--- title: "五燈會元 · 二祖慧可大師" description: "五燈會元由宋代高僧普濟編撰，成書於南宋淳祐年間，是中國禪宗重要典籍之一。該書彙編了禪宗五家七宗的傳法譜系與公案語錄，包括法眼、雲門、曹洞、臨濟、溈仰五宗祖師的機鋒對話與悟道因緣，系統整理了禪宗從初祖達摩至唐宋時期的發展脈絡。全書共二十卷，以燈燈相傳為喻，展現了禪宗心法傳承的歷史軌跡。作為研究唐宋禪宗思想的核心文獻，五燈會元不僅是佛教史學的重要資料，更是禪門修行者參究心性的權威指南，在中國佛教史上具有不可替代的地位。" url: "https://rushiwowen.co/en/r/cma8xe3m80j9jl4047cbk3nah" --- ### 二祖慧可大師者 > The Second Patriarch, Master Huike 武牢人也。姓姬氏。父寂。未有子時。甞自念言。我家崇善。豈令無子。禱之既久。一夕感異光照室。其母因而懷姙。及長。遂以照室之瑞。名之曰光。自幼志氣不羣。博涉詩書。尤精玄理。而不事家產。好遊山水。後覽佛書。超然自得。即抵洛陽龍門香山。依寶靜禪師。出家受具於永穆寺。浮游講肆。徧學大小乘義。年三十三。却返香山。終日宴坐。又經八載。於寂默中倐見一神人謂曰。將欲受果。何滯此邪。大道匪遙。汝其南矣。祖知神助。因改名神光。翌日。覺頭痛如刺。其師欲治之。空中有聲曰。此乃換骨。非常痛也。祖遂以見神事白于師。師視其頂骨。即如五峯秀出矣。乃曰。汝相吉祥。當有所證。神令汝南者。斯則少林達磨大士必汝之師也。祖受教。造于少室。其得法傳衣事迹。達磨章具之矣。自少林託化西歸。大師繼闡玄風。博求法嗣。至北齊天平二年。有一居士。年踰四十。不言名氏。聿來設禮。而問祖曰。弟子身纏風恙。請和尚懺罪。祖曰。將罪來。與汝懺。士良久曰。覔罪不可得。祖曰。與汝懺罪竟。宜依佛法僧住。士曰。今見和尚。已知是僧。未審何名佛法。祖曰。是心是佛。是心是法。法佛無二。僧寶亦然。士曰。今日始知罪性不在內。不在外。不在中間。如其心然。佛法無二也。祖深器之。即為剃髮。云。是吾寶也。宜名僧璨。其年三月十八日。於光福寺受具。自茲疾漸愈。執侍經二載。祖乃告曰。菩提達磨遠自竺乾。以正法眼藏并信衣密付於吾。吾今授汝。汝當守護。無令斷絕。聽吾偈曰。本來緣有地。因地種華生。本來無有種。華亦不曾生。祖付衣法已。又曰。汝受吾教。宜處深山。未可行化。當有國難。璨曰。師既預知。願垂示誨。祖曰。非吾知也。斯乃達磨傳般若多羅懸記云心中雖吉外頭㐫是也。吾校年代。正在于汝。汝當諦思前言。勿罹世難。然吾亦有宿累。今要酬之。善去善行。俟時傳付。祖付囑已。即往鄴都。隨宜說法。一音演暢。四眾皈依。如是積三十四載。遂韜光混跡。變易儀相。或入諸酒肆。或過於屠門。或習街談。或隨廝役。人問之曰。師是道人。何故如是。祖曰。我自調心。何關汝事。又於筦城縣匡救寺三門下。談無上道。聽者林會。時有辯和法師者。於寺中講涅槃經。學徒聞師闡法。稍稍引去。辯和不勝其憤。興謗于邑宰翟仲侃。翟惑其邪說。加祖以非法。祖怡然委順。識真者謂之償債。時年一百七歲。即隋文帝開皇十三年癸丑歲三月十六日也。塟磁州滏陽縣東北七十里。唐德宗諡大祖禪師皓月供奉問長沙岑和尚。古德云。了即業障本來空。未了應須償宿債。只如師子尊者．二祖大師。為甚麼得償債去。沙曰。大德不識本來空。月曰。如何是本來空。沙曰。業障是。曰。如何是業障。沙曰。本來空是。月無語。沙以偈示之曰。假有元非有。假滅亦非無。涅槃償債義。一性更無殊。 > He was from Wulao. His family name was Ji. His father was named Ji. When his father had no son, he once thought to himself: "My family venerates goodness—how could we be without an heir?" After praying for a long time, one evening a strange light shone in the room, and his mother conceived. When the child grew up, they named him Guang ("Light") after the auspicious sign of the illuminated room. From childhood his spirit and ambition stood apart from the crowd. He studied poetry and books widely, and was especially skilled in profound principles, but he did not attend to family property. He loved roaming among mountains and rivers. Later, upon reading Buddhist texts, he felt a transcendent joy. He then went to Xiangshan in Longmen, Luoyang, and became a disciple of Chan Master Baojing. He left home and received full ordination at Yongmu Temple. He drifted through lecture halls, studying the teachings of both the Mahayana and Hinayana thoroughly. At thirty-three, he returned to Xiangshan and sat in meditation all day. After another eight years, in silent stillness he suddenly saw a divine being who told him: "You are about to receive the fruit. Why remain stuck here? The great path is not far—you should go south." The Patriarch knew this was divine assistance, and so changed his name to Shenguang ("Divine Light"). The next day, he felt a headache like piercing needles. His teacher wanted to treat it, but a voice in the air said: "This is a bone transformation—not an ordinary pain." The Patriarch then told his teacher about seeing the divine being. The teacher examined the crown of his head and saw it had become like five peaks rising in splendor. The teacher said: "Your physiognomy is auspicious. You will surely attain realization. The divine being told you to go south—this means that the great master Bodhidharma at Shaolin must be your teacher." Accepting this instruction, the Patriarch went to Shaoshi Mountain. The story of how he received the Dharma and inherited the robe is fully told in the chapter on Bodhidharma. After Bodhidharma passed away and returned west from Shaolin, the great master continued to spread the profound teachings and widely sought a successor to the Dharma. In the second year of Tianping of the Northern Qi dynasty, there came a layman over forty years old, who did not give his name but simply came forward, bowed, and asked the Patriarch: "This disciple has long suffered from illness of the wind. Please, Master, purify me of my sins." The Patriarch said: "Bring me your sins, and I will purify you." The layman was silent for a long time, then said: "I cannot find my sins." The Patriarch said: "I have purified you of your sins. You should now take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha." The