From Dahui's Shobogenzo, translated by Cleary.
The twenty-seventh patriarch Prajnatara showed Bodhidharma a priceless pearl given him by a king of southern India and asked, “This pearl is round and bright—is there any that could match this?” Bodhidharma said, “This is a worldly treasure, not fit to be considered supreme; of all treasures, the treasure of Dharma is supreme. This is worldly luster, not fit to be considered supreme; of all luster, the luster of wisdom of supreme. This is worldly brilliance, not fit to be considered supreme; of all brilliance, the brilliance of mind is supreme. The lustrous brilliance of this pearl cannot shine of itself; it needs the light of knowledge to discern it. Once one discerns this, one knows this is a pearl; once one knows it’s a pearl, then one understands it’s a treasure. If one understands it’s a treasure, the treasure is not a treasure of itself. If one discerns the pearl, the pearl is not a pearl of itself.
The pearl is not a pearl of itself in that one must use the pearl of knowledge to distinguish a worldly pearl. That a treasure is not a treasure of itself means that it is necessary to depend on the treasure of wisdom to understand the treasure of Dharma. So you have the Way, Teacher, thus the treasure appears. When people have the Way, the same is true of the treasure of mind.”
The reverend Prajnatara knew Bodhidharma was his Dharma successor, and subsequently entrusted the treasury of the eye of truth to him.
He said in verse,
The mind ground produces seeds;
It also produces principles based on facts.
When the fruit is complete, enlightenment is fulfilled;
When the flowers blossom, the world arises.
Dahui commented, “He explained the principle; you should take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.”
Note:
There you have the Master, Dahui, in his Treasury of the Eye of True Teaching, expounding the principle: you should take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
These are also known as the Triple Gems, the Three Vajras, or the Three Refuges, and they are also correlated to True Speech, True Thought, and True Actions.
Here's an interesting image on Research Gate, in it the Three Gems are presented with the Five Dhyani Buddhas. Here's another interesting image from the document with the Wisdoms mapped upon the Five Dhyani Buddhas.
In case you're wondering what relevance the Five Dhyani Buddhas have with Zen, let me remind you of this reference to it via Dahui's Shobogenzo.
As I've been beating the drum for a while, let's look back and laugh at where we were but a year ago.
Some say Zen has nothing to do with Buddhism, will they come forth to explain Dahui's words?
Submitted December 20, 2018 at 05:35AM by Dillon123 https://ift.tt/2EyIdfd
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