Platform Sūtra of 6th Patriarch 六祖壇經
Part II (a)

Wong Weng Hon

For those Buddhist practitioners engaged in the practice of Chan or Zen Buddhism, the Platform Sūtra of Sixth Patriarch is a road map to develop the Dharma eye of the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā般若波羅蜜多). With the Dharma eye, the Self-awakened One  discerns the original True Self internally and Unity (microcosm小宇宙) or Non-duality of the phenomenal world (macrocosm大宇宙) externally.

 This second exegetical literature on the Mahāyāna Platform Sūtra focuses on the attributes of the original Self (本性) or universal Self (dharmadhātu). This original Self is the Buddha-nature or the womb of the Tathāgata (Tathāgathagarbha如耒藏). The original Self is only manifested after the illusive and superimposed self-centric ego (我執心) has been obliterated. True Self is born when self-centric ego is dead. This true Self is actually the manifest of the Buddha-mind. The Buddha-mind is the mind of pure, luminous, infinite consciousness. The original Self is only manifested after the eternal truth of Unity (一真法界) or Non-duality (不二) of the phenomenal world has been intuitively discerned by the wise or the enlightened one. The truth of Unity or Non-duality is only intuitively apprehended after the illusion or unreality of the phenomenal world is penetrated into. The multiplicity of the empirical world is illusive and unreal ultimately. Individuations or separation of entities are only apparent. They are ultimately unreal. Perception of this illusory multiplicity manifests the true Self or Buddha-mind.

The Buddha-mind is said to be manifested when the intellectual, egoistic mind is replaced completely by the intuitive, egoless mind. In other words, the four foundations of mindfulness (satipaṭṭhāna) and clear awareness are perfectly executed using the intrinsic awareness of the Buddha-nature of the delivered mind. Satipaṭṭhāna is considered to be perfectly executed if and only if there is no grasping (upādāna) upon the five aggregates (pañcakkhandhā) as this is I; this is mine; this belongs to me. The notion of private or selfish ownership of desires and fears are totally obliterated. The practice is not the complete annihilation of human emotions of desires and fears. It is the purification of ordinary consciousness by transmuting the selfish, egoistic desires and fears (attachment and aversion) into selfless, egoless desires and fears (non-attachment and non-aversion). The formal state is either a win-lose situation or lose-lose situation which is ethically destructive. The latter one is state of equanimity resulting in a win-win situation in which wisdom and virtue are exercised.

何期自性本自清淨

Do not seek your original Self externally. The original Self is intrinsically pure.

 A sentient being ignorantly conceives that he or she is initially impure or corrupted mentally. He meditates diligently, resolutely and earnestly in order to purify his or her mind or consciousness gradually and progressively. He conceives substantially or intellectually the notion of arising and ceasing (生滅), increase and decrease (增减) and impurity and purity (垢淨). This is the substantial or intellectual view of human personality by an ordinary worldling (凡夫). The human personality is erroneously conceived as a discrete entity(個體) belonging to oneself and separating form others.

In actuality, the original Self is inherently pure (本淨) as it is the innate absolute essence of the Buddha called the Buddha-nature concealed by the human emotions of attachment (selfish, egoistic desires) and aversion (selfish, egoistic fears). The Buddha-nature (佛性), existing innately in all sentient beings, is like an original pure gold. There is no necessity to purify what is originally or intrinsically pure. What is required is to strive or seek to rediscover and redeem this original purity of Man known as the True Self or Buddha-nature concealed by intellectual conceptualization (戲論). Conceptualization, rooted in substantial view of ontology and phenomenalism, is actually false mental construct or imagination.

Śākyamuni Buddha promulgates that every sentient being is potentially a Buddha (衆生本性是佛). The Buddha and God refer to the same original Self of Man – the inner Heart. Hence the Buddha and God are synonymous or parallel philosophically, theosophical and psycho-spiritually. Mahayanists advocate that the Buddha-nature is immanent and pervasive. God-essence is also immanent and pervasive.. The Chan or Zen patriarchs declare that the mind, sentient being and the Buddha are inherently and essentially identical (心衆生佛平等無差別). It connotes that the Buddha-nature can be found in the inner heart of every sentient being. Monotheists also admit that human body is the temple of God. God dwells in the centre of human heart. The centre of heart is the pure, luminous, infinite consciousness sought by all religious seekers or saints.

