Silent Illumination
A Chan Buddhist Path to Natural Awakening
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- $20.99
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- $20.99
Publisher Description
Our natural awakening—or buddha-nature—is inherent within all of us and waiting to be realized. Buddha-nature has the qualities of both silence and illumination, and by working with silent illumination meditation you can find your own awakening. Distinguished Chan Buddhist teacher Guo Gu introduces you to the significance and methods of this practice through in-depth explanations and guided instructions. To help establish a foundation for realizing silent illumination, he has translated twenty-five teachings from the influential master Hongzhi Zhengjue into English, accompanied by his personal commentary. This book will be an indispensable resource for meditators interested in beginning or deepening their silent illumination practice.
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In this meticulous work, Chan Buddhism teacher Gu (Passing Through the Gateless Barrier) offers a teaching on mozhao, or "silent illumination," through new translations of and commentaries on the writings of Song dynasty master Hongzhi. Silent illumination meditation, Gu explains, is not a method to practice, a thing to acquire, or a state to attain; rather, it is a returning to the simple, natural, and lively expression of "experiencing and embodying without attachments." Achieving this state involves four steps: exposing, embracing, transforming, and letting go of the subtle ways attachment appears in everyday experience: "to understand silent illumination is to appreciate our true nature as already free—the natural awakening of who we are." In the final sections, he offers new translations of 25 excerpts from Hongzhi's work that emphasizes the Chan dictum "practice is not about awakening, for that is who we already are," but "about eradicating delusion." Scholarly Buddhist readers will learn much from Gu's intellectually robust yet pragmatic introduction to silent illumination Chan.
