[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [六祖大師法寶壇經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008) › English (machine translation) # English (machine translation) Translation of [六祖大師法寶壇經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008) - **Language:** English - **Extent:** 187 passages, 34,530 words - **Text:** complete digital text - **Source:** pramana-mt · Machine translation by Gemini 3.8 Flash (2026-10-21) of in.bauddha.taisho.2008 · Machine output without human authorship: no copyright is claimed (CC0 1.0). The original text keeps its own… ## Contents - [1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1) — 187 parts ## Text ### [1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.1) Table of Contents of the Platform Sūtra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master the Sixth Patriarch ### [1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.2) Prefatory Fascicle: Preface and Eulogy (one piece each) ### [1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.3) Sūtra: Chapter 1: Origins and Conduct; Chapter 2: Prajñā; Chapter 3: Doubts and Inquiries; Chapter 4: Samādhi and Prajñā; Chapter 5: Sitting in Meditation; Chapter 6: Repentance; Chapter 7: Encounters and Conditions; Chapter 8: Sudden and Gradual; Chapter 9: Imperial Decrees; Chapter 10: Final Instructions ### [1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.4) Appendices: Outer Record of Origins; Records of Imperial Veneration Through Successive Dynasties; Stele Inscription for the Bestowal of the Posthumous Title Chan Master Dajian; Stele Inscription for Chan Master Dajian; Inscription on the Buddha's Robe; Afterword ### [1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.5) End of the Table of Contents ### [1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.6) Preface to the Platform Sūtra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master the Sixth Patriarch ### [1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.7) Composed by the Bhikṣu Deyi of Gujun ### [1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.8) The wondrous Way is profound, subtle, and inconceivable; forgetting words and grasping the principle, one can indeed awaken and realize it clearly. Therefore, the World-Honoured One shared his seat before the Bahuputraka Caitya and held up a flower at the assembly on Gṛdhrakūṭa—like passing fire to fire, sealing mind with mind. In the west, it was transmitted through twenty-eight \[generations\] down to Bodhidharma. Coming east to this land, he directly pointed to the human mind: seeing into one's nature and attaining buddhahood. There was Master Ke, who first awakened and entered upon hearing his words, and in the end made three prostrations and obtained his marrow; receiving the robe, he succeeded the Patriarch and opened up and propagated the orthodox lineage. Transmitted three times, it reached Huangmei. In that assembly were seven hundred eminent monks, yet it was only the lay pestle-pounder who, with a single gāthā, was transmitted the robe to become the sixth-generation patriarch. Fleeing south for more than ten years, he one day used the occasion of the wind and banner moving to stimulate and open Yinzong's correct eye. Thereupon the layman tonsured his hair and ascended the platform, fulfilling the advance prediction of Guṇabhadra and opening the East Mountain Dharma gate. Prefect Wei instructed the Chan monk Fahui to record his words, entitling it Platform Sūtra of the Dharma Treasure. The Great Master began at Wuyang and concluded at Caoxi, preaching the Dharma for thirty-seven years. Countless were those who partook of the taste of sweet dew, entering the holy and transcending the profane; those who awakened to the Buddha-mind school, whose practice and understanding corresponded, and who became great spiritual mentors, have their names recorded in the Transmission of the Lamp. Only Nanyue and Qingyuan attended him the longest, completely attaining that which has no handle. Therefore there emerged Mazu and Shitou, whose responsive wisdom was perfect and bright, causing the profound wind to shake greatly. Then the venerable masters Linji, Weiyang, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan arose toweringly; their virtue and Way surpassed the ordinary, their gates were sheer and precipitous, inspiring heroic spirits. Monks vigorously roused their determination to break through the barrier, entering deeply through a single gate; the five branches share the same source, having undergone every furnace and hammer, grand in their scope. Tracing the essential guidelines of the five houses, all emerged from the Platform Sūtra. Indeed, as for the Platform Sūtra, its words are concise and its meaning abundant; its principles are clear and its matters complete. It is replete with the immeasurable Dharma gates of all Buddhas; each single Dharma gate is replete with immeasurable wondrous meanings, and each single wondrous meaning unfolds the immeasurable wondrous principles of all Buddhas. It is right within Maitreya's pavilion; it is right within Samantabhadra's pores. Those who enter it skillfully are immediately equal to Sudhana, perfecting merit in a single thought-moment, equal to Samantabhadra and equal to all Buddhas. Alas, the Platform Sūtra was abridged too much by later generations, obscuring the complete intent of the Sixth Patriarch. In my youth, I once saw an ancient edition. For more than thirty years thereafter I sought it everywhere. Recently, the Superior Tong was able to search out the complete text; I then had it carved into blocks at the Xiuxiu Chan Hermitage in Wuzhong, so that all noble companions may share in its enjoyment. I only hope that upon opening the scroll, one will cast one's gaze and directly enter the ocean of great and complete enlightenment, continuing the boundless life of wisdom of the Buddhas and Patriarchs. With this, my aspiration is fulfilled. Prefaced in mid-spring of the gengyin year, the twenty-seventh year of the Zhiyuan era \[1290 CE\]. ### [1.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.9) Eulogy to the Platform Sūtra of the Dharma Treasure of the Great Master the Sixth Patriarch ### [1.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.10) Composed by the Song dynasty Great Master Mingjiao, Qisong ### [1.