sin.  It is no other than Buddha and Dharma.”  Thereupon the Second Patriarch saw the man was well qualified to be taught in the new faith, and converted him, giving him the name of Sang Tsung (So-san).  After two years’ instruction and discipline, he[FN#38] bestowed on Sang Tsung the Kachaya handed down from Bodhidharma, and authorized him as the Third Patriarch.  It is by Sang Tsung that the doctrine of Zen was first reduced to writing by his composition of Sin Sin[FN#39] Ming (Sin zin-mei, On Faith and Mind), a metrical exposition of the faith.

[FN#37] The so-called Three Treasures of the Buddha, the Law, and the Order.

[FN#38] The Second Patriarch died in A.D. 593—­that is, sixty-five years after the departure of the First Patriarch.

[FN#39] A good many commentaries were written on the book, and it is considered as one of the best books on Zen.

7.  The Fourth Patriarch and the Emperor Tai Tsung (Tai-so).

The Third[FN#40] Patriarch was succeeded by Tao Sin (Do-shin), who being initiated at the age of fourteen, was created the Fourth Patriarch after nine years’ study and discipline.  Tao Sin is said never to have gone to bed for more than forty years of his patriarchal career.[FN#41] In A.D. 643 the Emperor Tai Tsung (627-649), knowing of his virtues, sent him a special messenger, requesting him to call on His Majesty at the palace.  But he declined the invitation by a memorial, saying that be was too aged and infirm to visit the august personage.  The Emperor, desirous of seeing the reputed patriarch, sent for him thrice, but in vain.  Then the enraged monarch ordered the messenger to behead the inflexible monk, and bring the head before the throne, in case he should disobey the order for the fourth time.  As Tao Sin was told of the order of the Emperor, he stretched out his neck ready to be decapitated.  The Emperor, learning from the messenger what had happened, admired all the more the imperturbable patriarch, and bestowed rich gifts upon him.  This example of his was followed by later Zen masters, who would not condescend to bend their knees before temporal power, and it became one of the characteristics of Zen monks that they would never approach rulers and statesmen for the sake of worldly fame and profit, which they set at naught.

[FN#40] He died in A.D. 606, after his labour of thirteen years as the teacher.

[FN#41] He died in A.D. 651-that is, forty-five years after the death of the Third Patriarch.

8.  The Fifth and the Sixth Patriarchs.

Tao Sin transmitted the Law to Hung Jan (Ko-nin), who being educated from infancy, distinguished himself as the Abbot of the Hwang Mei Monastery at Ki Cheu.  The Fifth Patriarch, according to his biographer, gathered about him seven hundred pupils, who came from all quarters.  Of these seven hundred pupils the venerable Shang Sin (Jin-shu) was most noted for his learning and virtues, and he might have become the