seventh world of chan buddhism - Zen Buddhist Order of Hsu Yun

nor less than four lines they were to reveal the depths of their understanding of
enlightenment's "cardinal meaning".
Since none of his peers had cared to come forward to compete against him, Shen Xiu
composed his quatrain without ever imagining that working in the kitchen of the monastery
there was an illiterate, impoverished, long-haired, young, dark-skinned barbarian from South
China waiting to defeat him.
This man, Hui Neng (638 - 7l3), though uneducated, was spiritually quite precocious.
He had experienced enlightenment upon hearing someone recite a verse from the Diamond
Sutra - the scripture that was so near and dear to Hung Jen's heart. Asking where he should
go to study these marvelous words, Hui Neng was told, "To East Mountain, the monastery of
Hung Jen."
In rags which might just as well have been a jester's motley, Hui Neng went north and
presented himself to the accomplished priests of East Mountain who, we are told, laughed at
his appearance and his presumptuousness and put him to work in the kitchen. Eight months
later, on the fateful night of the poetry contest, he was still working there as a grain thresher.
He had not yet so much as set foot inside the meditation hall.
Shen Xiu inscribed his entry on a corridor wall. His lines, loosely translated, were,
"Our body is the Bodhi Tree. Our mind is the frame of a bright mirror. We must constantly
polish this mirror so that no dust collects on it." Clearly, Shen Xiu equated enlightenment
with virtue and regarded ethical conduct and vigilant self-discipline as evidence of the
illumined life. Rub out your tendencies to sin! Act righteously and you will be rewarded!
This is the slow, methodical path, the so-called Gradual School; but to Fifth Patriarch Hung
Jen, its goal had more to do with Orthodox Buddhism than with Chan.
When Hui Neng heard Shen Xiu's verse, he challenged it, asking someone to write his
response alongside: "Bodhi Trees? Dirty mirrors? The Buddha Nature is always pure!
What can dirty it? The ego does not exist! How can it polish anything?" This was an
intellectual slap in the face! Uh, Oh. Trouble on East Mountain.
The Fifth Patriarch thought he knew an insightful poem when he saw one and
summoned Hui Neng from the kitchen to give him Bodhidharma's robe. His poor servant had
demonstrated that even an illiterate man can attain Wisdom. And even more! Hui Neng
could personally testify to just how suddenly the grace of Wisdom comes. Grace! The
unmerited love and favor of the Buddha Self! Enlightenment! By way of celebration the two
men discussed their beloved Diamond Sutra. We can imagine their joy: Hung Jen reading it
to (Praise the gods!) an enlightened disciple; Hui Neng hearing it in its entirety for the very
first time.
Anticipating the uproar that followed his decision, Hung Jen advised Hui Neng to
keep a very low profile for awhile; and the latter, heeding this advice for longer perhaps than
CHAPTER 4 ORIGINS OF THE TWO MAIN SCHOOLS OF CHAN
S EVENTH W ORLD O F C HAN B UDDHISM
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