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.11) A eulogy is an announcement; opening the sūtra, it announces it universally. The Platform Sūtra is that by which the utmost person proclaims his mind (the 'utmost person' refers to the Sixth Patriarch; the same applies below in this piece). What mind is it? It is the wondrous mind transmitted by the Buddha. How great is this mind! It provides the beginning of transformations, yet remains ever pure as it is. Whether mundane or holy, hidden or manifest, there is nowhere it abides where it is not self-possessed. For the holy, one speaks of clarity; for the mundane, one speaks of delusion. Delusion is transformation; clarity is restoration. Although transformation and restoration are different, the wondrous mind is one. In the beginning, Śākyamuni Buddha transmitted this to the Great Turtle Clan (Mahākāśyapa); thirty-three generations transmitting it within the Turtle Clan, it was transmitted to Dajian (the Sixth Patriarch's posthumous title is Chan Master Dajian), and Dajian transmitted it so that it was transmitted ever further. Those who speak of it do so from many angles: there are indeed those where the name is identical but the reality is different; and there are indeed those where the aspects are many but the mind is one. When one speaks of the mind of blood and flesh, the mind of sensory thought, the mind of accumulating and arising, and the mind of solidity, or the minds of mental factors which are even more numerous—these are what is called the name being identical but the reality different. When one speaks of the tathatā mind, the mind of arising and ceasing, the defiled mind, and the bodhi mind—the instances of this in the various sūtras can scarcely be numbered; these are what is called the aspects being many but the mind being one. In aspect there is the aspect of awakening and the aspect of non-awakening; in mind there is the true mind and the deluded mind—all of these are used to distinguish the correct mind. As for what the Platform Sūtra calls 'mind', it is also the awakened aspect of aspects, the real mind of minds. ### [1.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.12) In the past, when the Sage was about to enter cessation, he instructed the Turtle Clan outside the teachings with the essentials of the transmitted Dharma, wishing that people would not linger in traces and forget to return, but rather that later generations would grasp the root and rectify the branches. Therefore the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'I have the unsurpassed true Dharma, which I have entirely entrusted to Mahākāśyapa.' The way of Heaven lies in the easy; the way of Earth lies in the simple; the way of the Sage lies in the essential. The essential is what is called the utmost wonder. When the way of the Sage is taken as essential, it becomes the pivot of the gate to the dharmadhātu, the confluence of immeasurable meanings, and the primordial cart of the Mahāyāna. Does not the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra say: 'You should know that this wondrous Dharma is the secret essential of all Buddhas'? Does not the Avataṃsaka Sūtra say: 'With few expedients, bodhi is swiftly accomplished'? How sharp and vast is the essential in the way of the Sage! For this reason, the school of the Platform Sūtra honours its mind-essential. This mind: as if luminous, as if dark; as if empty, as if efficacious; as if tranquil, as if alert. Is there a thing? Is there no thing? Call it a single thing, yet it fills the ten thousand things; call it the ten thousand things, yet it is unified in a single thing. A single thing is like the ten thousand things; the ten thousand things are like a single thing: this is what can be conceived. When it comes to being inconceivable and ineffable, the world calls it profound understanding, spiritual accord, absolute non-duality, silent embodiment, or obscure communion; all of these are departed from and cast aside, cast aside and cast aside again—how could one reach its subtlety? If someone has truly obtained it alone and resembles the utmost person, who could doubt it! Extending and broadening it, there is nowhere it does not apply; probing and tailoring it, there is nothing to which it is not appropriate. Applied to witnessing one's nature, what is seen is most intimate; applied to cultivating the mind, where one arrives is most correct; applied to exalting virtue and discerning delusion, the true and the false are easily manifested; applied to transcending the world, the Buddha Path is swiftly accomplished; applied to saving the world, defilements easily cease. This is why the school of the Platform Sūtra moves broadly throughout the world without growing weary. Those who speak of 'mind itself is Buddha' from a shallow perspective—how they fail to know its measure! Probing the earth with a broken awl, they make the earth shallow; looking at the sky through a roof leak, they make the sky small. Could heaven and earth truly be so? Yet among the hundred schools, though some might contend for victory, they are not its equal. That the utmost person penetrates and unifies it, harmonizing with the various sūtras, can clearly be seen. The utmost person transforms and communicates it; it is not something pre-determined by names and cannot be measured. Therefore, his overt teachings have order and principle; his esoteric teachings have neither beginning nor end. Those with sharp natural capacities attain its depth; those with dull natural capacities attain its shallowness. Can it be imitated? Can it be debated? If one must resort to analogies, it is the perfect and sudden teaching, the Supreme Vehicle, the pure chan of the Tathāgata, and the orthodox lineage of the Bodhisattva Piṭaka. When commentators call it profound learning, is that not detailed? When the world calls it the School of the Ancestors, is that not appropriate? When the Platform Sūtra states that 'samādhi and prajñā are the foundation', this is the beginning of proceeding toward the Way. Samādhi is tranquility; prajñā is clarity. Using clarity to contemplate, using tranquility to settle: settling the mind, one can embody the mind; contemplating its Way, one can speak of the Way. 'Ekavyūha-samādhi' refers to the single mark of the dharmadhātu; it means that although the myriad goods differ, they are all rectified in a single practice. Taking animitta as the essence honours the great precepts. Taking 'thoughtlessness as the principle' honours the great samādhi. Taking non-abiding as the foundation honours the great prajñā. Precepts, samādhi, and prajñā are the Way of attainment for the three vehicles. The wondrous mind is the great resource of precepts, samādhi, and prajñā. Using one wondrous mind to unite the three dharmas, it is therefore called great. The formless precepts are the precept that one must attain correct awakening. The 'four great vows' are: wishing to deliver, one delivers from suffering; wishing to sever, one severs the cause of suffering; wishing to learn, one learns the Way; wishing to accomplish, one accomplishes complete cessation. Extinction has nothing to extinguish, therefore there is nothing that is not severed; the Way has no way to traverse, therefore there is no one who is not delivered. The formless repentance is to repent what is not to be repented. The three refuges are taking