---
title: "五燈會元 · 六祖慧能大師"
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/cma8xe3m80j9nl404eqlf2nir"
---

### 六祖慧能大師者

> The Great Master Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch

俗姓盧氏。其先范陽人。父行瑫。武德中左官于南海之新州。遂占籍焉。三歲喪父。其母守志。鞠養及長。家尤貧窶。師樵採以給。一日負薪至市中。聞客讀金剛經。至應無所住而生其心。有所感悟。而問客曰。此何法也。得於何人。客曰。此名金剛經。得於黃梅忍大師。祖遽告其母以為法尋師之意。直抵韶州。遇高行士劉志略。結為交友。尼無盡藏者。即志略之姑也。常讀涅槃經。師暫聽之。即為解說其義。尼遂執卷問字。祖曰。字即不識。義即請問。尼曰。字尚不識。曷能會義。祖曰。諸佛妙理。非關文字。尼驚異之。告鄉里耆艾曰。能是有道之人。宜請供養。於是居人競來瞻禮。近有寶林古寺舊地。眾議營緝。俾祖居之。四眾霧集。俄成寶坊。祖一日忽自念曰。我求大法。豈可中道而止。明日遂行。至昌樂縣西山石室間遇智遠禪師。祖遂請益。遠曰。觀子神姿爽拔。殆非常人。吾聞西域菩提達磨傳心印於黃梅。汝當往彼參決。祖辭去。直造黃梅之東山。即唐咸亨二年也。忍大師一見。默而識之。後傳衣法。令隱于懷集四會之間。至儀鳳元年丙子正月八日。屆南海。遇印宗法師於法性寺講涅槃經。祖寓止廊廡間。暮夜。風颺剎幡。聞二僧對論。一曰幡動。一曰風動。往復酬答。曾未契理。祖曰。可容俗流輙預高論否。直以風幡非動。動自心耳。印宗竊聆此語。竦然異之。明日。邀祖入室。徵風幡之義。祖具以理告。印宗不覺起立曰。行者定非常人。師為是誰。祖更無所隱。直敘得法因由。於是印宗執弟子之禮。請授禪要。乃告四眾曰。印宗具足凡夫。今遇肉身菩薩。乃指座下盧居士曰。即此是也。因請出所傳信衣。悉令瞻禮。至正月十五日。會諸名德。為之剃髮。二月八日。就法性寺智光律師授滿分戒。其戒壇。即宋朝求那䟦陀三藏之所置也。三藏記云。後當有肉身菩薩在此壇受戒。又梁末真諦三藏於壇之側手植二菩提樹。謂眾曰。却後一百二十年。有大開士於此樹下演無上乘。度無量眾。祖具戒已。於此樹下開東山法門。宛如宿契。明年二月八日。忽謂眾曰。吾不願此居。欲歸舊隱。即印宗與緇白千餘人。送祖歸寶林寺。韶州刺史韋據。請於大梵寺轉妙法輪。并受無相心地戒。門人紀錄。目為壇經。盛行于世。後返曹溪。雨大法雨。學者不下千數。中宗神龍元年降詔云。朕請安秀二師宮中供養。萬機之暇。每究一乘。二師並推讓曰。南方有能禪師。密受忍大師衣法。可就彼問。今遣內侍薛簡馳詔迎請。願師慈念。速赴上京。祖上表辭疾。願終林麓。簡曰。京城禪德皆云。欲得會道。必須坐禪習定。若不因禪定而得解脫者。未之有也。未審師所說法如何。祖曰。道由心悟。豈在坐也。經云。若見如來。若坐若臥。是行邪道。何故。無所從來。亦無所去。若無生滅。是如來清淨禪。諸法空寂。是如來清淨坐。究竟無證。豈況坐邪。簡曰。弟子回。主上必問。願和尚慈悲。指示心要。祖曰。道無明暗。明暗是代謝之義。明暗無盡。亦是有盡。相待立名。故經云。法無有比。無相待故。簡曰。明喻智慧。暗況煩惱。修道之人。儻不以智慧照破煩惱。無始生死。憑何出離。祖曰。煩惱即是菩提。無二無別。若以智慧照煩惱者。此是二乘小見。羊鹿等機。大智上根。悉不如是。簡曰。如何是大乘見解。祖曰。明與無明。其性無二。無二之性。即是實性。實性者。處凡愚而不減。在賢聖而不增。住煩惱而不亂。居禪定而不寂。不斷不常。不來不去。不在中間。及其內外。不生不滅。性相如如。常住不遷。名之曰道。簡曰。師說不生不滅。何異外道。祖曰。外道所說不生不滅者。將滅止生。以生顯滅。滅猶不滅。生說無生。我說不生不滅者。本自無生。今亦無滅。所以不同外道。汝若欲知心要。但一切善惡都莫思量。自然得入清淨心體。湛然常寂。妙用恒沙。簡蒙指教。豁然大悟。禮辭歸闕。表奏祖語。有詔謝師。并賜磨衲袈裟．絹五百匹．寶鉢一口。十二月十九日。勑改古寶林為中興寺。三年十一月十八日。又　勑韶州刺史重加崇飾。賜額為法泉寺。祖新州舊居為國恩寺。一日。祖謂眾曰。諸善知識。汝等各各淨心。聽吾說法。汝等諸人。自心是佛。更莫狐疑。外無一物而能建立。皆是本心生萬種法故。經云。心生種種法生。心滅種種法滅。若欲成就種智。須達一相三昧。一行三昧。若於一切處而不住相。彼相中不生憎愛。亦無取捨。不念利益成壞等事。安閑恬靜。虗融澹泊。此名一相三昧。若於一切處。行住坐臥。純一直心。不動道場。真成淨土。名一行三昧。若人具二三昧。如地有種。能含藏長養。成就其實。一相一行。亦復如是。我今說法。猶如時雨溥潤大地。汝等佛性。譬諸種子。遇茲霑洽。悉得發生。承吾旨者。決獲菩提。依吾行者。定證妙果。先天元年告諸四眾曰。吾忝受忍大師衣法。今為汝等說法。不付其衣。葢汝等信根淳熟。決定不疑。堪任大事。聽吾偈曰。心地含諸種。普雨悉皆生。頓悟華情已。菩提果自成。說偈已。復曰。其法無二。其心亦然。其道清淨。亦無諸相。汝等慎勿觀淨及空其心。此心本淨。無可取捨。各自努力。隨緣好去。甞有僧舉臥輪禪師偈曰。臥輪有伎倆。能斷百思想。對境心不起。菩提日日長。祖聞之曰。此偈未明心地。若依而行之。是加繫縛。因示一偈曰。慧能沒伎倆。不斷百思想。對境心數起。菩提作麼長臥輪非名即住處也。祖說法利生。經四十載。其年七月六日。命弟子往新州國恩寺。建報恩塔。仍令倍工。又有蜀僧。名方辯。來謁曰。善揑塑。祖正色曰。試塑看。方辯不領旨。乃塑祖真。可高七尺。曲盡其妙。祖觀之曰。汝善塑性。不善佛性。酬以衣物。辯禮謝而去。先天二年七月一日。謂門人曰。吾欲歸新州。汝速理舟檝。時大眾哀慕。乞師且住。祖曰。諸佛出現。猶示涅槃。有來必去。理亦常然。吾此形骸。歸必有所。眾曰。師從此去。早晚却回。祖曰。葉落歸根。來時無口。又問。師之法眼。何人傳受。祖曰。有道者得。無心者通。又問。後莫有難否。祖曰。吾滅後五六年。當有一人來取吾首。聽吾記曰。頭上養親。口裏須飱。遇滿之難。楊柳為官。又曰。吾去七十年。有二菩薩從東方來。一在家。一出家。同時興化。建立吾宗。締緝伽藍。昌隆法嗣。言訖。往新州國恩寺。沐浴跏趺而化。異香襲人。白虹矚地。即其年八月三日也。時韶新兩郡。各修靈塔。道俗莫決所之。兩郡刺史。共焚香祝曰。香烟引處。即師之欲歸焉。時鑪香騰涌。直貫曹溪。以十一月十三日入塔。壽七十六。時韶州刺史韋據撰碑。門人憶念取首之記。遂先以鐵葉漆布固護師頸。塔中有達磨所傳信衣。西域屈眴布也。緝木𦄋華心織成。後人以碧絹為裏。中宗賜磨衲寶鉢。以辯塑真道具等。主塔侍者尸之。開元十年壬戌八月三日。夜半。忽聞塔中如拽鐵索聲。僧眾驚起。見一孝子從塔中走出。尋見師頸有傷。具以賊事聞於州縣。縣令楊侃．刺史柳無忝得牒。切加擒捉。五月於石角村捕得賊人。送韶州鞠問。云。姓張名淨滿。汝州梁縣人。於洪州開元寺受新羅僧金大悲錢二十千。令取六祖大師首。歸海東供養。柳守聞狀。未即加刑。乃躬至曹溪。問祖上足令韜曰。如何處斷。韜曰。若以國法論。理須誅夷。但以佛教慈悲。冤親平等。況彼欲求供養。罪可恕矣。柳守嘉歎曰。始知佛門廣大。遂赦之爾後。甚有名賢贊述。檀施珍異。文繁不錄。上元元年肅宗遣使就請師衣鉢。歸內供養。至永泰元年五月五日。代宗夢六祖大師請衣鉢。七日。勑刺史楊瑊曰。朕夢感禪師請傳法袈裟却歸曹溪。今遣鎮國大將軍劉崇景頂戴而送。朕謂之國寶。卿可於本寺如法安置。專令僧眾。親承宗旨者。嚴加守護。勿令遺墜。後或為人偷竊。皆不遠而獲。如是者數四。憲宗諡大鑒禪師。塔曰元和靈照。皇朝開寶初。王師平南海劉氏。殘兵作梗。祖之塔廟。鞠為煨燼。而真身為守塔僧保護。一無所損。尋有制興修。功未竟。會太宗皇帝即位。留心禪宗。頗增壯麗焉。

