Buddhism Paper #2

Ashley Ginns

November 20, 2018

The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch and early Buddhism

The Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch is very different than the teachings in early Buddhism, while

also being similar in practices and meaning. One difference that I noticed about this reading and

our earlier teachings of Buddhism was when Master Hui-neg talked about how he was

awakened by listening to the Dharma and how he could transmit it to others to become

awakened just by reciting the Dharma. At the same time there are still similarities about these

practices and those of early Buddhism. These include meditation and wisdom being an integral

part of awakening and total no thought and no attachment being part of meditation.

We first read about being awakened by hearing the Dharma in the beginning of Hui-neg’s story,

when he recalls his own awakening after hearing the Diamond Sutra. This is very different from

the earlier teachings of Buddhism which took lots of time, learning and meditation to be

awakened. In paragraph eleven he talks about how he was followed and threatened and he

transmitted the Dharma which enlightened the man after he heard it. This is all very different

than the early teachings of Buddhism. I never heard of an instance of instant awakening after

hearing a reading in our early Buddhism texts. That doesn’t mean that it never happened we

just did not learn about that kind of practice in the traditional early Buddhism practices. In this

Sutra it seems that the Dharma is something that is given to a certain and special individual

instead of something that is taught to all which is how the Buddha shared the Dharma in early

Buddhism.
While this Sutra differs a lot from the early teachings of Buddhism you can tell that they come

from the same philosophies. In paragraph thirteen Hui-neg talks about how meditation and

wisdom are an integral part of awakening which is more similar to earlier Buddhism. In

paragraph fifteen Hui-neg talked about meditation and wisdom and used the analogy of the

lamp and the light bulb. I thought that this was so interesting and it really clicked in my head.

The stressing of the importance of meditation and wisdom is similar to the precepts of early

Buddhism; prajna and bhavana, they are just missing conuct (Sila). However near the end of the

reading in paragraph 53 Hui-neg talks about what to do when he is gone. He tells them to keep

practicing and lists off things for them to do and not do which kind of seem similar to the

precepts and includes some aspects of right conduct or Sila.

Another part that I thought was interesting was in paragraph seventeen when he talks about

how thoughts are constantly running through our head and for the moment when there are no

thoughts our Dharma body separates from our physical body and there is no attachment to

anything. This sounds very similar to dhyana and the complete meditative absorption that is

taught in early Buddhism.

In conclusion, I think that the early Buddhist teaching and the Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch have

similar philosophies and underlying traditions while at the same time having some different

practices and teachings. As religions travel and grow these changes happen. Nothing stays the

same for hundreds of years. Stories get interpreted differently, practices are taught in different

ways and I believe that religions change over time with the people and that is okay.