The
Platform Sutra is:
Chapter One - Personal History Chapter One contains the well-known story of the contest for the succession of Hongren. It is an essential part of the
Traditional Zen Narrative. The Fifth Patriarch summoned all his followers and proposed a poem contest for his followers to demonstrate the stage of their understanding of the essence of mind. He decided to pass down his robe and teachings to the winner of the contest, who would become the Sixth Patriarch. Shenxiu, the leading disciple of the Fifth Patriarch, composed a stanza, but did not have the courage to present it to the master. Instead, he wrote his stanza on the south corridor wall to remain anonymous one day at midnight about one o'clock in the morning. The other monks saw the stanza and commended it. Shenxiu's stanza is as follows: The Patriarch was not satisfied with Shenxiu's stanza, and pointed out that the poem did not show understanding of "[his] own fundamental nature and essence of mind." He gave Shenxiu a chance to submit another poem to demonstrate that he had entered the "gate of enlightenment," so that he could transmit his robe and the Dharma to Shenxiu, but the student's mind was agitated and could not write one more stanza. Two days later, the illiterate Huineng heard Shenxiu's stanza being chanted by a young attendant at the monastery and inquired about the context of the poem. The attendant explained to him the poem contest and the transmission of the robe and Dharma. Huineng asked to be led to the corridor, where he could also pay homage to the stanza. He asked a low-ranking official named Zhang Riyong from Jiangzhou to read the verse to him, and then immediately asked him to write down a stanza that he composed. According to McRae, "the earliest version of the
Platform Sutra contains two versions of Huineng's verse. A later version of Huineng's stanza is different from the two older ones: The followers who were present were astonished by the work of a southern barbarian. Being cautious of Huineng's status, the Patriarch wiped away the stanza and claimed that the author of the stanza had not reached enlightenment. According to the traditional interpretation, which is based on
Guifeng Zongmi, the fifth-generation successor of Shenhui, the two verses represent respectively the gradual and the sudden approach. According to McRae, this is an incorrect understanding: Huineng's verse does not stand alone, but forms a pair with Shenxiu's verse: McRae notes a similarity in reasoning with the Oxhead School, which used a threefold structure of "absolute, relative and middle", or "thesis-antithesis-synthesis". According to McRae, the
Platform Sutra itself is the synthesis in this threefold structure, giving a balance between the need of constant practice and the insight into the absolute.
Chapter Two - Prajñā (Lecture) Chapter Two contains a lecture on prajñā, given after a recitation of the
Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra. From this chapter:
Chapter Three - Questions In Chapter Three Huineng answers questions from a lay audience. Huineng discusses the famous story of
Bodhidharma telling
Emperor Wu of Liang that his good deeds would bring him no merit. Next, he discusses the
Pure Land of the West, asserting the greater importance of one's inner state compared to one's physical location. This leads to a conclusion in which Huineng asserts that lay practice outside of a monastery is preferable to following the forms of monastic renunciation without inner practice.
Chapter Four - Meditation and Wisdom (Lecture) In Chapter Four, meditation and wisdom are said to be of the same essence:
Chapter Five - Seated Meditation (Lecture) Chapter Five details the "pureness of our fundamental nature":
Chapter Six - Ceremony of Repentance Chapter Six describes a repentance-ritual.
Chapter Seven - Key Events (Encounter stories and dialogues) Chapter Seven gives various stories of encounters and dialogues.
Chapter Eight - Immediate and Gradual (Encounter stories and dialogues) Chapter Eight also gives various stories of encounters and dialogues.
Chapter Nine - The Imperial Summons Chapter Nine describes the request of the Imperial Court for Huineng to visit the Emperor, and Huineng's decline of this command.
Chapter Ten - Transmission In the chapter on his final instructions, Huineng instructs his accomplished disciples, giving specific instructions how to "preach the Dharma", which show the influence of the Buddhist teachings on the
five skandhas, the concept of
Namarupa, and the
Yogacara-teachings: ==Scholarship and translations==