I have been thinking about Hui-neng before and after the exposure, actually two exposures to that sutra. What was his demeanor, how did he move through space and time. Antedotal evidence suggests that he was humble and in his first meeting with Hongren, nimble in response to questions of the Fifth Patriarch (remember the practice of numbering patriarchs came much later and was introduced for following to claim direct unbroken lines back to Shakyamuni Buddha).
The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Ancestor begins with Huineng’s first person account of his dharma journey, including two awakenings (first when hearing a monk in a marketplace in the South chanting The Diamond Sutra, and then in Hongren’s monastery in the North when Hongren recites The Diamond Sutra to Huineng late in the night), and a bunch of dharma drama.
The second section of the text, “Prajna,” unpacks and applies the essential teaching of The Diamond Sutra that led to Huineng’s second awakening: “Abide nowhere and let the mind come forth.”
So we go from sutra to sutra (Diamond – Heart by way of a wise teacher and an awakened student in the stillness and quiet of a late night meaningful conversation.
My shorthand version of “Abide nowhere and let the mind come forth”, is abiding nowhere is mind that has stopped coming and going– true mind/self.
Huineng was ready, whatever that means, when he heard the gatha. I suggest he was not attached at that moment and being completely open saw (Right View) into the non-abiding of emptiness. Recall Buddha would proclaim he stumbled upon the Three Laws like a person tripping on a vine that has always been on the path but not experienced.
Thoughts arise naturally as meditation is allowing not suppressing, what matters is not attaching, the no-thought is the mind clearly seeing without grasping.
Try this exercise. Think about your experience of finding your/the-way. Allowing and unfolding without assessment is core. Allowing does not presuppose, assess, nor post evaluate. What does the mind do in this moment? Wait and see.
Also has sudden enlightenment happened with ancestors other than Hui-neng?
Again, contact me if you wish to explore some more…