T2008 The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

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BDK English Tripiṭaka Series THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF THE SIXTH PATRIARCH Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (Taishō Volume 48, Number 2008) by

John R. McRae BDK America, Inc. 2000

Copyright

© 2000 by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai and BDK America, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transcribed in any form or by any means —electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without the prior written permission of the publisher. First Printing, 2000

ISBN: 978-1-886439-13-9

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-75770 Published by

BDK America, Inc.

1675 School Street

Moraga, California 94556 Printed in the United States of America

A Message on the Publication of the

English Tripiṭaka

The Buddhist canon is said to contain eighty-four thousand different teachings. I believe that this is because the Buddha's basic approach was to prescribe a different treatment for every spiritual ailment, much as a doctor prescribes a different medicine for every medical ailment. Thus his teachings were always appropriate for the particular suffering individual and for the time at which the teaching was given, and over the ages not one of his prescriptions has failed to relieve the suffering to which it was addressed.

Ever since the Buddha's Great Demise over twenty-five hundred years ago, his message of wisdom and compassion has spread throughout the world. Yet no one has ever attempted to translate the entire Buddhist canon into English throughout the history of Japan. It is my greatest wish to see this done and to make the translations available to the many English-speaking people who have never had the opportunity to learn about the Buddha's teachings. Of course, it would be impossible to translate all of the Buddha's eightyfour thousand teachings in a few years. I have, therefore, had one hundred thirtynine of the scriptural texts in the prodigious Taishō edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon selected for inclusion in the First Series of this translation project. It is in the nature of this undertaking that the results are bound to be criticized. Nonetheless, I am convinced that unless someone takes it upon himself or herself to initiate this project, it will never be done. At the same time, I hope that an improved, revised edition will appear in the future.

It is most gratifying that, thanks to the efforts of more than a hundred Buddhist scholars from the East and the West, this monumental project has finally gotten off the ground. May the rays of the Wisdom of the Compassionate One reach each and every person in the world.

NUMATA Yehan

Founder of the English

August 7, 1991 Tripiṭaka Project

v

Editorial Foreword

In January 1982, Dr. NUMATA Yehan, the founder of the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism), decided to begin the monumental task of translating the complete Taishō edition of the Chinese Tripiṭaka (Buddhist canon) into the English language. Under his leadership, a special preparatory committee was organized in April 1982. By July of the same year, the Translation Committee of the English Tripiṭaka was officially convened. The initial Committee consisted of the following members: (late) HANAYAMA Shōyū, (Chairperson), BANDŌ Shōjun, ISHIGAMI Zennō, KAMATA Shigeo, KANAOKA Shūyū, MAYEDA Sengaku, NARA Yasuaki, SAYEKI Shinkō, (late) SHIOIRI Ryūtatsu, TAMARU Noriyoshi, (late) TAMURA Kwansei, URŪZU Ryūshin, and YUYAMA Akira. Assistant members of the Committee were as follows: KANAZAWA Atsushi, WATANABE Shōgo, Rolf Giebel of New Zealand, and Rudy Smet of Belgium.

After holding planning meetings on a monthly basis, the Committee selected one hundred thirty-nine texts for the First Series of translations, an estimated one hundred printed volumes in all. The texts selected are not necessarily limited to those originally written in India but also include works written or composed in China and Japan. While the publication of the First Series proceeds, the texts for the Second Series will be selected from among the remaining works; this process will continue until all the texts, in Japanese as well as in Chinese, have been published.

Frankly speaking, it will take perhaps one hundred years or more to accomplish the English translation of the complete Chinese and Japanese texts, for they consist of thousands of works. Nevertheless, as Dr. NUMATA wished, it is the sincere hope of the Committee that this project will continue unto completion, even after all its present members have passed away.

It must be mentioned here that the final object of this project is not academic fulfillment but the transmission of the teaching of the Buddha to the whole world vii

Publisher’s Foreword

Editorial Foreword

in order to create harmony and peace among humankind. To that end, the translators have been asked to minimize the use of explanatory notes of the kind that are indispensable in academic texts, so that the attention of general readers will not be unduly distracted from the primary text. Also, a glossary of selected terms is appended to aid in understanding the text.

To my great regret, however, Dr. NUMATA passed away on May 5, 1994, at the age of ninety-seven, entrusting his son, Mr. NUMATA Toshihide, with the continuation and completion of the Translation Project. The Committee also lost its able and devoted Chairperson, Professor HANAYAMA Shōyū, on June 16, 1995, at the age of sixty-three. After these severe blows, the Committee elected me, Vice President of Musashino Women's College, to be the Chair in October 1995. The Committee has renewed its determination to carry out the noble intention of Dr. NUMATA, under the leadership of Mr. NUMATA Toshihide. The present members of the Committee are MAYEDA Sengaku (Chairperson), BANDŌ Shōjun, ICHISHIMA Zennō, KAMATA Shigeo, KANAOKA Shūyū, NARA Yasuaki, SAYEKI Shinkō, TAMARU Noriyoshi, URYŪZU Ryūshin, YUYAMA Akira, and Kenneth K. Tanaka. Assistant members are WATANABE Shōgo and YONEZAWA Yoshiyasu.

The Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research was established in November 1984, in Berkeley, California, U.S.A., to assist in the publication of the BDK English Tripiṭaka First Series. In December 1991, the Publication Committee was organized at the Numata Center, with Professor Philip Yampolsky as the Chairperson. To our sorrow, Professor Yampolsky passed away in July 1996. In February 1997, Dr. Kenneth K. Inada became Chair and served in that capacity until August 1999. The current Chair, Dr. Francis H. Cook, has been continuing the work since October 1999. All of the remaining texts will be published under the supervision of this Committee, in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee in Tokyo. MAYEDA Sengaku

Chairperson

Editorial Committee of

the BDK English Tripiṭaka

viii

Publisher's Foreword

The Publication Committee shares with the Editorial Committee the responsibility of realizing the vision of Dr. Yehan Numata, founder of Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai, the Society for the Promotion of Buddhism. This vision is no less than to make the Buddha's teaching better known throughout the world, through the translation and publication in English of the entire collection of Buddhist texts compiled in the Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō,published in Tokyo in the early part of the twentieth century. This huge task is expected to be carried out by several generations of translators and may take as long as a hundred years to complete. Ultimately, the entire canon will be available to anyone who can read English and who wishes to learn more about the teaching of the Buddha.

The present generation of staff members of the Publication Committee are Diane Ames, Marianne Dresser, Eisho Nasu, Koh Nishiike, and Reverend Kiyoshi Yamashita, president of the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, Berkeley, California. The Publication Committee is headquartered at the Numata Center and, working in close cooperation with the Editorial Committee, is responsible for the usual tasks associated with preparing translations for publication. In October 1999, I became the third chairperson of the Publication Committee, on the retirement of its very capable former chair, Dr. Kenneth K. Inada. The Committee is devoted to the advancement of the Buddha's teaching through the publication of excellent translations of the thousands of texts that make up the Buddhist canon.

