Master Hua-Jin Nan (南懷瑾大師)

My first attempt to draw Master Hua-Jin Nan, and not a very good one (mostly due to the eyes, as usual)…

Anyway, Master Nan is an amazing and mysterious character. I don’t know when the photo was taken (Was he 70?), but he’s 89-year-old now and healthier than most people 30 years his junior. He’s an expert in Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, and a real educator in Chinese culture. His ability of explaining complicated sutras or old books in plain Chinese is incredible, and he’s able to link the modern science to 2,000-year-old Buddha’s teaching effortlessly and logically.

His “Dimond Sutra Explained” (“金剛經說甚麼“) was the very first Buddhist book that I could understand and even enjoy tremendously when I went book shopping in Taipei. From there, it started my life exploration in Buddhism. I used to think that I knew Buddhism and linked it to superstition. Now I know that I knew nothing. I was surprised to learn:

1. Buddha is not God.
2. Everyone’s “true self” is buddha.
3. Buddha can only show us the way; it’s each person’s responsibility to unveil one’s “true self” in order to get out of this hard world.

So Buddhism works perfectly for atheists, because it was created by 1 person’s wisdom (Buddha was a person; he was not God), not by a society’s culture. Buddhism also works well with other religions, since it does not prevent people from believing in their God(s) and all religions share the same principals, asking people to do good. The downside is that it’s a lot more work than other religions, since one has to do all the hard work (throughout all circles of lives, not just this life) and can’t rely on the Big Brother to bail one out. There are also thousands of wise sutras freely available to whoever is interested. All I can say about Buddha’s teaching: Amazing!