Huineng

Huineng was a Tang-dynasty eminent monk born into a woodcutter’s family in Xinzhou. Upon hearing a passage from the Diamond Sutra, he experienced sudden insight and journeyed to study under the Fifth Patriarch Hongren. His verse—‘Bodhi is originally no tree; the bright mirror is also not a stand’—demonstrated profound realisation and earned him the transmission of the patriarchal robe and bowl, establishing him as the Sixth Patriarch and inaugurating the sudden-enlightenment tradition of Chan Buddhism. His recorded teachings, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, is the only scripture authored by a Chinese monk accorded the honorific title jing (‘sutra’). In his later years, he resided and taught for decades at Baolin Temple on Caoxi Mountain (today’s Nanhua Temple). After his death, Emperor Xianzong of the Tang dynasty posthumously conferred upon him the title ‘Great Master Dajian’. His physically preserved mummified body has remained intact for over a millennium and is still venerated in the Sixth Patriarch Hall at Nanhua Temple, where incense offerings have never ceased. Revered by the populace as a ‘flesh-body bodhisattva’, he is widely worshipped by seekers of learning, spiritual guidance, and healing.