about Ven. Master Sheng-yen

Born on a farm outside Shanghai in 1930, Ven. Master Sheng-yen 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 Chan Master Ling-yuan, he had one of the deepest spiritual experiences of his life. At the age of 30, Master Sheng-yen entered an intense six-year solitary retreat in the mountains. Seeing the need for modern Buddhist education, he went abroad and earned a Master's Degree and Doctorate at Rissho University, Japan.

In 1975 Master Sheng-yen received transmission from Chan Master Dongchu of the Cao Dong (Soto) school of Chan. In 1978 he received transmission from Chan Master Ling-yuan of the Linji (Rinzai) school of Chan, becoming the third generation descendent of Chan Master Xu Yun (Hsu Yun)-the greatest contemporary patriarch and reviver of Chan Buddhism.

Master Sheng-yen is currently the Abbot of Nung Chan Monastery, the founder of the Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies and the International Cultural and Educational Foundation of Dharma Drum Mountain in Taiwan, as well as the Chan Meditation Center and the Dharma Drum Retreat Center in New York. Master Sheng-yen now travels annually between the United States and Taiwan and gives talks in universities and centers throughout the world.

He has written nearly a hundred books, which have been widely translated. Books available in English include:

Subtle Wisdom
Complete Enlightenment
Dharma Drum: The Life and Heart of Chan Practice
Getting the Buddha Mind
The Poetry of Enlightenment
The Sword of Wisdom
Faith in Mind
Zen Wisdom, Knowing and Doing
The Infinite Mirror

telephone: (212) 860-8031
meditationgroup@yahoo.com