The
Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch , is a Buddhist scripture that was composed in
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It is one of the seminal texts in the
Chan/ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
schools. It is centered on discourses given at Shao Zhou temple attributed to the sixth
Chan patriarchAn authentic lineage in Buddhism is the uninterrupted transmission of the Buddha's Dharma from teacher to disciple.The transmission itself can be for example oral, scriptural, through signs, or directly from one mind to another....
,
HuinengDajian Huineng was a Chinese Chán monastic who is one of the most important figures in the entire tradition, according to standard Zen hagiographies...
. The key topics of the discourse are sudden enlightenment, the direct perception of one's true nature, and the unity in essence of
śīlaŚīla or sīla in Buddhism and its non-sectarian offshoots, is a code of conduct that embraces self-restraint with a value on non-harming. It has been variously described as virtue, good conduct, morality, moral discipline and precept. It is an action that is an intentional effort...
,
dhyānaDhyāna in Sanskrit or jhāna in Pāli can refer to either meditation or meditative states. Equivalent terms are "Chán" in modern Chinese, "Zen" in Japanese, "Seon" in Korean, "Thien" in Vietnamese, and "Samten" in Tibetan....
and
prajñāPrajñā or paññā is wisdom, understanding, discernment or cognitive acuity. Such wisdom is understood to exist in the universal flux of being and can be intuitively experienced through meditation...
. The Southern Chan or "
Sudden Enlightenmentis a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment that literally means "understanding". In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment, and is considered a "first step" or embarkation toward nirvana....
" school of Chan Buddhism based its doctrine on this extremely influential scripture.
Content
Chapter One presents autobiographical material, telling the story of how Huineng became enlightened, became a Patriarch, fled to the South, and eventually assumed his public role.
Chapter Two is a lecture on prajna, given after a recitation of the
Mahaprajnaparamita SutraThe Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra was an encyclopedic collection of Prajnaparamita texts, usually attributed to Nagarjuna, translated into Chinese by Xuanzang and his assistants. Alternatively, this name refers to the Large Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom The Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra was an...
. From this chapter:
In Chapter Three, Huineng answers questions from a lay audience. Huineng discusses the famous story of
BodhidharmaBodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century AD. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an to China, and regarded as the first Chinese patriarch...
telling
Emperor Wu of LiangEmperor Wu of Liang , personal name Xiao Yan , courtesy name Shuda , nickname Lian'er , was the founding emperor of the Chinese Liang Dynasty...
that his good deeds would bring him no merit. Next, he discusses the
Pure Land of the WestPure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...
, asserting the greater importance of one's inner state compared to one's physical location. This leads to a conclusion in which Huineng asserts that lay practice outside of a monastery is preferable to following the forms of monastic renunciation without inner practice.
In the chapter on his final instructions, Huineng instructs his accomplished disciples,
History of the text
The Platform Sutra was first compiled some time between 700 and 720 by Huineng's disciple Fahai. Two copies dated to between 830 and 860 have been found in the
Mogao CavesThe Mogao Caves or Mogao Grottoes , also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas , form a system of 492 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China...
and both are thought to be based on an edition from about 780. In 1056, the Chinese monk Qisong produced a larger edition. In 1291, Tsungpao produced the edition that became part of the
Ming DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Chinese Buddhist canon. This canonical version, apparently based on the Qisong edition, is about a third longer than the Mogao Caves version, and structured differently. In the 1920s, Japanese scholar Yabuki Keiki produced an edition based on one of the Mogao Caves texts (the only one known at the time), dividing the text into fifty-seven sections. In 1934,
D. T. SuzukiDaisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...
published an edition based on the Mogao Cave text, but incorporating corrections from the Tsungpao edition. In 1993, the Chinese Buddhist scholar Yang Zengwen published an annotated edition of the second Mogao Caves text (which has fewer errors than the first Mogao Caves text). (Pine, 2006, Introduction)
Translations into English
The first published translation into English was based on the Tsungpao edition, completed by Wong Mou-Lam in 1930, and published by the Yu Ching Press of Shanghai.
The Suzuki edition, was translated into English by Wingcit Chan in 1963, and again in 1967 by
Philip YampolskyPhilip Boas Yampolsky was an eminent translator and scholar of Zen Buddhism and a former Director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University...
.
Shoemaker & Hoard published a translation and commentary by
Red PineBill Porter in Los Angeles is an American author who translates under the pen-name Red Pine . He is a translator and interpreter of Chinese texts, primarily Taoist and Buddhist, including poetry and Sūtras.-Early life:He was raised in mountainous Idaho. After serving three years in the U.S...
, based on the second Mogao Caves text, in 2006.
Further reading
- Schlütter, Morten (2007). "Transmission and Enlightenment in Chan Buddhism Seen Through the Platform Sūtra (Liuzu tanjing 六祖壇經)," Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, no. 20, pp. 379-410 (2007). Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies. Source: http://www.chibs.edu.tw/publication/chbj/20/chbj2013.pdf (accessed: Saturday April 11, 2009)
External links