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Chapter 10:
Final Instructions
One day the Master summoned his disciples Fa
Hai, Chih Ch'eng, Fa Ta, Shen Hui, Chih Ch'ang, Chih T'ung, Chih
Ch'e, Chih Tao, Fa Chen and Fa Ju, and said to them, "You are not
like other people. After my passage into extinction, you should
each be a master in a different direction. I will now teach you how
to explain the Dharma without deviating from the tradition of our
school.
"First bring up the three classes of Dharma-doors, and then use the
thirty-six pairs of opposites, so that, whether coming or going,
you remain in the Bodhimandala. While explaining all the dharmas,
do not become separated from your self-nature. Should someone
suddenly ask you about a dharma, answer him with its opposite. If
you always answer with the opposite, both will be eliminated and
nothing will be left, since each depends on the other for
existence."
"The three classes of Dharma doors are the heaps, the realms, and
the entrances. The five heaps are: form, feeling, perception,
impulses, and consciousness. The twelve entrances are the six sense
objects outside: forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects,
and objects of the mind, and the six sense organs within: eye, ear,
nose, tongue, body, and mind. The eighteen realms are the six sense
objects, the six sense organs and the six consciousnesses.
"The self-nature is able to contain all dharmas; it is the
'store-enveloping consciousness.' If one gives rise to a thought,
it turns into consciousness, and the six consciousnesses are
produced which go out the six organs and perceive the six sense
objects.
"Thus the eighteen realms arise as a function of the self-nature.
If the self-nature is wrong, it gives rise to eighteen wrongs; if
the self-nature is right it gives rise to eighteen rights. Evil
functioning is that of a living being, while good functioning is
that of a Buddha. What is the functioning based on? It is based on
opposing dharmas within the self-nature."
"External insentient things have five pairs of opposites: heaven
and earth, sun and moon, light and darkness, yin and yang, and
water and fire.
"In speaking of the marks of dharmas one should delineate twelve
opposites: speech and dharmas, existence and non-existence, form
and formlessness, the marked and the unmarked, the presence of
outflows and the lack of outflows, form and emptiness, motion and
stillness, clarity and turbidity, the common and the holy,
membership in the Sangha and membership in the laity, old age and
youth, and largeness and smallness.
"From the self-nature nineteen pairs of opposites arise: length and
shortness, deviance and orthodoxy, foolishness and wisdom,
stupidity and intelligence, confusion and concentration, kindness
and cruelty, morality and immorality, straightness and crookedness,
reality and unreality, danger and safety, affliction and Bodhi,
permanence and impermanence, compassion and harm, joy and anger,
generosity and stinginess, advance and retreat, production and
extinction, the Dharma-body and the Form-body, the
Transformation-body and the Reward-body."
The Master said, "If you can understand and use these thirty-six
pairs of opposites you can connect yourself with the dharmas of an
the Sutras and avoid extremes, whether coming or going. When you
act from your self-nature in speaking with others, you are separate
from external marks while in the midst of them and separate from
inward emptiness while in the midst of emptiness. If you are
attached to marks, you will add to your wrong views and if you
grasp at emptiness, you will increase your ignorance."
"Those who grasp at emptiness slander the Sutras by maintaining
that written words have no use. Since they maintain they have no
need of written words, they should not speak either, because
written words are merely the marks of spoken language. They also
maintain that the direct way cannot be established by written
words, and yet these two words, 'not established' are themselves
written.
"When they hear others speaking, they slander them by saying that
they are attached to written words. You should know that to be
confused as they are may be permissible, but to slander the
Buddha's Sutras is not. Do not slander the Sutras for if you do,
your offense will create countless obstacles for you.
"One who attaches himself to external marks and practices dharmas
in search of truth, or who builds many Bodhimandalas and speaks of
the error and evil of existence and non-existence will not see his
nature for many eons.
"Listen to the Dharma and cultivate accordingly. Do not think of
the hundred things, for that will obstruct the nature of the Way.
Listening without cultivating will cause others to form deviant
views. Simply cultivate according to the Dharma, and do not dwell
in marks when bestowing it."
"If you understand, then speak accordingly, function accordingly,
practice accordingly, and act accordingly, and you will not stray
from the basis of our school.
"If someone asks you about a meaning, and the question is about
existence, answer with non-existence; if you are asked about
non-existence, answer with existence; asked about the common life,
answer with the holy life; asked about the holy life, answer with
the common life. Since in each case the two principles are
interdependent, the meaning of the Middle Way will arise between
them. If you answer every question with an opposite, you will not
stray from the basic principle.
"Suppose someone asks, 'What is darkness?' You should answer,
'Brightness is the cause and darkness the condition. When there is
no brightness, there is darkness. Brightness reveals darkness and
darkness reveals brightness.' Since opposites are interdependent,
the principle of the Middle Way is established.