> The Patriarch's secular surname was Lu, and his ancestors were from Fanyang. His father, Xingtao, was demoted to an official post in Xinzhou in the South Sea region during the Wude era, and so the family settled there. He lost his father at the age of three, and his mother, remaining devoted to her widowhood, raised him. As he grew older, the family became increasingly poor, and the Patriarch supported them by gathering firewood. One day, while carrying firewood to the market, he heard a customer reciting the Diamond Sutra. When he came to the passage, "One should give rise to a mind that does not abide in anything," he experienced a profound awakening. He asked the customer, "What scripture is this, and who is its teacher?" The customer replied, "This is the Diamond Sutra, received from the Great Master Ren of Huangmei." The Patriarch immediately told his mother of his intention to leave home and seek the Dharma. He went directly to Shaozhou, where he met the eminent layman Liu Zhilüe, and they became friends. A nun named Wujinzang, who was Zhilüe's aunt, often recited the Nirvana Sutra. When the Patriarch heard her, he was able to explain its meaning at once. The nun then held up the text and asked him about specific characters. The Patriarch said, "I do not recognize characters, but if you ask about the meaning, I can explain it." The nun said, "If you cannot even read the characters, how can you understand the meaning?" The Patriarch replied, "The profound truth of all Buddhas is not concerned with words and letters." The nun was astonished and told the village elders, "This man is one of the Way. We should invite him and make offerings to him." Then the villagers came in droves to pay their respects. Nearby was the old site of Baolin Monastery, and the community agreed to rebuild it so that the Patriarch could reside there. Monks and laypeople gathered like clouds, and soon a fine monastery was established. One day, the Patriarch thought to himself, "I seek the Great Dharma—how can I stop halfway?" So he set out the next day. Arriving at a stone chamber in the western mountains of Changle County, he met Chan Master Zhiyuan, and the Patriarch requested his guidance. Zhiyuan said, "I see that your bearing is outstanding and extraordinary. I have heard that the Bodhidharma of the Western Regions transmitted the Mind Seal to Huangmei. You should go there to seek realization." The Patriarch took his leave and went directly to the Eastern Mountain of Huangmei, arriving in the second year of Xianheng of the Tang dynasty. When Master Ren saw him, he recognized his potential in silence. Later, he transmitted the robe and Dharma to him and instructed him to go into hiding in the region between Huaiji and Sihui. In the first year of Yifeng, on the eighth day of the first month, the Patriarch arrived in the South Sea region and encountered Dharma Master Yinzong, who was giving a lecture on the Nirvana Sutra at Faxing Temple. The Patriarch stayed in the corridor. At night, as the wind blew the monastery's streamer flag, he heard two monks arguing: one said the flag was moving, the other said the wind was moving, and they went back and forth without reaching the truth. The Patriarch said, "Would you allow a humble layman to join your elevated discussion? It is neither the wind nor the flag that moves—it is your own minds that move." Yinzong, overhearing this, was deeply startled and amazed. The next day, he invited the Patriarch into his room and questioned him on the meaning of the wind and the flag. The Patriarch explained it fully, and Yinzong rose to his feet, saying, "You are certainly no ordinary man. What is your teacher's name?" The Patriarch then openly recounted the circumstances of his attainment of the Dharma. Yinzong thereupon took the posture of a disciple and requested instruction in the essentials of Chan. He then announced to the assembly, "I am but an ordinary person, yet today I have met a living bodhisattva." Pointing to Layman Lu, he said, "This is he." He then asked the Patriarch to display the transmitted robe, which all were invited to veneratively behold. On the fifteenth day of the first month, he gathered renowned masters to perform the tonsure for the Patriarch. On the eighth day of the second month, he received the full precepts from the Vinaya Master Zhiguang at Faxing