Master Sheng-yen, born on a farm outside Shanghai
in 1931, became a monk at the age of thirteen. In 1949,
during the Communist takeover, he moved to Taiwan to
continue his study and practice. In 1958 at the age of 28
during an intense dialogue with Ch'an Master Ling-yuan,
he shattered the "great doubt," which had been welling
up insideof him gradually for the past 10 years, and
reached enlightenment. In 1961 at the age of 30,
Master Sheng-yen went into an intense six-year solitary
retreat in the mountains. After the retreat, Master Sheng-yen
saw the need to educate both monastic and lay Buddhists
through modern Buddhist education. Since he felt that there
was no one in Taiwan to undertake this endeavor, he went
abroad and earned his master's degree and doctorate in
Buddhist literature from Rissho University. In 1985, he founded
the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies.
In 1975 Master Sheng-yen received transmission from
Ch'an Master Tung-chu of the Ts'ao-tung Ch'an. In 1978, he
received transmission from Ch'an Master Ling-yuan of the
Lin-chi Ch'an, becoming the second generation descendant
of Ch'an Master Hsu-yun -- the greatest contemporary patriarch
and reviver of Ch'an Buddhism.
Master Sheng-yen is currently the abbot of Nung Ch'an Monastery,
the founder of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies and the
International Foundation of Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan , as
well as the Ch'an Meditation Center in New York. Master Sheng-yen
now travels between United and Taiwan annually giving teachings
and lectures in universities and centers throughout the world.
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