"Answer every question that way, and in the future, when you
transmit the Dharma, transmit it in the way I am instructing you.
Then you will not stray from the tradition of our school."
In the Seventh month of the year Jen Tsu, the first year of the
T'ai Chi and Yen Ho reigns (ca 712 A.D.), the Master sent his
disciples to Sun-Tzau to build a pagoda at Kuo En Temple. He
ordered them to hurry the work and it was completed by the end of
the summer of the following year.
On the first day of the seventh month he gathered his disciples
together and said, "In the eighth month I wish to leave this world.
Those of you with doubts should ask about them soon so that I may
resolve them for you and put an end to your confusion, because when
I am gone there will be no one to teach you."
Hearing this, Fa Hai and the others wept. Only Shen Hui was unmoved
and did not cry. The Master said, "Little Master Shen Hui has
attained to the equality of good and evil. He is not moved by blame
or praise and does not feel sadness or joy. None of the rest of you
have attained that. All these years on the mountain --- how have
you been cultivating?
"Now you cry. Who are you worrying about? Are you worrying that I
don't know where I'm going? I know where I'm going. If I didn't
know, I wouldn't have been able to tell you about it in advance. No
doubt you are crying because you don't know where I am going, but
if you knew you wouldn't need to cry. Originally the Dharma nature
is not produced or extinguished; it does not come or go."
"All of you sit down, and I will recite a verse called 'The
True-False Motion-Stillness Verse.' If you take it up and recite
it, you will be of the same mind as I am. If you rely on it to
cultivate, you will not stray from the true principle of our
school."
The assembly bowed and begged the Master to recite the verse.
There is nothing true in anything,
So don't view anything as true.
If you view anything as true,
Your view will be completely false.
You can know what is true by yourself.
Being apart from the false is the truth of the mind.
When your own mind is not apart from the false
And lacks the truth, then where is the truth?
Sentient beings understand motion.
Insentient beings do not move.
If you cultivate the work of non-movement,
Like insentient beings, you will not move.
If you seek the true non-movement,
In movement, there is non-movement.
Non-movement is non-movement,
Things without sentience lack the Buddha-seed.
Fully able to discriminate among marks,
But unmoving in the primary meaning:
The very act of viewing in this way,
Itself is the function of true suchness.
I tell you, students of the Way,
Apply your minds with effort and take care,
At the gate of the Great Vehicle
Do not grasp the wisdom of birth and death.
If there is response at these words,
Then let us discuss the Buddha's meaning together.
If there is no response,
Join your hands together and make others glad.
The basis of this school is non-contention.
Contention is not the meaning of the Way.
For in grasping at the Dharma doors of contradiction and
contention,
The self-nature enters birth and death.
When the followers heard this verse, they understood its meaning
and bowed down before the Master. They made up their minds to
practice in accord with the Dharma and not to argue, knowing that
the Great Master would not remain long in the world.
The Senior Seated Fa Hai bowed again and asked, "After the High
Master enters extinction, who will inherit the robe and
Dharma?"
The Master said, "Since the time I lectured on the Dharma in the Ta
Fan Temple, transcriptions of my lectures have been circulated.
They are to be called The Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra. Protect and
transmit them in order to take humankind across. If you speak
according to them, you will be speaking the Orthodox Dharma. I will
explain the Dharma to you, but I will not transmit the robe,
because your roots of faith are pure and ripe. You certainly have
no doubts and are worthy of the great Work. According to the
meaning of the transmission verse of the First Patriarch
Bodhidharma, the robe should not be transmitted. His verse
said,
Originally I came to this land,
Transmitting Dharma, saving living beings.
One flower opens; five petals and
The fruit comes bear of itself."
The Master added, "All of you Good Knowing Advisors should purify
your minds and listen to my explanation of the Dharma. If you wish
to realize all knowledge, you must understand the Samadhi of One
Mark and the Samadhi of One Conduct.
"If you do not dwell in marks anywhere and do not give rise to hate
or love, do not grasp or reject, and do not calculate advantage or
disadvantage, production and destruction while in the midst of
marks, but instead remain tranquil, calm, and yielding, then you
will have achieved the Samadhi of One Mark.
"In all places, whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down,
to maintain a straight and uniform mind, to attain the unmoving
Bodhimanda and the true realization of the Pure Land. That is
called the Samadhi of One Conduct."
"One who perfects the two samadhis is like earth in which seeds are
planted; buried in the ground, they are nourished and grow,
ripening and bearing fruit. The One Mark and One Conduct are just
like that.
"I now speak the Dharma which is like the falling of the timely
rain, moistening the great earth. Your Buddha-nature is like the
seeds which, receiving moisture, will sprout and grow. Those who
receive my teaching will surely obtain Bodhi and those who practice
my conduct will certainly certify to the wonderful fruit. Listen to
my verse:
The mind-ground contains every seed;
Under the universal rain they all sprout
Flower and feeling --- Sudden Enlightenment:
The Bodhi-fruit accomplishes itself."
