Chan(Zen) School

◎Pure Land Buddhism ◎Vajrayana ◎Chan(Zen) School - The First Patriarch - The Patriarch Bodhidharma The Second Patriarch - Master Shenguang(Huike) ...

The Fifth Patriarch - (Hongren) The Sixth Patriarch - (Huineng)🌸(✿) -----North by Venerable Shenxiu -----South by Master Huineng - ----------1️⃣the Weiyang ----------2️⃣the Linji ----------3️⃣the Caodong(Steve Jobs’ belief was from Caodong school in China.) ----------4️⃣the Yunmen ----------5️⃣the Fayen When Huineng was three years old, his father passed away. The family was getting poorer and poorer. He moved to live at Nanhai District in Guangdong with his mother. When he was older, the family relied on Huineng to make a living by chopping firewood. One day, Huineng walked past a tavern and Heard a guest reciting scriptures. His mind suddenly opened up and he seemed to understand and then asked the guest what kind of scriptures he was reciting. The guest said, “Diamond Sutra”. Huineng then asked, “Where did you get it?” The guest answered, “I acquired it from Eastern Meditation Monastery at Huangmei District in Qi Zhou. The abbot of the monastery, Fifth Patriarch Hongren Master, often advised all the monks and laypersons to chant “Diamond Sutra” so that they can see their own-being until becoming a buddha. After hearing it, Huineng admired it a lot and really wanted to go and get close to it. However, he hesitated cause no one can look after his mother. Someone learnt his dilemma and donated ten silvers for him to take care of his mother to support Huineng’s wish to visit Huangmei for worship. Huineng was so excited and unable to hold himself back from pushing on the journey. Thirty days later, he finally arrived in Huangmei to worship Fifth Patriarch. Fifth Patriarch asked, “Where are you from? Why are you here for?” Huineng replied, “I am from Xinzhou Lingnan, and I came all the way here just for the purpose of being a buddha.” Fifth Patriarch said, “You are from Lingnan and a geliao (the discriminated way to call people from the minority in the south by people from Zhongyuan). How can you be a buddha?” Huineng said, “We, people, might be divided by living in the south or the north. However, there is no such different among buddha nature. A monk might be different from a geliao physical, but how is that different in terms of buddha nature?” When hearing this, Fifth Patriarch immediately knew that Huineng is the material for dharma. He was going to ask more, but there were a lot of followers around. He decided to keep it himself and asked Huineng to carry out labor works with others. Silent mixing with others. ... Since then, Huineng has been chopping firewood and pounding rice in the back yard. After more than eight months, one day, Fifth Patriarch came to the back yard and said to Huineng, “You have very sharp foundation of understanding dharma. I am afraid that someone will be jealous of you and do you harm so that I have never said anything extra to you. Can you understand?” Huineng said, “I totally understand your intention, and that’s why I have never walked to the front hall to avoid any doubt from others.” After knowing it, Fifth Patriarch left with ease. … “ Shenxiu wrote down his verse “The body is a Bodhi-tree, The mind a mirror-stand bright. Time and again wipe it clean; Let no dust alight.” on the wall between the front hall, and it was widely spread among the monks in the monastery. When Huineng heard the verse, he knew the verse did not show the basic essence. Therefore, he asked Zhang Riyong, who was a Biejia from Jiangzhou, to write his verse “Originally there is no Bodhi-tree, Nor any mirror-stand bright. Originally there is nothing at all. Where could the dust alight?” on the wall. After the verse was written down, the disciples of Fifth Patriarch were all very surprised. They talked to each other about Huineng and his verse. Fifth Patriarch was worried about someone might do Huieneg harm. He wiped off the verse with his shoes and said, “The verse did not have the basic essence, either.” After hearing that, everyone though the same accordingly. The discussion stopped.” … ** ...Hongren called Huineng to his room and declared him the sixth patriarch in a private ceremony. He gave Huineng teachings from the Diamond and Lankavatara Sutras. Then, he sent Huineng away. He instructed him to go into hiding for a few years, until people were ready for the teachings again. ... Resources https://www.snsociety.org/the-story-of-master-huineng/ ...Reminded Huineng: The mantle passing down from the First Patriarch shall be retained by him without passing it further to avoid causing more disputes. At the night of the same day, Fifth Patriarch accompanied Huineng to Jiujiangyi in person, asked him to get on the boat, and paddled himself. Huineng