..续本文上一页, smell, taste, touch, mentation) in passing through their six sense-gates will neither be defiled by nor attached to their six sense-objects. When our mind works freely without any hindrance and is at liberty "to come" or "to go, "then we have attained the intuitive insight of Prajna, which is emancipation. To enable one to attain such a mental state of freedom is the function of intuitive insight. To refrain from thinking of anything, in the sense that all mental activity is suppressed, is to be Dharma-ridden; this is an extremely erroneous view. (Discriminative thought which leads to desire and attachment, or to aversion and defilement, is to be

　　p. 245

　　controlled in the interests of intuitive thought which leads to self-realisation and freedom.)

　　Those who understand the way of intuitive insight will know everything; they will have the experience that all the Buddhas have had, and they will attain Buddhahood. In the future, if an initiate of my school should make a vow in company with his fellow-disciples to devote his whole life without retrogression to the practice and commemoration of the teachings of this "Sudden" School, in the same spirit as if he were serving the Buddha, he would attain without failure the Path that leads to Bodhisattvahood and Buddhahood. He should transmit from heart the instructions handed down. from one Patriarch to another, and no attempt should be made to conceal the orthodox teaching.

　　Learned Audience: I have a Stanza for all of you to recite. Both laity and monks should put its teachings into practice, without which I t would be useless to remember the words alone. Listen to this stanza:--

　　A master of the Buddhist canon

　　As well as the teachings of the Dhyana school

　　Should teach nothing but the Dharma for realising Essence of Mind.

　　We can hardly classify dharmas into "sudden" and "gradual,"

　　But some men will attain enlightenment quicker than others.

　　For example: this system for realising Essence of Mind

　　Is beyond the comprehension of the ignorant.

　　We may explain it in ten thousand ways, p. 246

　　But all these explanations may be traced back to one principle,

　　To illumine our gloomy mind, stained by defilement,

　　We should constantly set up the Sun of Wisdom.

　　Erroneous views keep us in defilement,

　　But right views remove us far from it.

　　But when we are in a position to discard both defilement and purity

　　Then are we absolutely free.

　　Bodhi is immanent in our Mind-essence;

　　Any attempt to look for it elsewhere is foolish.

　　Within our defiled minds, purity is to be found,

　　And once our mind is set right, we are free from the bonds

　　Of defilement, of evil karma, of expiation.

　　If we are treading the Path of Enlightenment,

　　We need not be worried by stumbling-blocks.

　　If we keep an eye constantly on our own faults,

　　We cannot go far astray from the right path.

　　Every species of life has its own way of salvation;

　　They will not be antagonistic one to another.

　　If we leave our own path and seek for another way

　　Of salvation, we shall never find it.

　　Though we plod on till death overtake us

　　We shall find only penitence at the end.

　　If one wishes to find the true way,

　　Right action will lead him to it directly.

　　If one has not a mind to aim at Buddhahood,

　　One will grope in the dark and never find it.

　　He who treads the Path in earnest

　　Sees not the mistakes of the world.

　　If we find fault with others, p. 247

　　We ourselves are also in the wrong;

　　When other people are in the wrong we should ignore it;

　　It is wrong for one to find fault with others.

　　By getting rid of the habit of fault-finding,

　　We get rid of one source of defilement.

　　When neither hatred nor love disturb the mind,

　　Serene and restful is our sleep.

　　Those who intend to be teachers of others

　　Should themselves be skillful in the various expedients that lead to enlightenment.

　　When the disciple is free from all doubts

　　Then it indicates that his Mind-essence is unclouded.

　　This world is the Buddha-world

　　Within which enlightenment may be sought.

　　To seek enlightenment by separating from this world

　　Is as foolish as to search for a rabbit”s horn.

　　Right views are called "transcendental,"

　　Erroneous views are called "worldly,"

　　But when all views, both right and erroneous, are discarded,

　　Then the essence of Wisdom manifests itself.

　　Kalpa after kalpa a man may be under illusion,

　　But once enlightened, it takes him but a moment to attain Buddhahood.

　　*

　　After hearing what the Patriarch had to say, Prefect Wai, the government officials, Taoists, monks and laymen, were all enlightened. They made obeisence in a body and exclaimed unanimously, "Well done! Well done! Who would have expected that a Buddha would be born in Kwongtung

　　"

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　　Footnotes

　　235:1 NOTE BY EDITOR. The Sanskrit word, Prajna, can be translated by "Transcendental Wisdom," but that gives a very inadequate idea of it. Bodhi is the word that is commonly used for "wisdom"; Prajna is rather the Principle of Wisdom, that is, Prajna is the Ultimate Principle of Intellection. But Prajna is also the Ultimate Principle of Compassion, because Wisdom and Love are One in Ultimate Principle. Prajna is rather the active aspect of Ultimate Reality, and as such manifests itself in both integration and differentiation; as both the unifying urge of attraction, affection, sympathy, compassion, and the analysing urge of intelligence and creative activity. If we consider Prajna as the active aspect of the Dharmakaya, then Nirvana is the passive aspect, while Buddhahood is each and both. Laotsu”s Tao, and Bergson”s elan vital are perhaps only other names for Prajna.

《Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Chapter II· Discourse on Prajna》全文阅读结束。