Some very old Zen texts refer to the “northern and southern schools,” or sometimes to the “northern or southern patriarchs.”  This refers to a doctrinal split that came to a head in 7th and 8th century China. The resolution of this disagreement determined Zen’s development from that time on, making this a genuinely critical moment in the history of Zen Buddhism.

Zen had emerged as a distinctive school of Mahayana Buddhism early in the 6th century. It was born in China, where it is called Chan. The name “Chan” is derived from the Sanskrit dhyana, which refers to stages of meditative absorption.

The earliest phase of Chan history was marked by the leadership of the Six Patriarchs. Before he died, Chan’s founder and First Patriarch, the legendary Bodhidharma, is said to have passed his robe and alms bowl, and leadership of Chan, to his student Huike (487–593), the Second Patriarch, establishing a tradition that would continue until the beginning of the 8th century.

Read More: Introduction to Zen

Sudden or Gradual?

Early in the 7th century a disagreement  arose about Buddha Nature. Buddha Nature is the fundamental, enlightened nature of all beings. But does Buddha Nature abide in us as a potential to be cultivated, or is Buddha Nature complete and pure enlightenment, already present?

These two positions came to be called “gradual enlightenment” versus “sudden enlightenment.” “Gradual” and “sudden” do not necessarily refer to passages of time, nor did one school insist that enlightenment must be realized in stages while the other said realization must happen all at once.

The “sudden” school insisted that enlightenment is not something separate from us that must be obtained. Instead, we are all already enlightened; enlightenment is our fundamental nature. However, because of our greed, anger, ignorance and other defilements we do not experience ourselves as enlightened, so practice is required. And note that although we are all already enlightened, if we practice realization of enlightenment may not happen all at once.

The “gradual” school, on the other hand, saw enlightenment as something separate from most of us that must be acquired or ripened through practice.

The Poetry Challenge

Our story begins during the time of the Fifth Patriarch, Hongren (or Hung-jen; 601–674). Hongren was the abbot of a monastery in the mountains of what is now Hubei Province in eastern central China. According to a classic story, one day Hongren challenged his monks to compose a verse that expressed their understanding of the dharma. If any verse reflects the truth, Hongren said, the monk who composed it will receive the robe and bowl and become the Sixth Patriarch.

Still according to the traditional account — among Hongren’s monks were his senior disciple Shenxiu and a novice monk named Huineng. Shenxui wrote on a wall —

The body is the bodhi tree.
The heart-mind is like a mirror.
Moment by moment wipe and polish it,
Not allowing dust to collect.

This was an expression of gradual enlightenment. Huineng thought he could do better, but he was only a novice, and an illiterate one at that. During the night he asked another monk to write his verse for him —

Bodhi originally has no tree,
The mirror has no stand.
Buddha-nature is always clean and pure;
Where might dust collect?

Huingeng’s poem was an expression of sudden enlightenment. The lines were drawn.

Somehow Hongren recognized that Huineng had written the second verse, and in secret he transmitted the deepest teachings to Huineng and gave the novice the robe and bowl. And to make a very complex story a great deal shorter, Huineng became the patriarch of the so-called Southern School, and his gradualist challenger Shenxiu was the patriarch of the Northern School.

But the Southern School prevailed, and today all teachers of Chan or Zen trace their lineage back to Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch. All surviving Chan, or Zen, today is “sudden enlightenment” Zen.

The Historical Record

The story presented above is from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, a classic Zen text that appears to be Huineng’s autobiography but which was probably written by a disciple, or disciples, after the patriarch’s death. Modern historians say this version of history is probably not accurate, however. For example, there is doubt Shenxiu and Huineng lived at Hongren’s monastery at the same time.

Further, Shenxiu didn’t exactly drop off the map. He was a widely admired scholar who had received dharma transmission from Hongren and later dedicated himself to teaching. Toward the end of his life he became a teacher to the Emperor. The Northern School received the patronage of high-ranked members of the Court and was respected and popular. Shenxiu and his successors were considered the Chan mainstream for a time.

The Southern School was more obscure and stuck out in the boonies, so to speak. A dharma heir of Huineng’s named Shenhui (670-762) became quite the polemicist, relentlessly attacking Shenxiu’s Northern School and it’s “backward” views on gradual enlightenment. Shenhui argued that Huineng was the legitimate Sixth Patriarch and Shenxiu a usurper. It’s thought one of Shenhui’s monks wrote the Platform Sutra as part of the campaign to establish Huineng as Bodhidharma’s true heir.

Shenhui’s campaign initially appeared to fail. Shenxiu’s heirs had influence in the Chinese Court, and in time Shenhui was forced into hiding. But then came the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763), which threatened to topple the Tang Dynasty. Monks were called to the capital to help raise money by sellling ordination certificates. Shenhui did such a brilliant job selling ordination certificates that for a time he was given a privileged position at Court. From this position Shenhui was able to more effectively challenge the Northern School and revise the lineage charts to leave out Shenxiu.

Both Shenxiu’s and Shenhui’s direct lineages appear to have been wiped out in 845, when the Emperor ordered the persecution of all foreign religions in China. After that time, there was no more Northern School or Southern School. But Chan survived, and since that time it has been entirely “sudden,” even when realization comes gradually. And in Zen history, Huineng is remembered as the Sixth (and last) Patriarch.

[This is an article I wrote for the Buddhism section of About.com. However, since About.com has removed it from their servers, all rights revert to me.]