Francis H. Cook

Chairperson

Publication Committee

ix

Contents

A Message on the Publication of the English Tripiṭaka NUMATAYehan v

Editorial Foreword MAYEDASengaku vii Publisher's Foreword Francis H. Cook ix Translator's Introduction John R. McRae xiii A Note on Interpolated Material xvii The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch Preface to the Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch 3 Encomium of the Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch 7 Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch

Number One: Account of Origins Number Two: Prajñā 27 Number Three: Questions 36

Number Four: Meditation and Wisdom Number Five: Seated Meditation 45 Number Six: Repentance 46

Number Seven: Encounters 53 Number Eight: Sudden and Gradual 17 41

71

Number Nine: Proclamations 79 Number Ten: Transmission 81 Appendix

An Additional Record of the Story of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch 95

xi

Translator’s Introduction

Contents

Details of Accolades through the Dynasties 99 Epitaph on the Bequest of the Posthumous Title "Chan Master Great Mirror" 100 Epitaph for Chan Master Great Mirror Inscription on the Robe of the Buddha (with Introduction) 103 105

Epilogue 108 Notes 111 Glossary 125 Bibliography 129 Index 131 A List of the Volumes of the BDK English Tripiṭaka (First Series) 145 xii

Translator's Introduction

The Buddha-nature Needs Nothing

There are eternal truths in the Platform Sutra.The primacy of the buddha-nature, the identity of meditation and wisdom, the "formless" approach to repentance and the precepts, the samādhiof the single practice—all these are religious principles that are valid beyond the limits of this one brilliant scripture. The most resounding truth, of course, is the doctrine that status, education, cultural or racial origin, and even spiritual training have nothing to do with the realization of perfect enlightenment. The only criterion of any significance whatsoever is the experience of "seeing the buddha-nature,

" realizing one's innate status as

an enlightened being. This truth is embodied in the person of Huineng. The protagonist of this convivial scripture, Huineng of Caoqi, is a living manifestation of the buddha-nature. As an illiterate "barbarian" from the far south, the impecunious son of a disgraced official, Huineng became the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism with none of the usual prerequisites of recognition as a religious master. He was not even a monk, but was treated— and accepted his treatment—as a déclassé temple menial. His only virtue was that he achieved an instantaneous and totalistic vision of the buddha-nature, the unsullied brilliance of understanding immanent within us all. "Achieved" is perhaps too strong a word, since there is no indication in the text that he worked for this moment of realization in any way. Huineng may have been diligent in cutting and selling firewood to support his widowed mother—an expression of filiality beyond all others in Chinese culture—and in hulling rice for the monastery at Huangmei, but the Platform Sutranever depicts him spending a single moment in meditation or religious ritual, let alone intoning or studying the holy texts. As a character, Huineng is absolutely static, neither laboring mightily for insight nor effusing with the newfound bliss of divinity; never was there a religious figure less transformed by his insight. In Hu Shi's famous phrase, this was truly a "Chan that was no chanat all. "

xiii

Translator's Introduction

It is the "mind-verses" submitted by Huineng and his alter ego, Shenxiu, that are of course the very heart of the message. According to the story, the earnest and learned Shenxiu concocts an elegant blend of metaphors to express a religious ideal of complete devotion to spiritual practice. And Huineng's response? It is to blast apart the very terms in which Shenxiu's message is phrased, to undercut the very foundation of religious practice itself. This is not where the message ends, of course. The balance of the text would seem to imply that this "Chan that was no chanat all" was indeed something that spiritual aspirants should strive to achieve. Indeed, the overall force of the text is paradoxically emphatic: although visualizing a goal to be grasped for and achieved is absolutely forbidden, meditation training is something that must assuredly be undertaken, the highest imaginable goal of human existence. I will let the reader determine how successfully the Platform Sutraarticulates this permutation of the bodhisattva ideal.

Creative Realities and Historical Fictions

However grand its doctrinal contents, the Platform Sutrais not a statement of an undifferentiated perennial philosophy. This was a text very clearly molded by its specific origins within the early Chan movement. Indeed, the characters that appear in this important book are all literary creations, pious fabrications. A journalist would say that the entire work is a web of lies. It would be unfair to discount the Platform Sutrain this fashion; rather, it is the fictional quality of the text that renders it important, that makes it true. To be sure, almost all the details of the text's charming story are untrue, but the fact that it was the product of a fertile literary imagination—and that it was enthusiastically adopted by centuries of Chinese Buddhists—implies that it was more representative of the deepest religious sensibilities of the Chinese people than a journalistically accurate account could have ever been. The historical Huineng (638-713), for example, is almost totally unknown. He probably taught a style of meditation practice based on the idea of sudden enlightenment, but this was really nothing exceptional for his day. Although he lived in Shaozhou in the far south, where he probably came from a locally prominent family (meaning that he was almost certainly not illiterate), he seems to have had cordial relations with other meditation masters. There is no reliable evidence whatsoever that he was designated the sole successor of his teacher, xiv

Translator's Introduction

Hongren of Huangmei, or that he received Bodhidharma's robe and bowl from Hongren. There is only the slightest of possibilities that he was ever invited to the imperial court in Changan.

In contrast, the biography of Shenxiu (606?-706) is extremely well known. This was perhaps the most important historical personage in all of early Chan: invited to court by Empress Wu in 700, he and his immediate disciples were responsible for an explosion of interest in what became Chinese Chan. They generated the basic formulations of Chan doctrine and wrote the earliest and most fundamental works of the new religious movement. Incidentally, Huineng and Shenxiu were not at Huangmei at the same time, so they could not have participated in a versification contest with each other. Texts and Contexts

The earliest extant version of the Platform Sutrawas written around the year 780 and was preserved among the treasures of Dunhuang in Chinese Central Asia, where the products of a medieval copyists' center were preserved until this century in a walled-up cave.

The original version of the text was written to resolve a conflict in early Chan that had been fomented by Shenhui (684-758), who carried out a vigorous campaign on behalf of his teacher Huineng's "Southern school" and against the so-called "Northern school" of Shenxiu's students. By the time of the Platform Sutra, interest in factionalist rivalry had passed, and the goal was to unify the burgeoning Chan movement under the standard of Huineng. Why Huineng? Not because he was an important historical figure, or even a well-known teacher. Rather, Huineng was an acceptable figurehead for Chinese Chan precisely because of his anonymity. Anything could be attributed to him as long as it would fit under the rubric of subitism. And since the "Northern school" was never the sort of institutional entity that might work to defend its own existence, there was nothing to stop the author of the Platform Sutrafrom using its representatives as straw men that he could criticize in order to elucidate his own teachings.