refuge in the One; the One is that from which the triratna emerges. Speaking of mahāprajñā refers to the utmost center of the mind. Prajñā is the expedient of the sage, the great wisdom of the sage; it can indeed make tranquil and clarify, make provisional and make real. Because of its tranquility, the world can extinguish all evils; because of its clarity, the world can assemble all goods; because of its provisionality, the world can engage in great action; because of its reality, the world can abide in great non-action. Utmost indeed is prajñā! Without prajñā, the way of the Sage is neither clear nor accomplished; without prajñā, the affairs of the world are neither suitable nor proper. When the actions of the utmost person are stimulated by prajñā, are they not far-reaching! That my Dharma is spoken for people of the highest faculties is appropriate. Using a light vessel for a heavy load, it cannot bear it; giving a small amount of a grand square, it is an excess. What has always been silently transmitted and entrusted refers to the esoteric teaching. The esoteric is not an absence of words and dark realization; it is authentic and profound. Those who do not understand this Dharma and hastily slander it, saying that for hundreds of kalpas and thousands of lifetimes they sever the Buddha-nature seed, do so to prevent the world from losing its mind. ### [1.13](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.13) How magnificent is the production of the Platform Sūtra! Its basis is correct and its traces effective; its cause is true and its fruit unfailing. The former sages and the latter sages have thus initiated it, thus revealed it, thus restored it—vast and surging like the outpouring of a great river, like the unobstructed reach of empty space, like the brightness of the sun and moon, like the unimpeded match of form and shadow, like the orderly flight of wild geese. Attaining it subtly is called the basis; applying it broadly is called the traces. Beginning from that which has no beginning is called the cause; consummating that which has no consummation is called the fruit. When the fruit does not differ from the cause, it is called the correct fruit; when the cause does not differ from the fruit, it is called the correct cause. Traces necessarily reflecting the basis is called the great function; the basis necessarily reflecting the traces is called the Great Vehicle. The vehicle is the sage's metaphor for the Way. The function is the sage's establishment of the teachings. For among the ways of the sage, none is more consummate than the mind; among the teachings of the sage, none is more consummate than cultivation. In harmonizing the spirit and entering the Way, nothing is more consummate than the cessation and contemplation of the single mark; in standardizing goodness and completing virtue, nothing is more consummate than the ekavyūha-samādhi. In aiding all precepts, nothing is more consummate than animitta; in rectifying all samādhis, nothing is more consummate than thoughtlessness; in penetrating all wisdom, nothing is more consummate than non-abiding. In generating good and extinguishing evil, nothing is more consummate than the formless precepts; in deepening the Way and extending virtue, nothing is more consummate than the four great vows. In excelling at contemplating faults, nothing is more consummate than the formless repentance; in rectifying that toward which one tends, nothing is more consummate than the threefold refuge precepts. In rectifying the great substance and determining the great function, nothing is more consummate than mahāprajñā; in arousing great faith and striving for the great Way, nothing is more consummate than great resolve. For penetrating the principles and exhausting the natures under heaven, nothing is more consummate than the silent transmission; for wanting the mind to be without fault, nothing is better than refraining from slander. Samādhi and prajñā are the foundation for beginning the Way; ekavyūha-samādhi is the inception of virtue; the principle of thoughtlessness is called liberation; the root of non-abiding is called prajñā; the substance of animitta is called the dharmakāya. The formless precepts are the utmost among precepts; the four great vows are the ultimate of vows; the formless repentance is the culmination of repentance. The threefold refuge precepts are the true refuge. Mahā-wisdom is the great exemplar for sages and commoners alike. Explaining it for those of the highest faculties is direct exposition. The silent transmission is the culmination of transmission. Guarding against slander is the proper precaution. ### [1.14](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.14) Now the wondrous mind is not accomplished by cultivation, nor illuminated through verification; it is fundamentally accomplished, fundamentally luminous. Restoring illumination to what was darkened by delusion is why there is verification; restoring accomplishment to what had turned its back on it is why there is cultivation. Cultivating it with non-cultivation is therefore called correct cultivation; illuminating it with non-illumination is therefore called correct verification. The realized person is veiled, with no outward deportment visible, yet his accomplished virtues and acts are harmonious and abundant; the realized person is relaxed, as if holding to nothing, yet his Way is made manifest to the world. It is simply because he cultivates by means of correct cultivation and verifies by means of correct verification. Thereupon some say there is neither cultivation nor verification, neither cause nor fruit, contending in their discourse with forced and petty interpretations, misunderstanding the intent of the realized person. Alas! If one casts aside morality, meditation, and wisdom and insists on running toward chaotic emptiness, then I do not know what can be done. How severe it is that sentient beings drown their minds and float in consciousness; consciousness and karma take advantage of one another and follow after echoes without ever ceasing! Taking images and forms, humans and things are born together, teeming between heaven and earth—can they ever be counted? Those who obtain human form are indeed one in ten thousand myriad. Among humans, those able to awaken are exceedingly rare! Sages harbored this concern: though they brought it forth through manifold doctrines, there were still those in the world who remained unenlightened; sages sought to save them: though they treated them with manifold methods, there were still those in the world who remained unawakened. Worthy persons are confused by intellect; unworthy persons are obstructed by ignorance; mediocre persons are dimmed by neutrality. When their feelings are aroused upon encountering objects—in joy and anger, sorrow and delight—obscurations multiply into ten thousand dark paths, as if walking by night without knowing where to go. Receiving the words of sages, they calculate and debate them broadly, as if gazing into the distance through dense fog, asserting existence, asserting non-existence, asserting neither existence, asserting nor non-existence, asserting both existence, asserting and non-existence. Because they do not see and instead remain stubbornly obscured, their whole lives they fail to attain clear comprehension. The ocean is formed of water, yet fish and dragons live and die in the sea without seeing the water; the Way is rooted in the mind, yet people speak of the Way all day long without seeing the mind. How sorrowful! The mind is indeed subtle and profound, difficult to clarify and difficult to attain; it is truly like this. ### [1.