This Buddha-nature is the Buddha-mind, the true Self of Man concealed by the human ordinary consciousness. Ordinary consciousness is false self. Buddha-nature is synonymous with ātman in Vedānta of Hinduism. Ātman has been erroneously interpreted as self or ego which is actually the ordinary soul (jīva). Ātman is NOT self or ego. When Atman is driven by self-centred ego, it functions as an ordinary soul (jīva). Buddhism does not negates or denies Ātman. Buddhism negates or denies jīva. Jiva is synonymous with self (attā) or ego (ahaṃkāra). This erroneous interpretation should be rectified immediately. Ātman is Brahmanhood synonymous with Buddhahood which produces Nirvāṇa.

Hui-neng emphasizes that whoever is self-awakened to this Truth of Ultimate Reality  is a Buddha (一念覺是佛) ; whoever is deluded by the illusive multiplicity of the phenomenal world is a sentient being (一念不覺是衆生). A Buddha is a Perfect Man who directs and empowers all his sense activities with his or her Buddha-mind or the mind of Tathāgata. A sentient being is an ignorant worldling. In the Diamond Sūtra, the Perfect man is designated as the ‘Bodhisattva’ (Enlightened Being菩薩).

In the ultimate sense of immanence and pervasiveness (遍一切處), Mahāyāna Buddhism is pantheistic, that is, everything is innately divine or perfect. Every sentient being is endowed potentially with a Buddha-nature. The Buddha-nature can be redeemed (反本還原) through intuitive discernment or self–realization (直覺) of the ultimate Truth of dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality (緣起不二) of the cosmos. It can also be intuitively discerned by the direct discernment of the Buddha-nature. The original Nature (Buddha-nature) of Man, defiled by self or ego, gives birth to all myriad beings (自性能含萬法). The universal Truth of One in many ; many in One (一即一切;一切即一), applicable to monotheism(一神論), is also equally applicable to Mahāyāna concept of ontology and cosmology.

The One is the Buddha; the many is the multiplicity (萬物) of all phenomena. The ultimate Reality ‘‘One in many and many in One’ is parallel to Mahāyāna doctrine of the Dependently co-arisen Unity (緣起一相) or the Dharma realm of unity (一真法界;法界一相). The monotheistic relationship between the world and God corresponds to Hua-yen doctrine of ‘Phenomena and Principle’. Neo-confucianism also advocates the intimate inseparate relationship between phenomena and principle. This universal unity is advocated vigorously by the monotheists as oneness of God. Therefore, Mahāyāna Buddhism, Monotheism, and Neo-confucianism are parallel in expounding the communal truth of Unity or Non-duality. Unity or Non-duality is synonymous with Insubstantiality (Anattā無我) or Emptinesss (śūnyatā空). Emptiness rejects separation or independence. Emptiness is Unity. Emptiness is oneness of the Buddha or God – the oneness of the universe.

Do not seek your original Self externally. The original Self is intrinsically neither arising nor ceasing.

The original Self (自性) is originally neither arising nor ceasing (不生不滅). It is originally still or silent (寂靜), that is, it is neither beginning nor ending. It also connotes the transcendence of time, space and causality. There is no necessity to strive to silence the mind which is intrinsically still. The inner Heart is intrinsically, completely silent. This is the sudden approach (頓法) to self-realization (直覺) which evokes the experience of instantaneous enlightenment (頓悟). Instantaneous self-enlightenment is a sudden leap of intuitive discernment of Ultimate Reality or Truth and original nature of the human consciousness. Those, who are highly witted or have established strong Dharma foundation, are encouraged to employ sudden method of Chan or Zen tradition to gain instantaneous self-awakening or gnosis. It is direct discernment of the inner Heart and dwelling in it as the sanctuary from the storms of life. Instantaneous enlightenment is a quantum leap (akram) in attaining the perfection of wisdom to discern intuitively the eternal Truth of Unity or Non-duality. The perfection of wisdom arisen Truth discernment sends the Gnostic directly to the refuge of the inner Heart. Chan or Zen practice is living in the inner Heart. Living in the inner Heart is dwelling in the realm of Pureland within. The Diamond Sūtra recommends the wisdom practice of dwelling upon nothing and producing your (pure) mind. Such practice returns us esoterically to our original home - the inner Heart. The inner Heart is the womb of the Buddha (Tathāgatagarbha).

