The sixth patriarch Huineng, on the other hand, describes the fifth dhyana level in this way: as long as there is no attachment or self-centered thought in the mind, it is liberation or sudden enlightenment. In Huineng's Platform Sutra, there is this very important sentence: "Prajna and dhyana are the same. Where there is prajna, there is driyana; where there is dhyana, there is prajna." This view characterizes the school of sudden enlightenment.

In the gradual enlightenment school, one must sequentially cultivate dhyana for prajna to arise. On the other hand, the sixth patriarch talks about dhyana and prajna arising simultaneously, and more importantly, says that sitting meditation is not necessary as long as one's mind and body are not in conflict or contradiction. When that happens, it is the Dhyana of the Patriarchs. Such a person is always in dhyana--while eating, sleeping, working. The idea is that life itself is dhyana.