The Relationship Between the Sixth Patriarch's Sudden Enlightenment and Shenxiu's Gradual Cultivation

The Southern School of the Tang dynasty, led by the Sixth Patriarch, advocated sudden enlightenment. The Sixth Patriarch's famous verse: Bodhi is originally no tree, the bright mirror is also no stand; originally there is not a single thing, where could dust alight? The Northern School, led by Shenxiu, advocated gradual cultivation. Shenxiu's verse: The body is the bodhi tree, the mind like a bright mirror stand; at all times diligently wipe it, and let no dust alight. The Sixth Patriarch's verse shows that he was still merely at the stage of the Small Vehicle's emptiness and had not yet awakened to the Mahāyāna Way, while Shenxiu's verse shows that he was still at the stage of repairing and refining body and mind. People of the time and later generations mostly praised the Sixth Patriarch and disparaged Shenxiu, not knowing that each had his own rationale: because their spiritual faculties differed and their conditions differed, the dharmas they cultivated should not have been the same. The two stand in the relationship of sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation, and one cannot force them to be identical.

Regarding the relationship between gradual cultivation and sudden enlightenment, I once gave an example: it is like sawing down a great tree. The moment the great tree is sawn down is a metaphor for sudden enlightenment, while the work done before the tree is felled is a metaphor for gradual cultivation. Only after gradual cultivation can there be sudden enlightenment, and after sudden enlightenment gradual cultivation is still needed. The dharma cultivated before and the dharma cultivated after are different; cultivation after awakening and cultivation before awakening are certainly not the same. The gradual cultivation Shenxiu spoke of was gradual cultivation prior to sudden enlightenment, a stage of laying the foundation; without this gradual cultivation there could be no subsequent sudden enlightenment. As for the Sixth Patriarch's "originally there is not a single thing," although it was not yet the Mahāyāna's sudden enlightenment, because his prior cultivation had already been completed in previous lives—indeed who knows how many lives and kalpas ago—in this life his mind was already empty and he no longer needed to repair and refine body and mind, diligently wiping at all times.

Standing from the Sixth Patriarch's position, with his capacities he could go directly to emptiness. Although he had not reached the Mahāyāna's emptiness and it did not belong to the Chan school's sudden enlightenment, the Sixth Patriarch after all had the ability to empty; this state was indeed much higher than Shenxiu's, having already passed the stage of gradual cultivation. When his conditions arrived, he could reach the state of sudden enlightenment at any time. Shenxiu, however, was still far from sudden enlightenment; he had to cultivate gradually, had to diligently wipe at all times and clear away the defilements on his mind; otherwise he could not attain sudden enlightenment—even the Small Vehicle's emptiness would be impossible.

Speak according to the place you are in; cultivate the dharma that matches the stage you are at. Since each person's state differs, the dharma each cultivates cannot be the same. Elementary school students have the dharma elementary students cultivate, and university students have the dharma university students cultivate; one cannot demand that everyone study university courses. Almost everyone must pass through the preceding elementary and middle school stages; the road must be walked step by step, and the intermediate process cannot be skipped. The length of time varies from person to person, but this process must exist—even a process lasting only an instant must exist. Only after all these processes have been walked through can one reach that final state of sudden enlightenment. This is the dialectical relationship between sudden enlightenment and gradual cultivation in the cases of the Sixth Patriarch and Shenxiu.