While traveling in Huangmei, Chan Master Daoxin encountered a seven-year-old boy (later known as Hongren) whose speech revealed extraordinary wisdom.
Daoxin asked:
“What is your surname?”
The boy replied:
“My ‘surname’ is not ordinary.”
Daoxin: “Then what surname is it?”
The boy declared:
“It is Buddha-nature.” (note: surname and nature in Chinese are homophones)
Daoxin probed:
“Do you have no surname?”
The boy answered:
“None — for inherent nature is empty and still.”
Daoxin turned to his followers and prophesied:
“This child is no common being. Twenty years after my parinirvana, he will magnificently propagate the Buddha’s teachings.”
Philosophical Notes:
Buddha-Nature as True Identity
The boy’s rejection of a worldly surname for “Buddha-nature” embodies Zen’s core teaching: Our fundamental identity transcends social labels — it is the luminous emptiness within all beings. (note: surname and nature in Chinese are homophones)
Childish Wisdom Shatters Adult Delusions
At age seven, Hongren’s “inherent nature is empty and still” exposed what many masters spend lifetimes seeking: Enlightenment is not acquired but recognized, innate as breath.
Prophecy of Dharma Succession
Daoxin’s prediction foreshadowed Hongren becoming the Fifth Patriarch, proving Zen’s “mind-to-mind transmission” requires no diplomas — only awakening beyond age or status.
About Chan Master Hongren
Master Hongren (602–674 CE) was a highly revered Buddhist master of the Tang Dynasty and is honored as the Fifth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. At the age of seven, he was discovered by Master Daoxin, the Fourth Patriarch, who praised him for his extraordinary potential. He later became Daoxin’s disciple and ordained as a monk at thirteen.
Under Daoxin’s guidance, Hongren spent his days performing labor and his nights in silent meditation, fully mastering Daoxin’s Chan teachings. His understanding of Chan was built upon two foundational principles:
Basing practice on the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, which emphasizes mind-only as the core of the teaching;
Following the Mañjuśrī Prajñā Sūtra and its method of “One Practice Samadhi”, a form of concentrated meditative practice focused on the non-dual nature of wisdom.
During Master Hongren’s time, Chan Buddhism entered a period of rapid growth. More and more people began studying Chan, and his disciples numbered in the thousands. Though few were capable of widely spreading the Dharma, among his followers, Shenxiu and Huineng stood out most prominently.
Shenxiu propagated Chan in the north, following the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and emphasizing gradual cultivation — known as the Northern School.
Huineng taught in the south, based on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, advocating sudden awakening — known as the Southern School.
This gave rise to the famous saying: “Nan Neng Bei Xiu” or “Southern Sudden, Northern Gradual.”
Eventually, Southern Chan spread northward and gradually became the dominant tradition. However, both schools trace their origins back to Master Hongren and developed under his influence.
Leave a Reply