The text that is translated here, of course, is the mature version of the text, a composite of Yuan dynasty editions. It is substantially longer than the Dunhuang version; at one point its editor admits freely to adding dialogues and clarifications not in any of the texts he worked from. In addition to these accretions, this xv

Translator's Introduction

version of the Platform Sutrais notable for its elaborate set of opening and closing flourishes—an encomium by the famous Qisong (1007-1072) and epitaphs by the Tang literati-officials Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi being the most significant. It is interesting to note the extent to which these figures accept the image of Huineng presented in the text as a historical certainty, as well as the efforts they take to justify the nontransmission of the robe and bowl to Huineng's successors. Even more ironic, perhaps, are the efforts by Qisong and the editor Zongbao to qualify the Platform Sutraas equivalent to scriptures spoken by the Buddha, but at the same time to suggest that it is somehow other than the "words" to which the First Patriarch, Bodhidharma, said we must not cling. Here, then, is a religious text filled with the wisdom of the ancients, rife with practical import for moderns, and delicious in its own inner contradictions. Let it speak to you in its many voices!

xvi

A Note on Interpolated Material

Three types of interpolated and explanatory material appear in either parentheses or brackets in this book, indicating that they are not part of the original text: 1. Words or phrases that appear within parentheses and in italics indicate explanatory notes, comments, and interpolations made by the original compiler/editor of this volume and the writers of the various ancillary materials (Preface, Encomium, and Appendix sections). For example, see the sentence beginning, ("Perfected Man

"

refers to the Sixth Patriarch. . .)in the first paragraph on page 7. 2. The English-language translator of this volume has in some cases provided the romanized Chinese or Sanskrit terms for certain words or phrases; these appear in italics and in parentheses immediately following the corresponding word or phrase in the text. Glosses, simple definitions, and the English equivalents of certain terms or names also appear (without italics) in parentheses immediately following the corresponding word or phrase in the text. For example, see the sentence beginning, The sage is said to be wise (ming,i.e.,

"brilliant"). . . in the first paragraph on

page 7.

3. Editorial interpolations to clarify certain passages, made by the Englishlanguage translator of this volume, appear within brackets. For example, see the sentence beginning,

"Deluded" is to be transformed [into ignorance]. . . in the first paragraph on page 7. xvii

Contents

THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF THE SIXTH PATRIARCH

Preface to the Platform Sutra of the

Dharma Treasure of the Great Master,

the Sixth Patriarch

by Bhikṣu Deyi of Guyun1

Empty and mysterious is the wondrous Way and inconceivable, forgetting words and attaining the meaning, in the end enlightened and wise. Therefore, the World-honored One shared his seat before the Stupa of Many Sons and held up the flower at the assembly on Vulture Peak. Like fire gives fire, mind is sealed with mind.

The four sevens of the western transmission (i.e., the twenty-eight Indian patriarchs) came down to Bodhidharma, who came east to this land to point directly at the minds of human beings [so that they might] see the nature and achieve buddhahood (zhi zhi renxin jianxing chengfo). There was Great Master [Hui]ke, who in the beginning became enlightened upon [hearing Bodhidharma's] words and at the end bowed three times and attained the marrow [of Bodhidharma's teaching]. Receiving the robe and succeeding to the patriarch [Bodhidharma], he opened forth the correct doctrine (zhengzong). In three transmissions [the teaching] arrived at [Hongren of] Huangmei. Although there were seven hundred eminent monks within the assembly, the only one [appropriate to receive the transmission] was the layman of the pestle (i.e., Huineng).

2 With a single verse the robe was transmitted, and he became the Sixth Patriarch. Escaping south for more than ten years, one morning at the encounter of neither the wind nor the banner moving did he touch and open Yinzong's correct eye [of the Dharma]. Thus did the layman cut his hair3 and ascend the [ordination] platform. This was in response to the prediction of [Guṇa]bhadra. [Huineng] opened forth the East Mountain teaching, and Lord Wei4 ordered the Chan monk [Fa]hai to record his words. They are titled Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure. Great Master [Huineng] finally went to Caoqi for the first time in the fifth year, and he preached the Dharma for thirty-seven years. Beyond recording is the number of those who were enriched by the taste of the sweet dew [of his teaching], who entered the sagely and transcended the ordinary. 345c6

3

346a

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

Those who are enlightened to the doctrine of the mind of the Buddha (wu foxin zong) and whose practice and understanding are in correspondence [with the truth] are great spiritual compatriots. They are called carriers and transmitters of the lamp. It was Nanyue [Huairang] and Qingyuan [Xingsi] who attended [upon Huineng] the longest, completely attaining [a state of ] unconditionality.

5 Therefore it was that Mazu and Shitou proceeded from

[Qingyuan and Nanyue]. The wisdom of these men was perfect and bright, like a mysterious wind great in its quaking.

6 And then did appear the towering

figures of the Linji, Guiyang, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan [lineages]: surpassing all were their Way and their virtue (daode), steep were [the roads to their] front courtyards. The revelation is of the heroic monk, who aroused his ambitions and struck the barrier. By profoundly entering [any] single gate [one realizes] that the five factions share the same source. Passing throughout the forge, extensive and great is its scale. Originally the essential teachings (gangyao) of the five houses all derived from the Platform Sutra. The Platform Sutrais simple in words and rich in meaning, brilliant of principle and provides all [that is necessary]. It is replete in the immeasurable teachings of the buddhas. Each and every teaching is replete in the immeasurable wondrous meanings; from each and every wondrous meaning emanate the immeasurable wondrous principles of the buddhas. It is the interior of Maitreya's pavilion, the interior of Samantabhadra's pores. He who well does enter it is identical to the youth Sudhana, who in a single moment of thought [achieved] merit perfect and complete. He is equivalent to Samantabhadra; he is equivalent to the buddhas.

How unfortunate, the great abbreviation of the Platform Sutraby later people! One cannot see the great entirety of the Sixth Patriarch's purport. In my youth, [I,] Deyi, once saw an old copy, which I sought everywhere for the next thirty years and more. Recently Superior One Tong has found the complete text, which is now being published by the Idle Leisure Chan Retreat in Wuzhong (Wu Xian, Jiangxi). It is identical to that used by the various superior masters. My only wish is that you will open this scroll, raise your eyes [to the text], and enter directly into the ocean of the great perfect enlightenment. Let the life of the wisdom of the buddhas and patriarchs continue without cease! Thus will my earnest wish be complete.

4

Preface Recorded on a spring day in the twenty-seventh hexagenary (i.e., sixtyyear calendrical cycle) year, the twenty-seventh year of the Zhiyuan ("Reaching the Origin") [period, or 1290]. 5

Encomium of the Platform Sutra

of the Dharma Treasure of the

Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch

by Qisong, Great Master Mingjiao of the Song7 To praise is to announce, to open up the sutra and widely announce. The Platform Sutrais that by which a Perfected Man (zhiren) revealed his mind. ("Perfected Man

"

refers to the Sixth Patriarch, just as in the text.)What mind? The wondrous mind transmitted by the buddhas. How great, this mind! The initial source of all transformations, yet it remains ever pure. Whether ordinary person or sage, whether hidden or revealed, there is nowhere that it does not exist of itself.

8 The sage is said to be wise (ming,i.e., "brilliant"),

and the ordinary person is said to be deluded (mei,i.e., "obscure").

