Dharma Library

This dialogue is reprinted with permission from the Institute of Chung Hua Buddhist Culture in New York. It was first published in Chan Magazine Volume 12, Number 4, Fall 1992.

Question: How is Chan similar or different from psychotherapy? Is the relationship between student and Master similar to that of patient and therapist?

Shifu: There are similarities and differences. The goals of Chan are…

Excerpts from a talk given at the Chan meditation Center, New York, edited with permission by John Crook. Published in Chan Magazine 12.1. Winter 1992 pp18-21

Even if an iron wheel whirls in your head perfect clear samadhi and wisdom are never lost.

You cannot cling to the idea that the genuine wisdom of enlightenment has concrete existence. Yet, if you accept and realise Dharma, then you will…

Lecture by Master Sheng-yen at the University of Toronto on October 18th 1991. Edited text by permission from Chan Newsletter No.92, May 92

In ancient Chinese monasteries a practitioner's time was divided between meditation, attending Dharma talks and daily work. Morning and evening was spent in meditation, daytime was for working. We are somewhat ignorant of the daily schedule in early Chan…

Lecture by Master Sheng-yen on October 13, 1991. Reprinted with permission from Chan Newsletter 89, November 1991.

The world we live in has a genuine need for Buddhadharma. There are many fine things in the modern world, but there is much that is less than desirable. The world is becoming smaller and more crowded and people are getting busier and busier.

As a child, I read a Chinese novel called…

Edited version of a lecture delivered by Master Sheng-yen at Brooklyn College on November 8, 1990. From Chan Newsletter No.84, March 1991, with permission.

Buddhism generally divides human consciousness into False Mind and True Mind. False Mind, sometimes called the illusory mind, refers to the mental activity of ordinary sentient beings. This mind is filled with innumerable vexations that arise…

A special lecture given by Master Sheng-yen at the Chan Center, New York, on 4th November 1990. First published in Chan Newsletter No. 98, July 93 and reprinted here, slightly edited, with permission.

Chan is "thus come, thus gone." Everything is Chan; this is "thus come." Nothing is Chan; this is "thus gone." Today I want to investigate these words. I think they will give you new insights into…

A lecture given by Master Sheng-yen at the Washington University, St. Louis Missouri on April 17th, 1990. Presented in edited form with the permission of the Institute of Chung Hwa Buddhist Culture, Elmhurst, New York. Originally printed in Chan Newsletter, May 1990.

You may have the impression that, having written numerous books on the subject, I know a great deal about Buddhism. But throughout…

Talks given by Master Sheng-yen on the first two evenings of the Chan retreat in April 1989.

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I have only been in your country for a day, but already I have learnt something about you people. You have a love for ancient things. This house is hundreds of years old, you treasure the worm-eaten beams and the crumbling stone walls, the bent timbers of the old barn. In Taiwan we are busily engaged…

Reprinted with permission from Chan Newsletter, 69, 1988 and lightly edited. Based on a talk given on JHC's first visit to Shifu.

Ananda asks the Buddha about the nature of the self. Is there an all-encompassing ego, a true self that unites everyone in the world, or is there a self at all? I'm going to talk about this question and discuss how it is dealt with by "outer path" systems of thought…

A practitioner should not feel proud if a master thinks highly of her, wishes to accept her, and shows affection for her. If he or she is driven away by the master, the disciple should feel no hatred. Similarly the master should not feel proud even if surrounded by many followers. Nor should there be unhappiness if all the practitioners leave.

Maintaining such an attitude of equanimity is not…