Information on Ven. Chan Master Sheng Yen (our Grand Master)

The teachers at Chan Community Canada are accredited teachers of Venerable Chan Master Sheng Yen who passed away on Feb3 2009. Wikipedia describes Master Sheng Yen as “one of the most respected teachers of Chinese Chan Buddhism” “ who was well known as one of the progressive Buddhist teachers who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western- influenced world .” And that he was “known as a skillful teacher who helped many of his students reach enlightenment mostly through meditation.” The Associated Press stated that he was venerated for his teachings of mercy, simple life and fulfillment of one’s duties. Here are the URL’s for more information about his organization based in Taiwan, www.dharmadrum.org , the meditation center and retreat center in New York www.ddmba.org , www.dharmadrumretreat.org and practice centers that have been established by three of his western lay practitioners that received transmission (formal recognition of and permission to ……in both the lineages that he carried) www.westernchanfellowship.org and www.dharmaloka.org

For more information about Master Sheng Yen’s style of teaching and background you might want to check out an article that was published in fall of 08 in BuddhaDharma magazine on his autobiography, FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW. Here’s a quote from the reviewer, David Berman (the editor of the Chan magazine out of the New York center): “After reading Master Sheng Yen’s GETTING THE BUDDHA MIND …. I was captivated immediately. It was direct and clear, with none of the esotericism of cultishness I had come to associate with Eastern mysticism come West. It had neither the religiosity of Hinduism nor the opacity of Zen. It had a moral spine without being doctrinaire. It was profound but not inaccessible: it taught process; it didn’t dangle the carrot of enlightenment. But it also defined progress- it gave me the impression that by walking this path I could actually get somewhere, at a time when practice had come to seem not useless: but somewhat aimless.”

Many of Master Sheng Yen’s books have been published in English. If you are new to Buddhism we recommend ZEN WISDOM and if you want description of retreats and method HOOFPRINTS OF THE OX may be of interest. If you would like the complete list of his books or if you would like to look at articles written by either Master Sheng Yen or his Dharma Heirs there are many on the web sites of the practice Centers listed above. Also, here are some URL’s for some magazine articles:

www.tricycle.com/excerpt/the-wanderer

www.thebuddhadharma.com/issues/2003/fall/shenyen-noi.html

(PLEASE NOTE THAT: Chan Community Canada’s primary teacher is Chan Master Guo Jun, a Dharma heir of Master Sheng Yen, currently living in Australia. Our local Senior Dharma teacher is William Tsao and beginner meditation teacher is Lisa Shen. )