Master Sheng Yen’s Chan Teaching and Practice

Chan is transmitted from mind to mind. Bridging tradition and modernity, Master Sheng Yen carved out a contemporary path for transmitting Chan practice, embodying both its living practice and its renewal within Chinese Chan Buddhism.
– Lectured by Venerable Chang Hui (Full-Time Lecturer at the Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts)

Chan is transmitted from mind to mind. Yet the cultivation of a Chan master is a journey that brings together conviction, practice, lineage transmission, and a response to the needs of the times.

This course will guide participants through reading Master Sheng Yen’s Transmitting the Mind: Exploring the Early Meditation Methods. Together, we will revisit the very scenes of Master Sheng Yen’s early days of propagating the Dharma and teaching Chan meditation in North America, and explore how, working within Western culture, modern intellectual trends, and the Chinese Chan Buddhist tradition, he developed a path of Chan practice that remained faithful to the lineage while responding to the needs of contemporary people.

This book is not merely an exposition of Master Sheng Yen’s personal journey in Chan practice. It also offers an in-depth exploration of how he educated Chan meditation teachers, designed Chan practice courses, and interpreted the spirit of the patriarchs – transforming A Pedagogy of Meditation Training, sequential Chan contemplation, sudden-enlightenment Chan methods, and the literature of Chinese Chan Buddhism into methods of practice that people today can understand and apply.

Chan is not merely a set of ideas confined to written words, but a way of life that can be transmitted, practiced, and renewed in the modern world.

Through reading and discussion, let us explore how Master Sheng Yen brought traditional Chan teachings into the modern world and reflect on how we can learn, practice, and transmit Chan today.

Dates：7/15 ,  7/22 ,  7/29 (Wednesday) / This is a three-part lecture series.

Time：10 am – 12 pm 

Venue: Dharma Drum Mountain San Francisco Bay Area Center (Fremont)

Registration:  Please click here to register/DDM San Francisco Bay Area Center/Fremont Event

*Free admission. You are welcome to make an offering to support the Three Jewels.   Make an offering