The sixth Zen Patriarch Mikkaka was born in central India. He became a monk after following the fifth Zen Patriarch Dhrtaka and attained the Great Dharma of Eye Treasury Method from the fifth Zen Patriarch. He met his future successor in his seniority and went to Nirvana after his responsibility of teaching sentient beings was fulfilled. Please listen to Supreme Master Ching Hai tell the wonderful story about the spiritual practice of the sixth Zen Patriarch.

Since there’s no difference before and after enlightenment, why do we all want to get enlightened? Master says: we want to be enlightened because we want to be liberated from life and death and never come back and suffer again; even if we want to come back and suffer again, we still need to be enlightened, because only after enlightenment can we bear the sufferings here. After enlightenment, you will be liberated from life and death, and will be taken care of by Master no matter what you do; even if you run away, or do not like Master, etc., Master will never leave you, but you can easily leave the Mater whenever you wish. Once Master promised to save you, Master would write a letter here and send it to heaven to guarantee this person is OK, saying ‘I will take care of him; he will not do anything bad and I will take all the responsibility for what he does.’