The wondrous Way is empty and mysterious, beyond conception and expression. By forgetting words, one attains its purport and may thereby awaken to clear understanding. Thus the World-Honored One shared his seat before the Many Sons Stūpa and held up a flower at the assembly on Vulture Peak—like fire kindling fire, mind sealing mind. After twenty-eight transmissions in the West, it reached Bodhidharma, who came east to this land and directly pointed to the mind: seeing one’s true nature, one becomes a Buddha.
There was Great Master Huike, who was the first to awaken upon hearing these words. In the end, after making three prostrations, he received the marrow and the robe, succeeded to the patriarchal lineage, and expounded the true tradition. After three further transmissions, it reached Huangmei. Among the seven hundred eminent monks in the assembly, only the layman who pounded rice received the robe through a single verse and became the Sixth Patriarch. He fled south for more than ten years. One day, the circumstance of “neither wind nor banner moving” opened Dharma Master Yinzong’s true eye. The layman then shaved his head, ascended the ordination platform, fulfilled Buddhabhadra’s prophecy, and opened the Dharma gate of East Mountain.
Governor Wei instructed Chan practitioner Hai to record his words and entitled it The Dharma Treasure Platform Sūtra. The Great Master began at Wuyang and ended at Caoqi, teaching the Dharma for thirty-seven years. Those who received the flavor of sweet dew, entered sagehood, and transcended the ordinary were beyond number. Among those who awakened to the Buddha’s mind-school and whose practice and understanding accorded, becoming great spiritual teachers whose names are recorded in the Transmission of the Lamp, only Nanyue and Qingyuan attended him for the longest time and fully obtained what was without any trace of concealment.
Thus Ma-tsu and Shih-t’ou emerged, their skillful wisdom perfectly clear and the mysterious style greatly invigorated. Then the masters Linji, Weiyang, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan arose in majestic succession, surpassing all others in virtue, their schools lofty and formidable. They inspired gifted monastics to rouse their resolve and break through the barrier. Though they entered deeply through a single gate, the five schools shared one source. Having passed through every furnace and hammer, their scope became vast. Examining the essential principles of the five houses, all issue from the Platform Sūtra.
The Platform Sūtra is concise in language yet rich in meaning; its principle is clear and its practical matters complete. It contains the immeasurable Dharma gates of all Buddhas. Each Dharma gate contains immeasurable wondrous meanings, and each wondrous meaning expounds the immeasurable wondrous principles of all Buddhas. Whether within Maitreya’s tower or within each pore of Samantabhadra, those who enter well are the same as Sudhana: in a single thought, they perfect their merit and virtue, becoming equal to Samantabhadra and equal to all Buddhas.
Alas! Later generations abridged the Platform Sūtra too severely, so that the complete purport of the Sixth Patriarch can no longer be seen. In his youth, Deyi once saw an ancient edition. For more than thirty years thereafter, he sought it everywhere. Recently, Venerable Tong found the complete text, and so it was published at Xiuxiu Chan Hermitage in Wuzhong, for shared benefit with all worthy people. May all who open this volume and raise their eyes enter directly into the great ocean of perfect enlightenment, continuing the wisdom-life of the Buddhas and patriarchs without end. Then my aspiration will be fulfilled.
Written by Bhikṣu Deyi of Guyun, on a mid-spring day in the gengyin year, the twenty-seventh year of the Zhiyuan era.