An accomplished or self-awakened Chan or Zen practioner replaces his false self-centred ego(假我) with his or her innate True Self (真我). The true Self is the Buddha-mind. The Buddha-mind directs and empowers all his sensual activities in which non-discriminative wisdom(無分別智) arises. The non-discriminative wisdom is manifested in terms of non-discriminative and boundless lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity.

The Platform Sūtra or Chan Supreme Master Hui-neng emphasizes that the original Self is not to be sought externally or exoterically but internally or esoterically. It is found not in the Mind but in the inner Heart. The Mind is defiled consciousness. The Heart is pure consciousness.  This concurs with Śākyamuni Buddha admonition that one should seek an esoteric refuge(皈依自性) not an exoteric one. Exoteric refuge is intellectual and egoistic. The esoteric refuge is intuitive and egoless. Self-redemption and perfection of character formation are the highest fruit of esoteric attainment. The final goal of all religions is to be an esotericist – a person of self- redemption.

This original non-arising and non-ceasing (不生不滅) state of the mind is known as Nirvāṇa (涅盤). Arising and ceasing (生滅) are the substantial attributes of the phenomenal world fabricated intellectually by the mind. The phenomenal world is a cosmic illusion. Sentient beings are deluded by their false minds which fabricate the phenomenal world which seem to arise and cease repeatedly. Arising and ceasing are the characteristic features of the phenomenal world perceived by the Mind but not perceived by the Heart. Therefore, arising and ceasing are illusory and unreal as they are the product of false imagination of the wordlings. Whoever intuitively apprehends neither arising nor ceasing of the phenomenal world discerns the eternal Truth of dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality. Unity or Non-duality mirrors the ultimate Reality of neither arising nor ceasing in which time, space and causality are perceived to be illusory and unreal.

The phenomenal world is perceived to be likened to the metaphor of the reflected moon in the water. The eternal absolute Truth is akin to the metaphor of the real moon in the sky. The world is illusive and unreal; only the Buddha or the Absolute is real and eternal. The eternal state of the Buddha is called the great Nirvāṇa. Śākyamuni Buddha in his discourse of Mahāyāna Parinirvāṇa Sūtra designates this great Nirvāṇa as the universal ‘Self’. It is monotheistically designated as the mind of God.

 That the monotheists fervently accept the oneness of God called the Unity of Being is very significant. It carries the universal message that oneness of the world is the one and only Truth. This communal truth of wisdom unifies all religions. Those religious believers, who do not have any knowledge of interfaith understanding or have not comprehended properly the doctrine of oneness of God discriminate against other religions. Religious discrimination d has the propensity to divide the world. They conceive erroneously that only my God is real and all other Gods are unreal. In actuality, oneness of God means that there is only one common eternal Truth which governs the order and equilibrium of the universe. Succinctly put, all human beings are intrinsically brothers and sister living in a single human family in a single world. The operation of the entire world is operated and sustained by the same first principle. 

This Sūtra is significant as it is parallel to the doctrine of oneness of God championed by monotheists, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam and atheists of Taoism. Vedānta of Hinduism, Bahaism and Sikhism also accept the doctrine of oneness of the Truth and oneness of the cosmos. In fact, Vedānta and Bahaism vigorously propagate this communal truth of wisdom – universal brotherhood of humanity.

The Platform Sūtra of Hui-neng is actually the syncretized exposition of the Laṅkāvatāra-sutra, Prajñāpāramita-sūtras (including Heart and Diamond Sūtras), Avaṃtasaka Sūtra, the Mahā-parinirvāṇa Sūtra of Mahāyāna tradition, the Chinese Classic of Tao Te Ching and Neo-Confucianism. Platform Sūtra should not be conceived as a substantive mixture of different truths from different Indian or Chinese Buddhist Sūtras or Chinese Classics of Chinese Philosophy. It is actually the promotion and fostering a communal truth of  ‘One in many ; many in One’. Supreme Chan master Hui-neng ought to be esteemed and extolled as the first Zen master who expounded the communal Truth of Wisdom from the Buddhist perspective reconciling with other esoteric religions. It indirectly supports the non-dual wisdom of (Advaita) Vedānta tradition.