The subject of this article is to explore the citation and interpretation of Buddhist Sūtras in the Dunhuang version of the Sixth Patriarch's Platform Sūtra, and make an elucidation on Hui-neng's methods of interpretation and the thoughts as explained by him. The sūtra cited most frequently in Platform Sūtra is the Diamond Sūtra, followed by the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa, the Lotus Sūtra, the Brahma Net Sūtra, maybe the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Awakening of Faith are also included. Hui-neng's attitude towards the interpretation of sūtras sentences is like "six classics serve as my notation". He cited Budddhist sūtra freely to confirm his own ideas. The main theory expouned by the Diamond Sūtra is the wisdom of emptiness, but Hui-neng combined the subtle ideas of true mind as Buddha-nature, sudden enlightenment of own mind with the theories of signlessness, no-thought and no-abiding, and integrated them into a very special thought system. As for the citation of other sūtras, his interpretation approach is the same. Hui-neng never rejected the teachings expressed through words and letters, but thought much of the understanding of teaching through sudden enlightenment. The sudden enlightenment meditation and the teachings of sūtras constitute a dual-track system of understanding and practice.
