platform sutra. So I said, okay. So here we are. The platform sutra is, most of you know, is a very central text sutra for the Zen school. Strictly speaking, It's not a sutra. It's the only sutra to come out of China that people recommend as a sutra because the sutras came from India. And the sutras came from India. I hope you remember what sutra is. It's supposed to be Buddha's words. Of course, they weren't written down until 400 years after Buddha spoke them.

[01:02]

But people considered them Buddha's words. And of course, the Indians had a remarkable memory because they didn't write so much. They developed an incredible ability to memorize. So they remembered a lot. They also forgot a lot. Anyway, the sutras were written down about 400. They started being written down about 400 years after Buddha passed away and continued to be written for quite a number of hundreds of years after that. sutras started coming into China around the first century, and quite a number of sutras, so many sutras, that at times the sutras contradicted each other a little bit, and people wondered how Buddha could be contradicting himself.

[02:09]

But nevertheless, people would try to prove that sutras were authentic by the fact that they came from India. And there were a lot of sutras that appeared in China that were written by Chinese. They were quite nice, actually, but they weren't, by a lot of people, they weren't considered quite authentic. And everyone knows that the Platform Sutra can't be anything but a Chinese sutra because it's about someone who's Chinese. But it's considered. The Chinese considered it as a real sutra because they considered the Sixth Patriarch as a Buddha. That's the reverence in which they held the Sixth Patriarch. And from Bodhidharma, through the five ancestors, to Holy Nung, then developed little by little in China.

[03:18]

And Hui Nu was the turning point for the development of Chan or Zen in China. And his disciples are the key figures in the development of the Golden Age of Zen. The Tang Dynasty was called the Golden Age of Zen in which the major development of Zen, about four or five hundred years, the major development of Zen took place. And the sixth patriarch was the key person in that development. So all the schools of Zen are descended from the sixth patriarch, who we know. And I don't want to talk too much about all this, but I have to say a little bit because I'd like us to just get right into the sutra.

[04:30]

But I want to talk about the various translations a little bit and the various editions. The thing about a lot of sutras is that they started out small and got bigger. they were added to in time. And for a long time, people thought that the big sutras were the real sutras and the small ones were reductions. But people, scholars, now realize that the sutras started out smaller and gradually expanded and got more, bigger and bigger as time went on because of the additions that people made of them. And the Platform Sutra is no exception to that. The popular Platform Sutra is called the Ming version, which appeared in the Ming Dynasty around 1440.

[05:36]

And it was the Platform Sutra that they expanded most expanded Platform Sutra, which people referred to or studied since the Ming Dynasty. And when people thought of the Platform Sutra, that's the addition that they thought of. But in around 1900, Sir Oral Stein, who was an archaeologist, found a copy in Dunhuang caves in China, which is dated much earlier, maybe 150 years after the Six Patriarch. And this version didn't include a lot of the stuff that the later platform century included.

[06:37]

And scholars were able to see where all the additions were made and a lot of the stuff that was supposed to be authentic was actually added. So it's always causing a kind of problem, yes. Around the 9th century, 8th or 9th century. So scholars have had a lot of controversy over the sutra since that time, and even to the point where they realized that this, the autobiography of the Cispatriarch is not really an autobiography. And people really feel that there was, that this Hui Nung, this Cispatriarch actually existed, but the Platform Sutra was a kind of, put together by his disciple, Shin Hui, and

[07:54]

which brings us to the point of what do you believe when you read something like this, knowing that scholarship is... taken apart the structure of things and debunked the factual side of things. My feeling is that it doesn't really make so much difference. What we read when we read something like this is myth, in a sense, myth. which is the valuable side. The accurate historical side is not the important side.

[08:57]

The important side is the myth, is what someone wrote in order to help us understand something. So a lot of scholars feel that Even the early Dunhuang version has a lot of additions and is a kind of fabrication also. My feeling is that we could study the earliest version in order to have a more authentic fabrication. But what I'm interested in is all the myths. That's what's interesting. And it's myth in the sense of setting out examples that help us understand something.

[10:07]

So I think that the Dunhuang version is very interesting. But the Ming version is also OK. And I think that we can learn a lot from the Ming version. And it's less expensive, more accessible. And we can also study some of the other versions. Now, there was an old, the first English translation was done by Wang Mulong, a Chinese named Wang Mulong. And that's this one. which has been around for a long time. And I think it's still accessible, available.

