SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

28 Sōtō Zenof how he supported his aged mother by selling firewood isfamous in Buddhist history. Later in his life he entered themonastery of the Fifth Ancestor and there worked in thegranary for eight months. He was finally chosen Ancestor byHung-jen and thereupon withdrew to Ta-yu-ling (J. Daiyu-rei)for a period of sixteen years. The year after he formallyaccepted the Precepts of Buddhism (formal monastic ordination),he entered the Pao-lin (J. H‡rin) Temple. Later, on theinvitation of the magistrate of Shao-chou (J. Sh‡sh‰), he movedto the Ta-fan (J. Daibon) Temple. It was here that he preachedthe main portions of the S‰tra of the Sixth Ancestor (C. Liu-tsuTÕan-ching, J. Rokuso Dangy‡).The Sixth Ancestor then moved to Mt. TsÕao-chÕi (J.S‡kei) and resided there for thirty-eight years propagatingBuddhism in Shao-chou and Kuang-chou (J. Sh‡sh‰, Kosh‰).When Hui-neng had become sixty-eight years of age, EmperorChung-tsung, acting on the suggestion of Lao-an (J. R‡an) andShen-hsiu, invited him to lecture at the palace, but Hui-neng,claiming illness, refused.Shen-hsiu believed that all beings possessed the BuddhaNature. However, he regarded delusions (Skt. kle±a) as somethingreal, teaching that they must be removed graduallythrough strenuous efforts. His school of Zen is thereforetermed Ògradual enlightenment through real practice.Ó The Zenof Hui-neng, on the other hand, holds that the Buddha Heart,