Sunset on 02/03/2009

Here came another beautiful and unusual sunset for you kids.

Master Sheng Yen Passed Away (聖嚴師父走了)

Master Sheng Yen (聖嚴師父) passed away at Taipei Time 4pm on 02/03/2009 at Dharma Drum Mountain (法鼓山)…

I only saw the Master in person twice: As I took Buddhism as refuges (皈依) on 01/21/2007 and as I went to my first 7 Day Meditation Retreat (禪七) in the late January 2007. The Master was already pretty fragile back then, but he still came to those events to encourage people to be good Buddhists and help others. Shortly after then, his diabetes weakened him so much that he could no longer attend most events. Even though I only had 2 brief encounters with the Master, he impressed me with his warmth and kindness like a Maha Bodhisattva (大菩薩). Without him, I doubted that Chan/Zen (禪) would be so commonly practiced in Taiwan today. Without him, I would’ve wasted a lot more time to find what Chan really is and the proper way of practice it. And I doubt that my experience is unique.

A month ago, when the Master was sent to the emergency room and my friend Rita forwarded me email to pray for the Master’s health, I asked Teacher Chen (陳老師) if he would get better. She replied in great sympathy that his situation was not good and probably wouldn’t be able to make it through this year. But even with Teacher Chen’s warning, I didn’t expect that the day would come this soon…

Lots and lots and lots of people all over the world will miss the Master!

P.S. Master Sheng Yen (1930-2009) in a way was Venerable Yin Shun’s (印順導師 1905-2005) student, especially on diligently carrying out the Humanistic Buddhism (人間佛教).