"Show me the face you wore before you were born."

[AlienGirl]

Zen koan.

Tucker

[Jack Rabbit]

1. Mu

!!

[AlienGirl]

2. Good answer!

[Jack Rabbit]

4. It's nothing, really

[camero]

3. Ok, here ya go

.

[everythingsxen]

5. Triple Dog Dares win

[darkstar]

6. Ur...

I mean, err...

[kixot]

7. There's got to be something lost in the translation here.

[Jack Rabbit]

8. No. There's nothing to translate

One day the Fifth Patriarch told his monks to express their wisdom in a poem. Whoever had true realization of his original nature (Buddha Nature) would be ordained the Sixth Patriarch. The head monk, Shen Hsiu, was the most learned, and wrote the following:

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 that Shen Hsiu had not yet found his original nature, on the other hand, Hui Neng couldn't even write, so someone had to write down his poem, which read:

Fundamentally no wisdom-tree exists,
Nor the stand of a mirror bright.
Since all is empty from the beginning,
Where can the dust alight

The Fifth Patriarch pretended that he wasn't impressed with this poem either, but in the middle of the night he summoned Hui Neng. The Fifth Patriarch gave him the insignia of his office, the Patriarch's robe and bowl (source). Hui Neng was told to leave for the South and to hide his enlightenment and understanding until the proper time arrives for him to propagate the Dharma.

For full text of the biography of the Sixth Patriarch, Hui Neng, please click here.