[11:09]

It's combined with the diamond sutra. And this is an early version. The reason I like Wong Wong's translation is because He really respects the Platform Sutra. He translates it from the point of view of someone who really respects it and wants to transmit that respect. There are some good scholarly translations, which may be even a little more accurate in some ways, but a little cooler, which is also okay. Philip Yampolski did a translation with a very scholarly commentary in which he really takes apart the myth, takes apart... Takes the whole thing apart in a scholarly way and has a very good translation.

[12:23]

And then there's the Thun Long version, which was translated by a Chinese named Wing Tsip Chong. It came out in paperback at one time. It probably isn't available anymore. This is the hardback. I used to collect these, but I haven't collected them for many, many years, so I only have a few of those. People are walking to reason. And it's a very good translation. Considered a very good translation. And then there are a lot of other translations. Master Wah did a translation from the Golden Mountain Monastery with a commentary. And there's a translation by Charles Luck. in Chan and Zen teaching, third series, which I don't think was on your, those two are on your bibliography.

[13:27]

Maybe they are, but I did hand out a bibliography. You didn't get it? It's down in the library along with some of the books on the story. Oh, you could probably hand it out. But this, And then there's D.T. Suzuki's The Zen Doctrine of No Mind, which is a kind of critique of the Platform Sutra. From his point of view, he's a very good scholar. And there's certain things that I find difficult with his critique. So these are some of the texts that are helpful to work with.

[14:28]

Now, it may be that some of the people here have some preference for which... translation you'd like to study. If you have a preference. This is our table. This is the easiest one to get. Everybody can buy it and it's a heartfelt translation even though it's not completely accurate. It's very sweet. It's very sweet. The what? Oh, no, I don't. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a company there. I didn't bring it. It's for sale? Yeah, that's it.

[15:30]

I'm going to get a glass of water. He divided it into chapters even though The sutra has short sections, but he put it into chapters in order to give us a sense of a way to deal with the meaning of the sutra as it goes along. And the first chapter is the autobiography. So it's a really nice, interesting sutra because it starts out with an autobiography.

[16:35]

It's real accessible. It's somebody talking about his life. And the second chapter is on prajna. The third chapter is questions and answers. The fourth chapter is called samadhi and prajna. The fifth chapter is called dhyana. The sixth chapter is called on repentance. The seventh chapter is called Temperament and Circumstances. The eighth chapter is the Sudden School and the Gradual School. The ninth chapter is Royal Patronage. And the tenth and last chapter is called His Final Instructions. I don't know if we can spend one time in each one of those chapters. I doubt it. But hopefully we can touch each one. The original Dung Long version seems to have been built around an ordination ceremony or a precept ceremony.

[17:43]

Very interesting. And it's very obvious in the Dung Long version. But the later Ming version seems to have de-emphasized the fact of the ordination platform. The platform's scripture, scholars a little bit divided, but most of them feel that the platform means the ordination platform. And within this sutra is an ordination ceremony, precepts ceremony. precepts platform, precept ceremony. And it's more obvious in this older version, whereas the later version emphasizes the teaching more and minimizes the precept ceremony, which

[18:48]

for some reason. But when the sutra was first around, it seems to have been given to disciples as a kind of transmission document. And then it got to be kind of who had it and who didn't kind of thing. And then it lost its meaning as a transmission document after a while. But then it became more of a teaching scripture. So it's been through many transformations. And the emphasis on it has changed. First, as a kind of transmission document, and then as ordination scripture, and then as just a teaching scripture.

[20:03]

And as it kept being more, that's the reason for its expansion, people kept adding more teaching to it. If you take that there is no karma, whatever you do, So there's some things that maybe don't need to be in it, some things that are very central to it. And we can kind of look at that as we go along. Do you have any questions? At the beginning, it's got all this sutra, the power of formalia. But it's possible that some scholars think that in the beginning

[21:12]

It may not have even had the autobiography, which is a very key part of the sutra, as a sutra. So it kind of became a sutra. It started out as something, and it became a sutra. Well, it could have been added later. No, well, you know, if it started out as the platform scripture as an ordination for precepts platform with some scripture with some teaching around it, and then maybe Shen Hui put in the autobiography. Most scholars believe that Shen Hui wrote this because it matches more his teaching.

