Huineng · Theology
The illiterate woodcutter who became the Sixth Ancestor of Chan, and the verse that overturned gradual polishing of the mind for <em>sudden</em> awakening - because there was never any mirror to wipe or dust to settle.
You learned that Huineng, an unlettered layman, won recognition as Sixth Ancestor with a verse denying that the mind is a mirror needing gradual polishing, that his ‘sudden’ awakening means realization is direct and complete rather than accumulated by stages, and that this reframed practice as uncovering a…
Leads to Shenhui.
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