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六祖壇經

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

Senses:

  • The Liuzu tanjing; T 2007, T 2008. A sutra composed in China, which became one of the most influential texts in the Chan/Seon/Zen traditions 禪宗. Centered on the discourse given at Shaozhou 韶州 temple attributed to the sixth Chan patriarch Huineng 慧能. Modern scholars doubt the historicity of the claim that someone actually delivered the discourse as recorded, but this does little to diminish the fact of the textʼs widespread influence. The most important topics of the discourse are sudden enlightenment 頓悟, the direct perception of oneʼs true nature and the unity in essence of śīla 戒, dhyāna 定, and prajñā 慧. The so-called Southern school 南宗 of Chinese Buddhism based its doctrine on this extremely influential scripture. The full title for T 2007 (the Dunhuang manuscript) is: Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra of the Supreme Vehicle, which is the Sudden Teaching of the Southern Lineage: the Platform Sūtra of the Great Teacher Huineng, Sixth Patriarch, who Gave the Dharma at the Dafan Monastery in Shaozhou (Nanzong dunjiao zuishangsheng mohe boruo boluomi jing liuzu Huineng dashi yu Shaozhou Dafansi shifa tanjing) 南宗頓教最上大乘摩訶般若波羅蜜經六祖惠能大師於韶州大梵寺施法壇經). T 2007 was translated into English by Philip Yampolsky and T 2008 was translated by John McRae. [Charles Muller, Griffith Foulk; source(s): Yokoi, Iwanami]

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    [Dictionary References]

    Chūgoku bukkyōshi jiten (Kamata) 408

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 1318d

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 848

    A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki) 288

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 547

    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 403, 434

    Fo Guang Dictionary 1286

    Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (Ono) ⑪325a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)5069a

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 1993-09-01

    Updated: 2019-01-31