Later, Hui Neng who worked in the kitchen heard a young man reciting the stanza. At once,
he realized that the stanza did not reveal the reality of Buddhist nature.
Eventually, Hui Neng received the robe and Dharma from Hung Jen, and became the
Sixth Patriarch of Zen Sect in China.
One day, the Fifth Patriarch, Hung Jen assembled all his disciples and said,"Go and seek
for Prajna in your own mind and write me a stanza (gatha) about it. The one who
understands the reality of Buddhist nature will be the Sixth Patriarch."
Our body is the Bodhi tree,
And our mind is like a bright mirror with stand,
Diligently we wipe them all the time,
And let no dust alight.
There is no Bodhi Tree
Nor the stand of a bright mirror,
Since all is void,
Where can the dust alight?