Temple. The ordination platform had been established by the Tripitaka Master Guṇabhadra of the Song dynasty, who had predicted that a bodhisattva in human form would receive the precepts there. Moreover, at the end of the Liang dynasty, Tripitaka Master Paramārtha had personally planted two bodhi trees beside the platform and told the assembly, "One hundred and twenty years from now, a great enlightened one will expound the supreme vehicle under these trees, liberating countless beings." After the Patriarch received the full precepts, he taught the Dharma of the Eastern Mountain beneath these trees, as if fulfilling a long-planned destiny. On the eighth day of the second month of the following year, he suddenly told the assembly, "I do not wish to remain here. I want to return to my old place of seclusion." Then Yinzong, along with over a thousand monastics and laypeople, escorted him back to Baolin Monastery. Wei Ju, the prefect of Shaozhou, invited him to the Dafan Temple to turn the wheel of the excellent Dharma, where he also conferred the formless mind-ground precepts. The disciples recorded his words, and this record became known as the Platform Sutra, which was widely circulated. Afterward, the Patriarch returned to Caoxi and spread the great rain of Dharma. His students were never fewer than a thousand. During the Shenlong era of Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang dynasty, the emperor issued an edict that read: "I have invited the two masters Shenxiu and An to the palace for offerings. In the leisure of my myriad affairs, I have studied the One Vehicle, and both masters deferentially said, 'In the south there is Chan Master Huineng, who secretly received the robe and Dharma of Master Ren, so you should ask him.' Now I send the inner attendant Xue Jian with an imperial edict to invite you, hoping that the Master will graciously come to the capital without delay." The Patriarch sent back a memorial declining on the grounds of illness, expressing his wish to remain in the forest till the end of his days. Xue Jian said, "The Chan masters of the capital all say that to attain the Way, one must sit in meditation and practice concentration. There has never been anyone who attained liberation without doing so. May I ask, Master, what is your teaching on this?" The Patriarch said, "The Way is realized through the mind—what has it to do with sitting? The sutra says, 'If one claims to see the Tathāgata by sitting or lying down, that person is practicing a false path.' Why? Because the Tathāgata comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. That which is beyond birth and death is the Tathāgata's pure meditation. The emptiness and stillness of all dharmas is the Tathāgata's pure sitting. In the end, there is nothing to attain—how much less so through sitting?" Xue Jian said, "When your disciple returns, the emperor will certainly question me. Please, Master, in your compassion, point out the essential teaching of the mind." The Patriarch said, "The Way is neither bright nor dark. Brightness and darkness are alternating concepts. Though they seem endless, they are also finite—for they are relative designations. Hence the sutra says, 'The Dharma has no comparison, because it is beyond relativity.'" Xue Jian said, "Brightness is a metaphor for wisdom, and darkness for affliction. If practitioners do not use wisdom to illuminate and destroy affliction, how can they escape the birth-and-death that has no beginning?" The Patriarch said, "Affliction itself is enlightenment—they are not two or different. To use wisdom to destroy affliction is the inferior view of the Lesser Vehicle, fitting for those of ordinary capacity. Those of great wisdom and superior faculties do not see it this way." Xue Jian said, "What then