The venerable Master Yinzong was a significant figure in Buddhist history. Renowned during the Tang Dynasty for expounding sutras, he specialized in teaching the Nirvana Sutra and served as abbot of Guangzhou’s Faxing Temple (present-day Guangxiao Temple). After leaving Huangmei, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng once visited Faxing Temple to attend Yinzong’s lectures on the Nirvana Sutra.
One day, amid raging wind and rain during a lecture, Yinzong noticed temple banners fluttering violently. He asked the assembly, “Is the wind moving, or are the banners moving?” Some answered, “The wind is moving!” Others insisted, “The banners are moving!” As debate grew heated, they appealed to Yinzong to settle the matter.
At that moment, Huineng entered the courtyard. Yinzong invited him to resolve the dispute. Huineng declared, “Neither the wind nor the banners are moving.”
Puzzled, Yinzong asked, “Then what is moving?”
Huineng replied, “Virtuous Ones, it is your minds that are moving.”
Philosophical Notes:
Beyond Dualism
Challenges the illusion of separating subject (“mind”) and object (“wind/banner”).
Reveals all phenomena arise from perceptual conditioning.
Chan Awakening
Huineng’s response dismantles attachment to sensory distinctions.
Mirrors the Diamond Sutra: “All conditioned phenomena are like dreams”.
Inner Mastery
Freedom emerges when one stops projecting mental agitation onto the external world.
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