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The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Translations from the Asian Classics)
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Translations from the Asian Classics Author:Philip Yampolsky Dating back to the eighth century C.E., the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch is a foundational text of Chan/Zen Buddhism that reveals much about the early evolution of Chinese Chan and the ideological origins of Japanese Zen and Korean Son. Widely read and retold, the Platform Sutra is purported to be the recorded words of the famed Huine... more »ng, understood to be the Sixth Patriarch of Chan and the father of all later Chan/Zen Buddhism. In the Platform Sutra, Huineng illuminates fundamental Chan Buddhist principles in an expressive sermon that dramatically describes how he overcame great personal and ideological challenges, fighting to uphold the exalted lineage of the enlightened Chan patriarchs while realizing the ultimate Buddhist truth of the original, pure nature of all sentient beings.Addressing both monastics and laypeople, Huineng seems to reject meditation, the value of good karma, and the worship of the buddhas, conferring instead a set of "formless precepts" developed through embedded notes in the text. The central message is that an inherent, perfect buddha nature is the original true condition of all sentient beings, and that clear-eyed individuals of all backgrounds can experience this for themselves. Philip Yampolsky's masterful translation contains extensive explanatory notes and an edited, amended version of the Chinese text. In his introduction, Yampolsky critically analyzes the background and historical setting of the work and accounts for Huineng's place within the history and legends of Chan Buddhism. This edition features a new foreword by Morten Schlütter, further situating the Platform Sutra within new historical research and textual evidence, and an updated glossary that includes the modern pinyin system of transcription.« less
ISBN-13: 9780231159579 ISBN-10: 0231159579 Publication Date: 3/27/2012 Pages:272 Edition:with a new foreword Rating: