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坛经 The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Woodsman's tree of knowledge
June 16, 2013, Sunday
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"TAN Jing," or the "Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch," is the only Buddhist scripture that was composed in China but revered as a sutra. Almost all other Buddhist sutras originated in India, where the Buddha was born.
Together with the "Diamond Sutra" and the "Heart Sutra," the "Platform Sutra" long ago became part of a trio of Buddhist texts respected and studied for centuries in China and many other Asian countries.
Unlike the other two sutras, which transcribe the teachings of the Buddha himself, the "Platform Sutra" describes the life and preaching of Huineng (AD 638-713), the Sixth (and last) Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, whose Chan School became the orthodox form of Buddhism in China. Most people believe the sutra was compiled by Fahai, one of Huineng's disciples.
Huineng was born into a Lu family in AD 638. His father, once a minor official, died when the boy was three and his mother took him to southern China where they lived in extreme poverty. From an early age, Huineng helped eke out a living cutting firewood, never learning to read or write.
One day, on his way home laden with firewood, Huineng overheard someone reading the sacred text from the "Diamond Sutra" and felt a sudden awakening. With his mother's blessing and a small donation from a stranger, he traveled to Huangmei in today's Hubei Province in central China to visit Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch.
The master asked Huineng: "Who are you and why are you here?"
"I'm from Lingnan in the south and here to become a Buddha," he replied.
"How can a southern barbarian become a Buddha?" the master asked.
Huineng said: "People may be divided into northerners and southerners, but there's no difference in the Buddhist nature that we all share."
Realizing the young woodsman had an intuitive grasp of Buddhism, the master accepted Huineng as a disciple at his monastery. As he was a newcomer and illiterate, Huineng was assigned chores such as chopping wood, fetching water and sweeping.
Since the master was elderly and seeking a successor, one day he summoned all his disciples to sit a test in writing Buddhist hymns.
One of his top disciples wrote:
"The body is a Bodhi tree,
The mind a bright standing mirror.
Polish the mirror from time to time,
Don't let it collect any dust."
Huineng immediately was inspired with his own hymn and asked a disciple to write it for him and present it to the master. Huineng's hymn read:
"Bodhi originally has no tree,
The bright mirror no support.
Fundamentally nothing exists there,
Where could the dust come from?"
Hongren was amazed and that night summoned the young man and expounded the "Diamond Sutra" to him.
The master secretly passed his robe to Huineng and urged him to flee to the south to avoid persecution from jealous disciples. Hongren knew that selecting a woodsman as successor would upset the monastic hierarchy.
Huineng stayed in hiding for nearly 16 years, then went to a monastery in Nanhai, presided over by Master Yinzong.
After listening to a lecture by the master, two monks began to argue over a monastery banner fluttering in the breeze. One monk said it was the wind that was moving, the other argued that the banner was moving. Then Huineng interrupted and said, "No, no. It's neither the wind nor the banner. It's your mind that is moving."
This master too was impressed by Huineng's interpretation and, after hearing his story, arranged for him to be given the monastic tonsure.
Huineng, also called Caoxi, recruited disciples at his Caoxi Baolin Monastery and formed his Chan School of Buddhism. Its two key ideas are that all people possess the Buddhist nature and that awakening is instantaneous.
Early last century, a copy of the "Platform Sutra" was discovered in a grotto at Dunhuang, in Gansu Province. Many believe that it was the earliest edition of the sutra, from the middle period of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
Together with the "Diamond Sutra" and the "Heart Sutra," the "Platform Sutra" long ago became part of a trio of Buddhist texts respected and studied for centuries in China and many other Asian countries.
Unlike the other two sutras, which transcribe the teachings of the Buddha himself, the "Platform Sutra" describes the life and preaching of Huineng (AD 638-713), the Sixth (and last) Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, whose Chan School became the orthodox form of Buddhism in China. Most people believe the sutra was compiled by Fahai, one of Huineng's disciples.
Huineng was born into a Lu family in AD 638. His father, once a minor official, died when the boy was three and his mother took him to southern China where they lived in extreme poverty. From an early age, Huineng helped eke out a living cutting firewood, never learning to read or write.
One day, on his way home laden with firewood, Huineng overheard someone reading the sacred text from the "Diamond Sutra" and felt a sudden awakening. With his mother's blessing and a small donation from a stranger, he traveled to Huangmei in today's Hubei Province in central China to visit Hongren, the Fifth Patriarch.
The master asked Huineng: "Who are you and why are you here?"
"I'm from Lingnan in the south and here to become a Buddha," he replied.
"How can a southern barbarian become a Buddha?" the master asked.
Huineng said: "People may be divided into northerners and southerners, but there's no difference in the Buddhist nature that we all share."
Realizing the young woodsman had an intuitive grasp of Buddhism, the master accepted Huineng as a disciple at his monastery. As he was a newcomer and illiterate, Huineng was assigned chores such as chopping wood, fetching water and sweeping.
Since the master was elderly and seeking a successor, one day he summoned all his disciples to sit a test in writing Buddhist hymns.
One of his top disciples wrote:
"The body is a Bodhi tree,
The mind a bright standing mirror.
Polish the mirror from time to time,
Don't let it collect any dust."
Huineng immediately was inspired with his own hymn and asked a disciple to write it for him and present it to the master. Huineng's hymn read:
"Bodhi originally has no tree,
The bright mirror no support.
Fundamentally nothing exists there,
Where could the dust come from?"
Hongren was amazed and that night summoned the young man and expounded the "Diamond Sutra" to him.
The master secretly passed his robe to Huineng and urged him to flee to the south to avoid persecution from jealous disciples. Hongren knew that selecting a woodsman as successor would upset the monastic hierarchy.
Huineng stayed in hiding for nearly 16 years, then went to a monastery in Nanhai, presided over by Master Yinzong.
After listening to a lecture by the master, two monks began to argue over a monastery banner fluttering in the breeze. One monk said it was the wind that was moving, the other argued that the banner was moving. Then Huineng interrupted and said, "No, no. It's neither the wind nor the banner. It's your mind that is moving."
This master too was impressed by Huineng's interpretation and, after hearing his story, arranged for him to be given the monastic tonsure.
Huineng, also called Caoxi, recruited disciples at his Caoxi Baolin Monastery and formed his Chan School of Buddhism. Its two key ideas are that all people possess the Buddhist nature and that awakening is instantaneous.
Early last century, a copy of the "Platform Sutra" was discovered in a grotto at Dunhuang, in Gansu Province. Many believe that it was the earliest edition of the sutra, from the middle period of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
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