Chapter Overview
"Opportunities" (jiyuan, 机缘) refers to karmic conditions and spiritual capacity. This chapter records dialogues between Huineng and numerous disciples and students, revealing his teaching style of adapting to each person's capacity and responding to the moment. Each disciple has their own spiritual capacity and karmic conditions; Huineng uses different methods to guide them to see their own nature.
This is the longest chapter in the Platform Sutra, containing numerous vivid Chan koans. It is one of the sources of the later Chan tradition of "koan" practice.
1. Fahai: This Very Mind Is Buddha
Sutra Text
The monk Fahai was from Qujiang in Shaozhou. When he first came to see the Patriarch, he asked: "This very mind is Buddha — I humbly request your instruction." The Master said: "The former thought not arising is mind; the latter thought not ceasing is Buddha. Accomplishing all forms is mind; being free from all forms is Buddha. If I were to explain this fully, it would take an endless number of kalpas. Listen to my verse: This very mind is called wisdom; this very Buddha is called samādhi. When samādhi and wisdom are maintained equally, the mind is inwardly pure. To awaken to this Dharma gate depends on your habitual nature. The function is originally non-arising — the dual cultivation is correct."
Fahai was Huineng's chief disciple and the recorder of the Platform Sutra. He asked about the meaning of "this very mind is Buddha." Huineng's answer was concise and profound: "The former thought not arising is mind; the latter thought not ceasing is Buddha" — past thoughts no longer arising is mind; future thoughts not being extinguished is Buddha.
2. Fada: Opening the Buddha's Knowledge and Vision
Sutra Text
The monk Fada was from Hongzhou. He left home at the age of seven and constantly recited the Lotus Sūtra. He came to pay respects to the Patriarch, but his head did not touch the ground. The Patriarch rebuked him: "If your bow does not touch the ground, it would be better not to bow at all. There must be something in your heart. What have you been practicing?" Fada replied: "I have recited the Lotus Sūtra three thousand times."
Fada had recited the Lotus Sūtra three thousand times, but his mind was proud — when bowing, his head did not touch the ground. Huineng criticized him for having something in his "heart." Fada asked: "If so, is it enough to understand the meaning without reciting the sūtra?" Huineng answered:
What fault does the sūtra have that it should hinder your recitation? It is only because delusion and awakening depend on the person, and benefit or harm comes from oneself. To recite with the mouth and practice with the mind — that is turning the sūtra. To recite with the mouth but not practice with the mind — that is being turned by the sūtra.
"To recite with the mouth and practice with the mind — that is turning the sūtra" — when the mouth recites and the mind practices, you are turning (mastering) the sūtra. "To recite with the mouth but not practice with the mind — that is being turned by the sūtra" — when the mouth recites but the mind does not practice, you are being turned (bound) by the sūtra. This teaching breaks through attachment to scriptures and emphasizes the importance of mind-nature practice.
3. Zhitong: Transforming Consciousness into Wisdom
Sutra Text
The monk Zhitong was from Anfeng in Shouzhou. He initially studied the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, reading it over a thousand times, yet he could not understand the three bodies and four wisdomes. He bowed to the Master and asked for an explanation. The Master said: "The three bodies are: the pure Dharma body, which is your nature; the perfect reward body, which is your wisdom; and the myriad transformation bodies, which are your function."
Zhitong had read the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra over a thousand times but could not understand the "three bodies and four wisdomes." Huineng explained the three bodies as three aspects of self-nature: the Dharma body is self-nature; the reward body is wisdom; the transformation body is function. "If one speaks of the three bodies apart from one's original nature, it is called having a body without wisdom" — to speak of the three bodies apart from self-nature is to have form without wisdom.
4. Zhichang: Seeing One's Nature and Becoming a Buddha
The monk Zhichang was from Guixi in Xinzhou. He left home as a child, aspiring to see his nature. One day he came to visit, and the Master asked: "Where do you come from? What do you seek?" Zhichang replied: "Your student recently visited Great Master Datong at Baifeng Mountain in Hongzhou, who showed me the meaning of seeing one's nature and becoming a Buddha. My doubts are not yet resolved, so I have come from afar to pay respects, humbly hoping for the Reverend's instruction."