is the view of the Greater Vehicle?" The Patriarch said, "Brightness and ignorance are one in nature. This non-dual nature is the true nature. This true nature is not diminished in the foolish or increased in the wise; it is not disturbed amid affliction, nor is it silent in meditation. It is neither interrupted nor eternal, neither coming nor going, neither in the middle nor in the interior or exterior. It is neither born nor extinguished, and its nature and characteristics are ever thus, abiding eternally without change. This is called the Way." Xue Jian said, "Master, you speak of being neither born nor extinguished—how is this different from the heretics' view?" The Patriarch said, "The non-birth and non-extinction taught by heretics use extinction to stop birth and birth to manifest extinction—so what they call extinction is not real extinction, and what they call birth is not truly no-birth. The non-birth and non-extinction I speak of is that which is originally unborn and now also undying. That is how it differs from the heretics. If you wish to know the essential mind, simply do not think of any good or evil whatsoever—then you will naturally enter the pure mind-ground, which is tranquil and ever still, with wonders as numerous as the sands of the Ganges." Receiving this instruction, Xue Jian experienced a sudden great awakening. He bowed in gratitude and returned to the capital, where he reported the Patriarch's words to the emperor. An imperial edict was then sent thanking the Master, along with a gift of a monk's robe, five hundred bolts of silk, and a precious bowl. On the nineteenth day of the twelfth month, an imperial decree renamed the ancient Baolin Temple as Zhongxing Temple. On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month of the third year, the emperor again ordered the prefect of Shaozhou to refurbish the temple and gave it the new name Faquan Temple. The Patriarch's old residence in Xinzhou was designated Guoen Temple. One day, the Patriarch told the assembly, "Good and wise friends, purify your minds, each of you, and listen to my teaching. Each of you—your own mind is Buddha. Do not have any doubt. There is not a single thing outside that can establish itself—all phenomena arise from your fundamental mind. Thus the sutra says, 'When the mind arises, all dharmas arise; when the mind ceases, all dharmas cease.' If you wish to accomplish the knowledge of all modes, you must realize the samādhi of oneness of character and the samādhi of single practice. If, in all places, you do not abide in any characteristic—within those characteristics neither generating love nor hate, neither grasping nor rejecting, not dwelling on profit, loss, success, or failure, remaining serene, still, open, and at ease—this is the samādhi of oneness of character. If, in all places—whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down—you maintain an unwavering straightforward mind, without moving from the site of awakening, genuinely becoming a pure land, this is the samādhi of single practice. If a person possesses these two samādhis, it is like soil endowed with seeds that can contain, nourish, and ripen their fruits. The samādhi of oneness and of single practice are just the same. "My present teaching is like seasonal rain that moistens the great earth. Your Buddha natures are like seeds that, encountering this moisture, all germinate. Those who inherit my intent are certain to gain enlightenment; those who practice according to my teaching are sure to realize the wondrous fruit." In the first year of the Xiantian era, he told the assembly, "I have been honored to receive the robe and Dharma of Master Ren. Now I teach you the Dharma but do not transmit the robe—because your faculties of faith have matured and you are