Dear all
And so we come to our final week of studying The Platform Sutra with sections 54-57. Thank you all so much for remaining so engaged over the past six months of reading.
In section 54, we are told that Huineng has passed and his remains are interred in a ceremonial urn. From this, a bright light shone forth and was said to illuminate the sky for three full days.
The Tsungpao edition says that there was an issue of where the master’s remains would be received and that was solved by burning incense and praying. As the incense moved towards Tsaohsi, that became his final resting place.
Currently, a mummified body, believed to be Huineng, resides at Nanhua Temple (https://www.shine.cn/feature/art-culture/2007313320/) which Red Pine tells us is the modern name for Tsaohsi.
Section 55 of the sutra tells us that The Platform Sutra was compiled by Fa-hai and this was passed on to his colleague Tao-chi before he died, with Tao-chi similarly passing it to Wu-chen. Red Pine says that this is in keeping with the theme of this sutra replacing the dharma robe in the transmission lineage.
Section 56 states that if we are to teach the sutra, it is to be given to people of superior wisdom.
The final section, 57, was an addition by Fa-hai himself, who makes this clear in the first line. It underlines section 56 in encouraging transmission of the sutra only to those with the most sincere practice, who can then themselves use it to liberate those of lesser capacity.
Since there are no obvious questions to ask regarding these final passages, I would instead very much like to hear your opinions on the entire sutra.
How have you found reading this sutra?
Which parts particularly spoke to you and will likely remain with you?
Were there any parts which seem confusing or somewhat jarring to our modern take on Zen?
Deep bows to you all
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
And so we come to our final week of studying The Platform Sutra with sections 54-57. Thank you all so much for remaining so engaged over the past six months of reading.
In section 54, we are told that Huineng has passed and his remains are interred in a ceremonial urn. From this, a bright light shone forth and was said to illuminate the sky for three full days.
The Tsungpao edition says that there was an issue of where the master’s remains would be received and that was solved by burning incense and praying. As the incense moved towards Tsaohsi, that became his final resting place.
Currently, a mummified body, believed to be Huineng, resides at Nanhua Temple (https://www.shine.cn/feature/art-culture/2007313320/) which Red Pine tells us is the modern name for Tsaohsi.
Section 55 of the sutra tells us that The Platform Sutra was compiled by Fa-hai and this was passed on to his colleague Tao-chi before he died, with Tao-chi similarly passing it to Wu-chen. Red Pine says that this is in keeping with the theme of this sutra replacing the dharma robe in the transmission lineage.
Section 56 states that if we are to teach the sutra, it is to be given to people of superior wisdom.
The final section, 57, was an addition by Fa-hai himself, who makes this clear in the first line. It underlines section 56 in encouraging transmission of the sutra only to those with the most sincere practice, who can then themselves use it to liberate those of lesser capacity.
Since there are no obvious questions to ask regarding these final passages, I would instead very much like to hear your opinions on the entire sutra.
How have you found reading this sutra?
Which parts particularly spoke to you and will likely remain with you?
Were there any parts which seem confusing or somewhat jarring to our modern take on Zen?
Deep bows to you all
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-
).
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