In this book, Master Sheng-Yen describes different methods of Zen practice, including breathing techniques, sitting meditation, and the cultivation of a calm mind. He teaches that true enlightenment is not something mysterious, but a natural understanding that comes through disciplined practice and awareness in everyday life. The author also connects traditional Chinese Chan teachings with modern life, making the book useful for both beginners and experienced practitioners.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chan Master Sheng-Yen was a respected Buddhist monk, scholar, and meditation teacher from Taiwan. He was one of the major figures responsible for spreading Chinese Chan Buddhism in the modern world. He founded the Dharma Drum Mountain organization and taught meditation internationally. His teachings focused on compassion, wisdom, and practical meditation methods that could help people live more balanced and meaningful lives.
 FOREWORD
Since D.T. Suzuki first introduced Zen Buddhism to the West in the last century, a common assumption has prevailed that Zen is a Japanese form of Buddhism. Zen has entered the English language not only as the name of an Asian religion, but as a cipher for the stark aesthetic of Japanese culture. Japanese tea bowls, archery, rock gardens and swordsmanship all bear the unmistakable imprint of what we call 'Zen'.
Yet 'Zen' is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word 'Chan', which simply means 'meditation'. Chan (Zen) originated in China in the Sixth Century CE as a current in Buddhism that emphasized the primary importance of meditation practice as the means to realize the awakening experienced by Buddha. Rather than encouraging one to explore the subtleties of Buddhist meta-physics, the chan masters insisted that one return to the startling immediacy of everyday experience as the ground of awakening.
While Zen enjoyed the privileges of state patronage to become an integral part of Japanese culture, Chan, its Chinese forebear, often had to struggle to survive in its homeland. After its heyday in the Tang dynasty (618-907), Chan has had to contend with religious and political movements, including Mao's cultural revolution, which sought to marginalize or eradicate it. Although it is now being revived, in recent decades its life has hung by a thread in mainland China. That its provocative message is still with us at all bears witness to the resilience and integrity of its practitioners who have not wavered in their courage to address uncompromisingly the deepest questions of what it means to be human.
Master Sheng-yen is one of those few who have dedicated their lives to these questions in the midst of turbulent and irreligious times. The bulk of the teachings presented here are transcripts of two complete sets of talks given during retreats held in Wales in 1989 and 1995. The discourses are lucid and direct, draw widely on the sources of Chinese Buddhism, and speak in a refreshingly modern idiom. Perhaps because the setting was relatively small and intimate, the gentleness, warmth and humour of Master Sheng-yen radiate through the text. This book thus provides a rare opportunity to listen in to the unfolding of a Chan retreat attended entirely by Western practitioners under the guidance of a contemporary Chan master.
Illuminating Silence would not have appeared at all were it not for the tireless efforts of John Crook. In creating his retreat centre The Maenllwyd, arranging for Master Sheng-yen to teach there, establishing the Western Chan Fellowship, and editing this book, John has played a key role in introducing the practice of Chan to the West. The concluding section is an honest and moving account of John's experience of his own training under Master Sheng-yen.
Stephen Batchelor
Aquitaine
September 2001
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