without the slightest doubt, capable of undertaking the great matter." He then recited this verse: The mind-ground holds all seeds; With the universal rain, all sprout. When the feeling of sudden awakening fully blooms, The fruit of enlightenment naturally forms. After reciting the verse, he added, "The Dharma is not two, and the mind is likewise. The Way is pure and without any characteristics. Do not, any of you, contemplate purity or empty your minds—the mind is originally pure, with nothing to grasp or reject. Strive diligently, each of you, and go forth well according to conditions." Once a monk cited the verse of Chan Master Wolun: Wolun has skill— He can cut off all thoughts. When encountering objects, the mind does not arise, And enlightenment grows daily. Hearing this, the Patriarch said, "This verse does not reveal the mind-ground. To practice according to it would only increase bondage." He then offered his own verse: Huineng has no skill— He does not cut off all thoughts. When encountering objects, the mind arises again and again— How then could enlightenment grow? <note>Wolun here is not a person's name but a place of residence</note>. The Patriarch taught the Dharma and benefited sentient beings for forty years. In the seventh month of that year, he sent his disciples to Guoen Temple in Xinzhou to construct a stupa of gratitude, and he requested that the work be expedited. There was also a monk from Shu named Fang Bian who came to pay his respects and said, "I am skilled at sculpting." The Patriarch said sternly, "Let me see you sculpt." Fang Bian did not grasp the intent, so he sculpted a portrait of the Patriarch, about seven feet tall, capturing every detail exquisitely. The Patriarch looked at it and said, "You understand the nature of sculpture, but not the Buddha nature." He rewarded Fang Bian with robes and other items, and Fang Bian bowed and left. On the first day of the seventh month in the second year of Xiantian era, the Patriarch said to his disciples, "I wish to return to Xinzhou. Prepare a boat for me quickly." At this, the assembly wept and begged him to remain. The Patriarch said, "The Buddhas themselves, when they appear in the world, still display nirvana. When there is coming, there must be going—this is the constant principle. This physical body of mine must eventually return somewhere." The assembly asked, "If the Master leaves now, when will you return?" The Patriarch said, "When leaves fall, they return to the root. When I came, I had no mouth." They asked further, "Who will receive the transmission of the Master's Dharma eye?" The Patriarch said, "Those who have the Way attain it; those who are without a grasping mind penetrate it." They asked, "Will there be any difficulties in the future?" The Patriarch said, "Five or six years after my passing, someone will come to take my head. Listen to my prediction: Raising a parent upon the head, The mouth must be fed. When encountering the difficulty of 'Man', Willow and poplar will be the officials." He continued, "Seventy years after my departure, two bodhisattvas will come from the east—one a layperson, one a monastic—who will simultaneously propagate the teaching, establish my tradition, renovate monasteries, and greatly flourish the Dharma heritage." Having spoken, he went to Guoen Temple in Xinzhou. After bathing, he sat in full lotus posture and passed away, his body emanating a rare fragrance and a white rainbow touching the earth. This occurred on the third day of the eighth month of that year. The two prefectures of Shaozhou and Xinzhou each built a memorial stupa, and monastics and laypeople could not decide where his remains should be enshrined. The two prefects, burning incense together, prayed: "Wherever the incense smoke leads, that is where