對於研究隋唐佛學而言，禪宗的興起自是一大事件，而慧能與神秀是標誌著禪宗分流為南宗與北宗的關鍵人物，《壇經》一書記錄了慧能何以得五祖弘忍真傳的故實，後來的燈錄也記載了當時慧能與神秀的六祖之爭，並延及神會與普寂的七祖之爭。然而揆諸史實，唐代中葉之後，七祖之爭才是當是最激烈之舉，神會與普寂固然爭禪門七祖的法統地位，而後來的懷讓與行思也有七祖之稱，甚至仰山慧寂也曾被認為可遙繼慧能而成為七祖。一時之間七祖山、七祖寺、七祖塔之稱遠多於六祖之名，然而在宋朝的燈錄中，祖統之稱只到六祖慧能，以下只稱嗣法，而《壇經》迭經修訂，慧能的傳記也越失真實性，這之間的變化都當從七祖之爭談起，有七祖之爭而向上有六祖之爭的傳說。 The Zen Buddhism that emerged in Tang Dynasty was an important happening to most scholars that studied Buddhism in Sui-Tang Dynasty. Hui-neng(慧能)and Shen-hsiu(神秀) were the key masters that developed Southern and Northern Zen Buddhism. The Platform sutra by Sixth Patriarch recorded how Hongren(弘忍) master passed down his dharma of mind to Hui-neng and announced that Hui-neng received the status of Sixth Patriarch. From then on, other Zen masters scrambled for the position of Seventh Patriarch. However, the transmission of the lamp only kept track of six patriarchs, the other monks were only pupils that simply inherited the dharma, and there was no more patriarch mentioned. After Song Dynasty, the contention for Seventh Patriarch resulted in the various narration of the life story of Hui-neng. Those stories were distortion by Zen masters who wanted to emphasize the importance of Hui-neng.
