The Platform Sutra is a text containing teachings attributed to Hui Neng, the Sixth Ancestor of Chan (Zen) in China.

Katagiri Roshi gave this series of seven talks on the Platform Sutra in March and April of 1987. The talks focus on Chapter 1, “Action and Intention,” and Chapter 2, “Prajna.”

Platform Sutra – Talk 1

Katagiri Roshi introduces a series of seven talks on the Platform Sutra. This talk comments on Chapter 1, “Action and Intention,” which includes the famous “poetry contest.” He discusses the controversy of whether the point of Zen is “to see into one’s own nature and achieve Buddhahood.”

Platform Sutra – Talk 2

Katagiri Roshi begins commenting on Chapter 2 of the Platform Sutra, “Prajna,” or “Wisdom.” This talk includes the meaning of the term maha prajnaparamita, and three aspects of prajna.

Platform Sutra – Talk 3

Katagiri Roshi continues his commentary on Chapter 2 of the Platform Sutra, further discussing the meaning of the terms maha, prajna and paramita. He discusses the relation of the sutra to the three kinds of emptiness, how life and death and nirvana are the same, kanno-doko or spiritual communion between you and the universe, and transforming the three poisons into the Precepts.

Platform Sutra – Talk 4

Katagiri Roshi comments further on whether the point of Zen is actually “to see one’s own nature and realize the Buddha Way.” He connects this to a passage from the “Scripture of Mountains and Waters” in Shobogenzo which relates to four kinds of misunderstanding of Buddhism, including the one we usually subscribe to. The main point of practice is to achieve continuity of going beyond. We have to pay attention to Buddhist teaching and simultaneously produce creative life, like morning flowers blooming from a trellis.

Platform Sutra – Talk 5

Katagiri Roshi continues to discuss three-fold emptiness, and how to achieve continuity of going beyond by dealing with all phenomena directly, with compassion and kindness. What does it mean to experience kensho? There is a longer explanation of how the three poisons (greed, anger, and ignorance) transform into the three “learnings” (morality, concentration, and wisdom).

Platform Sutra – Talk 6

Katagiri Roshi discusses “the conduct of not dwelling inwardly or outwardly, of coming and going freely, of casting away the grasping mind, and of unobstructed penetration.” He also discusses the statement that “if there were no people the ten thousand dharmas would not exist.” Buddhist teachings come from the human heart, not the other way around. There is a long question about how to relate to “non-attachment to objects” as an object.

Platform Sutra – Talk 7

Katagiri Roshi concludes this series on the Platform Sutra by discussing the relationship between karma and nirvana, or the phenomenal world and the truth, or the “ordinary” self and original self-nature. “Our fundamental self-nature is clear and pure” means there is no gap between them. We should continually deepen the experience of our lives, because karmic life is buddha.