The Platform Sutra’s “thirty-six pairs of opposites” concept is a continuation of the “middle way” idea of the Buddhist tradition’s Madhyamaka-śāstra and the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra as well as the “dharma-gate of non-duality” concept of the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa- sūtra. It also contains the “characteristics of phenomena” concept of the Consciousness-only school. This concept reflects the traditional Confucian idea of “listening to both sides and choosing the middle course” as well as the Taoist concept of “mutual incompatibility and mutual generation.” These concepts all combine to form the “thirty-six pairs of opposites.” The importance of this teaching is shown in how it is the basis for the transmission of teachings from master to disciple in Zen Buddhism. The main themes of the entire Platform Sutra have been compatibly intermixed with traditional Chinese literature and art to such an extent that it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This shows that Buddhism has an inseparable relationship with traditional Chinese thought, literature, and art.

六祖壇經(Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch), 三十六對法(the thirty-six pairs of opposites), 中道(middle course), 不二法門(the only way), 二道相因(Due to the two-phase)