On January 22, 1931, the Buddhist master, educator, and Buddhist Master of Propagation Shengyan was born. Doctor of Risho University, Japan. He is also the 50th descendant of Zen Cao Dongzong , the 57th descendant of Rinzai Sect, and the founder of Taiwan Dharma Gushan. The philosophy promoted by Master
is to improve the quality of people, build a pure land on earth, accomplish the task of care with education, and achieve the goal of education with care. He has published nearly a hundred books in Asia, America, and Europe in three languages: Chinese, Japanese and English. Among his books, the most circulated book is "Buddhism of True Faith", which has exceeded 3 million copies. The most translated version is "Inscription of Faith", which has ten types. The series with the largest number of books are "Huanyou Autobiography" and " "Guide to Meditation", these works are welcomed by readers. At 4 pm on February 3, 2009, Master Shengyan passed away and lived 78 years old.
Master Shengyan was born on the fourth day of December of the lunar calendar in the 19th year of the Republic of China in Xiaoniang Port in front of Langshan Mountain in Nantong, Jiangsu. His grandfather Zhang Xifan, grandmother Jiang, father Zhang Xuancai, mother Chen. There are six brothers and sisters in the master family. Which is the best? His mother, Zhang, was born at the age of forty-two, with three brothers and two sisters.
In the summer of the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), the master was fourteen years old. A neighbor named Dai had traveled from Langshan in Jiangbei. It was said that the abbot of Guangjiao Temple in Langshan asked him to find novices in Jiangnan. Being passive, on the other hand, he voluntarily handed the eight-character birthday to this lieutenant Dai and sent it to Langshan for instructions. In the fall of the year, he also took it to Langshan to become a monk.
On the north bank of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, from Xuzhou in the north to Chongming in the south, with the exception of Yuntai Mountain in Lianyungang, only about nine kilometers south of Nantong City, there are five hills facing the Yangtze River. From right to left: Huangnishan, Maanshan, Langshan in the middle, Jianshan and Junshan. Among the five mountains, the Langshan Lingfeng is the only one that is regarded as a natural Jiangfang fortress by ancient military strategists. It is also a Buddhist resort for people in northern Jiangsu.
Master Shengyan lived in Langshan only until October of the 33rd year of the Republic of China (1944). He went to Shanghai before returning to Langshan until the spring of the 35th year of the Republic of China (1946). He left to Shanghai again, and has not returned to Nantong ever since. And when he was about to leave at the end, Langshan had been repeatedly garrisoned by the anti-Japanese national army at that time, and Langshan had no longer seen its former prosperity.
Master Shengyan’s Buddhist knowledge is rooted in Buddhism. After six months of being a monk on Langshan, in addition to the timely supervision of the elders of the generations, there is also a master who teaches the Zen Men’s Daily Chanting, and a lay layman who teaches the Four Books and Five Classics. Restraint. After that, I went to the Dasheng Temple in Shanghai, where I chanted sutras, worshiped, and confessed to the donor’s home for blessing, prolonging life and recommending the dead every day. In order to study, in the spring of the 36th year of the Republic of China (AD 1947), the Master left Shanghai Dasheng Temple and went to Jing'an Temple and Buddhist College, also located in Shanghai, as a monk.
Jing’an Temple Buddhism College courses are about middle school to university level, English and mathematics are from elementary school to junior high school, Chinese is high school level, and Buddhism teaches "Mahayana Awakening of Faith", "Vatican Net Bodhisattva Commandments", "India" "History of Buddhism", "The Outline of Eight Sects", "Ode to the Rules of the Eight Consciousnesses", etc. Master
lived in Jing'an Temple for five consecutive semesters until he joined the army in 1949.