"Deluded"

is to be transformed [into ignorance], and "wise" is to return [to original wisdom]. 9 Although transformed and returning differ, the wondrous mind is one. In the beginning was Śākyamuni Buddha, who transmitted it (i.e., the mind) to Mahākāśyapa. The thirty-three generations of Mahākāśyapa's transmission transmitted it to Great Mirror (Dajian, i.e., Huineng). (The Sixth Patriarch'

s posthumous title is Great Master Great Mirror.)Great Mirror transmitted it, and it was transmitted on even further. In the first place, the ways of speaking of [the mind] are varied. Fundamentally, there are names that are identical even though the reality varies; fundamentally, there are many meanings even though the mind is one. It is called "mind of flesh and blood,

" it is called "mind of dependent cognition, "

it is called "mind of correlation and activating, " and it is called "mind of firm

reality.

"10 Since mental states (xinsuo) are [often referred to as the] mind, there is an even greater [variety of usage]. These are cases where the names are identical even though the reality varies. It is called "mind of suchness, "

it is called "mind of generation and extinction, " it is called "mind of the

afflictions,

" and it is called "mind of bodhi(bodhicitta). " Those of this

category found in the various sutras could hardly be counted! These are cases where the meanings are many even though the mind is one. 7

346b

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

Of meanings, there is the meaning of enlightenment (jue) and the meaning of nonenlightenment (bujue). Of minds, there is the true mind (zhenxin) and the false mind (wangxin). All of these are [just different] distinctions of the correct mind (zhengxin). Of course, the mind referred to in the Platform Sutrais, of [the two] meanings, the meaning of enlightenment and, of [the two] minds, the true mind (shixin).

In the past, when the Sage [Śākyamuni] was about to secret himself [in nirvana], he commanded Mahākāśyapa to transmit the essential Dharma outside the teachings.

11 Thinking that people then were stagnating in traces and would forget to return [to the fundamental], he deeply wanted those of later times to behold the fundamental and correct the implications. Therefore does the Nirvana Sutrasay,

"I have an insurpassable correct Dharma, which

I bestow entirely on Mahākāśyapa.

"

The Way of heaven resides in change, the Way of earth resides in selection, and the Way of the sages12 resides in the essential (yao). The essential is a term for the most wondrous. The essential is the Way of the sages, and is therefore the hingepin of the gate of the dharmadhātu,the meeting of the immeasurable doctrines, the unembellished [original] vehicle of the Maha yana. How could the Lotus[Sutra] not but say, "You should understand that

the wondrous Dharma is the essential secret (miyao) of the buddhas. " How

could the Flower Garland[Sutra] not but say,

"With a bit of expedient means,

quickly does one achieve bodhi.

" The essential, then—how great is its benefit

in the Way of the sages!

Therefore, the central doctrine (zong) of the Platform Sutrais the honoring of the essential of the mind (xinyao). The mind is as if bright, as if dark, as if empty, as if numinous, as if serene, as if awakened. It possesses things and is without things. Say it is a single thing, and it originally extends over the ten thousand things. Say it is the ten thousand things, and it is originally unified in a single thing. A single thing resembling the ten thousand things, the ten thousand things resembling a single thing: such descriptions [imply that the mind] is conceivable, but it can neither be thought of nor conceived of. The world (tianxia) calls it the mysterious understanding (xuanjie), they call it the divine comprehension (shenhui), they call it beyond relativities (juedai), they call it the silent essence (moti), they call it the obscure penetration (mingtong). Transcend all of them, do away with them, do away with 8

Encomium

them, and away again! Furthermore, how could one reach such [a state]?13 Were it not ultimately attained by solitary transmission from the Perfected Man, who could sincerely embody it?14 Inferring, he explicates it, and there is nowhere he cannot go. Probing, he resolves it, and there is nowhere he is not correct.

Applying it to realization of the nature,

15 his views are perfectly intimate.

Applying it to cultivation, his proceedings are perfectly correct. Applying it to the elevation of virtue and the discrimination of illusions, the true and the false16 are easily manifested. Applying it to transcendence of the world, 17 the

enlightenment of buddhahood is quickly achieved. Applying it to saving the world, the enervating defilements are easily ended. This is the central doctrine (zong) of the Platform Sutra,which may be disseminated throughout the world without opposition [from anyone].

Those who say [the dictum] "the mind is buddhas" is shallow do not know the extent [of their own minds]! It is as if they were to measure the earth with a broken auger and call the earth shallow; it is as if they were to probe heaven through a hole in the back corner of a roof and call heaven small.

18 How could heaven and earth be so! Therefore, although the [masters of the] hundred houses may be a little better than this, they are not like [the perfection of the Platform Sutra]. The Perfected Man penetrates and permeates it, and his determination [of the truth] is seen to be in accord with the scriptures. 19 The Perfected Man transforms and penetrates it, being unembodied in names (i.e., words) and inscrutable.

Therefore, there is moral and meaning in [Huineng's] manifest preaching; there is no beginning or end of his secret preaching. Those whose natural abilities are sharp will attain it profoundly; those whose natural abilities are dull will attain it shallowly. Could it be described? Could it be expressed? If one were constrained to approximate it,

20 then it is equivalent to the perfect

and sudden teaching, the Supreme Vehicle, the Pure Chan of the Tathāgata, the Correct Doctrine of the Bodhisattvas' Storehouse. Those who discuss it call it the Learning of the Mystery (xuanxue), and is this not exactly the case? The world refers to it as a school (zongmen), and is this not appropriate? When the Platform Sutrasays,

"Meditation and wisdom are the fundamental,

" [it is because] these are the beginning of one's progress to enlightenment (dao,the "Way"). Meditation is tranquility, and wisdom is illumination (ming). 9

346c

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

Illuminating, one contemplates; tranquil, one pacifies. Pacifying the mind, one understands the mind (tixin). Contemplating the Way, one may speak of the Way.

The "samādhiof the single practice" (yixing sanmei) is a term for the one characteristic of the dharmadhātu(fajie yixiang). Although the ten thousand forms of good are said to be different, they are all within the single practice.

"The formless is the essence" (wuxiang wei ti) is to honor the great precepts. "Nonthought is the doctrine" (wunian wei zong) is to honor the great meditation.

"Nonabiding is the fundamental" (wuzhu wei ben) is to honor the great wisdom. Precepts, meditation, and wisdom constitute the Way penetrated by the three vehicles. The wondrous mind (miaoxin) is the great source21 of precepts, meditation, and wisdom; with the single wondrous mind one unifies the three Dharmas. Therefore, it is called great. The "formless precepts" (wuxiang jie) are to constrain one so as to definitely attain correct realization. The "four great vows" (si hong yuan) are to vow salvation—salvation from suffering; to vow eradication—the eradication of the accumulation [of the afflictions]; to vow learning—to learn the Way; and to vow attainment—attainment of serene extinction (i.e., nirvana). Extinction is without anything that is extinguished, and therefore there is nothing that is not extinguished. Enlightenment is without anything one is enlightened to, and therefore there is nothing that is not saved.

The "formless repentances" (wuxiang chan) are to repent that which is not to be repented. The "three refuges" are to take refuge in the One. The One is the source of the three treasures. To explain mahāprajñā(great wisdom) is to refer to the very center of the mind. Prajñāis the expedient means of the Sage, the great wisdom of the Sage.

