Huineng惠能

638–713ChanAlso: Enō · Dajian Huineng 大鑑惠能

Born: 638
Died: 713
Teacher: Daman Hongren (transmission)disputed
Dharma heirs: Nanyue Huairang Qingyuan Xingsi
School: Chan

Counted as the sixth ancestor of Chan in China. The five houses of later Chan trace their lines through two of his students, Nanyue Huairang and Qingyuan Xingsi. The Platform Sutra is attributed to him.

The traditional account makes him an illiterate woodcutter from the south who received Hongren’s robe in secret. The oldest text of the Platform Sutra in the canon, a manuscript from Dunhuang, already tells it. Two genealogies of other lines from the early eighth century do not: the Chuan fabao ji makes Faru Hongren’s heir and leaves Huineng out, and the Lengqie shizi ji lists him among Hongren’s ten students as a regional figure.

Writings and records

Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch六祖壇經

c. 780Classical Chineserecorded sayingsTaishō T.2008

The teachings attributed to Huineng. A shorter text survives in a manuscript from Dunhuang; the text catalogued here is Zongbao’s edition of 1291.

Related people

Daman Hongren大滿弘忍

601 or 602–674 or 675Chan

Stories

The wind and the flag

koan

After years in hiding, Huineng came to Faxing monastery in Guangzhou, where the master Yinzong was lecturing on the Nirvana Sutra. A flag was moving in the wind. One monk said the wind was moving. Another said the flag was moving. They went back and forth.

Sources

Fahai 法海 (comp.), Platform Sutra, Dunhuang text 南宗頓教最上大乘摩訶般若波羅蜜經六祖惠能大師於韶州大梵寺施法壇經, Taishō T.2007 · link
Daoyuan (comp.), Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (1004), Taishō T.2076 · link
Zanning 贊寧 et al. (comp.), Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳 (Song Biographies of Eminent Monks) (988), Taishō T.2061 · link
Du Fei 杜朏, Chuan fabao ji 傳法寶紀 (Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma Treasure), Taishō T.2838 · link
Jingjue 淨覺, Lengqie shizi ji 楞伽師資記 (Record of the Masters and Disciples of the Laṅkā), Taishō T.2837 · link

Checked against sources 2026-11-03 by pipeline/opus@ae77681. Report an error.