After speaking the verse the Master said, "Dharma is not dual nor
is the mind, and the way is pure and without mark. All of you take
care not to contemplate stillness or empty the mind. The mind is
basically pure and does not grasp or reject anything. Each of you
work hard, and go well, in harmony with circumstances."
At that time, his followers made obeisance and withdrew.
On the eighth day of the seventh month, the Master suddenly said to
his disciples, "I wish to return to Sun-Tzau. Quickly ready a boat
and oars."
The great assembly entreated him earnestly to stay, but the Master
said, "All Buddhas appear in the world and then are seen to enter
Nirvana. This body of mine must return somewhere."
The assembly said, "Master, you are leaving, but sooner or later
you will return."
The Master said, "Falling leaves return to the root. There was no
day on which I came."
They further asked, "Who has received the transmission of the Right
Dharma-eye Treasury?"
The Master said, "The one who has the Way obtains it; the one
without a mind penetrates it."
They further asked, "In the future, there won't be any
difficulties, will there?
The Master said, "Five or six years after my extinction, a man will
come to take my head. Listen to my verse:
Offerings to the parents with bowed head.
There must be food in the mouth.
When the difficulty of 'Man' is met,
The officials will be Yang and Liu."
The Master also said, "Seventy years after my departure, two
Bodhisattvas, one who has left home and one who is a layman will
simultaneously come from the east to propagate and transform. They
will establish my School, build and restore monasteries, and
glorify the Dharma for its heirs."
The assembly made obeisance again and asked, "Will you please let
us know for how many generations the teaching has been transmitted
since the first Buddhas and patriarchs appeared in the
world?"
The Master said, "The Buddhas of antiquity who have responded to
appear in the world are numberless and uncountable."
"But now I will begin with the last seven Buddhas. In the Past
'Adorned Eon' there were Vipashyin Buddha, Shikhin Buddha, and
Vishvabhu Buddha. In the present 'Worthy Eon' there have been
Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Kashyapa Buddha, and
Shakyamuni Buddha."
"From Shakyamuni Buddha, the transmission went to Arya
Mahakashyapa, Arya Ananda, Arya Sanakavasa, Arya Upagupta, Arya
Dhrtaka, Arya Miccaka, Arya Vasumitra Arya Buddhanandi, Arya
Buddhamitra, Arya Parshva…"
"…Arya Punyayashas, Mahasattva Ashvaghosha, Arya Kapimala,
Mahasattva Nagarjuna, Arya Kanadeva, Arya Rahulata Arya
Sanghanandi, Arya Gayashata…"
"…Arya Kumarata, Arya Jayata, Arya Vasubandhu, Arya Manorhita, Arya
Haklena, Arya Aryasimha, Arya Basiasita, Arya Punyamitra, Arya
Prajnatara, Arya Bodhidharma, Great Master Hui K'o, Great Master
Seng Ts'an, Great Master Tao Hsin, Great Master Hung Jen, and I,
Whai-Nung, am the Thirty-Third Patriarch. Thus the transmission has
been handed down from patriarch to patriarch. In the future
transmit it accordingly from generation to generation. Do not allow
it to become extinct."
The assembly heard and faithfully accepted what the Master had
said, bowed, and withdrew.
On the third day of the eighth month of the year Kuei Ch'ou, the
second year of the Hsien T'ien reign (A.D. 713), after a meal in
Kuo En Temple, the Master said, "Each of you take your seat, for I
am going to say goodbye."
Fa Hai said, "What teaching dharma will the High Master leave
behind so that confused people can be led to see the
Buddha-nature?"
The Master said, "All of you please listen carefully. If those of
future generations recognize living beings, they will have
perceived the Buddha-nature. If they do not recognize living
beings, they may seek the Buddha throughout many eons, but he will
be difficult to meet.
"I will now teach you how to recognize the living beings within
your mind and how to see the Buddha-nature there. If you wish to
see the Buddha, simply recognize living beings, for it is living
beings who are confused about the Buddha and not the Buddha who is
confused about living beings.
"When enlightened to the self-nature, the living being is a Buddha.
If confused about the self-nature, the Buddha is a living being.
When the self-nature is impartial, the living being is the Buddha.
When the self-nature is biased, the Buddha is a living being.
"If your thoughts are devious and malicious, the Buddha dwells
within the living being, but by means of one impartial thought, the
living being becomes a Buddha. Our minds have their own Buddha and
that Buddha is the true Buddha. If the mind does not have its own
Buddha, where can the true Buddha be sought? Your own minds are the
Buddha; have no further doubts. Nothing can be established outside
the mind, for the original mind produces the ten thousand dharmas.