Fundamentally, it can be tranquilized, illumined, made provisional, and actualized. The people of this world use its tranquilization to subjugate a host of evils; the people of this world use its illumination to collect a host of goods; the people of this world use its provisionalization to make great their conditioned [activities of teaching]; the people of this world use its actualization to make great their unconditioned [attainment of nirvana]. How ultimate, this prajñā! The Way of the Sage, without prajñā,would not be illuminated and would not be attained. The tasks of those under heaven, without prajñā,would 10

Encomium

not be appropriate and would not be correct. The Perfected Man's actions [of teaching] use prajñāto elicit [interpretations]. Is this not abstruse?22 [Huineng says that] "my Dharma is preached for those of the highest abilities" because he appropriately [matches person and Dharma]. 23 To make

heavy use of those [capable of only] light loads would be unsuccessful, and to bequeath the great method to those of small [capacities] would be an error. 24

That which has been transmitted silently and bequeathed from the past is a secret teaching.

"Secret" is not to imply one's own realization without speaking but to [base oneself on] suchness while [practicing] in secret. To not understand this Dharma and revile it readily, to eradicate one's seeds of buddhahood for a hundred eons and a thousand lives, is to lose the [fundamental] mind even as one [attempts to] protect the people of this world.

How great, the appearance of the Platform Sutra! Its fundamentals are correct and its traces effective. Its cause is true and its results unerring. Previous sages and later sages have thus generated it, have thus manifested it, and have thus returned to it. Vast and surging, it is like the flowing of a great river, like the omnipresence of space, like the illumination of sun and moon, like the lack of contact between form and shadow, like the ordered flight of geese. Wondrous to attain it—and it is called the fundamental; extrapolate and make it function—and it is called the traces. Begin that which is without beginning—and it is called the cause; attain that which cannot be attained—and it is called the result. The result is not different from the cause—and it is called the correct result; the cause is not different from the result—and it is called the correct cause. The traces [of the teaching] must consider the fundamental—and this is called the great function; the fundamental must consider the traces—and this is called the Great Vehicle.

"Vehicle" is the Sage's metaphor

for the Way; "function" is the Sage's generation of the teaching. The Way of the Sage does not approach the mind [that is the source of the teachings]; the teaching of the Sage does not approach [the actual practice of spiritual] cultivation. To regulate the spirit and enter the Way (i.e., enlightenment) does not approach the concentration and insight [meditation] of the single characteristic [that is without characteristics];25 to pattern oneself on good and attain virtue does not approach the samādhiof the single practice. To accept all the precepts does not approach that which is without characteristics; to make correct all the meditations does not approach nonthought; to penetrate all the 11

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The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

wisdoms does not approach nonabiding. To generate good and extinguish evil does not approach the formless precepts; to expand on the Way and elicit virtue does not approach the four great vows. Well to contemplate transgressions does not approach the formless repentances; to correct one's tendencies does not approach the three refuges. To correct the great essence and resolve the great function does not approach great prajñā; to generate the great faith and toil at the great Way does not approach the great ambition. [The attempts of people] under heaven to exhaust principles and eliminate the natures [of things] does not approach the silent transmission; to want one's mind to be without transgression is not better than to not revile [Buddhism]. To make meditation and wisdom the beginning is the foundation of the Way; the samādhiof the single characteristic is the origin of virtue. The central doctrine of no-mind is the expression of emancipation; the fundamental of nonabiding is the expression of prajñā;and the essence of the formless is the expression of the dharmakāya.The formless precepts are the utmost of the precepts; the four great vows are the zenith of vows; and the formless repentances are the ultimate among repentances. The precepts of the triple refuge are [to take] refuge in [ultimate] truth. Great wisdom is the great model for the ordinary person and sage; what is preached for those of highest abilities is the straightforward teaching. The silent transmission is the ultimate of transmissions; to constrain against revilement [of Buddhism] is the appropriate [task of] the precepts.

The wondrous mind is not formed through cultivation, nor is it illumined through enlightenment; it is formed fundamentally.

26 Those who are deluded

as to wisdom (ming,i.e.,

"illumination") return to wisdom and are thereby

enlightened; those who have turned their backs on its formation return to that formation and therefore cultivate [the mind]. It is cultivated through noncultivation, and hence it is called correct cultivation; it is illumined through nonillumination, and hence it is called correct enlightenment. 27 The Perfected

Man was reticent and did not reveal [the grandeur of ] his deportment, but he formed virtue and performed practices that were luxuriant [throughout the world]. The Perfected Man was decrepit and seemed unable to maintain any [teaching], but his Way is manifest [everywhere] under heaven. Presumably, he cultivated with correct cultivation and was enlightened with correct enlightenment. In this regard [there are those who] say, "there is no cultivation

12

Encomium

and no enlightenment, no cause and no result,

" boring away at trivia and

vying to offer their own explanations; [such people are] mistaken as to the teachings of the Perfected Man. Ah, they abandon the precepts, meditation, and wisdom and hence necessarily drift off into murky space, and there is nothing I can do about them!

How utterly unfortunate, those sentient beings who inundate their minds and float along with their consciousness, consciousness and action driving each other, following the various directions (i.e., modes of existence) with no stop from the [very] beginning. They become phenomena, they become forms, they are born along with humans and [the myriad] things, rampant throughout heaven and earth, so numerous they could never be counted. 28

Those who attain human form are truly only one in a hundred million, and those who as humans are able to become enlightened are virtually nil. The Sage [Śākyamuni] pondered this and generated a great variety [of teachings], but there are still those under heaven who have not attained wisdom. The Sage, in order to save such as these, used many methods to heal them, but there are still those under heaven who have not awoken. The clever have disrupted themselves with wisdom, the fools have hung themselves with stupidity, and the average people have beclouded themselves in blankness. 29 They are

moved to respond to things, becoming happy at them and angry at them, sad about them and pleased about them, and their impediments increase by the myriad. Like [those] walking in the dark of night, they know not where they go. Hearing the words of the Sage, they speculate upon them and become aggrieved by them, as if they are trying to look afar through a fog. They talk about being and talk about nonbeing, they talk about not being and talk about not nonbeing, [and then] they talk about being again and talk about nonbeing again. But they only become more obscured by their improper views, 30 and

until the end of their days they never understand. The ocean is what it is because there is water, and the fish and dragons who live and die in the ocean do not see the water. The Way is what it is because of the mind, and such persons speak of the Way all the time but never see the mind. How sad! The mind is fundamentally subtle and wondrous, abstruse and remote, difficult to illuminate and difficult to reach. Thus it is [not easy to understand]. 31

The Sage [Śākyamuni] has secreted himself [in nirvana], and for a hundred generations, even though there were written transmissions, [the people of this 347b

13

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The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch world] under heaven were not able to understand and experience [the enlightenment of which they speak]. Therefore the central doctrine of the Platform Sutraspecified and straightforwardly described the mind, so that all under heaven were for the first time able to render correct their [fundamental] natures and [karmically endowed] life forces. It is as if you eliminate the clouds and mists and see the great sky, or as if you climb Mount Tai and can see all around without restriction. According to Wang [Wenkang], who borrowed from a profane text to say,

"With a single change [the mantle] passed from Qi to Lu, and with a single change it changed from Lu to the Way. "32 This saying is close [to the truth]. The Nirvana[Sutra] says, "From the Deer Park in the beginning to the Ajivatā River at the end, for fifty years [the Buddha] never spoke a single word.

