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The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch ( or simply: 壇經 Tánjīng) is a Chan Buddhist scripture that was composed in China during the 8th to 13th century. The "platform" (施法壇) refers to the podium on which a Buddhist teacher speaks. It is a repository of early Chan teachings, centering on the notion of the Buddha-nature, which is " only made invisible to ordinary humans by their illusions." 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 Daman Hongren (enlightenment by the non-abiding), and discourses and dialogues attributed to Huineng.
The text attributes its recollection to Fa-hai, but was probably written, or redacted, within the so-called Oxhead school, which existed along with the East Mountain School and Shenhui Southern School. The text attempts to reconcile the so-called Northern School with its alleged gradual enlightenment teachings, and the so-called Southern School with its alleged subitism teachings. In effect, the text incorporates the "rhetorical purity" which originated with Shenhui's attack on Shenxiu, while effectively "writing him out of the story".
The Dunhuang versions are the oldest texts available, with the full title Southern School's subitism, Supreme Mahayana Great prajnaparamita: The Platform Sutra as Delivered by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng at the Dafan Temple in Shaoguan , subtitled, “one roll, recorded by the spreader of the Dharma, the disciple Fahai, who at the same time received the Precepts of Formlessness” (一卷，兼受無相戒弘法弟子法海集記).
Two copies dated to between 830 and 860 have been found in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. Both are thought to be based on an edition from about 780. The finds at Dunhuang have been very important for the historical understanding of Zen:
In 1056, the Chinese scholar-monk Qisong (契嵩, Wade-Giles: Ch'i-sung) produced a larger edition, entitled Liuzu fabao ji (法寶記 ‘Precious Record of the Dharma’).
In 1291 (during the Yuan dynasty), Zongbao (宗寶, Wade-Giles: Tsung-pao) produced the edition that became part of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) Chinese Buddhist canon.Jorgensen, John. “THE PLATFORM SŪTRA AND THE CORPUS OF SHENHUI RECENT CRITICAL TEXT EDITIONS AND STUDIES.” Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie, vol. 20, 2002, pp. 399–438. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24584546. Accessed 12 June 2024. This canonical version, apparently based on the Qisong edition, is about a third longer than the Mogao Caves version, and structured differently.
Much of the content of chapters seven, eight, and nine of the longer Platform Sutra was imported into the text from the Jingde Chuandeng lu.Morten Schlütter, A Study in the Genealogy of the Platform Sūtra, in Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 2, (Autumn) 1989, pages 86-89
The Patriarch was not satisfied with Shenxiu's stanza, and pointed out that the poem did not show understanding of "his own fundamental nature and essence of mind." He gave Shenxiu a chance to submit another poem to demonstrate that he had entered the "gate of enlightenment," so that he could transmit his robe and the Dharma to Shenxiu, but the student's mind was agitated and could not write one more stanza.
Two days later, the illiterate Huineng heard Shenxiu's stanza being chanted by a young attendant at the monastery and inquired about the context of the poem. The attendant explained to him the poem contest and the transmission of the robe and Dharma. Huineng asked to be led to the corridor, where he could also pay homage to the stanza. He asked a low-ranking official named Zhang Riyong from Jiangzhou to read the verse to him, and then immediately asked him to write down a stanza that he composed.
According to McRae, "the earliest version of the Platform Sutra contains two versions of Huineng's verse. A later version of Huineng's stanza is different from the two older ones:
The followers who were present were astonished by the work of a southern barbarian. Being cautious of Huineng's status, the Patriarch wiped away the stanza and claimed that the author of the stanza had not reached enlightenment.
According to the traditional interpretation, which is based on Guifeng Zongmi, the fifth-generation successor of Shenhui, the two verses represent respectively the gradual and the sudden approach. According to McRae, this is an incorrect understanding: Huineng's verse does not stand alone, but forms a pair with Shenxiu's verse:
McRae notes a similarity in reasoning with the Oxhead School, which used a threefold structure of "absolute, relative and middle", or "thesis-antithesis-synthesis". According to McRae, the Platform Sutra itself is the synthesis in this threefold structure, giving a balance between the need of constant practice and the insight into the absolute.
In 1934, D. T. Suzuki published an edition based on the Mogao Cave text, but incorporating corrections from the Tsungpao (Zongbao) edition.
In 1993, the Buddhist scholar Yang Zengwen (楊曾文, b. 1939, Shandong) published an annotated edition of the second Mogao Caves text (which has fewer errors than the first Mogao Caves text). (Pine, 2006, Introduction)
The Suzuki edition was translated into English by Wing-tsit Chan in 1963 and is written in his book, A source book in Chinese Philosophy.
In 1967 Philip Yampolsky published a translation based on the Mogao Cave text. This translation is a landmark in the modern Western scholarship on Zen and its history.
Charles Luk translated the sutra as "The Dharma Treasure of the Altar Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch" which was published in Ch'an and Zen Teachings (Third Series, 1973).
John McRae translated the longer Yuan dynasty-era composite edition. It was published by Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai.
Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua commented on the Sixth Patriarch Sutra. The sutra and commentary were published by the Buddhist Text Translation Society as The Sixth Patriarch’s Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (1971) 1st edition Hong Kong, (1977) 2nd edition, San Francisco, (2002) 3rd edition Burlingame,
Shoemaker & Hoard published a translation and commentary by the American writer Red Pine, based on the second Mogao Caves text, in 2006.
Martin Verhoeven and Heng Sure, disciples of Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua, edited an edition based on the Chinese Zongbao Taisho Volume 48, Number 2008, in August 2014.
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