Actually He Had
No Merit and Virtue At All

说有功德　实无功德

Patriarch Bodhidharma listened to Emperor Wu of Liang praising himself as if drunk on his own ego, introducing himself, boasting of his merit and virtue, advertising for himself, calling attention to his own good points, and generally lauding himself. Most people, upon hearing the Emperor's comments, would have said, "Ah! Of course you have merit and virtue! You have tremendous merit and virtue! Your merit and virtue is out of this world!" That would be most people's response. Now I ask you, would a sage ever say things just to flatter someone? But Bodhidharma was a patriarch. How could he possibly flatter and fawn? And so he replied, "Actually you have no merit and virtue. In truth, no merit and virtue at all."

达摩祖师听梁武帝这样自我陶醉，自我介绍，自我炫示功德，自我卖广告，自说自己有什么什么好处，自己赞叹自己。一般人听皇帝这么讲，就会说：“啊！你有功德，你的功德真大！你的功德是世界上没有的。”一般人会这么讲；可是，一个圣人怎么会说这种拍马屁的话？达摩是个祖师，怎么会有这种阿谀奉承的行为？所以他一听，就说：“实无功德！”实实在在没有功德。

Patriarch Bodhidharma originally had gone there with the idea of saving Emperor Wu of Liang. However, Emperor Wu was too conceited; he had too high an opinion of himself. Being an emperor was already something, he thought. He had built many temples, enabled many people to leave home, given away a lot of money, and made a lot of offerings to the Triple Jewel. So, he thought he had created a tremendous amount of merit and virtue. Patriarch Bodhidharma, wanting to shatter the Emperor's attachment, said that he had no merit and virtue at all.

当时达摩祖师本来是预备救度梁武帝的，但是梁武帝也就因为自视太高──看自己是个皇帝，造了很多庙，度了很多僧，又布施了很多钱，又供养三宝，自认为已经有无量的功德了，而达摩祖师想破他这种执着，就说他没有功德。