" The manifestation of the Dharma is not done in words, and this saying is to prevent us from seeking his message in words. [The Nirvana Sutraalso] says,

"Rely on the Dharma, do not rely on the man" —this is

because the Dharma is true and the man (i.e., Śākyamuni) is provisional. It says,

"Rely on the meaning, do not rely on words" —this is because the

meanings are real and the words provisional. It says, "Rely on wisdom, do

not rely on knowledge"

—this is because wisdom is the ultimate and knowledge is false. It says "Rely on sutras that are comprehensive in meaning, do not rely on sutras that are not comprehensive in meaning" —this is because

sutras that are comprehensive in meaning exhaust the principles [of things]. And as Bodhisattva [Mahākāśyapa] said, "this is the preaching of the great nirvana,

" meaning that his own preaching was identical to that [of the Buddha] in the sutra.

As the Sage [Śākyamuni] said,

"These four persons (i.e., the four reliances) have appeared in the world to maintain and protect the correct Dharma, and you should realize them [as such]. " Since [the Buddha said]

"you should realize them [as such], " the Perfected Man [Huineng] extrapolated from the fundamental to correct the derivative. Because [Kāśyapa said] "My preaching is the same as [the Buddha's in] the sutra, " the Perfected Man's

preaching of a sutra is identical to a sutra. Because [the Nirvana Sutrasays] "Rely on meanings" and "rely on sutras that are comprehensive in meaning, "

the Perfected Man has preached openly and was in accord with the meanings and in accord with the sutras [of the Buddha]. Because [the Nirvana Sutra 14

Encomium

says] "Rely on the Dharma" and "rely on wisdom,

" therefore the Perfected

Man has preached secretly, transforming and penetrating, but not becoming stagnated in the slightest. Because "the manifestation of the Dharma is not done in words,

" the central teaching33 of the Perfected Man reveres the silent transmission.

The Sage was like the spring, gently bringing forth, and the Perfected Man was like the autumn, cleanly maturing. The Sage commanded, and the Perfected Man effected. The Perfected Man is therefore the one great in marvelous virtue and outstanding heroism of the school of the Sage. That perfected one began in insignificance, revealing that he did not understand the words of this world. And what did he achieve! With only a single preaching, he revealed the Way and saved the world, quite identically to the achievements of the Great Sage. Fundamentally, with mysterious virtue and superior wisdom, he understood things innately. Wanting to demonstrate the Dharma, he manifested illiteracy! It has been almost four hundred years since he died, and his Dharma has flowed into the four seas without cease. Emperors and kings, sages and wise men, have for thirty generations sought out his Way and have become increasingly reverential. If he had not attained that which had been attained by the Great Sage, heaven would long ago have come to despise him. [If so], how could it have become like this?

I, [Qisong,] am a stubborn [narrow-minded] person—how could I have exhausted his Way? Fortunately, even a mosquito drinking from the ocean knows its taste. Thus do I dare to bow my head and disseminate it, bequeathing it to students to come.

15

Platform Sutra of the Dharma Treasure

of the Great Master, the Sixth Patriarch

Compiled by Bhikṣu Zongbao, successor to the patriarch and abbot of Baoen Guangxiao Chansi ("Retribution of Grace and Refulgence of Filiality Meditation Monastery"), [where occurred the incident involving] the wind and the banner Number One: Account of Origins

When the Great Master arrived at Baolin[si] ("Treasure Grove Monastery"), Prefect Wei (whose given name was Qu) and his official staff entered the monastery and invited the master to come to the lecture hall at Dafansi ("Great Purity Monastery") within the city, where he could tell his story and preach the Dharma for those assembled. After the master took his seat, the prefect and official staff, more than thirty in number, the Confucian scholars, more than thirty in number, and the monks, nuns, and laypeople, more than a thousand in number, simultaneously did obeisance34 to him and beseeched him to relate the essentials of the Dharma.

The Great Master told the assembly,

"Good friends,

35 bodhiis fundamentally pure in its self-nature. You must simply use this mind [that you already have], and you will achieve buddhahood directly and completely. Good friends, listen well! This is the story of how I36 practiced and attained the Dharma.

"My father was a native of Fanyang (Zhuo Xian, Hebei), but he was banished to Lingnan and became a commoner in Xinzhou (Xinxing Xian, Guangdong). I have been unfortunate: my father died early, and my aged mother and I, her only child, moved here to Nanhai. 37 Miserably poor, I sold

firewood in the marketplace.

"At one time, a customer bought some firewood and had me deliver it to his shop, where he took it and paid me. On my way out of the gate I saw someone38 reciting a sutra, and as soon as I heard the words of the sutra my mind opened forth in enlightenment. I then asked the person what sutra he was reciting, and he said,

'The Diamond Sutra.

' I also asked,

'Where did

17

348a

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch you get this sutra?' He said,

'I have come from Dongchansi ("Eastern Meditation Monastery") in Huangmei Xian in Qizhou (Qizhun, Hubei). The Fifth Patriarch, Great Master Hongren, resides at and is in charge of instruction at that monastery. He has over a thousand followers. I went there, did obeisance to him, and received this sutra there. Great Master [Hongren] always exhorts both monks and laymen to simply maintain the Diamond Sutra,so that one can see the [self]-nature39 by oneself and achieve buddhahood directly and completely.

'

"My hearing this was through a karmic connection from the past. Someone then gave me ten liangof silver to pay for my aged mother's food and clothing and told me to go to Huangmei to do obeisance to the Fifth Patriarch. I then left my mother for the last time and departed. In less than thirtyodd days I arrived at Huangmei, where I did obeisance to the Fifth Patriarch. "The patriarch asked me,

'Where are you from, and what is it you seek?' I replied,

'Your disciple is a commoner from Xinzhou in Lingnan, and I have come this far to pay reverence to you. I wish only to achieve buddhahood and do not seek anything else.

' The patriarch said,

'If you're from Lingnan,

then you must be a hunter.

40 How could you ever achieve buddhahood?' I said,

'Although people may be from north or south, there is fundamentally no north and south in the buddha-nature. Although this hunter's body is different from Your Reverence's, how can there be any difference in the buddha natures [within]?' "The Fifth Patriarch wanted to speak further with me but, seeing that his followers were gathered all around, he told me to go with them to work. I said,

'If I might address Your Reverence, your disciple constantly generates wisdom in my own mind. To not transcend the self-natures41 is equivalent to the field of blessings. I wonder what work Your Reverence would have me do?' The patriarch said,

'Some Glao barbarian!42 You're very sharp! Don't say anything else! Go to the work shed. '43 I then retired to a chapel in the

rear [of the monastery].

"A practitioner had me break up kindling and tread the hulling pestle. 44

After more than eight months of this, the patriarch came unexpectedly one day to see me. He said,

'I thought your views might have been of use, but I was afraid there were evil people who might have harmed you. That was why I haven't spoken to you. Do you understand this?' I replied, 'I understood

18

Number One: Account of Origins

your intentions. I have not dared go by the main hall, 45 so as to not remind

people.

