The Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra

"The Altar Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch", whose full name is "The Supreme Mahayana Maha Prajna Paramita Sutra of the Nanzong Dun Sect, the Altar Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng Consecrated at Dafan Temple in Shaozhou" is a classic compiled by Huineng Shuo, the founder of Zen Buddhism,[1] and his disciples Fahai and others. "The Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra" records Huineng's deeds of acquiring and imparting the Dharma throughout his life and the words he taught his disciples. It is rich in content and popular in writing, and is an important basis for studying the origins of Zen thought. The central idea of ​​the "Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra" is the theory of Buddha's nature, "seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha", or "the mind is the Buddha", and the view of practice of "sudden enlightenment and seeing one's nature". The so-called "Only the dharma of seeing nature is transmitted, and the sect of destroying evil is born." Nature refers to the inherent possibility of all living beings becoming Buddhas. That is, "the nature of Bodhi is originally pure, but with this mind, one can become a Buddha directly" and "Although people have north and south, the nature of Buddha has no north and south." This idea is in line with the saying in the Nirvana Sutra that "all living beings have Buddha nature". "The Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra" also advocates the idea of ​​pure land. It is believed that "People in the East commit sins and recite Buddha's name in order to live in the West. In the West, where do people commit sins and recite Buddha's name in order to live in the West? Everyone who is stupid cannot understand his own nature and does not know the pure land in his body. He wishes to go east and west and realizes that people are everywhere." He also said: "As long as there is no evil in the mind, the West is not far away; if you have an evil intention, it will be difficult to reach the afterlife by chanting Buddha's name." Huineng opposed leaving the world and talking about Buddhism in vain, advocating that "Buddhism is in the world, not separated from the world, and seeking Bodhi after leaving the world is just like asking for a rabbit's horn." He pointed out: "If you want to practice cultivation, you can do it at home, not in the temple. If you can practice it at home, it will be like a good person in the East; if you don't practice in the temple, it will be like a bad person in the West." [2] "The Sixth Patriarch's Altar Sutra" is "China's first vernacular work".