Master Shengyan mentioned in his autobiography "The History of Learning and Thinking" that he chose to join the army in 1949, and finally chose a communications company. The main reason is as described in the book:
"In the social and national situation at that time, apart from having the money to prepare air tickets and ferry tickets to leave the mainland, entering the army was the easiest way to Taiwan. I had no believers, no savings, and I could not get the consent and funding of the commander. , So I think twice, and only choose the way to join the army. The officer at the recruiting station explained that as long as the number of recruits is full, he will immediately sail to Taiwan to receive training for the new army; it is probably inconvenient to see that some of us are monks. Go directly to the battlefield to charge and fight, so I suggest that we do logistics work in the army."
is another way of life in the army life, because the mage proactively declared in the army: "I am a monk, I will have to As a monk! "So although life in the army is hard, but there is still room for self-reliance on holidays. That year, I boarded a boat on the Bund Pier in Shanghai on May 19 for Taiwan. After a two-day voyage, Disembarked in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Afterwards, after a night of movement, they were stationed in Hsinchu. As the troops moved and stationed several times, in June 1950, they were assigned to the 1016 regiment of the 339 division by the sea in Jinshan Township, Taipei County. I have lived in Jinshan, Shimen, and the coastal areas of Xiaokeelung for more than two years. After the reorganization of the army and the promotion examination, I went to the command of the Second Army Corps in Fengshan Town, Kaohsiung County as a warrant officer. It was June 1954. Month.
During this period of time, one after another published articles in journals such as "Monk World", "Lion", "Contemporary Youth"... etc. In 1953, I signed up for the Chinese Literature and Art Correspondence School sponsored by Dr. Li Chendong to read novels. The teachers at the time included six or seven famous contemporary literary and artistic writers such as Xie Bingying, Shen Ying, and Zhao Youpei. The works created during this period were only published in the two short stories of "Mother" and "Father" in the "Literature" magazine. Later, it was included in the "Buddhist Culture and Literature" published by the Buddhist Cultural Service. Since Wen Bifengjian was transferred to the Ministry of National Defense in the fall of 1956, he also started to read and publish a lot of articles. During this time, I met Master Taixu "Man becomes Buddha" and "Human Buddhism" by Master Yin Shun , also wrote many articles on Buddhism, and became the main concept of Buddhism and Buddhism in the future.
from 5, 1949 He joined the army on August 8 and was formally discharged from the army in January 1960. This period of his military career surpassed the years of the young monk of the mage, but in his heart he always believed that he was a monk. After he was discharged from the army, the mage Shengyan thought about the future. Inspired by the monk Yuan, he determined to become a monk again. This time he became a monk with the old man from Stirrup Lang Dongchu (1907-1977) as the shaman, and he gave the school name "Huikong Shengyan".
东The old man at the beginning was a student of Master Taixu. He also served as the abbot of Dinghui Temple of Cao Dongzong, a famous temple in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. He is also the 50th generation descendant of the founder of Cao Dongzong under Dongshan Liangqi. Ning Temple attended school and also became a monk in the Putuo Mountain of Linji Zong, so one person inherited the two schools of Caodong Zong and Linji Zong.
Shengyan Master received the two lines of inheritance from the old man of Dongchu, in December 1978 On the 5th, the spiritual source monk who inherited the Linji patriarchal line gave the line to Master Shengyan. The name of the line is "Knowing the strength but the soft", and he gave a copy of the line of inheritance "Star Lantern Collection" to make it match The Linji sect of Yongquan Temple in Gushan has inherited the Dharma lineage, and at the same time became the 57th generation heir of Linji Yixuan. The old man in the early Eastern period advocated the establishment of "Human Buddhism" to inherit the legacy of Taixu Master. Co-organized the monthly magazine "Life" with several young Buddhists. When the master voted for the elderly in Dongchu, the editor-in-chief of "Life" asked to resign Therefore, the master became the editor-in-chief from the contributor and served it for two years. In August of the lunar calendar in 1961, at the Haihui Temple in Badu, Keelung, the master asked to receive the three altars of novices, monks, and bodhisattvas, under the seat of the elder Nengxin (1900-1988) of Daoyuan, to protect the country. And was chosen as the novice leader.