[22:22]

And some scholars would say that Shen Hui was a good-for-nothing. And then someone else thinks that he was a real religious revolutionary. And it may have been both. Wrote the autobiography. Huh? And wrote the autobiography. Yeah, wrote the autobiography and put in a lot of the other stuff. But, you know, you can think about it as this is actually the six patriarchs teaching going through Shenhui who put it into writing. Right? So, you know, There's some, it's got the element of truth about it, the ring of truth about it. That's why it's, this is a very popular sutra in China. And it became the most popular scripture, Buddhist scripture in China.

[23:26]

That's why it's good for us to read it. Are you talking about popularity within the time period or . No, for them, from the Tang Dynasty onward. And the Tang Dynasty was very popular. But even in that time, people realized that Dogen thought that it was a spurious sutra, that it was a fabrication, even in his time. But he loved the sixth patriarch. And I don't know. I can't remember exactly what his attitude was toward the Platform Sutra, but... It depends which section. Sometimes he... Sometimes he says, right. Sometimes he quotes it to... Sometimes he quotes it as great, sometimes he quotes it as wrong. Right, so... There's a text in his handbag.

[24:32]

Dogen's, yeah, that's right. There is a text in his, that... One of the oldest texts is in Dogian's handwriting. When people are creating the myth that you're talking about, it's the real trying to communicate with us, how do we know that what they're trying to communicate comes from the same place as what the six patriarchs became, rather than coming out of... their fantasy of what the sixth patriarch was like. In other words, do these, does this myth come out of practice that's equal in depth to that of the Zambles there, or does it come? Well, if it had no, if it had no validity, it wouldn't last this long. You know? This is a really good question.

[25:32]

What do we know about doing anything apart from what people written about? Not much. There is his temple still there and his body is still there. There he is sitting in his Temple. And it's not so unbelievable if you think about mummies, they're thousands of years old. Just another mummy. Chinese version of a mummy. Was he mummified? Yeah. I mean, they actually used chemicals to mummify? They filled him with lacquer. There's an old story.

[26:33]

There's an old story that, um, Some old patriarchs, when they, you know, getting on in age, start drinking a little bit of lacquer every day. Finally, they get preserved. I don't know if that's true or not. Was that common with royalty or only with possessions? I don't know. Do you believe that's true? I don't know whether they were drinking it, but I mean the preserving of the body. Oh, the preserving. Oh, sure. Sure. Not only the Chinese, but in all ancient peoples, and not all of them, but quite a number of ancient peoples preserved the dead. Fine memory, fine bodies all over the world, huh?

[27:35]

Anyway, it's... I'm still looking at that. Well, there are two pictures. There's another mummy in there, also. On the next page. It's Fran. It's Fran. So, let's see, how can we get into that? What do we know about, what do we know about the secretion? There he is, right? And what do we know about anybody? Well, I mean, it's, you know, it's a little bit up for grabs.

[28:46]

There is some kinds of documentation about the Six Patriots. You know, the Sandokai, in the Sandokai, Sekito says, that there's no ancestor of north or south. The sutra in the Ming version, especially the later version, the scholars believe that Shen Hui created this kind of schism of the northern patriarch and the southern patriarchs. that Shen Xu, who we'll read about soon, who was considered the northern patriarch, after the fifth patriarch, and Shen Xu was the patriarch of the northern school, and Hui Nong was the patriarch of the southern school.

[30:01]

The autobiography explains about this. And most scholars believe that it's a kind of propaganda move to enhance the Soviet school by Shen Hui and his colleagues. So it's a little bit of a political sutra. And that's why Sekito in the Sandokai is saying, Don't get sucked into this controversy of southern and northern ancestors. It's all one, Zen. And so you can see how people were very much involved in this in that time. So it was a big controversial issue for a long time, the southern school and the northern school. So, and the Sixth Patriarch's monastery is there, he's there, and even though he probably didn't write anything, you know, Suzuki Roshi didn't write anything, but we know a lot about him.

[31:18]

So, there may be a little doubt in somebody's mind that there was a Sixth Patriarch called Hu Nung. But most people feel that he actually was around and that he was great Buddha. So what I'd like us to do is start reading, and then we can kind of get into it. Do we have enough light? I don't want more light. Now. Does everybody have something to read? Just let me look at it. If you don't have anything to look at, you can look at somebody else. I do have some extra copies that I can lend to people if you like. Just for tonight? Now, if somebody would like to follow with the Dune Long version, the older version, I can give you a couple of copies of that.

