ZenExperience-obooko-rel0025

Buddhism. The men later remembered as the Third, Fourth, and
Fifth Patriarchs have in common a struggle to bend Buddhist
thought to Chinese intellectual requirements, to sinicize
Buddhism. Whereas they succeeded only in setting the stage for
this transformation (whose realization would await other hands),
they did establish a personality pattern that would set apart all
later masters: a blithe irreverence that owed as much to Chuang
Tzu as to Bodhidharma.
When reading the biographies that follow, it is useful to keep
in mind that the explicit details may well have been cooked up in
later years to satisfy a natural Chinese yearning for anecdotes,
with or without supporting information. Yet the fact that the
dhyana practitioners eventually became a movement in need of a
history is itself proof that these men and their stories were not
complete inventions. In any case, they were remembered,
honored, and quoted in later years as the legendary founders of
Ch'an.
SENG-TSAN, THE THIRD PATRIARCH (d. 606)
The question of the Second Patriarch Hui-k'o's successor was
troublesome even for the ancient Ch'an historians. The earliest
version of his biography (written in 645, before the sect of Ch'an
and its need for a history existed) declares, "Before [Hui-k'o] had
established a lineage he died, leaving no worthy heirs." When it
later became necessary for Ch'an to have an uninterrupted
patriarchy, a revised history was prepared which supplied him an
heir named Seng-ts'an, to whom he is said to have transmitted
the doctrine. 1 The story of their meeting recalls Hui-k'o's first
exchange with Bodhidharma, save that the roles are reversed.
The text implies that Seng-ts'an was suffering from leprosy when
he first encountered Hui-k'o, and that he implored the Master for
relief in a most un-Zenlike way, saying: "I am in great suffering
from this disease; please take away my sins."
Hui-k'o responded with, "Bring me your sins, and I will take
them away."
After a long silence, Seng-ts'an confessed, "I've looked, but I
cannot find them."
To which Hui-k'o replied, echoing Bodhidharma's classic
rejoinder, "Behold, you have just been cleansed."