In the autumn of 1961, after receiving the Three Altars of Ordination, he returned to the Beitou Chinese Buddhist Cultural Center in late October. After less than a week, he resigned to the old man from Dongchu and also resigned from the editor of the monthly magazine Life. Then the master went to the "Daxiongshan Chaoyuan Temple" in Guanglin, Meinong Town, Kaohsiung County to practice Buddhist scriptures and precepts. During this period of time, I have studied the "Four Aham Sutras" related to commandments, which means: "Chang Aham Sutras", "Central Aham Sutras", "Zengyi Aham Sutras", and "Mis Aham Sutras", Laid the foundation of discipline in the future. During this period, the master published an article on discipline in "Buddhist Culture and Literature": In June 1961, he published "After Reading the Upasai Precepts: How to Become an Ideal Bodhisattva at Home"; in March 1962, he published "Hong Yi After reading the thirty-three types of laws by the masters", in this article, I have the following views on the bodhisattva vows:
" "Yingluo Sutra" says that one who has precepts is a bodhisattva, and one who has no precepts is an outside way. Those who violate the precepts are better than those who don’t do without precepts. Those who have received the bodhisattva precepts and have developed bodhichitta, even if they violate the precepts, although the crime of violating the precepts is serious and will be punished, it will be due to the bodhisattva precept , And you can decide to become a real bodhisattva, and even attain the supremacyThe Buddha...so I hope that the disciples in Canada will be the most minded and ask to receive the bodhisattva vows. After "
, the "Outline of Discipline Study" was written with 190,000 words and handed over to the Buddhist Cultural Service Office of Master Xingyun for publication. The book is divided into seven chapters in order: "Introduction", "The Three Treasures of Conversion", "Five Commandments and Ten Kinds" , "Eight Passages", "Six Laws of Novices and Ten Precepts", "Outline of Bhikshuni Precepts", "Outline of Bodhisattva Precepts", this book has also been reprinted and circulated.
Facing the Buddhism environment is polluted and misunderstood by the teachings inside and outside , Master Shengyan was grateful for the bad environment and the lack of doctrine, so he wrote articles to rectify the Dharma. In the early days of that stage, Master Zhuyun publicly gave a public lecture on the comparison of Buddhism and Christianity in the park. When Master Zhuyun was in poor health, he stopped fighting. At the same time, another elder, Master Yinshun, was originally a Christian. After 30 years of studying Buddhism, someone came to him to challenge him and teach him. , Elder Yinshun wrote two long articles: "God loves the world" and "Rediscussion of God loves the world". Later, because of a priest Du and Wei, the Buddhist belief was incorporated into the belief in Moon God, which triggered An article "Faith of the Eastern Pure Land". The "Comparison of Buddhism and Christianity" talked by monk
in Tainan Park, which was later recorded by Li Zhigang, became a trend in Buddhism in the 1950s. Later, there was a position in "The Life of Christianity". Mr. Wu Enpu, a Christian who is the lead author of the Bimonthly, wrote a book "Refuting Buddhism and Christianity Comparison" on Master Zhuyun’s remarks. The content contained many criticisms, and this "Refutation of Buddhism and Christianity Comparison" was transferred to the master’s After reading the scriptures, the Master thought that there were many biased arguments, so he took ten days to write the book "Comments on the Comparison of Buddhism and Christianity" for the essay, to ease the biased statements.
, Successively wrote an article "On the religious beliefs of Hu Shi’s thought" in [[1959], referring to Mr. Chen Hu Shi’s religious views; writing "On the similarities and differences between Buddhism and Christianity" to restore Hong Kong Daofengshan "Christianity" The "Jingfeng" magazine published by the "China Religious Research Society" confounded Buddhism and Christianity, and then published another article "Rediscussing the Similarities and Differences between Buddhism and Christianity" to face it.
