This is the latest Ch’an Digest put out through RHACS – a no nonsense Chinese Ch’an research and study group in the UK, that rejects the Western ‘mystification’ of this quintessential Chinese school of dialectical thought.
Tag: Ch’an Master
Master Xu Yun: The Importance of Being a Lay-Buddhist
Having established these facts, it is important to understand that a realised monastic is not limited to his or her social role, and that realised members of lay society are equally not limited to their role. There exists enlightened freedom that functions through specific social roles, but which remains completely ‘free’ of any limitations as defined by those roles.
Dharmakaya, Mind Ground, and Void
Nagarjuna – who read virtually all the known Buddhist sutras of his time, deduced that the Buddha was teaching from this philosophical position – which by necessity – has no position.
The Difference Between Gong-an and Ko-an Practice
It is bizarre to consider that as Japan descended into fascism and racism prior to WWII – the distorted, nationalistic Zen Buddhism of that time was popular in the West amongst intellectuals, despite a number of its masters expressing openly hostile attitudes toward the Western people. It is even more bizarre to consider that after WWII – many of these very same masters remained popular as they quietly pushed their formerly racist rhetoric into the background, and applied a more ‘neutral’ policy toward the acquisition of Enlightenment.
Ch’an Master Ma Zu Dao Yi (马祖道一)
(Translated by Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD) Ch’an Master Ma Zu Dao Yi lived between 709-788, or 688-763, and his lay surname was ‘Ma’ (马). He was
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 