the Master wishes to return." The incense smoke then rose in a surge and drifted straight toward Caoxi. His body was enshrined in the stupa on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month. He was seventy-six years old. At that time, Wei Ju, the prefect of Shaozhou, composed the funerary inscription. Remembering the Patriarch's prophecy about someone attempting to take his head, his disciples protected his neck beforehand with iron sheets and lacquered cloth. Within the stupa were the robe of transmission given by Bodhidharma (woven of kaśāya cloth from the Western Regions—made of the fiber of the cotton tree flower, later lined with blue silk), the monk's robe and precious bowl gifted by Emperor Zhongzong, and the sculpting implements of Fang Bian, all in the care of the stupa attendant. On the third day of the eighth month in the tenth year of the Kaiyuan era (722 CE), at midnight, the sound of dragging iron chains was suddenly heard from within the stupa. The monastics arose in alarm and saw a filial son figure darting out of the stupa. They then discovered a wound on the Patriarch's neck and reported the theft to the local authorities. Magistrate Yang Kan and Prefect Liu Wutian, upon receiving the report, energetically pursued the culprit. In the fifth month, the thief was captured at Shijiao Village and brought to Shaozhou for questioning. He confessed: "My name is Zhang Jingman, from Liang County, Ruzhou. I was paid twenty thousand cash by the Silla monk Kim Daebi at Kaiyuan Temple in Hongzhou to take the Sixth Patriarch's head back to Korea for veneration." Prefect Liu, hearing this, did not immediately impose punishment but went personally to Caoxi and asked the Patriarch's senior disciple Ling Tao, "How should this be handled?" Ling Tao said, "By the law of the land, he ought to be executed. But according to Buddhist compassion, enemies and loved ones are equal. Moreover, since his intention was to make offerings, his offense can be pardoned." Prefect Liu sighed in admiration, "Now I understand the vastness of the Buddha's teaching," and released him. <note>After this, many renowned scholars composed eulogies, and precious offerings were made—too numerous to record here.</note> In the first year of the Shangyuan era, Emperor Suzong sent envoys to retrieve the Patriarch's robe and bowl for veneration in the palace. In the first month of the Yongtai era, on the fifth day, Emperor Daizong dreamed that the Sixth Patriarch requested the return of the robe and bowl to Caoxi. On the seventh day, he ordered Prefect Yang Chen: "In my dream, the Chan Master requested that the transmission robe be returned to Caoxi. I now send General Liu Chongjing to deliver it with utmost reverence. I regard it as a national treasure. You shall have it properly enshrined at the monastery, and strictly assign monastics who have inherited the tradition to guard it—let it not be lost or damaged." Later, attempts were made to steal it, but the culprits were always caught without going far—this happened several times. Emperor Xianzong posthumously conferred upon him the title Dajian (Great Mirror) Chan Master, and the stupa was named "Yuanhe Lingzhao" (Spiritual Radiance of the Yuanhe Era). In the early Kaibao period of our dynasty, as the imperial army pacified the Liu regime in the south, remnants of defeated troops caused disturbances, and the Patriarch's stupa and temple were reduced to ashes. However, his true body was protected by the monk in charge of the stupa, remaining completely unharmed. Soon an order was given to rebuild. Before the work was completed, Emperor Taizong ascended the throne. Being devoted to the Chan tradition, he expanded and enhanced the temple considerably.

## 五燈會元卷第一

> The Five Lamps Meeting at the Source, Volume 1