The Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism whose Platform Sutra became the only Chinese-authored text accorded sutra status — teaching that enlightenment is not gradual cultivation but sudden awakening to the originally pure mind.
Sudden enlightenment: the mind is originally pure (Buddha-nature is everywhere); gradual cultivation misunderstands this; enlightenment is the direct recognition of what one already is. No-thought (wunian): thought flows without grasping — the meditative ideal is not blank mind but non-attached engagement.
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