layman said: "Now that I have met you, Master, I know what a monk is. But I do not yet understand what is meant by Buddha and Dharma." The Patriarch said: "This very mind is Buddha; this very mind is Dharma. Dharma and Buddha are not two, and the Sangha jewel is the same." The layman said: "Today I first understand that the nature of sin is not inside, not outside, not in between—just as the mind itself is. Buddha and Dharma are non-dual." The Patriarch deeply valued him, and immediately shaved his head, saying: "This is my treasure. He should be named Sengcan." On the eighteenth day of the third month of that year, he received full ordination at Guangfu Temple. From then on his illness gradually healed. He served the Patriarch for two years, and then the Patriarch told him: "Bodhidharma came from distant India and secretly entrusted to me the treasury of the true Dharma eye together with the robe of faith. I now transmit them to you. You must guard them well and not let them be cut off. Listen to my verse: Originally, because there is ground, A flower grows from the ground. Originally there is no seed— The flower too has never been born. After transmitting the robe and Dharma, the Patriarch also said: "After you receive my teaching, you should dwell deep in the mountains. Do not go about teaching yet. There will be national calamity." Sengcan said: "Since you already know this in advance, please grant me your guidance." The Patriarch said: "It is not I who knows. This is the prophecy transmitted by Bodhidharma from Prajñātara, which says: 'Though the heart is auspicious, the outside is ominous.' I have calculated the years, and it falls exactly in your time. You should carefully reflect on these words and not fall into worldly disaster. However, I too have karmic debts from past lives, and now I must repay them. Go well and practice well. Wait for the time to transmit the Dharma." After giving these instructions, the Patriarch went to the capital of Ye. He taught the Dharma according to circumstances. With one voice he expounded it fluently, and the four assemblies took refuge in him. Thus passed thirty-four years. Then he concealed his brilliance and mixed with the crowd, changing his appearance. Sometimes he entered wine shops, sometimes passed through butcher's doors, sometimes engaged in street talk, sometimes followed servants and laborers. When people asked him, "Master, you are a man of the Way—why do you do this?" the Patriarch replied: "I am only tuning my own mind. What business is that of yours?" Again, at the triple gate of Kuangjiu Temple in Guancheng County, he spoke of the supreme Way. His listeners gathered like a forest. At that time there was a Dharma Master named Bianhe who was lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra in the temple. When his students heard the Patriarch expound the Dharma, they gradually slipped away. Bianhe could not contain his rage and slandered him to the county magistrate Zhai Zhongkan. Zhai, misled by his false words, subjected the Patriarch to unlawful treatment. The Patriarch accepted it calmly and with compliance. Those who understood the truth said he was repaying his debts. He was then one hundred and seven years old. It was the sixteenth day of the third month in the thirteenth year of Kaihuang of Emperor Wen of Sui, a guichou year. He was buried seventy li northeast of Fuyang County in Cizhou. Emperor Dezong of Tang posthumously honored him with the title Chan Master Dazu. Moon Venerable One asked Monk Cen of Changsha: "The ancient worthy said, 'When one has understood, karmic obstacles are originally empty; when one has not understood, one must repay past debts.' Why did Master Simha and the Second Patriarch still have to repay their debts?" Cen said: "Great Virtue, you do not understand that karmic obstacles are originally empty." Moon said: "What is it to be originally empty?" Cen said: "Karmic obstacles are." "What are karmic obstacles?" Cen said: "Originally empty." Moon was silent. Cen showed him a verse: "What falsely exists is originally not existent; what falsely ceases is also not nonexistent. In the meaning of Nirvana and repaying debts, the one nature is no different at all."