Spotless and Untainted
"Spotless and untainted" comes from the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. When the Fifth Patriarch Hongren sought a successor, he asked his disciples to each write a verse: the senior monk Shenxiu wrote "polish it diligently at all times, and let no dust alight," while the illiterate woodcutter Huineng had someone write for him, "since there is nothing at all, where can the dust alight?" Seeing Huineng's verse, the Patriarch knew he had truly awakened; that night he explained the Diamond Sutra to him and passed on the robe and bowl.
At Dongshan Temple, the Fifth Patriarch Hongren was getting old. He wanted to choose one disciple who truly understood Buddhism to inherit his robe and bowl.
The Patriarch said to his disciples, "Each of you write a verse about your understanding of the Dharma. Whoever writes the best one shall inherit my robe and bowl."
The head disciple, Shenxiu, wrote on the wall: "The body is the bodhi tree, the mind is a bright mirror's stand. At all times polish it diligently, and let no dust alight."
Everyone read it with admiration and bowed before the verse on the wall, thinking the robe and bowl would surely go to Shenxiu.
In the kitchen, a young woodcutter named Huineng was pounding rice. He could not read. When he heard the verse, he felt its meaning did not go deep enough.
Huineng asked someone to write for him. On the wall he set down his own verse: "Bodhi has no tree, nor does the bright mirror have a stand. Since there is nothing at all, where can the dust alight?"
When the Patriarch read this verse, he was delighted. Huineng was the one who truly understood the Dharma.
Late at night, the Patriarch quietly called Huineng to his room. He explained the Diamond Sutra to him and handed him the robe and bowl, the symbols of succession.
The Patriarch warned him, "To keep others from growing jealous, you must flee south tonight and practice well." Huineng bowed farewell and vanished into the night.
The mind is clear by nature — where could the dust ever settle? That is where "spotless and untainted" comes from. People also use it to describe someone of pure and honest character.
