the sieve. From Huangmei, in the
middle of the night, He unexpectedly
obtained the robe. Circulating the
teaching to all under heaven, One flower blooms with five petals. The first line
refers to the principle of non-attachment spoken of in the Vajra Sutra.
Threshing rice and chopping wood, the Sixth Patriarch progressed in his
cultivation, like a flower opening up. Originally, there is not a single
thing. But he was still not quite ready, just like threshed rice waiting for
the sieve. Dhyana Master Huangmei transmitted the Dharma to him in the middle
of the night, covering the Sixth Patriarch with his kashaya sash. His
teaching, signified by the robe and bowl, circulated throughout the world.
The five petals of the flower represent the Yunmen, the Fayan (Dharma Eye),
the Linzi, the Caodong, and the Weiyang sects. These five sects have been
transmitted down to the present time. And so I said, Without relying on
language, the robe and bowl are transmitted. Originally there's
not a single thing, so words are done away with. Awakening to the
mind's origin, one smashes through delusion. Understanding the
nature's sea, one roams through space. With a
five-petalled flower, the wisdom life continues. For tens of
thousands of years, the Buddhas have been saving the world. Caoxi's Dharma
water flows to worlds as many as grains of sand, Washing away
living beings' severe illnesses of defilements. There was no
written document certifying the transmission of robe and bowl from the Fifth
Patriarch to the Sixth Patriarch. Not like now when you can get a certificate
of graduation. He had nothing at all in the way of proof. And so it's said
that originally, there was nothing at all. Since there isn't anything, then
there is nothing to be said. Smashing through delusion means understanding
the source of the true mind. And so he was not confused and not upside-down.
People who still have emotion and love are confused and upside-down. They get
confused by those things. We need to understand that originally those things
do not exist, and so why should we be controlled by them? You should realize
that the "sea" of the nature is so great there is nothing outside
of it, and yet so small there is nothing within it. With the Dharma
Realm as substance, what could be outside? With empty space
as function, what is not included? The myriad things
are level and equal, apart from discrimination. With not a single
thought arising, words and speech are ended. If you can be like
this, you will understand that the sea of the nature is completely empty. You
will roam in the great void, roaming until there isn't a trace of ignorance
to be found in the great sea. Starting
with the Sixth Patriarch, the Yunmen, Fayan, Caodong, Linzi, and Weiyang
sects have been passed down to the present--they are five petals of a single
blossom, perpetuating the Buddha's wisdom. For tens of thousands of ages, the
Buddhas have been teaching the people of the world. The waters of Cao Creek
have circulated throughout space and the Dharma Realm, flowing to worlds in
number like the sands of the Ganges, washing away living beings' severe
illnesses of ignorance and affliction. |
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