Q0468

Huineng

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

Who would have thought that self-nature is originally pure; who would have thought that self-nature is originally neither born nor destroyed.
Thinker Huineng
School Zen
Source Platform Sutra
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Platform Sutra, within the tradition of Zen. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of self, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Huineng's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: Huineng. (n.d.). Who would have thought that self-nature is originally pure; who would have thought that self-nature is originally neither born nor destroyed. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0468

MLA: Huineng. “Who would have thought that self-nature is originally….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0468.

Chicago: Huineng. “Who would have thought that self-nature is originally….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0468.

Same thinker

More from Huineng

  1. Bodhi originally has no tree; the bright mirror is not a stand. Fundamentally there is not a single thing — where could dust alight?

All quotations by Huineng

Same theme

More on self

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. I searched for myself.
  4. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
  5. Claim yourself for yourself.

Browse the self theme