Therefore the Sutras say, 'The mind produced, all dharmas are
produced; the mind extinguished, all dharmas are
extinguished.'"
"Now, to say goodbye, I will leave you a verse called the
'Self-Nature's True Buddha Verse.' People of the future who
understand its meaning will see their original mind and realize the
Buddha Way. The verse runs:
The true-suchness self-nature
is the true Buddha.
Deviant views, the three poisons,
are the demon king.
At times deviant confusion
the demon king is in the house;
But when you have proper views
the Buddha is in the hall.
Deviant views, the three poisons
produced within the nature,
Are just the demon king
come to dwell in the house.
Proper views casting out
three poisons of the mind
Transform the demon into Buddha ---
true, not false.
Dharma-body, Reward-body,
and Transformation-body:
Fundamentally, the three bodies
are one body.
Seeing that for yourself
within your own nature
Is the Bodhi-cause
for realizing Buddhahood.
The pure nature is originally produced
from the Transformation-body.
The pure nature is ever-present within
the Transformation-body,
One's nature leads the Transformation-body
down the right road.
And in the future the full perfection
is truly without end.
The root cause of purity
is the lust nature,
For once rid of lust
the substance of the nature is
pure.
Each of you, within your natures;
abandon the five desires.
In an instant, see your nature ---
it is true.
If in this life you encounter
the door of the Sudden Teaching
You will be suddenly enlightened to your self-nature,
and see the Honored of the
World.
If you wish to cultivate
and aspire to Buddhahood,
You won't know where the truth
is to be sought
Unless you can see the truth
within your own mind,
This truth which is the cause
of realizing Buddhahood.
Not see your self-nature
but to seek the Buddha outside:
If you think that way, you are
deluded indeed.
I now leave behind
the Dharma-door of the Sudden
Teaching
To liberate worldly people
who must cultivate themselves.
I announce to you
and to future students of the
Way:
If you do not hold these views
you will only waste your time.
Having spoken the verse the Master continued, "All of you should
take care. After my extinction, do not act with worldly emotion. If
you weep in sorrow, receive condolences, or wear mourning clothes,
you are not my disciples, for that is contrary to the proper
Dharma. Simply recognize your own original mind and see your own
original nature which is neither moving nor still, neither produced
nor extinguished, neither coming nor going, neither right nor
wrong, neither dwelling nor departing."
"Because I am afraid that your confused minds will misunderstand my
intention, I will instruct you again so that you may see your
nature. After my extinction, continue to cultivate accordingly, as
if I were still present. Should you disregard my teaching, then
even if I were to remain in the world, you would obtain no
benefit."
He further spoke this verse:
Firm, firm: Do not cultivate the good.
High, high: Do not do evil.
Still, still: Cut off sight and sound.
Vast, vast: The mind unattached.
After speaking this verse, the Master sat upright until the third
watch, when suddenly he said to his disciples, "I am going!" In an
instant he changed, and a rare fragrance filled the room. A white
rainbow linked with the earth, and the trees in the wood turned
white. The birds and the beasts cried out in sorrow.
In the eleventh month, a dispute arose among the officials,
disciples, Sangha, and laity of the three countries of Kuang Chou,
Sil-Tzau, and Sun-Tzau as to who should receive the true
body.
As they could not agree, they lit incense and prayed saying, "The
Master will be returned to the place indicated by the incense
smoke."
The smoke went directly to Tsoe-Kai and so, on the thirteenth day
of the eleventh month, the reliquary and the transmitted robe and
bowl were returned there. In the following year, on the
twenty-fifth day of the seventh month, the body was removed from
the reliquary and Disciple Fang Pien anointed it with incense
paste. Remembering the prophecy that his head would be taken, the
disciples wrapped sheets of iron and lacquered cloth around his
neck for protection and then placed his body in the pagoda. Just
then a white light appeared within the pagoda, shot up into the
sky, and did not fade for three days. The Magistrate of Sil-Tzau
reported this to the Emperor and received an imperial order to
erect a stone tablet commemorating the Master's conduct in the
Way.
The Master's springs and autumns were seventy-six. The robe was
transmitted to him when he was twenty-four and when he was
thirty-nine his hair was cut. For thirty-seven years he spoke
Dharma to benefit living beings. Forty-three men inherited his
Dharma, and an uncountable number awoke to the way and overstepped
the common lot. The robe of belief transmitted from Bodhidharma,
the Mo Na robe and precious bowl conferred by Emperor Chung Tsung,
as well as the lifelike image sculpted by Fang Pien and other
articles of the Way, were entrusted to the attendant in charge of
the stupa and were permanently retained at the Boe-Larm
Bodhimandala for the Bodhimanda's protection.
The Platform Sutra has been transmitted to set forth the principles
of our school, to glorify the Triple Jewel, and to benefit all
living beings.