[32:57]

Now, the paperbacks So please hand in the paperbacks gently. Well, Jan Polsky is a kind of, I think it's a kind of combination. Yeah, he kind of combined the two. And I also have some versions of this. But I'm willing to lend these to people. But I want you to sign for them. If you borrow them, I want you to sign for them. So maybe you can get those afterwards. It's enough to just follow this. Which ones are those? Those are the Annapolsky. And those are out of print? No, no. They're not out of print, but they're a little expensive. This is my first Zen book.

[34:18]

Yeah. A friend of mine gave it to me. You used to? Yeah, this little book. She's great. Oh, I love this. Right off? Okay, so... What I'd like to do is we can take turns reading. And then if you have a question, when we come to the end of one person reading, if you have a question, you can come out with it. But when we pass around the reading, I'd like you to read in a nice not too fast, but kind of comprehend what you're reading as you're reading it so we can comprehend it along with you.

[35:21]

You know what I mean? Sometimes people read through real fast because they're nervous or something, and then you can't really understand what they're saying. So I'll try to do that myself. And I'd like us to all make an effort to read slowly and carefully. so that we can follow. Okay, so I'll start. And then Sarah. This sutra is spoken by the sixth patriarch on the high seat of the treasure of the law. Chapter one, autobiography. Once, when the patriarch, I'll call him the patriarch, even though he was an ancestor. Without being sexist, I'll just read it as it's written. Well, that's true. We usually say ancestor these days. Once, when the patriarch had arrived at Pao Lam Monastery, Prefect Wei of Xu Chao and other officials went there to ask him to deliver public lectures on Buddhism in the hall of the Tai Phan Temple in the city of Canton.

[36:38]

In due course, they were assembled in the lecture hall prefect Y, government officials, and Confucian scholars, about 30 each, and bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, Taoists, and laymen, to the number of about 1,000. After the patriarch had taken his seat, the congregation in a body paid him homage and asked him to preach on the fundamental laws of Buddhism, whereupon his holiness delivered the following address. Learned audience, Our essence of mind, literally self-nature, which is the seed or kernel of enlightenment, Bodhi, is pure by nature, and by making use of this mind alone, we can reach Buddhahood directly. Now let me tell you something about my own life and how I came into possession of the esoteric teaching of the Dhyana, or Zen, school. My father,

[37:40]

a native of Fanyang, was dismissed from his official post and banished to be a commoner in Xinchu in Quangtong. I was unlucky in that my father died when I was very young, leaving my mother poor and miserable. We moved to Quangtong and were then in very bad circumstances. I was selling firewood in the market one day when one of my customers ordered some to be brought to the shop. Upon delivery being made and payment received, I left the shop, outside of which I found a man reciting a sutra. As soon as I heard the text of the sutra, my mind at once became enlightened. Thereupon, I asked the man the name of the book he was reciting, and was told that it was the Diamond Sutra, Bajra Chetika, or Diamond Cutter. I further inquired when he came and why he recited this particular sutra. He replied that he came from Tung Chan Monastery in the Wengmei district of Chi Chu, that the abbot in charge of this temple was one Ian, the fifth patriarch, that there were about 1,000 disciples under him, and that when he was there to pay homage to the patriarch, he attended lectures on this sutra.

[38:52]

He further told me that His Holiness used to encourage the laity as well as the monks to recite the scripture, and by doing so they might realize their own essence of mind, and thereby reach Buddhahood directly. Now, The publishers very nicely published this with the Diamond Sutra. The Diamond Sutra is there, so you can read it. The Diamond Sutra is kind of an important sutra for the Sixth Patriarch. And the Lankavatara Sutra was an important sutra for David Bowman. And also, the Diamond Sutra was an important sutra for the Fifth Patriarch. It must be due to my good karma in past lives that I heard about this.

[40:10]

And then I was given ten tails for the maintenance of my mother by a man who had by Peter Broder, Hoang May, to interview the patriarch. After arrangements had been made for her, I left for Hoang May, which took me less than 30 days to reach. I then went to pay homage to the patriarch and was asked where I came from. and what I expected to get from him. I replied, I am a commoner from . I have traveled far to pay respect, and I ask for nothing but Buddha hood. Pretty nice, isn't it? That's a lot. That's what we want all the students to say. What are you doing here?