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.15) Once the sage had passed away, although hundreds of generations under heaven transmitted his words through writings, none obtained clear verification. Therefore, when the principle of the Platform Sūtra was raised, it directly revealed the mind, and the world only then understood how to rectify human nature and destiny. It was like parting clouds and mist to suddenly behold the clear sky, or ascending Mount Tai to see all around wide and clear. Master Wang compared this to worldly writings, saying: 'Qi with one change reached the level of Lu; Lu with one change reached the Way.' These words are close to the mark. When the Nirvāṇa \[Sūtra\] says: 'From the beginning at the Deer Park to the end at the Bhadra River, during the fifty years in between, not a single word was ever spoken,' it reveals that the Dharma is not in written characters, guarding against seeking its meaning through texts. When it says, 'Rely on the Dharma and not on the person,' it is because the Dharma is real while the person is provisional; when it says, 'Rely on the meaning and not on the words,' it is because the meaning is actual while the words are provisional; when it says, 'Rely on wisdom and not on consciousness,' it is because wisdom is ultimate while consciousness is delusive; when it says, 'Rely on sūtras of definitive meaning and not on sūtras of provisional meaning,' it is because sūtras of definitive meaning exhaust the principle. And what the Bodhisattvas spoke of as expounding the Great Nirvāṇa means that their own speech is identical with the sūtras. When the sage spoke of the four types of persons appearing in the world (that is, the four reliances) who protect and maintain the true Dharma and whom one should verify and know—because one should verify and know them, the realized person traced the root to rectify the branches. Because his own speech is identical with the sūtras, the realized person's exposition of the sūtra is just like the sūtra itself. Because he relied on the meaning and on sūtras of definitive meaning, the realized person's explicit teachings accorded with the meaning and with the sūtras; because he relied on the Dharma and on wisdom, the realized person's esoteric teachings transformed and penetrated without stubborn attachment. Because he revealed that the Dharma is not in written characters, the school of the realized person esteemed the silent transmission. The sage was like spring, delightfully bringing forth life; the realized person was like autumn, brilliantly bringing it to maturity. The sage gave the command and the realized person carried it out; the realized person was indeed a figure of extraordinary virtue and exceptional merit within the gate of the sage. ### [1.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.16) Now as for the realized person, he originally arose from humble origins and said of himself that he did not recognize worldly characters. When his realization was accomplished, merely from a single seat of discourse, he manifested the Way and saved the world, in accord with the deeds of the Great Sage as closely as two halves of a tally. Was it that his profound virtue and superior wisdom were inborn, or that he wished to demonstrate his Dharma by feigning ignorance? Nearly four hundred years after his passing, his Dharma flows throughout the four seas without ceasing; emperors, kings, sages, and worthies across thirty generations have sought his Way with ever greater reverence. Had he not reached the state attained by the Great Sage, Heaven would have long since tired of him; how could it be like this? How could I ever fathom his Way? Yet fortunate as a mosquito or gnat sipping from the ocean, sharing in its taste, I dare to bow my head and publish it, so as to bequeath it to future students. ### [1.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.17) Compiled by the lineage monk Zongbao, abbot of the Fengfan Bao'en Guangxiao Chan Monastery. ### [1.18](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.18) Chapter 1: Life and Origins ### [1.19](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.19) At that time, the Great Master arrived at Baolin. Prefect Wei (named Qu) of Shaozhou, together with officials, entered the mountain to invite the Master to come out to the lecture hall of the Dafan Monastery in the city and open the occasion to expound the Dharma for the assembly. As the Master ascended the seat, Prefect Wei and over thirty officials, more than thirty Confucian scholars, and over a thousand monks, nuns, Daoists, and laypeople paid homage together at the same time, wishing to hear the essentials of the Dharma. ### [1.20](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.20) The Great Master addressed the assembly, saying: 'Good friends! Bodhi svabhāva is originally pure; simply use this mind and directly realize buddhahood. Good friends! Listen for a while to the origins of Huineng and how he obtained the Dharma. Huineng’s strict father was originally from Fanyang; he was demoted and exiled to Lingnan, becoming a commoner in Xinzhou. In this body I was unfortunate, and my father passed away early. My elderly mother was left solitary, and we moved to Nanhai, impoverished and in hardship, selling firewood in the marketplace. Once, a customer bought firewood and instructed me to deliver it to an inn. The customer received it, and having received my money, Huineng stepped outside the gate, where he saw a customer reciting a sūtra. As soon as Huineng heard the words of the sūtra, his mind opened to awakening. He then asked, "What sūtra is the guest reciting?" The customer said, "The Diamond Sūtra." I asked again, "From where did you come, upholding this scripture?" The customer said, "I came from the Dongchan Monastery in Huangmei County, Qizhou. That monastery is where the Fifth Patriarch, the Great Master Ren, abides and teaches, with more than a thousand disciples. I went there to pay homage and heard and received this sūtra. The Great Master often encourages monastics and laypeople alike, saying that merely by upholding the Diamond Sūtra one will see into one's nature and directly realize buddhahood." When Huineng heard this, having conditions from previous lives, a guest gave Huineng ten taels of silver to provide for his elderly mother's clothing and food, and instructed him to go straight to Huangmei to pay homage to the Fifth Patriarch.' ### [1.