said, “Master, please sit down. I shall be the one who paddles”. Fifth Patriarch said, “I shall be the one who gets you through.” Huineng was grateful and said, “When I am lost, you guide me through. After I understand everything, I shall get myself through. I am so lucky to have you enlighten me and help me comprehend. I shall now enlighten myself with my own mind.” Fifth Patriarch was very content to hear it and said, “Yes! The future dharma will be popular because of you.” … Fifth Patriarch understood that he would not be able to persuade all the monks that are with heavy karmic hindrances, low intelligence, and numerous confusion. Therefore, he arranged a boat in advance to take Six Patriarch away with the mantle. Besides, he pretended that he was ill and stayed in the room for three days. After the boat carrying Six Patriarch was far away on the journey, he announced to all the monks that “the mantle has gone.” Everyone went nuts. All the monks set forth in different groups to catch up with and kill Master Huineng with the only purpose of getting back the mantle. ... When reaching Jiujiang, Huineng said goodbye to Fifth Patriarch and went all the way to the south. After two months, he arrived in Dayuling. There were several hundreds of people running after him to snatch the mantle. One monk with the dharma name Huiming, who was a fourth grade general before becoming a monk. He has very rough temperament and caught up with Huineng before everyone else. Huineng put the mantle on the stone and hid himself in the bushes. When Huiming saw the mantle, he wanted to take it away immediately. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not move it. He felt shameful and cried out, “Master, I am here to seek for dharma but not for snatching the mantle.” After hearing it, Huineng came out from the underbrush and sat cross-legged on the big stone. ... After that, Huineng came to Caoxi. In order to avoid being found by bad persons, he hid at the hunter’s team in Sihui area for 15 years to be away from problems. During that period of time, hunters usually asked him to watch the net. Every time when Huineng saw animals fall into the net, he released them without saying anything. In addition, he often talked about dharma when the opportunity came. … “…worldly dharma; buddha dharma has become worldly dharma. “Two of a trade never agree” has existed for a long time. How do we know it? The most obvious example is Six Patriarch Huineng. Fifth Patriarch passed the mantle on to him. Due to the obstacle of jealousness, Fifth Patriarch advised him to hide in a place and waited until the obstacle of jealousness is past before appearing again. For how many years? 15 years. It is not a short period of time. Hiding in the hunter’s team to cook for them, to take care of them, to do the cooking, laundry, and manual work for them. That was a generation of Patriarch. Finding his true self. Seeing your own nature and become a Buddha. A Buddha worked for hunters as a servant. It was not a short period time for working like that for 15 years. It is clearly “two of a trade never agree”. Fifth Patriarch withheld all the monks and passed the mantle to him. Everyone refused to comply and Looked down on him. He was unable to read, without any education, made a living by chopping firewood, and was very young. He was only 24 years old when the doctrines were passed.…“ …Until the south greater virtue Dharma Master Yìnzōng saw right through the connection of lifeline of Zen, he shaved his head in person before worshipping Six Patriarch Huineng as a teacher. He provided the dharma venue that he run for many years with a certain scale to the Master as well as Led all of the disciples to protect and support the Master as great guardians. Zen Buddhism become popular. … The Southern School later divided into five sects: the Weiyang, the Linji, the Caodong,( (Steve Jobs’ belief was from Caodong school in China.) the Yunmen, and the Fayen. The Venerable Bodhidharma wrote a verse about this that goes, 　　My purpose in coming to this land, 　　Was to transmit the Dharma and rescue 　　Confused beings. 　　One flower blossoms with five petals, 　　And the fruit will come ripe all by itself. And as it turned out, when the Sixth Patriarch’s era came, the School did divide into five sects. The Dharma was transmitted in China from generation to generation, and now it has come to America. No one has to kneel to request it, however. All you need to do is to cultivate sincerely, and the essential teachings of this Dharma can be yours. Resources：佛教导航 – Venerable Master Hsuan Hua Excerpt from 中國禪宗六祖 惠能大師 https://www.ctworld.org.tw/chan_master/east006-0.htm #Zen #Steve_Jobs #Apple #Japan #China #bisiji3 #chiaochan27 #vivre26 #Charlotte #Charlotte_Jhan #Beth85448874