All who read these lines thought that the writer was worthy of the expected reward, and the Fifth Patriarch also, appreciating the significance of the verses, said:  “If men in the future would practise Zen according to this view, they would acquire an excellent result.”  Hwui Nang, the rice-pounder, hearing of them, however, secretly remarked that they are beautiful, but hardly expressive of the Spirit of Shakya Muni, and wrote his own verses, which ran as follows: 

“There is no Bodhi-tree,[FN#44]
Nor is there a mirror stand. 
Nothing exists from the first
What can be dimmed by dust and dirt?”

[FN#44] These verses have often been misunderstood as expressive of a nihilistic view, but the real meaning is anything but nihilistic.  Mind is pure and bright in its essence.  It is always free from passions and mean desires, just as the sun is always bright, despite of cloud and mist that cover its face.  Therefore one must get an insight into this essential nature of Mind, and realize that one has no mean desires and passions from the first, and also that there is no tree of Bodhi nor the mirror of Enlightenment without him, but they are within him.

Perhaps nobody ever dreamed such an insignificant fellow as the rice-pounder could surpass the venerable scholar in a religious insight, but the Fifth Patriarch saw at once an Enlightened Soul expressed in those lines; therefore he made up his mind to give the Kachaya to the writer, in whom he found a great spiritual leader of future generations.  But he did it secretly at midnight, lest some of the disciples from envy do violence to Hwui Nang.  He was, moreover, cautious enough to advise his successor to leave the Monastery at once, and go back to the South, that the latter might conceal his Enlightenment until a time would come for his missionary activities.

10.  Flight of the Sixth Patriarch.

On the following morning the news of what had happened during the night flew from mouth to mouth, and some of the enraged brothers attempted to pursue the worthy fugitive.  The foremost among them, Hwui Ming (E-myo), overtook the Sixth Patriarch at a mountain pass not very far from the Monastery.  Then Hwui Nang, laying down the Kachaya on a rock by the road, addressed the pursuer:  “This is a mere symbol of the patriarchal authority, and it is not a thing to be obtained by force.  Take it along with you, if you long for it.”  Upon this Hwui Ming, who began to be ashamed of his base act, tried to lift the Kachaya, but in vain, for it was, as he felt, as heavy as the rock itself.  At last he said to the Sixth Patriarch:  “I have come here, my brother, not for the sake of this robe, but for the sake of the Law.  Grant my hearty desire of getting Enlightened.”  “If you have come for the Law,” replied Hwui Nang, “you must put an end to all your struggles and longings.  Think neither of good nor of evil (make your mind pure from all idle thoughts), then see how is, Hwui Ming, your original (mental) physiognomy!” Being thus questioned, Ming found in an instant the Divine Light of Buddha within himself, and became a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch.