
when Hui Neng was verified to be Enlightened by 5th Patriarch. He also went to hide among the bandits. there's where his real practice begin.
enlightenment has different phase. some practice until they gain insight. some gain insight already then begin practice. it's until the point when one reach zheng4 wu4(verifing)..then that's where they really gain the real benefit of full Enlightenment.
more reference for reading:
http://sg.search.yahoo.com/search?p=%E8%A7%A3%E6%82%9F+%E8%AF%81%E6%82%9F&sm=All+the+Web&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8/\