Qingyuan Xingshi [W-G: Ch’ing-yuan Hsing-ssu / J: Seigen Gyoshi]

                 Qingyuan Xingshi, an heir of the Sixth Patriarch, provided this famous description of Zen training:  

                “Before I began the study of Zen, mountains were mountains and waters were waters.  When I first achieved some insight into the truth of Zen through the benevolence of my teacher, mountains were no longer mountains and waters no longer waters.  But now that I’ve attained to full enlightenment, I’m at rest, and mountains are once again mountains and waters are waters.”

[Qingyuan Xingshi – Zen Masters of China: 75, 78, 95; The Story of Zen: 153]

Danyuan Yingzhen [W-G: Ying-chen / J: Oshin]

            On the first anniversary of Nanyang Huizhong’s death, his disciple, Yingzhen, arranged a memorial banquet.  One of his monks asked if they could expect Huizhong to attend. 

                “No, he won’t,” Yingzhen admitted.

               “In that case, why are we offering this banquet?”

               “So the truth will not be lost.”   

[Danyaun Yingzhen – Zen Masters of China: 77]

Nanyang Huizhong [W-G: Nan-yang Hui-chung / J: Nan’yo Echu]

Nanyang Huizhong – who became known as the National Teacher – studied with the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng, for many years, after which he retired to a temple on Mount Baiya. Although he did not leave the temple for forty years, his fame extended to the court, and the Emperor invited him to come to the capital.  Huizhong deferred twice before finally assenting to a third invitation.  It is said that the Emperor was so pleased with his acceptance that when the carriage carrying Huizhong approached the palace, the Emperor himself went out to grasp its shaft and help pull it the final distance.

[Nanyang Huizhong – Zen Masters of China: 73-77; The Story of Zen: 142-43]

Dajian Huineng [W-G: Ta-chien Hui-neng / J: Daikan Eno]

         The Sixth Patriarch, Dajian Huineng, once came upon a group of monks observing and discussing a flapping pennant.  The first monk said, “It’s the pennant that moves.”  Another objected, “The pennant is an inanimate object and has no power to move; it is the wind that moves.”  Then a third said, “The flapping of the pennant is due to the combination of flag and wind.”

                The Sixth Patriarch interrupted the discussion, telling the monks, “It’s neither wind nor pennant that moves, rather it’s your own minds that move.”

[Dajian Huineng – Zen Masters of China: 59-67, 72-73, 74, 78, 79, 80, 94; The Story of Zen: 136-42]

Daman Hongren [W-G: Ta-man Hung-jen / J: Daiman Konin]

                Daman Hongren came to visit Daoxin when he was only six years old and asked to be admitted to the sangha.  Daixin asked the boy what his family name [hsing] was, and Hongren replied with a clever pun: “I have a nature [hsing] but it is not an ordinary one.”  Although the characters for “name” and “nature” are different, they are pronounced the same.

                “What is it then?” Daoxin inquired, still asking for the precocious child’s name.

                “It is Buddha-nature [fo-hsing].”

                “So you have no name [hsing]?”

                “No, master,” the boy continued the pun, “because it [referring to his nature] is empty.”

                Daoxin accepted Hongren as a disciple, despite his age, and the boy dedicated himself to the practice with fervor. He would become the Fifth Patriarch of Chinese Zen and the teacher of the equally precocious Huineng.

[Daman Hongren – Zen Masters of China: 55-57, 61-65, 72]

Dayi Daoxin [W-G: Ta-i Tao-hsin / J: Doshin]

                 As Huike had done, Sengcan retired to the mountains. Dayi Doaxin heard about him and sought him out. Sengcan asked his visitor what he was looking for, and Doaxin replied: “Please show me the way to achieve liberation.”

                “Who is it that holds you in bondage?” Sengcan asked.

                “Well, no one,” Doaxin admitted.

                “Then why are you seeking liberation?”

                These words startled the young man, and he became Sengcan’s disciple and eventually the Fourth Patriarch of Chinese Zen.

[Dayi Daoxin – Zen Masters of China: 53-54; The Story of Zen: 135-36]

Jianzhi Sengcan [W-G: Chien-chi Seng-ts’an / J: Sosan Kanchi]

                After Bodhidharma’s death, Huike retired the mountains. While there, he was approach by a layman with leprosy.  The layman hoped that Huike could free him of the sins which he believed were the cause of his condition.  Echoing his own teacher, Huike told the man, “Bring your sins here, and I’ll rid you of them.”

                “When I reflect on my sins,” the man admitted, “I’m not sure what they are.”

                “Then you’re cleansed,” Huike told him.  “Now all that remains is for you to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.”

                “What are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha?”

                “Mind is Buddha.  Mind is Dharma.  Dharma and Buddha are not two.  So it is with the Sangha.”

                The leper then made one of those intuitive leaps of understanding only possible when one has been considering a problem, as he had been considering the problem of sin, for a long time: “Now I understand that sins are neither within nor without,” he exclaimed.  “Just as the Mind is, so is Buddha, so is Dharma.  They aren’t two.”

                Huike recognized that here was the man who would be his successor, and the Third Patriarch of Chinese Zen, and he gave him the name Sengcan, which means “jewel monk.”    

[Jianzhi Sengcan – Zen Masters of China:  51-53; The Story of Zen: 134-36]