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Zen Philosophy

Hung-Jan, the Fifth Patriarch, asked his followers to compose a verse demonstrating their

understanding of what the head monk, Shen-hsiu, secretly wrote on the corridor wall, and he who

demonstrates enlightened understanding would inherit the office and become the sixth Patriarch.

The expectation of everyone at the little community of Huang-mei Shan was that Shen-hsiu, a

scholarly and highly-respected monk, will inherit the office along with the robe and begging

bowl reputed to have been transmitted from Gautama himself. However, Hui-neng recounts in

his autobiography, despite being an illiterate woodcutter from the barbarian south, got suddenly

enlightened and challenged the understanding of Shen-hsiu, a scholar, Senior Monk, experienced

in gradual meditation. Hui-neng then qualified to inherit the office and become one of the most

important Masters in the history of Zen. In the comparison of the verses, there are shortcomings

in Shen-hsiu’s verse, and this reveals several reasons why Hui-neng’s verse was preferred.

Comparison of The Two Verses And Shortcomings of Shen-Hsiu’s Verse

 The dust collection or clinging on the mirror: Shen-hsiu in his verse believed that the

mind to be analogous to a bright mirror stand, advocates a procedure to ensure no dust collects

on it: ‘‘Time after time, polish it diligently’’. However, the iconoclasm of Hui-neng will not

permit the analogy based on his understanding. “So, where is the dust to collect?”. He then

argued that Self Nature is self-transparent and pure; therefore, no amount of “dust polishing” will

enable us to proximate enlightenment. The Shen-Hsiu Verse failed to recognize that the mind is
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already enlightened, that Self Existence is already self-transparent. Moreover, no procedure that

leaves us where it has found us is of any value in understanding the already-enlightened

character of the mind.

The bright mirror stand: Shen-hsiu, in his verse, claimed that “Mind is like a bright

mirror-stand,” and that the mind was led astray by just such an image as in the mirror. However,

according to Hui-neng, ‘‘The bright mirror has no stand.” Hui-neng terms the Shen-hsiu

argument as a fallacy, and the stanza may deny consciousness nor the posited object.  Shen-hsiu

verse was guilty is the confounding of the mind representation and the original mind. Therefore,

the verse of Shen-hsiu failed to recognize that a bright mirror can not represent the original

consciousness.

The body is the tree of enlightenment: This verse of Shen-hsiu can be interpreted that the

body is the final and absolute boundary beyond which enlightenment takes place. The

enlightenment, the self-clarification of the void, thus becomes an entity or structure beyond the

absolute horizon, and the enlightenment becomes physical, not the mode of seeing it. In contrast,

Hui-neng’s verse argues that ‘‘Enlightenment is not a tree.’’ Shen-hsiu was not enlightened

enough to understand that all things exist in their self-nature.

Generally, the Shen-hsiu verse can be understood as promoting a gradual method of

attaining and preserving the purity and clarity of the mirror-like mind, the mind of silence, or

pure consciousness of the oneness of reality. The focus is on the type of practice required of the

body and mind to develop and maintain this knowledge. Therefore, Hui-neng, in his verse,

offered alternatives that seemed to be a kind of combination, even though not exact, of the first

two lines of the verse of Shen-hsiu. The Hui-neng verse advocates for the understanding of

emptiness in the world of form, and the true essence of form is void. However, it is also prudent
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for one to recognize emptiness, not see it as something that one wants to accomplish or preserve

in the future. The Fifth Patriarch considered Shen-hsiu stanza to indicate that he had not yet

recognized his own nature and had only reached the door, but had not yet entered.

The Reasons Why Hui-Neng’s Verse Was Preferred

Hui-neng verse recognized that Self Nature is self-transparent and pure; therefore, no

amount of “dust polishing” will enable us to proximate enlightenment. He also understood that

Self Existence is already self-transparent. Moreover, no procedure that leaves us where it has

found us is of any value in understanding the already-enlightened character of the mind; this was

in line with the Dharma and the extent of enlightenment and therefore was fit to be the sixth

Patriarch.

The verse of Hui-neng ‘‘Bright mirror has no stand’’ stanza, he understood that the ego is

an entity grasped but also an entity created by a reflective consciousness. The ego is a virtual

locus of unity, and consciousness constitutes it in a direction contrary to that taken by

production: in fact, the consciousness is first: through these are constituted states; and then,

through the latter, the ego is constituted. Such understanding reflected the extent of Hui-neng’s

enlightenment. The fifth Patriarch then urged him to spread the teaching, so they do not get lost

in the future on recognizing the message from the verse of Hui-neng. Even though after the First

Patriarch Bodhidharma came to China, people were not sure of the succession and the

transmission robe from one Patriarch to the next due to Hui-neng illiteracy and social status.

The Hui-neng verse posted several convincing questions to Hung-Jan, the Fifth Patriarch,

as to “Who would have thought that self-nature was fundamentally pure? Who would have

thought that self-nature was free from birth and death? Who would have assumed that self-nature

was full inside itself? Who would have assumed that the essence of self is unchanging? Who
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would have assumed that these things were manifestations of self-nature? (“Zen Sourcebook:

Traditional Documents From China, Korea, And Japan” 26). The fifth Patrorch recognizes that

Hui-neng had realized the essence of the mind, and therefore, he has the advantage of studying

Dharma. The Dharma was handed over to Hui-neng, and the Patriarch gave him the doctrine of

sudden enlightenment, as well as his robe and bowl.

Even though Hui-neng was an illiterate woodcutter coming from beyond the traditional

hierarchical system of incremental meditation practices, he attained the absolute knowledge of

the unity of all truth in the here and now. Nevertheless, he inherited the religious authority of the

Fifth Patriarch Hung-Jen and ultimately became the Sixth Patriarch, head of the Zen Buddhist

order in China. His degree extent of understanding the nature and reality reflected the extent of

his enlightment. Hard work and persistence trials are integral parts of success.
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Works Cited
“Zen Sourcebook: Traditional Documents From China, Korea, And Japan.” Vol 46, no. 01, 2008,

pp. 46-0024-46-0024. American Library Association, doi:10.5860/choice.46-0024.