About the Author

Master Sheng-yen has received transmission in the two major branches of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism: the Lin-chi (Rinzai) and Ts'ao-tung (Soto) schools. Born on a farm outside Shanghai, he left home at thirteen to become a monk. As a young man during the period of communist unrest, he went to southern Taiwan, where he spent six years in the mountains in solitary retreat. Later, he continued to study Buddhism in Japan, receiving a doctorate degree in Buddhist Literature from Rissho University in Tokyo. Master Sheng-yen is the Dharma heir of Master Tung-chu and Master Ling-yuan, both of whom also emigrated from China to Taiwan. He is a second-generation descendant of the patriarch of modern Ch'an Buddhism, Master Hsu-yun.

Master Sheng-yen has written over thirty books on Buddhism and Ch'an in Chinese, English and Japanese. He divides his time between the United States and Taiwan.

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