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Buddhism in China: Ch’an
Berger
Intro to Asian Religions
The Legendary History of
Ch’an (禪) Buddhism
 The
culminating “flower sermon” of Buddha
 Bodhidharma’s (d. 532) “four features”
 Chan
is a special transmission outside the scriptures,
 not founded upon words or letters;
 By pointing directly to one’s own mind (心 hsin ),
 one sees into one’s inner Buddhahood.
 The
patronage of Shen-hsiu’s (d.706) Ch’an
The Biography of Hui-neng (638-713)
in the Platform Sutra
 The
illiterate child’s awakening (p. 508)
 The initiation of Hung-jen (pp. 508-509)
 The poem contest with Shen-hsiu (509-511)
assertion of need for mental cultivation;
mind as mirror (镜子 jing tzu), needs constant cleaning
 Hui-neng’s assertion of “original enlightenment” in the
brightness nature (明 性 ming hsing) of Buddha-nature
 Shen-hsiu’s
 Second
awakening, transmission from Hung-jen
Teachings of Hui-neng’s
Platform Sutra
 The
oneness of meditation and awakening (511)
 The dao (道) or movement of “no-thought” and the
warming against clinging to thoughts (512)
 Meditation as realizing the purity of one’s “original
nature” (本 性 ben hsing ) (513)
 Original “bright nature” (明 性 ming hsing)
covered up by evil deeds that cling to
“environments” (514)
Reading for Next Class
 Sourcebook,
345-46, 367-71
 Response Paper 2 Due