Chan enlightenment is attained through a sudden encounter; or, it may come about spontaneously after serious and sincere investigation and introspection. Chan philosophy represents a clear current that is empty yet responsive, detached and magnanimous, open and broad-minded, bright and luminous. Chan as a way of life is positive and progressive, free and easy, simple and modest, confident and comfortable. Chan as a way of thinking is to let go of selfishness, self-deceit, self-pity, self-arrogance, and self-confinement, and only then can there be complete boundless freedom. Chan methods teach people to first practice knowing the self, affirming the self, and then shattering the self, and thus the enlightened state will appear. —Master Sheng Yen—

 

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作者簡介

 

Master Sheng Yen 聖嚴法師（1930～2009年）

 

聖嚴法師1930年生於江蘇南通，1943年於狼山出家，後因戰亂投身軍旅，十年後再次披剃出家。曾於高雄美濃閉關六年，隨後留學日本，獲立正大學文學博士學位。1975年應邀赴美弘法。1989年創建法鼓山，並於2005年開創繼起漢傳禪佛教的「中華禪法鼓宗」。

 

聖嚴法師是一位思想家、作家暨國際知名禪師，曾獲臺灣《天下》雜誌遴選為「四百年來臺灣最具影響力的五十位人士」之一。著作豐富，中、英、日文著作達百餘種，先後獲頒中山文藝獎、中山學術獎、總統文化獎及社會各界的諸多獎項。

 

聖嚴法師提出「提昇人的品質，建設人間淨土」的理念，主張以大學院、大普化、大關懷三大教育推動全面教育，相繼創辦中華佛學研究所、法鼓佛教學院、僧伽大學、法鼓大學等院校，也以豐富的禪修經驗、正信的佛法觀念和方法指導東、西方人士修行。

 

法師著重以現代人的語言和觀點普傳佛法，陸續提出「心靈環保」、「四種環保」、「心五四運動」、「心六倫」等社會運動，並積極推展國際弘化工作，參與國際性會談，促進宗教交流，提倡建立全球性倫理，致力世界和平。其寬闊胸襟與國際化視野，深獲海內外肯定。

 

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 Lineage of Chan 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 Buddhist College, Dharma Drum Sangha University, and Dharma Drum 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.

Author’s Preface

Chan Enlightenment and Sitting Meditation
Chan and Enlightenment
Chan and Entanglement
True Enlightenment and Mistaken Enlightenment
Emotion and Reason: Dealing with Complex Relations
Good and Evil: Establishing Correct Values and Concepts
Talking about Dreams While in Dreams
Dharma Joy and Chan Delight
Pure Mind, Pure Land
A Pure Land on Earth
Chan: Thus Come, Thus Gone
Chan: Freedom and Liberation
Chan: Ordinary Body and Ordinary Mind
Chan: Carrying Water and Firewood
Chan: Human Consciousness
Chan: Mental Health
Chan: Peace Within and Without
Chan: You, I, They
Chan: Many, One, and Nothingness
Discrimination and Non-discrimination