was between 1964 and 1966. Several articles were written one after another, which were delivered to Buddhist magazines such as "Hai Chao Yin", "Jue Shi", "Hong Kong Buddhism", etc. After 1967, they were published in a volume by the Buddhist Cultural Service Office, titled For the "Research on Christianity", it is mentioned in the "Preface":
Because of Christianity’s attacking Buddha, breaking the Buddha, and calling for challenges, I became interested in the study of Christianity. As a result, I wrote a book. So The hero of this book should be the Christians who attack Buddhism. For the purpose of writing this book, I have read more than 50 related Chinese and Western works. My attitude is to introduce the religion of Westerners based on the opinions of Western scholars. Use Christian orthodox materials to explain the true nature of Christian content. At the same time, I have done objective and rational guidance on some important issues between Buddhism and Christianity. I don’t want to promote Christianity, nor do I intend to attack Christianity. Calmly analyze and study, and use a historical perspective to investigate Christianity. The emergence of the book
has received positive and negative reactions from the religious world, and Christian fundamentalists have tried their best to attack it. Since then, monographs on religion have been published successively: "Comparative Religion" was published in 1968, and the first volume of "The General History of World Buddhism" was published in August 1969.
On March 14, 1969, Master Sheng Yan left Taipei for Tokyo without any support. When I first arrived in Tokyo, I registered at the School of Buddhism at Risho University in Shinagawa Ward. At that time, the Master was thirty and nine years old.
In 1971, Master Shengyan confirmed his master's thesis: "Research on Mahayana Zhikan Method". The content of the thesis is divided into three chapters: 1. The organization and content of Mahayana Zhikan Method, 2. The authenticity and falsehood of Mahayana Zhikan Method The author, 3. The basic idea of the Mahayana meditation method. After the paper was completed, I asked Mr. Tatsugen Sato and Mr. Shingen Ushiba from Komazawa University to retouch it, and send a copy to Taiwan for publication in the magazine "Hai Chao Yin". The whole book was translated into Chinese in October 1971 and published by Dongchu Publishing House in 1979.
In 1973, a retired professor at Risho University, Mr. Shingen Niuchang, translated Master Yin Shun’s "History of Chinese Zen" into Japanese and sent it to Taisho University to apply for a doctorate. Because Master Shengyan was with Mr. Zhenxuan NiuchangClose, so he did the work for him. In the same year, Master Yin Shun's monograph passed the doctoral application of Taisho University, which also contributed to the birth of China's first doctoral monk. For this reason, Master Sheng Yan described it in the text-"The Epoch-making Doctor Bhikkhu". After graduating from his master's degree, Master Shengyan chose Master Wei Yi as the research topic of his doctoral dissertation. The reason is as stated in the book:
1. Master Wei Yi is one of the four masters of the late Ming Dynasty. He is not only a scholar. In fact, he is also a practitioner. The so-called action solution is the standard principle of Buddhism.
2. Everyone thinks that Master Hui Yi is the last great achiever of Chinese Tiantai Sect. I am very longing for the ideological and religious concepts advocated by the Tiantai Sect and the dual movement of sedition and observation. Because this is the complementation of doctrine and Zen, which is exactly the kind of spirit that Buddhism needs today.
3. When I chose the topic of my thesis, I asked my advisor Yukio Sakamoto for advice. He said: He wanted to write, but there was still no news!
So, in 1972, he began to collect thesis materials. However, in 1973, the advisory professor Professor Sakamoto passed away, and the thesis advisor was taken over by Kanakura and Yosaki Nomura as the associate advisors. The first chapter of the thesis is about the background of the era of Yi Zhixu, the second chapter is about Zhixu’s career, the third chapter is about Zhixu’s beliefs and practice, the fourth chapter is about Zhixu’s writings, and the fifth chapter It is to discuss the formation and development of Zhixu's thought. In January 1975, the Master presented his doctoral dissertation. After strict examination by Lizheng University, it was successfully passed on February 12th. On the morning of March 17 of the same year, he was awarded the "Degree Record" (that is, the certificate for conferring a doctorate). The official publication of the paper was not published in Japan until November 23 of that year.
was invited back to Taiwan to participate in the "Fourth Overseas Scholars National Construction Research Association" at the stage when the Master published his thesis. Three questions were raised during the meeting:
1. Religious education should be incorporated into the university education system.
2. Social education should pay attention to the rectification of weathered areas and the guidance of the underworld.
3. Pay attention to spiritual education, that is, humanities and technology should develop in parallel.
Although no concrete results were achieved at the meeting, the Buddhist community at the time had a polarizing reaction to the appointment of a doctor among monks. In addition, the Master thought that there was not much he could do at that stage, so after returning to Tokyo at the end of the conference, he was invited by the layman Shen Jiazhen from the United States to teach in the United States on December 10, 1975.
