Poetry Contest

One of the most powerful stories transmitted in the Chan/Zen tradition is that of the supposed poetry-writing competition that the Fifth Patriarch of Chan, Hongren (601-674, CE) held in order to choose a successor to thus assume the position of the Sixth Patriarch. 


This and a lot more is all presented in the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. 

Going back to the story, basically, the underdog, uneducated, uncultured, non-monk, protagonist, Huineng wrote a poem in response to the poem secretly written by the presumed successor, Shenxiu (606-706, 神秀) on the wall of a corridor in the monastery (earliest case of "holy graffiti" that I know of). 


Below are the two verse, the first by Shenxiu and the second by Huineng. 


Hongren  judged Huineng's verse to be superior and made him the 6th Patriarch.

The body is the bodhi tree
The mind is like a bright mirror's stand.
At all times we must strive to polish it
and must not let dust collect.

~Shenxiu

Bodhi originally has no tree
The bright mirror also has no stand.
Fundamentally there is not a single thing.
Where could dust arise?

~Huineng