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.21) ''After Huineng had settled his mother, he immediately took his leave. In less than thirty days, he arrived at Huangmei and paid homage to the Fifth Patriarch. The Patriarch asked, "Where are you from, and what do you seek?" Huineng replied, "Your disciple is a commoner from Xinzhou in Lingnan. Having come from afar to pay homage to the master, I seek only to become a buddha and seek nothing else." The Patriarch said, "You are a person from Lingnan, and moreover a southern barbarian; how could you be capable of becoming a buddha?" Huineng said, "Although humans may be from the south or north, buddha-nature fundamentally has no south or north. This barbarian body is different from that of the upādhyāya, but what difference is there in our buddha-nature?" The Fifth Patriarch wished to speak further with him, but seeing that his disciples were all around them, he ordered him to join the assembly in work. Huineng said, "Huineng informs the upādhyāya: your disciple's own mind constantly gives rise to wisdom; not straying from svabhāva is itself a field of merit. I wonder what duties the upādhyāya instructs me to do?" The Patriarch said, "This southern barbarian has exceedingly sharp faculties! Say no more; go to the stable yard." Huineng retreated to the rear courtyard, where a practitioner assigned Huineng to chop firewood and tread the pestle. After more than eight months, the Patriarch suddenly saw Huineng one day and said, "I thought your view was usable, but feared evil people might harm you, so I did not speak with you. Do you know this?" Huineng said, "Your disciple also understood the master's intention, and has not dared to walk to the front hall, so that people would not notice."' ### [1.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.22) "One day the Patriarch summoned all his disciples to assemble: 'I say unto you: for people in this world, birth and death is a momentous matter. All day long you seek only fields of merit, not release from the bitter sea of birth and death. If you are deluded about your svabhāva, how can merit save you? Go each of you, examine your own wisdom, take the prajñā nature of your own original mind, and compose a verse to present to me. If you have awakened to the great meaning, I shall transmit the robe and the Dharma to you, and you will become the Sixth Patriarch. Go with extreme haste, brook no delay! Cogitation is of no use: a person who sees into their nature must see it upon the word. If one is like this, even when wheeling a blade onto the battlefield, one can still see it.' (An analogy for those of sharp faculties.) Having received these instructions, the assembly withdrew and said among themselves: 'There is no need for us to settle our minds and apply our thoughts to compose verses to present to the Upādhyāya; what benefit would there be? The Senior Monk Shenxiu is currently the instructor; he will surely get it. For us to compose verses would be an empty waste of mental effort.' Hearing these words, the rest all laid the matter to rest, saying together: 'Henceforth we will rely on Master Xiu; why trouble ourselves to compose verses?' Shenxiu reflected: 'The reason the others do not present verses is that I am their instructor. I must compose a verse and present it to the Upādhyāya. If I do not present a verse, how will the Upādhyāya know whether the understanding in my mind is shallow or deep? In my intention to present a verse, seeking the Dharma is good, but seeking the patriarchate is evil—that would be like an ordinary mind, and how would it differ from usurping the sacred position? Yet if I do not present a verse, in the end I will not receive the Dharma. How difficult! How difficult!' ### [1.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.23) "In front of the Fifth Patriarch's hall, there was a corridor of three bays. They planned to invite the Court Academician Lu Zhen to paint scenes from the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the lineage chart of the five patriarchs, to be passed down for veneration. Shenxiu finished composing his verse and several times intended to present it. He walked to the front of the hall, but his mind was distraught and his whole body drenched in sweat; he was unable to present it. In all, four days passed, and thirteen times he failed to present the verse. Xiu then reflected: 'It would be better to write it along the corridor and let the Upādhyāya see it. If he suddenly says it is good, I will step forward, bow down, and say it was written by Xiu; if he says it is unworthy, I have spent years in the mountains receiving people's veneration in vain—what Dao could I further cultivate?' That night at the third watch, without letting anyone know, holding a lamp himself, he wrote the verse upon the wall of the south corridor, presenting what his mind had seen. The verse said: ### [1.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.24) "The body is the bodhi tree, The mind is like a bright mirror's stand. At all times diligently wipe it, Do not let dust gather on it. ### [1.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.25) "Having written the verse, Xiu returned straight to his room, and no one knew of it. Xiu reflected again: 'If the Fifth Patriarch sees the verse tomorrow and is pleased, then I have affinity with the Dharma; if he says it is unworthy, it is of myself that I am deluded, my past karmic hindrances being heavy, and I ought not receive the Dharma.' The mind of the holy one being hard to fathom, he pondered in his room, restless whether sitting or lying down, right through until the fifth watch. The Patriarch already knew that Shenxiu had not entered the gate and had not seen his svabhāva. ### [1.26](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.26) "At daybreak, the Patriarch summoned Court Academician Lu to paint the illustrations on the wall of the south corridor. Suddenly seeing the verse, he told him: 'Academician, you need not paint after all; I have troubled you to come from afar. The sūtra says: "All characteristics are illusory." We shall just keep this verse for people to recite and uphold. Cultivating according to this verse, one will avoid falling into evil destinies; cultivating according to this verse brings great benefit.' He ordered the disciples to burn incense and pay homage, and all to recite this verse, so that they would attain seeing