Patriarch's Teachings: Direct Interpretation
Chapter 3: The Dharma-Transmission Verses of the Six Patriarchs of China
The First Patriarch was Patriarch Bodhidharma; his dharma-transmission verse was already explained in the previous chapter, so it will not be repeated here.
1. The Dharma-Transmission Verse of the Second Patriarch, Chan Master Huike
Original text: 本来缘有地，因地种华生；
本来无有种，华亦不曾生。
Explanation: Originally, all dharmas can exist only by relying on that genuinely existing mind-ground (citta-bhūmi); because there is the self-natured mind-ground, karmic seeds can be transformed into flowering retribution (puṣpa-phala). However, within the self-natured mind-ground there are originally no karmic seeds—it is the empty, self-natured pure mind—and therefore all flowering retribution has never been born.
2. The Dharma-Transmission Verse of the Third Patriarch, Chan Master Sengcan
Original text: 华种虽因地，従地种华生；
若无人下种，华地尽无生。
Explanation: Although the seeds of flowers exist because of the mind-ground, it is from the seeds within the mind-ground that flowering retribution can be born; but if no one creates karma and plants the seeds, then across the entire earth not a single flower will grow. Without karma there are no seeds; without seeds there are no flowers.
3. The Dharma-Transmission Verse of the Fourth Patriarch, Chan Master Daoxin
Original text: 华种有生性，因地华生生；
大缘与性合，当生生不生。
Explanation: The seeds of flowers possess a generative nature, but they must rely on the self-natured mind-ground in order to give rise to birth after birth. When the conditions of the seven great-element seeds combine with the self-nature, all dharmas can be born; although all dharmas are born, in essence they are unborn—born yet not born.
4. The Dharma-Transmission Verse of the Fifth Patriarch, Chan Master Hongren
Original text: 有情来下种，因地果还生；
无情既无种，无性亦无生。
Explanation: Sentient beings with minds create karmic actions and thereby plant seeds; these seeds are planted in the mind-ground, and in the future, because of the mind-ground and by relying on the mind-ground, fruits will be produced. Insentient things without minds cannot create seeds; insentient things have no self-nature, and therefore they too are unborn.
"Sentient" refers to sentient beings; sentient beings have the eighth consciousness, have the five aggregates or four aggregates, have the activity of the conscious mind, have a lifespan, and are living beings. "Insentient" means lacking the eighth consciousness, lacking the seven consciousnesses, lacking the five aggregates, without the discriminating activity of the conscious mind, and not being sentient beings. "Because of the ground" means that only because there is the mind-ground of the eighth consciousness can fruits be harvested. When seeds of the Dharma are planted in sentient beings, these seeds are stored by the eighth consciousness; in the future, when the conditions ripen, the eighth consciousness outputs the seeds, and the karmic retribution takes form. Planting seeds in insentient things is useless, because insentient things have no conscious mind to receive and accept them, nor an eighth consciousness to store the Dharma seeds, so they can never flower and bear fruit. All dharmas, whether sentient or insentient, because they themselves lack self-nature, cannot give birth to themselves; all must rely on the eighth consciousness, depending on various conditions, to be born and manifest.
5. The Dharma-Transmission Verse of the Sixth Patriarch, Chan Master Huineng
Original text: 心地含诸种，普雨悉皆生；
顿悟华情已，菩提果自成。
Explanation: The mind-ground of sentient beings contains the seeds of all dharmas, and these seeds can give birth to all dharmas only when they encounter conditions. As long as a Buddhist practitioner suddenly awakens to how the five-aggregate world of sentient beings—the flowering retribution—is born, the fruit of bodhi will naturally be accomplished.