The Buddhist Association of the United States (The Buddhist Association of the United States) in the United States was organized by layman Shen Jiazhen. Through the arrangement, the masters were arranged to the Dajue Temple in the Bronx District of New York City. The Master lived in Dajue Temple for less than two years. However, because Westerners emphasize reality, the promotion of Buddhism focuses on the practice of tantric mantras and meditation. Until now, Westerners still regard Tibet's Secret and Japanese Zen as their mainstream in contacting Buddhism and practicing Buddhism.
In December 1977, the old man of Dongchu, the master of Master Shengyan passed away in Taiwan. After receiving the news, the Master immediately returned to China to take care of the funeral affairs. He was ordered to inherit the dojo and became the head of the Chinese Buddhist Culture Center. , So he traveled between the United States and Taiwan, taking care of both east and west. After that, the Master established a Zen Center in New York, compiled a book of "The Experience of Zen" for the needs of teaching, and successively issued two English periodicals: "Ch&39;an Magazine" ("Zen Magazine" quarterly) and " Ch&39;an Newsletter (Monthly of "Zen Newsletter"). By the end of 1992, "Zen Magazine" had already issued 58 issues, and "Zen Newsletter" had also issued 96 issues. Since 1978, the Chinese Buddhist Cultural Center and Nongchan Temple in Beitou, Taiwan have held meditation activities for junior college students and general public, and successively published seven books on Zen, including "The Life of Zen "Smile in the Flower", "Zen and Enlightenment", etc., because of their profound strength in meditation, many people at home and abroad regard Master Shengyan as a Zen master.
In 1989, due to the rapid development of various educational, propagating and cultural undertakings of the Chinese Buddhist Research Institute and Nongchan Temple, the venue was no longer sufficient, so Master Shengyan built a world-wide education park in Jinshan Township, Taipei County ——"The "Fagushan World Buddhist Education Park" specifically implements the three major educations of graduate school, universalization, and major care, as a base for realizing the concept of "improving the quality of people and building a pure land on earth". In 2005, the first phase of the construction project of the park was completed, and the grand opening ceremony was held.
80-year-old Fagushan spiritual leader, Master Shengyan, was admitted to the National Taiwan University Hospital for relapse of kidney disease on January 5, 2009. Fagushan disciples held a 10-day blessing ceremony in a row to pray for the Master. The believers attended the meeting from afar and prayed for a speedy recovery from Master Shengyan.
Master Sheng Yan suffered from a malignant tumor on his left kidney. The left kidney was surgically removed, which caused serious deterioration in renal function and caused anemia. He required dialysis and was admitted to National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment. After that, he fixed his kidney dialysis three times a week and returned to National Taiwan University for follow-up. treatment.
When Jet Li paid a visit to Master Sheng Yan at the end of 2007, Sheng Yan disclosed to the public that he was suffering from kidney disease for the first time. At that time, he said that "I am ready to die at any time". This remark was quite unwilling to hear from the believers. On New Year's Eve in 2008, Sheng Yan explained for the first time that his left kidney had been removed, and he refused to have a kidney transplant because he felt that one kidney would be a waste. It is very uncompassionate and it is better to give it to those who need it.
After receiving regular check-ups at the hospital on December 31, 2008, Sheng Yan was found to be suffering from urinary tract-related cancer, and was finally hospitalized under the advice of medical staff. He died at 4 pm on February 3, 2009. He was 78 years old.
