“Meditation and wisdom: The Platform Sutra of six patriarch and early Buddhism”

Abstract

The Platform Sutra(LiùzǔTánjīng六祖坛经)of the Sixth Patriarch exists in ten chapters; namely an account of the origins, prajnā, questions, meditation and wisdom, seated meditation, repentance, encounters, sudden and gradual, proclamations, and transmission. It is a fundamental text of Chinese Chán Buddhist fraternity. The fourth chapter of this Sutra is named „meditation and wisdom‟. It is extremely important to study the resemblances between Chán and early Buddhist tradition regarding meditation and wisdom. Therefore, the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch is utilized as the base for this exploratory study and it is compared with the standpoint of early Buddhism. After the passing away of the Buddha, the Order bifurcated as Sthaviravāda and Mahāsānghika based on doctrinal and disciplinary matters. With time, these deviations got further divided and interpreted the teachings according to their own standpoint what they believed as the real teachings of the Buddha. However, during the 8th century AD, there were three major schools of Buddhism; Theravāda, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna. From the past, there were resentments among Buddhist schools regarding culture and philosophy grounded on practice and theory. Therefore, this paper will be helpful in understanding, correspondences of the sixth great patriarch‟s teachings of the above-mentioned chapter with the early Buddhist sources, written in Pāli. It demonstrates the relationship of Chán Buddhist standpoint depicted in the fourth chapter of the Platform Sutra to early Buddhist teachings.