Presented below is information gathered from two very important Chinese Buddhist works. The photographs of the Patriarchs are courtesy of the authot Mr Wong Mou-lam, and taken from his 1929 book entitled 'The Sutra of Hui Neng'. This remarkable book is considered the first example of the Patriarch's Alter Sutra being translated into English. Me edition contains a Foreword by Mr Christmas Humphreys dated 'December 1952'. This book is in two parts, with one part containing photographs of the Lord Buddha, and the subsequent 33 Patriarchs of Ch'an, together with their 'transmission gathas', or 'enlightened poems in the Chinese written language. The sutra appears in English and in Chinese, but the gathas themselves remain untranslated. For the translation of the 'transmission gathas', I have referenced Charles Luk's Ch'an And Zen Teaching Second Series - and have quoted from the section entitled 'Forty Transmission Gathas'. Luk has taken for his English translation a section of the Chinese text entitled 'Transmission of the Lamp - Ching Te Ch'uan Teng Lu'. This translation contains no photographs. Taken together, both books provide a comprehensive over-view in the English language of the Ch'an transmission. A word of clarity is required at this point. Wong's book contains 34 photographs - 33 of which are of the Ch'an Patriarch, and the 34th of the Lord Buddha himself. In the transmission of the Lamp however, there are recorded 6 Buddhas who lived prior to our Shakyamuni Buddha. I have included there important gathas, even though there are no pictures for them. May all beings attain Release! Shi Da Dao - Sutton 2010.

Shi Da Dao

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Richard Hunn (Upasaka Wen Shu) sat to the right (taken 2004).

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Member Back to Top Post by Shi Da Dao on (A) The Three Buddhas of the Glorious Aeon (Alamkarakakalpa)



1



Vipasyin Buddha, the 998th of the Glorious Aeon.



Gatha chanted When transmitting the Dharma to Sikhin Buddha:



The body is created out of nothing

A dream like product of illusion.

Once illusory mind and thought were not,

So dread of nature are both weal and wor.



2



Sikhin Buddha, the 999th of the Glorious Aeon.



Gatha chanted when translating the Dharma to Visvabhu Buddha



Good Dharmas arise and evil karma too,

Yet both are but illusions.

The body is like foam, like wind and mind;

Illusion has no base and no reality.



3



Visvabhu Buddha, the 1000th of the Glorious Aeon.



Gathat chanted when translating the Dharma to Krakucchanda Buddha:



When uncreated mind is tied to body,

It works with things and so exists through them.

When objects disappear, so does mind.

Weal and woe arise and vanish like illusions.



(B) The Four Buddhas of the Virtuous Aeon (Bhadrakalpa)



4



Krakucchanda Buddha, the first of the Virtuous Aeon.



Gatha translated when transmitting the Dharma to Kana kamuni Buddha:



To see the body as unreal is to see the Body of the Buddha.

To know the mind as an illusion is to know the Illusion of the Buddha.

If a man sees clearly that the mind and body are not real

How does he differ from the Buddha.



5



Kamakamuni Buddha, the second of the Virtuous Aeon.



Gatha chanted by Kama kamuni Buddha when transmitting the Dharma to Kasyapa Buddha:



The real Buddha has a body that no one can perceive,

There is no other Buddha for him who knows himself.

The sage who knows that woe is devoid of nature

Lives at ease and fears not birth and death.



6



Kasyapa Buddha, the third of the Virtuous Aeon.



Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to Shakyamuni Buddha:



Pure and clean is the nature of all living beings.

Since it never was created, it cannot be destroyed.

Body and mind are from an illusion.

In this changing shadow there is neither weal or woe.



