Obituary: The Most Venerable Master Sheng Yen (1930-2009)

Dear Colleagues,

I am saddened to inform you that Venerable Master Sheng Yen of the
Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan and the Chan Meditation Center of New
York passed into Nirvanic bliss in Taipei on February 3rd, 2009, 3 am
(Taiwan time: February 2nd, 4 pm) at National Taiwan University
Hospital at the age of 79.

Master Sheng Yen was born into a humble farming family in Nantong
County, near Xiaoniang Harbor, in Jiangsu Province on January 22, 1930
(December 4 in lunar calendar). Master Sheng Yen became a monk at age
thirteen. He began as a frail novice, yet he was destined to become one
of the most influential Buddhist clerics in modern Chinese history and
in the renaissance of Western Buddhism. Master Sheng Yen was a Chinese
lineage holder of both the Linji and Caodong Chan Buddhist schools, the
founder of the Dharma Drum Order of Chan Buddhism, the founder of the
Dharma Drum Mountain Center for World Education, the first Chinese
cleric who received a Ph.D. degree in Buddhist studies from Rissho
University in Japan, a stellar Buddhist scholar of Ming Buddhism and of
Master Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), and an active advocate of environmental
protection.

Master Sheng Yen came to New York in 1976, soon after receiving his
Ph.D. He might have confined his activities to the pastoral guidance of
the immigrant Chinese community. Instead, he embarked upon the more
difficult challenge of teaching Chan to Americans. He overcame many
obstacles: language, culture, prejudice, logistics and financial
difficulties. Until 2006 when he became ill, he divided his time
between New York and Taipei, training generations of Chan practitioners
with methods skillfully adapted to the contemporary problems facing his
students.

Master Sheng Yen was a dedicated scholar and prolific writer. His
collected work, /Fagu Chuanji/, amounts to over 100 volumes, covering
topics as diverse as Tiantai and Huayan philosophies, vinaya, Buddhist
scriptural commentaries, Indo-Tibetan and East Asian Buddhist
histories, Chan Buddhist studies, and comparative religions. He also
wrote many popular books introducing Buddhist teachings to both
beginners and those with a more advanced understanding of Buddhism.

He spoke out for what he called spiritual environmentalism: the
essential task of purifying our environment by first purifying our
minds. This is more than just philosophy. It is a call for personal
commitment coupled with practical goals that will benefit all the
peoples of the world. Many in Taiwan and in other countries have
responded to this exhortation with great enthusiasm.

Master Sheng Yen was one of the foremost contributors to the vital
Humanistic Buddhism of Taiwan that blossomed in the 20th century. He
was an exemplary leader of contemporary Chinese Buddhism, combining a
deep understanding of Buddhadharma with an equally profound concern for
the welfare of all sentient beings. He was a warm, insightful, and
inspirational teacher to his many students around the world. All who
encountered him were touched by his personal concern and his remarkable
ability to communicate difficult ideas simply-always with wit,
compassion, and a profound sense of humor. Master Sheng Yen will be
deeply missed by Buddhist practitioners, scholars of Chinese Buddhism,
and everyone who had the good fortune to meet him.

His death poem reads:

Busy with nothing, growing old.

Within emptiness, weeping, laughing.

Intrinsically, there is no "I."

Life and death, thus cast aside.

Sincerely,
Jimmy Yu

Dr. Jimmy Yu
Assistant Professor of Religion
Buddhism and Chinese Religions
Florida State University

Fwd by
John Willemsens,
Advayavada Foundation.
<http://www.euronet.nl/~advaya/index.htm>