Rev. Danny Fisher

I was very saddened to hear the news that Venerable Master Sheng-yen, one of the great contemporary Ch’an masters, died today at the age of 79. In modern Taiwan, Master Sheng-yen’s Dharma Drum Mountain is one of four organizations doing a rather incredible amount of work to promote Buddhism there. (The other three are Master Cheng Yen’s Tzu Chi Foundation, Master Wei Chueh’s Chung Tai Shan, and Master Hsing Yun’s Fo Guang Shan.) I very much appreciated his teachings whenever I read them, and will miss seeing his face in photographs and video footage. If you’re interested to know more, I recommend going over to the Buddhist Scholars Information Network (H-Buddhism), where Florida State University’s Jimmy Yu offers a rich obituary that includes Master Sheng-yen’s “death poem” (verse written by an East Asian Buddhist monastic at the time of his or her death):

無事忙中老，

空裡有哭笑，

本來沒有我，

生死皆可拋。

Busy with nothing, growing old.

Within emptiness, weeping, laughing.

Intrinsically, there is no “I.”

Life and death, thus cast aside.

Here are the latest headlines on Burma:

This from Amnesty International:

Amnesty International USA, in partnership with the Save Darfur Coalition, is calling on President Barack Obama to turn his promises on Darfur into concrete action during his administration’s first 100 days. We’re collecting one million signatures to deliver to the White House to reinforce the need for Darfur to be a top-priority issue on the Obama administration agenda.

Urge President Obama to keep his promise here.

Urge Gov. George Perdue to support clemency for Troy Davis here.