Shin Shau
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Shin Shau's verses:
Our body is the Bodhi tree,
And our mind is like a bright mirror with stand,
Diligently we wipe them all the time,
And let no dust alight.
Hui Neng's verses
There is no Bodhi Tree (Pu Ti Ben Wu Shu)
Nor the stand of a bright mirror, (Ming Jing Ji Fei Tai)
Since all is void, (Ben Lai Wu Yi Wu)
Where can the dust alight? (He Chu Re Chen Ai)
Who is Shin Shau, and Who is Hui Neng?
Shin Shau was the head disciple under the master, who was then the 5th Zen Partriach in China.
Everyone expected Shin Shau to become the 6th Zen Partriach, but he did not become the patriarch.
The was finding someone to take over him to continue the Zen Partriach lineage... and to do so, he has to find an enlightened person, one who has Ming Xin Jian Xing.
Hung Jen assembled all his disciples and said,"Go and seek for Prajna in your own mind and write me a stanza (gatha) about it.
The one who understands the reality of Buddhist nature will be the Sixth Patriarch."
However, When the 5th Partriach received Shin Shau's stanzas, he knew that Shin Shau has not awakened to the ultimate truth.
He has not Jian Xing, seen his own Buddha Nature.
Hui-Neng however... was able to grasp the essence of Buddha Nature, and spoke of the Buddha-nature as empty, because he had truly seen it.
He then became the 6th Zen Partriach.
Everyone of us have a full and complete Buddha-Nature, no matter how evil or good a person is.
We are able to become Buddhas ourselves.
Both Shin Shau and Hui Neng's verses are valid.
But Hui Neng is speaking from the perspective of the ultimate reality, and since the master wants someone enlightened to take over him, he could not have taken Shin Shau.
Shin Shau's verses are speaking from the perspective of cultivation.
Our Buddha-Nature is originally pure, but illusions always exists.
We wipe the mirror of its dust, and the Buddha-Nature shows itself.
xuan xiu who is the lead monk under the fifth patriach hong ren who claim there is a bodhi tree , and our mind is like a mirror it means from huineng ,sixth patriach, there is no tree , and where is there the mirror, bodhi nature is clear and unobscured ,we are just deluded .