Most of you are aware that the sixth ancestor, Hui Neng, never attended school.
Prior to entering Monastery he made a meager living as a wood cutter to support himself.
The fifth ancestor facing old age proposed a poetry contest to see who could best express the
bone of the dharma, and hence become his successor.
Fully expecting the head monk Jinshu to capture this position of honor, no other monks
bothered to submit a poem.
The poem Jinshu wrote was the following:
Our body is the bodhi tree
And our mind a mirror bright.
Carefully we wipe them hour by hour
And let no dust alight.
The poem was posted in a public area on the Monastery grounds where everyone was sure to
see it.
The future sixth ancestor had someone read the poem to him. He then in turn had this same
individual transcribe his poem and write it next to the one above.
Hui Neng’s poem read:
There is no bodhi tree,
Nor stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is void,
Where can dust alight?
Everything in this world is always changing, changing, changing. Holding this body as somehow
precious misses the truth.
“Abiding nowhere, wisdom mind arises” represents this deepest truth. We must cling to nothing!
Later in years after Hui Neng was established as the sixth ancestor, a nun inquired of him
regarding a certain word she couldn’t understand in the Nirvana Sutra.
He apologized saying “You have to excuse me, but I don’t know how to read.”
“Someone as wise as you unable to read” she asked?
Hui Neng replied “The dharma is known through experience, not words.”
Another example:
One day, the Buddha was scheduled to give a talk at Vulture Peak.
Many people were assembled eager to hear his teaching.
The Buddha just sat motionless for an extended period of time.
Those present expecting to hear his dharma became a bit restless.
The Buddha then simply held up a single flower.
His disciple Mahakashyapa smiled.
This episode marked the beginning of a transmission process that led not only to the sixth
ancestor’s poem, but right up to this present day.
Buddha’e gesture set the path for all of us down through the centuries.
When Buddhism is interpreted as a philosophy, the words alone make it impossible to awaken.
All of us face uncertainty, confusion and suffering in this life.
What we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell, leads us back to the experience of this moment, the
essence and message of Hui Neng’s insightful poem.
Digesting this we now also understand fully the exchange between Joju Zen Master and a
novice monk student.
A chance meeting in the monastery kitchen the student used the opportunity to ask about
ultimate truth and correct practice.
Joju replied “Have you had breakfast yet?”
“Yes I have” replied the monk.
Joju then said “Be sure to wash your bowls.”
Right now, this moment, “What are you?”