Transmission and Enlightenment in Chan Buddhism Seen Through the Platform Sutra (Liuzu tanjing 六祖壇經)

Abstract

As is well-known, the notion of transmission of the Dharma is at the center of Chan Buddhist identity and self-understanding. In the mature Chan school, the basis for Dharma transmission is seen as the moment when a Chan master recognizes that a student has attained the same enlightened state that he himself has achieved. By receiving Dharma transmission the student becomes a member of a Chan lineage that goes directly back to the Buddha himself and, in principle, his enlightenment is recognized as equal to that of all the past masters in his lineage. However, in spite of the powerful simplicity and enduring appeal of this model, the recognition of enlightenment and the transmission of the Dharma have always been complex and, at times, contested issues in Chan Buddhism. Also, evidence indicates that Chan Buddhist ideas about enlightenment and transmission of the Dharma were not stationary but changed over time. The archetype of Chan Dharma transmission was the transmission to Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Chan. Huineng's story and his teaching of sudden enlightenment was entombed in the Platform Sutra, the most famous, and no doubt most widely read, of all Chan texts. The Platform Sutra is concerned with both the transmission to Huineng and the transmission of his teachings to later generations. Since a number of different versions of the Platform Sutra are available to us it is possible to trace changes in how the issue of transmission is dealt with, and enlightenment depicted, through the evolution of the text. In this paper, I discuss developments in the conceptualization of transmission and enlightenment in the Platform Sutra's main line of development, beginning with the earliest version found at Dunhuang leading down to the orthodox version included in the Taisho canon. The four versions of the Platform Sutra discussed span at least five centuries, from the beginnings of Chan to the mature Chan school in the late Song and early Yuan, and in important ways reflect overall developments within Chan.