Refuge in the Three Jewels According to Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen

Below is an excerpt from the so-called Platform Sutra of Hui Neng, the Sixth Patrirach of the Chinese/Japanese Zen lineage.  Although in my own practice and consequently in the way I am sharing the dharma with others, I am mostly following instructions and precepts as transmitted via Indotibetan Vajrayana traditions, I cannot be blind to the beauty of the teachings in whatever transmission they appear - especially when the cut to the heart of the matter like in this case, in the way Hui Neng explains Buddhist refuge.  

The simplicity and relevance of the direct transmission from the patriarch's heart of enlightenment,  inspired me to share his teaching in this posting.  Furthermore, Hui Neng's presentation is particularly pertinent to the NadiPrana Buddhist yoga, which serves as my main teaching tool in the groups that come and work with me.  We will have ample chance to elaborate on the connection in a later article, when we will explore a little further the particular features that make a yoga 'Buddhist', so to speak.  Which will be important for us to understand so that we know what we are actually practicing, and why.  If we want to practice the genuine yoga of the Buddha we need to not only understand, but be able to feel the direct connection between what we label 'body' and what we conceive of as 'enlightenment', or 'liberation'.

But then, Hui Neng's point of view is also very similar to

what my own Tibetan root teacher stresses time and again: the fact that as ordinary human beings we should not get blinded by the delusion of our inborn enlightened or buddha nature and mistake it as an accomplished fact.  Many modern teachers and popular authors mislead people in their books and talks in this way - that gets them nowhere but into further confusion.  Rather it would be more practical and helpful to acknowledge the facts as they stand, namely that, as my own teacher would phrase it "although, as human beings, we undoubtedly are born with buddha nature, we are much more governed by our shortcomings.  After all, we mostly express our being human through emotionality and mentation, in word and action.   These shortcomings none withstanding,  because we are endowed with buddha nature, we have one great advantage that most of us even fail to notice: we can strive and realize the buddha nature we were born with in this very body, and become Buddha (in other words absolutely free of suffering due to conditioning) in this very lifetime.  But we have to work for it, both effortlessly and with a lot of effort"  …Speaking about a worthy goal.

But now, let's get the form of refuge that Hui Neng at one point granted to a large assembly of ordained and lay practitioners.  His words are permeated by the beauty and simplicity of self-evident truth:

"Good friends, while I confer on you the Formless Precepts, you must all experience this for yourself.  Recite this together with me, and it will enable you to see the three-bodied buddha within you:"

"I take refuge in the pure dharma-body buddha in my own material body."
"I take refuge in the myriad-fold transformation-body in my own material body."
"I take refuge in the future and perfect realization-body of my own material body."

"Now, repeat this three times with me."

"This material body is an inn and not a fit refuge. But the three bodies I just mentioned are your ever present dharma nature.  Everyone has them.  But because people are deluded, they don't see them.  They look for the three-bodied tathagata outside themselves and don't see the three-bodied buddha in their own material body."

"Good friends, listen to this good friend of yours, and I will tell you good friends how to see within your material body the three-bodied buddha present in your dharma nature, the three-bodied buddha that arises from this nature of yours."…

In short, the path of Buddhist yoga is to first take refuge in the three-bodied dharma body which is given to us by virtue of our human birth.  It is accessible through this human body.  But even though the gate is there, we have to still walk through it ourselves, and make it so.

The text presented here was taken from Red Pine's beautiful and naturally flowing translation and commentary: The Platform Sutra - The Zen Teachings of Hui Neng, published by Counterpoint, Berkeley