Live a life of ease and freedom, on the basis of peace and solidity, with the principle of being less agitated and affected.
Many masters in the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism emphasized practice as daily living. Whether monastic or lay, a follower uses the concepts and methods of Chan in daily life. By doing so, one experiences calmness and ease while being spontaneous and lively amidst mundane reality. Chan is not a religion, not a philosophy, and surely not mysterious or weird sorcery. It is the wisdom of living, the cultivation of body and mind, and a principle and guideline for spiritual development. It is also the best method for influencing and purifying the environment.--Master Sheng Yen
●作者簡介:
Master Sheng Yen (1930-2009)Master Sheng Yen was born in 1930 and became a monk in 1943. He conducted a six-year solitary retreat, after which he went to Japan for further study and obtained a doctorate in Buddhist literature at Rissho University. In 1975, he began sharing the Dharma in the US, and in 1989, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain organization. In 2005, he established the Dharma Drum Lineage of Chan Buddhism, as an effort to reinvent Chinese Buddhism.
He authored more than 100 publications in Chinese, English, and Japanese, and received the Sun Yat-sen Art and Literary Award, the Sun Yat-sen Academic Award, and the Presidential Cultural Award, among other honorary awards.
He proposed the vision of "uplifting the character of humanity and building a pure land on earth," founded the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, and Dharma Drum Sangha University. Experienced in Chan using correct approaches, he guided practice in both the West and East. Popularizing the Dharma in modern language, the Master initiated movements including Protecting the Spiritual Environment, Four Kinds of Environmentalism, the Fivefold Spiritual Renaissance Campaign, and the Six Ethics of the Mind. He shared the Dharma globally with a broadminded perspective, winning him worldwide recognition.
雪竇重顯(980-1052)為北宋時期禪宗雲門派下重要禪師,透過雪竇七集的研究,我們可得知雪竇以多元的開堂、上堂、示眾、小參、晚參、勘辯、拈古、室中舉古、代別和頌古等方式教育其弟子。藉由這些方式,雪竇門人或可直接聽到雪竇說法,習知禪宗典籍中禪師與僧人或居士之對答,或是藉由發問而親自接受到雪竇的回應。這種注重長老住持的引導,以及和弟子的互動模式,是宋代禪門修行所發展出來的特別教育方式。
此外,本書認為雪竇七集中雪竇提舉古則的方式,削弱了記傳體中屬於特定時空人物的資訊,或是禪師的叮嚀囑咐說法後,形成了具有特殊文字效果的古則公案文體。從修禪的角度來說,這種經過修改的古則公案,常戛然而止於一句頗具震撼力的結語,使得這種古則公案,成為非常合適參究的內容。
●作者簡介:
黃繹勳
美國維吉尼亞大學宗教學博士,現任佛光大學佛教學系副教授,主要著作有Integrating Chinese Buddhism: A Study of Yongming Yanshou's Guanxin Xuanshu (2005) 和《宋代禪宗辭書《祖庭事苑》之研究》(2011)。