Later it became the source of the Soto, Rinzai, and other schools.
,
First the Sixth Patriarch is talking about real/unreal and next he is talking about activity/inactivity. When he says true inactivity, the word, “true” is about “real/unreal.” In Section 46, he spoke about pairs such as form and emptiness, activity and tranquility, purity and impurity, the ordinary man and the sage. That is how he explains our contradictory views of ourselves. So there is some difficulty with the translation, falsehood. An example is this flower in a vase, and that flower in a painting. We say this one is “real,” that is “unreal.” Like, “A dream appears as the real thing,” or, “A reflection of the moon is not the true moon.” It is the same as your reflection in the mirror. In a way, when I say, “This is a book,” I am reflecting myself when I name it, “book.” This “book” is actually different from the meaning I put on it. One way to talk about this is saying that the disciples who cried when the Sixth Patriarch said he was going to leave the world were “wrong” and Shenhui understood the “truth.” Yet, the real problem is whether “I” am I. Of course, using “horizontal” logic, this question is nonsense. I see this question as “transcendental (vertical)” logic. The written “I” stands up. It doesn’t lie down along the line of the page. It makes a strong wedge wherever it appears. If it is on the ground, it sticks, if in the water, it dips into the water.