title: The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra (English and Chinese Edition)
author: Martin Verhoeven PhD
description: The Sixth Patriarch's Dharma Jewel Platform Sutra presents the teachings of Huineng (638713), an important figure in the history of Buddhism. He was the Sixth Patriarch in China, and the thirty-third in Patriarchal descendents from the time of the Buddha in India. While he himself wrote nothing, nor left any record of his life or teaching, his students compiled the accounts of his life and lectures that are translated within this volume. So highly regarded is the Sixth Patriarch's place in the Buddhist tradition, that this text is the only one that has been accorded the title sutra, a term traditionally reserved for teachings directly attributed to the Buddha.Readers inclined to see Buddhist writings as abstruse metaphysical treatises will find The Platform Sutra refreshingly artless and spare. Those expecting a sutra to delve into the supernatural and otherworldly will be surprised at how down-to-earth and here-and-now this text is. The Platform Sutra is humanistic to its core. As Huineng says in a verse, The Buddha Dharma is right here in the world,/ There is no awakening apart from this world. The essence of the Sixth Patriarch's philosophy is that all beings have the buddha-nature; all can become Buddha. Full awakening is not a future state or a distant place, but exists right within your own mind, directly and immediately available. The text presents a powerful and resounding vision of unbounded human potential waiting to be fully realizedif only we could see it. As Huineng says, You should now believe that the knowledge and vision of the Buddha is just your own mind; there is no other Buddha. . . . Why don't you immediately see, right within your own mind, the true reality of your original nature? The Platform Sutra speaks to the human condition, to the things that are both timely and timeless: fleeting existence, longing, and the emptiness of material things, as well as life's deepest meaning, liberation, and our capacity for profound wisdom. It is perhaps within one cover, the best introduction to the Buddha's teachings and the most advanced index to its practice.The Buddhist Text Translation Society was founded in 1970 by the Venerable Master Hsan Hua with the mission of translating the Chinese Buddhist canon into English and other Western languages. To date the Society has published over 200 volumes of Sutra texts and instructional talks.The Venerable Master Hsan Hua (Xuanhua, 191895), one of the most eminent Chinese Buddhist masters of the twentieth century, was born in Manchuria and came to San Francisco in 1962. His teaching, in the more than thirty years that followed, emphasized the primacy of the monastic tradition, the essential role of moral education, the need for Buddhists to ground themselves in traditional spiritual practice and authentic scripture, and the importance of respect and understanding among religions.
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  Table of Contents
  
  
  
  
  
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  [Title Page](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_tp_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Copyright Page](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_cop_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Introduction](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_itr_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [THE KAMA SUTRA](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_fm1_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  [PART ONE - SOCIETY AND SOCIAL
  CONCEPTS](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_p01_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [INTRODUCTORY PREFACE](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_p01_r1.html#h1)
  
  
  
  
  
  [CHAPTER ONE - BEING THE INDEX TO OR CONTENTS OF THE
  WORK](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c01_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [CHAPTER TWO - ON THE ACQUISITION OF DHARMA, ARTHA, AND
  KAMA](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Objection](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html#h1)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Answer](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html#h2)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Objection](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html#h3)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Answer](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html#h4)
  
  
  
  
  
  [Objection](../Text/bano_9781411430617_oeb_c02_r1.html#