Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 1 TEA WORDS Early Chan Lectures in America (1980-1997) Volume Two Chan Master Sheng Yen Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 2 Dharma Drum Mountain Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 3 Tea Words Early Chan Lectures on Chan in America (1980-1997) Volume Two Chan Master Sheng Yen © Dharma Drum Publications 2013 Chan Meditation Center 90-56 Corona Ave. Elmhurst, NY 11373 (All rights reserved) Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 4 About the Chan Meditation Center In 1979, Master Sheng Yen established the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Culture, more commonly known as the Chan Meditation Center. The mission of CMC is to be a Buddhist meditation and practice center for anyone whose good karma brings them to its front door. (As often is the case, adventitiously.) CMC has a varied and rich offering of classes in meditation and other forms of Buddhist practice, in particular, its Sunday Morning Open House, which is a very popular event for individuals as well as families. It features meditation sittings, talks on Chan and Buddhist Dharma, and a vegetarian luncheon. All are welcome. Information about CMC is available at http://chancenter.org Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 5 About the Dharma Drum Retreat Center In 1997, Master Sheng Yen established the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in Pine Bush, New York. It is a sister organization to the Chan Meditation Center, and is located about two hours from the Chan Meditation Center by car. DDRC offers a rich schedule of intensive Chan meditation retreats of varying lengths, from 3-day weekend retreats, to those of longer duration, typically 7 to 10 days. While the retreats are open to all without regard to affiliation, it is preferred that participants have at least some beginner-level meditation experience and/or have attended at least one intensive meditation retreat. Information about DDRC is at: http://www.dharmadrumretreat.org Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 6 Contents Acknowledgments 1 Editor’s Preface 4 Human Consciousness in the Chan Perspective 7 Buddhadharma in the Modern World 17 Transforming Suffering 32 Life in a Chan Monastery 39 Why I am a Chan Monk 52 Dreaming Asleep and Awake 64 Egoism and Altruism 69 Chan: a Gateway to Wisdom 81 The Spirit of Chan 86 Chan and Enlightenment 93 The Chan View of Life 106 The Life of a Chinese Monk 123 Enlightenment and Buddhahood 137 Chinese Buddhism and the Chan Tradition 151 Living and Dying with Dignity 165 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 1 Acknowledgments Between the first issue of Chan Newsletter in November 1979 until its final issue in August 1997, many people – beginning with Master Sheng Yen – contributed to its publication in many ways: lecturing (in the case of Master Sheng Yen), contributing articles, translating, editing, providing artwork and photography, typing, printing, mailing, and so on. We thank all these people for playing important roles in making Chan Newsletter an important part of our communal life as followers of the Buddha’s Dharma: First and foremost, our gratitude is to Master Sheng Yen who spoke these wonderful “tea words”on the meaning and practice of Chan. Thanks to Mr. Ming Yee Wang who provided concurrent oral translation for Master Sheng Yen for most of the lectures compiled in Tea Words, to the extent of traveling with him. Thanks also to the following individuals who actively participated in publishing the Chan Newsletter. Of those whose participation went unrecorded, or we were unable to identify, our sincere gratitude as well as apologies. Rikki Asher, Echo Bonner, Giora Carmi, Susan Chan, Meei Hwa Chern, J. C. Cleary, Lisa Commager, Peter Fell, 1 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 2 Estelle Girard, Guo Chou Shi, Guo Gu Shi (Jimmy Yu), Guo Yuan Shi, Timothy Ide, Trish Ing, P. L. Jin, Wendy Lai, Wendy Luan, Nancy (Bonardi) Makso, Chris Marano, Antoinette Meale, Harry Miller, Linda Peer, K. E. Robinson, Alan Rubinstein, Nora Ling-Yun Shi, Douglas Sipp, Kathy Sova, Michelle Spark, Dan Stevenson, Virginia Tan, Yeachin Tsai, Lawrence Waldron, Ming Yee Wang, Dorothy Weiner, Carl Zimmerling. 