[41:13]

You are a native of Kwong Tong, a barbarian. How can you expect to be a Buddha? I replied, although there are northern men and southern men, north and south make no difference to their Buddha nature. A barbarian is different from your holiness physically, but there is no difference in our Buddha nature. He is going to speak further to me. the presence of other disciples made him stop short. He then ordered Eve to join the crowd to work. So he recognized something about him that was unusual, and he didn't want to make a fuss over him in front of all these people. Also, the South at that time, all of the of Chinese civilizations in the north. And the southerners, the further south they got, were considered barbarian.

[42:17]

What? You're right. Similar to American. Similar to American. Similar to American. Depending on... I represent a civil school. California. So this, anyway, this is what that's about. There was a lot of class distinction. There was a lot of class distinction. You bet. Not because of the class distinction. It was because, well, that was, it wasn't the, well, we'll get into it a little later, okay? But, right at this point, You know, if you just read the words, it doesn't seem like so much, but the words kind of indicate that this little exchange indicates that he recognized something very unusual, and he didn't want to make a fuss over this young guy.

[43:28]

He was pretty young, apparently. And he said, go over there, and I'll talk to you later. Yeah. Is that for his sake? Yeah, for his sake. Thank you. So people wouldn't bother him. In other words, he just didn't want to make a fuss over him in front of these people. And he wanted to deal with him later on, see more where he was at. So anyway, also, The monasteries at that time, according to my understanding, there were a lot of different kinds of people in the monastery. There were monks, and there were also lay people, and also carpenters and workmen. And people who worked in the kitchen weren't necessarily part of the monastery.

[44:33]

They were part of the monastery, but they weren't necessarily part of the priesthood, part of the monkhood. going to be to join the crowd and go to work. May I tell your holiness, said I, that pride in the transitory movement often rises in my mind. When one does not go astray from one's own essence of mind, one may be called the field of merit. Do you want to read the asterisk? Yes. The title of honor given to monks, I think offered the best opportunity for others to sow the seed of merit. I do not know what word your holiness would ask me to do. There's another translation, field, in the Wong Mulan translation, field of merits means, he translates it more as just doing something for merit rather than for

[45:45]

reality and wisdom. But anyway, I think we should just leave it alone. Read that over your wind. I do not know what your, what words your holiness would ask me to do. This barbarian is too bright in your mind. Go to this stable, speak no more. I then withdrew myself to the backyard and was told by a lay brother to split firewood and to pound my head. About eight months after, the Patriarch saw me one day and said, I know your knowledge of Buddhism is very sound, but I have to refrain from speaking to you as people do as you do your harm. Do you understand? Yes, sir, I do, I replied. To avoid people taking notice of me, I dare not go near your heart. The Patriarch one day assembled all his disciples and said to them, The question of incessant rebirth is a momentous one.

[46:49]

Day after day, instead of trying to free yourself from the accuracy of life and death, we seem to go after tainted merits only, that is, merits which will cause rebirth. Yet, merits will be of no help if your essence of mind is obscured. Go and seek for pradhyam in your own mind, and then write in a spanza about it. Do you understand what the essence of mind is, will be given the role? What's that word? Patriarchy. Patriarchy. Patriarchy. And the Dharma. He has a fair teaching at the theater school. And I shall make him the sixth patriarch. Go away quickly. Delay not in writing assignment, as deliberation is quite unnecessary and of no use. A man who has realized the essence of mind can speak of it at once, as soon as he has spoken to a father.

[47:50]

He cannot lose sight of it even when he gave the Bible. Having received this instruction, the disciples withdrew and said to one another, It is of no use for us to contemplate our mind to write this stanza and submit it to the holiness. since the patriarchy is bound to be won by Shen Shu, our instructor. If we write perfunctorally, it will only be a waste of energy. Upon hearing this, all of them made up their minds not to write and said, why should we take the trouble? Hereafter, we will simply follow our instructor Shen Shu wherever he goes and look to him for guidance. Meanwhile, Shen Shu reasoned best with himself. Considering that I am no teacher, none of them will take part in the composition. I wonder whether I should write the stanza and submit it to His Holiness. If I do not, how can the patriarch know how deep and superficial my knowledge is?