into their nature. Reciting the verse, the disciples all praised it, saying: 'Excellent!' ### [1.27](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.27) "At the third watch, the Patriarch called Xiu into the hall and asked: 'Was this verse written by you?' Xiu said: 'Indeed it was written by Xiu. I dare not vainly seek the patriarchate; I only hope the Upādhyāya will be compassionate and see whether this disciple has a little wisdom or not.' The Patriarch said: 'In composing this verse you have not seen your original nature; you have only reached the outside of the gate and have not entered inside. With such an understanding, seeking unexcelled bodhi is utterly impossible. For unexcelled bodhi, one must, upon the word, recognize one's original mind and see one's original nature, unarisen and unceasing. At all times, from thought-moment to thought-moment, one spontaneously sees that the myriad dharmas are without obstruction: when the one is real, all are real; the myriad objects are of themselves such-as-they-are. The mind that is such-as-it-is is reality itself. If one sees thus, this is the svabhāva of unexcelled bodhi. Go for now, reflect for a day or two, compose another verse, and bring it to me to see. If your verse enters the gate, I will transmit the robe and the Dharma to you.' Shenxiu bowed and withdrew. After several more days, he could not compose a verse; his mind was distraught, his thoughts uneasy, as if in a dream, unhappy whether walking or sitting. ### [1.28](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.28) "Two days later, a boy passed by the pestle shed reciting the verse. As soon as Huineng heard it, he knew this verse had not seen the original nature; although he had not received instruction, he had long understood the great meaning. He then asked the boy: 'What verse are you reciting?' The boy said: 'You barbarian don't know: the Great Master said, "For people in this world, birth and death is a momentous matter. Wanting to transmit the robe and the Dharma, he ordered the disciples to compose verses to show him. If one awakens to the great meaning, he will transmit the robe and the Dharma, and make him the Sixth Patriarch." Senior Monk Shenxiu wrote a formless verse on the wall of the south corridor; the Great Master ordered everyone to recite it, \[saying that\] cultivating according to this verse, one will avoid falling into evil destinies; cultivating according to this verse brings great benefit.' Huineng said: '(One edition adds: I also wish to recite this, to form an affinity for a future life.) Superior one, I have been treading the pestle here for more than eight months, and have not once walked to the front of the hall. I hope you will lead me before the verse so that I may pay homage.' The boy led him before the verse to pay homage. Huineng said: 'Huineng cannot read; please read it for me, superior one.' At that time, Zhang Riyong, vice-prefect of Jiangzhou, was present and read it aloud. Having heard it, Huineng said: 'I also have a verse; I hope the vice-prefect will write it for me.' The vice-prefect said: 'You too would compose a verse? That is a rare thing.' Huineng said to the vice-prefect: 'Those who wish to study unexcelled bodhi must not look down on beginners. The lowliest people may have the highest wisdom; the highest people may lack all sense and wisdom. If one looks down on people, one incurs immeasurable and boundless sin.' The vice-prefect said: 'Just recite your verse, and I will write it for you. If you obtain the Dharma, you must deliver me first. Do not forget these words.' Huineng's verse said: ### [1.29](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.29) "Bodhi originally has no tree, The bright mirror is also not a stand. Originally there is not a single thing; Where could dust gather? ### [1.30](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.30) "When this verse had been written, the disciples were all amazed, and every one of them marveled, saying to one another: 'How extraordinary! One cannot judge people by their appearance; how could we have put a flesh-body bodhisattva to work for so long?' Seeing everyone's astonishment and fearing that someone might harm him, the Patriarch rubbed the verse out with his shoe and said: 'This too has not seen into its nature.' The assembly took it to be so. ### [1.31](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.31) "The next day, the Patriarch came secretly to the pestle shed. Seeing Huineng pounding rice with a stone tied to his waist, he said: 'Should not a seeker of the Dao, forgetting his body for the Dharma, be just like this!' He then asked: 'Is the rice ready?' Huineng said: 'The rice has long been ready; it only lacks sifting.' The Patriarch struck the pestle three times with his staff and left. Huineng immediately understood the Patriarch's meaning. At the third drum he entered the chamber; the Patriarch shielded him with his kaṣāya so that no one could see, and expounded the Diamond Sūtra for him. When it came to 'One should produce a mind without abiding anywhere,' Huineng experienced great awakening upon the words, \[realizing that\] all the myriad dharmas do not depart from svabhāva. He then addressed the Patriarch: 'Who would have thought that svabhāva is originally pure in itself! Who would have thought that svabhāva is originally unarisen and unceasing! Who would have thought that svabhāva is originally complete in itself! Who would have thought that svabhāva is originally without motion! Who would have thought that svabhāva can produce the myriad dharmas!' Knowing he had awakened to the original nature, the Patriarch said to Huineng: 'If one does not recognize one's original mind, studying the Dharma is of no benefit. If one recognizes one's original mind and sees one's original nature, one is called a Great Man, Teacher of Gods and Humans, a Buddha.' He received the Dharma at the third watch without anyone knowing, and \[the Patriarch\] then transmitted the sudden teaching and the robe and bowl, saying: 'You are the Sixth Patriarch. Guard and maintain it well, broadly deliver sentient beings, and spread it into the future so that it is never cut off. Listen to my verse: ### [1.32](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.32) "'Sentient beings come to sow the seed, From the ground of causes the fruit is born anew. Insentient things having no seed, Without nature, there is also no arising.' ### [1.33](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.33) "The Patriarch said further: 'Formerly, when the Great Master Bodhidharma first came to this land, people did not yet believe in him; therefore he transmitted this robe as an object of faith to be inherited from generation to generation. As for the Dharma, it is transmitted from mind to mind, all being made to awaken on their own and understand