' No Tree, No Mirror, No Dust '...

Hui Neng: No Tree, No Mirror, No Dust

Hui Neng was quite a rustic and was not formally ordained into the monkhood, but rather worked as a kitchen helper at the monastery. When the Fifth Patriarch was ready to pick his successor he asked the monks to write a poem about enlightenment.

The brightest monk there, Shen Xiu, wrote the following poem:

The body is a Bodhi (enlightenment) tree,
the mind a standing mirror bright.
At all times polish it diligently,
and let no dust alight.

It was assumed he had a lock on winning but Hui Neng got one of the other monks to write his poem for him, as he was illiterate. What he wrote was:

Bodhi is no tree,
nor is the mind a standing mirror bright.
Since all is originally empty,
where does the dust alight?

Upon seeing this poem the Fifth Patriarch recognized that this simple, unlettered kitchen helper actually saw much deeper into the real path of enlightenment than any of the other monks. He had him come to his quarters in the middle of the night and passed on his bowl and robe, signifying his office, and then told him to leave the monastery immediately as the other monks were sure to be furious with him when they found out!


-Wu Wei