Hui-neng (638�713) is perhaps the most beloved and respected figure in Zen

Buddhism. An illiterate woodcutter who attained enlightenment in a flash, he

became the Sixth Patriarch of Chinese Zen, and is regarded as the founder of

the "Sudden Enlightenment" school. He is the supreme exemplar of the fact that

neither education nor social background has any bearing on the attainment of

enlightenment. This collection of his talks, also known as the Platform or

Altar Sutra, is the only Zen record of its kind to be generally honored with

the appellation sutra, or scripture.

The Sutra of Hui-neng is here accompanied by Hui-neng's verse-by-verse commentary

on the Diamond Sutra�in its very first published English translation ever.