on their own. From ancient times, Buddhas have only transmitted the original essence, and masters have secretly passed down the original mind. The robe is an occasion for strife; let it end with you and do not transmit it. If you transmit this robe, your life will hang by a thread. You must leave quickly, lest someone harm you.' Huineng asked: 'Where should I go?' The Patriarch said: 'Stop when you come upon Huai; conceal yourself when you encounter Hui.' Huineng received the robe and bowl at the third watch, and said: 'I am originally a man from the south, completely unfamiliar with these mountain roads; how can I make my way to the mouth of the river?' The Fifth Patriarch said: 'You need not worry; I will see you off myself.' The Patriarch escorted him all the way to the Jiujiang postal station. The Patriarch told him to board the boat, and the Fifth Patriarch took the oar to row it himself. Huineng said: 'Please sit, Upādhyāya; it is fitting for the disciple to row the oar.' The Patriarch said: 'It is fitting that I ferry you across.' Huineng said: 'When deluded, the teacher ferries one; when awakened, one ferries oneself. Although the term "ferry" is the same, its use is different. Huineng was born in a borderland and my speech is improper; having received the transmission of the Dharma from the Master, now that I have attained awakening, it is only fitting that svabhāva ferries itself.' The Patriarch said: 'So it is, so it is! Henceforth the Buddhadharma will greatly prevail through you. Three years after you depart, I will pass away. Go well now, strive toward the south. It is not fitting to speak too soon; the Buddhadharma is difficult to raise up.'" ### [1.34](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.34) "Huineng took leave of the Patriarch and set out on foot heading south. Within two months, I reached Dayu Ridge. (The Fifth Patriarch returned, and for several days did not ascend the hall. The assembly suspected something, and went to inquire, saying: 'Is the upādhyāya free from illness and distress?' He said: 'Illness there is none; the robe and the Dharma have already gone south.' They asked: 'Who received the transmission?' He said: 'The capable one \[Neng\] obtained it.' The assembly then knew.) Several hundred people pursued behind, wishing to seize the robe and bowl. There was a monk whose secular surname was Chen and whose personal name was Huiming. Previously he had been a general of the fourth rank; his nature and conduct were rough and coarse, but he was most earnest in seeking the Path. Leading the crowd, he overtook Huineng. Huineng cast the robe and bowl down upon a rock, saying: 'This robe symbolizes faith; can it be contended for by force?' Huineng concealed himself in the dense grass. Huiming arrived and tried to lift it, but it would not move. He then called out, saying: 'Practitioner! Practitioner! I have come for the Dharma, not for the robe!' Huineng then emerged and sat upon a boulder. Huiming made prostrations and said: 'I hope the practitioner will expound the Dharma for me.' Huineng said: 'Since you have come for the Dharma, you may bring all conditions to rest, and do not give rise to a single thought. I shall explain it for you.' Ming remained silent for a long time. Huineng said: 'Not thinking of good, not thinking of evil, just at such a time, what is the Venerable Ming's original face?' Under these words Huiming was greatly awakened. He asked again, saying: 'Apart from the secret words and secret meanings handed down just now, is there still any further secret meaning?' Huineng said: 'What has been spoken to you is not secret. If you reflect inward, the secret is on your own side.' Ming said: 'Although Huiming was at Huangmei, I truly had not realized my own face. Now, receiving your instruction, it is like a person drinking water: he naturally knows whether it is cold or warm. Now the practitioner is Huiming's teacher.' Huineng said: 'If you are thus, you and I share Huangmei as our teacher; guard and maintain it well yourself.' Ming asked again: 'Where should Huiming go from now on?' Huineng said: 'When you encounter Yuan, stop; when you meet Meng, dwell.' Ming made prostrations and took his leave. (When Ming returned to the foot of the ridge, he said to the pursuing crowd: 'I just ascended the steep heights, and after all there were no traces; we should seek him by another path.' The pursuing crowd all took it to be so. Huiming later changed his name to Daoming, avoiding the upper character of his master's name.) ### [1.35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.35) "Huineng later reached Caoxi, but was again pursued by evil people. Thereupon I took refuge in Sihui among a band of hunters, spending fifteen years in all, from time to time expounding the Dharma to the hunters as appropriate. The hunters often had me watch the nets; whenever I saw living creatures, I released them all. Whenever mealtime came, I placed vegetables into the meat pot to cook. If anyone asked, I replied: 'I only eat the vegetables beside the meat.' ### [1.36](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.36) "One day I reflected: 'The time has come to propagate the Dharma; I cannot remain in hiding forever.' Thereupon I set out and reached Faxing Monastery in Guangzhou, arriving just as Dharma Master Yinzong was lecturing on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. At that time the wind was blowing and a banner was moving. One monk said: 'The wind is moving.' Another monk said: 'The banner is moving.' Their debate went on endlessly. Huineng stepped forward and said: 'It is not the wind moving, nor is it the banner moving; it is the benevolent ones' minds moving.' The whole assembly was astonished. Yinzong invited me to the seat of honor and questioned me on subtle and profound meanings. Seeing that Huineng's words were concise, the principles fitting, and not derived from texts, Yinzong said: 'The practitioner is certainly no ordinary person. For a long time I have heard that Huangmei's robe and Dharma came south; could it be the practitioner?' Huineng said: 'I would not dare \[claim it\].' Yinzong thereupon made prostrations and requested that the transmitted robe and bowl be brought out and shown to the great assembly. Yinzong asked again, saying: 'When Huangmei conferred the entrustment, how did he give instruction?' Huineng said: 'There was no instruction given; we discussed only seeing into one's nature, not dhyāna-concentration or liberation.' Yinzong said: 'Why did you not discuss dhyāna-concentration or liberation?' Huineng said: 'Because these are dualistic dharmas, not the Buddha Dharma. The Buddha Dharma is a non-dual Dharma.' Yinzong asked again: 'What is the non-dual Dharma of the Buddha Dharma?' Huineng said: 'The Dharma Master's lecturing on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra