Liuzu Dajian Huineng (Chinese: 惠能; pinyin: Huìnéng, 638–713) was a Buddhist monk who is one of the most important figures in Chan Buddhism according to standard hagiographies. Huineng has been traditionally viewed as the Sixth and Last Patriarch of Chan Buddhism.
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch:
Most of the traditional biographical information on Huineng is derived from the Platform Sutra, the earliest versions of which dates from around 830-860. This version seems to have been a copy, so it is unknown how early the document appeared, though it may have only been a few years after Huineng's death. Since it is unlikely that the Platform Sutra contains much in the way of actual quotations or teachings from the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng remains more of a character than a historical figure. In any case, according to that text, Huineng was born into the Lu family in 638 in Xinzhou (present-day Xinxing County) in Guangdong province.
According to the Platform Sutra, one day while delivering firewood to a store, Huineng heard a customer reciting the Diamond Sutra and had an awakening. He immediately inquired about the sutra, and decided to seek out the Fifth Patriarch, Daman Hongren, at his monastery on Huang Mei Mountain. Some later versions of the story have the customer giving him 10 or 100 taels of silver to provide for his aged mother. After travelling for thirty days on foot, he arrived at Huangmei Mountain, where the Fifth Patriarch was presiding.
One day, the Fifth Patriarch suddenly called all of his disciples together. After they had assembled, he said, ‘I’ve told you that the greatest concern for a human being is life and death. But you disciples spend your days making offerings, just looking for ways to reap merit and not for a way out of the bitter Sea of Samsara. If you’re blind to your own nature, how can you find the doorway to merit? Go back to your rooms and look into yourselves. Those of you who are wise, make use of the prajna wisdom of your own nature. Each of you write me a gatha. When I read your gathas, if any of you understands what is truly important, I will give you my robe and my Dharma and appoint you the Sixth Patriarch. Hurry, as if there were a fire!’
…
The venerable Shenxiu thought, ‘No one is going to submit a mind-poem, because I’m their precept instructor. But if I don’t submit one, how can the Patriarch tell if the understanding of my mind is deep or not? It would be right for me to show the Patriarch a poem that reveals my understanding, as long as what I wanted was the Dharma. But it would be wrong, as long as what I wanted was the patriarchship. I would be no better than a fool who thinks he can usurp the position of a sage. But if I don’t submit a mind-poem, I’ll never receive the Dharma.’ As he considered this, he kept thinking, ‘What a predicament!’
Finally at midnight, without letting anyone know, he went to write his poem on the middle of the south corridor wall in hopes of obtaining the robe and the Dharma. ‘When the Patriarch sees my gatha and reads these words,’ he thought, ‘if he comes to find me, the moment I see him, I will tell him I wrote it. But when he sees my gatha, if he says it’s not good enough, it will be because I’m deluded and the obstruction of my past karma is too great, and I’m not ready to receive the Dharma. The Master’s mind is impossible to fathom. I may as well stop worrying about it.’ So the venerable Shenxiu held up a lantern and wrote his gatha on the middle of the south corridor wall at midnight, and no one saw him. His gatha went:
‘The body is a bodhi tree
the mind is like a standing mirror
always try to keep it clean
don’t let it gather dust.’
(Red Pine's Platform Sutra translation)
All of Hongren's students were impressed with the gatha, he publicly declared that reciting it would be essential for his students to practice, and then offered the Dharma Transmission to Shenxiu. However, he asked him to compose a second gatha. Huineng, upon seeing the gatha, composed one of his own:
Bodhi originally has no tree.
The bright mirror also has no stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing.
Where could dust arise?
McRae: According to the basic Dunhuang account, Hongren denigrated Huineng’s verse in public, but late that night he privately taught the layman the ultimate teaching of the Diamond Sutra. Huineng was immediately awakened to its profound meaning, received the transmission of the sudden teaching and the Fifth Patriarch’s robe, and left the monastery in secrecy that very night.