Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch六祖壇經

c. 780recorded sayingsChanOriginal: public domain

Teachings of: Huinengtraditional
Date: c. 780
Language: Classical Chinese
Catalogue: Taishō T.2008
Used in: Chan

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

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Liuzu tanjing (Zongbao edition)六祖壇經

OriginalClassical Chinese1291

The Zongbao edition of 1291.

Public domainRead

Stories told in this text

The wind and the flag

the autobiographical section (Zongbao edition)

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

Zongbao 宗寶 (ed.), Platform Sutra, Zongbao edition 六祖大師法寶壇經 (1291) · link
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 · link
John R. McRae, Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism (2003)

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