SUBTLE WISDOM : Understanding Suffering, Cultivating Compassion Through Ch'an Buddhism

Master Sheng-yen, a dharma descendant from the founders of Buddhism in China, considers the concepts of suffering, enlightenment, and compassion; provides a glossary of key terms; and briefly recaps the history of Buddhism in China. But he goes beyond these issues to discuss contemporary matters and questions he has encountered in his years of teaching in the United States. Sometimes personal and always instructive, Sheng-yen's introductory work is perfect for those just coming to Buddhism, and for those who are already very familiar with the Tibetan and Zen schools.

Master Sheng-yen, a renowned teacher of Ch'an Buddhism, left his home near Shanghai at the age of thirteen to become a monk. During the period of Communist unrest, he fled to southern Taiwan and spent six years in solitary retreat. Later he continued his formal study, earning a doctorate in Buddhist literature from Rissho University in Tokyo. He has also received Dharma transmission in the two major schools of Ch'an. Sheng-yen now divides his time between New York, where he is the resident teacher at the Ch'an Meditation Center he founded, and Taipei, where he is the abbot of two monasteries.