Encounters with Master Sheng Yen ‪Ⅲ‬

Venerable Chan Master Sheng Yen was one of the twentieth century’s foremost Buddhist teachers, scholars and meditation masters, and was instrumental in the revival of Chinese Buddhism in modern times.


Ven. Sheng Yen was born into a humble farming family near Shanghai in 1930; he became a novice Buddhist monk at the age of 13. During the Communist takeover of China in 1949, he escaped with the Nationalist army to Taiwan. At the age of 28, after 15 years of strenuous scriptural study and struggle in his meditation work, while sojourning at various monasteries in southern Taiwan, he had the deepest spiritual experience of his life. Soon after, he entered into a solitary six-year meditation retreat to deepen his realization. He later received formal lineage transmission in both the extant lines of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, making him the 57th generation master in the Linji line and the 52nd generation master in the Caodong line of Chan.


In 1969 Ven. Sheng Yen went to Japan to attend graduate school, with the conviction that a strong education would be required to revive Chinese monasticism. In six years he obtained Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Buddhist Literature from Rissho University, becoming the first monk to earn a doctorate in the history of Chinese Buddhism. For the last thirty years of his life, he tirelessly devoted all of his energy to advancing Buddhist education, reviving the tradition of rigorous education for monks and nuns, leading intensive Chan meditation retreats worldwide, engaging in interfaith outreach, and working on behalf of world peace, youth development, and gender equality.


Ven. Sheng Yen passed away peacefully in Taiwan on February 3rd, 2009. He is revered by tens of thousands of disciples and students around the world. His wisdom and compassion is found in his books in Chinese, English, Japanese, and several other languages, and in the teachings of his students and Dharma heirs both in Asia and the West.