Death Of Master Sheng Yen

By Jimmy Yu, disciple of Master Sheng Yen:

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

Master Sheng Yen was born into a humble farming family in NantongCounty, 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 oneof 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 RisshoUniversity 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 ofthe immigrant Chinese community. Instead, he embarked upon the moredifficult 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 timebetween New York and Taipei, training generations of Chan practitionerswith 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 20^th 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:
無事忙中老，
空裡有哭笑，
本來沒有我，
生死皆可拋。
Busy with nothing, growing old.
Within emptiness, weeping, laughing.
Intrinsically, there is no “I.”
Life and death, thus cast aside.

Death of Master Sheng Yen