Shenxiu’s poem

Background

The Fifth Patriarch told his monks to express their wisdom in a poem. Whoever had realised Buddha-nature would become the Sixth Patriarch. The head monk, Shenxiu, wrote the following poem:

The body is the wisdom-tree,

The mind is a bright mirror in a stand;

Take care to wipe it all the time,

And allow no dust to cling.

The poem was praised, but the Fifth Patriarch knew Shenxiu had not yet found his original (Buddha) nature.

Explanation

Why was this an insufficient poem for the competition and how does this not refer to Buddha-nature? Because it is not consistent with the verse from the Diamond Sutra which enlightened Huineng. If the verse says the mind should be developed to be, and established as, pure by clinging to no-thing, the notion that the mind needs to be purified all of the time is not consistent with this. Why? Because the idea the mind needs to be constantly purified is clinging to an idea about the mind and it said no clinging.

If w ecan really comprehend this, really cultivate this, the mind is illuminated and nothing needs to be done. Therefore, Shenxiu had not yet found his original nature because he was still identified with an idea about the mind and what needs to be done. But, nothing needs to be done. It is not about doing more; it is about doing less. It is emptying the mind of clinging and desire; not trying to empty the mind of clinging and desire, which muddies the mind.

Therefore, this idea about the mind needing to be purified is born of clinging and desire, and is at odds with the pure mind in which the original nature is found. This practice is the equivalent of trying to still the water by stirring it. He does not understand the true nature of the mind, in which his original nature is found only by dropping even the idea it needs to be purified. This somehow implies the mind or Buddha-nature is subject to conditions. This is why the Fifth Patriarch knew Shenxiu had not realised.