Shenxiu was Dharma heir of Daman Hongren (601–674), honoured by Wu Zetian (r. 690–705) of the Tang dynasty, and the putative author of the Guan Xin Lun (Treatise on the Contemplation of the Mind, written between 675 and 700[2]), a text once attributed to Bodhidharma.
Traces of his activities for the next twenty-five years were lost, the Chuan Fabao Ji (傳法寶紀) (Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure) claim that Shenxiu studied the Buddhist regulations (vinaya) and ceremonies and devoted himself to the practice of meditation (dhyāna) and the development of wisdom (prajñā).
The aforementioned Chuan Fabao Ji states that he studied with Hongren for six years, thereby leaving in 657, before the arrival of the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng, with whom Shenxiu supposedly had the famous verse-writing contest.
The Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure describe Shenxiu's path being bedecked with flowers and the master riding on a litter of the type reserved for the imperial family.
[8] The Lengqie Shi Zi Ji (楞伽師資記; Records of the Lankavatara Masters) state that his last words were ch’u-ch’u chiao, which Professor Seizan Yanagida translates as “the teachings of the expedient means have been made direct” [9] The reigning Emperor Zhongzong (705-710) granted the posthumous title Datong Chanshi (大通禪師; Greatly Penetrating Dhyāna Master), only the second time in Chinese Buddhism and the first for three hundred years that this imperial honour had been bestowed.
However, although a substantial amount of Shenhui's polemics survive, he is never recorded as mentioning this verse contest, which he presumably would have done in order to bolster the case for his descent from the superior Huineng.
Whatever the case may be, historically speaking it is clear that Shenxiu was a far more respected and prominent teacher than the virtually unknown Huineng, who only became famous through later hagiography, including the Platform Sutra.
He re-interpreted the scriptures as metaphors of “skilful means” (Sanskrit: upāya; fangbian 方便) for “contemplation of the mind," (kan xin 看心) advocating the attainment of Buddhahood in all daily activities, here and now.
He taught that soap used to clean away dirt “is actually the ability of discrimination by which one can ferret out the sources of evil within oneself.” Cleaning the mouth with toothpicks is “nothing less than the Truth by which one puts an end to false speech.” Overt religious activities such as burning of incense were seen as “the unconditioned Dharma, which ‘perfumes’ the tainted and evil karma of ignorance and cause it to disappear.” [14] In meditation practice, Shenxiu taught that the student should develop the innate ability of the mind “to illuminate and understand all things” [15] and to see the emptiness of all things.
A “Northern School” text abbreviated as the Five Skillful Means (Wu Fangbian 五方便) states: “in purity there is not a single thing…Peaceful and vast without limit, its untaintedness is the path of bodhi (बोधि).
Why worry about your white hair (i.e., about your age)?”[18] Shenxiu's exhortations to constant, unremitting practice gave Shenhui the opening to attack the teaching as “gradualist” (a charge which would ironically apply to the entire Dongshan tradition of the Fourth and Fifth Patriarchs).