DESCRIPTION

The next layer of Buddhist texts we shall explore is the vast literature of the Chan/Zen tradition 禪宗, which developed out of and subsequent to the the ‘mind-only’ sutras of the Yogacara School, in particular the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra. Although the early schools of this sect are known to have taught from the Laṅkāvatāra and other Mahayana sutras, the de fact motto of Zen is that it represents a special transmission of the Dharma that does not rely upon words and letters (i.e. sutras). Therefore, it is important to understand that the collections of ‘kōans’ 公案 (’public cases’) and sayings of Zen masters such as Bodhidharma, Linji, and Dōgen are not considered commentary on or analysis of the Dharma. Due to the ‘Buddhine’ status of such teachers, records of their teachings are consider the Dharma itself.  

PART ONE: THE PLATFORM SUTRA OF THE 6TH PATRIARCH

The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (六祖壇經 Liùzǔ Tánjīng or simply: 壇經 Tánjīng) is a Chan Buddhist text that was composed in China sometime around the 8th century. Notably, In Chan Buddhism it is the only Chinese Buddhist text that is explicitly referred to as a "Sutra," emphasizing its central importance in the canon.

The text centers on the teachings and stories ascribed to the sixth Chan patriarch Huineng. It contains the well-known story of the contest for the succession of Hongren (the 5th Patriarch), and discourses and dialogues attributed to Huineng.

PART TWO: KOANS & ZEN SAYINGS

Despite the motto, ‘without reliance upon words and letters,’ the Chan/Zen traditions ironically become some of the most prolific of all the medieval schools of Asian Buddhism, recording and meticulously preserving the enlightened words and conspicuous gestures of every great master; and despite the lore around the discarding of sutras, even the story of Huineng going so far as to destroy copies of the Vajra Sutra, in actuality the tradition is founded upon a deep knowledge and use of the canon of sutras.

PART THREE: RECURSION

In Session 2 of this course we saw how sutras use a form of recursion that could be called mise en abyme, wherein the text makes reference to itself displaying an ‘awareness’ of being read. This was a new, unique feature particular to the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras. This session presents another form of recursion that is part of the Buddhist sutra tradition - the story within a story.

In one sense, all sutras are a vague form of this recursion since they all begin ‘Thus have I heard…,’ which makes the sutra the ‘story’ of Ānanda telling the reader a story. But beyond that, it is not uncommon for the Buddha to tell the story of a past life in a sutra. In Mahayana sutras, there can even be several layers of this recursion where stories are told within the past life stories being told, etc.

There is yet another, even deeper and more mysterious form of recursion discussed in this session, which is an awareness sutras have that not only will they be read, they will be read together and shared. There is a form of recursion that sutras employ that presumes there will be an orator - a living, breathing vessel of the Dharma reciting and explaining the sutra. This is especially the case in the Zen Koan tradition, where the stories

SUGGESTED READING

7️⃣ Philip B. Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, from the Introduction, ‘Formation of the Legend (New York; Columbia University Press, 1967), p.1-55.