[48:56]

If my object is to get the Dharma, my motive is a pure one. If I were after the patriarchy, then I would be bad. In that case, my mind would be that of a whirlwind and my action would amount to robbing the patriarch's holy seat. But if I do not submit the stanza, I shall never have a chance of eating the Dharma, a very difficult point to decide indeed. In front of the Patriarchs' Hall, there were three corridors, the walls of which were to be painted by a court artist named Liu Chun, with pictures from the longs of Taurus history, depicting the transfiguration of the assembly, and with scenes showing the genealogy of the five Patriarchs. for the information and veneration of the public. When Shen Shu had composed his stanza, he made several attempts to submit it to the Patriarch, but as soon as he went near the hall, his mind was so perturbed that he sweated all over. He could not screw up courage to submit it, although in the course of four days, he made altogether 13 attempts to do so.

[50:05]

Then he suggested to himself, It would be better for me to write it on the wall of the corridor and let the patriarch see it for himself. If he approve, I shall come out to pay homage and tell him that it was done by means. But if he disapproves it, then I shall have wasted several years in this mountain in receiving homage from others which I by no means deserve. In that case, what progress have I made in learning Buddhism? At twelve o'clock that night, he went secretly with a lamp to write the stanza on the wall of the south corridor, so that the patriarch might know what spiritual insight he had attained. The stanza read, Our body is the Bodhi tree, and our mind a mirror bright. Carefully we wipe them, hour by hour, and let no deaths alike. As soon as he had written it, he left at once for his room. so nobody knew what he had done.

[51:06]

In his room, he again pondered, when the Patriarch sees my stanza tomorrow and is pleased with it, I shall be ready for the Dharma. But if he says that it is badly done, it will mean that I am unfit to the Dharma, going to the misdeeds in previous lives, which thickly becloud my mind. It is difficult to know what the Patriarch will say about it. In this vein, he kept on thinking until dawn as he could be the sleek mercidity But the patriarch already knew that Chen Shu had not entered the door of enlightenment, and that he had not known the essence of mind. In the morning, he sent for Mr. Liu, the court artist, and went with him to the south corridor to have the walls there painted with pictures. By chance, he saw the stanza. I am sorry to have troubled you to come so far, he said to the artist. The walls need not be painted now, as the sutra says. All forms or phenomena are transient and elusive.

[52:06]

It would be better to leave the stanza here so that people may study it and recite it. If they put its teaching into actual practice, they will be saved from the misery of being born into these evil realms of existence. The merit gained by one who practices it will be great indeed. He then ordered incense to be burned. and all his disciples to pay homage to it and to recite it, so that they may realize the message of his mind. After they had recited it, all of them explained, well done. At midnight, the patriarchs sent for Shenzhou to come to the hall and asked him whether the stanza was written by him or not. It was, sir, replied Shenzhou. I dare not be so vain as to expect to get the patriarchate but I wish your holiness would kindly tell me whether my stanza shows the least grain of wisdom. Your stanza, replied the Patriarch, shows that you have not yet realized the essence of mind.

[53:09]

So far you have reached the door of the monthly, but you have not yet indicated. To seek for supreme enlightenment with such an understanding as yours can hardly be successful. To attain supreme enlightenment, one must be able to know spontaneously one's own nature or essence of mind, which is neither created nor can it be annihilated. From prasana to prasana, thought moment to thought moment, one should be able to realize the essence of mind all the time. All things will then be free from restraint, that is, emancipated. Once the tafta, suchness, another name for the essence of mind is known. one will be free from delusion forever. And in all circumstances, one's mind will be in a state of dustness. Such a state of mind is absolute truth. If you can see things in such a frame of mind, you will have known the essence of mind, which is supreme enlightenment. You had better go back to think it over again for a couple of days and then submit me another stanza.

[54:17]

If your stanza shows that you have entered the door of enlightenment, I will transmit to you the robe of the daughter. Okay, Michael. Shinshu made a decence to the patriarch and left. For several days, he tried in vain to write another statement. This upset his mind so much that he was ill at ease as if he were in a nightmare, and he could find comfort in him sitting or in walking. Two days after it happened that a young boy who was passing by the room where I was pounding rice, recited loudly the sanza written by Trinity. As soon as I heard it, I knew at once that the composer of it had not yet realized the essence of mine. For although I had not been taught about it at that time, I already had a general idea of it. What sanza is this? I asked the boy. You love our name, he replied. Don't you know about it? The patriarch told his disciples that the question of the incessant reaper was a momentous one, that those who wished to inherit his role in Dharma should lighten the sands, and that the one who had an understanding of the essence of mind would get them, and he made the sixth patriarch.

