After inheriting the Dharma at Dongshan Temple in Huangmei, Huineng (the Sixth Patriarch) journeyed south. Finding Baolin Monastery in ruins, he lodged with villagers, hosted by scholar Liu Zhilue.
Zhilue’s aunt, a devout Buddhist nun named Wujinzang, chanted sutras daily. Hearing her, Huineng asked: “Venerable nun, what sutra do you recite?”
She replied: “The Great Prajnaparamita Sutra.”
Huineng: “Excellent, excellent.”
The nun inquired: “Do you also study sutras, traveler?”
Huineng: “Indeed, I do.”
She then pointed to a passage: “What does this character mean?”
Huineng responded:
“I recognize no characters — yet I comprehend the meaning.”
The nun protested: “How can one grasp meaning without knowing words?”
Huineng declared:
“The supreme truth of all Buddhas transcends written words — it dwells wholly within one’s self-nature.”
As she recited passages, Huineng explained each with profound clarity. Astonished, she told her nephew:
“This traveler is no ordinary man! A true sage — illiterate yet mastering the Dharma’s heart. Extraordinary!”
Cultural & Philosophical Notes:
Truth Beyond Language:
Huineng’s “I recognize no characters — yet comprehend meaning” shatters the illusion that enlightenment requires intellectual knowledge. Like a finger pointing to the moon, words are tools — not truth itself.
Self-Nature as Sutra:
His teaching “truth dwells within self-nature” reveals: The mind is the ultimate sutra. Scriptures merely mirror what already exists in one’s Buddha-nature.
The Nun’s Awakening:
Her astonishment marks a paradigm shift: from worshiping texts to trusting innate wisdom — proving Zen’s core: “Direct seeing” outweighs scholarly parsing.
Huineng — a woodcutter turned Patriarch — embodied his own teaching:
“When the nun sought meanings in ink strokes, he showed her the blank paper beneath:
the luminous mind where all sutras are born.”
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