Daman Hongren

Hongren

Daman Hongren (c. 601–674) was the 5th Patriarch of Chan Buddhism.

Quotes

Hsiu-hsin yao lun (Treatise on the Essentials of Cultivating the Mind)

as translated by John McRae, The Northern School and the Formation of Early Chʻan Buddhism (1986).

• Do not try to search outside yourself, which [only] leads to the suffering of saṃsāra. Maintain the same state of mind in every moment of thought, in every phase of mental activity.
  • p. 126.

• People who practice mental concentration may inhibit the True Mind within themselves by being dependent on sensory perceptions, coarse states of mind, and restricted breathing. Before achieving mental purity, [such people may undertake] the constant practices of concentrating the mind and viewing the mind. Although they do so during all their activities, [such people] cannot achieve [mental] clarity and purity, nor illumine that mind which is the sources of all dharmas.
  • p. 128