[文学研究]Platform-sutra.pdfVIP

中華佛學學報第二十期 頁 379 ～ 410 （民國九十六年），臺北 ︰中華佛學研究所 Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, no. 20, pp. 379 ～ 410 (2007) Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies · 379 · - ISSN: 1017 7132 Transmission and Enlightenment in Chan Buddhism Seen Through the Platform Sūtra (Liuzu tanjing 六祖壇經) Morten Schlütter Assistant Professor, The University of Iowa Abstract As is well-known, the notion of transmission of the Dharma is at the center of Chan Buddhist identity and self-understanding. In the mature Chan school, the basis for Dharma transmission is seen as the moment when a Chan master recog- nizes that a student has attained the same enlightened state that he himself has achieved. By receiving Dharma transmission the student becomes a member of a Chan lineage that goes directly back to the Buddha himself and, in principle, his enlightenment is recognized as equal to that of all the past masters in his lineage. However, in spite of the powerful simplicity and enduring appeal of this model, the recognition of enlightenment and the transmission of the Dharma have always been complex and, at times, contested issues in Chan Buddhism. Also, evidence indicates that Chan Buddhist ideas about enlightenment and transmission of the Dharma were not stationary but changed over time. The archetype of Chan Dharma transmission was the transmission to Huineng, the sixth patriarch of Chan. Huineng’s story and his teaching of sudden enlighten- ment was entombed in the Platform Sutra , the most famous, and no doubt most widely read, of all Chan texts. The Platform Sutra is concerned with both the transmission to Huineng and the transmission of his teachings to later genera- tions. Since a number of different versions of the Platform Sutra are available to us it is possible