在中国禅宗佛祖中,毛泽东很欣赏六祖慧能,称他是一位“使佛教中国化了”的人。毛泽东很推崇《六祖坛经》。还经常向别人宣传六祖的身世和学说,赞扬六祖对佛教的改革创新精神。毛泽东说:“慧能主张佛性人人皆有,创顿悟成佛说,一方面使繁琐的佛教简易化;一方面使印度传入的佛教中国化。因此,他被视为中国禅宗的真正创始人,也是真正的中国佛教的始祖” Among the Zen Buddhists in China, Mao Zedong admired the wisdom of the ancestral emperor of the sixth ancestor and called him “a man who has made China a Buddhist.” Mao Zedong is highly praised “the ancestral parable”. He often advocated the life experiences and theories of the sixth progenitor to others and commended the revolutionary spirit of the six progenitor on Buddhism. Mao Tse-tung said: “Huineng advocates that Buddhism is universal for all, and that enlightenment of Buddhism means simplification of cumbersome Buddhism on the one hand and localization of Buddhism from India on the other. Therefore, he is regarded as the true Zen of China Founder, is also the true ancestor of Chinese Buddhism ”