電子檔下載 Other English Publications by Chan Master Sheng Yen Getting the Buddha Mind Faith in Mind The Poetry of Enlightenment The Infinite Mirror The Sword of Wisdom Zen Wisdom Dharma Drum Complete Enlightenment There Is No Suffering Subtle Wisdom Illuminating Silence Hoofprint of the Ox Song of Mind Attaining the Way Orthodox Chinese Buddhism A Journey of Learning and Insight Chan and Enlightenment The World of Chan Liberated in Stillness and Motion Chan Master Sheng Yen SHENG YEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION Taipei & New York 2017 SHENG YEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION 2F., No. 48‒6, Section 2, Ren Ai Road, Taipei 10056, Taiwan tel +886‒2‒2397‒9300 fax +886‒2‒2393‒5610 www.shengyen.org.tw acknowledgments Project Coordinated by Venerable Guo Chan Translated by Hue-ping Chin, Ph.D. Bilingual Reviewed by Jerry Wang, Ph.D. Reviewed by Wei Tan, Ph.D. Editing by Ernest Heau Book & Cover Design by Shaun Chung Cover Photo by Dominik Schröder Copyright © 2017 Sheng Yen Education Foundation. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. First Edition October 2017 Printed in Taiwan Common Questions in the Practice of Buddhism by Chan Master Sheng Yen isbn 978‒986‒6443‒92‒3 North America distributor: Chan Meditation Center 90‒56 Corona Ave. Elmhurst, New York 11373, USA tel +1 718‒592‒6593 fax +1 718‒592‒0717 www.chancenter.org CONTENTS Preface to the English Edition ........................................................................ ix Author’s Preface .............................................................................................. xii 1. Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels ............................................................ 1 2. Seeing Through Red Dust .......................................................................... 4 3. Requirements for Practicing Buddhism ................................................. 10 4. Practicing Buddhism at Home ................................................................ 14 5. The Proper Lifestyle for Practicing Buddhism....................................... 18 6. The Buddhist View on Diet ...................................................................... 21 7. The Precept against Killing ...................................................................... 25 8. Freeing Captive Animals .......................................................................... 30 9. Buddhists Engaging in Business .............................................................. 37 10. Feelings and Affection in Buddhist Life ................................................. 43 11. Funeral Services for Buddhists ................................................................ 47 12. Conducting Buddha Activities for the Deceased .................................. 51 13. Lay People Receiving Gifts from Monasteries ....................................... 55 14. Setting up a Buddhist Altar at Home ...................................................... 58 15. Holding Buddhist Liturgy Practices at Home ....................................... 63 16. Avoiding Calamity and Achieving Longevity ........................................ 68 17. Relying on Empowerment ....................................................................... 70 18. Taking on Karmic Retribution for Others ............................................. 73 19. Reciting Mantras ....................................................................................... 77 20. Buddhism and Belief in Predestined Fate ............................................... 82 21. Convincing People to Believe in Karma ................................................. 87 22. How Buddhism Views Fortune Telling and Feng Shui ......................... 91 23. Reciting the Buddha’s Name to Redeem Sins ........................................ 96 24. Rebirth in the Pure Land Carrying One’s Karma .................................. 99 25. Reciting the Buddha’s Name and the State of One-Mind ................... 102 26. Seeing Auspicious Signs While Practicing ........................................... 105 27. Seeing Auspicious Signs before Death .................................................. 108 28. Delivered to the Pure Land or Seeing Demonic Illusions? ................. 112 29. Zhong Yin Shen: The State between Death and Rebirth .................... 115 30. Ying Ling: The Spirit of a Dead Infant .................................................. 120 31. On the Use of Psychic Mediums ........................................................... 124 32. Supranormal Powers and Unusual Abilities ......................................... 127 33. The Five Eyes ........................................................................................... 132 34. Buddhist Prophecies ............................................................................... 137 35. Is the Buddha Omnipotent? .................................................................. 140 36. Buddhahood and Retribution ............................................................... 144 37. Attaining Buddhahood and Delivering Sentient Beings ..................... 148 38. Delivering Sentient Beings ..................................................................... 151 39. Cultivating Beneficial Karmic Affinity Extensively ............................. 155 40. Cultivating and Ending Karmic Affinity ............................................... 159 41. Buddhism and Divine Way Teachings .................................................. 163 42. Buddhism and Atheism .......................................................................... 168 43. God in Monotheism ............................................................................... 172 44. Esoteric Buddhism .................................................................................. 175 45. Esoteric Buddhism and the Fate of Buddhism .................................... 183 46. Buddhism and the Apocalypse .............................................................. 187 47. The Meaning of Being Buddhist ............................................................ 190 48. Authenticating Buddhist Sutras ............................................................ 198 49. Buddhism and Folk Religion ................................................................. 202 50. Shunning or Renouncing the World ..................................................... 207 51. Practicing Alone or with a Group ......................................................... 210 52. Conducting Solitary Retreat .................................................................. 213 53. Being Tested by Demons ........................................................................ 216 54. Choosing an Illuminated Buddhist Teacher ........................................ 221 55. Going Deep on One Practice ................................................................. 225 56. Focused and Mixed Ways of Practicing Buddhism ............................. 228 57. The Easy and the Difficult Path of Bodhisattva Practice ..................... 231 58. Practicing Forbearance, Enduring Humiliation ................................... 236 59. Seeking Enlightenment through Chan Practice .................................. 240 60. When One Cannot Accomplish the Path in this Lifetime ................. 244 61. The Concept of Hell in Buddhism ........................................................ 248 62. Practicing Towards Buddhahood .......................................................... 254 63. The Meaning of the Buddhist Swastika Symbol .................................. 257 64. The Meaning of the Lotus Flower in Buddhism .................................. 260 65. Bodily Sacrifices by Buddhist Monastics .............................................. 262 66. Differences between Practicing as a Lay Person and a Monastic ....... 266 67. Buddhism and the Monastic Sangha .................................................... 273 68. Monastics in the Future of Buddhism .................................................. 277 69. The Place of Women in Buddhism ........................................................ 280 70. Buddhism and Mystical Phenomena .................................................... 285 71. Buddhism, Mysticism, and Science ....................................................... 292 72. Buddhadharma and Science .................................................................. 297 73. Buddhism and Science on Rebirth and Conception ........................... 301 74. Early Buddhist View on the Existence of Our World .......................... 303 75. Scriptural Authority in Buddhism ......................................................... 305 Preface to the English Edition aster Sheng Yen (1930–2009) was born into a farming family Mthat toiled near the banks of the Yangtze River and its unpredictable moods. The boy who became one of the great Buddhist masters of the 20th century knew hardship from the beginning: in his second year of life the overflowing banks of the surging river washed away his family’s farm and home. As a result they had to pull up stakes and move, this time even closer to the river’s unforgiving banks! Some might say that this was a sorrowful beginning to life, but seen another way his early encounters with human suffering, and how he and his family refused to succumb to misfortune, were in fact auspicious