'46

"One day the patriarch called all of his followers together [and addressed them, saying],

'I preach to you that life and death is the great concern for people of this world. But you spend all your time seeking only the fields of blessings, rather than seeking to escape the ocean of suffering of birth and death! If you are deluded as to the self-natures, how can you be saved by blessings? You should each go reflect upon your own wisdom. Taking the essence of prajñāwithin your own fundamental minds, you should each compose a verse and come show it to me. If you are enlightened to the great meaning, I will transmit the robe and Dharma to you and make you the patriarch of the sixth generation. "'Go quickly—this is an emergency, and you must not delay! Thinking is of no use—he who is to see the [self]-nature will see it immediately upon hearing these words! If there is such a one here, he will see it even if encamped on top of a circle of knives!'47 (This is a metaphor for one of excellent abilities.)

"The assembly [of followers] received these instructions and retired, saying to each other,

'We followers do not have to purify our minds and work to compose verses. What advantage would there be in showing anything to His Reverence [Hongren]?48 Elder Shenxiu is now our instructor, and he will certainly attain [the rank of sixth patriarch]. If ones such as us tried to compose verses, we would only be wasting our energies.

' The others heard these words,

and all of them gave up [working on the problem]. They all said, 'Afterward,

we will rely on Master Shenxiu. Why trouble to compose verses?' "Shenxiu thought,

'They are not going to submit verses, thinking that I am their instructor. I must compose a verse and submit it to His Reverence. If I do not submit a verse, how will His Reverence know the profundity of understanding within my mind? If I submit a verse with the intention of seeking the Dharma, it would be good. But if I am seeking to become patriarch, it would be bad. How would that be any different from one with an ordinary mind usurping the sagely status? But if I don't submit a verse, I'll never attain the Dharma. What a problem! What a problem!' "There was a hallway three bays in length in front of the Fifth Patriarch's hall, where Auxiliary Lu Zhen49 was to be asked to paint episodes50 from the 19

348b

348c

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

Laṅkāvatāra Sutraand a diagram of the Fifth Patriarch's lineage, [all for] wider dissemination and offerings.

51 When Shenxiu had finished making up his verse,

he tried several times to go to the front of the hall [to offer his verse in person]. But his mind was in a daze and his body covered with sweat, and he was unable to submit [his verse]. Over the space of four days he tried thirteen times to submit his verse but couldn't. He thought,

'It would be better to write it in the

hallway. After His Reverence sees it, if he says it is good, I will come forward and bow to him, saying that it was mine. If he says it is unacceptable, I will have wasted several years at this monastery. I will have received the obeisance of others, but what Way52 will I have cultivated?'

"On that night, in the third watch (about 1:00 A.M.) so that no one else knew, [Shenxiu] took a lamp and wrote his verse on the wall of the south corridor, submitting [to the patriarch] the viewpoint of his mind. The verse read: The body is the bodhitree;

The mind is like a bright mirror's stand.

Be always diligent in rubbing it—

Do not let it attract any dust.

"After Shenxiu finished writing his verse, he returned to his room, without anyone knowing. Shenxiu thought, 'Tomorrow, if the Fifth Patriarch sees

my verse and is pleased, it will mean I have a karmic connection with the Dharma. If he says it's unacceptable, it will mean I am deluded by the layered barriers of past karma and am not fit to attain the Dharma. The sagely intention is difficult to fathom!' He remained in his room, thinking, but unable to rest either sitting or lying down.

"When it came to be the fifth watch (about 5:00 A.M.), the patriarch knew that Shenxiu had not been able to enter the gate and had been unable to see the self-nature. When morning came, Hongren called Auxiliary Lu to come paint the lineage and episodes on the wall of the south corridor. Unexpectedly seeing the verse, he announced, 'There is no need for you to paint

anything. I am sorry we have troubled you to come so far. The [Diamond] Sutrasays,

"All that which has characteristics is false.

" We should just leave

this verse here for people to recite. By cultivating in reliance upon this verse, they will avoid falling into the unfortunate modes of existence. To cultivate according to this verse will be greatly beneficial!'

20

Number One: Account of Origins

"[Hongren then] commanded his followers to burn incense and do obeisance [to the verse, saying], 'All who recite this verse will be able to see the

nature.

' The followers recited it, all of them sighing at how excellent it was. "But in the third watch [that night] the patriarch called Shenxiu into the hall and asked him,

'Is the verse yours?' Shenxiu said,

'Yes, it is mine, but

I am unable to seek the status of patriarch. I seek Your Reverence's compassion. Do I have some small wisdom or not?' "Hongren said,

'When you composed this verse you had not seen the

fundamental nature. You have come only as far as outside the gate; you have not yet come inside. With understanding such as this you will not be able to attain the unsurpassable bodhi.The unsurpassable bodhiis to be able, at these very words, to recognize your own fundamental mind and to see that your own fundamental nature is neither born nor extinguished. It is to see this naturally in every moment of thought and at all times: the myriad dharmas are without obstruction; the one is true and all are true. 53 The myriad realms are

naturally thuslike, and the thuslike mind is the true. If what you see is like this, then it is the self-nature of the unsurpassable bodhisattva. "'Go now, and meditate upon this for a day or two. Compose another verse and bring it to me. I will see from your verse whether you have been able to enter the gate and whether I should transmit to you the robe and Dharma.

' Shenxiu bowed and went out. But even after several days he was unable to create another verse. His mind was in a daze and his spirit was disturbed, as if he were in a dream, and he could take no pleasure in either walking or sitting. "

[Huineng continued,] "After a couple of days an acolyte passed by the hulling room reciting the verse. Upon hearing it, I immediately knew that [the author of] the verse had not seen the fundamental nature. Although I had never received any instruction, I had already recognized the great intention [of the sages], so I asked the acolyte,

'What verse is it you're reciting?' The

acolyte said,

'What a [disgusting] hunter you are! Don't you know that Great Master [Hongren] has said that life and death is the great concern for people of this world, and, wanting to transmit the robe and bowl, he commanded his followers to compose verses and show them to him? If there were one who was enlightened to the great intention, he would transmit the robe and Dharma and make that one the sixth patriarch. Elder Shenxiu wrote a formless 21

349a

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch verse on the wall of the south corridor. Great Master [Hongren] has commanded us all to recite it, [saying that] if we cultivate on the basis of this verse, we will avoid falling into the unfortunate modes of existence, that it will be very beneficial to cultivate on the basis of this verse!' "I said, (One text has

"I also want to recite this, in order to make certain my conditions for rebirth.

")'Holy One, I have been treading the pestle here for more than eight months, and I've never even gone past the front of the hall. I would like you to take me to this verse so that I might do obeisance to it.

' The acolyte took me to the verse so that I could do obeisance to it. I said,

'I am unable to read. Holy One, would you read it for me?' At the time Zhang Riyong, Administrative Aide54 of Jiangzhou, was there, and he read [the verse] to me aloud.

