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Chapter VII
Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Attainment 1
CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH the Patriarch when he was living at Po-lam Monastery was Grand Master Shin-shau who was preaching in Yuk-chuen Monastery of King-nam. At that time the two schools of Hui-neng in the South and of Shin-shau in the North were both flourishing. As the two schools were distinguished from each other by the names, Sudden, and Gradual, some Buddhist scholars were troubled as to which school to follow.
One day the Patriarch addressed his assembly as follows:--
"So far as the Dharma is concerned, there can be only one school. If a distinction is made, it exists in
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the fact that the founder of one school was a Northern man, and the founder of the other was a Southern man. While there is only one system of Dharma, some disciples realise it quicker than others but the reason why the names, ”Sudden” and ”Gradual,” are given is because some disciples are superior to others in their mental dispositions. So far as the Dharma is concerned, the distinction of Sudden and Gradual does not exist."
(Between the two leaders there was mutual respect but) the followers of Shin-shau often criticised the Patriarch. They discredited him by saying that he was illiterate and could not distinguish himself in any respect. Shin-shau, on the other hand, admitted that he was inferior to the Patriarch in one respect, namely, that Hui-neng thoroughly understood the teachings of the Mahayana, even if he had attained that wisdom without the aid of a teacher. "Moreover," he added, "my Master, the Fifth Patriarch, would not have personally transmitted the robe and bowl to him without good cause: I regret that, owing to the patronage of the
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[paragraph continues] Court, which I by no means deserve, I am unable to travel far to receive instruction from him personally. You should go to Tso-kai to consult him. Do not tarry."
One day, Shin-shau said to his disciple, Chi-shing, "You are clever and witty; I wish you would go to Tso-kai and attend the lectures there. Try your best to keep in mind what you hear, so that on your return you may repeat it to me."
Acting on his teacher”s instruction, Chi-shing arrived at Tso-kai. Without saying anything about where he came from, he joined the company attending the Patriarch”s lectures. When the Patriarch came to address the assembly, he said, "Some one has come here secretly to learn my teaching and later to plagiarise it." Chi-shing at once came forward, made obeisance, and told the Patriarch what his mission was.
"You come from Yuk-chuen Monastery, do you
" said the Patriarch. "Then you must be a spy."
"No, I am not," replied Chi-shing. "Why not
" asked the Patriarch. "If I had not told you, I would have been a spy," said Chi-shing. "Since I have told you who I am, I am no spy."
"Tell me, how does your teacher instruct his disciples
" asked the Patriarch.
"He often tells them to concentrate their minds in a meditation on ”purity”; to keep up the dhyana position constantly, and not to lie down."
Said the Patriarch, "To concentrate the mind on a meditation on ”purity” is an infirmity and is not Dhyana. To restrict oneself to the cross-legged position all the time is logically unprofitable. Listen to this stanza:--
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"A living man sits and does not lie down;
But a dead man lies down and does not sit.
On this physical body of ours, why should we impose the task of sitting crosslegged
"
* * *
Making obeisance a second time, Chi-shing remarked, "Though I have studied Buddhism for nine years under Grand Master Shin-shau, my mind was not awakened for enlightenment, but as soon as you speak to me, my mind is enlightened. As the question of continuous re-birth is an important one, I wish you would take pi…
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