Zhichang had been unable to resolve his doubts with Great Master Datong and came to see Huineng. Huineng pointed out that Datong's teaching still had attachment to "views" — "That teacher's teaching still preserves knowledge and views." True seeing of one's nature is "when seeing the seeing, the seeing is not the real seeing" — when one perceives the act of seeing, the seeing itself is not the true seeing.
5. Xingsi and Huairang
Chan Master Xingsi was born into the Liu family of Ancheng in Jizhou. Hearing that the Dharma seat at Caoxi was flourishing, he came directly to pay respects. He asked: "What should one do so as not to fall into stages?" The Master said: "What have you done?" Xingsi replied: "I have not even practiced the holy truths." The Master said: "Then what stages do you fall into?" Xingsi replied: "If I have not even practiced the holy truths, what stages are there?"
Xingsi later became the founder of the Caodong (Sōtō) lineage of Chan Buddhism. He asked Huineng: "How can one not fall into stages of practice?" Huineng asked in return: "What have you done?" Xingsi answered: "Not even the holy truths." Huineng said: "Then what stages do you fall into?" This dialogue embodies the Chan spirit of "the practice of non-practice."
Chan Master Huairang was a son of the Du family of Jinzhou. He first visited Chan Master Anguo at Songshan, who sent him to Caoxi to pay respects. Huairang arrived and bowed. The Master said: "What thing? How did it come?" Huairang replied: "To say it is like a thing would be wrong."
Huairang later became the founder of the Nanyue (Rinzai) lineage of Chan Buddhism. Huineng asked: "What thing is this? How did it come?" Huairang answered: "To say it is like a thing would not hit the mark." This question and answer later became a famous Chan koan.
6. Yongjia Xuanjue: Awakening in One Night
Chan Master Yongjia Xuanjue was a son of the Dai family of Wenzhou. In his youth he studied sūtras and commentaries, mastering the Tiantai method of śamatha and vipaśyanā. Through reading the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, he awakened to the mind-ground. By chance, Huineng's disciple Xuance visited him, and they had a profound conversation. Xuance said: "From whom did you receive the Dharma?" Xuanjue said: "I have listened to various Mahāyāna sūtras and treatises, each with their own lineage. Later, through the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, I awakened to the Buddha's mind-seal, but no one has verified it." Xuance said: "Before King Vaiśravaṇa, it would be acceptable. After King Vaiśravaṇa, anyone who awakens without a teacher is a natural heretic."
Yongjia Xuanjue was well versed in Tiantai meditation practices. Through reading the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, he awakened to the truth, but no one could verify his realization. Xuance brought him to see Huineng. Xuanjue walked around Huineng three times and stood with his staff planted. Huineng said: "A monk should possess three thousand dignified deportments and eighty thousand refined practices. Great Virtue, from where do you come, giving rise to such great pride?" Xuanjue said: "Birth and death are the great matter; impermanence is swift." Huineng said: "Why not embody the non-arising and understand the non-swift?" Xuanjue said: "To embody is itself non-arising; to understand is itself non-swift." Huineng said: "So it is, so it is." Xuanjue then took his leave. Huineng kept him for one night, and people of that time called him "the one who awakened in one night" (yisujue).
7. Key Themes of This Chapter
Through numerous vivid koans, the Opportunities chapter reveals several characteristics of Huineng's Chan teaching:
- Teaching according to capacity — Guiding disciples of different spiritual capacities with different methods
- Pointing directly to the mind — Not going around in circles but pointing directly to mind-nature
- Breaking attachments — Breaking attachment to scriptures, practice, and stages
- Self-nature, self-awakening — Awakening is one's own affair; the teacher merely verifies
- Not falling into stages — True practice does not fall into any fixed stage
Further Reading
→ Chapter 8: Sudden and Gradual
→ Chapter 1: The Story of Huineng
→ The Philosophy of the Platform Sutra