[55:28]

Elder Shinshu wrote this form the sands on the wall of the South Corridor, and the patriarch told us to recite it. He also said that those who put his teaching into actual practice would attain great merit and be saved from the misery of being born in the evil realms of existence. I told the boy that I wished to recite the stanza too, so that I might have an affinity with his teaching in future life. I also told him that although I had been pounding rice there for eight months, I had never been to the hall, and that he would have to show me where the stanza was to enable me to make a receipts to it. The boy took me there, and I asked him to read it to me, as I am illiterate. petty officer of the Chang Chow district named Chang Ti Yun, who happened to be there, read it out to me. When he had finished reading, I told him that I also had composed a stanza and asked him to write it for me. Extraordinary indeed, he exclaimed, that you also can compose a stanza. Don't despise a beginner, said I, if you are a seeker of supreme enlightenment.

[56:32]

You should know that the lowest class may have the sharpest wit or the highest may be in want of intelligence. Just like others, you commit a very great sin. Take your stanza, said Lee. I will take it down for you. But do not forget to deliver me, should you succeed in getting the Dharma. My stanza red. There is no holy tree. Nor stand of the mirror bright. Since all is void, where can the dust delight? So this is the only. Very famous, right? Anybody have any? Should we just go on? Mike, I'm having some...

[57:35]

some negative reaction to the way in which the story is played because it seems to have sort of a gloating quality to it or a self-aggrandizing quality to it that I wouldn't sort of incongruous with me but in sort of my image when I'm like a person doesn't seem to show enough compassion for the other person doesn't seem to show much compassion for the other person Is there a feeling that people share? Yeah. He does totally give credence to Shen Shu's sincerity. You know, you're right at the gate, and I think you've got the best.

[58:48]

I think it's been making fun of the student. I think he's trying to spark exchange. Spark exchange by having that written on the wall. Being right at the gate after years and years and years of intense practice, is this going to be a person that works himself into a state who can't sleep and is fretting? I mean, it just doesn't seem to be an event of practice. Well, obviously, he's not up to what's been asked of him. But if you're very, very close and you're not up to what's being asked, isn't there a way of accepting that as part of your practice rather than... Well, he became, actually, a very famous person. Actually, in his time, his school became very, very popular, and he was considered the sixth patriarch by a lot of people. But anyway, I think we just have to accept the experience as it's written, right?

[59:57]

But I don't know. very easily see. It's like sometimes people come to doksan and they're shaking, you know, and they're sweating. You know, here's this, for some reason, I don't know why, but for some reason. It's like, this is the grand test of this guy's understanding, you know? And because Huynunga doesn't have any problem with it, can't even read. Part of the, whether he could actually read or not is a little bit controversial, because he does scripture and things like that later on. There's a little inconsistency, but there's also trying to point up the fact that here's this illiterate, young illiterate, who understands the essence of mind, and here is this learned man who hasn't quite

[61:02]

even though he's quite old, actually. At this time, Shen Shi was supposed to be, I don't know how old at that time, but pretty old. And learned it, and all the other monks, you know, thought, well, this guy's, you know, our senior monk, and really, I'm sure he knows it, because none of them wrote anything, but he knew he was expected to. But, you know, even though he had all this learning, he hadn't quite entered the door. Whereas when you're not going to enter the door, even though he didn't know anything. And that's what the sutra's trying to point out, that he didn't have to know anything. And so he was at ease. That's because he didn't know anything. He's not even going to bother him. So that's part of the... undercurrent of polemic between the gradual.

[62:07]

But actually, when I'm thinking about it, kind of your heart goes out to... Yeah, absolutely. He didn't know anything. He earned the diamonds. He earned the diamonds. That was it. He didn't have to work. He didn't have to practice. He had some guys pounding his head against the wall for 40 years. He still didn't get it. I can relate to that. Well, that's very true. That's a good observation. But also, the reason he got it was because everybody's got it. That's part of the point here. So it's kind of a mixed thing going on. A lot of mixed feelings going on. Well, that's a good Chinese cop-out. You know, I read these, and it kind of, like, the second one reminds me of... Second.

[63:16]

...reminds me of, you know, like, mountains are not mountains. And I was wondering, you know, if you talk about that, you know, as we go... Oh, I see what you're saying. His stanza. Yeah. Well, I'd rather talk about his stanza next time because it's 9 o'clock already. Already it's 9 o'clock. And we said that we'd stop at 9, right? And I think we should keep our promises. And I would like to have the books back. And if you want to keep them, I can find them out to you. Did you say they were going to be copies of the plant?

[64:18]

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