A Gift of Dharma for 11.13.09
Today’s quote comes to us from the Venerable Master Sheng-yen (1930-2009), one of the great contemporary Ch’an masters, who died earlier this year.
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.)
A monk from the age of thirteen until his passing at age 79, Master Sheng-yen was a Chinese lineage holder of both the Linji and Caodong Chan Buddhist schools.
He came to New York in 1976 after earning a Ph.D. in Japan. After only a year in the United States, he established the Chan Meditation Center in Queens.
As Florida State University’s Jimmy Yu noted in his rich obituary of Master Sheng-yen for the Buddhist Scholars Information Network (H-Buddhism), his collected works amount to over one-hundred volumes, “covering topics as diverse as Tiantai and Huayan philosophies, vinaya, Buddhist scriptural commentaries, Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Buddhist histories, Chan Buddhist studies, and comparative religions. He also wrote many popular books introducing Buddhist teachings to both beginners and those with a more advanced understanding of Buddhism.” The latter category of books include such wonderful titles as The Method of No-Method: The Chan Practice of Silent Illumination, Footprints in the Snow: The Autobiography of a Chinese Buddhist Monk, There Is No Suffering: A Commentary on the Heart Sutra, and Complete Enlightenment: Zen Comments on the Sutra of Complete Enlightenment.
As Yu further noted in his obituary, Master Sheng-yen was also very active in the environmental movement: “He spoke out for what he called spiritual environmentalism: the essential task of purifying our environment by first purifying our minds. This is more than just philosophy. It is a call for personal commitment coupled with practical goals that will benefit all the peoples of the world.”
Here’s the quote–from a piece he wrote called ”Being Natural” for the Summer 1995 issue of Tricycle: The Buddhist Review:
Some people think that one can become a buddha through meditation. This is wrong. The potential for Buddhahood is within your own nature. If it were true that Buddhahood depended on meditation, then if you stopped meditating after you became a buddha, you would become a common person again. The objective of practice is to be in accord with the natural way, so that your true nature can manifest itself. Just practice according to the methods taught by the Buddha and do not worry about being a success.
