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Sacred Texts: Buddhism

A Buddhist Bible: Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch: Chapter I...

Dwight GoddardTaoism and ZenZen Buddhism

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This is a religious discourse attributed to Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, excerpted from the *Platform Sutra* — a foundational text of the Chan tradition composed roughly in the 8th century CE. The address covers a formal ritual sequence delivered to a gathered audience: the symbolism of five spiritual "incenses" (representing right conduct, meditative calm, wisdom, liberation, and liberating knowledge), a two-part repentance ritual focused on both past sins and future conduct, four bodhisattva vows, and the threefold refuge in Enlightenment, Orthodoxy, and Purity. The text's central argument is that all of these — Buddha, Dharma, liberation, even the sentient beings one vows to save — exist within one's own Mind-essence rather than in external figures, places, or accumulations of merit. This is the distinctively radical claim: taking refuge "in the Buddha within yourself" renders outward ritual meaningful only insofar as it points inward, and those who perform rites without this self-understanding are simply deceiving themselves. Huineng also insists that true repentance is not remorse for past acts alone but a genuine cessation of future wrongdoing, and that merit-accumulation without inner transformation cannot expiate sin. The discourse closes with a verse and a pointed challenge: anyone who grasps Essence of Mind is spiritually present with the Patriarch across any distance, while those who do not remain strangers even face to face.

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