Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch (Columbia University Press)

Dating back to the eighth century C.E., the Platform Stra of the Sixth Patriarch is a foundational text of Chan/Zen Buddhism that reveals much about the early evolution of Chinese Chan and the ideological origins of Japanese Zen and Korean Sn. Widely read and retold, the Platform Stra is purported to be the recorded words of the famed Huineng, understood to be the Sixth Patriarch of Chan and the father of all later Chan/Zen Buddhism. In the Platform Stra, Huineng illuminates fundamental Chan Buddhist principles in an expressive sermon that dramatically describes how he overcame great personal and ideological challenges, fighting to uphold the exalted lineage of the enlightened Chan patriarchs while realizing the ultimate Buddhist truth of the original, pure nature of all sentient beings.