Xingchang followed the will of the six ancestors and fled in the middle of the night of the same day. Later, he became a monk in the Sangha, received full ordination, and practiced diligently.

One day, Xingchang remembered the words of the six ancestors, so he came from afar to worship the six ancestors. The Sixth Ancestor said, "I've been thinking about you all along, why did you come so late?"

Xingchang said: "In the past, I was compassionate and forgave my sins by the monks, but now although I am a monk and diligently practicing asceticism, I always feel that it is difficult to repay the kindness of the monks. Since my disciple became a monk, he often read the Nirvana Sutra, but he did not understand the meaning of 'constant' and 'impermanence'. ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "The so-called impermanence is Buddha nature; The so-called permanence is the mind that distinguishes all good and evil laws. ”

Xingchang said: "What the monk said is completely opposite to the scriptures. ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "What I teach is the Dharma that the Buddha imprinted, how dare I go against the Buddha's teachings?"

Xingchang said: "The scriptures say that Buddha nature is constant, but the monk says that it is impermanent; All the dharmas of good and evil, even bodhichitta are impermanent, but the monk said that it is constant, which is contrary to the scriptures and makes me even more puzzled by this question. ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "The Nirvana Sutra, I have heard the Endless Tibetan bhikshuni recite it once in the past, and I explained the essence of the Sutra to him. ”

Xingchang said: "My knowledge is shallow and ignorant, and I hope that the monk will be merciful and explain it to me in detail. ”

The Sixth Ancestor said, "Do you know? If the Buddha nature is constant, and there are all kinds of good and evil dharmas, even until the immeasurable eons are exhausted, no one will develop bodhichitta. That's why I say that Buddha nature is impermanent, which is exactly what the Buddha said. Besides, if all the dharmas are impermanent, then all the dharmas have their own nature to accept birth and death, and the true immortality of immortality is not pervasive. That's why I say that all good and evil dharmas are permanent, which is exactly what the Buddha called the truth of impermanence. The Buddha is because ordinary people are upside down and cling to impermanence as normal, and those people who are two vehicles insist that the truth is impermanent, so that the two vehicles of ordinary people form a total of eight kinds of perversed views, so the Buddha broke down their prejudices in the teachings of Nirvana, so that he clearly stated the four virtues of Nirvana, such as Truthfulness, True Happiness, True Self, and True Purity. What good is it to read the scriptures a thousand times if you now go against the true meaning of the scriptures based on the words and words of the scriptures, cling to the impermanence of the phenomena of cessation and the immutability of death, and misinterpret the profound meaning of the Buddha's final teachings?"

Xingchang suddenly realized and said a poem: "Because there is a heart to adhere to impermanence, the Buddha said that Nirvana has permanence." If you don't understand the convenience of removing attachment, it's like picking up gravel in a spring pond. I don't have any pretense now, and the Buddha-nature will naturally manifest in front of me. If it wasn't given to me by the master, I wouldn't have gotten it myself. ”

The Sixth Ancestor said, "You are now fully enlightened, and your name should be Zhiche." Zhi Che listened, bowed to the six ancestors and thanked him.

There is a boy named Shenhui, who is a child of the Gao family surnamed Rangyang. When he was thirteen years old, he came from Yuquan Temple in Jingnan to pay homage to the six ancestors. The Sixth Patriarch said, "Good knowledge! You've worked so hard from afar! Is there a general brought at all? If you bring the 'root', you should recognize the protagonist, and you might as well try to talk about it. ”

God will say, "I have no dwelling mind as the foundation, and 'seeing' is the protagonist." ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "How can you, a novice, speak so rashly?"

The gods then asked, "When a monk sits in meditation, do you see or don't see it?"

The Sixth Patriarch struck him three times with his cane, saying, "When I hit you, did it hurt or not?"

God will answer, "It doesn't hurt." ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "I don't see it either." ”

God will ask, "How can you see or not see?"

The Sixth Patriarch said: "What I see is that I often see the faults in my own heart, but I don't see the rights and wrongs of others. That's why I can't see it. What if you say it doesn't hurt or not? If you don't hurt, it's like wood and stone; If it hurts, it will be like an ordinary man, and it will give rise to hatred. What you asked earlier is whether you see or not is a two-sided view, whether it hurts or not is life and death, you haven't even seen your own self-nature, and you dare to play tricks like this!"

After hearing these words, the Divine Society bowed to the six ancestors and repented and apologized.

The Sixth Patriarch also said, "If you are foolish in your heart and cannot see nature, you can ask the way of understanding nature from good knowledge; If the mind is enlightened, it is self-evident and can be practiced according to the law. Since you yourself have been foolish and do not see your own mind, you have come to me and asked me whether you have seen it or not. I see sex, I know for myself, how can I replace the foolishness in your heart? If you see your true nature, you will not be able to replace the foolishness in my heart. Why don't you come and ask me if you see it?"

The gods will listen, and then bow to the six ancestors for more than 100 years, ask the master to forgive their sins, and serve the six ancestors from now on, without leaving the left and right.

One day, the Sixth Patriarch said to the public: "I have one thing, no head or tail, no name or word, no back and no front, do you still know it?"

The gods will come forward and say, "This is the origin of all the Buddhas, and this is also the Buddha nature of my gods." ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "I have already told you that there is no name or word, and you still call it the original Buddha nature. Even if you have a thatched tent in the future, you will only be a person who understands the Dharma. ”

After the Sixth Patriarch passed away, the gods would go to the capital and Luoyang to promote Cao Xi's Dunjiao method. He is the author of "The Legend of the Emperor", which is popular in the world.

When the Sixth Patriarch saw that the people of various sects were asking about the Dharma and that they were all unkind, he gathered them together and said to them with pity, "Those who have learned the Tao should get rid of all good and evil thoughts. When we don't think about good and evil, this state has no name, and the false name is self-nature, and this unique self-nature is called truthfulness. Establish all the sects in truthfulness, and you should see your own true nature. ”

After listening to the teachings of the Sixth Patriarch, everyone bowed sincerely and asked to serve the Six Patriarchs as teachers.