"After hearing it I said,

'I also have a verse, and would like the Administrative Aide to write it for me. ' The Administrative Aide said,

'You've composed a verse? How unusual!' I said to the Administrative Aide, 'If you wish

to study the unsurpassable bodhi,you should not make light of beginners. The lowest of the low may have the most supreme wisdom, and the highest of the high may be without [spiritual] intention or wisdom. To make light of others is a transgression unlimited and infinite. '

"The Administrative Aide said,

'Just recite your verse. I will write it for you. If you attain the Dharma, you must save me first (i.e., before teaching anyone else). Don't forget what I say!' "My verse went:

Bodhiis fundamentally without any tree; The bright mirror is also not a stand. Fundamentally there is not a single thing— Where could any dust be attracted? "After I finished this verse everyone around there became agitated and couldn't help sighing with amazement. They all said to each other, 'How

strange! You just can't go by looks alone! Why is it always that people like that are living bodhisattvas!'55 Seeing that they were getting excited and worried that someone might harm me, the patriarch rubbed out the verse with his sandal and said,

'This [person] too has not seen the nature. ' Those present

accepted this.

22

Number One: Account of Origins

"The next day, Hongren secretly came to the hulling room, where he saw me with a rock on my back pounding rice and said, 'He who seeks the

Way forgets his body on behalf of the Dharma. Is that how it is [with you]?' He then asked,

'Is the rice ripe yet?' I replied,

'The rice has been ripe for a

long time. It only lacks sifting [the hulls from the grain]. ' The patriarch struck

his staff on the pestle three times and left. I understood what he meant—that I should enter his room at the third drum (i.e., the third watch of the night, about 1:00 A.M.).

"The patriarch kept his robe (kaṣāya) hidden and would not let anyone see it. He preached the Diamond Sutrafor me. When he reached the words 'responding to the nonabiding, yet generating the mind'56 I experienced a great enlightenment, [realizing that] all the myriad dharmas do not transcend their self-natures. I thereupon informed the patriarch of this, saying, 'No

matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally and naturally pure. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally neither generated nor extinguished. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally and naturally sufficient unto themselves. No matter when, the self-natures are fundamentally without movement. No matter when, the self-natures are able to generate the myriad dharmas.

'

"Knowing that I had been enlightened to the fundamental nature, the patriarch said to me,

'If one does not recognize the fundamental mind, studying the Dharma is of no benefit. If one recognizes one's own fundamental mind, one sees one's own fundamental nature. This is to be called a great man, a teacher of humans and gods, a buddha.

'

"At the third watch of the night I received the Dharma. No one knew of this. He then transmitted the sudden teaching and the robe and bowl, saying, 'You have become the patriarch of the sixth generation. You should maintain your own mindfulness well,

57 and you should save sentient beings extensively. Do not allow the dissemination [of the Dharma] to be cut off in the future. Listen to my verse:

Sentient beings cast their seeds;

Because of the earth the fruits are born.

Insentient objects have no seeds,

No natures, and no birth.

23

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

349b

"The patriarch went on,

'When Great Master [Bodhi]dharma came to

this land long ago, people did not yet come to rely upon him. Therefore he transmitted this robe as the embodiment of reliance [upon him]. It has been handed down for generation after generation. The Dharma, moreover, is the transmission of the mind with the mind. [The mind] must always enlighten itself, emancipate itself. From ancient times, the buddhas have only transmitted the fundamental essence; the masters have secretly handed on the fundamental mind.

"'The robe [however] has become the focus of conflict, and beginning with you it should not be transmitted. If you transmit this robe, your life expectancy will be like a hanging thread. You should go quickly! I fear people will harm you!' I addressed him,

'Where should I go?' The patriarch said,

'When you encounter destruction (huai), you should stop. When you come upon a group (hui), you should secret yourself. '

"In the third watch I took the robe and bowl and said, 'I am from south

China and do not know the mountainous roads around here. How do I get to the mouth of the [Yangzi] River?' The Fifth Patriarch said, 'Do not be disheartened, I will see you off. ' The patriarch accompanied me as far as Jiujiang station, where he had us get on a boat. The Fifth Patriarch took the oar and rowed [the boat] himself. I said,

'Your Reverence, please sit. Your disciple

should row!' Hongren said,

'I should take you over [to the other shore]. ' I

said,

'When one is deluded, one thinks teachers take [sentient beings over to the other shore], but when one is enlightened, one realizes one crosses over by oneself. Although "cross over" is only a single term, its uses are varied. Since I was born in a border region, my pronunciation is not correct. I have received transmission of the Dharma from you, Master, and I have now become enlightened. Can it be anything other than that the self-natures have crossed themselves over?'

"The patriarch said,

'So it is, so it is. In the future, Buddhism will flourish greatly because of you. Three years after you go, I will depart this world. You should go now. Make an effort to go south, and don't be in a hurry to preach [the Dharma]. It is difficult to propagate Buddhism!' "After I left the patriarch, I started out walking toward the south. In the second month [of traveling] I reached the Dayu Mountains. 58 (Hongren

returned [to the monastery] and for several days did not go into the hall. 24

Number One: Account of Origins The assembly [of followers] was in doubt about this and proceeded to him to ask,

"Is Your Reverence ill or discomforted in some small way?" He said, "I am not ill. The robe and Dharma are in the south. " They asked,

"To whom

have you transmitted them?" He said, "One who is able has received them. "

Thus did the assembly learn of it.) "Coming after me were several hundred people, who wanted to take away the robe and bowl. One monk, of the lay surname Chen and named Huiming, had previously been a general of the fourth rank. He was coarse and excitable by nature, and he really wanted to find me. He reached me before the rest of the group chasing me. I threw the robe and bowl down on a rock and said,

'This robe emblematizes reliance [upon the patriarchs]. How can you struggle for it?' I hid in the underbrush, and Huiming tried to lift it without success. Then he called to me, saying, 'O practitioner, O practitioner! I have come for the Dharma, not for the robe. ' I then came out and

sat on the rock.

"Huiming bowed to me and said, 'I wish that you would preach the Dharma for me.

' I said,

'You say you've come for the Dharma. [If so], you must eliminate the various conditions and not generate a single thought. [If you do], I will preach the Dharma for you. ' Huiming was quiet for a time. I said,

'Do not think of good, and do not think of evil. At just such a time, what is Elder Huiming's original face?' At these words, Huiming [experienced] a great enlightenment. He then questioned me again, saying, 'Other than the

secret words and secret intention [you expressed] just now, is there any other secret intention?' I said,

'What I have preached to you is not secret. If you counter-illuminate [your own original face you will realize that] the secret was on your side.

'

"Huiming said,

'Although I was at [Hongren's monastery in] Huangmei, I actually never thought about my own [original] face. To receive your instructions now is like a man who drinks water knowing [immediately] whether it is cold or warm. Now you are my teacher. '

"I said,

'If this is the case, then we share the same teacher of Huangmei. Well should you protect and maintain [the teaching]!' Huiming asked further, 'Where should I go now?'I said, 'When you encounter ampleness you should stop, when you come upon munificence you should reside. '59 Hui ming bowed

and left. (Huiming returned to the foot of the mountain. He addressed the 25

349c