clarifies the Buddha-nature, which is the non-dual Dharma of the Buddha Dharma. As the Bodhisattva Gaoqui Dewang addressed the Buddha, saying: "If someone commits the four grave prohibitions, perpetrates the five heinous crimes, or is an icchantika, do they sever their good roots and Buddha-nature?" The Buddha said: "Good roots are of two kinds: the first is permanent, and the second is impermanent. The Buddha-nature is neither permanent nor impermanent; therefore it is not severed, and is called non-dual. The first is good, and the second is not good. The Buddha-nature is neither good nor not good; this is called non-dual. As for the aggregates and the realms, ordinary people see them as dual, but the wise thoroughly understand that their nature is non-dual. The non-dual nature is itself the Buddha-nature."' Hearing this explanation, Yinzong rejoiced and joined his palms, saying: 'My lecturing on the sūtra is like broken tiles and gravel; the benevolent one's discussion of the meaning is like genuine gold.' Thereupon he shaved Huineng's head and wished to serve him as his master. Huineng then opened the East Mountain Dharma gate beneath the bodhi tree. ### [1.37](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.37) "Huineng obtained the Dharma at East Mountain, having endured utmost hardships, with my life hanging by a thread. Today, to be able to meet together in this single assembly with the governor, officials, monks, nuns, Daoists, and laypeople must be due to conditions over many kalpas, as well as having made offerings to the buddhas and planted good roots together in past lives; only thus have you now been able to hear the causes of obtaining the Dharma through the sudden teaching as described above. The teaching was transmitted by the sages of old; it is not Huineng's own wisdom. May those who wish to hear the teaching of the sages of old each purify their minds; having heard it, each must remove their doubts, no different from the sages of previous generations." ### [1.38](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.38) The whole assembly, having heard the Dharma, rejoiced, made prostrations, and withdrew. ### [1.39](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.39) Prajñā, Chapter 2 ### [1.40](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt.1.40) The next day, Governor Wei requested further instruction. The Master ascended the seat and addressed the great assembly, saying: "All of you, with purified minds, recite 'Mahāprajñāpāramitā.'" He said further: "Good friends! The wisdom of bodhi-prajñā is originally possessed by worldly people within themselves; it is only because their minds are deluded that they cannot awaken to it by themselves, and must rely on a great good spiritual friend to guide them to seeing into their nature. You should know that between foolish people and wise people, the Buddha-nature originally has no distinction; it is only because delusion and awakening differ that there are the foolish and the wise. I shall now expound for you the teaching of Mahāprajñāpāramitā, so that each of you may obtain wisdom. Listen attentively with concentrated mind! I shall expound it for you. Good friends! Worldly people recite 'prajñā' with their mouths all day long, yet do not recognize the prajñā of their own svabhāva; this is like speaking of food and not being filled. If one only speaks of emptiness with the mouth, even in ten thousand kalpas one cannot see into one's nature, and ultimately there will be no benefit. Good friends! Mahāprajñāpāramitā is a Sanskrit term; here it means 'great wisdom reaching the other shore.' This must be practiced in the mind; it does not lie in reciting it with the mouth. If one recites with the mouth but does not practice in the mind, it is like an illusion, like a phantom, like dew, like lightning; if one recites with the mouth and practices in the mind, then mind and mouth correspond. The original nature is the Buddha; apart from the nature there is no other Buddha. What is meant by 'mahā'? Mahā means great. The capacity of the mind is vast and great, just like empty space, without boundaries, neither square nor round, neither large nor small, neither blue, yellow, red, nor white, neither above nor below, neither long nor short, free from anger and free from joy, free from right and free from wrong, free from good and free from evil, and without head or tail. All buddha-lands are entirely identical to empty space. Worldly people's wondrous nature is originally empty, without a single dharma that can be attained. The true emptiness of svabhāva is also like this. Good friends! Do not hear me speak of emptiness and immediately become attached to emptiness. First of all, do not attach to emptiness; if you sit quietly with an empty mind, you are attached to neutral emptiness. Good friends! The emptiness of the world can contain the forms and images of the myriad things: the sun, moon, stars, constellations, mountains, rivers, the great earth, springs, streams, ravines, grasses, trees, thickets, forests, bad people, good people, bad dharmas, good dharmas, heaven, hell, all the great oceans, and Mount Sumeru and the other mountains—all are within emptiness. The emptiness of nature in worldly people is also like this. Good friends! That svabhāva can contain the myriad dharmas is 'great'; the myriad dharmas are within everyone's nature. If you see all people, both evil and good, neither grasping nor rejecting any of them, and not being tainted or attached, your mind being like empty space, this is named 'great'; therefore it is called mahā. Good friends! Deluded people speak with their mouths; wise people practice in their minds. There are also deluded people who sit quietly with an empty mind, thinking of nothing whatsoever, and call themselves great. With this group of people, one cannot speak, because of their wrong views. Good friends! The capacity of the mind is vast and great, pervading throughout the dharmadhātu; when applied, it is clear and distinct; whenever applied, it knows all. All is one; one is all. Coming and going freely, the substance of the mind unobstructed—this is prajñā. Good friends! All prajñā-wisdom arises from svabhāva; it does not enter from outside. Do not mistakenly apply your intent; this is called the self-functioning of the true nature. When the one is true, all is true. The mind's capacity is for the great matter; it does not practice minor paths. Do not speak of emptiness with your mouth all day long while not cultivating this practice in your mind; that is just like a commoner calling himself a king, which in the end cannot be achieved; such are not my disciples. _First 40 of 188 passages. [Read on](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt)_ --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2008~en-mt) · Pramāṇa