Textual Criticism and the Turbulent Life of the Platform Sūtra

The Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch is one of the most widely known and beloved texts produced by Chinese Buddhism. However, what makes the Platform Sūtra especially interesting is the fact that uniquely among Chinese Buddhist texts it is extant in a number of editions that differ significantly from one another, spanning the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. Thus the Platform Sūtra is not just one single, stable text, but rather an amorphous textual entity that has gone through a number of manifestations. In this essay, I revisit an earlier study and in the light of recent research and textual finds discuss the different editions of the Platform Sūtra and what can be learned about their relationships with one another. Emphasizing the important role of the methodology of textual criticism, I present data that suggests how the different versions are related to each other, and discuss how we can proceed with our study of the text.