Comprehension 4: What the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said is true, and the written record is also true. That is, the Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng said this, but what he expressed was not the superficial meaning of the words, but a modest statement. For example, a monk asked the six ancestors: "Huangmei's will, who can get it?"

The Sixth Patriarch replied, "Those who know the Dharma have to go." ”

Monk Yun: "That's the monk, you have it." ”

The Sixth Patriarch said, "I don't know the Dharma!"

The Sixth Patriarch Huineng is already the Sixth Patriarch, but he still says that he doesn't know the Dharma. In traditional Chinese culture, "gentleness, kindness, modesty, courtesy, and letting" are the virtues of humanity, and modesty is the virtue of literati. "Huineng is illiterate" may also be an expression of Huineng's meaning, which is deeply influenced by traditional culture.

Comprehension 5: What the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said is true, and the record of the text is also true. That is, the sixth ancestor Huineng said this, but this is no longer a daily word, but a Zen language.

In the view of Zen Buddhism, words are just skins, external things, and there is no need to rely on them to express Zen. For example, when the sixth ancestor Huineng first arrived in Caoxi, Ni took the scroll and asked for words, and Huineng said: "The word is not literate, and the righteousness is to ask." ”

Ni said: "If you don't know how to read, how can you know righteousness?"

He replied: "The wonderful principles of the Buddhas are not about words. ”

When Yin Zong first saw Huineng, he thought that he was "concise and reasonable, not by words." ”

The "non-related words" and "not by the words" here mean not to stick to the words, that is, the "Buddha" is a kind of wisdom that is enlightened, and cannot be obsessed with the literal and has nothing to do with the words, so the sixth ancestor Huineng said that "Huineng is illiterate".

Comprehension and reading: What the Sixth Patriarch Huineng said is true, and the record of the text is also true. That is, the six ancestors are really illiterate, but they have extraordinary memory and understanding, and have the nature of "crazy" art. In the history of human culture, some people can recite thousands of lines of poetry even though they are illiterate, such as the Tibetan shepherd who did not go to school in a day, but was able to recite tens of thousands of lines of "King Gesar" after a serious illness. This is called "literary fanaticism". The Sixth Patriarch Huineng may be a person with the function of "Buddhist madness". Sixth Ancestor Hui Neng is so smart, in his youth, even if he has not read, he has heard a lot of deeds told by others, can he not understand the world? Let's start with his explanation of the meaning of the Great Nirvana Sutra for the Endless Tibetan Bhikshunis, his discussion of "the mind is the Buddha" with Zen Master Fahai, the exposition of the Lotus Sutra for Venerable Fada, the discussion of the essence of consciousness with Monk Zhitong, and the discussion of "Wisdom and Knowledge" with Zen Master Sangzhi. He answered the question of the Zhidao Zen master "Nirvana Samadhi", and so on; And in the "Altar Sutra", you can see the content of quoting Buddhist scriptures to teach and enlighten disciples everywhere, can we still say that the six ancestors don't know words?

"The abbot's six major understandings are well-founded, and his profound mastery of the essence of Buddhism can be seen from this." After listening to the six understandings that must have been quite insightful, Zhang Cambodia couldn't help but praise.

After Zhang Cambodia praised it for a certain amount, he turned to Shi Ru, "I don't know if the master can do it?" ”

Before coming in and talking about the "Vimala Sutra", he was still talking about the interpretation of the river, at this time, as if he had become another person, sitting quietly on the top of the meditation hall, and kept flipping through the blue cover of the book given to him by Zhang Cambodia, which was already a little yellowed "The Legend of the Six Ancestors Huineng", and suddenly listened to Zhang Cambodia's question about him, and then came back to his senses, "Oh...... Oh" nodded a few times.