2 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 3 Special Acknowledgments Coming to the present day, our gratitude to the Chan Meditation Center and its sangha for providing the resources for making this book possible: Abbot Guo Xing Fashi, Chang Hwa Fashi, Guo Sheng Fashi, Chang Yi Fashi, and all the fashis (Dharma teachers), currently as well as previously resident. Thanks to Chang Wu Fashi, formerly resident at CMC, for the initial stimulus to revive the treasures of Chan Newsletter. For their generous contributions of time and energy to help produce this Volume One of Tea Words, thanks to Nancy Bonardi, Echo Bonner, Warren Hsieh, Chih-ching Lee, Antoinette Meale, Harry Miller. 3 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 4 Editor’s Preface This book, Tea Words Volume II , is the second of two volumes comprising a selection of Dharma talks given by Chan Master Sheng Yen (1930-2009) at various venues, which were published in the Chan Newsletter between 1980 and 1997. During its tenure, Chan Newsletter served as a monthly chronicle of Master Sheng Yen’s earlier Dharma teachings to his disciples and students, consisting of Westerners as well as ethnic Chinese from the US and Taiwan. Some of the talks were given at the Temple of Great Enlightenment in the Bronx borough of New York City, later at his newly founded Chan Meditation Center in the borough of Queens. Additionally, Master Sheng Yen’s quickly spreading renown resulted in invitations to many universities and colleges throughout the USA. The two volumes of Tea Words include articles from all these venues. Before Master Sheng Yen arrived in the United States in 1975, his prospects were few, but his hopes and aspirations were many. As a young monk still in his teens, he observed that “the Buddhadharma is so wonderful, it’s a pity so few people know of it and so many misunderstand it.” With that insight, he vowed to dedicate his life towards spreading Buddhadharma to those who were open to learning and 4 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 5 practicing it. It turned out that his path towards that achievement took some unexpected turns, including emigrating from China to Taiwan with the Nationalist Army, spending 10 years as a soldier there, taking up the robes of a monk again afterwards, and editing the Buddhist monthly Humanity for two years before entering solitary retreat in the mountains of Taiwan for six years. Coming out of retreat, during which time he wrote scholarly books on Buddhism, he then went abroad to Rissho University in Tokyo, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in Buddhist literature. Back in Taiwan, he was a 45-year-old monk with an uncertain future. He could have stayed in Taiwan to serve under Master Dongchu, but at that time karmic affinity with someone he had never met came into the picture. A prominent Taiwanese businessman and lay Buddhist, Mr. C.T. Shen, was at that time president of the Chinese Buddhist Association of America, and also a founder of the Temple of Great Enlightenment in the Bronx. Through intermediaries and correspondence, Mr. Shen offered to bring Master Sheng Yen to America to live and teach at the Temple. As Master Sheng Yen recalls in A Journey of Learning and Thought : “It was really ridiculous. Seven years ago I went to Japan without being able to understand Japanese; now I am in America without being able to understand English.” As it turned out, it did not matter much that Master 5 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 6 Sheng Yen spoke little English, since from the beginning, among his students he found very skilled translators. As the talks in the two volumes of Tea Words and all his other books in English demonstrate, Master Sheng Yen’s teachings of the Buddha and of Chan transcend the limitations of language, and as the title of this two-volume series implies, at some point one stops talking and just enjoys some tea. I would just like to remind the reader that this volume is intended in part to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Master Sheng Yen’s passing. We are forever grateful for his wisdom, and for gracing our world with his compassion. 6 Tea Words v. II inside_Layout 1 11/19/12 7:20 PM Page 7 Human Consciousness in the Chan Perspective From Chan Newsletter No. 84, March, 1991 Brooklyn College, November 8, 1990 Buddhism speaks of human consciousness in terms of false mind or true mind. False mind is the state of ordinary sentient beings; it is the mind that suffers vexations arising from a self-centered view of the world. True mind is the mind free of vexations, a mind of wisdom. If false mind includes all levels of human consciousness and its activities, then what distinguishes true mind? The answer is that true mind arises when the mind is totally free from self- centeredness; at this point it is no longer subject to the vexations of ordinary human consciousness.